Tonight, while my wife was on the telephone I was playing my stripped down '62 copy that has Texas Specials in our guest room. I played clean and very quiet through my Peavey Delta Blue amp.

There is such a nice sweet tone that comes through the amp. It reminded me of an aspect of Clapton's attack. He can play so softly that it emotes so much by doing so little. You can hear this on the, "RUSH" sound track, which to me a great almost un-known gem.

It also made me realize that when I go to a music store and try out guitars and amps I play them the same way. I feel that I’m able to hear the guitar better. It’s like hear the true voice of the instrument. After that test I'll then go into a sound room and crank up the sound to get a different feel for the guitar.

I see so many younger players grabbing a guitar (mostly with HBs) and just drench it with crunch and the volume louder than is really needed. I don't know how they can hear anything.

Playing quietly reminds me why I love Stratocasters so much.

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1975 Sunburst Stratocaster rosewood finger board
1979 Stratocaster with roseowood finder board
2001 Candy Green Clapton Stratocaster
2007 Andy Summers Inspired Telecaster
2007 '51 P-Bass
2012 Taylor 110
2015 Mystic Ice Blue Deluxe Stratocaster Plus

I always play plugged in and unplugged. Amp up and down. You just cannot get a good test if you play too loud and distorted in the shop. I have been known to wait until the store is empty or come in early in the morning to avoid the wanna-be shredders playing as loud as possible as fast as they can just to properly test a new guitar.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

+1

There's so much nuance to a Stratocaster, a lot of it is lost with mad distortion - not that a strat doesnt rock with mad distortion

+1 The only way to test out a new guitar, especially at GC!

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

I rarely use a pedal of any kind,the vintage amps I play through are "touch sensitive",some more than others,and with a good Strat with great pickups you can play clean and soft and with just your pick attack you can put some dirt into it when the amp isn't even bring driven very hard.
It's a beautiful thing and some never experience it.

Indeed.

Especially with guys like us around who hoard all the goodies to ourselves!



Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Here's a man who truly, "Gets it"!!!

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You dig?