Those American Specials are extremely cool arent they? I myself have just 1 strat and 1 les paul but what I wouldnt give for a room full of strats traditional and modified. You made a good choice. I think my next will be a blacktop floyd rose strat. Though that special done up like my old 76 could be cool. Wont know till the moment comes. My buddy has a 66 a 2000 and an 08 standards that i work on for him, love them all.

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This is true.

However, these instruments are bastardizations of Leo Fender's original design, regardless of how one spins that fact.

And I think it's significant that few Les Paul or SG owners gut their guitar's electronics then re-veneer the top of the body to facilitate the installation of single-coil Strat pickups. There are humbucking pickups available that will accomplish their task in a Strat without disturbing or blaspheming the pleasing asthetics of the instrument.

A Les Paul should look like a Les Paul and a Strat should always look like a Strat.

(solely the opinion of the forum's resident Luddite)



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

That is if we didnt move forward and progress. Its no longer the 1950s here in 2011 strats come in sss hss and hh and les pauls come with single coils and coil taps. Traditionalism is just as real and important as progress.

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I disagree. They're increments away from the original design, for sure. And they're not the purest essence of the Stratocaster. But if it says Stratocaster on the headstock, it's a Strat.

Is a Clapton Strat a bastardization because it has noiseless pickups and an active midboost? It looks like a SSS Strat from a distance!

Bridge pickups on a Strat still have better tone than most guitars. Why get rid of them of a silly humbucker? It doesn't look right either. I like my diagonal lines.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

I agree with those who say SSS+Fender Body+Fender neck = Fender. That is the classic design and sound. You can coil tap, reverse phaze, rev polarity all you want on an HB, it still cannot have the clarity and tone of a good Fender "type" single coil bridge.

But then another question. Is it wrong to put vintage fender type waterslides on a Squire headstock? I'm building up a strat currently. I happened to get a '98 Squire Affinity, the neck is BEAUTIFUL! Compound radiased, perfect shape (CBS), and straight and smooth as can be. I just can't see spending a couple hundred on a Gilmour pickguard(fender part) in a guitar, and leaving the Squire logo on it. I have sanded the headstock, and will be putting a 70's waterslide on it. However, not to fool anyone, I have left the Squire ID a SN on the back of the headstock.

Is it now a fender? Or still just a Squire? Even with hundreds invested in Fender parts, a Fender Authorized Birds Eye Maple Hard Rock neck, and an Ash body. Same parts, but made somewhere else(licenced by Fender). Great piece of Fender authorized wood though. lol

What if I decide to go with a Fender american body?

There is still some discreponcy here.