I got my first Fender just less than a week ago. An American Standard Stratocaster in 3-colour sunburst.

I absolutely love it and can't believe the difference from my older, cheap beginner's guitar.

Oh SNAP! Yum! Adopt me so I can have that when your time's up.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

You know I miss my first strat sometimes, but all the things I hated are all fixed in my 08.
I wanted a 22nd fret, single coils that wouldnt buzz, a humbucker, and a tremolo that would stay in tune.
All in all I would say Im a satisfied man now.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/fenderguitarandamp/

Mine was a pre-loved 1974 Strat - maple board, natural finish. The pickups were HS3's, and the machine heads were Schaller ones.

I sold it about ten years ago, but at the time it couldn't be helped - money was tight.

The guitar was pretty well used, but had been cared for, and had been re-fretted at some point before I got it. It was a really good guitar, and the first "proper" guitar I'd owned.

I just got my first Fender Strat 3 weeks ago. It's a Mexican HSS Standard in white. I love it. I've had my Squier for almost 20 years. I'm giving it an "anniversary" present of a new red dually Lace Sensor pickup and a pro setup. I think it will make it happy.

A piece of crap Squire (it sure didn't seem like a piece of crap then though)

What a wuss !!

Older Strat playing is all about the struggle, and the sheer unpredictability of the performance

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

My first Strat was a Mexican Fat Strat (HSS) bought new in 2000.

Midnight Blue (and now a bit chipped and dented after 11 years) and still my favourite. Though it took some setting up - it was a very low action, lightly strung guiar when taken from the box. A good set up, followed by some heavy strings and extra springs (screwed as far back as they go - I'm not a tremelo man) and it was good to go.

Just recently had some new pickups put in it after the electrics gave out. It sounds better than ever (literally just got in from the studio with it) so can't wait to gig it again.

What kind of pickups did you get? I'm pretty happy with the pickups in my HSS. The single coils are clear as a bell, and the humbucker can get nasty.

I have an '80s Japanese Squier with a single humbucker that I'm going to be putting a red dual Lace Sensor in sometime after the first of the year. It should sound really good in that guitar And they look plain badass. The black pickup with red lettering will look like it was made for my red guitar with a black pickguard. I've wanted a Lace Sensor since they came out, and I've read some reviews that say there are better humbuckers for the sound that I'm after, but I want one anyway. The Lace Sensor name has a certain cachet about it, and the design was ground breaking at the time. I wanted one BAD at the time, and now that I can afford it, why not get one? It's like when a Baby Boomer buys that Chevelle or Cuda he couldn't afford in high school.

I've read that Billy Corgan used a single red Lace Sensor for several years. If Billy can get that tone out of a single, then what can I get out of a dual? It's going to be evil.

Any Lace Sensor users on this forum?

There were some bad Squiers, and there have been some tremendous Squiers. The low perceived quality of Squiers in the '90s ruined their image. The CV series seems to be giving the company some of its swagger back. My '80d Japanese Squier plays like a dream. It sounds good now, but it will sound even better when I upgrade the plckup. It's nice and smooth and it plays like margarine. I wouldn't take $10,000 for my Squier, and that's the truth. It was my first guitar and still feels "right" to me even though I now have more expensive guitars. The short Gibson 24.75 inch scale probably has something to do with it. Don't think just because a guitar has a Squier logo on it that it automatically sucks.

Good to see I'm not the only one. My first guitar (which happens to be a Strat) was a purple Squier Affinity. My parents got it for me used as a Christmas present in 2003, but it was actually made in 2000. It's the one guitar I'm completely attached to to this day, despite owning other "better" guitars. I've had to replace most of the parts over the years; the electronics have been gutted and replaced, I had to hunt down a replacement tremolo block when my them bar stripped the original, I replaced the saddles with flat steel ones, and it has Custom Shop Texas Specials (which cost twice as much as the guitar itself did). It gets played like crazy, to the point that it's had four fret levels in about five years. Any other guitar I could replace, but my Squier is different. I don't really even let people touch it.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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The first one was/is the Black one. its a 93 MIA Standard Strat that was bought for me in 94 after I graduated High School. I still have it and have added to it since!

You'll have to fight the Armadillo Child for it...and although she's not very big, she's mean!

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Time to call in reinforcements in that case...

adamym- pic is broken..?

EDIT: took it from Facebook for you. You can't take the direct links, you need to take the Image URL in Properties or wherever it is on Windows...

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

Thanks! Wasn't figuring out how to do it! Anyway, the black one is a 93 MIA Strat, the red one is a 2003 Powerhouse and the white one is a 60th Anniversary Jimmy Vaughan signature strat. I have a one ply black pickguard coming to put on the black one. My attempt to do a David Gilmour strat.