Hi everybody!

I am going to buy for christmas my first Electric guitar.It is going to be a Stratocaster but I
am Left Handed and I would like a natural Blues and Rock sound. What chould I choose?

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EC is the best

Are you playing guitar since long time or you are a beginner ?
Long time player ; American Standard, usa made
Beginner; squier classic serie

Best is to be able to try one in a store before. But I agree, lefty is not common

Buy used one; it is the best deal a second hand

Get a MIM if you can afford it. I deal with people who come to the shop to ask for advice for guitars that people are going to buy for their kids for christmas/birthdays etc. My advice is always the same; People have a tendency to buy really cheap guitars for their first ones (or their kids first ones) because for obviouse reasons, they dont want to drop $1000 on something the kid plays for a couple months then loses interes.
Theres a paradox working there though, and its this; Cheap guitars are CHEAP guitars. They usually dont sound very good, but most improtant; they dont ususally play very good (especially acoustics). So people buy a $100 guitar, the kid takes lessons, but has difficulty playing it because the action is usually to high (they NEVER seem to get them setup), it frustrates the kid, and he gives up. If they would have bought a middle of the road guitar. like a MIM, nothing too expensive, but not cheap, its much more playable, and the student is more likely to stick with it.

Blues; Id suggest something with a rosewood neck. I replaced my RW neck with a maple, and i find that RW has a more scooped and warm sound, maple more biting. You may want to get somethign with a humbucker in at least the bridge position (though on my tele i have it in the neck, with a single coil in the bridge). Keep in mind though, even with a coil tap on a humbucker, putting a bridge 'bucker in single coil mode wont sound like a strat what has a regualr single coil. There are many reasons, when you tap a humbucker (unless you use a blender), the active coil has much less output than a regluar single coil (unless you buy something like a Fralin unbucker, which has the coild with the adjustable pole pieces has more wire winds than the other coil, and are designed to be tapped. So when you do, the coilds output is the same as a regular single coil.


My PRS has Fralin Pure PAF's, but i got the lower output ones; 7.25 phm;neck, 8.25 bridge. I put a coil tap in in t only because it needed a new vol pot, and the only 500K I had was a push /pull. Butthe tap is pretty useless, when i tap the neck for instance, its only at about 3.5 homs, much too low to be usefull. I set my EP Booster so that when i tap it, it brings the volume up to where the humbucker would be, but its very noisey.

A left handed American Standard might work for you.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Good recommendation Mike. Plain and simple!!

Ok! thanks for your advice!! I am playing guitar since I am 8 years old ( I am 14 now) and I am going to go to one of the biggest music school of France to be pro.

I will take a American Standart Strat LH Black Maple neck. I just tryed one.

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EC is the best

Sounds like a good plan my man!! Enjoy!!!!

An excellent choice, mon amí......tres bién!

Welcome to the forum.

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

Windwalker the kid was asking about buying a guitar not asking for a lecture on Humbuckers. Kid find a nice American standard with 3 single coils and you won't look back. You'll find that it will do 99.9% of everything you want to do with a guitar and retain its value..if you leave it alone. Good Luck !!

To be fair, most $100 guitars these days will play 95% as nicely as ones costing 20 times as much after a simple basic setup. I'm continually shocked at how damn good starter instruments are nowadays compared to when I started playing far too many years ago! I started out on a 'Satellite' vaguely-stratty-thing which you could not get the action under about 1/4" on no mater how good the setup!

No, they won't sound as good, but some of them are getting surprisingly good in that department as well, and this comes from someone who has the nickname 'dog ears' due to being the sort of person who fusses about the brand of cable I use, the brand of battery in my pedals, or the material which makes up my pickup wiring insulation.

Weirdly, I'd buy a Squier over a MIM - Every Squier I've played recently has impressed me in some way or another, whereas the MIMs leave me a bit cold, particularly in the pickup department.

But yes, American Standard is a good solid choice. You can't go wrong really, enjoy it!

Cheap guitars are CHEAP guitars. They usually dont sound very good, but most improtant; they dont ususally play very good -----Windwalker

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Yes most of the time, but ....

I think that too until last month I do a tune up on a Telecaster Squier Classic Serie made in China.
I was surprise by the neck and the sound. Hey is only a Squier.

I test drive with my American 52 reissue and my 1984 tele; There are a difference but not enoug to say it a cheap. The sound was good.
I must say This guitar is a GREAT deal for a beginner.

My customer is a semi professional guitare player who do lots of gigs

The name Squier is cheap . The guitar itself ; not sure