...a strat is a strat when it's a 100% original Fender brand Stratocaster. The strat being a category of guitar like the Telecaster (tele) or Jaguar. Otherwise, the rest are in sub categories. It's a modified strat if any modifications whatsoever were ever done or any replacement parts are used, a Squier strat if it's a Squier shaped like a strat, a frankenstrat if it's a compilation of 100% Fender brand strat parts but from different strats, a frankensquier if it's a 100% Squier parts but from different Squiers, an aftermarket strat if it's 100% non Fender brand parts, ...it's a custom compilation strat if it's a combination of Fender brand and non Fender brand parts. But, I'll still call them all strats when starting off a conversation about a guitar that's in the strat category. ..."nice strat. blah blah blah blah, blah! Is that a stock strat?" etc.

But...then again...if it looks like a strat...it's a strat.

Undecided I guess.

No, I'm ah gonna stick with stock.

...never mind. I'm not settled on this one, yet.

woe, wait. A teacher once told me..."Your first answer is usually the correct answer, go with your first answer." ...she was right. On subsequent tests, my first answer to tough questions for me was usually the right answer. So, 100% stock Fender Stratocasters are strats -- to me, an opinion.

BMW-KTM! I said if you change the string brand and or string gauge, you've modified the guitar from its original design. FYI, if premium fuel is put in my car, you've modified the car to the point of voiding the warranty for related parts. The knock sensor detects the higher octane and retards the timing and degrades performance! And, I think there's a trouble code that gets saved in the car's on-board computer when you use anything but regular gas.

CRGuitarMan, that's a Stele-caster!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

For a Strat to be a Strat? Body and neck have to be strat and at least one single coil but then again its to the taste of the buyer. I love the three single coils and wouldnt have it any other way!

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It is not the years its the mileage!!

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.

Objectively, one can argue that totally would be 'true' whereas, not totally would be 'false'. In other words, anything less than 100% original design would be a "not". Now premising this postulation is unacceptable rationale to the masses, subjectively it comes down to antecedents and/or ambiguous percentages by intrinsic identity. For example, consider any given contemporary OEM American Strat. How many changes have been made since, "Day 1" including the percentage of its parts which are imported whole or in various stages of semi-finished condition yet, it is maintained that as a completed unit, said instrument is de facto 'an' or 'the', "American Stratocaster". Again, objectively, it cannot be yet subjectively, it is. Therefore, logic aside, the question, "When is a Strat not a Strat anymore?" lies solely in the eye of the beholder.

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

Sorry... somewhere in all of that I didn't catch your opinion.

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...I for one, sure would appreciate the return of intelligent conversation, spirit of assistance and the simple yet effective ignoring of those who can't seem to hang with that...
Best regards,
rob

When is a Strat not a Strat???? HMMMMM???? I guess WHEN IT'S BEEN THROWN INTO A WOOD CHIPPER BY HERETICS!!!!!!!!!!

"Therefore, ...[the answer to the question]... lies solely in the eye of the beholder."

...the answer to the question is buried in the florid verbiage once you read between the lines and assume the pretense of the interjective, subordinate subject in the last complex compound inferred sentence contained at the end of the repilatory statement.

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

I rest my case.

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You dig?

that's a "stele" or a "trat"

but in my opinion the body shape is what makes it a strat. like above, the strat with a telecaster neck is still a strat

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Well, the idea that a Strat can't be a Strat if it's got anything other than three single-coil pickups is nonsense and that's straight from Fender. Lord knows Fender has made more than a ton of different Strats with pickup configurations that include humbuckers. I'd say if it's a Strat body with a Fender neck, it's still a Strat.

But I, for one, love a Strat with at least one humbucker!





Yummy!

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

So you agree it's still a Strat. Modified but still a Strat.

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This question gets banged about in a lot of different ways, more ways than we might realise and everybody has their own take on it. The truth is there is no real answer to this question except for each person having their ownpersonal answer. I remember one guy on here saying Fender American HSS Strats are not real Strats even if they're bone stock due simply to the fact that a "real" Strat is SSS. I saw another comment on here a couple years ago where the guy figured the Robert Cray signature Strat was not a real Strat even straight out of the factory because it had a hard tail bridge and real Strats have trems. I've also seen other comments on this forum that indicate that any Strat made after Leo sold the company is not a real Strat. One guy even went so far as to say that any Strat made in 1955 or later was not a real Strat because Leo had already begun making minor changes to his original design even after only one year.

As in all issues of debate, wherever you draw the line, that's where the battle rages.

IMO as long as the body and neck are original then a Strat is a Strat if the owner says it's a Strat. Others can disagree but it's not their guitar so what does it matter what they think? I've lived long enough to learn that what others say and think and do has nothing to do with me even if they're saying it or doing it directly at me or to me (or my guitar). Their actions come out of their own reality and if I can keep myself from getting swept up into their reality I will save myself a lot of grief. I have two Strats that have been modified. One very slightly modded and the other quite heavily. They're my Strats so I get to say they're Strats.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

How many Zen Buddhists does it take to make a Strat?
Two. One to do it, and one not to do it.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Its a Strat when Fender says it is.

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Bill

When it says Epiphone on the headstock.

I am kind of with the man from Mars on this one (Martian)....seems like it is in the eye of the beholder....but in a way, for me...it needs to be a Fender to start with (I just can't call a Ibanez look-a-like or even Strat clones a "Strat"). Plus the Fender body shape.

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Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

I'd say, owning a few modified guitars, that once the neck and body are gone, the guitar is really no longer a Strat.

On the other hand one of SRV's Strats has a different, non-Fender, neck.