New Strat

Discussion in 'Guitar Gear Talk Forum' started by overkill, Mar 20, 2011.

  1. overkill

    overkill New Member

    Guys, pardon me but I've been looking around for that show your new guitar off thread for quite a while and can't find it, so am creating this one to bedazzle you with latest acquisition.
    Was in Singapore recently, had intended to buy an amp but walked into a few musical merchandise shops in Peninsula Plaza, saw some good prices on Fenders. Same models in Bangkok run you 1200 usd, were only 800 in this one particular shop. Especially good deals on American Standard Strats. Already have one of those though, so grabbed a Highway One off the wall, had a go at it, was smitten. Went back and bought it next day. Interesting comparing the Standard to this one; obviously similar but different in tone. The Highway One is better for lead, true jumbo frets, as opposed to the medium jumbo on the Standard. Standard seems better suited to chord work, though the H-One is no slouch. Definitely a different tone as well from the rosewood fingerboard. Prefer maple, but after messing with it, you know how it is. String action's a little tricky with the big frets; adjusted the neck several times, readjusted the bridge. Strings were dead, no telling how long the thing'd been hanging on the wall but apparently plenty of guys had put it through its paces. Bridge grinded a little on the pickguard, took care of that with some delicate Swiss Army Knife filing (no gasps, was extremely careful). Springs are tight, will screw around with that later, try to get a little more play in the tremelo.
    Anyrate, was thinking gotta show the boys on indianguitartabs.com when I get back, so without further ado, here she is. Favorite Strat body style, black on black. Diggin' the large headstock as well, another difference from the Standard.
     

    Attached Files:

  2. theghost

    theghost New Member

    HNGD!!!! That looks SWEET!

    Wat amp do u have?
     
  3. thehundredthone

    thehundredthone Well-Known Member

    Let's hear it then?
     
  4. overkill

    overkill New Member

    Was wondering if anybody would respond to the thread, kept checking last night. "Wtf, did I misspell anything?"
    Thought you guys would like it, thanks. Beautiful instrument, yes, that's what caught my eye initially. That black with the 3-ply pickguard is a classic look. I like the sunbursts, the whites, etc, but am always drawn to the black ones. People think you're a bad mofo when you whip that baby out. You don't even have to play it, just pose. (ha ha ha.) It has its quirks, every instrument does, mild buzz on the 2nd and 3rd frets, E, B and G strings, nothing major; jumbo frets, no getting around that. The tremelo grind mentioned before, now repaired, an odd vibration in the A string, which is probably the Alnico magnet in the Humbucker. All in all though, no complaints. The pros far outweigh the few minor cons. Superb definition when fretting high notes. Or low ones for that matter. That's the jumbos again, makes the hint of fret rattle more tolerable.
    But yeah, was just browsing the guitars on the wall in this shop and that one stood out. Looked imposing. Thought surely it'll sound like crap, lemme give it a whirl anyway, boom, was hooked. Blew my expense account out of the water, was eating tuna from a can rest of my stay, plastic fork, budget beer.
    Forgot to mention, it's an HSS, as you can clearly see. The original single coil design in my opinion has prettier lines (it's in the Museum of Modern Art, the original Strat design), but the Humbucker just sounds better, again, my opinion. Depending on what Humbucker you throw in there. This one is stock, "Atomic Humbucker". May be a good pickup but I'm tentatively going to get either a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates or one of those EVH Frankenbucker things. The Pearly Gate pickups sound great, can't go wrong with those. Had a Jeff Beck in one of my Strats way back when, and as nice a pickup as those are, and much as I admire Jeff Beck's sound, it didn't cut it. Immediately replaced it with a Pearly Gates and it sounded fantastic. That's all personal preference of course, everybody likes different sounds, brands, configurations, pickups, strings. Am happy with Pearly Gates. It's supposed to be a ZZ Top sound, but in a Strat it's more like classic rock, Zeppelin, Floyd, Texas blues, so forth. Wanna try the EVH though, have heard good things about it. Huge fan of early Van Halen.
    The rosewood fingerboard, still getting used to that. Had a bad experience with an SG, fingerboard, rotted out from under my hands over time (acidic sweat), swore never to f- with rosewood again. But this one on the H-1 is hard as steel, so, expecting no problems. Looks good too, has black streaks in it, jibes with the body paint.
    Somewhat sadly I, as yet, have no amp *hangs head sheepishly*. Getting one from either the Mantri shop or this Fertado's place near Forum Mall, whoever can deal me at least a 20 watter, preferably a 30. Roland. No gigging here incidentally, apt warrior. Thanks again to whoever posted the name of that place, Fertado's, much appreciated, will check them out this weekend probably.
    As for the amp itself, want the reverb and power squeezer options and you don't get those with the 15 watt.

    Prior to this I just played through an ancient signal processor, an Art SGX 2000, set of headphones. Had a Peavey before that, which was Ok, nothing spectacular. Moved from the States over here to B'lore few years back and have just recently gotten into guitar again; bought the Standard first last year from my good Asian buddies at Music Concept in Bangkok, just bought the Highway One a few days ago. Had to get a decent case for it also, as I had to fly it back. Sure enough, baggage handlers beat the crap out of the case. My beautiful new hardshell leather case was abused, man, tellin' ya. But the guitar's intact, no big deal.

    Again, if anybody's traveling and heads to Singapore, do go over to Peninsula Plaza, bottom floor; many guitar shops and some serious bargains. One shop, first one you pass after going down escalator, has a bunch of artist replica axes in the window, and holy frk are they expensive; scalloped neck Malmsteen model, Hendrix's Monterey Festival guitar, that psychedelic Vai tie-dye looking Jem, Slash's Gibson, a deluxe Satriani, SRV's old beat up sunburst, Rory Gallagher's equally beat up Fender. Stood there looking through window at those for about 10 minutes. Tempted to toss a brick, grab all of 'em, take off. Kidding. Kind of.
    Other hand, do not go to Swee Lee music shop. Well stocked but outrageously overpriced. They'll try to screw ya 80 ways to Sunday. Give ya an example, their Highway Ones were 600 usd more than what I paid for mine at Peninsula.

    Excuse the length of the post. Enjoy talking guitars. Take care, guys.
     
  5. theghost

    theghost New Member

    Ur Gonna play 1000$ fenders on Roland cube????!!!
    Shame on you.

    But seriously get a nice tube amp.
     
  6. overkill

    overkill New Member

    Trashy, eh? ;-) Likes me some Cube.
     
  7. drock666

    drock666 New Member

    That's the problem everywhere.. Great camera, bad lens.. Great guitar, bad amp - it's really hard to get the satisfaction unless you have a pocketful of money !

    I personally don't like strats, but good venture man..congratulations!
     
  8. overkill

    overkill New Member

    Drock ("666"?), live a few more years. There are cheap amps that sound good and expensive amps that sound like crap. Many of each kind. Kind of like people.
    Little offense taken.
     
  9. hemal76

    hemal76 New Member

    Hey liked the post and enjoy playing your strat, I got a Mexican strat Sunburst SSS with Rosewood fretboard which I got Dec 2009. Sounds awesome with Marshal MG 15DFX, amaizing sound I can say. Will definately add a few pics soon :)
     
  10. nandac

    nandac New Member

    nice guitar. just got a strat neck with a cbs headstock for my jazzmaster from usa custom guitars. will get it mounted this weekend.
     
  11. Torvoraptor

    Torvoraptor New Member

    There are also cheap guitars that play well. And the laws of diminishing returns apply to both.

    The point is not to neglect one for the other.
     
  12. drock666

    drock666 New Member

    That's a pretty lame logic, ofcourse there are cheap amps play well, bad amps play bad, cheap guitars play bad.. and bla bla bla.. u get the point ! These are all exceptions -

    BUT - in most cases, you GET what you PAY for - period

    The point I was trying to make about guitar vs amp was in general, you get a good guitar, then have to buy a good amp.. and then..while we're at it, have to buy a good processor too ! goes on until u yourself draw the line or may be rob a bank!
     
  13. overkill

    overkill New Member

    Fair enough and thoughtfully stated.
    How about "Bite me".
    That logic work better for ya? Sport?
     

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