The best Strat

[Bruno]

Having to give up the dream of a new Warmoth (exchange euro/dollar 1.45 September 1st, 1,36 today  :help:  :help:  :help, I would like to make a sort of investigation/poll with you.
Talk about Fender Stratocaster (only fender!).
In your opinion, what is the most beautiful STRAT ever?
(listed all the specifications: wood neck/body, radius, frets, nut, pups, tremolo, springs etc.  simply...all )?

 

[Orpheo]

Having to give up the dream of a new Warmoth (exchange euro/dollar 1.45 September 1st, 1,36 today  :help:  :help:  :help, I would like to make a sort of investigation/poll with you.
Talk about Fender Stratocaster (only fender!).
In your opinion, what is the most beautiful STRAT ever?
(listed all the specifications: wood neck/body, radius, frets, nut, pups, tremolo, springs etc.  simply...all )?

no-no! c'mon. will that really stop you? just get a body and a neck, and a month later the trem. or get a gotoh instead of callaham

imho, the most beautiful strat is this one:

daphne blue, maple board. I can't imagine a strat better looking than that.

the strat I want must have a superlight singlepiece ALDER body, maple neck+board, 22 frets, callaham trem, gotoh tuners, and a nice set of pickups. I don't know what kind (yet) but I do know that I want something wit a bit more beef on the bridge, and warm, transparant, quacky in the neck and middle.

 

[Bruno]

It's a hard life... :dontknow:
(Italy is perilously close to default. No work and many people are losing it, unfortunately.)

However I was referring to a *Fender* Start, not a custom/warmoth/hand-made strat.
A model that Fender has produced or produce again.

 

[Orpheo]

It's a hard life... :dontknow:

However I was referring to a *Fender* Start, not a custom/warmoth/hand-made strat.
A model that Fender has produced or produce again.

then the strat I want is a custommade fender strat  :laughing3: :laughing7:

no, just kiddin. what I want is just a customshop strat, with a callaham trem and gotoh tuners.


happy?

 

[Bruno]

No, no, no upgrades  :laughing11:

You have not a Fender Start **stock**  that like you? It's possible?
I think... if someone offer you a old original 1954 strat, you change tremolo and tuner?  :icon_scratch:

:hello2:

 

[Orpheo]

No, no, no upgrades  :laughing11:

You have not a Fender Start **stock**  that like you? It's possible?
I think... if someone offer you a old original 1954 strat, you change tremolo and tuner?  :icon_scratch:

:hello2:

n, I wouldn't change a vintage strat, for vintage sake, but also because that stuff is really good on a new strat, I'm more tempted to change stuff around.

but a new strat, brandnew out of the box? no. there's NO strat in the world that hasn't been made by warmoth I'd consider buying. because warmoth's 'fat' profile ROCKS, i love compound radius, I want to be able to choose everything and most likely I won't be satisfied with the quality of the hardware. so that would have to be changed also. in other words: why settle for subpar stuff?

 

[drewfx]

It depends in part on if you want a finished product or are planning to change pickups and stuff, and whether you want it "vintage-style" or not, but for me:

Alder body (but ash is fine too)
Modern 2-point tremolo
Locking tuners (these are easy to add though)
LSR nut, if possible (depending on how you use the trem)
9.5" neck radius
Either RW or maple is fine. Really depends on the color of the body though, as I often much prefer one or the other with certain colors.

If I had to pick a stock model, I'd personally pick the Jeff Beck model, but it's pricey and I'm not sure about the PU's (but PU's are easy to change).

But one of the main reasons I got started with Warmoth is, despite have a huge number of variations on each model, Fender seems incapable of offering exactly what I want.

And if you buy a pricey U.S made one with the intention of modding it, think twice about doing any irreversible mods that could kill its resale value.

 

[Doughboy]

Don't buy off the rack in the hopes of saving money. In the long run, you'll pay dearly for it in other ways.

Off the rack = not getting what you want

Name Brand Guitar = Paying too much for the honor of having that famous decal on your headstock

My Warmoth super strat is better than any custom shop strat I have ever seen or played & it's EXACTLY what I wanted for 1/3 of the price. No fancy decal, but with therapy, I'll learn to carry on...

 

[Orpheo]

@doughboy: i couldn't agree more Its really that simple. once you go custom, you can never go back to 'confection', imho.

 

[Doughboy]

@doughboy: i couldn't agree more Its really that simple. once you go custom, you can never go back to 'confection', imho.

Amen!!!!  ccasion14:

 

[Bruno]

I understand that I have not explained well  :sad1:
I apologize and try again:
What is your favorite FENDER(®) stratocaster?
Not Warmoth, all part atc. only FENDER(®), from 1954 to ....

 

[Orpheo]

I understand that I have not explained well  :sad1:
I apologize and try again:
What is your favorite FENDER(®) stratocaster?
Not Warmoth, all part atc. only FENDER(®), from 1954 to ....

We do understand. I am afraid that it is you who doesn't seem to grasp to understand his audience You are here on a forum with guitarplayers who predominantly choose and use custombuild guitars. We are here to advocate our feelings regarding said instruments. on very rare occasions we do buy something else. but that a rarity, in fact. especially with instruments like strats, teles, jaguars, jazzmasters, etc etc. those guitars are so easily available and build with warmoth parts. they cost about the same as a made in USA standard something whatever fender (I'm not that familiar with fender's lineup) but they are the quality of the fender customshop. where I come from we say 'you must be a thief of your own wallet!' if you buy a fender. especially if you've done a warmoth before!

 

[Mor Paul]

I've heard excellent things about the squire... vintage classic series, I think. I'll look it up, a lot of people on the Telecaster forums love it, but I think I screwed up the name.

 

[Strat Avenger]

The best Fender Strat is a Sunburst that's made in USA.

 

[jlegnor]

What it comes down to is you have to go for whatever "you" like.  It doesn't matter what other's opinions are.  What size radius, profile, nut width, hardware that works better for me won't work for others.  If I asked what size nut most prefer here, the majority are going to say 1- 11/16.  But I prefer 1- 5/8.  That's more comfortable to ME.  

You could get opinions on maybe a certain model of fender strat.  But nobody can tell you what YOU will like.  It's just something you have to find out on your own really.  And the only to find out is by trail and error or actually playing guitars with different size nuts, profiles, and what not.  

 

[Tonar8352]

You ask a difficult question because I love em all; BUT, it is hard to beat the original concept. Classic beauty and lines that show off the glory of a great piece of swamp ash. 1954 2-Tone on swamp ash.

 

[reluctant-builder]

Hey, Bruno. When I think about it, the only stock Strat that's remotely worth it to buy without any need for conversions, is an American Deluxe, which costs about $2,000 USD. If you buy anything else, you're compromising, and any guitar you build from Warmoth, even if it gets up to $1,350, is going to surpass a stock Strat around the same price.

 

[Doughboy]

Bruno, to get the BEST Fender start, you'd be looking at a Custom Shop model that will costs $1000s. Now, for a fraction of the price, you can get a custom build Warmoth to yoru specs. So in that regard, the BEST Fender will still be worse than a Warmoth but will cost you much more in cold hard currency.

My humble advice is to save up & get the guitar of your dreams instead of an off the shelf Fender. Guitars last a lifetime, why not have something you'll love forever?

 

[llmtelecaster]

Anything produced from '54 to '63.

 

[Doughboy]

Anything produced from '54 to '63.

Sure, I'd like a '54 strat as well with all original parts. I just don't feel like shelling out a small fortune for one.  :sad: