Happy 70th Anniversary

[S. Cane]

To the coolest guitar ever designed...

Pretty nice video by the company

[jmallard]

That was cool.

Jerry

[Laker]

Back around (I believe) 1985 my son purchased this 25th Anniversary Strat from a good friend of mine who was the original owner. My son played it a couple of years and then sold it to an old bandmate of mine to raise money to purchase a new 335 Gibson. As we move ahead 25 years or so I purchased it back, had it restored by a local luthier and gave it to my son for Christmas five years ago. What’s cool is it is still the original finish.

[phantomman]

Back around (I believe) 1985 my son purchased this 25th Anniversary Strat from a good friend of mine who was the original owner. My son played it a couple of years and then sold it to an old bandmate of mine to raise money to purchase a new 335 Gibson. As we move ahead 25 years or so I purchased it back, had it restored by a local luthier and gave it to my son for Christmas five years ago. What’s cool is it is still the original finish.

I had one of those a few years back. It was the heaviest Strat I've ever seen (15+ lbs) but it had the strattiest Strat tones I've ever heard. A nice guitar but I just couldn't use it onstage. It was akin to toting an M-60 machinegun.

[OldStrummer]

I passed on the 70th Anniversary Strat. I do have a 40th and 50th Anniversary Strats and a 60th Anniversary Tele (my avatar).

[Laker]

I had one of those a few years back. It was the heaviest Strat I've ever seen (15+ lbs) but it had the strattiest Strat tones I've ever heard. A nice guitar but I just couldn't use it onstage. It was akin to toting an M-60 machinegun.

Yeah, it’s a heavy guitar but a really nice sounding guitar. My son’s main axe now days is a Les Paul so the Strat is a backup if something happens to his main guitars. I still wish he was playing the 335 more. To me, that is one of the best guitars produced.

[Bubbalou]

I bought a 70th Anniversary Ultra II Strat. It is the first Strat I have ever owned in my 72 years of age. The neck felt different than any guitar I have played but after playing it for over a month it has become a very comfortable guitar to play. The Trem has a nice feel to it and the guitar stays reasonably in tune when using it. I got the Ultra Burst model at a substantial savings as it was on sale being a demo due to one tiny scratch that one can barely see and only if you turn the guitar up and view the bottom edge. The Hard shell Sculpted case is really nice, TSA Approved, and lighter than traditional wood cases (which I hate due to the weight and bulkiness. I only two things I changed is I went from 10?s to 9?s to get the same feel I experience on other guitars with 10?s and I lowered the neck and middle pickups to about 1/8? off the body for better tone. I built a little capacitor box (a guy posted on Youtube) that I can insert in series between the guitar and amp and have 12 selections of small caps (100pf-10nf) using a rotary switch. This was what he built to see what value worked best going across a pickup to adjust the tone of a pickup. What I found I liked to stop the ear piercing highs on the bridge pickup was a 1.5nf cap. It sweetened the bridge pickup right up. Haven’t decided if I actually want to install the cap across the Bridge pickup or just use the cap box if needed. It does have an enable/disable switch on the capacitor selection to the 1/4” jacks that has the input from the guitar tied in parallel to the output jack to the amp.

https://imgur.com/gallery/kX6zXxc

Just added it weighs 8lb 3oz.

[Bubbalou]

My Ultra II Strat has become my number one as it not only sounds good but feels very good when played. What I really like is the Trem arm can be easily controlled with just my little finger. The body and neck length make this guitar very comfortable for a person with a 5’7” stature and short arms. In fact I am now considering selling my Sire H7 which is a nice guitar but the neck is slightly narrow for my short stubby fingers that after playing this guitar brings it to my attention now.
The comment I mentioned previously about the Bridge pickup by itself being a little piercing is easily controlled by backing off the tone control some.

[Bubbalou]

Oh well, I must be a thread killer

[Telenator]

I keep wanting a hardball Strat without the contour cut on the back of the body.
Strats are such iconic guitars that make such beautiful sounds in the hands of others. I have not yet been able to come to terms with one though...

[Offshore Angler]

I keep wanting a hardball Strat without the contour cut on the back of the body.
Strats are such iconic guitars that make such beautiful sounds in the hands of others. I have not yet been able to come to terms with one though...

Y'know Bob, it wasn't until I started playing Les Pauls into tweeds and discovered how volume and tone controls interact with the amp that I became comfortable with Stratocasters.

Once I mastered (?) using the volume and tone controls to shape the sound the Strat became much more appealing to me. It's a rare day I have my tones higher than 5 on Strat, and backing off the volume a touch stops that "choked out" thing that Strats like to do.

Chuck

[Bubbalou]

I keep wanting a hardball Strat without the contour cut on the back of the body.
Strats are such iconic guitars that make such beautiful sounds in the hands of others. I have not yet been able to come to terms with one though...

Well this is my first strat so I am in a learning phase but I can see there is a lot of potential. I will say the tremolo arm on this guitar is the easiest I have used. Being used to Bigsbys this does a better job. I can work it with my little finger on my right hand. That is astounding. I am not sure I will use all the different settings though, however maybe adjusting the tone on the amp my lend some insight to other settings.

[Tele-Bob]

Y'know Bob, it wasn't until I started playing Les Pauls into tweeds and discovered how volume and tone controls interact with the amp that I became comfortable with Stratocasters.

Once I mastered (?) using the volume and tone controls to shape the sound the Strat became much more appealing to me. It's a rare day I have my tones higher than 5 on Strat, and backing off the volume a touch stops that "choked out" thing that Strats like to do.

Chuck

I hear ya Chuck. I'm not really having a sonic problem with Strats. I love the tone. I'm just not a big fan of the ergonomics or the trem. I block all my trems. Just not my style.

I love my Pro Series III Suhr which does a better Strat sound than most Strats I've ever heard. The middle pickup is to die for. Not something most can say about the middle pickup on a Strat.

[Offshore Angler]

I hear ya Chuck. I'm not really having a sonic problem with Strats. I love the tone. I'm just not a big fan of the ergonomics or the trem. I block all my trems. Just not my style.

I love my Pro Series III Suhr which does a better Strat sound than most Strats I've ever heard. The middle pickup is to die for. Not something most can say about the middle pickup on a Strat.

Yeah, that Suhr is sweet sounding. I remember you played it when you subbed for us. It's a looker too. Great axe.

I always chuckle at people complaining about a Strat being "Ice-picky". Turn up the amp. The only way I've found you can really use a Stratocaster with the controls on 10 is to have that amp on DESTROY ALL HUMANS volume. So, they hit a dirt box with a lead boost and that's where the wheels start to fall off. You're already choking the Strat by picking too hard and having the volume and tones wide open, and then the OD adds even more compression and pretty soon it's mix-mush. Let it breath for gosh sakes. A Strat that's being played correctly is a beautiful thing, but once the player starts forcing the notes by over-picking the poor thing it becomes really annoying sounding. Really annoying. They get that "crying baby" thing.

I know because I did it for too long before I got hipped to how it's done.

Chuck

[OldStrummer]

I always chuckle at people complaining about a Strat being "Ice-picky". Turn up the amp. The only way I've found you can really use a Stratocaster with the controls on 10 is to have that amp on DESTROY ALL HUMANS volume. So, they hit a dirt box with a lead boost and that's where the wheels start to fall off. You're already choking the Strat by picking too hard and having the volume and tones wide open, and then the OD adds even more compression and pretty soon it's mix-mush. Let it breath for gosh sakes. A Strat that's being played correctly is a beautiful thing, but once the player starts forcing the notes by over-picking the poor thing it becomes really annoying sounding. Really annoying. They get that "crying baby" thing.

I know because I did it for too long before I got hipped to how it's done.

Chuck

I was just trying to remember this unofficial "rule-of-thumb." I thought it was "Dime the amp, use the controls to shape." But somewhere along the line I got confused and tried to think it was "dime the [volume] control and set the amp to the room." I think the first is correct, no?

[Offshore Angler]

I was just trying to remember this unofficial "rule-of-thumb." I thought it was "Dime the amp, use the controls to shape." But somewhere along the line I got confused and tried to think it was "dime the [volume] control and set the amp to the room." I think the first is correct, no?

Well, I wouldn't dime the amp. That will provide a lot of extraneous noise and require you gate your guitar.

The way we do it on the road is to
1)Plug in the amp and let it warm up on standby
2)With no guitar signal chain plugged in, take off standby & turn up the amp until you hear it hiss
3)Back off just enough to make the hiss go away

Now, go back and put the amp on standby and plug in your signal chain.
That's usually considered the "happy place" for a tube amp.


Modelers are a bit different, but setting the gain structure is still the same, but you approach it more like a master volume amp.

But all that said the most common newb mistake using way too much amp. For anything less than Royal Albert Hall, a Princeton Reverb is all you need. A Pro Jr. is even too loud for a bar gig. I used a Deluxe Reverb for many years but suffered because it was too loud in small venues so it was never happy and giving the warm natural compression we all want. The MF'ing Blues Jr's have been destroying mixes for too long now, to the point that we will no longer accept them in a supplied backline.

Chuck