electric guitar battle

Haha "dean ML". NO RICKENBACKER NO CREDIBILITY. I voted "les paul", it was not a difficvlt choice

Like voting between a hammer, a screwdriver, a wrench, and a crul ringmaster.

Real answer: I've never played a Dean, but have a serious place in my heart for teles.

the wrench can do the work of the hammer and the screwdriver in a pinch imo

although idk I got a les paul that when soundmen first hear it they go "good christ that's a beautiful sound" but the les paul is more demanding of the player than a tele which is just good times all day

GIBSON SG

(voted Les Paul)

yeah ok actually sg belongs on this list, it is the only other make as canonical as those big three. damn. makin polls too early in the morning. ok well if you want to vote sg just vote for the dean I guess

never played a dean, les pauls are a chore and i hate strats like a mortal enemy. tele it is.

http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop_image/product/fc1849c5b62c2dfa0688a687b2fd579f.jpg

4EVA

However, I voted for the Stratocaster.

playing Deans is funny, they feel more like farm implements than musical instruments to me. they sure can take a beating. I don't own one because honestly what would I do with one but on the other hand every metal cat I know has a go-to Dean and I feel like I should have one just on principle

Totally boycotting this. Death to solid-body hegemony.

never really played any of those, but when I save up the money I'm definately going to buy a Tele
(still, Jazzmasters/Jaguars are IMO the sexiest guitars ever designed)

jags look awesome but in my opinion they don't live up to their looks

Vast Halo OTM. No Rickenbacker, no credibility.

I don't play guitar but if I did I want to play a es-335, strung up high

my vote wouldn't have made a difference anyway

(somebody told me that the es-335 is just a cheap knockoff of some famous and expensive guitar, I am not a guitar geek so I'll stop typing)

I voted Strat because that's what I play. I like the versatility of it and the clear, cutting tone. But there is a place for all of these. Every good guitar has a unique sound that just belongs in certain types of music.

i vote tele > stratocaster > dean ml > les paul

you can't actually vote that many times

old roommates always had les pauls and sgs lying around but i never warmed up to them (pretty limited experience with thru-neck stuff but this seems to be the only constant i can point a finger at). usually drawn to trem'd things like jazz's and strats, but since there's no jazzmaster in this poll, and i've never played an ML, i'm voting tele cuz in my experience they cut deeper than strats and if i really desperately needed a trem i guess i could bigsby the bastard.

Voted Les Paul but before pulling the trigger searched long and hard on the list for Steinberger because I still have a soft spot in my head for those weird little things.

I have a Les Paul, but voted Tele for some reason. Strats have always annoyed me.

i vote tele > stratocaster > dean ml > les paulman

man les pauls may be demanding on the player & vary widely in quality but a good Kalamazoo LP through a decent amp is a downright beautiful sound

really hard to choose between strats and teles. really, really hard.

Huh - didn't know there were Kalamazoo electrics as well! I got an old war-era Kalamazoo acoustic from my grandfather and it's a thing of joy even though it's seen better days!

Strat, because I like to use the middle pickup for rhythm playing, and none of the other guitars have one (assuming stock configs).

xp everything they made before '74 came from kalamazoo

Wait wait are you talking brand name or location of manufacture? Because I'm talking brand (as well as location obv).

I just meant where they were made.

OK gotcha! Carry on!

Totally boycotting this. Death to solid-body hegemony.

Dude "Telecaster" includes this, which it what I usually play:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Fh2UO39BL._SS400_.jpg

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them. Les Paul necks are generally too chunky for my stubby little finger. So Teles it is.

I have the stubby little finger problem as well, but get along with Strats OK. I guess because I never hook my thumb around the neck onto the bass strings.

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them.

OTM.

Does the arm contour on the front ever fit underneath anyone's actual arm?

The Stratocaster is the greatest guitar ever designed. Or maybe it would be better to say that Leo Fender was the greatest designer of electric guitars and the strat was the pinnacle of his work.

My reasons:

- It was modern. The LP with its set neck and carved top still had one foot in older lutherie traditions. Fender guitars were a radical break with that past and moved guitars into a modern era of mass production with auto finishes, bolt-on necks, and easily interchangeable parts.

- Comfort. Dual cutaway + body contouring

- 3 Pickups

- Synchronized trem (or not, if you don't want it)

- The strat is a "platform." I think it's fair for a Les Paul fan to say that an LP copy with a bolt-on neck and single coil pickups wouldn't be a Les Paul anymore. But conversely, I think you can drop humbuckers in a strat, block the trem, give it a floyd rose, take away the pickguard, throw a tele neck on there, etc. and somehow it's still as strat in spirit.

- Personal reasons: I prefer the scale length and fingerboard radius. I prefer single coils. Overall they're just way more comfortable for me to play than LPs. And they're lighter which is great. I don't buy into the whole '70s/'80s mass=sustain nonsense.

Dean ML? WTF?

ah aero fuck yer killing me here dude

voted tele but really i am voting for ASAT

I'm strictly a semihollowbody (335 knockoffs) dude but of the available options, I chose the Tele. Les Pauls are like the snooziest possible guitar to own/play if you're a rock guitarist. Strats aren't far behind but at least they're a little more streamlined.

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them. Les Paul necks are generally too chunky for my stubby little finger. So Teles it is.

― a seminar on ass play for kids or something (Phil D.), Sunday, October 3, 2010 1:04 PM (9 hours ago)

Early-70s SGs have skinny-ass necks at the headstock, good for the short-fingered, possibly a good substitute for an LP. I have long fingers, though, so while I love the sound, playing an open D chord is a pain in the ass.

BTW, how can anyone (like hypnopriapism up there) HATE strats but like teles? That doesn't make any sense to me. I think a lot of people are just voting on perceived style.

It's that clean middle-pickup Clapton sound. Doesn't exist on a Tele.

For me, the strat has so many different possible sounds and colors that it's hard not to like. I've been playing strats for about 20 years and not much that I've done ended up sounding like Clapton. (not necessarily saying that's a good or bad thing though)

I find teles a lot more comfortable to play than strats, is all.

strats just don't feel right to me, so the sound almost becomes irrelevant. plus i think they mad ugly

tele has been my favorite sound for the last year or so, but les paul is all time fave sound and i'd probably vote for it even if SG and es-335 were here (which they should be but there u go etc)

Les Pauls are like the snooziest possible guitar to own/play if you're a rock guitarist

So OTM. It's the guitar eeeeeeeeeverybody had in their dorm room. Everybody. They're decent guitars but you couldn't get any more middle-of-the-road.

I play a semi-hollow bodied Tele, just like the ones Phil D. posted, and I love it so I'm voting for that. Strats are decent too, but they don't have the same punch Teles do.

corny indie fuxxors in hating Les Pauls SHOCKER

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk46UvfjTYM&feature=related

No. Seriously. Stratocaster.

voted tele but really i am voting for ASAT

ha, this is actually true for me, too - at the end of the day I feel like ASAT is kind of yr man-for-all-seasons, handles so great and sounds fantastic

um, no Gretsch?

I think a lot of people are just voting on perceived style.

― wk, Sunday, October 3, 2010 11:38 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"perceived style" is a pretty major factor in what makes an electric guitar good

or at least "style"

I bought my first guitar - an LP - based on the perceived style of wanting to be Slash.

My second guitar was a tele, which I bought after extensive testing of other guitars because I liked how it sounded and played.

strat because i have one and it has the coolest name

stratocaster is the coolest name.

kinda don't get the 'teles are just more comfortable to play' thing cuz anytime i play one on stage my right arm hurts after like 3 songs--my technique is total shit though. would kill for (or failing that, pay for) a contoured tele.

stratocaster is the coolest name.

idk i hear leo fender named it the telecaster by the logic that "well this TV thing is getting pretty popular" which true or not is hilarious to me.

this must have been after he found out people really like the stratosphere

Love the sound of Strats but hate playing them.

see I'm this way with teles

Internetocaster

arby's i'm pretty sure that is true and it is lol

Blogcaster

Guitarherocontrollercaster

re: playing a strat or tele, it is a mystery to me why fender still uses the 7-inch-or-so neck radius as a standard--my strat has a flatter radius and it fucking shreds, never want to go back to a standard fender neck.

and by "shreds" i mean "makes playing things quite a bit easier for a hack like me"

two bandmates of mind were tele players, so I ended up picking them up pretty frequently. I don't know why, but their necks always seemed so inflexible and earthbound, like I can't fully engage with them in some weird way? and these weren't crappy teles, one was a '68 iirc. strats feel much more comfortable to me, but I'm a fuzzed out string torture kind of guy.

a friend had a les paul I really liked. thought it was possessed, whenever I picked it up it felt like it was playing itself.

my favorite guitars are matsumokus but oddly there is no westone/spectrum/electra option.

Lots of Teles and Strats have 9 inch radius as standard. I do agree that Teles are a bit clunky to handle, but you can quickly get used to that IMO.

I voted Tele as I love the simplicity and the ability to jangle, twang and crunch all on the lovely bridge pickup. Good strats are great too -such a range of sounds across all pickups. Being a single-coil man, I'm not wild about Les Pauls to play, but you can't deny that they sound pretty special in the right hands.

"perceived style" is a pretty major factor in what makes an electric guitar good

so in essence this poll is really:

jimmy page
eric clapton
bruce springsteen
dimebag darrell

and jimmy and dimebag do not appear to be doing too well.

btw the tele=television stratocaster=stratocaster thing is 100% true. It's also why the initial name for the tele was the broadcaster (the kids love the radio you see) until gretsch complained because of the name of their drum line. also yeah good news cad, std radius for strat/teles these days is 9.5.

we have a matsumoko made stage series washburn in the shop right now, and despite being one of the most LOOK AT MEEEEE guitars i have ever seen thanks to being black with all red binding and appointments everywhere, it does play incredibly well.

http://www.guitarmaniacs.de/gallery_pics/zdjdSjGfj0V0iJimNugnU5FHo.jpg

doesn't really do it justice tbh. also yes, in case you wore worried, the hardshell case also has red binding. classy.

we could have an entire thread of matsumoko atrocities, also remind me why am I not bidding on this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/WESTONE-DYNASTY-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-XV2SW-CASE-/120629551611?pt=Guitar&hash=item1c1614e1fb

Because you have "enough" guitars?

i play a tele but i've never really fallen in love with it.

the only other style of guitar i've owned was a weird fender one-off, the tele-sonic. and that's not that different.

i really didn't like the SG, the balance of the thing is all wrong

yeah my wife has an SG and I don't know how she can play it, the neck feels like it's about 4 inches wide

i cut my teeth on an old classial guitar of my dad's whose neck is like a mile wide so despite having medium-smallish hands that sort of thing has never really bothered me (atually i kinda enjoy some guitars with wider necks/string spacing for the ability to to big stupid bends without getting clotheslined as much on the other strings--otoh narrower string spacing like on a gretsch makes it easier to do weird noisy things like catch the 4th and 5th strings under my fingers along the path bending the third)

teabagmaster

strats just don't feel right to me, so the sound almost becomes irrelevant.

It's weird to me that you would like teles then. 90% of the feel to me is in the neck and you can get strats & teles with identical neck profiles.

"perceived style" is a pretty major factor in what makes an electric guitar good

I said "perceived" because it's funny how these things shift. I don't get the "les paul is sooo M.O.R." thing because as much as I love the strat it's pretty damn middle of the road too. And don't really remember anyone playing teles in the '80s or '90s outside of country pickers, but now they're like the approved indie choice.

re: playing a strat or tele, it is a mystery to me why fender still uses the 7-inch-or-so neck radius as a standard

Some people play these things called chords.

I mean, if it came down solely to looks, I wouldn't be interested in any of these guitars. But "jags look awesome but in my opinion they don't live up to their looks" is totally OTM and true about so many other cool looking non strat/tele guitars.

btw the tele=television stratocaster=stratocaster thing is 100% true. It's also why the initial name for the tele was the broadcaster (the kids love the radio you see) until gretsch complained because of the name of their drum line.

And Leo Fender was a TV/radio repairman. The first products he developed/sold were amps; he never actually played the guitar.

thing with jags is you either exploit their idiosyncrasies in some effective way e.g. like rowland howard or you complain about them being fashion guitars. they're narrower in their applications, tho, yeah.

(still, Jazzmasters/Jaguars are IMO the sexiest guitars ever designed)

^^

Don't really dig jaguars but man do I love jazzmasters

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/21/27959324_caab58bd32.jpg

and don't really remember anyone playing teles in the '80s or '90s outside of country pickers, but now they're like the approved indie choice

Midwestern punk rock was built on teles tho

I basically consider that country music so...

I got into teles through Steve Cropper, so soul music for me.

it seemed like everyone in indie-rock was playing tele customs for at least a little while back then.

plus, of course, there was prince, more or less.

wk i find chording harder on a 7-inch radius than a 9 too but that's just imo

xposts yeah lotsa punk stuff around the midwest here. dude from unsane, have seen duane dennison rock teles, have seen pics of duane aslaksen with 'em, total rock guitars imo

Because you have "enough" guitars?

ban from this thread anybody who says something like this to a guitar bro imo

also somebody stop me from bidding on that westone dynasty

don't really remember anyone playing teles in the '80s or '90s outside of country pickers

The two kings of Teles in the '80s:

http://por-img.cimcontent.net/api/assets/bin-200905/ccfb18d44e0e9ca9ee3c2258220cf9a0.jpg

http://i52.tinypic.com/vxmd15.jpg

d. boone

http://www.egigs.co.uk/photos/2004/StatusQuo-LS02-041104.jpg

^^^ that was Status Quo BTW, in case the image doesn't load.

prince's weren't made by fender though, for whatever that's worth. thus my "more or less" disclaimer above.

and the boss's is technically an esquire, for whatever that's worth.

i'm done nitpicking now.

Yes, yes, there's always somebody playing any kind of guitar you can imagine. But can you really deny that the '80s were the era of pointy guitars and superstrats, and the '90s a revival of Jaguars, Jazzmasters and Mustangs? I think there was a definite tele resurgence in the '00s. I mean, it's telling that the only examples are a couple of guys out of billions of punk bands, a heartland country-rocker dude, and prince.

a heartland country-rocker dude, and prince

point taken, more or less, but it might be worth noting that that heartland country-rocker dude and prince were quite possibly the two most popular guitar-playing artists of the decade.

Don't forget this guy:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/410EC5BGD9L.jpg

And this dude's band was marginally popular in the 80s as well:

http://www.rock107.com/albums/Guitar-Heroes/andy_summers.jpg

jonny greenwood
joe strummer
robyn hitchcock
frank black
john 5

tom morello

i mean i don't disagree that i haven't seen indie kids with telecasters but shits gotta go away to have a resurgence

Yeah, was gonna say Black Francis played a Tele almost exclusively.

Chrissie Hynde, too.

my impression growing up was that the tele was a 'working' guitar, no-bullshit, a little old-fashioned.

Nearly any one of those guitars can be made to sound like any other one of those guitars, but I'd say the Tele is the most versatile of the bunch. And as per some of the above posts, a whole lot of really creative players gravitate toward the versatileness. I mean, Prince and Bruce? Andy Summers and Jonny Greenwood? Most great country players but also Bill Frisell and Keith Richards? Jimmy Page on the first two Zep albums, but also Syd Barrett and Robbie Robertson? Joe Strummer? Love the Tele.

I should note that Strats are pretty versatile, too, but I can't even look at one without hearing that compressed, chorused Strat sound from the '80s.

point taken, more or less, but it might be worth noting that that heartland country-rocker dude and prince were quite possibly the two most popular guitar-playing artists of the decade.

Nah. I guess I'm thinking about who actually sold some guitars. Like Kurt and Thurston actually sold some guitars in the '90s you know? EVH sold a ton of guitars. Prince, Tom Petty and the Boss? Come on now.

But then I got into strats as a kid because Buddy Holly and Richie Valens played them so I'm kind of a dork. LOL 1987.

Why can't I find an image of Calvin pissing on the Gibson logo? That should settle this discussion once and for all.

i think all of these look cool, especially in the right hands, but i mean come on...

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/4896052.jpg

Hey, here's a related question for guitar geeks: when was the electric bass invented, who were the first pop/rock acts to use it, and why does almost every bassist apparently favor a Fender bass?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_guitar#History

Every bassist I knew back when I was a kid preferred Ibanez.

"back when I was a kid" as code for "back when I still had friends who played music"

also somebody stop me from bidding on that westone dynasty

go for it! you won't be sorry (unless you have to apologize to someone for yr impulse ebay purchases).

I'm amazed that there has been so much talk about strats on this thread yet no one has mentioned Jimi Hendrix.

the two reasons i ever fucked w/ strats were hendrix, and ron asheton, who most likely fucked w/ strats because of hendrix.

oh and also
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xWjoeLNcmQo/TFg0DlNiaDI/AAAAAAAAFKs/4krxKR9fGXA/s1600/waynes-world-fender-stratocaster.jpg

(xp) as a lefty myself, i consider jimi a traitor, plying his trade as he did on righty instruments. let us never speak of his instruments again.

Hey, here's a related question for guitar geeks: when was the electric bass invented, who were the first pop/rock acts to use it, and why does almost every bassist apparently favor a Fender bass?

From talking to older musicians who were around when the instrument was introduced, "Fender bass" was used as a generic term that's actually a brand name, like Kleenex. It wasn't referred to as a "bass guitar," primarily because no other manufacturers had gotten around to making bass guitars yet.

i got a "vintage white" strat bc i had a little guitar world pullout poster of jimi's aged woodstock strat that i was in love with. of course mine didn't look nearly as cool and i secretly hated it for a long time, but it's grown on me over the years.

as a lefty myself, i consider jimi a traitor, plying his trade as he did on righty instruments. let us never speak of his instruments again.

Were left-handed instruments widely available in the 60's? If Jimi broke one on tour, could he go to the local Leftorium and get a new one? (Honest question)

i got a "vintage white" strat bc i had a little guitar world pullout poster of jimi's aged woodstock strat that i was in love with. of course mine didn't look nearly as cool and i secretly hated it for a long time, but it's grown on me over the years.

I think that's part of the problem with the strat's reputation. Fender has made a lot of really ugly strats for the past few decades. From the superstrat craze through to just the poor finishes and ugly wood, plastic, and hardware. The new roadworn stuff looks nice and classic though, apart from the regrettable relicing.

I guess the tele equivalent to the superstrat would have been all of the deluxe/custom/thinline variations in the '70s. Those actually looked awesome though. But superstrats will probably come back into vogue soon too.

According to Charles Shaar Murray (in his amazing Hendrix book Crosstown Traffic), Hendrix supposedly believed the right-handed models to be built to a higher standard, since they were more plentiful.

Love how Stevie Ray Vaughan's Strat is essentially a right-handed homage to Hendrix, in that the tremelo bar is set-up like it would on a lefty. The rest of his iconic Strat, though, is just nuts, and supposedly super hard to play.

Why am I blanking on iconic Les Paul players, beyond Neil Young?

Because you would have to list practically every guitar player in every band in the '70s.

Well, yeah. But doesn't it have some sort of distinguishing character that makes any of those dozens of classic rock dudes stick out? Or is that why Slash wears the hat?

Were left-handed instruments widely available in the 60's? If Jimi broke one on tour, could he go to the local Leftorium and get a new one?

hell, left-handed instruments aren't widely available now. and i blame jimi, in part. paul mccartney seemed to have had no problem finding lefty basses, and he started out a few years earlier and had the disadvantage of being in england. but one imagines hofner and rickenbacker and whoever else were all too happy to keep making new ones for him. one also imagines fender would happily have supplied jimi all the lefties he desired. one also imagines that might have encouraged more young lefties to actually play lefty axes, which in turn might have encouraged fender and other companies to produce more of them. dammit.

and even if it was harder back then, if jimi had an on-tour emergency and couldn't find a local Leftorium, could still go the local Rightorium and buy a righty and string it upside-down, which is what he was doing anyway.

difficulty of finding lefty objects, in order, based on personal experience:

easy - baseball gloves
easy - ice hockey sticks
hard - golf clubs*
really hard - guitars
impossible - field hockey sticks (lefty sticks are illegal)

*this might have changed in the many years since i needed a golf club

speaking of leftoriums, the only existing ones i'm aware of are southpaw guitars in houston and jerry's lefty guitars in sarasota, florida.

http://www.leftorium.com/images/leftorium_400.jpg

paul mccartney seemed to have had no problem finding lefty basses, and he started out a few years earlier and had the disadvantage of being in england. but one imagines hofner and rickenbacker and whoever else were all too happy to keep making new ones for him.

from http://www.rickbeat.com/beatles/beatles.htm:

Paul received his Rickenbacker 4001S during the Hollywood Bowl concert in August 1964. The bass had been shown to him in February of the same year, but Paul was not particularly interested. The fact that noone at RIC had noticed that Paul was Left-handed may explain his previous lack of enthusiasm. The Rickenbacker bass was also heavier than his light-weight Hofner which may have added to his reluctance to accept the bass earlier..
In Bass Player magazine, a couple of years back, Paul explained that he was presented with the bass in February 1964, but didn't accept the offer until it was presented to him for free. Apparently RIC had asked for a small fee during this initial meeting with. He said in the article that the only reason he took the bass was because he was always on the look out for 'freebies'.
In another interview from May 1980 he said:
".... - Back in the midsixties Mr Rickenbacker (!) gave me a special left-handed bass. It was the first left-handed bass I´d ever had, ´cause the Hofner was a converted right-hand. It was a freebie and I loved it; I started getting into it on "Sgt Pepper". And now I´m playing Yamaha, because they gave me one - I´m anybody´s for a free guitar....."

doesn't it have some sort of distinguishing character

no

This new Fender Blacktop series looks pretty interesting. A Tele, Strat, Jaguar and Jazzmaster, all with dual humbuckers, all at a $699 MSRP. (Musician's Friend has them for $499.) Don't like the Strat-style knobs on the Tele, but what are ya gonna do?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sRuuIVJIdow/TJAjbKft9mI/AAAAAAAAA6w/4b6LblJNc5I/s1600/new+tele.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/160/418097068_c96369c2e5.jpg?v=0

http://media.photobucket.com/image/keith%20richards%20les%20paul/mwindrem/KiethRichards59LesPaul.jpg

http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/85001603.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA5482FA0687AEED6AD624C1BC3C05CDA02E247E0A426CE5411A0

http://ds.mk-guitar.com/lp84.jpg

http://www.lespaulguide.com/images/PeteTownshend.jpg

http://www.changingworld.com/catalog/images/A-B1436.jpg

Don't like the Strat-style knobs on the Tele

Those are actually amp knobs. They were used on the tele custom & deluxe models in the '70s so it's really more of a tele thing.

D'oh!

Well, EVH is most famous for his self-assembled "Frankenstrat," isn't he? For that matter, SRV played a cobbled together Strat, and Springsteen's famous Tele is a unique cobbled together thing, too. Prince's famous Tele was some weird Korean knock-off. And all these dudes have and use so many different guitars it almost doesn't matter. Townshend famously recorded a lot of Who stuff on a Gretsch, I think, but no one really ever saw him play one of those on stage. Similarly, Johnny Marr used all sorts of guitars in the studio, but favored the Rick live.

D'oh!

They do look weird on those new Fender Blacktops though. They look especially bad on the white strat pickguard. They're perfect on customs & deluxes though IMO.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1052255/FenderUSA1975TeleDeluxeBody_3.jpg

Townshend famously recorded a lot of Who stuff on a Gretsch, I think, but no one really ever saw him play one of those on stage.

Tons of Townshend Gretsch history/info here: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/gretsch.html

And here's where it got smashed (later repaired):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Qv6QTrWXN4

i have no idea what you're talking about

http://www.vintagekramer.com/Ed/guitar-5150lespaul.jpg

(xxxpost)

I think you meant to post this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/EVH_frankenstrat.jpg

Or, if you're nuts, this: http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/EVH-Eddie-Van-Halen-Frankenstein-Replica-Electric-Guitar?sku=513703

$25,000!!!!!!!!

there are dudes who will build you an "exact replica" for around a grand all day long. it's strangely tempting.

LOL

http://www.vanhalenguitars.com/images/dsc01274.jpg
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/durbien/kramer_11_212.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/428004078_be4eb9abf3_o.jpg

ok fucking loving the EVHed drills in that first picture

my college roommate's most prized possession was a strat* (I think) that was built to mimic yngwie malmsteen's strat as closely as possible

*I think it was a strat. whatever it was, it's the one that yngwie plays the most often, it's kind of creamy white.

yeah that would be the yngwie signature strat probably.

(pssst its kinda a piece of shit. expensive tho.)

haha I'm not sure if it was the signature official yngwie strat or just one that he got to mimic it

also can you guys tell me about es-335's, just in general

Suggest Ban Permalink

my college roommate's most prized possession was a strat* (I think) that was built to mimic yngwie malmsteen's strat as closely as possible

*I think it was a strat. whatever it was, it's the one that yngwie plays the most often, it's kind of creamy white.

― Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile (dayo), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:06 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah that would be the yngwie signature strat probably.

(pssst its kinda a piece of shit. expensive tho.)

― the great aussie ballkicking vids (jjjusten), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:08 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha I'm not sure if it was the signature official yngwie strat or just one that he got to mimic it

― Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile (dayo), Monday, October 4, 2010 6:09 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

Easier wanking action.

Enhanced bendiness!

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

― Louis CK BK ANYBODYK (lpz), Tuesday, October 5, 2010 12:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

haha I just remembered that my roomie's strat did have a scalloped fretboard, but I can't remember if he had a guy do it or if it was indeed the signature model

It says on Wikipedia that John McLaughlin had scalloped fretboards and that it made doing microtonal, eastern-influenced stuff easier.

ES-335s are pretty great. Think: John Fogerty, Bernard Butler, Ted Leo... their tone is pretty warm, which makes them good for jazz, too. Like Larry Carlton. But as far as dual humbucker Gibsons go, the SG is more in line with the rest of the guitars in this thread. It's sort of like the Telecaster's tougher second cousin, but just as versatile.

Another strike against Strats for me (irrational, I know) is that I can't even look at one without thinking of Eric Clapton.

it is a shame so many dbags like clapton and yngwie ever picked up a strat

This Strat player should mitigate the damage of all those dickweeds:

http://theselvedgeyard.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/buddy_holly88193326_502.jpg

I've noticed that a lot of '50s Strats, like Buddy's, sound pretty similar to Teles. It's like they hadn't discovered the "quacky" pick-up combo that every single electric blues player now uses. I guess the 5-way pick-up switch wasn't formally added til the late '70s, though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

love the tele 4vr but must choose LP in the end... if you can't get with the humbuckers, there's always the LP Special...

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6702/lpspecialvosampeg.jpg

Speaking of Yngwie, what exactly are the benefits of a scalloped fretboard?

If memory serves, wasn't Richie Blackmore the originator of scalloped fretboards?

This Strat player should mitigate the damage of all those dickweeds:

And these guys too:

http://www.gilmourish.com/wp-content/images/blackstrat_72.jpg

http://www.jerrysleftyguitars.com/left_handed_artists/dick_dale.jpg

FWIW, Townshend has been playing Strats pretty consistently for the past ten years. Though he has always stated that he starts with the amps first and then works backwards to the guitar.

^^ more proof that the strat is the last refuge of a scoundrel

look what happened to clapton when he switched from his LP and 335...

^^ more proof that the strat is the last refuge of a scoundrel

look what happened to clapton when he switched from his LP and 335...

It was all over for Clapton when he switched from this:

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/media/users/frankenslade/claptontele.gif

BTW, rogermexico Knopfler used Strats for years (hell, the original Dire Straits logo was a Strat) until he reduced himself to using a Les Paul on "Money For Nothing"

Pretty sure he 90% Strat still

voted dean ge.

man, did no one get what i was up to with those pics ;_;

though EVH may be a special case since the frankenstrat was built around a PAF

http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/media/blogs/rth/mc5.gif
http://www.muzprosvet.ru/graphics/can-michael-malcolm.jpg
http://www.bakedziti.net/images/RonAsheton.jpg
http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/akkun.0308/tribe/makeup/y-05.jpg
http://www.guitarontheedge.co.uk/images/heavy_metal_guitarists/Ritchie_blackmore_1.jpg

wk, who is the second-to-last pic there?

look how fun

http://i.realone.com/assets/rn/img/0/5/3/8/15528350-15528352-large.jpg

wk, who is the second-to-last pic there?

guy from flower travellin band

FWIW, Townshend has been playing Strats pretty consistently for the past ten years. Though he has always stated that he starts with the amps first and then works backwards to the guitar.

― Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, October 7, 2010 9:20 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

There's an absurd amount of info on Townshend's Strat rigs here: http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/fenderecstrat.html

If memory serves, wasn't Richie Blackmore the originator of scalloped fretboards?

Did he use one before John McLaughlin?

Dunno who was first, but I'd assumed that McLaughlin used a scalloped board for a different purpose (microtones) than Blackmore/Malmsteen (speed). McLaughlin's scalloped guitar was also an acoustic, was it not?

That Flower Travelin Band photo reminded me of another cool Strat player:

http://www.acidmothers.com/cgi-bin/tour/L002_2003amg_london/_img/kawabata_AMT.jpg

and another favourite of mine:

http://dwars.radio6.nl/files/2009/03/loren-connors-gitaar.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://guitarfixation.com/images/pic/Leo_Fender_by_Bob_Perine.jpg