Stratocaster
Until recently, I’d been playing Telecasters (including G & L ASAT models) almost exclusively. Honestly, I avoided playing the ridiculously iconic Strat precisely because it was so thoroughly associated with legends like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. And complete tools like Billy Corgan and Eric Clapton.
In retrospect, avoiding the Strat for so long seems kind of childish. Especially now that I’ve actually started playing one. Damn, it feels great hanging around your neck. It’s perfectly weighted and even the tremolo-equipped models stay in tune extremely well.
Most importantly, I remembered what a friend of mine said about Teles vs. Strats. Paraphrasing, he said “Teles look cooler but they’re harder to play. They’re less forgiving and require more precision. But the Strat gives you a lot of leeway.”
Basically, you can be complete dumbass who alternately strangles and stumbles around the fret board, and a Strat will still sound great, while a Tele will punish you for imprecision. In my own dumbass way, I’ve confirmed this is true. For an amateur like myself, a Strat makes a lot more sense. Even if it is a visual cliche.
The one problem I didn’t think about in purchasing my Stratocaster was what a terrible time I’d have re-stringing and tuning the damn thing. I’ve never broken so many high-E strings. This is mostly due to the tremolo, and also to the fact that I have no idea how to stretch my strings properly.
I’ve now been told that after stringing the guitar, I should alternately tune the high and low strings until I meet in the middle at the A and G strings. This helps balance the tension on the bridge and should reduce the hassles I’ve been having. I’ve also been told I should learn how to string a guitar properly. This sounds like excellent advice. If you know of any decent instructional videos on the Web, I’d be happy to view them.
My next Strat will be a hard-tail.
5 Comments:
The most sage advice I ever got about stringing a guitar was not to let any of the string overlap at the winding peg. It helps keep the tension even across the length of the string resulting in less tuning problems and fewer breaks. Also, only wind around enough string to get the job done, less for the higher gauge wrapped strings and more for the low gauge "solid" strings. 2-3 times around for the low E and maybe a 1/2 wrap more each string as you make it to the high E, poking through the peg whole first and then wrapping all of your string below that.
One of the nicest guitars I ever played was a cream Tele equipped with humbuckers and a rosewood fretboard. It felt brilliant, played like a dream, and sounded huge. I have an American Standard Strat that I rarely used in my apeish, heavy-handed mook rock bands I played in, but in the studio that thing was wonderful. I can't peel myself away from the sound of humbuckers to my ears when I am in a band. I guess I'm just too much of a complete tool as well.
bah humbuckers
First guitar was a Strat with tremelo, switched to playing a Yamaha acoustic through a Kustom amp for years, and then switched over to playing mostly frankenstein Teles and that has remained my favorite rock/country guitar since.
I like the simplicity of the Tele versus the Strat. I like using xtra hot pickups - have one Tele with Fender's Texas Teles pickups and one with the Rio Grande Muy Grandes. Both sets are single coil. Don't like the humbuckers for Fenders and when you need to buck the hum you switch to both pickups, works the same.
Don't like tremelos anymore either - like to work those kind of sounds by bending the strings and the body.
The high strings have a loong way to go on a Fender. Some string brands work better than others - designed to stretch all that way. Power Slinkys are good.
I used to break strings all the time until I switched to graphite saddles. Love them, can't recommend them more.
As far as I'm concerned, Clapton was pretty awesome until after he switched to using strats...
Yeah, the main thing that annoys me is that when you tune one string, the tuning of the other strings can change. Similarly, try playing an open string, then bend a different string. The pitch of the ringing string will change. I'll have to try that trick you mentioned of tuning strings in alternate order.
Hard-tail strats sound different from their tremolo equipped counterparts, however. You don't get that built-in reverb. If you never use the tremolo, you might want to either adjust the spring claw screw such that the bridge sits flat across the body, or instead put a piece of wood behind the bridge block so it can't move.
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