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I say new, but it's a couple of weeks old now. I got a pleasantly surprising Xmas bonus from work, so I thought I'd treat myself to a new guitar.

I took myself down to Richtone Music in Sheffield, with a clear mind of not knowing what I wanted. I had one aim; to play as many guitars as possible and buy my favourite. This is what I came home with:



This is the only picture I have at the minute.

It's a 2011 Fender American Standard Stratocaster. When I have read the specs on these guitars I didn't think I'd like it, and so it was one of the last guitars I tried. I mainly tried Teles and Strats, with a few Gibsons thrown in too; I have all the offset/shortscale guitars I want right now, and was looking for something a little different.

I played it through a Fender DeVille 212 III (I have the older model, silver face DeVille 212), just clean, no effects at all apart from the reverb on the amp set at 2. The cleans on this guitar are just magnificent, especially in the quacky positions (bridge and middle, neck and middle).

The main thing that made me think I wouldn't like this guitar were the 'modern' jumbo frets, and the way Fender described the neck; 'a modern C-shape', as all my other guitars have vintage style, small frets. But when I started playing this thing, it felt right.
The neck is a satin feel on the back, really smooth with little to no friction at all, and the fingerboard is gloss maple. I thought ebony was the nicest fingerboard wood, but this maple board is so slick feeling, and lovely looking, its quickly taking over.

An addition which I appreciate on this modern strat is the the 2nd tone control is for both middle and bridge pickup, rather than just middle. It is also endented at the full on, and at around 6, allowing for the treble cut off and bass cut off separate, and with the position at the 5/6 endentation, it eliminates all the tone control from the circuit, so it's as if it is wired straight to the output jack. This is my favourite setting for this tone control.

I think I've waffled on long enough now, time to play it some more!!

Jack

very cool. it is basically the fender flagship model so I imagine it plays very well. definitely like the sound of that tone control as well. I always mod the second tone to be middle and bridge pickups so it's cool that they incorporated it like that.

Sounds like your bonding with it well jack since you mentioned you bought it on twitter. Nice snag

Very nice!

That's a nice, if plain, color combo. I likes it.

Sounds like it's a dream to play. I've had some Strat GAS for a bit now, but I kinda have my heart set on an original (no pickguard) Aerodyne... I found one in a shop in Arkansas in 2009, but when I had the money to buy it, it was gone when I emailed them. Probably for the better, since I'm sure the little shop wasn't familiar with international shipping

I do love white strats, nice choice.

GreenKnee wrote:An addition which I appreciate on this modern strat is the the 2nd tone control is for both middle and bridge pickup, rather than just middle. It is also endented at the full on, and at around 6, allowing for the treble cut off and bass cut off separate, and with the position at the 5/6 endentation, it eliminates all the tone control from the circuit, so it's as if it is wired straight to the output jack. This is my favourite setting for this tone control.

Interesting, that's new since 2008 when I bought mine. Classy, classic look. Congrats.

I've got a Strat copy for Christmas this year, and I'm really not sure why it's such a popular guitar model. The controls are located in such an awkward position that I keep turning the volume knob down while I strum, and the 5 way switch always ends up in the bridge position for the same reason. Maybe it's more of a lead player's instrument, but I can't get along with it. I'm also not crazy about the string spacing with such a long neck, it's like the Jazz bass of guitars-related to this issue I don't get why the poles don't match the strings on the neck and middle (sort of) pickups....seems like lazy guitar design.

Anyway congrats on the purchase....as far as strats go it's one of the nicer ones, and nice choice with the maple fretboard

Being a phil manzanera fan I am partial to a white Strat... nice!

Looks great. Congrats on that.

I am fixing up a 70s partscaster and was considering that same color scheme. The only paint left in the cavities is black, so I decided to go with that. That's one of the celebrated Hendrix color schemes too.

GreenKnee wrote: I took myself down to Richtone Music in Sheffield

Have they got a lots of stuff down there? They moved to that shop from somewhere else quite recently I think. I keep meaning make a trip bass and/or cab/little amp head shopping. but as I work in the city centre and don't have a car it always seems like slightly too much of a pain in the arse...but just slightly.


EDIT: Nice guitar by the way. My last three purchases have been white/ish guitars I don't want to be the guy that only has white gear but looks like I'n headed that way,

i want a strat just like that, but hardtail. doubt id care all that much if its as sweet as u say tho

Stuart wrote:

GreenKnee wrote: I took myself down to Richtone Music in Sheffield

Have they got a lots of stuff down there? They moved to that shop from somewhere else quite recently I think. I keep meaning make a trip bass and/or cab/little amp head shopping. but as I work in the city centre and don't have a car it always seems like slightly too much of a pain in the arse...but just slightly.


EDIT: Nice guitar by the way. My last three purchases have been white/ish guitars I don't want to be the guy that only has white gear but looks like I'n headed that way,

Yeah, they use to be up in Greenhill/ Norton, where I bought my Jag and White Falcon from them. When they were up there, it was by appointment only, which was pretty cool :p
It's quite near the Abbeydale Picture house now, so not too far from the centre of town.


I never thought of myself as a strat guy, but now I can kind of understand why people are so passionate about them, and they sell so well. I went out looking for a guitar that I wouldn't be scared of damaging at gigs, but this seems so nice it would be a shame to mindlessly bash it about.

Jack

I approve of the colour scheme!

Nice guitar!

Also, the TBX tone control is nice, ya. I wired one of those into my new Mustang, slightly modified to fit my needs (a more aggressive tone cut). It's a really nice touch to be able to go from full on dark to jangle city in one sweep of the knob.

Thom wrote:I approve of the colour scheme!

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Mine:

Nice! I've been thinking about getting an ashtry cover, but I've had them for my jags and mustangs, and while they look nice, they always seem to get in my way of certain palm-muting positions. If I was in an indie band playing nice happy barre chords all day, I would definitely use one all day.

On the subject of palm muting, how do you guys do it on a Strat? I learned to do it on a combination of Hello Kitty Strat, Les Paul, and Mustang, so I never had the volume knob all up in my grill, meaning I always muted with the blade of my hand parallel to the bridge, right on top of it, six strings deep. However, eventually, after starting to play normal Strats more, I found that shit just doesn't work, so I have more of a backwards slant now, and the muting is tilted away from the treble strings. That helps avoid the volume knob and also doesn't apply as much pressure on the bridge, which keeps it from going sharp.

honeyiscool wrote:On the subject of palm muting, how do you guys do it on a Strat? I learned to do it on a combination of Hello Kitty Strat, Les Paul, and Mustang, so I never had the volume knob all up in my grill, meaning I always muted with the blade of my hand parallel to the bridge, right on top of it, six strings deep. However, eventually, after starting to play normal Strats more, I found that shit just doesn't work, so I have more of a backwards slant now, and the muting is tilted away from the treble strings. That helps avoid the volume knob and also doesn't apply as much pressure on the bridge, which keeps it from going sharp.

I have my hand kind of clenched up to keep my fingers from touching anything unwanted, with the blade of my hand straight across the strings (I'm guessing by the blade, you mean the soft, squishy, non-hairy bit). Then pinky can come out and play with the volume control if it needs to.

GreenKnee wrote:(I'm guessing by the blade, you mean the soft, squishy, non-hairy bit)

ha ha

Nick wrote:I've got a Strat copy for Christmas this year, and I'm really not sure why it's such a popular guitar model. The controls are located in such an awkward position that I keep turning the volume knob down while I strum, and the 5 way switch always ends up in the bridge position for the same reason. Maybe it's more of a lead player's instrument, but I can't get along with it.

I used to get them problems too but i just modified my Peavey to suit me.
The controls feel cluttered together for me and i hate the volume being directly under the pup but the Strat in general is the most comfortable to play. Some guitars i feel like im fighting the body shape and weight distribution, or they dig into your ribs, or rip up your forearm.
Your right though, i think they suit players that play with finesse, its not a strummer or thrashers design.