Stratocaster vs. Telecaster

(it is entirely possible that Richard Thompson is my uncle, ftr).

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51XtWa3SqVL.jpg

thread closed

maybe a controversial opinion here but my take on pros that use strat and do so successfully is that the amps and racks are doing a lot of work

gilmour's strat(s) were pretty heavily modded, it's really not fair to judge it as a "standard strat sound"

never liked hendrix

They're two of the most boring guitar choices I could possibly think of, but between the two it's the Tele.

I find Strats far easier to play, but they remind me too much of Eric Clapton - indeed he has a signature model - so it's always felt like it has a faint whiff of naff about it.

Give me an ES-335, an SG or even a Rick over either.
My

age 12-20 (Gilmour worshipper): Strat

age 21-30 (snobby twentysomething): Tele

age 31-36 (wizened thirtysomething dgaf): Strat

Both absolutely classic, but Strat for its shimming, glassy tones and the the sound of the neck pickup on lead.

*My favourite guitar is a toss-up between those three.

(xpost)

I think the important lesson to take away here is FUCK GIBSON.

Both absolutely classic, but Strat for its shimming, glassy tones and the the sound of the neck pickup on lead.

otm

Oh and FUCK "BILLY".

Les Pauls are even less versatile than the Tele but at least the one mode on them is RAWK

interesting how everybody's experience with strats is COMPLETELY the opposite of mine.. maybe it IS the amps (never played through anything but fenders)

same goes for the SG. i'd rather play an SG than a Tele

Strats don't need to be modded to win this. I prefer Vox amps (cranking the gain all the on an AC10 is my favorite distortion sound ever), but the sound of an out of the box American (or even Mexi!) Strat in a Twin Reverb or a Frontman... yeah, it's that shimmery, glassy sound of the gods.

the gods of surf

why would you judge a guitar on how versatile it is

it's like saying you prefer a dilettante to a specialist

(and yes, I know that Clapton had a psychedelic SG when in Cream, but that's back when he meant a shit)

For those of us who can't afford an arsenal of guitars, it's nice to have tone options

I think the important lesson to take away here is FUCK GIBSON.

No way man. My two earliest guitar heroes, Alvin Lee and Bill Nelson: 335, and 345 respectively.

I think the important lesson to take away here is FUCK GIBSON.
― Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Tuesday, November 1, 2016 1:40 PM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

why would you judge a guitar on how versatile it is

it's like saying you prefer a dilettante to a specialist

― F♯ A♯ (∞), Tuesday, November 1, 2016 2:45 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not at all- the Strat is a specialist in every area
and yeah, options.

There's nothing a Tele can do that a Strat can't do better. Show me

tele def looks cooler/has some distinctive sounds in certain settings
i bought a strat though and if you only had to have one guitar it does the job great and is just flat out more comfortable to player IMO which is a bigger deal to me now i guess

feel like the indie backlash against the strat has been going on for so long it's kind of underrated now? like it's hilarious to me that a lot of ppl think the jag is an overall better guitar

i really wish i could get a G&L 80s version of either, those are great

Versatility only really means anything if you can only afford to have one or two guitars or you want to take less gear onstage with you.

There's a reason why professional musicians tend to own several different types of guitar - not just because they can afford it, but mostly it's for the unique sound of that guitar! Sometimes one guitar can't cover all the "colours" you need.

(xpost)

Or what Moodles said!

honestly i feel like in an age where every fucking guitarist is running his guitar through a pedalboard with about 17 handpainted boutique pedals and then an amp with its own colorations to the sound, the guitar has never mattered less outside of its playability and i'd love to do one of those 'gotcha' a/b blind tests with ppl who say they can identify guitars by tone on recordings

tele def looks cooler/has some distinctive sounds in certain settings

I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS

feel like the indie backlash against the strat has been going on for so long it's kind of underrated now? like it's hilarious to me that a lot of ppl think the jag is an overall better guitar

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 1, 2016 2:52 PM (three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

was just thinking about Malkmus though and he played a strat.

You mostly play a Strat when you record?

Yeah. I went off it for a few years, but it was my Pavement guitar and I came back to it. When I play with my fingers with that guitar, it has a certain roundness and with a pick it can sound a little brittle. I don’t know, once you know some instrument so well, you get really used to the subtleties of how they react — pickups and things like that. I pick up new guitars now and then, but almost because I have to or should more than because I want to.

yeah the Jazzmaster/Jag trend is so fucking beat, i hope we can all agree that Strat or Tele, they're both far preferable to the novelty bullshit of a Jazzmaster or a Jag.

There's nothing a Tele can do that a Strat can't do better. Show me

― flappy bird, Tuesday, November 1, 2016 11:52 AM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a strat and a tele have different purposes. if i want a tele sound, i wouldn't try to emulate it with a tele, and vice versa. i wouldn't say one is better than the other

i think you've described the strat's sound pretty accurately (clear, glassy tones), but i would not use it any other way, as the other sounds/tones it produces are not that great, unless you tweak/mod the hell out of it, get the right amp and racks (or pedals)

it's not really a competition, and certainly not one where one can emulate another guitar's tone. i've played a couple strats, teles, jazzmasters, gibson, and other types of guitars, and would rather use a guitar for a specific tone, but i know i'm super picky with my tone, meaning i know exactly the type of sound i like and i'm pretty stubborn about getting it

like a string breaks a magnetic field, that is translated by the pickup into an electric signal, which runs through a cord and then in and out of 8 different pedals each of which is altering the signal, then into an amp that alters the signal (sometimes with tubes or w/more effects) and then through a cone that translates into soundwaves....and people swear they can tell that said guitar's body is made of alder or rosewood

i wouldn't try to emulate it with a strat*

xp to myself

xpost yes i agree, it's all out of love. i have a Tele and 2 Strats, and while i love both, I disagree that you can't get heavy or twangy with a Strat w/o mods. i have 5 or 6 guitars and it's a burden, and if I had to, I knew i could get pretty much everything I wanted out of a guitar with a Strat (preferably a Fat Strat with a humbucker in the bridge)

i haven't talked guitars with people in a while (been out of the music thing for a while now), but ya, there are many components that affect your sound. played cleanly and connected directly to an amp, you might be able to guess, but it also depends how it was recorded (i'm thinking mic placement). in practise, this is rarely the case, though. sound is tainted by so many variables

xp

to boot, i've started using an amp modelling software called Scuffham Amps S-Gear for p much all my electric recording. i've resisted a lot of this stuff for years but a friend who owns a pro studio recommended it as better than trying to record electric superquietly as to not wake the kid with a microcube or some such super low watt amp.

been fairly blown away by how good it sounds. i don't think i could do better outside of a pro studio/pro mics with a really nice amp at a good volume

that's a good solution. the technology is getting surprisingly good

i'm thinking of buying ivory synthogy's piano samples because it sounds very realistic

for anyone interested, for $130 it's fairly well mindblowing, guy used to work for marshall back in the day

http://www.scuffhamamps.com/product/s-gear

feel like the indie backlash against the strat has been going on for so long it's kind of underrated now? like it's hilarious to me that a lot of ppl think the jag is an overall better guitar

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 1, 2016 11:52 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the Johnny Marr Jag is GREAT tho.

i like jags just fine and they look cool, it's just funny how they went from a sorta obscure thing to almost more ubiquitous than the strat itself

though i guess i think of marr as a rick guy?

me too... jag/jazz is the land of kurt/thurston

i like jags just fine and they look cool, it's just funny how they went from a sorta obscure thing to almost more ubiquitous than the strat itself

― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, November 1, 2016 12:48 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

def true, i mostly hate jags (besides the look) but that marr one fixed everything wrong with them m/l

I own a Tele, two Strats, and a Jazzmaster. The Telecaster I bought in 1983 and I'll own it until the day I die. I record with it all the time and it's relative unforgivingness has always forced me to be a better at playing and paying attention.

In my experience Strats (especially newish ones) are wildly inconsistent in sound and quality control even between models that are supposedly the same subspecies. If you find one that's comfortable and steers you in a direction you want to go, then absolutely consider modding it. My Strat is an AmStandard one from the mid-90s - I replaced the tremolo block and string saddles with heavier pieces (#1 important mod IMHO), swapped out the pickups with ones from a '68 Strat, and redid all the wiring for in/out-of-phase PU switching. I gig with this guitar all the time - *always* stays in tune, sounds great, never really have to sweat about what I'm doing.

The second Strat is a 12-string one from Fender Japan. Never had to do anything to it other than buy strings.

Also: Telecaster. Telecaster? Telecaster!

Doesn't matter as long has it has a heart of chrome and a voice like a horny angel.

redid all the wiring for in/out-of-phase PU switching

I have this mod on one of my two 'Strats' (both built from parts made under license by Fender) and it makes a huge difference.

does this mean modding to a 5-way pickup switch?

Doesn't matter as long has it has a heart of chrome and a voice like a horny angel.

― MarkoP, Tuesday, November 1, 2016 8:14 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

But it does require the perfect combination of the right power chords and the precise angle from which to strike!

I modded mine to add "soul" and "grit" knobs that go to 11, keep em turned up

Anyone have any experience with either the Fender 75th anniversary tele or the vintera road worn 50s tele? Both of these seem like they might be in my sweet spot of having the more classic “twang” tele sound, no noiseless pickups, and not insanely priced (and the “wear” on the roadworn I’m looking at is pretty minimal, which I prefer if there’s going to be any at all).

I think with most Fenders you will get something that will work, they might need to be setup, but in general they don't have too many total clunkers. Hard saying now, but I think with any name brand guitar you are better off if you got options with stores going and finding a used one in many ways unless there is one you just have to have.

Any tele marked 50s style usually will have a bigger U shaped neck, which to me is a good thing. I don't like yer skinny modern C neck myself, I want a ballbat neck myself.