The thing I like most about them is all the great music produced on them over the decades and the iconic musicians who played them, including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Bob Dylan, just to name a few.

Ivan, I am surprised you don't have at least 1 maple Strat in your wonderful collection. What gives?

Last edited: Aug 17, 2020 20:09:27

CrazyAces wrote:

Ivan, I love the photo of your traditional Surf Strats!
Other than the pearloid guard the rest looks like a Bob Perine photo from the 60's, great colors and with the amps....beautiful.

That's a wonderful compliment, Jeff!! Thank you, I really appreciate it!

WaimeaBay wrote:

Ivan, I am surprised you don't have at least 1 maple Strat in your wonderful collection. What gives?

It's very simple - I prefer rosewood!

Ivan
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Last edited: Aug 17, 2020 22:54:31

The four on the right all have blender pots and strung for surf. The four on the left have various pickup arrays and strung for other-than-surf.

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I've always loved Strats but I like too many other guitars to call them my favorites. One of, definitely. I've certainly come back around to them in the last few years.
I've always loved the design, ergonomics, stability, versatility, I ride the volume on my guitars constantly so I find the volume knob placement perfect for my playing.
Many of the players and performers I looked/look up to played them: Buddy Holly, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Mark Knopfler, Hank Marvin...

When we recorded "Rain For Sunday" I used a Strat because, to my thinking, no other guitar would do.

At the moment I have three variations. A '92 Japanese Hard Tail that I've had since new, a Shell Pink/rosewood that I built and a parts guitar dubbed "The Craftsman" with a humbucker and Lace Sensor neck pickup. While not a traditional Strat the Craftsman has become a main travel/touring guitar over the last few years due to it's versatility and the above reasons mentioned.
I also have a '55/'64 Strat but I don't play it much. It was purchased to re-sell/as an investment of sorts so I never wanted to bond with it.
It's a '55 that went back to Fender in '64 to be refinished but Fender being Fender simply replaced the body. Every other part on it is from '55 other than the transition logo they kindly (damn!) added to the headstock.

Victor, I think your build looks fantastic and I think it's really cool you had the opportunity to play the original!

Dave, next to Ivan you are definitely one of the official Strat ambassadors.

I do think the Stratocaster is one of the most brilliant inventions/designs ever to be contributed to the electric guitar world. Genius.

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IvanP wrote:

To actually answer David's question from the subject line:

Growing up, to me the Strat was the epitome of the electric guitar. Its looks are just what the electric guitar is supposed to look like. And having grown up in the era of the guitar heroes, most of them (certainly all my favorites) played Strats - and the way those Strats looked on them, the way they hung on their bodies and really seemingly became one with their bodies, just seemed perfect to me. To me a Strat is still the most perfectly-designed object ever! It's balanced just right, all the elements are exactly right, and even something like the location of the volume knob or the pickup switch or the middle pickup, often all mentioned as big challenges for players not used to Strats, can actually become valuable features if you get used to them and know how to make use of them. (One of the reasons I stopped playing a Jazzmaster is that I really didn't like how it hung on me or looked on me, it just seemed wrong with that large lower part of the body due to the offset design.)

Then there's the sound. It can go from the most thunderous sound EVER of Dick Dale to the most delicate tone EVER of something like the Shadows' "Cozy". Its range of tones and sound is simply unmatched, given the three pickups and the extreme sensitivity to the player's touch.

Finally, speaking of the player's touch, I believe it emphasizes the player's personality and idiosyncrasies the most of any electric guitar design, ever. A Les Paul heavily imposes its own sound on the player, and most players playing a Les Paul, sound very much alike to my ears. I do believe that that's somewhat the case in surf with the offsets, too. But no two Strat players sound alike. Dick sounds NOTHING like Hank Marvin, and neither of them sound anything like Ritchie Blackmore, to mention three of my favorites, or Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Stevie Ray Vaughn, etc. I remember reading an interview many years ago with Blackmore where he said exactly that, I didn't come up with it. His claim was that everybody sounds the same playing a Gibson, mostly because they're pretty easy to play. But a Strat is NOT easy to play, and it requires you to wrestle with it and have your technique together to make it sound good. But when you do, it rewards you by allowing you to develop your own sound more than any other guitar.

There you go, that's my take on it! No offense intended to any lovers of those other guitars!

I haven’t had a Strat since I got Gretsch Fever, but I have to echo many of Ivan’s sentiments in this post. A few days ago, I was listening to a recording I played the lead on, using an American Deluxe Strat, 50th Anniversary Model. No amp involved, I was direct in to the recorder, with a little reverb and delay. What gets me is the incredible clarity this guitar offered. Somehow, it just sounds better than I would have any right to expect it to sound.

Here’s a link: https://www.soundclick.com/search/default.cfm?searchterm=You%20walked%20away%202 It’s listed on Soundclick as You Walked Away 2, not Surf, but something I look back upon fondly.

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When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I believe I love Strats as my fist electric was an Onyx Strat copy. I almost bought an El Degas Les Paul copy instead. Who knew what my musical future would have been.

My Fender Strat just feels right, and is Really solid and dependable. It even stays on tune at Minus 10 degrees C. There are a lot of great tonal options, and the trem is the more stable than my Jag, or Bigsby.

Strats are real workhorses.

Rev

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An oral history of the Strat. https://guitar.com/guides/essential-guide/an-oral-history-of-the-fender-stratocaster/?amp

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http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

Dick Dale, The Edge. period. dick dale influenced me with reverb, the edge with delay. i wouldn't play if it weren't for them.

I started playing on my sonic blue strat in 1997. It's modded for Neck+Bridge, and everyone that plays it wants to own it. With neck+bridge it covers Jaguar and Telecaster territory. It's a brutally fast guitar, and completely bulletproof.

as much as I love jazzmasters, my strat is THE surf guitar.