Strat…Tele…Jag…Jazzmaster…
Are you folks assuming their “Fender”!!! HAAHH …I’ll show myself out.
Oh oh!! the gain my on Marshall JCM900 goes to 20! No joke! I always wondered why they did that so I looked it up and apparently it’s in regards to this.
Yup…
I’ve heard that the pot manufacturer was horrified by what we were doing… and Marshall was horrified to find that these pots with the limit blocks were costing about 50% more than a basic pot. Don’t know when they did away with them. But someone affiliated with marshall said “actually, they go to 12 now…” 
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Hey folks! Bringing this thread back from the grave to post this little clip of another axe worth considering (although I have put on hold any plan for an actual purchase for the moment… had some other large and unanticipated outlays to make recently and I need to recover from those).
It’s the Ernie Ball Musicman Cutlass model, which is apparently designed & built by some ex-Fender guys. Not a vintage-spec copy by any means, but a so-called “modern” design with subtle changes to the classic. And for my purposes, where it’s all about the tone, it sure does sound great. The only trouble is I don’t think anyone here locally carries them, so playing one before buying would be a challenge…
This clip was also my intro to the Nashville studio cat Johnny Hiland. Man, can this guy play, and the way he effortlessly shifts from one style to another is pretty amazing. I’m sure he could make a two-by-four sound good with his chops! He’s an official endorser for Ernie Ball, but the guitar speaks for itself. The link below starts at a little under three minutes, where he starts describing the axe; before that it’s him and the other guy jamming if you just want to dig that.
The less expensive MM strats ($1400-$1700) seem like a very good guitar for its price range. If you’re looking at the ones in the $2500-$2800 range, I’d consider a Tom Anderson drop top, or a classic strat. The craftsmanship is downright incredible, and the build can be customized and tweaked to the n-th degree. What’s crazy about Tom Anderson is to have a one-of-a-kind custom guitar built for you doesn’t cost a penny more than a stock one would off the shelf. You can speak in depth with them about the voicing of the pickups, the contour of the neck…like if you can be as specific as requesting a +.030 taper for your fretboard (which means its .840 at the first fret and .900 at the 12th). Or change it to a +.100 even taper (which gives you .970-.910 on the 1st through 12th fret). You can change the scale of the neck, or the width of the nut…if you can think it, they can probably make it happen. Only guitar maker I’ve ever seen who gave you that much detail in the choices. When I asked for a quote from PRS to build a 7-string guitar to spec, they wanted $11k. lol.
I’m in the same league mate! Mexican Precision Bass and a Tanglewood Rebel5K, albeit with upgraded pick-ups!
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These are in the $1300-1500 range, and that’s about as much as I’d want to spend on this. I’m definitely not in the $2500+ market…
I honestly don’t have the knowledge to stipulate the detailed kinds of specs that Tom Anderson or any other custom luthier would offer. I’ve been playing electric only for the past five years or so. Didn’t own one for over thirty years after the obligatory high school garage band days. So I’d really have no idea what all to specify for a custom electric…
Ah gotcha. Understandable. I was actually hunting for a strat too. I’ve kinda outgrown the one Fender I have. Its super super resonant and sustains for days, but its sloppy, and the dynamic range isn’t there. Chords are really rich and lush on this one, primarily because of the sustain, but it doesn’t have the detail that I got used to in the Tom Anderson Tele. Again, it rings out beautifully, but it doesn’t have that huge dense chunky body that a really amazing strat has.
By the way…I just looked at prices of some of those collector strats on eBay and reverb. I can’t believe people are paying $16-40k for some of these! No way! lol.
Yeah, well…,
Or, you could just stop being a pretentious bastard. Get a Squier and learn to play guitar like a real woman.
S
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Now, Sven-- you know me well enough to know that it is not possible for me to stop being a pretentious bastard! 
One thing I find appealing about the Music Man Cutlass is that little metal housing they have over the bridge. I would guess that’s far more comfortable than resting the heel of the hand directly on the pointy bits… I’ve asked a couple of pro players I know in LA (through my nephew’s band) for some comments on it, so we’ll see what they say.
Health and Safety comes first !
That bridge could be handy (no pun).
Did you listen to Sima playing above - especially the first tune, from 1:00 is great. Reminds me of Wishbone Ash playing live. Wish I could play like that. (Again, no pun)
S
I did! She’s really good! Wish I could play that well also.
Unless you are very good at abseiling!
I agree with holster. I have many strats, in fact I collect them. Don’t be fooled by price! The higher price does not dictate quality or playability. I own most variations of the strat including all three squire models and quite frankly I have a squire bullet hard tail that is my go to stock guitar right now. I have customized several adding new prewired pick guards available everywhere as so forth. These mods can be incredible. But, I have found that strats, American, Mexican or others, just like Chinese mics you need to go through many before you find the right one. With that in mind play as many strats as you can of all models before you choose the “keeper”.
G&L makes great guitars and the new peavey knock off rocks as well. You will know when you find the right one. Don’t buy it before you try it!
So her name is Sima? I thought Cousin Itt got a Strat!. Still shopping Dave? By the way, most of the time you’re supposed to take that metal housing off and use it for an ashtray, even if you don’t smoke.
Yep Bob, I’m still in the market, although I have not progressed past the reading stage. Turns out that for a decent selection of Strats or Strat-style guitars, I have to drive a good 90 minutes each way from where I live, and that’s a major activation barrier. I fully agree about trying guitars out and getting the one that sings to you; but I just don’t have enough spare time to burn a bunch of days taking long drives at the moment.
Several highly reputable online stores with huge selections have 45-day, no questions asked return policies, and I may end up having to do that…
Dave, thanks for your input!! I appreciate it!
Sima Bustami… very talented
Probably going to take the next step and go play some guitars this afternoon. Turns out my local Guitar Center has a very nice looking used GL Legacy on the wall at the moment, characterized as being in “great” condition (their top rating for used gear is “excellent”, this is the next step down, so probably has some surface scratches). They also have a few Fenders in stock so I could make some useful comparisons. I have one or two other options to explore as well involving online sales, but it’s time to get my hands on some necks… I really don’t like Guitar Centers in general, it is always so noisy in there that it’s really hard (for me) to hear anything useful, and I have rarely had a good experience with sales staff (mostly bored, condescending wannabe rockstars). But a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do…
I’m interested to know what guitar you end up buying? Got my 5 string bass from a small music store in Southampton, UK. I’ve always tried to use the smaller shops to give them the business, and they’re usually not too noisy either!
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Me too @Ailwyn! I much prefer doing business with my local shop-- we have a great one just a short drive from home. But they just don’t have much selection for what I’m looking for at the moment. I’ve purchased three instruments from them, plus had my Heritage refurbished/re-set up there. Great staff, super helpful and knowledgeable. If they had something that I’m after, I’d be there for sure.
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