Build Your Own Clone Message Board

Don't know if anyone remembers my poll from a couple months back about whether to pick up my friend's '97 Strat Plus. He came by with it today, and it's an absolute dream. It's heavier than my Squier Stratfor sure, but feels a lot better balanced. It sustains better than my FMT HH Tele, and 50x better than the Squier Strat. I'm in love. The neck feels incredible to play. Not as slick as the Squier (that one has some kind of very thin matte finish - it's sanded so smooth and it NEVER sticks), but it feels softer. It's chunkier too, which I thought I wouldn't like, but I think I like it better. It's still a Strat neck - the more modern 'C' profile I guess, where the Squier has more of a vintage flatter neck radius. I actually like the Lace Sensors so far. No they don't sound like vintage Strat pups - they're hotter for sure, but plenty clear as opposed to most 'overwound' type pups I've tried which seem to lose clarity with the hot signal.

Needless to say, I made the decision to pick it up Oh and I'm keeping my Squier Strat one way or another, even if it goes out 'on loan' for a bit.

Anyway here's a few shots. It's a match made in heaven with the BF Tremolux:

(sorry - having trouble getting photobucket to rotate these right now... You get the idea)

Congrats, TD. May the romance last forever.

Thanks Geek

BTW the reason you don't see any BYOC pedals in that mess there is they're either apart in some state of mod or build, or disassembled for painting the enclosures.

excuses, excuses.

Nice. my '91 strat plus has served me unbelievably well for the last 16 years or so. Here's to you getting the same out of yours...

Is that a Geek Ranger I see there?

Very nice. I'm jealous.

So, it's day three of ownership now and the love just gets stronger. It's weird for me to have feelings so strong for an object. It's just so beautiful and feels so right compared to any other guitar I've played (note that I've never grabbed the expensive guitars off the wall in the music shops).

Non-Reverse - Yes that is most definitely a geek ranger. One of my favorite pedals. That in full range mode in front of the Tremolux set clean... Aaaaahhhh....

OK I have it so photobucket let me edit the photos to rotate them, and when I look in my album they're correct. I re-pasted the IMG links, and they're still sideways... I suppose I'll have to live with it.

That is a very lovely guitar! I definitely wouldn't kick it out of bed - LOL! I'm glad you got a good one. I had an '88 American Standard Strat that sucked some major hooeey. It was one of the first ones out that didn't have the Fender 'spaghetti' logo. Maybe that's why mine sucked so hard - LOL. That Fender 'spaghetti' logo must possess some mucho mojo, aaaaiiiiiyyyyeeeeeee!!!

She may look hot, but I don't even think you'll last the 7 years

But enjoy the strat!

I know quality was bad in the 70's, perhaps tehy still hadn't fully gotten their act together by the end of the 80's? At least I had the option to try before buying. Sounds as fantastic as it looks. And it plays like an absolute dream. Near as I can tell (they did a FANTASTIC job with the sunburst stain) - it's a two piece body.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Ahhhhhhh.... very nice! Needs a rosewood board though!

Oh... BTW... if your FMT starts feeling neglected........ well, you know.....

yep, she looks real purdy .... I'd do her...

How are you liking the Gold Lace Sensors? I have a '95 Strat Plus Deluxe with the Blue-Silver-Red config, and I immediately swapped out the red for a SD Lil '59 (which is pretty good since I wanted more output at the time, but I have a 2 humbucker guitar and really want to put a single coil back there). Right now I'm looking to get a new set of pickups that give a late '60s Strat sound (i.e. Hendrix, Gilmour, SRV tones). Are the golds holding up? I've always been OK with the Lace Sensors, but after hearing other noiseless pickups, I've realized that the sensors aren't up to par with the Fralins, Kinmans, DiMarzios and others. Are you sticking with yours or making a swap?

I do agree, the Strat Plus feels and plays very, very nice (and in tune!).

For DIYorDIE: mine has the rosewood board. It feels so good in my hands.

I have the golds in my strat and I don't think they're the way you want to roll for a late 60s strat sound. They have a bit too much output and no where near enough slap for the hendrix/SRV thing. I'm pretty sure Gilmour used them in the 90s, though, so if that's what you're looking for, roll with it. I've always considered my early 90s strat plus with golds the best launch pad guitar I have for heavy effects--I always find myself playing the holy hell out of it in the studio when recording.

Plus, as you mentioned, it's bullet proof as far as staying in tune, and plays like an absolute dream. It's also the most balanced electric I have when played unplugged. Does anyone know if the bodies on these things were ash or alder?

I actually really like the maple fretboard. It's a little brighter sounding but not nearly as much difference as I thought compared to my Squier with the rosewood. The Squier sounds muddier, but that's as likely due to the cheap components and materials more than the fretboard. I do love the feel of the maple though. There's such a soft finish on it, I don't know what it is but I like it. I definitely prefer the nickel-steel frets over the stainless ones on the Squier. I thought people were crazy to say they feel 'softer' but they do. they're also better broken in since I've had the Squier 3 1/2 years and this Strat Plus is 11 years old...

So far the gold Laces are great! they are higher output, but still clear and strat like in that regard. They're not vintage-y but I'm ok with that for now. I'm thinking of some vintage type pups in the Squier and using that for a different Strat sound. The gold Laces sound AWESOME for rock and through my pedals, as well as straight to the Tremolux. The bridge is a bit too bright and hot, but there's a detent in that tone knob where a roll-down to the detent makes it perfect for me. I spend more time with the neck and neck-middle positions anyway so the bridge isn't as important for my playing.

Pretty sure it's alder, though they may have done both over the years. It feels WAY too heavy to be ash. It's very noticably heavier than both my FMT (mahogany/maple) Tele and my supposedly alder Squier Strat.

DIY - welcome back Stateside!! And, more than likely the guitar in my stable most likely to be neglected is the Squier Strat I'll let you test drive the Tele though - see if it's 'Tele' enough for you.

Played it unplugged last night while watching the Celtics game (sorry Rockets fans - all good things must come to an end...). It's so nice unplugged! It sustains and resonates so well. Unplugged blues still sounds like blues It's a bit harder to do bends than I thought it would be with the roller nut, but at least it stays in tune. The intonation is far better than my Squier too.

Actually, Gilmour has been a diehard EMG user since the late 1970's. EMG makes a David Gilmour siganture model pre-wired pickguard with the EXG and SPC preamps. I've been using this setup for about 8 years now and I love it. It's a great setup unless you get unlucky like I did last week. The EXG half of the control board went out. Although you can buy the EXG and SPC preamps separately, on the pre-wired David Gilmour setup, both preamps share the same PCB. If one half of the board goes out, you have to junk the whole damn thing. I'm going to replace it with two separate modules this time so if one goes out, I can just put out $45 for the bad one, instead of shelling out $90 for both

Yeah, I forgot about that... although on Kinman's website, it states he uses the Woodstocks "in one of his Strats." I guess the same can be said for the Gold Lace Sensors, that he used them "in one of his Strats" but I know he's been a big EMG guy for a long time. Thanks for reminding us, Mantas.

Had to get a dig in there, huh TD? We'll see what your celtics do against the west. Maybe it'll be like football and the knicks will beat'em? What, huh....who woke me up? Lord have mercy.

The Celtics are 22-4 against the west, Geek. They just beat the defending champs and the team with the best record in the west on the road on consecutive nights. Pretty impressive... except the one game I saw they laid an egg at home against the Bobcats (their second worst loss of the season). Good thing I'm in Paris until July, because obviously I'm bad luck for the green team.

BTW: that might be the first time I've called someone geek and it wasn't either malicious or facetious.

J-
Geek is good. I embrace it. Now. As for your Celtics....I meant in the playoffs. Regular season is regular season....but they do look good, 'specially when all are healthy. I like Sam Cassel too. But I don't see them getting past the Spurs, or Lakers (maybe) in the playoffs.

Geek

The Spurs look a little rough around the edges right now. The Rockets looked better until last night, but they have to be tired after ripping 22 in a row... The Celts just had one of those nights where the shots were falling. I'm more concerned about the Lakers and the Pistons right now as far as the playoffs go. Detroit might not be the best in the NBA but they have the Celtics' number.

The Celtics are the most fun they've been in years - decades even - and no not because they're winning Starting 5 to the last guy on the bench, they're all fun to watch. Guys like Rondo and Leon Powe and Sam Cassell (I love that we picked him up!!). It's nice to see NBA teams passing and playing defense again. Obviously this Celtics team is not the only team doing that, I just mean the NBA in general - it's getting back to what it used to be. And it's great to see a team where not one guy is trying to carry the whole team, and drive up impressive personal stats, or anything. It's a team top to bottom. I love that.

Yeah, sorry I had to get the dig in. And Geek, for your own sake as well as all NY fans, don't compare the Giants with the Knicks. The Giants are a good all around team with a good coach. They were David knocking off Goliath in the Super Bowl, yes, but they're a great team and came through when it mattered most - the playoffs. The Knicks are a joke right now. I feel really bad for Knicks fans because they're screwed as long as Isaiah is in charge. It stinks becasue it makes the East more weak, it makes the Celts early clinch of the Atlantic seem impressive (the team is all that, but with competition like the Knicks and the current Nets it hurts credibility ) Seriously - the Knicks are an OLD school team and have a legacy and a history and the current state of things is worse than watching last year's Celtics team (worst record in team history, fans openly rooting for the team to tank to get a high pick in the Oden/Durant sweepstakes, and then we ended up with the 5th pick - stupid lottery...)

Besides, the last Knicks Celts game I watched the Celtics held the Knicks to their 2nd lowest point total in franchise history. The only reason it wasn't the lowest is someone hit the 3/4 court buzzer beater for 3. Impressive shot. All it did was put them one point above the worst Knicks total ever...

jhamnett - I know life's tough in EU without your gear, and with the horrible conversion rate of USD to EU. But, if you can stay until after June... That'd be great

I'm here until July, so, yeah, no worries there... except if my company has me go back for a week and I go see a game. My dad has season tickets so I go with him sometimes. Probably would be the worst loss of the season (again).

It is tough being without the gear. I've been buying stuff off eBay and forums like crazy (well, crazier than usual). Can't wait to play with the new toys!