FENDER STRATOCASTER, BEGINNER GUIDE

Hello readers, sorry for the lack of update, these past months were quite hectic for me but I'm happy with my new job. Today I want to share a bit about the difference between Stratocasters that Fender makes. There are thousands of version of Fender Stratocaster that are available in the market. Although all Stratocasters share the same physical characteristics, their "inner-organs" are different and that's what I want to share in this post. The goal that I want to achieve is to make anyone who is totally unfamiliar to Fender and doesn't know anything about Stratocaster can get an idea about all those Stratocasters.

History 101
Let me share a little bit history of Stratocaster. Stratocaster guitar is basically a follow up from one of Fender's most successful guitar which is no doubt the Telecaster(also called Broadcaster, Nocaster and Esquire; depending on the pickups/headstock). First built in 1954, it was designed to appeal many guitar player from different genres with three pickups configuration(Tele only has two pickups), futuristic dual cutaway body, and of course the Tremolo/Vibrato bridge that's better than current tremolo bridges on the market. The first Stratocasters features Alder/Ash body with Maple neck and usually comes with single sheet  celluloid plastic pickguard.

On late '50s, Fender changed the pickguard from one ply plastic to three ply celluloid plastic pickguard. They also added the 3-tone sunburst color. On 1962, they added the rosewood fingerboard on top of the maple neck to make it look more clean and to make trust rod insertion easier; 1962 is one of the golden era for Stratocasters because by that time, Fender had reached its peak of build quality as well as tone and feel. By the mid-end of '60s, CBS company bought Fender and the quality of all Fender guitars started to climb down. On 1985, Fender was bought back from CBS and start producing good quality guitars again and thus the Stratocaster got its "dignity" back and is still in production until today.

Tips: mark the important years: 1954, late '50s, 1962, mid-end of '60s, 1985.

Different Type of Stratocasters Available on the Market
After a little bit of history, here's the list of Stratocasters that you can find on the market:

1. MEXICAN STRATOCASTER (MIM)

a. Standard Stratocasters - This particular Stratocaster is made in Mexico. It's the cheapest Fender Stratocaster that you can get(if you want to go cheaper, you have to get a Squier). The guitar comes at around US$500. It features low quality Ceramic pickups that doesn't sound really good to be honest. Most of the new Standard Strat comes with late '50s/early '60s visual characteristics such as three ply plastic pickguard, maple/rosewood fingerboard and vintage tremolo bridge. It features a CBS style logo on small headstock.

b. Deluxe Stratocasters -  Made in Mexico as well but they feature better pickups(noiseless or Alnico, depending on the model) and sometimes a unique switching system for extra tone out of the pickups. They are pricier compared to the Standard Stratocaster, but they can give some features that even sometimes American Standard Strats don't have.

Other than those two models, you can also get Classic Player '50s and '60s, Factory Special Run, Black Top, Road Worn and some other models. They come with $600-900 price tag. Some Artist Series are also produced in Mexico.

Buying Standard Stratocaster will allow you to upgrade the parts and still pay cheaper than American Stratocasters. Deluxe Stratocaster will give you the upgraded parts already so you don't have to upgrade. But be careful, you have to try the guitar first before you are going to buy it. Mexican Stratocaster isn't too consistent, sometimes you'll get something which sounds so amazing but the other day you might get a total piece of junk sounding guitar. Mexican Stratocaster also doesn't age and turn yellowish due to its polyester finish (this doesn't affect the tone as long as it's applied thinly to the Stratocaster which is the case with Mexican Stratocaster).

2. JAPANESE STRATOCASTER (MIJ)
This particular Stratocaster is very unique due to its extreme consistency on its build quality. MIJ Strats are offered in many different models such as '57 Reissue, '62 Reissue, Standard and Deluxe. They are now only available in Japan but you can still find some used one from late '80s and early '90s when import guitars were plentiful.

MIJ Stratocasters usually offer a very neat finishing, wiring, as well as tone. They don't come with good sounding pickups, but once you put better pickups in it, MIJ Strats will usually transform into super nice sounding guitars. They come from as low as $600 to as expensive as $1200. Buy the used one will give you cheaper price

3. AMERICAN STRATOCASTER (MIA)

a. Special - The cheapest among the MIA Strats, come with '70s style large headstock and logo, super nice alnico pickups as well as vintage style tremolo and modern shaped neck and frets. They don't come with flight case. The current pickups for MIA Special Stratocaster are Texas Special pickups, they have a bit more power compared to regular Stratocaster pickup, which is good for playing blues and getting break-up sound. The new model also has the Greasebucket Tone Circuit which will remove unwanted extra bass when you roll down the tone knob.

b. Standard - Comes with two point tremolo that is very smooth but still with vintage stamped saddles that everyone loves. They come with flight case and the current model has the Fat '50s pickups that sound very good. Most of MIA Standard Strats can sound very good during live situation and they have the best build quality in my opinion. It also features better tremolo block that improve the tone significantly as well as thinner coat for improved resonance.

c. Deluxe - Comes with modern style two point tremolo and deluxe saddles. They have the unique switching for extra tones from your pickups, as well as noiseless pickups that don't produce 60 cycle hum. They also come with locking tuner for tuning stability, compound radius(super comfortable neck), contoured heel for easier upper register access, as well as V-neck option. This is the most expensive non Custom Shop and non Artist Stratocaster you can get.

Other than the three above, you can also get American Vintage Reissue '57 and '62, Artist Series, Select Series, Vintage Hot Rod and Custom Shop American Stratocasters. They come with $1200 to $2000++ price tags

MIM/MIJ VS MIA
American Stratocasters are the priciest compared to the other two because of its exceptional built quality and features that are not available on other Stratocasters. This caused a debate that has been going for some time whether is it really worth the price or if it's just a gimmick. I honestly don't know but owning both MIM and MIA Stratocasters, I can tell that they are quite different and not necessarily better from one another.

I say American Stratocaster is worth the extra price because of the different feel of the neck as well as the overall built quality of the body and electronics. The tremolo bridge has better metal block that causes the notes to sustain longer and to resonate across the whole body. While this is good for rock, blues and pop, this is not so good when you're playing staccato based songs such as some funk songs. 

My MIM and MIJ Stratocaster come with standard bridge that has standard metal block and they are finished with polyester. It has some sustain but not as long as my MIA Strat, so they shine the most when I play funk songs. My MIM Stratocaster can produce some heavy spank when engaged at 2nd and 4th pickup position. My MIJ Stratocaster can also produce that but due to its basswood body, it tends to gravitate toward warmer bell-like tone. My MIA Stratocaster comes with humbucker and while it produce some bright tone and spank, it doesn't do staccato note easily(you have to do extra work with muting the strings) but it cuts through the mix easier and produces some great heavy overdrive tones. So they are all good for different situation.

So here's my conclusion: If you want to buy a Stratocaster, it doesn't matter if it's made in Mexico, Japan or USA, but as long as you tried the guitar first and hear how it reacts toward different playing styles. American Stratocaster will have better feel and quality but it may not have better tone if you don't try it first. Mexican Strat may feel a bit stiffer but it may produce some amazing clean tone. FIRST, decide the features that you need from the guitar and decide your budget; SECOND, try that particular model of the guitar that you want; THIRD, compare it with other guitars of same models and try to compare it with some other models on same budget level and see if the other guitar of same or different models sound better; FOURTH, make the decision to buy.

Don't get overwhelmed with so many types of Stratocasters, all that matters is that it sounds good to your ears. Cheers and God Bless :)

BASIC TIPS FOR GETTING THE RIGHT TONE

I can't get that guy's tone!! What on earth is wrong with my expensive gears???

Frustrating isn't it? You have all the nice pedals and what you think the best guitar on this earth and you still can't get your desired tone. You keep asking what's wrong with your setup, you got all the most expensive gears and you wonder why they don't make any good sound. Lots of people have been there before and today I want to share my perspective of basic guitar tone guide.

First thing first

Let's analyze all the factors that count toward the creation of your tone. Before we even do that, this is what I basically will do: ask yourself, what kind of sound are you aiming for? The best way to determine what kind of sound do you want is basically by having some references. It could be your guitar hero, your friends' tone or some guitar sound that you had heard before in your life.

Your guitar

After you answer that question, lets's start with the very first thing that you have to observe: your guitar. You can't nail Slash's signature sound using a Fender Stratocaster with single coil pickups. You can't nail Stevie Ray Vaughan's tone using an ESP loaded with EMG pickups. You can't play Metallica songs using a Telecaster.

Getting the right type of guitar will cover 50 to 90% of your tone. This is generally true, as long as your tone does not require huge amount of effect processing. Here are some of the famous guitar tones that are usually being used by guitarists everywhere:

1. Stratocaster sound: bright and clear, can be achieved using any guitar with single coils and ash/alder/basswood body.

2. Telecaster sound: super bright and twangy, can be achieved using Telecaster guitars with Telecaster pickups.

3. Fat humbucking tone: fat, round and warm. Can be achieved using anything with humbucker or P90 pickups regardless of the body type. Generally people will use a Les Paul with mahogany body but anything can do.

4. Jazz tone: similar with no. 3 but you can also use a semi-hollow guitars to get this beautiful tone.

Your signal path: Amp and Gain Box

You must choose your gear carefully to nail a desired tone. Not every nice pedal and expensive amplifier on this planet will do the trick. If you want a straight forward rock sound from the '70s and '80s, use a tube amplifier that's capable of producing a medium amount of overdrive and if you need an extra push, use a Tube Screamer. Using a hi-gain amplifier won't produce your desired tone. Adding a high-gain distortion pedal on a clean amp will also not work best.

If you're trying to nail heavy metal sound, use a Hi-Gain amp with medium overdrive setting and push the amp a bit harder using a gain box with a small amount of gain. You can also use a cleaner amp that's being pushed with distortion pedal as long as you cut the mid a little bit.

For a more classic Hendrix tone, use germanium fuzz pedals, they can replicate a vintage cranked up Marshall with fuzz face pedal.

Experiment a little bit in your local guitar store with some amplifiers and/or gain boxes. I suggest to start by hearing from well known brands such as Marshall and Fender for amplifiers and Tube Screamer TS-9 or 808 by Ibanez/Maxon for the gain box. If you know what you want, you don't have to buy those stuffs, there are lots of cheaper alternatives that you can search on the internet or by asking to someone; they will recreate your desired tone and they sound almost as good as the big names.

Other stuffs in your signal path: time based and modulation

Delay, Reverb, Chorus, Wah, Flanger, you name it...not everyone use them in their rigs and you have to be careful about choosing them. Guitarists tend to buy expensive stuffs but they don't really utilize them to the fullest; I personally use two delay pedals(one for short and one for long), a reverb and a chorus.

I won't suggest to overly use these effects since it will kind of ruin your original tone. Keep them as subtle as you can. Most guitar heroes don't over use them as well they wan't to preserve their original tone.

The thing that matters the most

Ultimately, no matter how good your gear is, you need to practice hard too! If you are currently aiming someone's tone, it's good to learn some tricks that the person usually do because the techniques are sometimes influenced by the gears.

I once fell into the trap of thinking that hi-gain can be used anywhere. It's so easy to play in highly distorted amp and I thought it sounds good. Once I heard how terrible it sounds, I immediately change my tone to further fit the style that I play. It uncovers all the bad habit that I usually do when I used hi-gain settings, but with practice, slowly you can develop your skill while at the same time improving your tone. It worked pretty good on me and my friends, so it should work for you too!

I hope this post would help you! Feel free to share it with everyone.

Cheers and God bless :)

SIGNAL PATH 101

Hi everyone, today I want to discuss about the so-called "GENERIC SIGNAL PATH" for guitar. Signal path is basically all the stuffs that are between your guitar and your amp or speaker or earphone or whatever device that will generate the sound. Let it be your preamp, your wah, your volume pedal, your FX pedals, your booster, your loop, your switching boxes, they're all part of the signal path.

There is no scientific rule about how to arrange your pedals

People had thousands of different configuration on their pedalboard. Some prefer certain pedals on a spot, others prefer same pedals on different spot. That really depends on a person's need and how they want their signal to sound.

What you need?

The first step on figuring out how to setup your signal path is by knowing what you need. These are what people usually need:

- at least one 'Gain Box' (Distortion, Overdrive, Boost or Fuzz)

- at least one 'Modulation' (Chorus, Flanger, Univibe or Phaser)

- Compressor

- Wah pedal

- at least one 'Time Based' (Delay or Reverb)

- Volume pedal

People go with rack-mounted effects for its superb control, but now stomp boxes are popular again. I'll go explain how I setup my stomp boxes, it's pretty general and you can apply my explanation to rack-mounted effects.

My signal path

On the input plug

Guitar -> Wah -> Overdrive -> Amp

On the FX loop

Send -> Boost -> Volume -> Chorus -> Delay -> Reverb

This is the most generic setup that you can find. You can replace the volume pedal out of the FX loop into the very beginning of the signal path to make it act like your guitar volume knob instead of making it acts like a master volume control. Some artists put wah pedal after distortion to get more extreme wah sound. Chorus or flanger can be put before or after distortion out from the loop to get more wobbly sound.

FX Loop

One thing that I should point out is the fact that I had a preamp pedal that acts as my amp and cabinet simulator. It has the send/return plugs for FX Loops which means you can put some boxes there that you don't want to get mixed with other pedals that you put before the amp. Usually you put delay/reverb pedal on the loop to avoid those pedals from getting affected by the increased gain signal from the overdrive or distortion pedal.

If you don't have FX loop, you can just put everything before the input of the amplifier or preamp. It will sound a bit different and some pedals might not be able to tolerate the amount of gain increase caused by gain boxes on the beginning part of your signal chain. If you do run into this problem, there are some loop boxes available to be placed right before your amp and it will have send/return option for your pedals.

Try to experiment as much as you can

You can start from the most generic signal path that I explained above, but ultimately there is no correct option of placing your FX units. Try to research different setup and see if you can find the best setup for the tone that you're looking for. Pay attention to your pedal requirements as well, sometimes a pedal doesn't want to be placed before of after a specific pedal because it might damage the unit.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoy my post!

Cheers and God bless ! :)