Horus Posted March 8, 2017 The Stratocaster a personal history. It all started in 1970, with my first record, RCA's supercharged hits of 1970, I was 10 years old. Track 1 side 1, American Woman by the Guess Who ,with a still iconic guitar solo, strong defiant wailing notes played by Randy Bachman on a Fender Stratocaster. The greatest thing I'd ever heard, played hundreds times, etched into my young mind. Then came Richie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix, using sound as a sonic force, expressing energy as never before as they waved their Strats in front of Marshall Monoliths. Of course Jimi Page distracted and tempted us with his Gibsons, as did others, but those instruments did not have the "wild flexibility" of the Stratocaster. Makoto Kawabata has been my Strat Champion for many years, never afraid of a 20 minute solo, and my happiness was momentous when Helios Creed changed from Gibsons to a Standard sunburst Strat with Maple Neck, (the same as my 1996 50th anniversary model) a few years ago. As soon as my apprenticeship allowed me to save enough money, at 19, I went into Palings Music Sydney to buy my first Strat. A 1979 Antiqua with Maple Neck. This rare model with its Grey/green to white sunburst finish is now a desirable collectors item. A great regret in my life that I sold it, ive never seen another in the flesh. I had a old school Fender 100w twin reverb amplifier. Soon to come were drum and Bass machines, synths and echo units and wah wah to create a wall of sound for the Strat to sing and scream over. There has never been a thought of becoming an act or going public, it was just about the act and joy of improvisation and creation, using this almighty expression tool from the Fender Corporation. I jammed in my music room till 1986, when another American design icon and symbol of the 60's started overwhelming my desires. Id convinced myself that all this shoegazing soloing was antisocial, I needed to get out there, in the world with all the people and cars…. so I sold my Strat and gear……and bought my first Harley Davidson. I still had beautiful Martin acoustics and banjos and stuff, I would go acoustic, and join the world. Dec 5 1987 a woman did a right hand turn in front of me on my bike, I gazed at the mangled chrome icon as I lay dying in the gutter from multiple trauma ,wiggling the toes of my un-smashed leg to see if I was paraplegic. Undeterred and informed by a Post Traumatic Stress delusion that I was "hard to kill", I commissioned a custom "shovelhead" electra glide, joined an old school outlaw club, and let my Daemons run amok. Thankfully that period came to an end in a few years, and it was time to get my life back on track……first thing required was a Stratocaster! I wish Id saved the cash as my other regret is trading a 1927 Martin Parlor for a Strat, but it had to be done. Sentimentality drew me back to the Palings City store for a Black Standard Strat with maple neck. Not long after I was robbed by 2 junkies, the Strat among other precious possessions including 2 Tibetan skulls and a ridiculously rare vintage tenor guitar were stolen. That event was the trigger for leaving Sydney and moving to the Central Coast. With the insurance money I bought the 1996 Anniversary Strat, a Yamaha acoustic and a Roland Groovebox (a multi instrument sequencer)….and never looked back. The big life changer was Roland looping technology. It became possible to multi track record and overdub in real time. Switching loops backwards and all the stuff Id dreamed of. Improvising with yourself just went stellar ! Now I have a RC300 where there are 4 tracks to do multiple recordings, its easy to get 12 Stratocasters layered with pure digital sound. Stratocaster soup, just delicious. In addition, us consumers have benefited from a reverb/echo unit pissing contest from a few of the boutique players. My Blackhole space is like the echo deck at the end of time. Vibrating a Strat has never been more blissful or mind-blowing. Now as I become a "grumpy old man" my Stratocentric thinking is becoming quite evident. There was a period and genres of music that still continue, that think it is hip to leave guitar out completely, deliberately! Seeing it as some pretentious dinosaur tool. DJ's and the like. Im not going to leave a house full of beautiful instruments, to attend a music event with no instruments! Most of the reason for the effort/expense to go to gigs is to see instruments and how they sound and are used. Not the same rig with different ipads. Id prefer going to a music store and look at the stock, rather than some knob twiddling festival smoke and mirrors hoo ha. So, that’s just me, I know, this essay is how I conditioned myself into this blissfully judgmental state, wallowing in my narrow minded view of music's "evolution". (a healthy appreciation for classical music has contributed to this as well) So back to Strats. Im quite social nowadays, attending lots of Ceremonies and meeting lovely people of all ages. The medicines purged those wild Daemons years ago, and Im well respected. Experienced.....some even say nice. Young folk seek my sage advise and as you can see, I have no option but to say……… "your wasting this incarnation if you don’t play a Stratocaster". Hmmmm, my tongue slightly in cheek. But I can tell you this, when im alone with the vine flowing thru my veins, she loves to put down a multi layer Strat drone and vibrate thru the guitar and me, the 3 of us as one, in post modern icaro mash up bliss. My vine is sure as hell not wasting its incarnation and loves to play my Fender Stratocaster thru me. I know, cause its unique to what Id play otherwise. Stratocentric thinking…..its a thing…….probably a curse…….but this essay announces that Im owning my issues. My rationale by default says many of you have missed this opportunity, wasted your lives, but of course I don’t think that, we are all equal with different perspectives and talents ……… this is just a heads up for next incarnation. The Stratocaster is so well designed, it will be around to play the fuck out of, for a few more lifetimes. The root cause 1979 Antigua Stratocaster, the most polarizing finish of all strats, love it or hate it, it sends collectors wild. I wonder who is playing mine now ? Be worth 10 times what i paid, bugger! 1996 50th Anniversary strat,Boss multi effects. Boss RC 300 looper, space echo, job done, no limits. Always needs to be a skull somewhere. Set the controls beyond the heart of the Sun ! 20 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-RC- Posted March 8, 2017 Anyone who has the pleasure of hearing you play any instrument you own has surely considered themselves lucky. I know I have mate. Keep on ripping the shit out of em I say! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SayN Posted March 8, 2017 Great post mate. I confess I went to the dark side and bought a Gibson SG first up... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zedo Posted March 8, 2017 (edited) Sorry I couldn't help myself. 'It was a stratocaster with a whammy bar' Edited March 8, 2017 by Zedo Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted March 8, 2017 Clearly this won't do A post about Stratocasters from Horus without any of his tunes is just a tease. It's like chang without a nang, a sausage sanga without sauce or glass of whiskey without ice. How about a tune for those unfortunate bastards unlucky enough to have never seen you play live Horus ? 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted March 8, 2017 Righto Sall, I will have to wait till my daughter is around with her new iphone that takes a great video, then I will bump this thread with it in a week or 2. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theuserformallyknownasd00d Posted March 9, 2017 Damn mate I should have pulled out Tele out when you were down to show you! Great story thanks for the read! Here's a pic or 2, she's a 60th anniversary edition pretty rare nowadays apparently 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted March 9, 2017 Love you d00d, thanks for sharing, precious objects are major dots in your life that connect you to time and place, but special musical instruments take those connections to much deeper and wider levels................because you can create magic with them !! 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted March 9, 2017 Dear Sall, still taking a raincheck on the video. My daughter was around, but it was a social occasion. Just appropriate to take a photo, But if this is any indication the video should be good. 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted March 12, 2017 Makoto Kawabata has been my Strat Champion for many years, never afraid of a 20 minute solo Yes, another Acid Mothers Temple fan! The hour long version of "Pink Lady Lemonade" off of "Do Whatever You Want..." is one of my all time favourite tracks, Kawabata is an animal. I have a couple of well abused strats, my main one has a repaired crack that runs all the way through the body but none of my others sound as good as the busted up black strat that I call my main guitar. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Yes, another Acid Mothers Temple fan! The hour long version of "Pink Lady Lemonade" off of "Do Whatever You Want..." is one of my all time favourite tracks, Kawabata is an animal. I have a couple of well abused strats, my main one has a repaired crack that runs all the way through the body but none of my others sound as good as the busted up black strat that I call my main guitar. Cheers IPTOS, Yeah the Acid Mothers have just "got it" (it) being Psychedelic cosmic channeling, but they are a very acquired taste, I got a good "heads up" about them 20 yrs ago when they got started.Probably for Inner Circle guitar fiends with a permanent supply of acid and shrooms. I follow Kawabata on FB and stuff, and he lives to play, he pretty much plays somewhere on the planet every night, either solo or with the band or endless side projects. A few years ago he was in Edinburgh Scotland the same time as my daughter. I was a very proud father when my daughter went to meet him on my behalf and give him my respect and best regards. See I can plot my life around Stratocaster events. Although he doesn't use one when bowing. Show us a pic of ya cracked strat. Edited March 12, 2017 by Horus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted March 12, 2017 (edited) Here you go Horus. The neck is off a 50's road worn strat and the body is off a highway one strat so she's a mongrel. Super thin nitro finish, it basically flakes away if you look at it the wrong way. The neck has really nice V profile and I chucked a seymour duncan JB jnr into the bridge position for more grunt. You can't see the crack in the photo, it runs from the top of the trem cavity all the way to the neck pocket and on both front and back of the body. Nothing wood glue and some overnight clamping couldn't fix, I'm actually fairly careful with her these days as no other strat I have sounds as good. Real nice resonance when played acoustically which translates wonderfully when plugged in, especially running straight into my 64' BF Bassman. That's awesome that your daughter met Kawabata, such a guru of cosmic sound! Edited March 12, 2017 by InnerPathsToOuterSpace 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 5, 2017 I'm still holding my breath waiting for that song/tune, maybe it's turned into an epic production like one of Axl Rose's comeback albums ? While I'm here, seeing you are the guitar man, I'll ask a few questions and see what comes back. I'm building a few cigar box guitars for my kids, the first one will be a 3 string and the next one might be a 4 string. Wot do ya reckon about scale length for a kid (One 8 the other 10) ? Should I break them in with a full scale Strat or Gibson architecture right of the bat or should I cut it down to suit their hands/fingers and arm span for them now ? These things will open tuned and playable with a single finger or a slide (preferably both) but I want to make sure that I don't need to compensate too much with the amp to get a nice sound out of them. It's going to be a cheap build process and the amp & pickup will most likely something cheap and nasty from ebay with an aim to upgrade when the cash finds itself coming my way. For now I just want to get them strumming. Any suggestions from Horus or any other muso's or musically inclined people would be greatly appreciated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted April 5, 2017 (edited) Hey Sal, Im just waiting for my daughter and her fancy iphone, we dont cross paths much these days. A STRAT video still on the agenda. Great idea with the Cigar box. As they are played slide, I would make them to suit the physiology of the kids. Man, little practice amps are so cheap, its ridiculous, and you can get a little stick on pezzo pickup for $20. I bought my aussie biscuit tin guitar from Wollembi markets for $120 and he gave me a pickup they are so cheap. 3 strings is good enough, if they get into it buy them a proper guitar. they are so cheap nowadays. Thing is, little slide guitars are like a 2 trick pony, once you learn those tricks there is little place else to go. Its easy to fix up an old guitar. We bought one at the Wollembi markets for $10, and a little wet and dry, $20 for strings and she is way better/ more versatile than a cigar box I bought mine cause of the swagmen, and the penny on the headstock is 1960....... my birthyear ! Edited April 5, 2017 by Horus 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 5, 2017 Cheers Horus, that thing must be a natural resonator being made out of a tin. I bought them full size acoustic guitars a few years ago but they haven't used them much at all until lately. They have been more interested in video games until recently.They were cheap shit aldi pieces of crap that loose their tune before you finish tuning the fucking things. They never spent enough time to learn any chords either and the little time they did try to it just sounded fucked because the guitars had already lost their tune. It only seems to be the nylon string acoustic guitars that were a problem, I got a steel string myself, it was the last one and it was reduced to $30 so I thought why not. It sounds surprisingly good and holds its tune well. At least with a 3 string I can give it various open tunings and they can get something out of it that won't be as annoying as an out of tune piece of crap that they don't know any chords for. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted April 6, 2017 (edited) I'm a guitar teacher by trade, your 10 year old might be fine with a full scale length, I've taught 10 year olds with full scale guitars before. Some chords can be a bit of a stretch but if you're in open tuning then I don't see a problem. Maybe go shorter for your 8 year old I reckon. I have a shorter scale fender guitar in my collection that is 24", that might be a good compromise without losing too much tone. Maybe even 22"? That's just my humble opinion, I hope that helps Sallubrious Edited April 6, 2017 by InnerPathsToOuterSpace 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 6, 2017 (edited) I ended up settling on a 23" scale length for the first one. I'm making a 4 string next, so I'll set it at 25.5" to get them ready for a fender if they stay interested. I'm enjoying working with wood, Half the fun is making the guitar for me. Is that 24" Fender a Jaguar IPTOS and how does the tone compare to a Strat? Edited April 6, 2017 by Sallubrious Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted April 7, 2017 It's a squier super-sonic (made in Japan at the Fender factory back in the 90's). It has two humbuckers so kind of hard to compare to a strats singe coils tone wise. The shorter scale doesn't seem to affect tone, I put heavier gauge strings on which helps too. Keen to hear how your cigar boxes turn out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FancyPants Posted April 21, 2017 I wish I hadn't put off learning ot play electric earlier than last year, but better late than never! Always thought I'd be a Les Paul girl but the strat (well, squier classic vibes 50s - couldn't justify the price of a Fender for a beginner) sat so nicely! It's so much fun to noodle on and make cool sounds with. My partner has a luthier friend who replaced a few bits for me and sanded down the neck so now it plays and sounds even better :D I've got lurid day-glo orange 9 gauge strings on it so it really looks and feels like a toy now and that's how i like it. I ended up buying a custom shop Tele too which I also love to death. Occassionally it's fun to play my partner's Hagstrom, too. Also fun making grooves on the basses :D I never realised making cool sounds was relatively accessible for a noob! I LOVE MUSIC. Love to hear your sounds, Horus! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 22, 2017 (edited) I'm in the same boat @FancyPants , I wish I'd learned to play when I was younger, it seems to take me ages to learn how to play new stuff & milliseconds to forget if I don't practice every day. No-one in my family (except my younger brother) ever played any musical instruments, so I just wasn't exposed to it as a kid. I was nearly 30 before I ever played a note. The idea with the 3 & 4 string setups is you can put them in an open tuning and be belting something half decent almost straight away. If I can get my kids on them they won't really learn much except how to get a groove going and maybe it will spark an interest in music. I got a cheap shit effects pedal with a looper and basic drum machine built in, so I'll have my kids laying down loops and rocking on soon. I'm looking forward to messing around with that myself. So I got my shit together for my 3 & 4 strings after waiting for parts from China for what seemed like forever. A bit more painting and finishing and they'll be ready to go. I made a few mistakes along the way but I learned a lot and got a few tools together to make the next project easier. I've found a lot of Fender knock off shit on ebay while I was looking for parts - necks, bodies & full kits etc. I also saw an aldi knock off Fender on youtube that seemed almost respectable (except the colour) . I'm thinking of building my own fender knock off after seeing how cheap all the gear is. Does any know how the "Chinacaster" Fender copies play ? I wouldn't expect them to be great but they would agree with my limited budget. Edited April 22, 2017 by Sallubrious Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) I've found a lot of Fender knock off shit on ebay while I was looking for parts - necks, bodies & full kits etc. I also saw an aldi knock off Fender on youtube that seemed almost respectable (except the colour) . I'm thinking of building my own fender knock off after seeing how cheap all the gear is. Does any know how the "Chinacaster" Fender copies play ? I wouldn't expect them to be great but they would agree with my limited budget. I've gotten a few different chinese made fender knock off parts off ebay. I made a strat out of mighty mite parts, from memory the neck was a bit over $100 and the body was in the $200 range. Factor in hardware and pickups and the price gets higher but the basic neck and body I'd put on par with Squier quality. I've also taken a gamble on total no name stuff, one neck I had to send back because it was warped (probably made from wood that wasn't dried properly), another I had to basically learn how to do a fret level, fret dress and sand back the neck profile to make it play good. Those were sub $100 price range from memory and are more of a gamble and probably won't play nice until some work has been put in. Can't go wrong with Mighty Mite and All Parts for partsacaster/chinacaster guitars but will be more spendy. Go all out on Warmoth and you'll have a guitar that will rival an US fender but probably end up costing over a grand. Hope this helps at least P.S. Edit: I see 2nd hand SX brand strat copies in Cash Converters all the time and they always seem to be of decent quality and a lot of the time are anywhere from $75 to $150. Could make a cool project by taking it apart and upgrading and modifying. Edited April 24, 2017 by InnerPathsToOuterSpace 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 24, 2017 (edited) Cheers IPTOS I picked up a Strat knockoff yesterday for $70. It was a baby shit green/blue Aria stg series. It seemed like a kid or non technical minded idiot had "fixed" it or fucked with it trying to fix it at some stage. It was missing a bridge saddle and a few strings. The nut was a really soft plastic piece of shit and the strings were bound in the slots, so it was hard to tune. If anyone has a spare bridge saddle or whammy bar for a Strat tremolo bridge I'd love to hear from you. I pulled it all apart and planned to give it a sunburst paint job but I'm not sure if that will work out because of the colour mismatch of the timbers used to make the body.I might be able to fudge it in and work the sunburst around it. It had about 4mm of filler under the baby shit duco and the body was basically deadened by all the extra layers of crap plastic filler. Now after I've stripped it I can get a nice ring out of it when I knock on it with my knuckles. By the time I put an aluminium nut in it and iron out all the little problems I should have something for the kids to bash around and get the hang of the Strat design. If they stick with it I'll get them a good one in a year or so. Here's a picture of it before I fully stripped it. Edited April 24, 2017 by Sallubrious 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Horus Posted April 24, 2017 Looks like your keeping yourself occupied Sall. Good stuff. Usually any cheap instrument I buy, a new set of tuners and strings, and you can get a sound out of it. Impossible to play anything that wont stay in tune. And I haven't hesitated to spend that 80 bucks or so to rebirth a $20 garage sale special. My campfire special is a $200 Chinese guitar I have "hot Rodded" and its great, better that a lot of off the rack hi end guitars. But on the other end of the spectrum, I bought a 2nd hand Gibson Jumbo for 3 grand, and straight away spent a grand having it customized to vibrate in my secret "atlantian" tuning, money well spent, cause the thing opens portals with its harmonics Hey Fancy Pants, great you have chosen Fender to make cool sounds, get Santa to buy you a nice Echo unit to fill the vibrational space, where less can be more and noodling for newbies can be bliss. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
InnerPathsToOuterSpace Posted April 25, 2017 Hey Sal, I should have a spare saddle that's floating around in my pile of parts that you can have. PM me your address and I'll send it in a standard old envelope for you. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sallubrious Posted April 25, 2017 Here's a cardboard see through Statocaster certified by Fender 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites