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At the moment, I play a Fender Jazzmaster, one of the Mexican ones. I really like my guitar. However, I have been getting into David Gilmour a lot more recently and I am debating getting a strat. Granted, I do not play the kind of stuff he does. Sorta my own thing. I am trying to get opinions. Should I get a strat or stick with the jazzmaster? Why?

You can get a cheap Squier Strat and keep both. They are VERY different from each other

i wouldn't rely on others' opinions but would go play some and see how you like them. there's a lot of difference between the different models of strats. neck profile, fingerboard material, pickups, etc. and they react to pedals differently than do jazzmasters. take the trip up to ft. myers or across to s. miami and play as many as you can at the guitar centers. they'll have the largest selection.

I hate how Strats look and live I usually will play a Mustang or a Rick 330 but my go to guitars for writing and recording are a 88 American Strat and a 95 Mexican Strat. In my opinion everything just feels right about the feel of it.

get a 7.25" radius Jazzmaster and you'll never look back. Strats to me are just kinda *meh* to me. I had a sweet '86 MIJ at one point. Played great, sounded great - but it's just not my cupó tea...

oh, the other 1/2 of the deal - the trem - properly set up they are the bee's knees....

i should add here, i've been a huge Gilmour fan since age 11....i even shortened the bar on my strat to me more like Dave's - at the end of the day, you have to be yourself.

I hate how Strats look and generally how they sound but love how they play. The Jazzmaster is, imo, the sexiest guitar Fender has ever created. Based on these two facts, I tracked down the perfect offset, a Custom Shop Jazzmaster with the neck is spec'd to match a '57 Strat. It's chunky with the tall/jumbo styles frets and a 7.25" radius, possibly the most comfortable guitar I've ever laid hands on. I LOVE playing that guitar!

An offset is one thing, not tons of variety out there but Strats have so many variations it's mind blowing. Def a try before you buy kinda thing. Most are a far cry from the offset family as well and will only let you down in the end.

Hmmm. What about a off-set Strat.

two different things
i love strats they sound rad even though heaps of weiner music is made with them
the ventures model jazzmaster is kinda strat looking

I play a strat, but it's very non-stock. I'd definitely suggest just going and playing a few, because the neck profiles and stock pickups will vary greatly from year to year, and between models. Mine's got a weird neck profile that I can't identify, for example.

Just go mess around with shit in a guitar shop.

I hated strats for a long time, but I've come around. Might as well try one. I wouldn't use it to replace the jazzmaster, just have something different as well.

tuffteef wrote:i love strats they sound rad even though heaps of weiner music is made with them

Agreed.

I have an 89 MIJ Strat. It has a super skinny neck which doesn't suit my hands at all, and a friend made some unbelievable pickups to replace the meh stock ones and did some fancy wiring too. In terms of the variety of single coil sounds, strats are great. If it had a wider neck I'd play it all the time. Contemplating getting a partsocaster built just to house those new pickups...

People say great things about the Squier Classic Vibe guitars, maybe take a look at them?

One of the funnest strats I've played was the 12-string that came out a few years go.

because we have a lot of funky parts in our music, i sometimes wonder about strats as well

not for replacing, just for certain songs

however, I'm kind of worried about the information that effects sound different with Jazzmasters ... I would like to dodge resetting my fuzz/distortion between songs

Strats might be really popular and lame but they do have their own sound. I like it!

One cool thing about strats is there's a huuuge amount of variety so I'd recommend going out and trying as many as you can, see what works for you.

One thing I love is combining the neck & bridge pickups, it sounds really good. It isn't an option in most (any?) stock strats but is a really easy mod to do.

monkeydancer wrote:One cool thing about strats is there's a huuuge amount of variety so I'd recommend going out and trying as many as you can, see what works for you.

this is absolutely true. one of the appealing things about the Strat platform is the amount of variation due to PUs, body wood, maple vs. rosewood fretboards. i have two--a maple-board with 50s-style PUs and a rosewood-board model with the Fender 1969 RI PUs--and they're very different animals. one sounds like Richard Thompson, the other like Romeo and Juliet-era Dire Straits. and that isn't even getting into weird woods (i bet a korina Strat would rule), ebony boards, Lace Sensors, active pickups, the dreaded HSH setup, etc.

don't listen to maz, he sucks dicks.


strats are great, granted they do have a blues lawyer reputation, but I love the hell out of them. i've owned....let's just say a few

go to guitar center or the gc website and look for a used one with some upgrades, you can find some treasures for under 300 noproblem