Strat with Gibson

deeaa · Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:18 am

Just got a Gibson 498t installed in my 'strat'. it's funny how a strat will always have this 'stratty' feel to the sound even with completely different pickups. I'm certain it's mostly due to the flat headstock; with little pressure on the nut the playing and the sound is much less tight and more "spongy" and "jangly". the playing immediately becomes more 'wild' and stratty as well.

The basic sound is the same as with my V's with the same pickup, but hell, there's no way a strat would sound as tight and focused - the playing itself changes along with the sound coaxing it that way.

Chocol8 · Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:08 am

Scale length, maple neck, headstock angle, bridge/trem all part of the Strat character.

deeaa · Thu Jan 13, 2022 10:25 am

Chocol8 wrote:Scale length, maple neck, headstock angle, bridge/trem all part of the Strat character.

Sure, but IMO the headstock is the most important easily. Some of my Vs have maple necks, no different in sound. Trem gives a tiny bit of a difference, but I keep it basically locked down as I don't need it. Scale does make a bit of a difference, but that's very little too when you use a slightly lighter set.

And when I've put in a tilt headstock on a strat...it sounds nothing like a strat any more, it just becomes a suoerstrat...there's none of that spongy jangliness left.

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Partscaster · Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:07 am

I can hear a strat.

But its also in the title.

You could ask " what type of body is this?" and see what folks thought. I think I would have guessed a strat still, But ...I already knew the title.

tlarson58 · Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:26 am

Partscaster wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 11:07 am I can hear a strat.

But its also in the title.

You could ask " what type of body is this?" and see what folks thought. I think I would have guessed a strat still, But ...I already knew the title.

Same. Great tone!

glasshand · Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:12 pm

It's interesting that you mention this, because I am in the process of putting together a hybrid - a Strat body shape, of mahogany, with a TOM bridge and tailpiece. Right now it has a 25.5" scale neck, with a Strat-style headstock, and two mini-humbuckers. Sonically, it's definitely somewhere in between right now. Someday I'll put a 24.75" neck on it, preferably 3x3, and we'll see what it sounds like then!

deeaa · Fri Jan 14, 2022 12:40 am

glasshand wrote:It's interesting that you mention this, because I am in the process of putting together a hybrid - a Strat body shape, of mahogany, with a TOM bridge and tailpiece. Right now it has a 25.5" scale neck, with a Strat-style headstock, and two mini-humbuckers. Sonically, it's definitely somewhere in between right now. Someday I'll put a 24.75" neck on it, preferably 3x3, and we'll see what it sounds like then!

Sounds a lot like my Davette was...didn't sound one bit like a strat, but it did have a tilted headstock neck. Strat scale and a TOM bridge. Any string down-presser or locks will also pretty efficiently help to reduce the Fendery quality.

It's funny though- it's not like the sound itself changes. But the feel changes so much on lowest frets and open strings that it makes you play it like a strat and it sounds like one mostly for that reason. If I just play it like any guitar and Barre chords and don't smack and bend those low and open notes at all, it CAN sound very much just the same as my Vs. But one just naturally plays it differently because of that feel, and when you do play it a bit bouncy like that because it's easy to do, that's the main reason.

I mean, a tiltneck one with a fixed bridge is so much tighter to play there in low notes, you just naturally play it more dryly and exactly.

I can use that strat to record just as well as my Vs and can't hear any difference in the end product, if only I play the same way despite how the guitar feel is guiding me towards to play.

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