bsman
b00b
Our Smurfy friend decided to part ways with his 2012 American Standard strat, and I took him up on the offer. I received it on Friday, but haven't had a lot of time to bond with it yet, since I refereed 13 soccer games at this week's Santa Cruz Breakers Breakers Spring Cup (according to my fitness tracker, I logged 25 miles this weekend, and according to the way my feet feels, that is accurate).
However, last night I had an opportunity to plug it into my little Wangs VT-5 (a chinese hand-wired champ clone with more gizmos - L-M-H pots and a triode/pentode switch). Thing is BRIGHT with a capital B! I had to turn the mids and highs way down from the settings I'd been using for my P90-equipped guits, but once I figured it out, I had a lot of fun playing with the different positions on the five-way. It's perhaps a bit embarrassing to admit it, but this is the first SSS strat I've ever played! I've had a number of HSS strats of various types, but had never tried the 'original' configuration before. I was rather enjoying the "quack" on the bridge/middle setting and also found the middle, middle/neck, and neck positions great, too. I'm gonna have to figure out how to best utilize the bridge pickup alone, but will enjoy the challenge. Neck is super-comfy, and that case is rather amazing, compared to the old SKB cases (the "guitar shaped" ones with the aluminum edges and feet that always broke off) Fender used to provide.
Anyway - if you want pics, you can go to the original thread: Killer 2012 Fender USA Standard Strat with extras
In the meantime, I'm going to have fun learning the quirks of this particular piece of alder.
However, last night I had an opportunity to plug it into my little Wangs VT-5 (a chinese hand-wired champ clone with more gizmos - L-M-H pots and a triode/pentode switch). Thing is BRIGHT with a capital B! I had to turn the mids and highs way down from the settings I'd been using for my P90-equipped guits, but once I figured it out, I had a lot of fun playing with the different positions on the five-way. It's perhaps a bit embarrassing to admit it, but this is the first SSS strat I've ever played! I've had a number of HSS strats of various types, but had never tried the 'original' configuration before. I was rather enjoying the "quack" on the bridge/middle setting and also found the middle, middle/neck, and neck positions great, too. I'm gonna have to figure out how to best utilize the bridge pickup alone, but will enjoy the challenge. Neck is super-comfy, and that case is rather amazing, compared to the old SKB cases (the "guitar shaped" ones with the aluminum edges and feet that always broke off) Fender used to provide.
Anyway - if you want pics, you can go to the original thread: Killer 2012 Fender USA Standard Strat with extras
In the meantime, I'm going to have fun learning the quirks of this particular piece of alder.
hmy: