Chris Blog October 2020
Just this last Tuesday, I took my Gibson SG to the guitar shop in Falls Church, Virginia, Actions Music, for a setup (restring, intonation, etc.) and saw they had several Stratocasters and a Twin Reverb amp. A week or so before, I’d visited Fox Music - within strolling length, down Lee Highway, of Action Music - and saw they also had several Stratocasters - completely new (!) - as well as a Twin Reverb. Before I go on about Stratocasters, I’ll comment briefly on the Twin Reverb. I’m a Marshall guy, with a 2554 Jubilee 25/50 watt combo (1x12”) and a Dual Reverb (4100) 100 watt head, 1960AV 4x12” cabinet half stack. I really like the rich, complete distortion sound. But also for an amp with “reverb” in its name, the Dual Reverb (JCM900) comes with an extremely weak reverb sound, practically nonexistent. A few years ago I used the Fender amp at Guitar Center, out of pure curiosity, and the reverb was amazing. If there’s an amp that makes a clean sound great, it’s that one.
They began at 85 watts, Fender boosted it to 130 watts, and dropped it back down to 85. If I ever find yourself with another $1000 to spare, I would well buy one. To make matters even more interesting, marginally so, I defer finishing up the blog until after I’d done what I acquired to on Friday, which included a trip to Fairfax County’s courthouse. I swung by the Fairfax location of Guitar Center, now re-opened up, as it’s listed as the only Northern Virginia authorized Rickenbacker dealer. Affirmed, high up in the rafters is definitely a 4003 bass, and off to the side is a utilized Ritchie Blackmore signature Stratocaster: white, black pickups, scalloped rosewood fretboard and large headstock - for $949. Of all the signature models, his is my favorite. But I prefer my very own Stratocaster, modified over the years (2000 to provide) to my very own specifications. History. Up until the 1930s, there have been no electric guitars, just acoustic. In the ‘30s, pickups - the electromagnetic device which captures the strings’ sound so they can be amplified - were invented, and slapped on acoustic guitars.
Nevertheless, two men, Les Paul and Leo Fender, realized a guitar with pickups doesn’t need an acoustic chamber and may, in fact, be simply a solid plank of real wood. Les Paul created his own model, brought it to Gibson, but they laughed at him. Leo Fender, oddly enough not really a musician himself, developed the Telecaster (originally known as the Broadcaster) and his invention, the initial solid body electric guitar, introduced in 1948, was a hit. Gibson realized their mistake and brought back Les Paul, who offered them the guitar which bears his name, in 1952. In the famous guitar player , Fender upped the game with a better model, the Stratocaster. Primarily the Stratocaster experienced three single coil pickups, a tremelo/vibrato bar, and was available in two color sunburst with a maple neck (to my eye, a pale yellow). By the late 50s, solid colors (e.g. dark) became available; in 1959 the rosewood (darkish) fretboard was launched. By 1965, Fender was in bad health and sold his organization to CBS, it network. That company enlarged the headstock, a design which lasted from 1966 to 1981. Since that time the typical headstock has been small, with various reissue versions obtainable.
The Strat also became available with double coil pickups (aka humbuckers), which are often associated with Gibsons. One vs. Double Coil. Single coil pickups are slimmer, even more of a twangier audio, whereas dual coil pickups possess a thicker, meatier sound. Nevertheless, overdriven sufficiently, even an otherwise insubstantial single coil bridge pickup will audio almost as nasty as a humbucker. Jimmy Page likes to remind people that the classic sunburst Les Paul he’s frequently connected with, wasn’t on his agenda until Led Zeppelin II, and the 1st Led Zeppelin album, including “Dazed and Confused”, was recorded on the Telecaster he was using in the Yardbirds. Famous Players. Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Robin Trower, Jeff Beck, Tag Knopfler, David Gilmour, Dave Murray, Don Felder, Uli Roth, Yngwie Malmsteen, among many others. Hendrix took right handed Stratocasters, flipped them over, and played them left handed (although there were lefthanded Stratocasters at that time). Vs. Telecaster. I hardly ever liked the Telecaster and also have never even performed one.
The insufficient an top horn, the headstock shape, etc., it still appears like Leo’s first practice attempt at a solid body electric guitar, which is what it was. Vs. Gibson. As observed below, the majority of my guitars are Gibsons, which is Fender’s main US competitor. Fender can and will put dual coils on Strats, and Gibson offers its own single coil pickup, the P90, which went on Les Pauls before the humbucker arrived, and proceeds to feature on Specials and Juniors. I love both companies’ guitars, and discover no reason anyone’s collection has to be specifically Fenders or Gibsons absent budget constraints or an arbitrary choice. My Strats. Right now I’ve had many of my own. I have 5 guitars: 4 Gibsons (Firebird, Explorer, SG, and Les Paul) and something Strat. I’m not inclined to acquire more than one of any model, but rather pick what I consider the best version of that model, and the Stratocaster is definitely yet another example.
