“I’ve always hated playing strats because my tone sucks”

Literally every Strat and start knockoff does that tone

"ive always hated playing strats because i cant find the eq knobs on my amp"

Not a strat guy till he found a boutique strat. You’re not a “strat guy” my guy

This is the story I’m gonna tell to my wife when I buy the next strat

They get better sounding as YOU get better. That's when you understand their versatility.

Everyone is a Strat guy at one point or another, just depends on the repertoire and the sound and mood you are trying to strike. Same thing with Les Pauls.

I don’t think it’s just Strats. Guitars are very personal and sometimes you just don’t bond with a particular one. The guitar needs to feel like it’s an extension of you the player. Otherwise it’s just a bit of wood and wire. Nice sounding Strat you have.

"it punches well above it's weight class" Sure thing rett

I own lots of great strats but the only one I play regularly is my ‘73. It’s just special.

To me it's hard to beat Clapton's strat sound during the mid to late 70's

You just found a strat with the right set of pickups.

How you set the tremolo on a Strat will have a noticable difference in tone, mostly in the pick attack. I'll usually set it flush against the body. Originally I floated it (as are at least 80% of them Strats that I work on), but I dropped it when a band I was in worked in a couple songs in drop-d. I only had the one Strat at the time, so I had to set it so I could tune down to D and back up to E without knocking everything else out. I immediately noticed a much more pronounced and faster attack. This wasn't something I wanted, so I had to lower the Treble side of the pickup to compensate.* I'll also point out that while this comesto the surprise of even seasoned players: the tone control does serve a purpose. And nowhere more than on a Strat. It's kind of a personal achievement when I can get someone to actually try it, because they NEVER go back to not using ii. I know why no one uses it, it's the same reason for everyone who's tried to: they buy their first guitar and use it for while with the tone control dimed. When they try the control they discover it has 3 settings: open and good; a little warmer; unusable mud. Part of that is that you want to dial everything else in too, but most of it is because for whatever reason, people perceive a drop in treble translates into a drop in clarity, but that isn't necessarily true. This is this most noticeable when it comes to OD pedals. People always confuse "bright" with "transparent," they're not the same. There was a video here where he played one guitar through three or four ODs; same riff, same amp. Everyone picked the brightest one, but his dry signal was super dark. There was more presence, but it's not transparent or it would be dark too. If you want to experiment with the tone control, you don't want to start at 10 then roll it down. You want to start with it all the way down and work your way up. All the way down will give it that muffled, 'pillow over the face' sound. Play the B or high E string, fret it anywhere between the third and seventh fret, let the note ring while you turn it up. You'll hit a point pretty early in (usually below 2) where the muffled sound will open up and start to ring; that's where you want to start from as you add treble back in. You'll recognize that point when it rings immediately, it's not a subtle shift. That's your starting point, see how it sounds at the lower registers and work the control up. You can dial everything else in around a lower guitar vol and tone setting. If you like your tone with it at 10, then turn it down to 8-9 and dial in the rest of your rig as if it's 10; I recommend doing the same with the guitar volume as well. That way ou'll always have little more horsepower under they hood if you need it; treble and volume. *I know adjusting pickup height is another thing that a lot of players just don't do. With humbuckers you can get away with it. Single coils really need to be often adjusted. This is actually where everyone should start.

That makes sense. I love the feel of my Les Paul more than my other guitars. I realized the 2008 LPs have an asymmetrical neck which I now learned I gravite to!

Exactly. I tried 12 different Strats before buying my Fernandes. 30+ years ago, and I'm still loving it.

I love the Strat body.They are very comfortable to play. But I like “hot rodded” ones. Charvel and Ibanez to name a couple.

Had the same issue my friend. Settled on a thinline Tele for years, but recently found a custom shop strat that I adore.

I "have" a Strat, played it full time when first bought. Now I change to which feels right at the particular time, mood, quest.

I love my Strat. I'm more adventurous on it, and it's just like breathing. I sometimes have to warm to my Les Paul to get comfortable with it. I find it easy to dig into a Tele though. I'm clearly a Fender bloke. My LP sound is gorgeous at times, it smells divine and looks beautiful, but my Strat is better-looking, sounds better to me, and fits like a glove. It's a partnership.

I like a Strat that sounds like Hendrix but plays like a modern strat. Just your basic ash maple strat, 9.5-10 radius, locking tuners, and standard American pups. Perfect.

I've played for close to 30 years. Pretty accomplished guitar player and I love strats because they're lightweight and there's nothing like the sound of that neck pickup. It gives you such a bluesy tone.

Ça serait intéressant que chaque interviewé puisse nous jouer même un truc à chaque interview,je trouverais ça top. Sinon c'est toujours un plaisir de regarder tes vidéos❤

Strats are a bit more difficult, in a couple respects, to play well. BUT, over time, you will seek a different sound, a different feel, something that responds in kind to differences in how YOU play. That is one part of the Strat mystique. There’s more. Strats are a performance guitar, on several levels, not least of which is their sturdy, modifiable, nearly indestructible design. They also have a versatile, identifiable, robust sound, playability, feature set, that makes them ideal for finding a unique sound, style, approach. I started on, with Les Pauls, great guitars. Easy to play, fast, subtle, responsive. Then one day, cruising the music store, I saw a Strat. Just for kicks I picked it up. It was a bit harder to play in some regards, but had an interactive feel, sound that was thoroughly unlike what I was used to. The 2 and 4 positions on the pick up selector were a revelation. The vibrato bridge became indispensable. Strats may not be for everyone, but they’ve more than proved their value over time.

I love the strat sound but I hate the endless fighting with the volume knob all the time as I'm always putting volume down by accident. That is why I'm a tele guy 😂

I’ve owned so many Strats. I sold every one of them until I found the one I have now. It feels different, sounds different, and it’s the only one that when I play it “sounds like me” but with a Strat tone. Still haven’t found another. The guitar has a soul.

Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, SRV, Buddy Guy.......

Same her man. Favorite guitar of all time was my buddy's dad's Gibson Les paul....but I own a Strat lolol

@RhettShull I have been watching a few of your great videos. The reason you don't hear that perfect strat tone may be because your touch is a bit light. All those guys, including Robin Trower, Robin Ford, SRV, Hendrix, John Mayer, Terry Kath, Prince, Buddy Guy, ...hit the strings with the right hand pretty hard! That's where the pop is.

Give Ronnie Earl a serious listen. That guy is Mr Blues incarnate, and he produces one of THE most beautiful clean to pushed Strat tones one could ever want.

Some strats sound more like strats than others. Funny thing is the guitar I’ve played that sounded the most like a Strat wasn’t even a fender. It was a Schecter Nick Johnston traditional HSS. I ended up buying one and now it’s my favorite guitar even though I’m not a Strat guy.

Have yall not heard Tim Henson talk about “Mojo”. Thats when a specific guitar speaks to you and makes a connection with you and naturally comes to you and makes you want to play it. This guy couldn’t play comfortably on a strat until he found this one because this one had mojo. Keep in mind this was said by TIM FREAKING HENSON. Leave this guy alone he found an instrument that fitted him and was exactly what he wanted and felt right to him. That’s a good thing.

I had my own funny "strat" experience some time ago, the band was hanging out when a little impromptu jam session began, since I wasn't expecting to play I didn't bring my guitar and my bandmate let me borrow one of his strats with single coils. I only play humbucker exclusively and honestly wasn't digging the sound, but we all got into a creative groove and started making a new tune and the singer said let's record it because it sounded good and let me tell you, I hated the strat sound in real time while jamming, but totally dug and loved the way I sounded in the recording using a strat hahaha.

Cool strat, spot on sound for what I love too. I'd love to hear more about this guitar. 👌

Same. Listened to loads of strat players, loved them... And I avoided strats for such a long time.

I played hundreds of Strats before I found "the one."

Same! I never vibed with any strat or S style guitar. I used a Line 6 James Tyler Variax for when songs called for a strat. That all changed when I bought a PRS Silver Sky. Only S style I have ever felt I could play. It just has that “thing”

Yeah that neck pickup is awesome. I also don't play Strats but wanted that quack middle pickup option. So I have a Nashville TeleStrater.

I had a similar experience when I found my Silver Sky Se. I bought it to be able to have a single coil for some variety and never expected it to become my main.

"I just had to get a Strat that costs thousands of dollars."

I have had many Strats over the years and finally found “the one” in 2015. Like you the feel and tone was right even though it’s the same design and manufacture as all the red rest

Rhett is getting older. Beard started graying a bit

The strat sound comes from your guitar, your amp and pedals, but mostly from your hands and fingers. It is the way you play, the way you touch the strings, your approach, your feel when playing. I can even make any guitar sound strat-ish.

I’m the same way with the Les Paul, I idolize a bunch of players that utilize it, and I love the tone, but when I play one it’s just not there.. just gotta find “the one” 😅

Happy that Rhett found his perfect/fave strat but personally, I don’t think there’s “a perfect strat” that would fall magically into your hands. Applies to all guitars ofc but especially the strat because it was created to be so versatile. You’ll have to work for it, try out different pickups/configurations, bridges, tuners, NECK?! (fretboard, radius, scale length all that jazz), the list goes on. There is no one stop shop for the ✨perfect strat✨that’s for everyone. All strats will sound the same or very similar at the EOTD, but the personal feel of one is something you’ll have to work for and develop over time. One man’s custom shop might be another’s Indo Squier, AND vice versa 😂 That’s the beauty of the chase, I guess. Much respect to Rhett and all players 🫡

I play Charvels, can get there if I need and I always have my thinner neck profile and screaming humbuckers too!

Ritchie Blackmore.

When I put Burns Tri-Sonics into my Strat, it became the sound in my head

Weirdly, I love the sound of strats I just don’t like how they feel in my hands. I’ve played dozens and still haven’t found “the one.” I love how my tele feels tho!

nails the sound! nice one Rhett!

The Strat tone I hear in my head is always the next set of pickups, or a change in resistors or pots, or a mod, treble bleed, etc… or a new amp/pedal… It’s the one guitar that has me tone chasing constantly. Like I’m not getting rid of my Jazzmaster or Tele or Les Paul Standard or modding them. Strats always have me tone chasing.

Sometimes you don't pick the guitar, it picks you!

I started out in 1972. I was 10 years old. I am left handed but no lefty guitar like Hendrix. I tried for a year to play left handed but my right hand wasn't in sync to my left hand and it was depressing to practice because it never got better. I quit guitar for 20 years. My friend had a guitar, a LP copy, I asked him if I could try playing it and he let me pluck on it a bit. That time I tried right handed and in a few minutes I was strumming out a few chords. I quit again because I had no guitar. 20 years after that I bought a cheap acoustic and learned some chords right handed. That was 12 years ago. Now I own a Gibson Centennial LP, a quilt top LP from the same year, a EC30 Blues King Electro from the same year, a 1989 Fender Strat, a 1992 Fender Tele, and a 2018 PRS A60E acoustic. All of them I played before I bought them because tone matters, feel matters, otherwise there is no magic...

I totally get what your saying but it was opposite kind of gor me. I grew up playing on strats and felt like nothing else worked for me until i found the right Les paul. The shorter scale length threw me off at first but now i love both strats and LP's fairly equally. Moral of the story is keep searching, keep playing different guitars until you find the right one. Same goes for acoustics imo. Rock on!!!🎸🎶

Part of Hendrix's tone was attributed to his strings being upside down on a right handed guitar. The staggered pole pieces are at different heights to the strings they're meant to be farther/nearer to. And he didn't change the height of the pickups themselves. They were still high on the treble side and still lower on the bass side of the guitar. Everything reversed to original design.

About 1 in 15 Strats have something extra special.

I love your vids, Rett. Btw, You have a "baseball cap" tan line😅

Strats are funny like that. I'm in love with Strat tones but I still haven't found "the one."

Agreed. Took me years to find a strat which sounds clicked.

Sweethome Alabama!! Thats also your reason for your strat. Loved that episode!

My first guitar (i inherited from my big brother) was a Strat copy by Levin. Loved it! But then some years ago I bought a sad looking guitar hanging in the shop. Just a 2015 Standard Strat MIM, black w white pick guard. Nothing fancy. But it just works so well for me. The neck always felt good, but after like 1500 hours playtime on it, it feels great. Still have the bone stock pickups in it. Again, nothing fancy, but it just does the job so well. Any genre. And it absolutely does that Strat thing! P.S I did have it set up professionally a some time ago which definitely enhanced its playability compared to factory set up. P.S.2 I have a feeling my next guitar will be a Stratocaster

Some years ago, I bought a $70 Strat copy, simply because I could not believe my eyes when I saw the price. I was playing various Strats and Squires at Guitar Center, then I saw this sunburst copy with a chunk missing of the body. When I plugged it in, the action was wrong, the frets sharp, but I can fix all that, it sounded like a strat. I figured for $70 I could not go wrong and I could fix the broken body. Instead, when I asked to buy it, they gave me a brand new one. I thought $70 was for the broken one. It wasn't. I took it home, redid the neck, and son of a gun if it doesn't sound like a strat. I still can't explain it.

Talkin strats without adding Ritchie aint right Lol

Proceeds to not explain the difference in a strats sound as opposed to other guitars

Strats are personal things. There is always that one. I am sure other brands and styles do that same thing. Hence to each his own.

is that a Shabat ??

Agree-- you have to find the guitar that makes YOUR sound. I've played some great Les Pauls, but they don't sound like ME.

Use a tube screamer lol

It’s so weird how that works. I was never really a stray guy either, but I just played a Mexican standard off the wall at guitar centre once and it just played so right. Im not normally one to believe in all that shit, but it was low-key magic

The problem with strats is... there are so many flavors. Even a strat doesn't sound like a strat. Start witb JUMBO frets and go from there. Pickup height is also CRUCIAL

🤙I've built a ton of parts casters in my 60+ years searching for the sound in my head. Finally found it this year with my Robin Trower custom shop! Not because of the endorsement or being a custom shop, its just a really nice combination of pickups/electronics hardware wood build quality and of course set up that feels great to play for hours

Cool story bro

I have owned briefly six or seven Stratocaster‘s I hated all of them but then I stumbled across the best Stratocaster I’ve ever played it was a USA customs guitar parts Strat with Callaham hardware and then I put in a set of fender deluxe drive higher output Strat pick ups with a 500 K volume pot and I love the guitar now - it sounds and plays beautifully

Sounds great, nail'd.

Still love my '71 black strat.

I love how strats feel and play and sound, but they're just so ugly to me that I couldn't ever own one

I believe what we ACTUALLY want in our Strat neck pickups is a hot single coil, raised up right next to the strings. To me, that sounds like SRV and Jimi and all those guys. However, the default "Strat" setup since like the 90's is a low output neck pickup lowered to the floor. Nobody told me that in fact everyone told me the opposite until I played the right guitar as well.

A lot of good sound is in the fingers. Having said that, I find strats a bit thin - pingy and oinky. Gilmour and Hendrix slather the oinkster in effects. They often sackless compared to a Gibson or tele.

Yes! That's the sound!

Glad you found the strat of your dreams. Its just an unkown to us......no headstock shot nor do you say name of maker or etc......

Oh that strat sounds soo sweet!

just pawned mine for druggzzz, picked up a k-prs in the deal so i can keep on groovin. i'll get her back 1 these days

Jimi, David Gilmour, Yngwie, Uli Jon Roth, Ritchie Blackmore, Dave Murray, Glen Tipton, probably a ton of others I'm forgetting.....I'm not a strat guy, but good Lord I can't wait to get my 1st one & become a Strat guy!!

I'm finding this a little confusing. You're playing a maple neck Strat saying basically the Strat sound you expect to hear. And you also have a video where you put three different necks on the same Strat body, and make the determination that the Rosewood neck is "the Strat sound" that you expect to hear. So, is it a moving target or what?

I keep waiting to see the headstock!

I feel exactly like him ( other than the last person he mentioned)... Never played one that I liked always felt weird in my hands... I suppose that's why I like mustangs and my lead ii so much? And dang that neck looks ridiculously huge I wish my hands could handle something like that!!

“I don’t know how to explain it, but it does the thing”

That was my situation and it stayed that way with Strats until I found a late 60's hardtail Strat !

I think Fender nailed it in the 60's . . . my best Strat is a 1989 Korean (all because of the neck) that I reloaded with 1st Generation Vintage Noiseless pickups.

I love strats nothing like a 57 strat playing buddy holly

I’m still living at home and I have like seven guitars. My mom doesn’t get mad luckily because I don’t sit around, but she’s always asking why I need so many. It’s honestly indescribable. I have two strats. But they play and sound completely different. They feel different too

2 years ago, I finally gave in and bought a Strat. I instantly realized how stupid I was, refusing for decades to get one because I considered them "an old fart's guitar". Also: Edward Earl Hazel

I don’t like strats because of the position of the volume pot… too close to the strings. If I ever bought a strat, I’d remove one of the tone pots and move the volume pot down one hole… but then, would it sound like a strat? This is why the Tele is the king… forever…

I love the sound of my Strats. I just don't really enjoy playing them, for me they are just a tool to get a sound but I would never use one outside of just getting the Strat sound.

Hot take: Paying someone to ruin the finish is cringe. You literally can't even be bothered to take sandpaper to a guitar, or buy a used one, you want to oay for a fake used guitar. That's like HGTV house flipping in the 00s when people would beat an Ikea dresser with chains to "antique" it and thought that made it more expensive.

I hope my wife's boyfriend will be down with me getting this

Completly same for me, i love strats but i'm bad at them

I think one problem with the strat is it kind of became the 'default' style guitar and people kind of take it for granted plus a lot of peoples first guitar were probably cheapo strat clones and people associate them with that.

I've always had problem with the location of the volume knob on a typical strat style body because I rest the heel of my hand on the bridge. I gravitate towards 1 P/U and 1 Vol. s-type guitars. My favorite is a $50 squire strat that ive played for the last 20 yrs.

This is why I have a hardtail Strat. Coming from a Paul, couldn’t stand the trem bridge.

Yeah, when you hit the opening chords of The WInd Cries Mary the tone was real Hendrix almost perfect.