Opinions on hard shell guitar cases

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

Not that there's anything wrong with that

But yeah, no. I look at that thing on a Strat and something inside me breaks.

But for anyone else? Still no haha. Seriously, it's cool if that is what a player likes.

As to your question about which 'buckers to go for in a Strat. I don't know. I've never actually successfully done this. But I think if I were to do it today, I'd start with the Duncan SH4. I like the Gibson '57 Classics too, which I feel would be a good match in a Strat. They have nice clarity which I think I'd want in a bucker Strat. Really nice, warm blues pickup. But there are a zillion choices and it all comes down to the player's ear anyway. Projects like that tend to go through a number of options before the right one is found. Let us know what you go with.

As for tube amps, yeah I agree. I have the stack I mentioned before, but I don't turn it on much these days. The amp I play mostly around the house is a Fender Blues Junior that I've modified a bit. Nice little amp.

The pickups you mentioned are a good choice. I used the slightly hotter version of the original Gibson PAF's in the ESP rework. They have the four wire leads to wire them for Coil Splitting or phase wiring. I wired mine for coil splitting with push - pull control pots to approximate the sound of Fender pickups in single coil operation.

I am leaning toward the Dimarzio DP 100 Super Distortion Humbucking Pickups for the Strat build. I will have to see how well they will sound with the Fender Texas special or Fender Fat 50's single coil middle pickup. I am also going to check out the sounds of the Lace Sensors used by Fender in the 1990's. It all comes down to the sound you want to get. I liked the sound that was big in the 70's and 80's Guitar work. If I can get that in a clean, warm tone and sound, I'm all in. I also want to check out the sound of the rails pickups.

The Fender Blues Junior is a great Amp.

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

The Fender Blues Junior is a great Amp.

Yeah, it is. It has that silverface vibe to the styling which is timeless. Top-mounted controls give it the old school feel. Sounds good too. I like master volume amps. I put a different speaker in it and run some NOS tubes. Sounds really good to my ear.

Another story and I've got a million of them. When I was a kid I had a '65 Fender Malibu acoustic (still have it). My first guitar, bought it from a record shop owner in town who was selling it. This guitar is a standard acoustic with a Strat-style headstock and rosewood board. Pretty nice.

Anyway, I wanted to be Jimi, or Clapton, or someone who played a Strat. Or Ed King! So I saved my grass-cutting money for three summers and bought a used '76 Stratocaster (still have it. It was $350 in 1980). But I couldn't afford an amp too. One day I was talking to the metal shop teacher at school and somehow this came up and he says, I have an old amp you can have. It doesn't work, but maybe you can get it working.

It turned out to be a sixties silverface Fender Champ, a 6 watt tube amp. Mr Watkins had been correct, it didn't work. Powered up, but no sound. So I took it to the TV repair shop and the man there said he would take a look at it. I forget what the issue was, a blown cap probably. Anyway, he got it working and aside from the Marshall, that Champ was my favorite amp I've owned, and that's a long list. What a tone monster. At 6 watts you could fully crank it at bedroom level and it sounded amazing. Perfect amp for a kid and his Strat.

A few years later I was in high school and playing in a band and I needed a bit more projection than that Champ could provide. I got seduced by a Peavey Bandit 65, a Mississippi Marshall! Solid state with a Black Widow speaker. All sorts of channels and push-pulls, built in distortion. And I traded that Champ on it. Still regret it.


A bit of trivia.... Eric Clapton used a Champ to record Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. So when you hear Layla or Bell Bottom Blues it's a Fender Champ!