Opinions on hard shell guitar cases

[Commander Wallace]

@ Threadfin.The locking Tremelo isn't all that important, just another tool in the tool box. The nice thing about the Floyd Rose Tremelo is the almost effortless string bends and Vibrato's with them. On the other hand, Eric Clapton, Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck and David Gimour among so many others do seamless string bends on their Fender Guitar's equipped with the Fender tremolo's with no problem. So, I think it's just a matter of preference and the player behind the Guitar. Sean said the Floyd Rose is a royal pain to string up and it can be.

The Tune-O-Matic tremolo's on your Les Paul's play exceptionally well, too. It all comes down to what you like. Some players like thick or very thin neck profiles. Some like scalloped fret boards like Steve Vai. Eric Clapton doesn't like Rosewood finger boards with a maple neck. Clapton prefers the Maple neck / Fingerboard setup.

I guess it's just the comfort level associated with all of the things mentioned. Not everyone hands are the same size and people may favor playing chords and arpeggio's as opposed to playing out of a particular scale as a reflection of the types of music and or playing style utilized by a favorite player.

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

@ Threadfin.The locking Tremelo isn't all that important

Haha, yeah I seem to agree with all these guitars and none with a locking tremolo (and I know tremolo is wrong, but that's what was used earlier and we all know what we mean)

I mean, a Floyd Rose on a Strat or LP would be blasphemous, wouldn't it?

Kramers or a BC Rich, then yeah, that fits. But I don't have any of those, all Fenders, Gibsons and PRS for electrics. I have some other brand acoustics of course.

Your points about comfort are spot on, and anyway, the entire exercise is subjective, isn't it? I mean, I've heard players just ripping the Les Paul and Gibson in general and I can only shake my head. But there's no accounting for taste.

As for me I have very definite preferences. Like I love rosewood on Fenders, sunburst finishes, top-wrapped tune-o-matics with the tailpiece screwed right down to the body. I like three springs on my Fender whammy bars. I like 'hybrid' string sets and nickle wound. I like 'cloth' style guitar cords, tube amps and Fender medium picks.

I dislike tortoise shell (except for picks), tall frets, reverse headstocks, Flying Vs, thin or heavy picks and flatwounds.

All of that is quite subjective and I could name a handful of friends that would disagree with any of those.

[Commander Wallace]

Originally Posted by Threadfin

I mean, a Floyd Rose on a Strat or LP would be blasphemous, wouldn't it?

All of that is quite subjective and I could name a handful of friends that would disagree with any of those.

Oh no, you didn't just say that. The Ritchie Sambora Signature Stratocaster comes with a Floyd Rose Tremolo. I have also seen Floyd Rose's retrofitted to a number of Stratocasters.




I acquired a Fender Stratocaster body in a black poly finish, this week, on the cheap. The gentleman also had a no name Hard Rock Maple neck for the Fender that is truss rod equipped and has a rosewood fingerboard / fret board. He also had the standard Fender Bridge / Tremolo. I had planned on stripping the color of at least the middle of the Guitar and giving it a two color Sun-bust finish in a bright amber, leaving the black on the outside edges.

I am debating on routing the body for a Floyd Rose Tremolo or leaving the Guitar as is. It will get Fender Shaller locking tuners. The body has a rectangular cavity I call a " swimming pool " routing for the pickups and allows the use of various style pick guards and pickup combinations. I may use Humbuckers in the neck and bridge separated by a single coil pickup in the middle using either a tortoise shell or Mother of Pearl Pick Guard. I also planned on using coil spliters on both control pots to put either Humbucker in the neck and bridge position into single coil operation.

The only question now is what humbuckers to use. For the single coil in the middle position, I will either use a Fender " Fat 50's or Texas Special Pickup. Therefore, the Humbuckers have to be sonic-ly compatible.

I think people that rip on the Les Paul are jealous and would love to have one, or two or um, many. I am with you on tube amps. I have a Canadian Traynor YGL-3, Mark three, 100 watt tube head unit amp. It weighs a ton. I also have Fender Bassman original all tube Amp that has been reworked. I have a few Marshall Amps as well. They all sound great.


I have always been confused as artists I know go to incredible extremes to find and use all tube amps and then use all sorts of distortion units on them. The great thing about tube amps is they don't " color " the sound and just give pure, unadulterated tones. The bad part is, you have to let the tubes in the Amp cool down after playing before moving them.

[Threadfin]

Originally Posted by Commander Wallace

Oh no, you didn't just say that.

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.

[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!