Semantic Fight: Is an HSS really a "strat"?

bifurcation

bifurcation

Well-known member
True confession: I've never owned a strat. When I first got into guitar, I decided humbuckers were the be-all-end-all, without ever... uh, y'know, examining or investigating that belief. The closest I ever got was playing an Ibanez Roadstar II exclusively through the humbucker.

So, what makes a strat a strat, and is an HHS a strat?
 
I guess that is one reason Fender sells strats with a bridge humbucker with a coil tap.

Growing up in western NC, every kind of soda pop was called a "coke". So you would get really off questions sometimes like -- What kind of coke do you want? A Coke coke? Pepsi coke? Mountain Dew coke?

Now that's some fine semantics right there. What kind of coke goes best with a strat?
 
Harry Klippton said:
Having a humbucker in the bridge means you're missing out a bit on the strat experience, but a single coil strat bridge is also the least best part of a strat
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I had that same opinion for a very long time. I've primarily played gibsons, prs and teles for the last 20 years. I always loved the neck pickup on a strat but didn't see the point/couldn't get a good sound out of the middle, bridge or positions 2&4. I always loved strats played by other people but they never clicked for me until about 4 years ago. I find you have to approach them differently to a humbucker guitar or a tele. It's a very weak sounding guitar until you're at a decent volume and then they start to come alive. I wouldn't be without mine now.
 
Coda said:
I think I it the shape, not the guts. I also think that calling all non-Fender/Squier strat-shaped guitars “s-style” is a bit pretentious. Looks like a strat, it is a strat.
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I believe "S-style" is to avoid a court case. Strat (and Stratocaster) are still active trademarks of Fender.
 
I had a gig (on bass) and the guitarist had a Strat. I told him that I had a Strat similar to his, in Shoreline Gold. When he found out mine was a Squier he turned his nose up and said it wasn't a Strat.

Mm okay, it says right on the factory label:
"Squier® Stratocaster®" and below that
"By Fender®"

For the most part, I think Fender knows how to name its own products, hence this symbol on my Stratocaster:

1200px-RegisteredTM.svg.png



Makes me wonder if the guy is okay with Fenders made in Mexico or Japan, or does a Strat in his eyes have to have been made in Corona, or if he's even more of a JA — Fullerton.


Stick whatever pickups you want in it, it's still a Strat — just like this '55 Chevy remains a '55 Chevy even though it's powered by a Chrysler Hemi...
Mike-Finnegan-in-Blasphemi-at-Hot-Rod-Drag-Week-2019-Photo-by-John-Schultz.jpg

Mike Finnegan's Blasphemi
 
I mean, is it a strat if it doesn't have an sss config, a cold rolled steel sustain block on a six point tremolo locked down with five springs with the claw screwed all the way in with high action, a 7.25" fretboard radius, narrow/medium frets, and a microtilt adjustment mechanism that has over time forced the fretboard to develop an upward slope on the last few frets rendering ANYTHING played on the guitar a buzzy poorly intonated mess?!??!?!

I mean, probably. Then again, I'm the kinda guy that'll argue that a hot dog is a sandwich.

So's a taco.

Come at me.
 
Stickman393 said:
I mean, is it a strat if it doesn't have an sss config, a cold rolled steel sustain block on a six point tremolo locked down with five springs with the claw screwed all the way in with high action, a 7.25" fretboard radius, narrow/medium frets, and a microtilt adjustment mechanism that has over time forced the fretboard to develop an upward slope on the last few frets rendering ANYTHING played on the guitar a buzzy poorly intonated mess?!??!?!

I mean, probably. Then again, I'm the kinda guy that'll argue that a hot dog is a sandwich.

So's a taco.

Come at me.
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But is a pop tart ravioli, and is the ocean soup?
 
I'm rather fond of my redneck strat. A strat with two HBs? That would be amazeballs with glitter. IYKYK.
 
The two HB Strat is, I think, called the Big Apple Strat. Two HBs, no middle pickup. Amazingly, still sounds like a strat. Not much like an apple through, although I guess it has some crunch.
 
I think this all occurred to me because I realize a lot of how I differentiate guitars (at least lately) is by sound profile and specialty.

I guess shape doesn't enter into it for me.... although I get the impression that one of the things that makes a strat a strat (at least for some people) is the neck profile, no?
 
Funny, I've never thought of it. A Stratocaster is a 3 single coil guitar. Anything else is a modification. A "Strat" is any modification that resembles a Stratocaster in body shape. I'll draw the line in the sand there.

My hacked up 71 has a Seymour Duncan Quarter pounder in the bridge so I don't even consider that a Stratocaster by true definition. Semantics.

To take it an OCD step further...I rewired my Tele with a 4way switch. It had some interesting sounds but in my mind it still bugged me that I buggered up the simplicity of a plain old Tele. It was still a Tele, but it wasn't a Telecaster in the true sense. Plus the 4th sound didn't sound interesting enough to overcome the standard wiring. Bonus discovery, though, was that taking the pickup cover off of the neck pickup (initially for grounding reasons) opens up an entirely new world of Tele sounds. Highly recommended. Is it still a Telecaster? Yes it is.
 
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