5 Things Leo Fender Got Wrong
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2022
- Today I run down the #top5 #mistakes Leo #Fender made with the Stratocaster
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6) Volume knob is where my right hand needs to be. I can't do right hand damping on the thin strings
Volume knob on the strat is too close to your little finger. I'm forever lowering the volume on my guitar inadvertently with my pinky. Maybe its just me?
No it’s not just you .I cut a piece of soft leather the size of the knob with a hole for the shaft it creates some drag on the knob hope this helps.👍☮️
Bang on with that one mate - I love Strats, but always found that knob gets in the way rather than being ergonomic.
Me too!
It’s just you. ❤
A whole legion of guitar players feel the same way! I'm not one of them though, never was an issue for me. What I don't like is the pick-up selector position...here I am happily enjoying position 4 when all of a sudden, my tone becomes thin and ice-picky. Yup, I had unintentionally hit the selector to position 1 in the midst of playing something perhaps a tad over enthusiastically 🙄🙄
You're absolutely right on all these points John. Also, the volume and tone controls on a Strat hinder playing. That's why I like Contemporary Series Strats (both Fender and Squier) as they fix all these issues (22 fret, 12" radius, truss rod can be set from headstock, 1 master tone and 1 master volume away from your hand).
Was about to say "What is this heresy?" but you made a point with all 5.
Remember that in the '50s, 12 gauge strings (flatwounds at that) were considered light, a high action was normal, and frets tended to be narrow and low. 90% of modern guitarists would consider a normal vintage set up unplayable and anything more than a semitone bend would have been pretty wild (unless you were a pedal steel player). Playing right up the neck wasn't common, and the access guitars like the Tele and the Les Paul had give past the 15th fret was probably already considered a radical innovation. So choking out on the 20th fret or trying to reach that top D just wasn't something that many guitarists wanted or needed. It's like trying to sell a mum an car that does 0-60 in 5 seconds and has a top speed on 180mph - she doesn't need that for the weekly shop and the school run.
Similarly the 3-way switch was all that was necessary because the three pickups gave what was seen as enough tonal variation, between suitable lead and rhythm tones. It wasn't really until the 60s that guitarists and producers became obsessed with varieties of tone, in the 50s it was just "am I loud enough?" and "does it sit OK in the arrangement?" which was either live or in a studio being recorded into a single mic for the whole ensemble.
These things weren't so much mistakes as Leo not knowing where guitar playing was going to go in the next 50 years.
The truss rod position was largely a cost saving measure as it would have been easier, therefore cheaper, to manufacture seeing as how Fender's one piece necks had the truss rods installed. GAS wasn't really a thing back then so most guitar players would only have one or two instruments, even working professionals, so dismantling the guitar or taking it to a pro to be maintained once our twice a year likely wasn't a big deal. Remember that with the Fenders the fact that the neck was removable was an innovation and a major selling point, the idea being that you could replace the neck if it got damaged or if you wore out the frets (new necks would be cheaper that a professional refret), so something else that you can point to as being a "benefit" of the neck being removable would play into that. I agree that from a modern perspective it is a pain but the reasoning behind it at the time is pretty clear.
No tone on the bridge is a real head scratcher though.I 'm guessing the thinking was that if you just didn't want that much treble you'd not be on the bridge pickup anyway.
I agree with many of your points John. I think in 1954 they didn't imagine how they'd end up being played. In fact you might say it took Jimi Hendrix to really show us what an electric guitar is for. Fender also has a problem in that, if the Strat is modified too much, people don't like it. Imagine if people were still insisting on having a carburetor in their car because 'that's how they made them in 1954'.
It's the same problem Gibson has, that there's always a bunch of old purists who don't like modifications
I have a couple of American Standard Strats, 2007 and 2010. All five points have been corrected, and I love them both.
Hi John, I did hear that the number of frets was that the keys used at the time in orchestras and the like only required to up-to C, as the guitar was still apart of the rhythm section. Great content on your videos john
I got around the truss rid adjustment by cutting some of the pickguard away. Just enough to be able to sneak an allen wrench in.
Warmoth did a very interesting video I haven't seen anyone else do where they tested the sound of different style truss rods in the same type of neck/body and the results were much more significant than you'd think. The vintage style bottom routed Fender truss rod had a much more full and bassy sound than the top mounted "modern" truss rod that had a much more twangy tone. Apparently the modern ones require more wood to be taken out of the neck. The video is called "Warmoth Neck Shootout Modern vs. Vintage"
As the owner and player of a vintage Warmoth tele neck who has cursed it continually for the inconvenience of setting/resetting the neck, thank you for the explanation. A compound radius and ebony fretboard made it all worth it at the time. I just would not have guessed this tonal impact possible, but if Warmoth did the shoot-out and declared it so, it's so. Happy Holidays, mate.
Absolutely nailed it John!!!!
i recommend the seymour duncan stra bro 90 (single coli sized p 90) for the bridge position it boosts the lower mids while taming the highs works great for drive, i also recommend adding a tele position bridge +neck with a push pull tone knob or a switch.
I think the biggest flaw is that it isn’t a telecaster 😜
Hi John, the 21 fret thing is easily sorted with a small bend. If you're playing a lick right up at the dusty end you'd more often than not bend up to the D note anyway. On a Strat it's because there's not another option.
We need to be able to bend to the E octave. And besides, this was a work around hack players developed, not part of the design.
I can live with 7.25” radius, but the volume knob position is a no-go for me. Great video as always!
Strat volume control......the main reason I don't play a Strat with the typical electronics layout.
An aftermarket pick-guard resolved that issue.
@@victormarinelli5660 Totally agree, Victor! I have considered that. However I guess I´m more of a Tele guy really, so I´ll stick to those.. 🙂
I can add few more things: 1. Headstock is flat, not slanted. Fender added string trees to get right string angle to machine heads, and by doing that they created another friction point for strings which can lead to detuning guitar especially when using tremolo. 2. Big fat neck joint block. Annoying thing when you play upper frets. 3. Volume knob is to close to pickups.
The flat headstock was presumably designed for cheaper production though. Easier to carve and far easier and cheaper than a scarfed joint headstock. Stronger too, have you ever seen a snapped off headstock on a Fender! Same with the neck heel. Crude maybe, but cheap and quick to build. Like the original one-piece maple neck and fretboard. Leo was known for his obsession with cost efficiency and the concept of mass-production.
@@jokermaan1 Cheaper production doesn't justifies bad design. Stratocaster still have the same flaws today, even with the price tag of 2000$+... but now we call that "traditional design". Sure, from time to time Fender change some things: 2 point tremolo instead of "6 screws impossible to stay in tune" tremolo, flatter fingerboard radius, roller string trees instead of buterfly's etc., but i can list here at least 50 guitar manufacturers who have far better design for a much less $. I do have 1 Stratocaster and I loving it with all flaws, but the truth is, today we have many guitars to choose with superior design to old Strat.
Nice to hear about playing with wind instruments. Eb tuning ain't just for singing is it .
Nothing Leo ( and his right hand men) did was wrong. I will admit there are a few things that Gibson did that could beg a 'hybrid' of sorts (mainly electronics like a (bridge position hb'er and maybe bigger frets and a flatter fingerboard radius). But then again, a stock 'vintage' spec strat is amazing 🤘
My first Strat was a very heavy 79 large head stock and it had the truss rod on the head stock end. It also had the three screw neck plate with the Allen key adjuster hole. It was a great work horse over the years I got it on my 21st birthday and I still have it today but it needs a fret job. I now play a 56 custom shop reissue the same as Mr Marvin's complete with gold hardware and Fiesta red paint.🎸 Much lighter to play all night now my use by date is starting to run out.😂
Good points John!....I would say hindsight is always 20/20....I might also add that suspending pickups in a plastic pickguard, (or rings like a lot of other guitars), does absolutely nothing good for tone either....My Mexican flame top Strat has no pickguard and the pickups are screwed into the body itself...AND the bridge pickup is wired into the tone control as well....Thanks again for excellent content...
Leo made his G&L strat and tele shaped guitars with 22 fret full heel necks no overhangs.
I agree with your 5 points!!
I'm a Strat guy and agree with all of these points. Fortunately, most of these are easily correctable with some wiring changes and I made sure my custom "strat" style guitar had 22 frets!! BTW, it has a compound radius. Had a vintage Strat and could not get used to the 7.5" radius.
My FSR Tribute came with tone control for the bridge pickup (neck/middle for the other) and it does make a lot of difference, for me anyway. More often than not I dial it down to between 7-9, but sometimes go a little lower. I don't tweak the neck/middle tone knob as much.
It's a MIM Strat and the first time I've had a control for the bridge pickup. It seems like such an obvious thing to do in hindsight, considering that it makes the instrument sound better.
I wonder if the real reason for 21 frets is an economic one in that it would have been quicker (and cheaper) for relatively unskilled labour to make the neck (and fingerboard) out of one piece of maple without having to make a separate fingerboard. Same with the truss rod adjuster - they didn’t need to carve out the adjustment access at the top of the neck
Agree. My Strat has a tone for the bridge but I added that feature. I now play mostly thru a Tele....much better tone with a 4 way switch.
The volume knob placement too
Totally agree with all but 1 of the flaws. Glad to see the usual foibles like volume knob position, blocky heel joint were not mentioned as these were never issues for me. The 7.25" radius joins the aforementioned 2 as a non-issue. In fact, it makes it easier to play those chords where you have to grab the low-E string with your thumb 👍🏼
Imagine a world where there are no 21 fret Fenders, no silly fingerboard extensions, no squeezing the pick guard underneath the fingerboard.
There are other things - stamped saddles, string trees, uncomfortable heel joints, that are probably ways to make the guitar cheaper - which was great then, but now probably is not the case, since over time, the marginal cost out of making millions of guitars is likely zero.
But it's amazing how much he got right that stands to this day.
I prefer 22 frets so I can bend up to E. I like the neck pickup where it is and would not want to nudge it to accommodate twenty-four frets. As much as I love strats they are not perfect. In fact, one of my favorite guitars of all time is a Schecter strat I played at a local shop in L.A. back in '87. It was perfect. It had a volume, a universal tone that also controlled the bridge, and the hardware was solid. Great craftsmanship, playability and tone. It was like the model Knopfler played except it had a five-way switch which I prefer to all those toggles. Unless I actually want a humbucker in the bridge, if I'm going for a strat tone I want single coils in all 3 positions. I never find bridge buckers to handle the 2 position that well. I think a part of this is because of how the back coil on the bucker is wound but also because of the fillister/screw poles having a different characteristic from the flat poles. Duncan makes a pickup called a Stag-Mag that's supposed to solve this so they can sound very authentic when split, but I also feel a part of what makes a strat sound like a strat is the angle at which the bridge pickup sits. I go back and forth from wanting to use a standard single coil strat to using my guitars with buckers in the bridge. It depends on my mood.
Give poor Leo a break, first he designed that plank of wood, the Telecaster, then he listened
to the players complaints and came up with the Strat.
Both are workhorse instuments designed to pay your rent and put food on the table.
They are not perfect, but as other brands have shown they can be improved on.
Problem still is that apart from some more modern hardware, they still haven't realy done
a great deal to make me want to buy another Fender Strat.
Hence why i buy other brands that make more desirable S shaped guitars at affordable prices.
Had Leo Fender continued as he did with G&L would he have put all of his mistakes right?
I agree with you John about the truss rod. I've got an Elite Strat and it has the truss rod in a much better position at the bottom of the neck on a wheel like the music man and a few other brands have. Oddly enough they only did it on this version of the stratocaster and have since went back to the adjustment at the top. They need to bring back the music man idea imo.
Look at who formed Music Man too.
Hi John, yep the three knobs...I'm sure Fender decided on three knobs first for purely aesthetic reasons and only then figured out what to do with them, and came up with aomething less useful than the two-knob Tele!
Good Vid!
Further proof that the Yamaha Pacifica 112 is in fact the natural evolution of the Stratocaster. Flat fretboard, 22 frets, no confusing second tone pot for those that see that as an overwhelming complexity, 5 way switch and humbucker in the bridge position. Discuss. 🙂
Available in "Penguin" or "Driftwood" colourways for us lefty's. Pity about the narrow nut though.
With modern strats most of those issues have been addressed in that you can get different radius fretboards, you can get a five-position switch, you no longer need to remove the neck to do a truss rod adjustment. I believe that the standard wiring for the strat controls has now changed but it's still in issue in that they have the wrong number of knobs. I think they should just have two, like a Tele. No matter where your pickup selector is, tone adjusts tone, and volume adjusts volume. Anything else is too complicated for me to figure out. You can also get strats with 22 frets. The player series strat has 22 frets. The wrong thing you missed is the cable jack. The whammy bar always wraps around the cable when I'm playing, and I have to have a little wrestling match to extricate the thing every time I want to use it. Many, I won't say most, of the strat-copy type of guitars have two knobs, and have the cable jack in the side of the body, where it belongs.
I love the sound of Strats and most of my guitar heroes played them so I wanted one too, but due to my rubbish technique, I guess, I just can't play them. So my moans are mainly about Strats as I find Teles easier to play. I agree with some of what you said. I am not fussed if there is a 22nd fret or not but if you can add one, why not. I'm not a big string bender either so I am not bothered too much with the 7.25" and 9.5" neck radius, although it can make barre chords easier i guess so great for rhythm players? Totally agree with you about having no tone on the bridge position and the truss rod at the body joint, how weird, also agree about the 5 way switch. and why not have a push/pull pot as well to bring in neck and bridge pick-ups together?
I hate where the volume control is on Strats, it gets in the way of where I want to steady my hand when playing a solo so I end up turning it down by accident. Also the Strat's 3 or 5 way switch is angled perfectly for you to knock it by accident when strumming. And where the whammy bar fits into the Strat bridge makes it difficult for string muting and if you can mute somehow you have to be careful not to knock a floating bridge out of tune anyway.VML make an Easy-Mute Guitar Tremolo Arm for a fee but really it is just a trem arm with an extra 90deg bend in it as far as I can see. All you need is a long trem arm and put and 90 deg bend in it yourself in a vice. I have made a couple and they seem to work OK? Why can't Fender do it? Also the screw in floppy trem arm where if you want ro keep it in the same place you have to put that little spring in. Why can't Fender do it like G and L with a push in bar with tension screw?
So sadly I can't really play the guitar I always wanted. Oh well. I have two Teles which I love instead.
Totally agree.
One thing about Fender in general is that they don't have the a split between the bottom of the body and the top of the body. A cap, like on a Les Paul, would let Fender do the routing under the cap, so they don't need big ugly pickguards to hide all the wiring. I have a Telecaster deluxe, and damn that pickguard is hard to get used to.
Despite being a Strat lover i agree on most of the points, especially the fretboard radius. Despite being an old blues / rock guy I like the flatter more modern radius (12" or more). Not sure about the bridge tone control though as i love the second position with the middle tone rolled back. From a more practical perspective Fenders biggest achievement was stripping out the non essentials and changing guitar design into something that could be mass produced, cheaper and more robust. Viewed from that angle, other designs at the time look positively archaic, indulgent and expensive to make.
Make sure the bridge pickup is wired to the tone control them roll some treble off when using a drive pedal. No need for a h/bucker.
Gotta admit that, apart from the truss rod adjustment location, I thought these would be a lot more serious than they turned out to be. On the three-way switch thing, I've heard that five-way switches like the one in a "modern" Strat weren't readily available back at the dawn of Fender and the potential for in-between sounds just wasn't something accounted for; it was discovered partly by accident.
Couldn't agree more.
I'll go you one J.R. Tall, thin frets on the Tele. Even the Greats hated it. Once worn I get it. Nickel frets are perfect for this. Hundreds of hours neccessary. But...I had mine lowered to Medium height. Just like all my other guitars. Happiness. What's your opinion on this? Cheers.
Yes, those tall vintage frets feel like trying to roller skate up a cobbled street. Not my cup of tea 👍
John you just stabbed me in the heart! Let me start with the first point. When these guitars first came about not many people were playing on the upper end of the neck. As far as the truss rod location it's a great place to put something that the untrained won't be messing around. Fretboard radius is kind of a personal thing. Once I got used to the 7.25 and 9.5 necks anything else seems well to flat. I'll give you the switch and the tone argument as that is questionable. Have a great day and yes it's a great topic.
I find 21 fret ST necks more natural than a 22 fret. 9.5 is the most radius I want!
Agree with all 5, John! And Leo Fender’s thinking was the Stratocaster would be an improvement on the Telecaster …
In several respects it was an improvement. More comfortable to play with its contoured body, more tonal variety, double cutaway for easier access and a revolutionary floating tremolo system.
@@jokermaan1 100% 👍🙂
How did I know you'd mention fret board rad, and tone control(s)?
The other thing that bugs me, is the master volume being so close to the strings/pick-up.
I prefer the 70's 21 fret neck profiles, plus I know how to bend strings...try it
Yes, the truss rod at the butt end is a pain. Having said that, my Tele and Jaguar never normally need more than a quarter turn for seasonal adjustment. Have to say, my Jag's 7.25 radius is really nice to play. Dare I say, you're being high maintenance on that (joking, bad pun). Interesting and informative, nonetheless, despite the fact I don't own a Strat. Each to their own, all the best, mate.
It really is bizarre that it took over 20 years for Fender to ship a 5-way switch as standard. Okay, it wasn’t there originally, in and of itself no great sin. But once a company finds out that its customers are using their product in a way they didn’t expect, and this is becoming really popular and a potential benefit, the company is supposed to respond to that and accommodate it!
You made some good points. The only retort I have is Leo Fender wasn’t a guitar player. And probably a stubborn bastard.
Lol, great click bait title, and you followed through with all the Strat sacrileges, to which I agree. If we're going bridge humbucker it would be nice if Fender had a coil tap but it's not that common so there's another complaint. A specialty pickup like the SD Twangbanger (hotter wind plus has a bottom steel reflector plate like the Tele bridge pup), or even narrow humbucker, in the bridge single coil position solves the thin/brittle problem and there are a few specialty Strat models that have that. When they do go 22 frets they thankfully move the truss adjuster to the headstock where it belongs but then you get this weird overhang down at the body which can be annoying during modding. Why can't we have a 'Nashville' Strat, with a Tele bridge plate and pup and Strat middle/neck? I don't want a Nashville Tele I want this, yet with all the Paranormal model weirdness Fender never did the most obvious mashup.
Position of the volume knob!
It is extremely difficult to change a string on a Strat if it's a used string. (Though I think this is intentional).
Love Strats but agree with stupid 21 frets and they still make em ? Also the sharp 7.5 inch radius of fret that choke the strings I have never understood it spoils some really good guitars .. I own one Strat the Ultra 12 inch radius 22 fret humbucker in bridge noiseless pick ups a lot better that old Strats I think
Can't really argue with those points 🙂
Bought a Strat in 1961 after a Fenton Weill Triple Master. Both great guitars, but the Strat did it for me. Also had a MIJ Rosewood Tele which I crazily sold!
Ah, we all regret things!
Traded a Hofner Club 60 for the Fenton Weill at Hamilton’s in the Boro John!
Regrets I’ve had a few etc….
Ah... Hamilton's, on Grange Rd. I remember it well 👍
Apparently the reason they only had 21 frets was because that was the most they could get on the fingerboard, before the neck pocket ran out!.They weren't made with a fret board overhang like they use these days, and I think at one point they were not made with a separate fingerboard (neck and fingerboard were all one piece of wood).
Leo Fender was an engineer, and not a guitar player. He liked things that were "cost effective", so that came before functionality!!
I personally hate 21 frets, it should be 22 at least and really 24 frets because it's a full 4 octaves which makes more logical sense. The advantage is that you can actually get to the 22nd fret easily to bend up to the highest E note on the high E string. Again they didn't have shredders in the 1950's and so they didn't need to get that high up at the "dusty end'!!
Agree with the radius thing. 9 and a half inch is much better and should be the minimum, so no point in having a more rounded radius and the risk of choking when bending. Don't like the truss rod adjustment from the end of the neck either, meaning you have to loosen the neck!! Not a fan of the vintage style frets either, not made for more modern styles!
Funnily enough, all these problems on a vintage strat, have been solved for the most part with modern strats. I bought a Fender Player Strat last year, in seafoam green with the roasted maple neck, and it solves all the problems including having a master tone for the bridge pickup.
I see it as a "vintage/modern" strat, as in it looks like a vintage one with the colour, and the caramelised neck (not unlike a vintage "honeyed" one where the lacquer has darkened it), but it has all the modern improvements. The Mexican ones now have the 22 frets that the USA ones do. In the past the Mexican ones would have been a deal breaker with only having 21!
The only guitars they made in this cool vintage colour in the past were all the vintage style radius, 21 frets, etc, (i.e. Vintera) and I wanted a more modern instrument with a vintage "look". I've managed it with this Player Strat, so I'm happy!! 😁🤔
Here is another one he corrected quickly though. Leo Fender didn't see the need for a truss rod. In fact the esquire prototypes before 1950 where he handed them out for guitarists to try they complained about the guitars being hard to play and string buzz after a few weeks of touring. That basically twisted his arm into installiing them, of they handn't complained fender could have taken a long time to adopta truss rod possibly.
Another glaring mistake is referring to the bridge mechanism as 'tremolo'. Curious when you think Fender amp actually feature a proper tremolo effect!
Bill Ward, Glasgow
Leo wasn't a musician so probably wouldn't have known the difference between 'tremolo' and 'vibrato'.
What boggles my mind is why so many Strat clone builders still build 21 fret guitars.
One good reason may well have been that Leo was not himself a guitar player, or indeed a musician! The development of both the Tele and Strat came about largely from players feedback. I agree about the truss-rod issue, but a lot of ideas for improvement came from country players (particularly with the Tele), so maybe these weren't issues for them. I have a Vintera Modified Strat, that whilst adhering largely to the aesthetics of an early '60s Strat, has non-original features like a 9.5" radius and five-way switch and even an S1 in the volume knob to provide seven tonal options! Yet still Fender have this crazy insistence on keeping the original truss-rod adjustment. Even Squier CV Strats have adjustment at the headstock and I have a Squier CV P-bass with it too.
Does anybody else find they keep knocking the selector switch with the picking hand?
No, I’ve not had that problem. But, as others have said, it’s the flamin’ volume knob that keeps getting in the way!
To witness the greatness of the Strat for yourself, Tobias Hoffman just uploaded himself playing a '61 cherry Stratocaster... MUST SEE!!!!🤘
REALLY hard to ride the Volume pot with the wigglestick screwed in though.. Yeah, these 5 points are all spot-on Strat quirks. I'd think that Leo Fender's idea was to make something different (except that radius..), so a Tremolo (vibrato actually..) and 3 pickups and wired in such a way there are only two knobs...this is like when he did the original Broadcaster wiring and the neck was sounding like a bass, then the neck (middle), then bridge /neck as a blend...I think he thought two tones and a volume was all he needed? Maybe still answering the demand from (his favorite Cowboy guitar pickers) that wanted a bright bridge? Well, in any even, the Strat was and still is, unique.
him saying the word "tremolo" should be on the list as ooops #6. that's why i go with "whammy" to sidestep the whole issue. haha
You are right in all five.
The first thing you assume is wrong was only because of an economy of materials specifically for neck blanks as well as the fretboard blanks only came in a length where that was conducive saving pennies in manufacturing had nothing to do with the musical notation system and remember when this guitar started in the late 40s and early 50s most people did not play up that high because the guitar was a rhythm instrument mostly used for cords and not for a lead instrument that was left to the saxophones trumpets and other instruments at that time that did those runs. As the instrument was used more for melodies and the lead runs then more France would be required you have to think in terms of the time in which it was applied. as for the five way switch again the kind of music that was used originally for this guitar was very country esk Music and early surf guitar sounds three-way was good enough it’s like a asking fender to look into the future and put an air conditioner on the headstock to blow air in the face of the musician to keep him cool under the lights nonsense hindsight is always 2020 as far as rolling off the town on the bridge again it was not part of the music of that particular time they heavily overdriven lead type music of heavily blues oriented music was not something they thought of you might as well ask why A Mandolynne doesn’t sound like a violin even though they are tuned identically and have the same amount of length in the front boards you were comparing apples to oranges. I enjoy your videos and do like your comments and agree with them but it is a little bit like expecting Stone Age man to have understood guns when he was used to a bow and arrow and you need to have a little more for thought about the history we are all myopic in some areas this is not right or wrong this is just oversight from where we are in culture and in history someday people will ask why did those guys play stringed instruments at all they’re so antiquated when you could push a button and get any sound you want. I love your conversations though do not misunderstand this I am not criticizing you I’m just noticing all of our today’s critiques of the past decisions are usually based on armchair quarterbacking in any game we have an. Umpire to call what he sees from his advantage point some people can actually see better from another advantage point that’s why we film everything today and umpires make mistakes but so do we thanks for the video I will continue to watch from my vantage point have a good day cheerio and all that English stuff.
I agree with all of these. Saying that, he did get a lot of things right considering the electric guitar was in it's infancy.
@Stratboy999. And ( you may already know this) Leo Fender was not a musician or a guitarist himself! For sure he would have been advised by those around him who did know what was required. So not a bad stab at "hot - rodding" a Telecaster. And just think of all of those Strat and super-Strat copies/ lookalikes that came after! An old saying goes that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Stay safe and well.
I guess you can always bend the highest C# up to D
I agree with all your points except I don't agree that the out-of-phase sounds are 'the strat sound' . . . they're cool and have their place but have become terribly over-used - lots of strat players go to position 4 and just stay there. Boring! As a result I've come to avoid it altogether, I hate sounding like everyone else. The 3 pickups each sound quite different and I like switching between them to give each song its own character. Most of my strats have been wired so I can get the neck and bridge pickups together - now that's a unique sound. As far as I'm concerned the best thing about strats, and why I play them so often on stage, is where the volume knob is - right within reach of my little finger so I can make little adjustments while playing, as well as volume swells.
Hendrix in Woodstock was constantly switching between bridge and neck.
Clapton with Cream at the Albert Hall in 2005 spent half his time on the middle pick-up.
I'm not sure who made the intermediate positions popular.
All of the criticisms you make of the early Strats were fixed by Leo and George Fullerton at G&L. The PTB (Passive Treble and Bass) system is fantastic, and the Legacy (or new Leo Strat) has 22 frets and a thinner neck profile. I agree though about the HB on the bridge and I have just had my Legacy Tribute (Indo made and fab) modded with a DiMarzio mini HB on the bridge, and it belts out with distortion/OD/Fuzz, but with PTB tweaks and cleaner tones it is bright and sparkly with a touch of warmth it seems. All Fender's recent mods are a catch up to what G&L do now, and the latter deserve more plaudits than they get, and the offer a Legacy in HSS config if required.
Common sense says you’re right John. But on the other hand it’s a bit like saying how does anyone get on with a bicycle when it hasn’t got a glove compartment!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍
Staggered pole pieces, ahhgg!!
you seem like a nice fella
I think a lot of the short comings came from the fact that Leo didn’t play....and they were inventing it as they went...
Hmm, my Strat has 22 frets 🧐 1987 USA Standard “Strat+”
Maybe redesign a strat for you're liking. Make Stratocasters great again
The worst design is that you cannot play a strat sitting down without it slipping off your leg. Maybe mine is too polished, but it bugs me no end.
Must be yours because I've never known that to be a problem when playing a Strat.
Me too
I have a distressed finish Vintage V6 strat (it was cheap!) that didn't slip as much until the finish became polished through wear. Perhaps there a market for special strat trousers with extra grip.🙂
I put small strip of stair grip tape on bottom edge. No more slip off the leg! I did this to all my electrics If you get color to match you can't really see it.. Z.K.
So the solution is a modern HSS strat like the American Performer Strat. All your issues resolved.
The tremolo. John's list is comprehensive, yet lacks the tremolo.
Nothing wrong with the Trem if it's set up well. Even floating.
Perhaps if Leo had been a player these flaws might not have been present.
The one thing that Leo got wrong with the Stratocaster is that it's not a Telecaster 🙂
never had a strat so this is all news to me.
Same, every time I picked one up to try it, it never appealed to me, some guitars make you fall in love straight away, strat’s are like those dates you go on when you know it’s never going to work out.
A Les Paul as far more faults, but it’s got soul, PRS got the scale length right, Telecaster got the simple clean lines, Gibson got the hum bucking bridge pick up perfect as per Billy Gibbons 59
Obviously that guitar didn’t exist until I had it custom made, add in an LR Baggs accoustic under the bridge pick up and a Roland synth pick up for everything else. Cathedral organ, saxophone, twelve string, instant drop tunings.
Never gets old.
In the early days there was no such thing as string bending ,what with the heavy strings that were only available then, so I suppose the curved fretboard radius wasn’t so much of an issue.
Say hey John: I didn't expect much in the way of substantial issues from this but you bring up some 'shortcomings' that I have always just accepted as characteristic of the beast. It never occurred to me that they could or should be changed.
With that being said, my reptilian brain sees glimpses of great wisdom in your comments and apparently Fender has also...70 years later. Oh well, a lot of good music came out of those flawed Strats of yore.
Probably better off with one volume, one tone like a Tele.
Hilarious! You made em stupid!🤣
Not really, the Strat was tge single most evolutionary leap in guitar design, I believe. Body contouring that actually makes sense (and is still the most favoured body shape, if you include super Strat)...tremolo bridge... Um what else..?
I've gone blank! Maybe I'm wrong, the Les Paul got a lot right - set neck mahogany, maple top = toaan machine. Humbucker... stop/TOM = Rock & Roll..
Snicksnack!
Perhaps the reason why early Fenders have the truss rod adjustment down by the pickguard because A) Leo wasn't originally planning on using any truss rod at all and B) He figured the neck would be off frequently when broken down for travel. If I'm not mistaken, he originally planned on using machine screws and threaded inserts, not wood screws.
Yep. Those are my main complaints. That Squiers by Fender STILL only have 21 frets is why i wont buy one as well as the 9.5" radius. To me, that's almost as bad as the 7.75" radius. Thankfully. the rest of those problems have been addressed save the tone thing. I'm frankly not that good to hear it well enough to make a comparison. I bought my MIM Strat in 2002 before I'd had guitars with 12" fretboards and 22+ frets.Since then my Strat mostly hangs on the wall. I just can't bring myself to love it.
21 frets is not really an issue. Playing at the 18th fret is already a stretch and does not sound very good anyway.
No, what you really needed to add is the pickup and tone controls mounted on the bloody pick guard. To do anything there is a real pain unlike a tele or a Gibson. For such a cost saving and practical man Leo F failed here..
How about, "may have got/gotten wrong," as things are so highly subjective and emotionally charged these days. I'm not criticizing. I'm suggesting a slight softening of the edges whenever it can be justified, and Leo Fender's lifelong contributions and indirect posthumous accomplishments would seem to just sneak him in under the wire, justifiably speaking. I enjoy your take on things. The best of holidays to you.
Neglecting the use of humbuckers
Goodness me, all done well-intended, doubtless, but it all positively reeks of backseat driving at its worst,..and even ‘ Monday morning quarter backing ‘from a bloke whose cornered you in a pub & whose raving is insufferable. You’ll have to find yourself a Tardis, mate, & dial in a visit to Leo’s office circa 1953 or thereabouts.
heretic! ok, well, maybe you have a point. when i pickup a guitar, i'm always messing in G. but that doesn't mean leo made a mistake. maybe i made a mistake? maybe you don't have a point after all!
ok, 7 1/4 is a little wonkie, but 9 1/2 is perfect. i have a korean guitar with a fretboard of 14 and what a shitshow! 9 1/2 is perfect. everyone know this
maybe leo wanted to make sure that someone like me didn't ever touch the truss rod? ever think of that?
people who have perfection hate unnecessary complexity. why not a 7 ways switch? how about 70 way switch? huh?
bridge pickup is meant to be grating. have you just transitioned to electric guitar?
hmmm, i only got 4 things. eh, that's good enough!
keep up the good work!
Before getting into the video I'm going to mention the two that bother me. The plain broken bridge design on the Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Mustang first. The second is the infernally irritating position of the volume control on Stratocasters. It's just far too close to the strings and the bridge and it inhibits my preferred way of playing, particularly palm muting.