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Hey guys,
I've been quiet lately, playing my Warmoth partscasters mostly. I just put up a brief video with my Warmoth hardtail Strat improvising over a vamp. I'm playing this guitar so much lately, forsaking my precious archtops. It has a 4 lb alder body and a maple neck with a 9.5" radius and 6150 (big) frets. The pickups are Fralins and the strings are just nickel roundwould 11-49s. I scuffed/brushed the parts for a somewhat relic'd look, and I finished the whole thing with Tru-Oil for a minimalist, organic feel.
Other than the hardtail, it's a very normal Strat that is not "set up for jazz."
It doesn't need to be.
The hardtail bridge restores the crisp note attack that Teles have, but which is typically muted by a Strat's tremolo apparatus. I dig the 25.5" scale as it is the same as my L-5, and of course the body shape is very comfortable. There's just nothing not to like.
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04-25-2013 12:25 PM
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Nice playing, good sound! I REALLY like the shirt
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Hey! I agree! I have always liked Strats and went through several custom shop guitars. They were always a bit thin and bright and while I liked them, I eventually tired of the sound and reverted to playing my ES-335 guitars. I found a custom shop Relic 60s style with a hardtail. I bought it and strung it with .10 gauge flat-wounds.
Much warmer and fuller than any Tremolo Strat I have played.
That video sounds really good, with a nice groove. Did you create that background track?
PD
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Sounds great. I've been considering something in this vein.
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Nicely done Roger.
+1, big Strat fan. I use D'Addario 11-49 coated, with tone backed-off, good jazz sound.
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Nicely played. I've been sans archtop for a while playing an ASAT with similar fondness, though far less music aptitude
The subscription at the end of the video states using the Clarus 2R mic'd... Which cab?
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Musique bleu, mais Rose Rouge!!
Nice playing.
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Like everything about this. Nicely done!
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I can deactivate and block my strat's tremolo with a piece of maple and get similar results. The Fender Robert Cray signature strat is cheap and is a hardtail. There's also the Nashville telecaster with 3 pickups. Obviously its a sound that lots of people like.
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Thanks all. Yeah, it's not really that profound to demo this rig I guess, but somehow a Strat gets no respect as a jazz guitar. And I've owned one for 20 years and barely played it for that style. But the hardtail changes the feel quite a bit, and I'm just grooving on this stripped down instrument.
Silly me about the mic'd amp: It's a Redstone RS-8vER cabinet. Also, I have a Tech21 Paradriver DI in the signal chain, too. That helps a lot with the ultra-clean, acoustic oriented Clarus setup. I don't use that pedal with my SFPR of course, and that gets similar tones with the Strat.
The backing groove is a song called Rose Rouge by St. Germain, a cool chill/lounge artist with a jazz flavor.
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An album that actually sold a few million copies. Amazing how the general public respond when someone gets it right.
Originally Posted by rpguitar
Although a fave of mine this album and style...... something I looked at very closely as a possible direction ....it's telling that there are no chord changes on most of the record. No "jazz" changes that is. As soon as you include them the hypnotic effect falls apart. The listener is woken up. Thus the album is mostly diatonic.
Still a great record and even though heavily programmed there are real players on it (humans).
I enjoyed your playing Roger. Sitting right in that pocket!
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Real nice playing and like the sound of the guitar.
I used to have a hard tail strat and miss it. I recently picked up another strat cheap but and the plinkiness the tremelo gets to me sometimes.
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Thanks Roger.
Love the playing, love the guitar!
I just put together a hardtail strat from Warmoth. I did however, used a 24 3/4 conversion neck.
I love the ergonomics of the Strat style body.
Didn't mention it here as I didn't think anyone was interested. Not an archtop, doncha know...
btw... where did you get the backing track? I kinda like it.
Cheers, Ron
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Great playing Roger, very hearty and classy.
Besides the practical stability reasons, compared to a regular non blocked tremolo bridge, does a hardtail change anything tonewise ?
Thanks
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It eliminates the plinkiness and some of the chime without the tremolo, springs, and extra body cavity. Originally Posted by xuoham
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I owned a 1977 Hardtail Strat, a virtual copy of what you are playing. One piece ash body, all original. I bought it in 2009 for under $500 with a Lab Series L-5 amp. I sold this guitar, but now with an interest in Jazz, I realize I sold it for the wrong reasons. Wish I had it back. However I did get $2750 for it... 9.8 condition, I kept the amp.. Original case and all the candy. I have been looking for an equivalent hard tail since. I like the hardtail sound.
Very nice playing. "Jazzy".Last edited by bohemian46; 05-01-2013 at 09:13 PM.
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very nice...i aim to put together a hard tail tuxedo looking jazz strat for myself from warmoth within the next few months. I enjoyed your tasty playing!!!
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The term plinkiness has been mentioned a couple of times with regard to tremolo equipped Strats. I have overcome this to a large extent on my 80's Japanese Squier by placing a piece of approx half inch foam over the springs and putting the cover back on. This removes some of the "plinkiness" and you can still use the Tremolo. Worth a try!
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Yes, the combination of a clean, neutral amp like the AI head and the Paradriver DI pedal brings the sound into Fender like territory - which your recording demonstrates very well. And the Redstone cabinets work very well with that combo (I use a RS-10ER) Originally Posted by rpguitar
It seem there's a few of us who likes the Strat body shape even for jazz. As some may remember I put together a Warmoth Strat partscaster (also with hard tail) a couple of years ago and I find the Strat body shape more ergonomic and comfortable than the Tele.
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Just came across this old thread. All the cool kids play hardtail strats!
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Great hardtail Strats for jazz-I use one.
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Hardtails are great for jazz indeed.
My jazz-strat doesn't have a hardtail though, but 5 springs with a piece of foam between the springs and the cover, to keep the zzzzzing out. Works great! Of course, 0.011 flatwounds help as well.
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This is an important point; whether keeping five springs between the claw and bridge block, or going hard-tail, both approach the same tone and feel. Originally Posted by Little Jay
Closing the gap further to approach the sound of an L-5 is all about picking gently, using firmness for control and dynamics rather than for volume.
The way I remove the zzzzzing from the springs is to bend them off-center so the free spring makes about a 30 degree from straight. When installed this increases their tension and the residual angles (now about 5 degrees) damps the zzzzzing.
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I use 4 springs, with a small amount of float. It sounds fine. It doesn't sound like my archtop or my semi-hollow. That's the point.
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I like the spring zing it's like having a little reverb built in.
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