Someone's trying to sell me this Strat...

[Embenny]

I love the wording of this title, like the OP was just innocently strolling down the street when a man in a trenchcoat said “Hey, buddy wanna buy a Strat?”

Need I remind you of this story?

Gear seems to attract me these days.

Did you ever figure out who the fuck Gez was, and how they knew your taste in gear?

[marqueemoon]

I love Burgandy Mist, BUT my own Strat is in time out after recording. I really thought I would use it as it worked at practice, but in the tracks it just didn’t. Everything I thought would be Strat ended up being Tele.

It’s making me really question why I own the thing.

If it’s a price where you’ll be able to flip for a profit if you don’t like it it still seems like a no-brainer though.

[JSett]

I love the wording of this title, like the OP was just innocently strolling down the street when a man in a trenchcoat said “Hey, buddy wanna buy a Strat?”

Need I remind you of this story?

Gear seems to attract me these days.

Did you ever figure out who the fuck Gez was, and how they knew your taste in gear?

Yes, it was a friend called Gerry who owns and runs the rehearsal studios we use (he also is Suzi Quattro and Shakin' Stevens' go-to soundguy for European shows). Gerry knows me all too well

[Larry Mal]

I don't know why you are asking us and not Gez anyway.

[sal paradise]

I’m selling on my ‘89 strat. Mainly because I need money.

But also because it would just live in its case. Middle pickup is nice but kinda bland. Position 4 & neck pickup do sound ace.

That said, I like my single coils to have punch. And the Tele neck pickup is pretty much as nice as the strat.

I’ve found the strat neck sort of uninspiring. The radius seems flatter than my JM for some reason. And I may as well play my Tele if I want flat feeling fretboard.


My 2 pence.

[Emanuel]

After avoiding the Strat for years (after a cheap knock-off as a first guitar) I started to get intrigued by the look of white Strats with large headstock.
Six or seven years ago I ordered a 2012ish Fender Japan ST68, (already) modded with superb electronics and CS 69 Pus by some Japanese Dude. A rather heavy instrument with a chunky neck. A few years later I grabbed a 1986ish Fender Japan ST67 - while looking almost the same (save for thetransition decal) it's a different animal. Very lightweight and a skinny neck. I had pickups wound by a local specialist (a retired dentist!), because it was - as most older MIJ Fenders sold in Europe - the ST67-EX with the plastic bobbins an cheap pots and the sound didn't do it for.
Like so many of you I also hate the position of the volume knob but my playing on the Strat adapted to it and I play a different style on it compared to the rest of my guitars. It's all about the neck PU for me anyway...

[E Baxter Put]

I have an AV65 Dakota red strat, I think 2012?

I'm not a strat player at all. I had one in 1990, and then another one briefly in 2009. I never liked the sounds really.

The AV65 is awesome. To me, it is what I imagine a 1965 guitar would be like if I bought it brand new. It looks great, sounds great, stays in tune perfectly, and comes with all sort of vintage type case candy.

Mine is lightweight and has a nicely full C shaped neck that feels hand carved, like vintage guitars. It might be the nicest feeling neck of any guitar that I have owned except for maybe a 1958 LP jr.

My only issue is that the finish is very nitro. The neck finish can feel sticky when humid, and the body flash finish will chip or ding if you look at it wrong. I play mine a lot, and there are a lot of dings and scrapes, but the hardware hasn't aged that much, so it just looks like messed up finish. Shiny with a bunch of dings.

That said... if finish dings don't bother you... it is a really exceptional guitar.

[mekhem]

I had two of these - AV 65 in BMM and Dakota Red - and Short Answer - its a really fantastic Strat. If you are going to dip back into Stratocasters you could do a MUCH worse than one of these.

Longer answer:
Neck was Medium/large "C" (bigger than avri 62 and the AV64 Tele neck) and it reminded me of the Johnny Marr neck from 1st to 12th fret. It sounded very 'Classic Strat' with the AV65 pickups and I never considered changing them, I remember I was a big fan of middle and neck pickups. They sound great clean or dirty. Both that I had were wired really well and were dead quiet (within the context of single coils). Fit and finish was on par with the rest of that line - which is to say really good. I never had issues with sticky neck or anything else. Both of these were better than some of the FCS strats that I was able to play/try out around that time (actually - I could say that about every model in that line. They were better than a lot of equivalent FCS models during the first half of the run). The only thing that really bugged me was that the side marker dots were tort so not amazingly visible in low light - so that the worst thing I can say about them.

If they are so awesome why dont I still have them? Well.... At the time I was a degenerate gear cycler and let go of a number of things i probably should not have and The neck felt just a tad too large where i normally play - 5th to 12th - and I never really put in the time to adjust to it. I got the Dakota Red version locally to flip so that one was in and out pretty quick and I got an offer I couldn't refuse on the BMM one. That one was a large part of a trade +cash on a FCS "L" series LPB Jazzmaster that i have to this day.

If the price is right - do it

[CaptainCrunch]

Either Burgundy Mist or darker Sherwood Green, with mint guard is the right color for a 60's Strat. And a good one is absolutely one of the all-time classic sounds, and there's a reason it's been copied/aped/ripped off by EVERYBODY.

I've got an 80's Tokai '56 with a nice v-neck, an accidental "Vandalism" Cobain-caster (I really did just screw some stuff I had laying around together and only realized it later), and a Burgundy Mist MIJ single-hum with locking trem that's darkened to copper, along with a couple more in pieces in the basement. If there was some rare medical condition that meant I could only play those for the rest of my life, I could be good with that.

If the price is nice, and you're not hurting for cash, I'd go for it. If it just doesn't do it for you, sell for what you paid and you learned something.

[garyptaszek]

you don't like Strats...

[JSett]

you don't like Strats...

...yet.

[OffYourFace]

I have a '65 AO Strat neck that is pretty much the same thing. I decided to sell because I find the profile to be too big for my hands and I don't have small hands. If it had a 1 5/8" nut width I might like it better. I'm not into the 1.650" with Fat C profile thing that seems to be so prominent these days. My neck is from 2022 so I don't know if it's exactly the same.

[E Baxter Put]

I didn’t like strats either until the av65.

I never liked the thin banjo like sound of strats, or the out of phase sounds. I really like the 3 individual pickup sounds of the av65. It also has a deep belly cut, and it just sits/ balances perfectly sitting or standing.

It works great with pedals as well.

[Embenny]

I never liked the thin banjo like sound of strats, or the out of phase sounds.

None of the classic switch positions on a stock strat are out of phase, or ever have been.

[BoringPostcards]

I never liked the thin banjo like sound of strats, or the out of phase sounds.

None of the classic switch positions on a stock strat are out of phase, or ever have been.

Yeah, it’s not out of phase. Isn’t it in parallel? I’m far from an expert on Stratocaster wiring.