Multiple Strats - Different Setups

[chicago slim]

Yea, I own too many Strats. But, I do try to set them up for different uses.

Main Guitar - MIA Special, Floating Tremolo, 9-42 Strings, Texas Special Pickups, Grease Bucket circuitry, Tone Controls on Bridge and neck pickups.

Backup Guitar - MIM Classic 50, Decked Tremolo, 9-42 Strings, 57/62 Pickups, Tone Controls on Bridge and neck pickups.

Alternative Guitar - MIC CV50, Tuned to Eb, Blocked Tremolo, 10-46 Strings, Tonerider Alnico III Pickups, Tone Controls on Middle and Bridge Pickups. I use the neck and neck and middle pickups for bright jangly sounds, the bridge and middle and bridge for darker overdrive.

Alternative 2 Guitar - MIM Balcktop Strat, Floating Tremolo, 9-42 Strings, HH 12k Humbucker's with a 5-way Super Switch that allows for inner coils and outer coils.

I still have more Strats. What other configurations do you find useful?

 

[Bob the builder]

Ya lost me on sentence 1.
Too many strats?...lost

 

[jrbirdman]

NO, I DON'T have too many Strats (last count 20) and for the most part they are all set up a little different. I mainly string them with 10's but do have a couple that have 9's. I just picked up a couple sets of 8's that I thought that I would try.
I can honestly say that they each have their own character and vibe.
Can I get the to sound alike? Yes, but I like them to have their own voice.
I keep them all in standard E, 440 tuning -
If I tune to Eb then I will string up one of them up with 11's or maybe even 12's.

I must now play one of them, maybe the white EJ...

 

[artgtr]

I also have many Strats, mostly set up basically the same. They all feel just a little different, just different enough to make them interesting.
I have two more coming - that are on lay a way now. Both CS’s! Mostly vintage stuff, some of the new CS Strats are making me rethink if the vintage stuff is equal to the new CS’s. IMHO! View attachment 310329 this is an older picture, acquired many more since than!
Too much work to try & take a new picture.

 

[chicago slim]

I actually have 6 Strats and could put together a 7th from parts, if I had to. I had all 6 configured the same, and now I know, what sounds best to me, and how I like them wired. I also figured out which were the most stable, with a floating tremolo. Now, I am in the process of converting some of them back, to how they originally were.

I have found that I could setup my CV50 to sound more like the Gretsch and Silvertone guitars, that I didn't like to play. It feels different than my American Strats. But it is still an easier switch to the CV50 neck, than the thin neck on the Gretsch and Silvertone. I sold both of them. Not every guitar needs to have a steel Trem Block. I'm thinking about converting some back to a small Trem block, blocked with heavier strings, so that the guitar resonates, differently than my other Strats.

 

[jaybones]

Got about 6 myself (FMIC & copies), each of them unique as far as tone and playability.

I float all my trems (6 point) with tremsetters and use the same strings (DR Tite Fit .10's).

Given the differences in woods and electronics each one is different than the other.

Variety is the spice of life.

 

[BuffaloHound]

Nice brag...
It depends what you play and what you want to play.
Perhaps it’s time for you to buy a Telecaster, a Gibson SG, a hollow-body Gretsch, an Oswald custom, or Jazz Master if you really want to chase different sounds and set-ups.
Or sell them all for a vintage all original ‘64 Strat.
‍

 

[Paperback Rocker]

I set all mine up the same.

 

[esseff]

Mine have similar setups and feel but all have different sounds.
Am stds, Gold Lace, 57/62s, Custom PAFs, Hotrails, TexMex, Vintage Noiseless-boosted
.

 

[Neil.C]

I've only got two Strats.

The US standard has '9's and a decked trem, and the '60's Classic has 10's and a working trem.

Just makes them feel different enough.

 

[albala]

All of my Strats are set up the same but they all feel different

 

[Odysseus]

I did have three, but one of them I couldn't get on with and it ended up donating parts to one of the others.

As for the two survivors, both are set up the same, with nines, floating trem and a high action, because if I use them on stage and one of them breaks a string or whatever, I want to swap straight over seamlessly.

The other, now semi-deceased, Strat was set up with a blocked trem and was always in some open tuning or other, either for slide or those songs that just can't be played in concert tuning. But I do the same thing with my Tele and SG, so I don't really miss it. I've been using it to practise my painting and soldering, but once I get the hang of soldering I think I might buy the missing parts and put it back together again.

 

[chicago slim]

Yesterday, I swapped necks, to use one with a nut cut for bigger strings, and changed the loaded pick guard (mainly for looks). I now have a Strat that is set-up for playing in D, a full step down. I already have a PRS Standard 24, set-up for Eb.

 

[guitarmikey]

Yes, I dig that. Helps to have different setups...
1. Black is HH, laquer maple neck - .010
2. Sonic Blue is pine DIY & Eric Johnsons inside, maple neck natural - .010
3. White is japan Contemporary '86 vintage coils, RW fingerboard - the only with .009
4. Turqoise is FSR AVRI '62, RW fingerboard - .010

Totally different sounds out of them...