Yeah - missing that single coil glassy sound and that sweet neck pickup. I have a unusual option on a store near by - a 25'' scale PRS DC-3. Man that guitar is sweeeeeet. Top quality no doubt but for 1399 I kept asking if I should get an AM Pro II or a old stock AM Standard and get on with it. The DC3: More of a poll: if you were shopping for a Strat, with a 1200-1400 EUR budget (the less the better) what would you buy?
Personally I’d go Fender. But if you like PRS go for it. Single coils should sound similar in either case.
Thinking of getting a Strat - now what? Get one! Best place to start would be an American Standard imho……
My experience with buying a lot of boutique or non Fender guitars that are “similar to” or “just like” Strats and Teles is that close enough is never close enough. If you just like that PrS, get it and enjoy. It may not scratch the Strat itch though. I always end up thinking “Well, it’s pretty close, but not quite there. I think if it was a real Fender it’d have THAT sound”…
PRS pickups disappoint me. If it's the sound you're after, go Fender and you'll never look back. But if it's build quality you're after, no one would begrudge you for going with a PRS. Personally I think that that particular PRS is begging for a rosewood fretboard. But who knows, pics often don't do the object justice.
. Is this your first Strat? If so I'd suggest getting a Player Series SSS so you know the basics at a great budget. Otherwise, if you've had a lot of Strats before then certainly get the PRS since it's handy. Adjust pickup heights by ear (lower is often better), tip bass/treble too, and measure and swap pots and caps if you need to push the tone around. Last is swap pickups but the heights and control part swaps usually fix all the problems. If you go to pickup swaps I'd make sure you get Fender pickups and the common Fender pots and caps. .
+1 Particularly at the 1200 price point, you aren't yet into the range of US Fender, or a nice PRS. The Player series fits nicely into your budget (actually below) and will give you a good feel for whether or not you'd want to consider upgrading at some point. I don't know what the DC3 sells for there... here, I'm not seeing a (new) Strat style cheaper than the Silver Sky at $2400 US, and the DC3 is $1800+ on Reverb, so not within your desired price range.
Probably a little biased and stupid, but if the DC3 was that good and "straty" enough, I feel Mayer wouldn't have tried so damn hard not to go that way with the Silversky...
The DC3 is stratty but it's not a Strat - the combination of the 25.25" scale length (these were longer than the traditional PRS 25" scale but not the full 25.5" scale) and the proprietary single coils made it "close but not quite". I liked the NF3 better - it had their "Narrowfield" mini-buckers which made it less likely to be compared to a Strat so you could think of it as it's own thing.
Strats are great. That's why we are here on LTS. If you are lucky enough to have a store or more nearby play as many as you can. You may play several before you find one you really like. And it may be a USA, or a Mexican! Maybe even Chinese. I've played vintage that weren't great and new imports that were. Even back in the seventies you might have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince. Or you might just get lucky sight unseen. It's all good!
I had a DC3 which I sold to buy my first Silver Sky. It was a great stablemate to my strats, and is definitely glassy with a great neck pickup. But I always considered it a different alternative to a strat, not necessarily a replacement. The neck is, in typical PRS fashion, exceptional in comfort and build. But if you want a PRS that can fully interchange with a strat it’s a Silver Sky or an EG. In your price range I’m partial to AmPro’s. But you’ll get a million opinions here. It’s best to try a bunch out if you can.
All I can add here is that my 2020 Player Strat is the best stock guitar I've ever owned. I try to not like something about it, but I can't.
I'd take a hard look at the Players. They've come a long way... Use the extra to put things like lockers on it or a different sent of pickups even...
1,400 EUR should land you a nice MIJ I would've thought? In Australia it certainly would. I'm not sure if it necessarily works out the same in Europe, due to tarrifs, or taxes, etc. The Hybrid 60's is a great guitar. I'm sure the Hybrid II is just as good.
