Someone who knows more than me. STRAT PLUS

ronnyb

artiebear said:

ronnyb said:

artiebear said:

This talk of strat plus stuff has ecouraged me to get my '91 out and give it a restring and a bit of TLC, weird thing is the string could be a year old and it still sounds and plays really well. It still looks in wonderful condition, though I don't know how as it has been used an awful lot over the years. It is just very well built and reliable including one of the most solid and straight necks of any guitar I can remember. They must have been doing something right back then.

<a href="https://imgur.com/ZJSQnlF"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZJSQnlF.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>  

Is that Torino red?

TBH I have no idea. Even looking at the various colour charts it has always been hard to pin down. Maybe there is something somewhere on the guitar Ito tell me, but I have never needed to take off the stratchplate or neck to see. It does look a bit like some of the Torino red strats from around that time.
I should add that even though I still have some of the tags etc. the relevant one in the case doesn't  match the guitar so no help there, neither does it exactly match the colour list for 91. I know it's a 91 from the s/n and the fact that I played it first then when it arrived into stock at a dealer who I bought it from as NOS in early '93. 

Some of the reds are difficult to identify. The only red listed for 1991 plus's is like mine, Frost red. It has an almost pinky hue to it which yours doesn't seem to have but it maybe the lighting conditions. Torino is listed for some other models of 1991 ie the Clapton ones so it may be a one off.  

artiebear

ronnyb said:

artiebear said:

ronnyb said:

artiebear said:

This talk of strat plus stuff has ecouraged me to get my '91 out and give it a restring and a bit of TLC, weird thing is the string could be a year old and it still sounds and plays really well. It still looks in wonderful condition, though I don't know how as it has been used an awful lot over the years. It is just very well built and reliable including one of the most solid and straight necks of any guitar I can remember. They must have been doing something right back then.

<a href="https://imgur.com/ZJSQnlF"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZJSQnlF.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>  

Is that Torino red?

TBH I have no idea. Even looking at the various colour charts it has always been hard to pin down. Maybe there is something somewhere on the guitar Ito tell me, but I have never needed to take off the stratchplate or neck to see. It does look a bit like some of the Torino red strats from around that time.
I should add that even though I still have some of the tags etc. the relevant one in the case doesn't  match the guitar so no help there, neither does it exactly match the colour list for 91. I know it's a 91 from the s/n and the fact that I played it first then when it arrived into stock at a dealer who I bought it from as NOS in early '93. 

Some of the reds are difficult to identify. The only red listed for 1991 plus's is like mine, Frost red. It has an almost pinky hue to it which yours doesn't seem to have but it maybe the lighting conditions. Torino is listed for some other models of 1991 ie the Clapton ones so it may be a one off.  

There is definitely more of a deep red there. There certainly were odd colours out there at the time. I still have a USA standard tele bought at roughly the same time from the same dealer in crimson burst with a highly figured neck. According to the charts crimson burst was only a tele plus /deluxe colour. 

Jalapeno

I have one, never noticed any issues

artiebear

Jalapeno said:

I have one, necver noticed any issues

Great colour !

Jalapeno

artiebear said:

Great colour !

Blue Frost

artiebear

Jalapeno said:

artiebear said:

Great colour !

Blue Frost

Ah right, I had an ebony frost plus deluxe. Great guitars.

ICBM

I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my guitar regrets is not buying a ‘Firestorm’ finish Plus Deluxe when I could have, some time in the mid 90s... when they were not at all desirable and it was the same price as any other one.

danishbacon

This thread is making me gas for a plus

Stevepage

I remember I loved the look of the Strat Plus Ultra, with the locking bridge saddles. We're those bridges any good?

guitars4you

Stevepage said:

I remember I loved the look of the Strat Plus Ultra, with the locking bridge saddles. We're those bridges any good?

The actual 2 point, fulcrum trem functioned as it should, but such a pain to load strings, as per a Floyd Rose - And with such a guitar not having the locking top nut it was pointless IMO - So overkill for no reason and just stick to the regular Strat Plus trem package

Philly_Q

guitars4you said:

Stevepage said:

I remember I loved the look of the Strat Plus Ultra, with the locking bridge saddles. We're those bridges any good?

The actual 2 point, fulcrum trem functioned as it should, but such a pain to load strings, as per a Floyd Rose - And with such a guitar not having the locking top nut it was pointless IMO - So overkill for no reason and just stick to the regular Strat Plus trem package

I'd totally forgotten about those.  Not a million miles - in concept - from the locking Wilkinson/Gotoh saddles Pete Thorn is now using, but the Fender ones look like a lot more hassle to set intonation and change strings.  I didn't realise the bridge actually had a Floyd Rose logo!

artiebear

guitars4you said:

Stevepage said:

I remember I loved the look of the Strat Plus Ultra, with the locking bridge saddles. We're those bridges any good?

The actual 2 point, fulcrum trem functioned as it should, but such a pain to load strings, as per a Floyd Rose - And with such a guitar not having the locking top nut it was pointless IMO - So overkill for no reason and just stick to the regular Strat Plus trem package

So true. I never understood the logic of that half way locking system, especially as Fender were already onto a winner with the Plus system. 

Stevepage

The Charvel Guthrie govan has a similar set up to those old Strat Ultras so I thought there must be something to it. Does seem like a hassle to me.

ICBM

artiebear said:

I never understood the logic of that half way locking system, especially as Fender were already onto a winner with the Plus system. 

The logic was that it eliminates string and saddle movement at the bridge, which can be an issue with heavy divebombing - it turns the Strat into a double-locking guitar, which if the roller nut works perfectly should in theory be as good as a normal Floyd, but without the extra hassle of the locking nut.

In practice it still doesn't perform quite as well as a proper Floyd because the roller nut is not completely friction-free, and more importantly it doesn't *sound* like a proper Floyd because it doesn't have the uniquely short string path between the locks. So neither fish nor fowl really.

guitars4you

Philly_Q said:

guitars4you said:

Stevepage said:

I remember I loved the look of the Strat Plus Ultra, with the locking bridge saddles. We're those bridges any good?

The actual 2 point, fulcrum trem functioned as it should, but such a pain to load strings, as per a Floyd Rose - And with such a guitar not having the locking top nut it was pointless IMO - So overkill for no reason and just stick to the regular Strat Plus trem package

I'd totally forgotten about those.  Not a million miles - in concept - from the locking Wilkinson/Gotoh saddles Pete Thorn is now using, but the Fender ones look like a lot more hassle to set intonation and change strings.  I didn't realise the bridge actually had a Floyd Rose logo!

I'd forgotten about the intonation issue - I suppose once set then it should be fine but still a pain to undertake

Again I'd forgotten about the Floyd Rose licence tag - But it would be around this time that Floyd Rose took on the likes of Kahler etc to protect his patent/IPR of the actual locking feature at the bridge end - Hence the licence fee he would acquire from all such units

Again IMO just hi-lights Fender could/should have just stuck with their 2 point system as per the majority of Strat Plus models and subsequently tweaked for today's 'modern Strats'