Adrian Belew’s new Fender CS Strat

Seziertisch

https://www.facebook.com/6696764994/posts/10151610771249995/?d=n

Interesting account of the build. Glowing endorsement of the Vega Trem too.

boogieman

Nice looking Strat, love the body colour and how the silver p/u covers bring everything together. 

I wonder how that trem works better with four screws rather than the conventional Fender two post? You’d think there’d be more friction with four points of contact. I’m not doubting Belew’s opinion, if he says it’s better then he’d certainly know, just curious. 

euan

Into that.

I guess the colour is just like CAR, but instead of the silver or gold base it'll be a metallic red

Fretwired

That's a sweet guitar.

stonevibe

The blue one is pretty sweet as well. Bit different compared to his bright orange signature Parker model.

Jackobean

Love those aluminium cupcakes - hate the teeny tiny neck.

Glad he's back playing Fender's, I was always a big fan of his kahlered Mustang. 

meltedbuzzbox

does that mean he has stopped playing his parker fly?

stonevibe

meltedbuzzbox said:

does that mean he has stopped playing his parker fly?

He states in the post it is purely a MIDI guitar, so he needed something else

" my signature Parker Fly guitars are strictly midi guitars. they cannot be played by plugging them into a stomp box or guitar amp. they require a special Roland 13-pin chord. 

so…. I decided out of necessity to change to a simpler set up and to use a normal non-midi guitar. naturally I chose a Fender Stratocaster. I called Ron Thorn and my pals at the fender custom shop and the process began. at the same I began looking at various options for a simple guitar set up including a storm of stomp boxes, pedalboards, etc."

Greatape

Shame he went HB in the bridge - I loved his sound with single coils with TH, Bowie

Could have popped in some Zexcoils with silver covers...

Glad he's (seemingly) going back to the Old Ways. It'll be a jc120 next ...

Seziertisch

Greatape said:

Shame he went HB in the bridge - I loved his sound with single coils with TH, Bowie

Could have popped in some Zexcoils with silver covers...

Glad he's (seemingly) going back to the Old Ways. It'll be a jc120 next ...

AFAIK a HB in the bridge is required for the Sustainer to work properly.

Also, the trade off with a Sustainer is that the bridge pickup needs to be set quite close to the strings for it work, probably closer than is optimal  for a pure bridge pickup sound.

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

I wonder how that trem works better with four screws rather than the conventional Fender two post? You’d think there’d be more friction with four points of contact. I’m not doubting Belew’s opinion, if he says it’s better then he’d certainly know, just curious. 

I think it pivots on one long knife edge.  The four screws just use the existing screw holes to hold the front bar in place, it could equally well be two or six screws.

Nice looking guitar, although I don't like any of the specs!

streethawk

Not for me but Adrian is an absolute boss. 

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

I wonder how that trem works better with four screws rather than the conventional Fender two post? You’d think there’d be more friction with four points of contact. I’m not doubting Belew’s opinion, if he says it’s better then he’d certainly know, just curious. 

I think it pivots on one long knife edge.  The four screws just use the existing screw holes to hold the front bar in place, it could equally well be two or six screws.

Nice looking guitar, although I don't like any of the specs!

Ah yes, that would make more sense. 

Greatape

Seziertisch said:

Greatape said:

Shame he went HB in the bridge - I loved his sound with single coils with TH, Bowie

Could have popped in some Zexcoils with silver covers...

Glad he's (seemingly) going back to the Old Ways. It'll be a jc120 next ...

AFAIK a HB in the bridge is required for the Sustainer to work properly.

Also, the trade off with a Sustainer is that the bridge pickup needs to be set quite close to the strings for it work, probably closer than is optimal  for a pure bridge pickup sound.

I'm thinking of the Ed O'Brien strat...that has a sc sized HB. Presumably any noise cancelling pickup would work?

Seziertisch

Greatape said:

Seziertisch said:

Greatape said:

Shame he went HB in the bridge - I loved his sound with single coils with TH, Bowie

Could have popped in some Zexcoils with silver covers...

Glad he's (seemingly) going back to the Old Ways. It'll be a jc120 next ...

AFAIK a HB in the bridge is required for the Sustainer to work properly.

Also, the trade off with a Sustainer is that the bridge pickup needs to be set quite close to the strings for it work, probably closer than is optimal  for a pure bridge pickup sound.

I'm thinking of the Ed O'Brien strat...that has a sc sized HB. Presumably any noise cancelling pickup would work?

I’ve no idea whether the humbucker requirement is for noise cancelling or some other reason.

@steelcustomguitars installed mine, so he might be able to shed some light?

Loobs

Not something I would ever own but AB is cool as fuck.