What is a superstrat? (NGD)

Yorkie

And while we’re here talking about Knopfler… I can get a hugely convincing ’first two albums’ tone out of this (super/pseudo)strat. 

I’m sure this will go against popular opinion, but for me the magic is happening with BRIDGE (single coil mode) AND NECK in parallel.

Un-fucking-believable. A cheapo pseudostrat with ‘essentials’ ceramic pickups, sounds and plays like a dream. 

LionAquaLooper

A thousand apologies for reviving this thread but I'm thinking about buying an Ibanez AZES40 and I found this thread when i searched the forum.

@Yorkie - how are you getting on with yours?  Does the 25" scale make a difference and is it noticeable?  And is it me or is the body slightly smaller than a strat?  At least that's what it looks like on the videos I've seen!

Yorkie

Hi, 
no apologies needed! Hundreds of hours of playtime later (literally), I am now looking to sell/trade mine. Not because it's bad or anything like that, but because I've now upgraded my Fender strat to match what I liked about the AZES40 and I don't have enough space for two very similar guitars.

A few thoughts:

- I use 8s on my regular strat. The 25" scale on the AZES40 allowed me to get similar tension with 9s. Nice and bendy. 
- The body does look a bit smaller. And the pickups also look smaller (and people seem to believe they are), but that's just because they don't have a plastic cover. I think you would be able to change pickups on this provided that you don't use the covers.
- Of the options offered by the alter switch, I've 'ported' bridge + neck (parallel & series) over to my strat. 
- The ceramic pickups need to go pretty low if you want to get anything close to a vintage style sound. 
- The neck is great. Very, very good. And the saddles feel soft without resorting to using shorter screws, etc. By design. 

So I'll be sad to see it go (I really wish I could keep it), but at the same time happy that it crossed my path so I was able to learn a few things from its design. And, you know, the long hours we've spent together!

Jon

LionAquaLooper

Yorkie said:

Hi, 
no apologies needed! Hundreds of hours of playtime later (literally), I am now looking to sell/trade mine. Not because it's bad or anything like that, but because I've now upgraded my Fender strat to match what I liked about the AZES40 and I don't have enough space for two very similar guitars.

A few thoughts:

- I use 8s on my regular strat. The 25" scale on the AZES40 allowed me to get similar tension with 9s. Nice and bendy. 
- The body does look a bit smaller. And the pickups also look smaller (and people seem to believe they are), but that's just because they don't have a plastic cover. I think you would be able to change pickups on this provided that you don't use the covers.
- Of the options offered by the alter switch, I've 'ported' bridge + neck (parallel & series) over to my strat. 
- The ceramic pickups need to go pretty low if you want to get anything close to a vintage style sound. 
- The neck is great. Very, very good. And the saddles feel soft without resorting to using shorter screws, etc. By design. 

So I'll be sad to see it go (I really wish I could keep it), but at the same time happy that it crossed my path so I was able to learn a few things from its design. And, you know, the long hours we've spent together!

Jon

Thanks for the detailed info Jon. When the time comes that you put it up for sale, let me know how much and if the price is in my range I could potentially take it off your hands!

Yorkie

Where are you based? I'm in York. Happy for you to borrow it and see if you like it? 

LionAquaLooper

PM'd

Slartibartfarst42

To me, there are particular things that should be on a superstrat as a minimum:

Bridge humbucker
Fairly slim neck
Flatter radius fingerboard
A locking trem system

In an ideal world, it would also have a slimmer heel joint, but I can't make that an essential otherwise it would rule out Charvels and things like the Adrian Smith signature Jackson, all of which are clearly superstrats.