I'm loving this strat variant.

Chimpankie

Philly_Q said:

prowla said:

It is a bit of a mash-up.

And why, after all of that effort, did they just do a squared corner cutout for the humbucker?

Glad to know I'm not the only person with an aversion to square-cornered humbucker cutouts!  They seen very old-fashioned.

Square cut ours always look jarring to me, when I saw this Xotic earlier it was the first thing I noticed: https://www.peachguitars.com/xotic-california-classic-xsc-2-3-tone-burst-light-ageing.htm

I remember being baffled by the Paolettis when Richard at Richard’s Guitars started raving about them. I’m still baffled. I’m not a traditionalist but I think good design exercises some restraint and these… don’t. 

Philly_Q

Chimpankie said:

Philly_Q said:

prowla said:

It is a bit of a mash-up.

And why, after all of that effort, did they just do a squared corner cutout for the humbucker?

Glad to know I'm not the only person with an aversion to square-cornered humbucker cutouts!  They seen very old-fashioned.

Square cut ours always look jarring to me, when I saw this Xotic earlier it was the first thing I noticed: https://www.peachguitars.com/xotic-california-classic-xsc-2-3-tone-burst-light-ageing.htm

Honestly if I owned that I'd have to get a new scratchplate or a covered pickup.  It's not quite so bad with a black scratchplate, because it's harder to see the cutout from a distance.

Nerine

The headstock makes it look like a cheap knock off. 

CavemanGrogg

Chimpankie said:

Philly_Q said:

prowla said:

It is a bit of a mash-up.

And why, after all of that effort, did they just do a squared corner cutout for the humbucker?

Glad to know I'm not the only person with an aversion to square-cornered humbucker cutouts!  They seen very old-fashioned.

Square cut ours always look jarring to me, when I saw this Xotic earlier it was the first thing I noticed: https://www.peachguitars.com/xotic-california-classic-xsc-2-3-tone-burst-light-ageing.htm

I remember being baffled by the Paolettis when Richard at Richard’s Guitars started raving about them. I’m still baffled. I’m not a traditionalist but I think good design exercises some restraint and these… don’t. 

I actually prefer the square pickup cut out for humbuckers.  The HSS Strat originally started out as ''hot rodded'' SSS Strats, to me it's a ''tilt of the hat'' to the origins of the Superstrat, namely self modded or tech modded SSS Strats whose pick guards where cut out to allow the fitting of a humbucker in the bridge position.

BillDL

Chimpankie said:

I remember being baffled by the Paolettis when Richard at Richard’s Guitars started raving about them.

He has raved about a lot of different guitars in the past, but that's because he wants to sell them.  He raved about Vintage brand guitars but, when some people commented in reviews that they expected the fretwork to have been better given how much he was raving about their build and finish quality, he retorted scathingly "You should see how bad they are when they come in to us before our tech sets them up".

Chimpankie

CavemanGrogg said:

Chimpankie said:

Philly_Q said:

prowla said:

It is a bit of a mash-up.

And why, after all of that effort, did they just do a squared corner cutout for the humbucker?

Glad to know I'm not the only person with an aversion to square-cornered humbucker cutouts!  They seen very old-fashioned.

Square cut ours always look jarring to me, when I saw this Xotic earlier it was the first thing I noticed: https://www.peachguitars.com/xotic-california-classic-xsc-2-3-tone-burst-light-ageing.htm

I remember being baffled by the Paolettis when Richard at Richard’s Guitars started raving about them. I’m still baffled. I’m not a traditionalist but I think good design exercises some restraint and these… don’t. 

I actually prefer the square pickup cut out for humbuckers.  The HSS Strat originally started out as ''hot rodded'' SSS Strats, to me it's a ''tilt of the hat'' to the origins of the Superstrat, namely self modded or tech modded SSS Strats whose pick guards where cut out to allow the fitting of a humbucker in the bridge position.

Yeah I can get the rationale but still looks wrong to me  I know it’s the same rationale for using a black bobbins on white scratchplate but that doesn’t bother me. 

Chimpankie

BillDL said:

Chimpankie said:

I remember being baffled by the Paolettis when Richard at Richard’s Guitars started raving about them.

He has raved about a lot of different guitars in the past, but that's because he wants to sell them.  He raved about Vintage brand guitars but, when some people commented in reviews that they expected the fretwork to have been better given how much he was raving about their build and finish quality, he retorted scathingly "You should see how bad they are when they come in to us before our tech sets them up".

I used to be on the Regent guitar forums back in the day and he was exactly the same then lol

thomasross20

Not keen on the star markers but having heard these on YouTube demoes, they sound fantastic...