The Stratocaster and Telecaster

Skipped

I pitched an advertising campaign to Fender when they announced the Microtilt.

It went like this:

Fender Micro-Tilt™ 
A Neck Pocket that only makes contact in the middle. And along one edge.  
We got the idea from the Gibson Custom Shop. 
What's not to like.  

They never returned my calls. 

Skipped

My recollection of the early seventies is that.......good guitar techs were few and far between.

As a result - Set Neck Gibson guitars that had been looked after were fine. It was usually possible to find someone in the shop who could adjust a truss rod.
But the many (surprising how many) pre-CBS Stratocasters were a different story.
I cannot stress how many I picked up that were almost unplayable.
I am sure that there was some correlation between this shortage of good techs.....pre internet......less knowledge sharing....and the tendency for people to say "I am a Gibson player.......I can't get along with Fenders".

ICBM

Skipped said:

My recollection of the early seventies is that.......good guitar techs were few and far between.

As a result - Set Neck Gibson guitars that had been looked after were fine. It was usually possible to find someone in the shop who could adjust a truss rod.
But the many (surprising how many) pre-CBS Stratocasters were a different story.
I cannot stress how many I picked up that were almost unplayable.
I am sure that there was some correlation between this shortage of good techs.....pre internet......less knowledge sharing....and the tendency for people to say "I am a Gibson player.......I can't get along with Fenders".

Not sure - a Fender really isn't any harder to set up than a Gibson, unless it's a 70s one with a loose neck joint.

I think it's also because most 70s Fenders were so poor, and with a few oddity-model exceptions, most 70s Gibsons weren't. I started playing in the mid-80s, and for several years I was a purely 'Gibson man' and thought Fenders were junk, because I'd only ever come across second hand 70s models of both brands. Then I found a '68 Telecaster, and realised what I'd been missing.

Blacksheep

Bear in mind Leo built the Strat and the Tele with the working musician in mind. They are meant to be instruments that you can set up yourself. One of the many aspects that makes the Strat design a wonder is this DIY quality.
it is the AK47 of the guitar world. A relatively bright seven-year-old could strip it down and put it back together. Obviously, you'd need to keep an eye on them during the soldering.

In fact, unless you are either a complete novice or a total doofus, it is pretty hard to fuck up a strat that has been well made and has decent hardware. 
And if you lack the hand-to-eye co-ordination to manipulate a couple of allen keys, a straight edge, some feeler gauges, a ruler and a screwdriver then maybe musician is not the wisest choice. 

Voxman

Blacksheep said:

Bear in mind Leo built the Strat and the Tele with the working musician in mind. They are meant to be instruments that you can set up yourself. One of the many aspects that makes the Strat design a wonder is this DIY quality.
it is the AK47 of the guitar world. A relatively bright seven-year-old could strip it down and put it back together. Obviously, you'd need to keep an eye on them during the soldering.

In fact, unless you are either a complete novice or a total doofus, it is pretty hard to fuck up a strat that has been well made and has decent hardware. 
And if you lack the hand-to-eye co-ordination to manipulate a couple of allen keys, a straight edge, some feeler gauges, a ruler and a screwdriver then maybe musician is not the wisest choice. 

Nonsense, it's easy to fuck up any guitar - besides, that's what guitar techs are for - I play, & they do the pro-set-ups. 

impmann

Truss rod adjustment at the vintage end is bloody stupid in today's world.

"It makes a difference to the tone" erm, really? Dramatic? No, just a few cork sniffers can tell the difference. And I guarantee that in a truly scientific blindfold test they wouldn't hear it either.

Then the drummer starts and that subtle difference gets lost in the cymbals.

Yet another load of 'vintage correctness' bollocks - frankly, I'd prefer to be able to adjust the truss easily on the fly.

Blacksheep

Voxman said:

Blacksheep said:

Bear in mind Leo built the Strat and the Tele with the working musician in mind. They are meant to be instruments that you can set up yourself. One of the many aspects that makes the Strat design a wonder is this DIY quality.
it is the AK47 of the guitar world. A relatively bright seven-year-old could strip it down and put it back together. Obviously, you'd need to keep an eye on them during the soldering.

In fact, unless you are either a complete novice or a total doofus, it is pretty hard to fuck up a strat that has been well made and has decent hardware. 
And if you lack the hand-to-eye co-ordination to manipulate a couple of allen keys, a straight edge, some feeler gauges, a ruler and a screwdriver then maybe musician is not the wisest choice. 

Nonsense, it's easy to fuck up any guitar - besides, that's what guitar techs are for - I play, & they do the pro-set-ups. 

I couldn't agree less. Guitar techs, as opposed to luthiers, are a modern innovation. The personal trainers of the guitar world.

Leo himself said on many occasions that with both Tele and Strat he was aiming to produce a guitar that the guitarist could service himself.

Refrets and nut cutting is a job for a specialist. Adjusting action, tremolo tension and neck relief is no more a job for a specialist than changing strings or greasing the contact points.

Guitar repair guru Dan Erlewine wrote an excellent book on guitar maintenance a few years back that featured an appendix that examined the instruments of a variety of famous and not-so-famous players. Different players clearly had very different set up needs. Some liked a lot of neck relief, some liked none. Some set string height to follow the radius, others didn't. 

This is personal stuff developed by trial and error. Are you going to visit your tech five times in a week because you want to try small adjustments in neck relief?

Voxman

Blacksheep said:

Voxman said:

Blacksheep said:

Bear in mind Leo built the Strat and the Tele with the working musician in mind. They are meant to be instruments that you can set up yourself. One of the many aspects that makes the Strat design a wonder is this DIY quality.
it is the AK47 of the guitar world. A relatively bright seven-year-old could strip it down and put it back together. Obviously, you'd need to keep an eye on them during the soldering.

In fact, unless you are either a complete novice or a total doofus, it is pretty hard to fuck up a strat that has been well made and has decent hardware. 
And if you lack the hand-to-eye co-ordination to manipulate a couple of allen keys, a straight edge, some feeler gauges, a ruler and a screwdriver then maybe musician is not the wisest choice. 

Nonsense, it's easy to fuck up any guitar - besides, that's what guitar techs are for - I play, & they do the pro-set-ups. 

I couldn't agree less. Guitar techs, as opposed to luthiers, are a modern innovation. The personal trainers of the guitar world.

Leo himself said on many occasions that with both Tele and Strat he was aiming to produce a guitar that the guitarist could service himself.

Refrets and nut cutting is a job for a specialist. Adjusting action, tremolo tension and neck relief is no more a job for a specialist than changing strings or greasing the contact points.

Guitar repair guru Dan Erlewine wrote an excellent book on guitar maintenance a few years back that featured an appendix that examined the instruments of a variety of famous and not-so-famous players. Different players clearly had very different set up needs. Some liked a lot of neck relief, some liked none. Some set string height to follow the radius, others didn't. 

This is personal stuff developed by trial and error. Are you going to visit your tech five times in a week because you want to try small adjustments in neck relief?

LOL...clearly my failed attempt at being facetiously humorous!   

Blacksheep

@Voxman. Sorry, my mistake. I need to brush up on my emojis.

p90fool

impmann said:

Truss rod adjustment at the vintage end is bloody stupid in today's world.

Yet another load of 'vintage correctness' bollocks - frankly, I'd prefer to be able to adjust the truss easily on the fly.

What, like mid-set?

I'm happy enough that I can check it on a string change, but even that's rare on Fenders tbh. I have an '81 Telecaster I bought new which I've never adjusted. 

On mahogany-necked guitars I very occasionally give them a tweak but demanding instant access to a Fender truss rod seems a bit like demanding instant access to your car engine's valve clearances to me. 

richardhomer

p90fool said:
I'm happy enough that I can check it on a string change, but even that's rare on Fenders tbh. I have an '81 Telecaster I bought new which I've never adjusted. 

That's a good point. Some guitars are stable from the off - and most at least become stable over time.

I adjusted the truss rod on my vintage 335 when I first got it, nearly 14 years ago - it hasn't been touched since. I have two Taylors that I haven't adjusted ever - the same was true of the PRS I recently sold.

Assuming they're kept in 'sensible' environments in terms of humidity, a truss rod adjustment ought to be a 'one off' - unless you decide on a radical increase or decrease in string gauge.