Okay... so some of you might remember that I just recently put a set of Texas Hot Leads in my Standard Strat in an effort to breathe some life into it and give myself a reason to like it again. It does sound 100% better, no doubt... but I'm still just not feeling it. I enjoy playing my 5120 and my Pro Jet sooo much more that I'm seriously thinking about putting my Strat up on the block.
Main thing for me now isn't the way it sounds, but the way it feels. I love the feel of the back of the neck, but there's something wrong with the way the action is set on the top of the neck that is making it very difficult for me to play like I want to play. Particularly if I do any string bending up around the 12th fret or so, I'm finding that when I do a bend on say the G string, the tip of my finger will get stuck under the D and make an annoying little sound when I release the bend. Now this is not a string height issue. The action is very low already. It may be a technique thing, but it doesn't happen on either of my Gretsches. The only way I've been able to remedy it is by setting the action of the D string much lower than the G. It has to be so low that the D almost buzzes, and it kind of feels awkward to step down from the G to D when doing scales, etc.
This post is getting long, but I guess what I'm looking for are some opinions to either confirm that the Strat isn't worth keeping, or to talk me into keeping it as a worthy segment of my arsenal.
Main reason I'm keeping it so far are because I love music by Hendrix (obviously), The Police, SRV, Buddy Guy, etc., so I've always told myself that I can't recreate that fat Strat sound with a guitar like a Gretsch. But can I? I've heard a few people say that they do.
Is there anything I could try to make it better? I've been thinking about changing the bridge on it. I'm kind of stuck with a vintage 6-screw type since that's what's on there now. Best suggestion I've had so far was a Wilkinson bridge, but I don't think that would help me much in terms of adjustment since it's basically the same deal. Might improve the tremolo, which is another one of my beefs at the moment.
So, anyway... thoughts?
== Sean
