i agree with everything else you said but...

only a fool would buy a strat for the bridge as is, and as it is, it's really easy to block which improves stability and overall bridge strength. anyone who wants to seriously whammy on a strat (and do more than sound like a detuned Hendrix) should get a bridge made for it.

in over 15 years of owning a strat i've never once had the cable come out of the jack or found it inconvenient in anyway shape or form. then again i feed my cable around the strap peg. it results in the cable running down beside your leg instead of in front of it and in the odd case you do actually step on it, running the cable over the strap peg means it's pulling in a different direction and just eating up the slack leading to the input.

also can't agree on the design being ridiculous considering pretty much every other guitar model on the market rips it off. what else would you make it look like?

by 'design' i mean 'All of the previous points summed up to say this', not 'Shape'

And you should know that popular doesn't mean 'good'

The jack socket? Well look where the socket is on my S series. much better. or just side jacks. Less routing, simpler routing, more reliable and easier to tighten if they loosen.

As for the bridge- your argument is basically 'The bridge sucks but everyone should know that therefore its not a flaw, also you can modify it easily to fix it' - It shouldn't need fixing. And its not a 'vintage trem system' thing either. Wilkinson and most 2 point vintage tremolo manufacturers make much better bridges than the 6 screw fender POS.

Turns out I have some rusty scissors! In all seriousness though strats rule. No guitar can sound like a strat but a strat. Now im not talking hss, or any other combination just sss like the good old days.

You could always stick a tunomatic/fixed bridge on there. But im definitely inclined to think that there is some small tonal difference between the types as well.

i'll try to take pics of how my bridge is setup this weekend. i'm not sure which one will make GB flip more the rust / grime or the cardboard hahaha

If you are looking for exciting guitars i think Schecters are awesome.

....cardboard?


*twitch*

The basis on which you dis strats seems to be the basis of which you like testes, I mean teles.

Sorry for the DP, but was too lazt to edit last post. I agree with you, my buddy has one, and I thought to myself it was just a POS until I played it. I like the way it feels in my hand, and the sound it produces through his half assed amp is surprisingly good.

My friend just bought the hollywood classic. Amazing looking and playing guitar. Not my style, but still have to give it props.

I'm a Tele guy, through an through (no, the board handle isn't just clever)

my biggest bitch about the Strat isn't anything described above - they play great, sound great, and when they're intonated properly, you beat them lime a $10 whore and they will stay in tune...

But that volume/gain knob...is in the WORST position on the body.

I get to flailing away, and -whoop!- brushed my pinky against that knob, and the tone is gone...or there's no sound altogether.

That being said, Strats rule, (the bridges do suck, though - my Tele has a six-saddle through-body) especially for live work, because they take so much abuse.

Schecters...meh.

They're like PRS to me - way overhyped and pretty generic, at the end of the day. I mean, they LOOK cool, and they're pretty, and they play nice...but they don't have a very "edgy" sound. They're like cookie cutter guitars to me. No personality.