Strat-style guitars with alternate control layout?

Gear
#1

So ever since I descovered Eric Johnson, i’ve been really keen to try out a strat/strat-style guitar, however on every guitar I see that is either a strat or strat copy, I find the volume control interferes with my picking hand, causimg me to not be able to move my hand in the way I would usually.

Are there any strat style guitars (ideally sss but potentially hss) that have the controls behind the bridge? Alternatively, I have seen the fender Mustang, Duo sonic and music master that seem to have the controls further back, how do they compare to a strat?

Thank you :slight_smile:

#2

I rewired my Strat for this reason. I removed one tone control and wired all the pickups to the remaining one. I never used both tone controls and I rarely use the remaining one, so it was no loss of functionality for me. It isn’t difficult to do if you’re a fair hand at soldering. I replaced the original pickguard with a custom one from Warmoth with only two holes. https://warmoth.com/pg-strat

It made my Strat much more comfortable to play, especially as I have long fingers more prone to whacking the volume knob in the default configuration.

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#3

Thanks @SmashingYoungMan !

I have considered this, as I prefer having 1 master tone knob, although I only really want to do it as a last resort. I guess if there aren’t many options avaliable (that I can afford :rofl: ) then I had better get my soldering iron out!

The Warmoth pickguards are a good idea! I shall investigate those further :slight_smile:

Thank you!

#4

I did the same, I removed one tone control and moved the volume pot there. So now it’s a master volume and master tone.
Most strats have the vol pot in the same place I think, so moving it is necessary if it’s interfering with your technique

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#5

Great, thanks!

I’ll probably do that then if I go ahead with it :slight_smile:

Would you reccomend any guitars (fender or otherwise) in particular? I’ve been looking at used american standard strats, as I hear good things about them.

Thanks again :slight_smile:

#6

were a few good posts in here if you’re interested I dont like the classic layout either.

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#7

Idk if this will help much? Tho it’s helped me keep away from the volume. I think it’s an ability all guitar players should practice to be able to pick all over the picking area. Doing dsx should work really well on the strings.

#8

Thanks @WhammyStarScream thats very interesting!

I have thought about moving my picking hand up towards the neck, however I find myself muting the strings really heavily, and kills the sustain and sound of the notes. It might be worth experimenting with though :slight_smile:

Thanks again!

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#9

I moved the vol pot on my strat and my Ibanez for the very same reason. Too muted for my taste when moving slightly forward, and trying to get the fingers around or above the pot was annoying the crap out of me. So it had to go! :sweat_smile:

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#10

For dsx Shawn lane anchors with his wrist and heel of his thumb. He’s also anchoring with his forarm a lot, floating above the strings, and anchored on the lower strings when playing higher strings. So you can definitely do it without muteing the strings. He does dsx a load so a good person to emulate if you’re after that.

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#11

I should probably point out the I’m a forearm/wrist usx guy with extended fingers grazing the body. Other setups may not have the same issues with this sort of thing.

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#12

I find that this issue is most prevelant with my wrist-forearm usx setup too :slight_smile:

#13

While i’m here I guess I should ask what strats/strat style guitars you would recommend?

Used Fenders seem like they could be good, but what about other brands like G&L, Sire or Jet guitars?

#14

Great, thanks! I’ll take a look at the video :slight_smile:

#15

Shawn Lane is not DSX, he’s USX. His setup looks DSX because he has a trailing edge grip and pronates. This is where following the pick path (which admittedly is hard to do in the footage we have of him) and/or understanding the phrases he plays (we have conclusive evidence of this though) is what we need to focus on.

All that said and academics aside, you can use Shawn’s setup and get a great DSX motion. It’s just not what he did.

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#16

Ah! Great, thanks @joebegly :slight_smile:

It just goes to show how intricate and complex these motions can be!

#17

It’s a pretty rare motion he had. There was a thread here about another great player who’s mechanic was similar

In the jazz world there’s also the amazing George Benson and the (also amazing) Cecil Alexander who use this setup and are getting a USX version out of it.

I’ve messed around with many motions presented here and this is one I can’t seem to reproduce, other than some rare occasions where I get it working then I lose it (I also can’t do the “finger motion”). It could be because way back in the day I did a pronated trailing edge grip but I was definitely DSX. So maybe when I get into that posture/setup old habits just want to take over.

EDIT: also, on topic, I HATE the position of volume knobs on pretty much all my guitars lol! I have a cheap strat, I nice PRS McCarty, I nice PRS single cut, and a nice Ibanez RG Prestige. It’s worse on some than others but it always seems “in the way”.

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#18

On the Mustang I find I do sometimes hit the volume knob, but only sometimes. And if I play them frequently I learn to stop doing it. With the Musicmaster / Duo-Sonis, I never hit the volume. So I assume the knob is a little further away, though I haven’t actually measured it.

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#19

Thats great, thanks @troy !

How would you describe the sound you get from these guitars?

#20

They don’t sound super Stratty. There is a little of that but they’re darker. This is typical of shorter-scale guitars — Les Paul being the extreme example. Of course I lean into that by putting humbuckers in them, so I’m not even trying to get something Strat-like.

I’d also point out that there is significant guitar-to-guitar variation which I can’t really explain, since they’re all just basically planks of wood bolted together. I know the whole “tonewood” thing is controversial, but whatever is contributing to the difference in sound, it’s cleary there, even when strumming acoustically.

As an example, here’s the Musicmaster. This is a before and after with the stock vintage '60s single coils and the humbuckers. You’ll notice with the singles it’s not super thin or bright. I just mainly replaced them for the noise control:

Edit: I’m not sure why I wrote “1976 single coil” in the video. Maybe I did some research on that and found that they’re not stock. Either way they’re definitely old.

By comparison, here’s one of the Duo-Sonics with the stock single coils on clean tone. This is the brightest of the short-scale guitars that I own, and again, the difference is apparent even acoustically. I don’t know why that is. It has its charm if you want something really chimy but like the Musicmaster better:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CG3lwImH-nf/

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