software

Ok, maybe I'm exagerating but I have an old Stagg acoustic and now I found out they are back in business with improved woods.

I'm considering buying a strat (alder body, all the stagg's solid body electrics have alder bodies even if they top them with maple) and then modding the heck out of it, pups, tunners, maybe the vibrato bridge, pots, maybe chamber it... the works, and just keeping the body and neck. Hey, for 100 €, its a good instrument to learn to do setups and mess with. (Pierre and I believe Beandip would maybe be wise to get their hands of a few to mess with). This will be the first electric guitar I own (I usually depend on the guitars of friends aparte from my acoustic).

I'm just curious, what sound can I get from alder (give me some names like Hendrix or something to know what to expect) and what you would sugest in terms of fretboard (maple or rosewood - I prefer the feel of rosewood but maybe alder works best with maple). Also, recomend me some pups (I like the APS and the vintage, which would go bets it this.

I really love the weight and feel of the guitars and the acoustic volume and timber wasn't bad (couldn't plug in).

It's a standard strat, 21 frets (I'd love 22 but that's just to make it an even number and I guess there's nothing played with 22 frets I can't play with 21). The neck is comfortable with a nice feel and the guitar is really confortable (but then again I have always been a sucker for the feel and sound of a strat even if the shape isn't my favourite). Curiouslly the neck has the trusrod installed via skunk stripe in both maple and rosewood fb models

I also indecise as to the aesthetics, here's my options:

*Gothic: satin black, black hardware, rosewood fb, black headstock, cool simple inlays. (looks cool but I get a bad feeling from it)

*Natural: comes in satin or gloss, tortoise shield, rosewood fb, chrome hardware (I favour the feel of the satin but don't know if it carries any short commings. also the natural option might make them use better woods - really my favourite all around)
*Black: Black body, white shield, rosewood fb.
*Red sunburst: all of the above but with a deep red sunburst
*White: all white, rosewood fb

*Honey: Honey/blond coloured, cream shield, maple fb (the only one with maple fb, but I hate the colour). Chrome hardware.

I've been reading some harmony Central reviews (yes, I know...) and they seem to be rated right for a change, no stright 10's the problems seem to be fixable be replacing parts (works for me), some are satisfiable, etc.
'll be buying this between now and Christmas, as I want to know all about it and not use the money I have right now.

So in short I want to know:
1) Who or what sounds like alder;
2) What will sound best with alder, maple or rosewood;
3) APS or vintage pups with alder;
4) Aesthetics, I know this is persinonal but maybe some options have an impact on the timbre (like some believe black makes the guitar more dull sounding etc);
5) Should I even buy this thing? I'm just buying it for learning how to mod, upgrade and setup (the resulting improved, hopefully, instrument is just a bonus)

You can check out they're site (to have a better look.

Thanks in advance, Luís

P.S. My summer project is still up, even if extremelly altered

EDIT: I just added some pictures, their order is the same in which I described them I just removed the black with white shield as it is similar to Claptons Blackie and the Natural Gloss

Here in Holland with have our very own Richwood, they seem to be about the same type. People like them.
That's indeed a good idea. I picked a guitar up to mess with but it's too nice


Originally Posted by LSPHELP! iM BEING CHASED BY STAGGS!!!

DON'T PANIC! THEY CAN SMELL FEAR!

alder and ash are pretty much the backbone of fender's instruments.. IIRC the very first teles were alder, and both have been used throughout the years.. nice twangy open brashness in terms of resonance, think of your favourite tele tone!

but yeah - one thing which i will walk away from any instrument for is a crappy fret-job. most other stuff is fixable or replaceable, but a stodgy neck will always be stodgy.. look out for twisting and other instant-death factors on these sorts of guitars - if in doubt, walk away. there's always another available

tom

Eheh =)

Ok, that's good to hear about alder, but I'd still like to know some famous players that use alder regularly so I can have some base.

The fretjob is cool, nice big, well cut frets (won't cut up my hands like some guitars). What I really love is the way the neck feels in my hand, really smooth and a thin (but not too thin) C shape that really fits my hand (I have really small hands) but it fells roock solid... funny thing, I never imagined I would say anything good about a Stagg (my classical is a peice of junk that I only keep because it was my father's and because I learned on it).

Ok, thanks Imp and Pierre. Keep it coming.

i'm pretty sure 'blackie' had an alder body.. check out the fender site, in particular their signature models.. they're pretty good with info like that!

tom

The rule of thumb is that Fenders with solid-color paint jobs have alder bodies, any finish that the wood grain shows through is ash, because it has nicer grain. I'm sure there are many exceptions to the rule, but it's a starting point.

These are just the players I either know or have access to, didn't bother to check out the others as it wouldn't make sense right now.

On the maple side
Eric Clapton
Eric Johnson
Hendrix (not on the Fender site, had to look it up)

On the rosewood side
Jeff Beck
SRV
Yingwe
John Mayer

Ok now I just have to decide what I like best, so I would consider this covered.

Moving on to the other points

Yeah Rich S, this brand seems to want to defy the norm as all shapes have a couple of see-through models.

Honestly I'm not really concearned with wood grain or other aesthetics, I only posted some of the models characteristics to get your input and also to see if any would have any shortcommings.