The ShadowMusic Web Community

I think there is a lot of expertise on this subject on this forum, as most players play other music as well.
Question: What is the best Fender stratocaster (alder body) on the market that nails early Shadows music
but also can be used for heavier stuff? Will the twang be too dominating or thin for later music?
Is a switchable H(SS) the solution?

Hi Van, Eric Johnson uses a Dimarzio HS2 in the bridge to cover vintage/modern tones so that could be an option. regards Gary

Think you will need to define what you mean by "heavier music" as opposed to Shadows numbers.
Vintage or modern pickup models are just some of the factors you need to consider in this rather
complex question!!!
Good luck if you find that Ultimate Holy Grail Strat !!

Mike

Buy two different Strats!

Just get a Vintage-style Strat, & use your amplification to up the gain for 'heavier' styles of music. That's all the Heavy Rock crowd had in the 60s/70s when all those classic rock records were made. Marshall amps & a few drive pedals.

T.

You do not say what the heavier stuff is ? But to get something like you might want to use a vintage spec PU in mid and neck positions and a overwound PU in the bridge that is no more than about 7k or maybe a coil split stacked humbucker with a switch to switch to a single coil sound or back to humbucking mode for the heavier stuff such as what Garystrat mentions above.

An overwound single coil favoured for blues was the Texas special if you want to do blues style overdrive, but to be honest I find you can do the blues sounds with a vintage wound PU in the 5.6k to 6.5 k area.

But if you want the really dirty modern distortion stuff then a more overwound coil is best and the only real option is a set of split coil humbuckers like on modern heavy strats say from Ibanez with coil splits for a single coil sound.

A guy who plays at our club has a guitar with split coils and it sounds quite good so it is possible.

Many thanks; does a stacked bridge humbucker switched to single coil sound like early marvin?
Which stacked humbucker would be best for that purpose?

The heavy players back in the 60s/70s still used what ever they could get their hands on a lot of the time and guitars were still standard and no variations like today. A Strat was a Strat, made in USA, no cheaper ones made in Japan, Mexico etc. no Squiers and no expensive custom shop. Guitars were standard and the only variation on a Strat was with or without Tremelo and a choice of maple or rosewood fretboard and colour choice.