I’ve had a couple people ask me, “if you wanted a ‘Strat-like’ guitar, why not just buy, well.. a Strat?” (Meaning a FENDER strat since “Strat” is actually a trademark of Fender.) I have several answers to this question, but the ones that matter are 1) Fretboard Radius, 2) Tremolo design, and 3) String Trees. Let me explain in greater detail below :
1) Fretboard Radius – the fretboard radius is the roundness that the fretboard has. It is measured in inches, based on an imaginary circle in which the fretboard is a section of the circle’s circumfurance. The lower the fretboard radius, the rounder the fretboard. The higher the radius, the flatter the fretboard is. Rounder fretboards are more comfortable to play, but flatter fretboards are more precise and intonate better. (Bending a note on a rounder fretboard can cause the string to “fret-out” killing the sound, this doesn’t happen on a flatter fretboard.) For the most part, modern Fender Strats have a radius of 9.5″. Over the years I’ve become accustomed to a 12″ radius neck, and prefer it. So, that’s strike one against the Fender.
2) Tremolo Design – The Fender synchronized tremolo (tremolo is actually a Fender-created term for Vibrato) was revolutionary for it’s time, but hasn’t really changed since its creation. The tremolo connects to the body and pivots via 6 screws. Unfortunately, this causes tuning problems because using any aggressive vibrato can cause the tremolo to bind on its screws knocking your tuning out of wack. You’ll notice that when Leo Fender left to create G&L with George Fullerton that one of the first things he updated was the tremolo to a 2 stud design that holds tuning better. Strike 2 for Fender’s strat.
3) String Trees – Their primary purpose is to guide strings toward the tuning pegs, and to keep even tension across the guitars neck’s nut. The problem with string trees is that a lot of times when the tremolo is used the strings can become snagged on the trees (and sometimes the nut) creating tuning problems. Many moden guitar manufactures get around having to use string trees by angling the headstock back thus keeping even tension on the nut and preventing string-snag. Strike 3 for Fender.
Now, please don’t take this post as an assualt against Fender. Fender makes an excellent guitar, I’m just making note of 3 things about the Strat that bothers me. There are a bunch of other things about the Strat that I love. (It’s versitility for example. I also love the “C” neck shape.) Many people (if not most) that buy a Strat buy it because it’s exactly what they want. They want to buy a guitar that was around in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and for the most part is exactly the same. They want a true representation of a “Classic” guitar. (It would be like being able to go to the Ford dealership and still be able to buy a new 1969 Mustang.)
So, about my purchase… I bought a Parker P30, which is essentially a lighter weight, differently shaped Strat. It remedies 2 out of my 3 Strat complaints. 1) Fretboard Radius : The Parker has a 10″ – “13” compund fretboard radius. 2) Tremolo Design – This one didn’t get remedied. The Parker has a 6 screw trem, but I don’t plan to use it much anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal for me. (I have other guitars for hardcore Trem action.) 3) String Trees : The Parker has an angled headstock which eliminates string trees. So, for $519 I get the great verstility of a Strat without 2 of my 3 Strat peeves. I think I made out well.
Matt,
Good day to you. I was searching for fender guitar particularly about its tuning problem as you described it in this article. As a little background I’ve been playing guitar since i was 15 years old and I’m 43 now. I’m a typical homebody guitarist of some sort and seldom went into a band rehearsal for the lack of time and suitable group I can play with since most of young generations now like the hiphop type of music. i’m into blues and rock type like eric clapton and steve ray vaughan and some led zep ang guns and roses type of music. i got a decent ibanez RG series guitar and now I’m searching for fender stratocaster sounding guitar without the tuning problem you just described. i once own a nice strat copy but sold it after two years due to tuning problems. i thought of putting floyd rose on it once but it was not easy so I sold the guitar. But i really like the twang of a strat. You bought a Parker p30 and i liked the beauty of it. My question is will it sound like a strat? Well I’m not really looking for a exact match, just 80 to 90% similarity will be ok with me. My next question have you tried diving the whammy bar and did it really went out of tune that when you played a chord it would be noticeably to an untrained ear? Is the hum problem (which is typical in single coil pick up) not really disturbing? Any information that you can add to let me make up my mind will be a great plus. I live in the Philippines and Parker Guitars are very uncommon and the ones i saw was really way off my budget. But P30 matches my budget and i have a friend there in the US who could mail it to me. Hope you can help me out on this and i will really treasure your opinion. Adding to that i won’t blame you if i bought this guitar and not liked it since i will be the one who will decide to buy it or not? myabe i just need your expert and personal opinion about the guitar. Just to give you a little inventory of my gears I own a second hand fender deluxe 90 amp, a boss gt6 second hand. All from ebay:O) because in our counry they always sell them almost twice your average price in the US. By the way does P3- lso have hard case with it? Many thanks in advance.
The Parker P30 acheives the Strat sound very well, and the neck is good too. So I think you’ll be pleased with the tone, and playablility. However, you need to keep in mind that the Strat-style tremolo was never designed for “dive-bomb” tremolo work. When the Fender Strat was designed, (in the 50’s) that guitar technique was not used. The tremolo was there just to add some accent vibrato to guitar notes and chords. For what the Fender tremolo was designed for, it does it very well. If you’re wanting to be able to squash the tremolo hard and get some large pitch bends, the Fender Tremolo is not for you. It will severely knock the guitar out of tune. It wasn’t until Jimi Hendrix (among others – especially in surf guitar) introduced heavy tremolo work in the late 60’s that the technique became popular. (If you listen to some of Hendrix’s live performances, you’ll also hear how out of tune the guitar became.) As time went on, aggressive tremolo work became even more popular, and new tremolo’s were introduced.
This is where the Floyd Rose trem came into play. The strings are locked at the nut, and the trem preventing slippage, and therefore keeping the guitar in tune with even the most aggressive tremolo work.
So, it depends on what you want the tremolo to do. If you just want to do classic rock, with little vibrato, the Fender Trem will do just fine. If you want to play hard rock with heavy vibrato work I would suggest a guitar with a Floyd Rose.
Check out the following guitar : http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Standard-FR-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar?sku=517910