She makes me feel kinda funny… like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.
I discovered its true there’s an older stock of guitars at the music stores. Sweetwater is a pretty high volume retailer, and their two Jimmy Vaughn Strats were serial numbers Mx11… and Mx12…
Fender’s info says they are 2011 and 2012 production models.
Not a big deal. I bought the lighter weight of the two and it happened to be the MX12…
I suspect smaller music stores have even older stock waiting to sell.
Getting a new guitar has really ramped up my practice time. It’s hard putting it down. I strum it on the sofa watching tv. 
Electrics make just enouugh sound to hear without irritating my wife like an acoustic does. I was practicing last night after she went to bed.
Do you like the t-shell guard?
The t-shell made all the difference. I wouldn’t have bought a white strat with a white pick guard. I want more contrast in color. Mine looks identical to the google photo I posted last week. Looks really sharp. I’m glad now I didn’t get a red one. I like red but I’m not 19 anymore. White is more sophisticated and I think stylish.
I haven’t installed the tremolo arm. For now I really don’t need it. The strat was shipped with it off. I’ve heard some musicians lock the tremolo down like a hard tail. I think Eric Clapton does that? I wouldn’t go that far to modify a strat. Leaving the tremolo arm off until I need it is good enough for me.
My strat came with dunlop straplocks. Posts were already installed on the strat. Getting that button on the leather strap and that E-clip retainer snapped in was a challenge.
Dunlop makes it look so easy. I never could get that much of the slot sticking out to easily get the E-clip in place. I finally tilted one side of the washer and got the E-clip started in that slot. Life would have been so much easier if that post was a 1/16" longer. Anyway, all three tabs on that E-clip are securely in the slot. I won’t ever, ever remove them either. Until this strap is totally worn out and it’s time for a new one. Which probably will never happen. Levy’s Suede straps are nice quality.
Several friends had strongly suggested I get strap locks. I’m glad this strat came with them.
It probably won’t be necessary to lock it down, that’s usually only necessary with heavy strings. If you do find you need to, there’s more than one way to do it, and it’s pretty easy to reverse. IIRC, most people wedge a piece of wood behind the lever that the springs attach to. I just put 5 springs on it, and adjust it to be as tight as possible. Once you do that, you can still use the arm, but it’s not easy.
OK, I’m glad there are several options. Right now I’m not sure what I’ll need for the blues lessons I’ll take over at jam play.
Grabbing the tremolo arm is a cool rock star move. I guess everybody does it at least a few times goofing around on a Strat. Making it a legit part of a musical performance takes some training.
I am sure you can YouTube a few folks who show different ways to block a trem. I did that with the Strat I owned for 12+ years - once I got the Van Halen out of my system…
As for the strap locks - yes they can be a pain to deal with. That’s why I get those little twisty things that you put over the strap+peg and lock into place.
Is the quality as good as what?
Fender guitars were never the highest manufacturing quality. At least, in the 70’s, you couldn’t buy one sight-unseen, you had to try them out in the shop and get the one that was best, and then spend $50 to $100 to get a technician to make it sweet, unless you were skilled in the guitar technician’s arts. Compare that to a Les Paul, which you could buy sight-unseen and know pretty much what to expect, and generally not have to spend much to set it up (but still having spent considerably more, possibly twice as much).
Regardless, a Strat or a Tele has always been and I hope will always be a thing of beauty. They’re just plain great designs, and when reasonably well-executed, they’re amazing guitars. As are a lot of others, but except for the Les Paul, none have achieved the status of a standard.
You can pay just about any amount for a Strat these days, from a $150 knockoff to a $2000 (or more) Fender custom shop job. Frankly, many of the knockoffs are remarkably good guitars for the money. Since $1 in 1975 is about $4 today, that $150 guitar would be equivalent to a $37.50 guitar in 1975, but back then any guitar under about $250 was rarely worth having. The bang for the buck today is amazingly good, all across the board, from the Chinese knockoffs to the top-notch custom shoppers.
The biggest disadvantage today is that it’s hard for the true tone-freak to find a guitar that sounds and plays just like the precious late-50’s guitars. Don’t ask me why, but I know guys who would really like to find affordable clones to avoid having to take their precious vintage guitars on tour, but can’t quite seem to find them. I don’t think it’s just imagination.
But if you’re not addicted to those 50’s guitars, my advice is to not worry about it, but instead learn to get your own sound on today’s guitars.
Well, for that price you can hardly go wrong, but for blues I highly recommend getting a tube amp (e.g., Fender Blues Junior) rather than a transistor amp with digital tube modeling.
Now, I’m not against modeling. For recording at home, I get a better sound in the can using a modeler than I can miking an amp, without going to lots of extremes. My home studio is great for recording acoustic instruments and voice, but too lively for guitar amps, and all I hear when I mic an amp and record it is the room. Furthermore, as a keyboard player I often double on guitar, and I use a compact and convenient guitar amp/cab modeler (through my keyboard monitor rig, which is a good small PA) rather than carrying a guitar amp and miking it. So, I’m down with modelers.
But really, they just aren’t the same, not by a long shot, not even with the very best of monitors. Even the best of them, like Amplitube and Scuffham S-Gear (the latter of which I currently use at home) don’t sound nearly as good as a mediocre tube amp, like my Fender Blues Deluxe.
I remember when I got my first modeler (Digitech Genesis 3) and played the hell out of it and loved it, especially being able to play through headphones. But the first time I set it up to A/B to compare with my amp (then a Hot Rod Deluxe) I was surprised by the big difference, even though I’d tried to set the Genesis up to sound as much like my HRD as possible. In contrast, the digital distortion was sibilant and glassy rather than smooth and woody (to use silly terms, but that’s how it seemed).
Like I said, you can’t beat the price, and it’s nice to have something you can plug headphones into (I assume the Mustang supports that). Just save up your pennies and look for a good used tube amp, and you won’t regret it.
I’ll be elated when they have modeling down well enough that I won’t prefer lugging an amp to using a modeler. They just ain’t there yet. And I’m NOT a tone freak or super sensitive player. I believe in playing what ya got, not what you wish you had.
Don’t be afraid to visit pawnshops and hole-in-the-wall guitar shops and garage sales to find the tube amp that’s right for you, at a decent price. It makes a nice hobby!
It’s a shame that the really sweet sounding 8-watt amps are so damned expensive. My favorite amp among my friends’ amp is only $1800. Oh well. What’s really nice is you don’t have to turn them up to ear-bleeding volumes to get the sweet tone.
Looks like the Mustang amp doesn’t have a headphone output, but it has USB audio out, so you could monitor through your computer and use headphones that way. It’d make a great starter while you look for one to use live.
I have a '65 Jazzmaster. I didn’t really pick it out; I bought it to facilitate a 3-way deal so my friend and guitarist could sell his Fender amp and get a Mesa SOB. But I turned out to really like it and it’s been my main electric guitar since 1985.
It has a tremolo bar, not the kind you can dive-bomb with, but one that only goes down and only a bit. I’m a stickler for being in tune and I’d heard bad things about trems, so I left it locked down and didn’t even try it until 2000.
Silly me! I never put on the guitar without it any more. I only use it as a subtle effect, and only for rhythm playing, but I love it.
Swoon. What color, pray tell?
And if you ever listen to My Bloody Valentine’s amazingly ground-breakingly brilliant album Loveless, you’ll hear the kind of stuff a JM trem can do. Out there.
I appreciate the information on the amps. That Fender Blues Junior looks really interesting. 15 Watts and a 12" speaker is in the size range I’m interested in. I’m saving up for an amp. Hopefully later this summer I’ll be in a position to get one.
EXCELLENT amp if you can find one used in decent shape. There are plenty out there. Love that amp. A bit loud for an apartment.
Aceplace57, I’ll just bring two things to ponder. You really are spoiled for choice as far as amps go and I second the idea of getting a small tube amp like the Blues Jr and it’s ilk. Don’t restrict yourself to just Fender amps though. Traynor, Peavey, Vox, Roland and Victoria (to name a few) all make some verrry nice practice amps. The other thing is to avoid the temptation to get a big amp. A 5-10 w tube amp at full scream will give you much better grind at lower volumes. If you need more volume, plug into a PA. Having to keep your Marshall 1/2 stack at 3 because it’s too damn loud for the SO or the nieghbors is just depressing. I would scope out Kijiiji or its local equivalent for a second hand lightly used amp. I see them all the time going for much less than retail. My GB Black Pearl 30 cost me $500, and it was like new.
Another thing you may want to look at is a Line 6 Pod that gives you the ability to crank up the volume via headphone and gives you a lot of tone effects without getting spendy on a modelling amp or a plethora of pedals.
Congrats on the Gitbox; now you need a Tele and an archtop to go with it… 
Seconded. I love mine. Awesome amp. And yeah, at 15 watts it’s capable of playing really damned loud.
Also seconded. I’d never, ever consider a POD a replacement for a tube amp, but they’re great for practice and headphone use and quite fun. I have a POD 2.0 and I won’t part with it, although with “real” amps at hand I hardly (OK, pretty much never) use it. There’s a bunch of POD 2.0’s up on EBay right now, it looks like a good deal could be had.
Agreed. I’ve played a couple of Orange practice amps in stores and thought they were good. Unless you are planning to have to get over drums soon, 5 watts could be a great size. I don’t keep up so don’t know what speaker options are available, but am sure there are plenty.
I’ll watch my local paper and Ebay for used Amps. I’m familiar with Fender and Peavey. The others mentioned are really good too. 15 Watts max. I have no desire to lug around anything more than 30 lbs.
One option would be for me to find a vintage 60’s or 70’s tube amp in need of repair. I serviced tv’s, radios and a few guitar amps in the early to mid 80’s. I switched to the computer field in the latter 80’s. It’s been awhile but I’m pretty sure I could still fix an old tube amp. The circuity was very simple. A tube rectifier for the power supply, pre-amp, and usually either a single ended or push-pull dual tube output stage. I’d have to order new capacitors over the web. Tubes can be found with effort. My big concern would be a blown transformer. Finding an exact match would be pretty much impossible. Speakers can be expensive to replace. But, if I could find a good deal on an old broken amp then it would be worth it. I just miss the days when my small hometown had a fully stocked parts house. I could get replacement tubes or transistors with no problem back when my shop was open. That’s all changed now.
I’ll watch the local papers very closely for awhile. See what turns up.
Ok, I got one more question on Amps. Anyone familiar with the Peavey Valveking II Combo 20? It looks very similar to the Fender Blues Jr. 12 inch speaker, 20 Watt (but has a switch for 5 and 1 Watts), best of all it has USB out for computer recording. a built-in MSDI (Microphone Simulated Direct Interface) for soundboard connections.
Same price range too. The USB output is a plus. It would be expensive for me to buy microphones to record from the Fender Blues jr. I’d have to learn how to set up the mics too.
Still researching and weighing my options. I don’t think the Peavey has a spring reverb. That’s a big minus.