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hendrix and the strat pack!
There are many great guitars, in many shapes and sizes, what is the difference and what are they?! The fender® stratocaster™ and it's metal pedigree.
In the beginning there was Jimi...
well sort of. Jimi drew heavily from great blues artists such as
Otis Rush, and many more, even Clapton for his Bluesbreaker
work! Hendrix was a very 'funky' rhythmic player, and maybe that is why the Fender was so suited to him. The neck join is bolt on, the body alder, and the neck hard rock maple (no pun intended!) and the pick ups are single coil. Add these factors together and you get a bright, cutting tone, but with a warm sweet tone from the neck pick up. Jimi used the neck pick up a lot, especially the ballads like Little Wing, Wind Cries Mary, the intro to Hey Joe. It is a great rhythm tone that also produces wonderful singing lead tone of the highest order.
Anyone into Strats will tell you how the Strat fits the body like a glove, plays so comfortably, and is like a best friend. The cutaway contours make the guitar a dream to hold, and is a much copied feature on many of today's guitars. The Strats Hendrix played, like the 1970 Relic pic above, had very round radius fingerboards, small frets, and super comfy C or U shape. The small frets can sometimes be a bit tough for those used to big jumbo frets! Another feature Hendrix never had the benefit of was the 5 way selector switch! He had to find the notch on the switch between settings for funky 'out of phase' tones. Some say he had hidden switches in some guitars! The basic Hendrix tone is simply to plug into a Marshall stack and crank it, maybe adding a touch of Wah, Univibe (rotating effect) or fuzz tone. I find that many newer distortion boxes more suited than fuzz, and JH himself would probably have a ball with today's technology. For the cleaner Hendrix parts, I think a Fender Twin, or Super Reverb do a great job. Experiment! THE HENDRIX INFLUENCE! Many players were bowled over by Jimi, and promptly traded in their Gibsons for Fenders! (Most sensible ones managed to hang on to the Gibbo too!). One such character was Ritchie Blackmore from Deep Purple! Ritchie took the humble Strat tone, kicked it in the head, sped up the fingers, added a unique classical influence, and became a huge superstar along the way. Smoke on the water became a guitarists classic, and the rest is history! He is probably the most influential guitarist of the seventies. Again, Ritchie used Marshalls, big ones! Plug a Strat into a Marshall, crank it, and you have instant Blackmore! There was also another young fellow that grew up listening to Hendrix and Deep Purple, and that was the legendary Yngwie Malmsteen! In an odd way, Yngwie did with Blackmore what Blackmore did with Hendrix... Yngwie took the humble Strat tone, kicked it in the head (again), sped up the fingers(again), added more unique classical influence, like Paganini, Bach, and became a superstar along the way. Using the same format of loud Marshall and Fender Strat, Yngwie added extra pre amp gain to get more out of his rig. This helps him achieve the unbelievable legato style he plays. Many '70's and '80's players had been looking for more sustain, more power, more tone. Yngwie chose his own unique way, but there are some interesting stories along the way, notably the effect of EDDIE VAN HALEN. More of that later. Many other players have favored the Strat, from many diverse musical styles! Hank Marvin, David Gilmour, Robin Trower, Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck (A huge inspiration for a lot of us!) and many others. Some people believe that a Fender Stratocaster allows more of yourself to come through than other guitars.... give one a try, it might be you that is the next Fender Strat into a Marshall super star!!!! FOOTNOTE: Don't under estimate a Fender
Strat's power! I used a Fender Relic at a Judas Priest support
in Perth, and the basic set up of the Strat, Marshall DSL50 and
a bodgy Boss Graphic, more than held it's own up against a
billion bucks worth of rack gear the Priest had.
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Rock
Axe Heroes 1960's to present. Eric Clapton What is the best rock and metal axe? Fender
Stratocaster Name
your fave Led Zeppelin
Fender Squier™
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The
next factor to look at is the Fender Stratocaster players,
which, though carry many similarities, have a some notable
differences, and lead to some interesting developments!
The
'synchronized tremelo' was another reason for Jimi favoring the
Strat, and it is well known that he used it quite liberally!
Staying in tune would be a task at times though.
