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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ย. 2024
- The hardtail Strat is a different beast from it's tremolo equipped brother, with a tone, and feel of it's own. Today we look at the history, and spotlight the famous players, all with a beautiful 1957 hardtail Stratocaster.
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Robert Cray uses hard tail Strats.
I didn't know that hard tails made you boring and cliqued. Live and learn
So does Jeff Rowlette 👍
so does Eric Clapton
I listen to his music, great playing... despite the weak lyrics.
@@planetdog1641 I'm not sure if you're listening
No one does a micro history like you Zac! I love it!
Not short, Micro....Thanks
I've been playing since 1965, but bought my first Hardtail Stratocaster in 1974 and have been a fan ever since. Thanks for posting this video.
Love my '68 hardtail, that I bought in 1971 for $210, with money I earned picking cucumbers. I've gigged with it ever since, even earning a full-time living with it for about five years. It's an amazing guitar. Thanks for the video, Zac - really enjoyed it!
Zak,
Mr. Robert Cray plays a hard tail Stratocaster and he sounds fantastic. 😎🎸
I would buy one if it had one more fret. I also don’t like many of the specs of the jim root and tom delong. Why can’t they just make a regular american standard hardtail?
Too Right he does an absolute master tone monster on the Hardtail strat
@@OttophilAgreed. They’ve had one in the lineup in the past, they should make it a permanent option for American Standards.
I got a used Robert Cray Strat recently and I haven't played it that much. This video has made me want to break it out and give it a go.
@@WillyPDX94I recently bought a used Robert Cray and I can’t put it down. Lighter, great sustain. I love it.
It wasn't originally a hardtail, but Jerry Garcia's "Alligator" is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about hardtail strat players! One of the coolest things about the Strat- heck, about design in the 1950s in general- is that every part is replaceable, a real hot rodder's dream! The invention of the strat is also the invention of the superstrat!!!
I have a 1971 hardtail strat. 4 bolt neck, maple cap, 6.4lbs. Sounds great and never goes out of tune. Do I miss a tremolo? No
I've got a very early '71 4-bolt, but it's rosewood. It's the killer. But I've also got 4 more hardtails, including a '74 3 bolt (my first Strat) which is what hooked me on to hardtails. We might be in the minority of Strat players, but we love what we got, right?
I have a 2004 American hardtail in sunburst & a maple neck & board. It's my forever Strat. I used to own a Robert Cray signature hardtail. I wish I still had it.
I too love the neglected middle pickup. Far more than the bridge.
The problem here is that Leo couldn't get the neck-pu muddy enough..
Obviously, the first tone-knob on a Strat should work on the bridge-pu..
I'm with you on that. I almost never play in 2 and 4 position. I'm generally playing the middle pickup alone. When I replaced the pickups in one of my Strats I put in a mixed set of Porter pickups. Each pickup is a different model in the Porter lineup. I love it. I consulted with Porter before I ordered pickups and they were very helpful. Apparently I'm not the only person who prefers a mixed set.
Excellent explication of the hardtail vs trem debate. I've played both pretty extensively.
The tuning stability of the hardtail is the big advantage over the trem in my opinion, particularly if you want to have your trem floating. Zac explains the difference in the sound very clearly. He's right on the money there.
Unless you're David Gilmour or Jeff Beck you'll probably use your trem for about 10 seconds a set, hardly worth it for the tuning challenges the trem causes.
You are correct, sir; V necks are pure awesomeness! Only a V can feel chunky yet slinky at the same time! Hardtail’s are cool, too. It’s like the tone of a Strat with the attack of a Tele. A little more “doink” where the “bounce” would usually be.
LOVE the thick "V" on my Vintera 50's mod tele! Considering replacing the modern "C" neck on my HT Strat for something more in the thick "V" neighborhood.
@@jeffanderson8384That’s the exact same neck I have on my most recent partscaster Tele, and I flippin’ love that thing. Great neck!
50's era hardtails are my all time favorite sounding Strats, particularly when in the hands of the criminally neglected Richard Thompson, who regularly employed them for the majority of his seminal work of the 70's and 80's...
1980 Black with white pickguard. Rosewood neck. Bought it new, still the original case and have the hang tags. Paint worn through under my forearm still same pickups etc. Every time I take it to a gig or record it is the center of attention cause it sounds like a strat but MORE
Billy Gibbons usually doubletracked his '59 Les Paul (aka Pearly Gates) with a sunburst '55 hardtail, especially on 'La Grange' and plays slide on 'I Thank You'.
My hardtail Strat is a 2002 Squier Bullet HT and it's a top-loading hardtail that got better after I put better pickups in it and it rings so beautifully... and it resonates acoustically too!
The hardtail Strat of Nile Rodgers is a '59 that he's had since 1973long before becoming the Hitmaker it's known as.
My uncle has a 1975 hardtail with the bullet truss rod and big headstock. He refinished it in the 80’s replacing the poly with nitro. It’s the best strat I’ve ever played
Love my Robert Cray. My only strat.
I read in Guitarworld that Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford picked up a Squier Bullet Hardtail Strat and liked it so much he toured with it. So I decided to try one in beautiful Sonic Grey for about $150. Love it, so thin and light (6.3 lbs) that a regular Strat now feels like a boat anchor.
I made a hardtail copy of my G&L S-500 using one of the G&L saddlelock bridges that are typically on the ASAT Custom. I put SD noiseless single coils in it and did a rosewood and maple neck with stainless steel frets. The body is ash and American chestnut from old hand hewn beams and is chambered. It is amazing. It was carved by hand, over 6 months.
I had a 78 hardtail, that translucent tomato soup red, thick poly finish, weighed about 247 pounds. Traded it even for a 54 a Gibson goldtop at a shop nearby! Unreal!
Love the Nile Rodgers shout out. One of my favorite Strat guys
In 1975, my parents gave me a spankin new 74 Hardtail for my 12th birthday. Now I've got over a dozen guitars, and it's still my favorite.
.
I had a hard-tail, but.fell on hard times a few years back and had to sell it.
I would give anything to get it back.
The strat is cool because you almost have a built in compressor, chorus and phaser, mainly when using the middle pickup and in between positions with that rich quacky sound. And with the tremolo, as Jeff Beck observed, you almost have limitless possibilities. The neck pickup is a thick, almost unmatched tone for blues and rock and the bridge has bite, all with single coils, no humbuckers. Leo was a genius
4:33 My friend sold a refin natural 54 hardtail Strat to a shop (Randy Wood?) in about 1973. Ended up in the hands of Danny Flowers, who played with Don Williams and wrote "Tulsa Time." You can see it on numerous old DW videos.
The great Walter Trout played a ‘73 hardtail Strat forever. Featured on many album covers throughout his career…My Jimmie Vaughan Tex Mex Strat has a soft v neck profile, and it’s the best feeling neck I’ve ever played…so I have to agree, Zac!
One of the best guitars I own is a hardtail Strat that I put together myself. HSS configuration, with the Jake E Lee reverse slant on the middle and neck pickups. Much as I love a traditional Strat with a standard trem and three single coil pickups, the hardtail just feels so much more solid and with lots more bottom end thump.
I’ve favored hardtail Stratocasters for decades. My only tremolo guitars are a Squire for taking out to jams & beating up on, and a stickered up 1982 Washburn Flying V p.o.s. wall hanger, I bought at 13 years old. I have a Fender 2005 Custom Shop hardtail with lace sensors, a blue USA Jake E Lee Charvel & a 2015 Longboard Stratocaster, but my go to guitar is a natural ash bodied Strat from 1999, that I bought new when I was really struggling after breaking my back at 22, and needed a comfortable guitar to be able to sit down with, that didn’t have a tremolo, & retired that pointy untunable Washburn V that was giving me bad habits since a teenager & everyone thought I was crazy to buy a guitar at that critical time, when my life was flipped upside down, but that 1999 got me through some rough pain filled times & became my best friend, looking back I’ve had much deeper, more profound conversations with that treasured 1999 hardtail Strat, then I’ve ever had with any woman…LoL…🎸
YES!!!!!! Hardtail with a V neck and modern frets!!! PERFECTION!
Great vid--thanks for posting!!
Joe Bonamassa uses one. I got one this year from the custom shop. It’s got a 54 V neck. Super comfy to play and very sweet sounding. The hand wound 55 pickups they make are super underrated.
I have a handful of strat style guitars. One is a hardtail that is amazing. But one has a traditional tremolo. The trem block cracked, and I replaced it with an aluminum one. The sustain is off the charts now.
Actually, my favorite Stratocaster currently is my Mexican Robert Cray, and the funny thing is playing live I tend to use guitars with tremolos, but I tend to snap the bars off Stratocaster trems. Love the neck shape on that guitar the best is the main reason.
Thanks for the history Zac,
Coincidentally I’m building a hard tail Strat next week here. The body’s already painted in a cool looking candied metallic purple, I’m installing a solid rosewood neck with an ebony board to it with mother of pearl inlays, hopefully it’ll play and sound as cool as it will appear 😊
Dig the channel man, and always look forward to your feeds 🤙
Back in the 80’s Peavey made some USA hardtail Strat styled guitars. About 10 years ago I found a MIM Robert Cray for pennies on the dollar and grabbed it. Turned out to be a good purchase.
Thanks for the short 101 on the hard tail strat. Would love to have one, hope to find one someday. Like others have said, Robert Cray.
I heard "block the tremelo" and said "genius!" I cut a block of wood and jammed it between the trem and the body. It worked.
Slowhand knows a little bit about that 😉
@@mysteryshrimp I just crank the screws in the trem claw down. Get em down close to the wood and it'll pull that thing tight enough that it takes A LOT of force to make it move. Breaking a string won't affect it one bit. It'll stay in tune as if it were blocked.
@@J.C... that's originally what i did. I didn't like having that much pressure on the wood by cranking down the claw screws.
Then again, I did have all five springs populated. I was thirteen.
I back the mounting screws off until the bridge is flat, tighten the claw just a bit, and blocked it with a couple of hex nuts tapped into the gap sideways. Solid and sounds great.
I know of a '73 in Mary Kay colour's that is just the sweetest sounding Strat I've ever played. Strung with flats since new, and a silverface Deluxe Reverb bought with the guitar.
Dang that guitar is cool as heck. My favorite strat has a trem, but I've not seen the arm in forever. Pretty sure it's in the case, but I'm not plussed. If I were building one from scratch, I'd do the string through hard tail like that one. So neat. Thanks, Zac!
Dickey Betts played a hard tail in his last years with the Allman Brothers
Great video Zac, thanks. I used to have a hard tail Albert Lee. I wish I’d held on to that one.
I have a few hardtails, love them. We recently had a discussion on Strat Talk about the origin of the hardtail Strat, and I learned that Leo (and perhaps others at Fender) was expecting to phase out the Telecaster after the Stratocaster was introduced, and that may have been the reason for offering the hardtail Strat in the first place. Of course, and thankfully, that never happened, but I think it meant that the hardtail Strat never really caught on in a big way, despite its sonic prowess. It's also interesting that the 1954 Fender brochure doesn't use the word "hardtail" to refer to the hardtail Stratocaster option. The brochure simply said that you could order the Stratocaster with the Tremolo, or the "regular" version. No wonder they didn't sell any that first year!
@vautrain Hey, I am putting together my own hardtail Stratocaster right now and I'm very curious what your opinion is about pickup options. Not looking for any specific tone in general but curious which ones you have in your hardtails and what you think of them in general?
I have two Squier hardtail Strats. They are top loaders. I have several Strats with Tremolo and I never use the bar. I have not blocked the Trem on any of them. Bending is easier on the hardtail since I’m not fighting the springs. I never see hardtail Fender Strats in guitar stores.
You forgot Robert Cray.
Right
Zack, your channel is outstanding. Tons of useful information and you are very entertaining.
I appreciate that!
Right with you, Zac, on using those bigger frets!!
Got a 74 hardball for 300 bucks at Chuck Levinson years ago it was a trade in on a prs, right place right time.
Nice video, amazing picking and a great Strat! My ears have gravitated towards the middle pickup many times. Thought it was just me🎸
I just built a Warmoth HardTail Strat with single piece swamp ash body and roasted maple neck! It's Heavenly
I’ve been really considering picking up a Hardtail Strat. Thanks for the great content Zac.
Happy to help!
Since I have the bridges locked on all my Strats I’d be perfectly happy with hardtail.
Bonamassa is big on the hardtails.
his ‘55 sounds thick and really sustains
Love the tuning stability of my 2004 50 year anniversary hardtail!
Love my hardtail! Had to order it through the mod shop (back when there were none offered otherwise).
Images of Clapton appear when I see that guitar although I know that “Blackie” was a Trem model.
I own a 97 hardtail, but the most famous user for me is Walter Trout!
In 2021, i bought a lefty mod shop hardtail in autumn blaze, HSS, roasted maple neck, locking tuners Stratocaster, and i love it. So much so, i sold my 2019 player SSS. I’ve played strats for decades, and always ‘decked’ the trems. But the hard tails still sound meatier, heftier, and i dig them!
Decked from the factory. Nice.
I don’t keep up with all the fender options but I have a made in Mexico Robert Cray hard tail strat I picked 15 years ago that is damn good, if your on a budget. Inca silver with rosewood is a nice combo.
I had 2 Hardtails. '77 in Natural Ash and a '78 in Black. Loved them both.
Used to have a 78 jazz bass till it was stolen. Rosewood neck too.
I just sold my Robert Cray Strat after buying a Tele and realizing I just prefer the Tele. Nothing wrong with the hardtail Strat at all! Sounded great albeit a little different without the springs in the back
Bonnie Raitt and Susan Tefrschi
Love your channel Zac. I've always been a Strat player, since the 60s, and I always block the trem with a piece of hard wood. It gives it the obvious tuning stability, but a different kind of sound with great sustain. I also leave the springs. My favorite Strat has a bone nut, locking tuners,and graphtech saddles. And yes neck, and middle pickups for 90% of my playing.
I never use the trem on my strat. Tightened the springs up till it don’t move. Perfect
I would always see Jimmy Vaughn using the middle pickup. That should be reason enough to convince u to use it.
Great episode. Perhaps we Tele fans sometimes forget what a great guitar the Strat is. Even when not owning a real Hard Tail Strat, having one with the trem blocked is cool. I think Joe Bonamassa loves hardtails and prefers them.
Thanks so much for doing this! I just recently picked up a hard tail Strat and it's my favorite Strat I've ever owned. Really underrated version of the guitar.
Excellent discussion...hadn't thought about these ever before. Having owned countless Strats, none of them hard tails
Robert Cray also plays a hard tail. Nice episode!
Zac does Nile 😍 my favorite Strat player. Loved the interview with Vince Gill. Hope you’re doing well!
I have a G&L George Fullerton model Strat I got in 2004, it is a copy of a '57 Fender Strat with a hard tail bridge and a V neck, looks just like the guitar you have.
I borrowed a 70's hardtail 3 bolt from a friend while he borrowed my pedal steel. Like you said. Heavy. Like Les Paul heavy. The weight didn't bother me as much as pickups. They just didn't sound stratty to me for whatever reason.
Preach that middle pickup gospel, Zac!
Interesting. I didn't know hardtail Strats was a thing. Inspired by EVH, I made an L-shaped piece of plastic into a Swing Arm the "top-blocks" the bass side of the floating Tremolo bridge. It is fastened to the Pickguard at the screw location closest to the 6th string, and just uses a slightly longer screw. So, no need to drill a new hole. It takes away the rattling sound of the bridge, makes the guitar more like a PRS, improves sustain and tuning. It takes 1-2 seconds to engage or disengage, and is simple to make.
Nice video. As for the ‘54 hardtail strats, I believe there were less than 10 ever made maybe 5 or 6 back in ‘54. Not production runs and at first Leo couldn’t even give them away. I have seen only one, but they’re out there.
The hardtail strat could be expected to sound more like a tele, but certainly the pickups make a difference. Strats can also have the tremolo blocked or decked (not a fan). I put a tremol-no on my strat and left it as a fixed bridge, and the overall tone has noticeable more sustain and resonance, and bending one string doesn't make all others go out of tune. I will love to get a hardtail strat, and I'm a fan of the middle pickup too. Thanks Zac, great video.
The pickups and the the bridge make a difference on the Tele, I think. A hardtail Strat leans Tele-like, but it doesn't sound like a Tele, in my opinion.
Hey, Zac! I love hardtail Strats! I had one back in ‘74, natural ash with a maple neck-bought it new. It had a white pickguard when I got it, but I changed it to a black one, and kept the white knobs and pickup covers, and changed the three-way switch to a five-way. I still can’t believe that it took Fender until 1977 to put five-ways on them stock-it drove me nuts trying to get the three-way to stick between the positions. I wish Fender would offer hardtail Strats again; I think the only way to get one now is from the Custom Shop. They did make a few Strats with Tele bridges for Sonny Landreth-they were supposed to be signature models, but I don’t think they ever got releasd, except for the few that they made for Sonny. Come on, Fender-I want one!
I have a 1959 Maple neck. I love that guitar. What a joy.
Great info Zac my friend had a 70's hardtail that sounded amazing and also stayed in tune. My Strat has a stiff trem setup which helps and locking tuners it's a USA std 1987.
Nile uses the front pickup on his hitmaker mostly.
Thanks for the vids👍🏼🎸
I have an 2014 american standard tele with 2 humbuckers. It's fitted with a 2 7/32" bridge. I wanted to replace it/try out other types of tele bridges, put a bigsby on it or something. No other tele bridges fitted to the holes through the body. Then I found out it was a vintage strat hard tail bridge, the same as on the guitar your playing on in the vid. They probably had a lot of them in the shelfs, -" we'll put them on a HH tele!" Not much to choose from in 2 7/32" gauge bridges and sadles unfortunately, except from expensive custom made stuff. I'm not a believer of those sheet metal vintage sadles on the strats. I like the milled out of solid metal ones, I think Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards(check pictures of his 5 string teles) also do that.
Thanks for this, Z man. Your content is the best. Most sincere playing and great information.👍
Love the V profile. Every time I order a neck, V profile. Actually like what I call a Hard V better than the soft. Even re-profiled my American Original 60s neck to a V.
Ever thought of doing a video on the differences in Fender's "V" profiles? They seem to vary wildly even today with what they call a "Soft V". My first guitar with that profile was an '02 57RI, loved it and got hooked. Compared to what I've felt and bought from Fender since then, the '02 neck would be best described as a very soft V to almost a C. A couple of years ago, I bought an MIM 50's Strat replacement neck with vintage specs and the V profile, and it was a true V profile.
Thank you Zac for putting it in words of tone differences of the hard tail and the wammy bar. I had a '66' Strat one of the first large headstocks with the bar which any time I changed the strings I would take the bar back out, didn't care for the tremolo. I traded it even for an early '70' SG 49 years ago ,wish I still had it. Smart move right?
Six years ago I got a Strat and a T-style all in one guitar, check out the Johnny Hiland Kiesel JH6, love that middle pickup also and the bridge pickup 10.25K does have the steel plate under it.
Great video as usual 🎸👍
I've got 3 hardtail Strat partscasters I built since I wanted specs, like 22 medium-jumbo frets, that aren't on the production models.
Zac As always, thank you for your Input & Insight! WooF!!🐶🐶
Hardtails are nice. I built my last strat. I ended up blocking the trem with a big maple wedge. Which I seated with a mallet and cut the excess off. And I put 5 springs on it. It has a very interesting buzzy sound about it almost dobro like.
Ughh I've been on the hunt for a pre cbs hardtail body FOREVER to go with my '60 neck... Excellent video, thank you
Had a 1980 hardtail... it was not a great guitar... I prefer them however and will eventually get another, probably build a Warmoth. Thanks Zak great playing and a great sound!!
Hey Zak, if you want to sound more like Nile Rodgers, use the neck PU! You can even see it on the photo in the back of your video. Love your videos!!!
That looks like "Blackie"!
And the instant I thought that, you went and played "Lay Down Sally".
Cowrittent with Marcella Detroit of "Shakespeares Sister".
AWESOME!!
My personal favourite would be a Strat with the Telecaster Bridge and Pickup. Best of both worlds? 😂
Great Video man!
Billy Gibbons has used a early 50's harrd tail Strat on some of his recordings.
Always wanted a hardtail strat. I always put five springs on my trems and don't ever use them. I have always thought of building on but sinking the tremolo block in the body without the tremolo cavity.
Please do an episode on Bigsby Telecasters. What’s the origin story? Did Bigsby and Fender work together? What’s the deal with 3-saddles vs Jazzmaster Bigsby bridges?
Also, Bigsby gets a bad wrap for tuning stability because of the cheap Chinese knockoffs, while on properly set up steel cast Bigsby with the straight string pull it is one of the most stable (but subtle) vibratos out there… Is the Bigsby Tele the best-kept secret?
It may be the recording, but I don’t hear that tale tell neck and middle sound the Strat is best known for. I’ve been looking for a hard tail on and off for a while now. I know it’s been mentioned, but Robert Cray is who I think of when you say hard tail Strat.
let's get zac to 100k !
Wonderful video 👍🎸 always loved the hardtail Strats!
I’ve always wanted a ht Strat. Decking and dealing with string height change with a trem is something I can live without.
I have an early 2000s Robert Cray Mexican Strat. Love it.
I never use the tremolo on my Strat... the bar is in the drawer...so in essence I've got a self created hardtail or fixed bridge ! 😉
Hi Zac. This is Dale from Patreon. I changed my avatar and name.
Nice, thanks for telling me.
My first guitar was a Clapton Strat, which comes blocked from the factory, so I feel like I got in the habit early. Most of my gigging Strats get blocked now, which I think helps give them a more Tele-esque vibe (which I prefer), and stops me from over-using the bar. One of my favourites currently is a terribly ugly Fiesta Red hardtail we affectionately call The Tomato. It sounds a lot better than it looks!