What is the Strat Equivalent of a Baja Tele?

Gasp100

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
27,776
Is there one? I don't know, but this Baja Tele is kicking all sorts of ass over here in my homestead. The pickups and bridge are pure Tele, they sound great clean and with some grind they are shearing, plowing and barking madly. I can finess the guitar a bit, but this one wants to be played hard for sure.
I would love to get a strat that has this kind of vibe -- it just feels more spongey, saggy with more swagger than my other guitars... it's hard to put a finger on it. I guess I may have just found my neck:
Large carve "soft" V, 9.5" radius, medium jumbo frets, Maple.
Any help appreciated, I need this same feel in a kick ass strat and I'm done.
EDIT: It also helps that the previous owner removed the S1 switching and did a modern 4 way with the top position being neck + bridge in paralell (I guess). HOLY SMOKES LEAD TONES!!!! I'm watching the baby today and I keep waking her up cause I'm beating the sh*t out of this here geetaaaaaaar!
 

Gasp100

Silver Supporting Member
Messages
27,776
I guess I could get it professionally measured... it's just that nowadays building a guitar might be more expensive than just buying a kick ass one used (I've done the math).
 

utterhack

Member
Messages
3,585
Love the Baja. Classic Player 50s would be the strat equiv imo. Pre-wired with bridge tone control is nice. Some might say CP 60s but the rosewood gives it a different vibe.

EDIT: It also helps that the previous owner removed the S1 switching and did a modern 4 way with the top position being neck + bridge in paralell (I guess). HOLY SMOKES LEAD TONES!!!!

Not sure I get this. The stock Baja already offers neck+bridge in both parallel and series. Sounds like they just replaced the knob!
 

schundog

Member
Messages
227
Glad you are enjoying your Baja; I love mine too, even though the "Desert Bland" color is the ugliest of my 18 or so guitars! haha. I've got big hands, so I like the chunkier necked Teles like the Baja. My closest Strat comparison would be a MIM Robert Cray (love mine in Violet), hardtail bridge, chunky neck, glossy on the back, but it is rosewood, if that bothers you. I've got 2 American Strats, a MIM Jimmie Vaughan Strat, and my Cray, and I like the neck on the Cray the best. Dig the pickups, too, though they are more low output; crank the amp, and you are in heaven! Great "in between" tones, obviously, ala Robert Cray. Good luck!

http://fenderforum.com/userphotos/index.html?recid=49669
 

pitseleh

Member
Messages
806
Yeah, they probably did just take out the knob. It has a four-way switch stock, which I love, but I never use the out-of-phase sounds. They're not particularly good, imo.

As for your question, I have no idea! Let us know if you find it. I was hoping it'd be a CP 60s Strat, but that has a 12" radius, I think, which isn't really my bag.

P.S. After switching the pickguard to a black one, the desert sand has grown on me. I actually like it a lot at this point. At least it's not another generic butterscotch/black pickguard Tele. Hard to think of anything more bland than the one that everyone and their mother owns!
 

A-Bone

Montonero, MOY, Multitudes
Platinum Supporting Member
Messages
109,094
I don't know, those Blackguards are pretty damn good looking. I kind of understand why so many people (including me) like the look of the butterscotch/blackguard tele.
 

pitseleh

Member
Messages
806
I can also understand it; they do look good! It's just, the idea of having one that's a bit different from the norm (or in this case, borderline overused -- I feel like 8 out of 10 Teles I see are blackguards) is appealing. I initially bought the Baja thinking that it'd be a good guitar in spite of its looks, which I found bland as all hell, but now I think it actually looks really nice. Every time I see someone playing one (the guy on Youtube who's done all those great demos for the Morgan AC20 or whatever, for example), it always looks cool on them.
 



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