tjon901 « Fender Blacktop strat with an HSH configuration. »
Published on 02/07/12 at 09:21The Fender Blacktop line of guitarsis a line of guitars that comes with humbuckers and other pickups not normally found in Fender guitars. They have had a Blacktop strat for a while but this one comes in an HSH configuration which for some reason isnt common in stock strats. The guitar has an alder body and is finished in black or titanium color. The neck is a bolt on maple unit with a rosewood fretboard. There are 22 medium jumbo frets on the fretboard. The neck has a soft C shape with a 9.5 inch radius. Up top you get 6 standard tuners and a standard Fender style bridge. The pickups are a set of the hot Blacktop humbuckers with a Telecaster neck pickup in the middle. The controls are a master volume with a tone knob for the bridge and another tone knob for the neck and middle pickups. There is a 5 way selector to switch between the pickups.
UTILIZATION
The feel is very familiar on this guitar. It is basically a strat with a set of humbuckers in the neck and bridge. It still has all the same problems that a normal strat has. The Tremolo is non locking so it will go out of tune if you use the tremolo too much. The tuners up on the headstock are non locking so they do not help with stability either. The neck is comfy for the most part but there is still a large bolt join on the upper frets like on most strats.
SOUNDS
I dont know why they decided to use a Telecaster neck pickup in the middle position on this guitar. They should have just used a normal pickup. There are not many people who like the Telecaster neck pickup when it is in a Telecaster and now it is in the wrong position on a strat. Its like it is there for looks or something. Like they had 2 covered humbuckers and they just wanted a covered single coil to go in the middle and they threw in the first thing they came across. The two humbuckers are fine. They have a nice thick heavy sound to them which matches well with the natural brightness most strat guitars have. With the 5 way switch you can get some single coil sounds but with the Telecaster neck pickup in the middle position they wont be like you expect. Personally I would swap in a regular strat middle pickup in this guitar if you wanted to emulate more accurate strat sounds in split coil modes.
OVERALL OPINION
Fender came close to getting it right with this guitar but the Telecaster pickup ruined it. With the Telecaster pickup in this guitar you dont get much more usefullness than the normal HH Blacktop. I didnt find myself mixing in the Telecaster pickup with the humbuckers, I just found myself using the humbucker tones as if it was an HH guitar. As a modding base this guitar is great. You can throw in 3 pickups of your choice and have a really nice workhorse strat.
UTILIZATION
The feel is very familiar on this guitar. It is basically a strat with a set of humbuckers in the neck and bridge. It still has all the same problems that a normal strat has. The Tremolo is non locking so it will go out of tune if you use the tremolo too much. The tuners up on the headstock are non locking so they do not help with stability either. The neck is comfy for the most part but there is still a large bolt join on the upper frets like on most strats.
SOUNDS
I dont know why they decided to use a Telecaster neck pickup in the middle position on this guitar. They should have just used a normal pickup. There are not many people who like the Telecaster neck pickup when it is in a Telecaster and now it is in the wrong position on a strat. Its like it is there for looks or something. Like they had 2 covered humbuckers and they just wanted a covered single coil to go in the middle and they threw in the first thing they came across. The two humbuckers are fine. They have a nice thick heavy sound to them which matches well with the natural brightness most strat guitars have. With the 5 way switch you can get some single coil sounds but with the Telecaster neck pickup in the middle position they wont be like you expect. Personally I would swap in a regular strat middle pickup in this guitar if you wanted to emulate more accurate strat sounds in split coil modes.
OVERALL OPINION
Fender came close to getting it right with this guitar but the Telecaster pickup ruined it. With the Telecaster pickup in this guitar you dont get much more usefullness than the normal HH Blacktop. I didnt find myself mixing in the Telecaster pickup with the humbuckers, I just found myself using the humbucker tones as if it was an HH guitar. As a modding base this guitar is great. You can throw in 3 pickups of your choice and have a really nice workhorse strat.