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well hello friends and welcome to ask
0:40
Zack today we're going to talk about the
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hard tail Stratocaster so today I'm
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lucky enough to have a uh a 57 hard tail
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Strat on loan and there you go got to
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have the the proofs the proofs in the
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back so uh yeah we're going to talk
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about hard tals what's uh different
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about them uh just kind of we've also
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got some shipping totals from 54 and 55
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so you can kind of see you know where
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the emphasis was at Fender whether it
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was on the tremolo or the hard tail ones
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we're going to talk about the uh the
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players that are famous for the for
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using the hard tailes and uh yeah just
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I'll talk about this specific 57 that uh
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that's really cool it's got some some
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cool things going on with it all right
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before we get started I just need to
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thank my patreon members and uh I just
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appreciate you guys supporting the
1:42
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1:44
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1:47
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1:49
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1:53
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1:55
become a patreon member all right also
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uh you know I'm I'm on Instagram and I
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do a lot of you know kind of additional
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posting on stuff there so that's another
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good place to uh to follow me and see
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what's going on uh especially like gigs
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and things like that all right let's
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dive in so of course Fender introduces
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the Stratocaster in
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1954 really the uh the summer of
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54
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and the
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brto which we're just going to call it
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tremolo because that's what Fender calls
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it so that way I don't keep going back
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and forth we're just going to go with
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tremolo even though it's a a br so the
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tremolo
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system is really part of the guitar and
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one of its main novel features so the
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whole notion of hard tail is not really
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pushed a whole lot the first year in
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fact and this is information from
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Richard Smith's book uh which is
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wonderful and it's my favorite book on
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Fender guitars it's called Fender the
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sound heard around the world and that
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book he states that Fender sales was
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shipped out
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268 stratocasters in 1954 and they all
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had
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tremolos not one hard tail now does that
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mean that Fender didn't make any hard
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tail strats in 1954 no that means that
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the few the exceptionally few hardtail
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strats made in
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1954 probably went to artists or like
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custom orders friends and family
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something where it didn't go through a
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dealer where somebody came to the
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factory and of course Leo was kind of
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known to uh to sell stuff you know kind
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of not through Fender sales which you of
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course Don Randall was not real happy
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about that but uh yeah so if you have a
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hard tail strap from 54 that is super
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duper
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rare uh in 55 that's when you really get
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the push of the hard tail and in 55 you
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have 357 strats were made with tremolo
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and then you have 95 that were made non-
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tremolo so you can get you know it's not
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a a huge percentage it's you know
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significant but not uh it's it's not
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nowhere near half or anything like that
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so they kind of knew that most people
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were going to want you know all the
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features all the novel features of the
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Strat and you know even though the hard
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tail doesn't have the vbr people don't
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think about the fact that you still got
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this amazing bridge I mean this is an
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amazing bridge design I mean you had
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this six saddle bridge that all the
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strings were adjustable for intonation
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and height individually and that was a
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big deal
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so who cares if you didn't get the vbr
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you still got this amazing bridge that
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you were finally able
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to tune your instrument and intonate it
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well which you couldn't do that with the
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Telecaster because you didn't have in
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individual string uh adjustment so this
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was a huge deal another difference
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between the tremolo version and non-
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tremolo version was of course the price
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so a Stratocaster in 1954 with the
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tremolo was
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$249 which basically translates to about
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$3,000 in today's money of course I'm
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talking in 2024 money the non- tremolo
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version was $229 so $20 less in 1954
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money which translates to about $300 so
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basically you saved $300 in today's
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money to get the hard tail model which
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of course meant that they didn't have to
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route as much and you know you just had
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this easier to install Bridge
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tailpiece you know you also you gave up
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the decal you know that said uh with
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synchronized tremolo underneath here
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just a quick aside this has an
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additional decal on here that was put on
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by one of the um the former Rolling
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Stones texts he put these uh he put this
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uh Tumbling Dice on there um on this
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guitar but uh yeah of course you don't
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have the routing on the back you have
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you know string ferals here instead of
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the uh the chamber you don't have the
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Springs you don't have the claw you
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don't have the big inertia
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block and so all of those things make
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for a different sounding kind of Strat
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so you know when you have the tremel
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over
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version it's got a certain ping and a
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certain air to the note and that comes
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from the big inertia block it comes from
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the claw and the Springs so those
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Springs kind of act like a little bit of
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a Reverb chamber and they add kind of a
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different sound to the note is it some
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huge difference no but it is noticeable
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um so the the hard tail you know has a
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little a little bit more of a solid
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sound I would say it's a little more
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assertive and it's a little drier
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sounding uh in that it doesn't have that
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kind of pingy Airy stuff but uh you know
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these tend to have more sustain
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especially if you're talking about
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comparing it with a same-year unit that
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has a tremolo and it's floating so this
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will absolutely have you know a little
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bit more sustain to it um yeah and they
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just they just have a wonderful you know
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sound to them I love my favorite sound
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on a strat is the middle pickup on its
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own
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and you know kind of the thing I was
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playing in the
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intro you know the the middle pickup
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sound to me is just yeah it's that
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perfect compromise between the bridge
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pickup and the neck pickup it's just
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it's it's in a really great position and
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uh to me it's it's always the star and
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if that doesn't sound good on a strat
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then I'm probably not going to pick it
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up um the sound that's kind of the the
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easiest to get a good sound on a strat
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is usually you of course the neck pickup
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[Music]
9:18
[Music]
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so uh yeah and then of course you got
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the the combination sound
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you know that's front two and you get
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the back two
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and of course the
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bridge which on a hard tail you get a
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little better Bridge sound because it's
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uh it's just a little more solid it's
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got a little more beef to it than the
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than the tremolo version and so you know
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you get a little bit more of the
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Telecaster thing of course it doesn't
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have the doesn't have a bottom plate
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it's not mounted in a in the bent metal
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you know bridge that a that a Telly has
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but it's still still you know a really
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good sound and that's you know where you
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get you know one of the uh and I need to
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turn the Reverb off for this and now
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I'll do my best Nile Rogers cuz that's
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one of the uh one of the main hard tail
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guys there's not a ton a hard tail
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players and so really I think probably
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one of the most recorded would be Nile
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Rogers and that's just because of all
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the hits that he's played on with of
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course his guitar that Fender has made a
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signature model called the hit maker and
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that of course is a late 50s hard tail
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that's blonde and he's changed out the
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pit guard and it's got some some cool
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knobs on it and uh you know and you know
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you get that kind
11:15
[Music]
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of we'll try it with a pick
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yeah but it's got to be dry I'm turn the
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Reaver back on but the other kind of
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famous cat for playing a hard tail is
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Ronnie Wood who has used a 55 hard tail
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for years with the Stones it's been a
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you know one of his main guitars and uh
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he's always done great things with that
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so yeah so this one is a is a 57 which
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like like you know most 57s it has a has
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an alder body has that nice v-shaped
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neck which to me is the best thing
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Fender ever did I mean if I had my pick
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of any Strat or Telly um you know I'm
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always going to go with a 56 or a 57 and
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I just think they're the best neck
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shapes by far I love a black guard and
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there are some you know some 54s and
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different you know there's v-necks kind
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of through the years that are but that
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they're not kind of as constant as they
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are in 56 and 57 but this one has that
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great vneck on it and uh you know this
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is a body refin uh so who knows what
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color it was initially but this is a you
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know they did a really nice job on it uh
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yeah it's kind of got the the right wear
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on it and everything so it's got some uh
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strap locks that have been put on here
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cuz this is you know used live and such
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and uh some other little things it's got
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a it's got a refret on it to uh make it
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a little more friendly to play which I'm
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a big fan of that I do not like vintage
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little Frets I mean yeah that's why I
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would never buy anything that's Mint
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Condition because uh you know I'm always
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going to want to put bigger Frets in an
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old Fender cuz uh those little Frets are
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just really hard to play on unless you
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put James Burton strings on them but uh
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yeah these are really really great
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guitars that are kind of they're kind of
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sleepers uh and also they're just
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they're they're rarer and you just don't
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have U that many you know famous users
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of them which is you know part of what
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drives things and so you know if you
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think about a lot of guys that don't use
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a tremolo like Clapton well his is you
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know his has a vbr but it's blocked off
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or even like Ry cter you know he has
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those two strats that he played for a
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long time well they were both tremolo
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models that you of course one of them he
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did all sorts of crazy stuff too well
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both of them he did crazy stuff too but
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main slide Sunburst one you know it's
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got a regular vbr on it but he just
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doesn't use it I'm sure it's you know
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blocked or you know all the way up
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against the body but yeah even slide
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players and guys that don't use the
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tremolo at all on a strat they've you
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know usually have triolo models and uh
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yeah I think it's just the uh the Rarity
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of them this one's really light um they
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tend to be a little lighter though I I'm
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I'm kind of I say that cautiously cuz
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you can get some 7s hard tailes that of
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course weigh a ton but usually the wood
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you know the the more wood that you have
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on this uh doesn't kind of push it over
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like the inertia block does cuz that
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inertia block uh weighs a lot on a strat
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and it kind of pushes it over so
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especially 50s hard Tails can be pretty
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pretty light they can start getting into
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the uh you know like this one is in the
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upper six lb range which is a you know
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which can be found you in uh in in 50s
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and early 60s
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strats all right guys well I hope you've
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enjoyed today's episode I hope that uh
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that uh you if you have a hard tail
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Strat or or if there's a famous hardtail
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Strat player please uh you know post
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about it or send me an email with a
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picture of your hard tail Strat or
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something I always appreciate that so uh
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hope you all have a good week and we'll
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see you next time bye-bye
15:29
a