Edge's new Sustainer Strat- Vintage or not?-take a look.

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The Edge15

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I happened to come across this on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnI4oLgoYaI

Take a look at around the 1:31 mark. A Stratocaster on a stand with a maple fretboard, grey/silver in colour with a black pickguard is present.

This was in 1985 when Queen were recording the song 'One Vision' in a studio.

That Strat looks awfully similar to Edge's new Sustainer Strat used for 'With Or Without You' with Chris Martin at that show in New York in early December.

So,Edge's new Stratocaster may not be a Custom Shop recreation, it could very well be of original vintage.



525027643ll004_times_square900_640.jpg
 
Nice detective work. :applaud:

On the other hand, even if that model was around earlier, it seems like a shame to deface such an old guitar. Having built two guitars with sustainers in them I know first hand that quite a lot of routing is involved, especially in that spot behind the bridge. And its not like Edge only plays vintage guitars, his Fernandes and Line6 guitars were brand new ones. And those guys at the Fender Custom Shop are really good at what they're doing. I bet they can make a new guitar that feels and sounds exactly like a vintage guitar that Edge usually prefers.
 
You had crazy eyes, I got to admit.

But I still think Edge's guitar is newly made; I mean, I think Edge used to use Fernandes guitar with stock Sustainer is because he doesn't want to route the body for it.
 
I know Fernandes guitars look awesome, but I got to admit that hardly anyone sells them and Im sure that they're doing all that great; I mean, in Japan, where it is from, Fernandes just sells copies and sig. models. I'm sure he's comfortable with both, so.
 
Mack_Again said:
I know Fernandes guitars look awesome, but I got to admit that hardly anyone sells them and Im sure that they're doing all that great; I mean, in Japan, where it is from, Fernandes just sells copies and sig. models. I'm sure he's comfortable with both, so.
Click to expand...


Maybe how the edge is working with Fender has this new Strat for promotion maybe.
 
Fernandes selling copies? Initially that was there 'thing' but that changed over time. Hence, their stopping production of the jaguar/jazzmaster body-like "Decade" line.

The issue is that most shops you go in you will find Fender and Gibson but not Fender. Limited exposure = limited sales. That has effected their bottom line and hence their quality.

Their is a marked lack of quality of Fernandes guitars post 2005. Fretwork is bad.

So in Edge's case, I can see getting Fender Custom Shop make one or Dallas modifying a newer Fender for Edge.


Mack_Again said:
I know Fernandes guitars look awesome, but I got to admit that hardly anyone sells them and Im sure that they're doing all that great; I mean, in Japan, where it is from, Fernandes just sells copies and sig. models. I'm sure he's comfortable with both, so.
Click to expand...
 
I think Japanese Fernandes is much more copy orientated, thou. all I see is Mockingbird copy and some real Gibson replicas. Yes, it is true that they started out as a copy company, so I get it.

I would really like to know the specs of Edge's new strats, man. I mean, those sustainer guitar looks like it's got different thing going compared to Retrorocket.
 
Mack_Again said:
I think Japanese Fernandes is much more copy orientated, thou. all I see is Mockingbird copy and some real Gibson replicas. Yes, it is true that they started out as a copy company, so I get it.

I would really like to know the specs of Edge's new strats, man. I mean, those sustainer guitar looks like it's got different thing going compared to Retrorocket.
Click to expand...

It shouldn't be that radical. I've got four sustainer equipped guitars and did two of them myself. I plan to do a few more. Sustainer driver takes the place of the neck pickup and a humbucker takes the place of the bridge pickup. The kit usually comes with it a humbucker just for that although you can supply your own. I've always done so myself. It has to be a humbucker because you need something hot to really drive the sustainer. In my first sustainer equipped guitar I used a single coil sized humbucker, can't remember which but it didn't really do it for me so I installed a real humbucker.

All the pickups have to rewired. Instead of going to the pickup selector they now have to go to the sustainer board first. That is the easy part. The really fun part is the wiring from the sustainer board to the pickup selector as the instruction manual only explains how to wire a Strat for 5 ways or a Les Paul for 3 ways. Much fun filled hours were spent in figuring out how to wire it for a 3 way Tele as it has a different kind of selector switch then a Les Paul but not quite as a Strat. Lots of fun! Not!

In my first two guitars I put the sustainer board underneath the pickguard next to the pickup selecter, below the pickups, which makes for easier routing, but may not be so good in the long term. For one if you have to do some quick rework, or dial some of the trimpots you have to remove the strings and pickguard. And also if you're the kind of guitar player who likes to swing his hand around a little more wildly, for dramatic effect, you might accidentally knock one of your switches about. So while behind the tremelo is a lot more work installing, there's less chance of accidentally flipping over a switch. And its a lot easier to open a back cavity cover then it is to remove the entire pickguard if it needs maintenance.

Also, if you install a sustainer into a Strat chances are you will also lose one of the tone controls as that one will become the sustainer's intensity control. But on the plus side no more separate tone controls for separate pickups. One tone control to rule them all and in the darkness bind them.
 
Ok, from Muad'zin, I now i understand why the switches for Sustainer in Edge's new guitar is so far from volume/tone knobs. I wish we all know the spec's of that guitar ( I already mentioned that i wonder why that guitar doesn't have hot-rails like his other guitars do, didn't I?)
 
The Fernandes was hotrail-hotrail-sustainer if memory serves me right. By the looks of it on this its humbucker (singe coil sized)-single coil-sustainer. Which is usually what happens when you install a sustainer in a Strat. Neck and bridge pickups get exchanged, middle pickup stays the same. So they either installed a standard sustainer kit into a standard Strat or Edge ordered it this way. Either way it doesn't look like installing a hotrail as a middle pickup was high on his priority.

By the way, another reason why the sustainer switches are where they are is because the Strat jack cavity is in between. One of my sustainer equipped Strats has its jack installed on the side, like a Telecaster, and as a result the sustainer board now sits in that spot.
 
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