Who are the WORST music gear hoarders?
I'm a minimalist by nature when it comes to music gear because I don't like clutter. Whenever I can do what I want musically using itty-bitty hardware, I'll do it. It's part of the reason I bought my Casio SA-46. Yes, that's a kid's keyboard. But it operates on AA batteries, can be picked up with one hand easily and stored easily. And it sounds cool. You can't get lightweight convenience like that with a Roland Juno-60 (which I did own at one point).
Aside from the keyboard thing, certain types of musicians hoard more than others. Let's find out who are the worst.
Are drummers hoarders?
No.
An acoustic drum set even in its smallest usable form (which is more often than not a 5-piece kit) takes up a good amount of space, so it's not like you can go small with this stuff. And I've never known any drummer to hoard drums, because the longer drums sit, the more unplayable they become because of things like wood shrink. In addition, piecing together kits from different sets almost never sounds right and just looks stupid even when the pieces from kits are the same color. Drummers just don't mix-and-match pieces like that, or at least not the ones I've known.
I think the only thing I've ever known drummers to somewhat hoard are cymbals. Every drummer I've ever known always has a ratty old crash cymbal or two that really should have been thrown out a long time ago, but keeps them "just in case". And of course a drummer always has a few china cymbals that don't get used. Why? Because china cymbals are cheap, barely take up space and are easy to acquire even if they barely or never get used. But even then, I don't see drummers hoarding those too often either.
I've never known a drummer hoarder; they seem to be the most practical as far as musicians are concerned. When drums and/or drum hardware wears out, the drummer will sell them off or throw them out, then replace what gets used regularly; that's not hoarding.
Are bass players hoarders?
Somewhat.
The bass player who is into vintage gear is almost guaranteed to be a hoarder simply for the fact that old bass gear is ridiculously bulky.
When you go back to 1970's gear and start getting into vintage Sunn and Ampeg amplifiers, they're jokingly called "refrigerator" amps because they literally are the size of refrigerators. Bass guys who collect these things have to hoard because the gear takes up so much damned space.
When it comes to bass guitars, yeah you may find a bass player with 5 or more basses. However, it's usually true each bass serves a specific purpose. One is a 4-string, the next a 5-string, the next is another 4-string with piccolo strings on it (those are +1 octave bass strings by the way), and so on. Rarely have I seen a bass player with exact carbon copies of the same guitar; there is a reason for each bass the player owns.
Where bass players are guilty of hoarding is with electronics more than anything else. It's small stuff, but a lot of small stuff. Boxes of pickups, wires, potentiometers, tuners, and well less than half the stuff in those boxes of crap actually work.
For example, a bass player will yank out a set of bad pots, yet keep them. That bad pot set can never be fixed and the set is total junk, but they get tossed in the parts box because he just can't bear to throw those crappy pots out. Why? I don't know, but he has a really hard time doing it. Later on, that parts box gets totally filled up with electronics crap, and then starts a new box of crap. That guy just needs to sit down, go through that whole box, save the less-than-1% of stuff that actually works and then toss the rest in the trash.
There is something else that bass players hoard. Strings. They do this a lot. Bass strings last a really long time (30-year-old sets are known to exist and still be usable), but the hoarding happens when a bass player saves strings he doesn't even like. Yeah, those saved strings are usable, but the guy would hate to use them if he had to. All those hoarded strings need to be tossed.
Considering the fact a Roto 66 stainless set is 20 bucks, and Roto 77 flats just under $31 for a set of those, I mean, seriously.. c'mon. There's no reason to hoard old strings when new Rotos are so cheap.
Are guitar players hoarders?
Yes.
Guitar players hoard everything. Those who are really bad will keep sets of strings that rusted over a year ago or more for no reason other than to have them, have ridiculous amounts of guitar picks all over the place they never use, hang on to audio cables that don't work, hang on to guitar pedals that don't work (nor will ever be fixed), own several guitars where several of them don't work (and again, will never be fixed), own several amps that don't work (and yet again, will never be fixed), and so on, and so on.
Guitar players are, by far, the ones who claim to be "collectors" more than any other type of musician when in reality they just have a big pile of crap.
It is really easy... too easy... to get a guitar hoard going. One day you have just 2 guitars, and the next thing you know, you have 7. Instead of 1 amp, you now have 4, with 2 that don't work. Instead of 2 pedals, now you have 9.
Guitar hoarding isn't just guitars themselves. Like bass guitar gear hoarding, a lot of it is also amplification and electronics.
Are synth players hoarders?
Synth players are the the worst of the worst when it comes to gear hoarding. If you thought guitar players were bad, ha! The synth player will prove otherwise.
Nobody hoards gear like a synth player, and there's several reasons why this is true.
The belief that a synth alone is enough to get "that sound"
Synth players drink the same Kool-Aid guitar players do when it comes to trying to achieve a certain sound.
Example of synth player's mentality: "If I get that same Oberheim OB-Xa that Eddie Van Halen used, I'll totally be able to get the exact same Jump sound he got."
No, you won't, and I'll tell you exactly why.
Never does it enter the synth player's mind for a second that Eddie sometimes fed a synth through a guitar amplifier (so he could play it along live with the band). Never does a synth player consider the synth might have been fed through effect pedals like the BOSS DD-7 and/or BOSS RV-5 (both modern pedals, but either can easily achieve vintage-style sounds). Never does the synth player "think live". All he or she knows is crisp, clear studio sound, when in fact that's that's the totally wrong way to get the Van Halen synth sound.
In other words, a ton of synth players never think beyond the synth, so to speak. They believe that synth and synth alone is all that's ever needed. No, it isn't.
The end result of the synth-and-synth-alone mentality is that players start buying many synthesizers, all of which take up a ton of space, all of which will never get "that sound" because their brains stop after the end of a 1/4-inch cable goes into a mixer.
The belief that bulk = cool
Synth players absolutely love big, bulky gear. And whether they choose to admit it or not, it is a reason why so many of them go after the behemoth-size synths of the 70s and 80s. It is the look they want, because they feel walking into a room and seeing a sea of plastic piano keys is just The Best Thing Ever. Some will even turn all those synths on and dim the lights so they can see all the LEDs and display panels light up, almost like a city night scene.
You how how some guitar players like the look of 3 side-by-side full stack Marshall amps? Synth players do the same thing, except all their keyboards are spread out and takes up more than triple the space.
"Gee. All that stuff must take a million wires to get that sound routed..."
You don't even know the half of it.
Not only does it take a crazy amount of audio cables to route all those synths to a master mixer - which in itself has to be huge to support all those channels - but then the synth nerd gets two really, really bad ideas.
Bad idea #1: "I should make these synths 'talk' to each other..."
Bad idea #2: "I should get into drum machines!"
...and out come the MIDI cables. Insanely. Long. MIDI. Cables. Now there are even more wires involved, combined with the fact no drum machine, a.k.a. rhythm composer, has a standardized shape. Custom platforms and/or additional desks must be built to accommodate that crap.
Oh, and on top of that, with the vintage thing you're adding in the problem of old, floppy diskette drives where the media is expensive and the drives don't work most of the time.
But wait, there are two more bad ideas.
Bad idea #3: "To get that 'true' recorded sound, I should get a reel-to-reel deck..."
Bad idea #4: "I should put a dedicated PC in here too..."
More crap. More wires. More space needed.
If you've ever seen a synth nerd's "recording room", it is typical that every last square inch of usable space has been taken up by bulky equipment. That room, which could ordinarily fit 6 people in it easily, now can only fit 2. Barely 2.
Now I will admit, when you walk into a synth nerd's recording room, it looks damned impressive, almost as if you're looking at the cockpit of a space ship. When you sit in the captain's chair, you're surrounded by buttons, knobs, sliders and really cool-looking displays with rows upon rows of blinky lights. Don't even think about trying to figure out how anything works, because only the synth nerd knows that, given they built it from scratch.
At the same time however, you can't help but feel bad for the synth nerd. They have this room, filled with a mountain of electronics they spent a ton of money on that ultimately serves no practical purpose.
Does that mountain of crap make songwriting any easier? No. Does the crap mountain make recording go along faster? No, and in fact slows it down significantly. Does the crap mountain inspire the player to write more? No, because they're a victim of their own complicated environment they created.
In the end, the synth nerd's recording room is only there to look cool because to them, it just feels good walking into that room and seeing that mountain of hardware. That's their little sanctuary. They escape from life into that electronic cocoon of theirs that they built whenever they can.
Yes, I know, I make it sound creepy. That's because it is.
If the synth nerd had any sense at all, he or she would sell off all that junk (most of it really is junk even when in perfect working order), buy a Casio XW-P1 and have just that, a few effect pedals, a laptop, a mixer and nothing else. And if the Casio's keys don't feel that great, get a Novation Launchkey and call it a day.
A lot of synths really are total crap
That Oberheim OB-Xa I mentioned above? Yeah, that thing. A lot of those arrived in the showroom broken. Yes, they got delivered brand new back in the day in busted condition where stuff didn't work right out of the box.
Does it still happen where synths arrive new that are broken? Yes. Why? Because things get jostled around in shipment and those tiny electronics inside synths don't handle shipping very well and pretty much never did. It is totally possible to spend $10,000 on a brand new workstation synth and have it arrive where half or more of it does not work at all due to internal crap that got busted up in shipment.
In addition, all synths have electronics problems because absolutely none of them age well. Everything that can go wrong will go wrong on a synth, even if it never sees a stage and is cared for meticulously.
ANYWAY...
Yes, the synth player is the worst hoarder of all musicians that exist. I know of no other that can fill a room faster with crap they don't need.
How does one cure music gear hoarding?
That will be a separate article. I've talked about it before but didn't specifically mention exactly how to cure gear hoarding ills. Watch for it.
Bought a Wally looper
Yep, I took the plunge and bought one.
The Wally Looper is my first ever dedicated looper. And yeah, this article is a Wally Looper pedal review of sorts.
The pedal is really, really small. I'll talk more about that in a moment.
The box
Textured and ritzy. I'm both pleased and ticked off by this. Pleased, because even the box feels high-quality. Ticked, because that means a bunch of the cost went into the packaging.
In the box
Some cards, two adhesive floor pads (one for floor and one for pedalboard, a nice touch) and some stickers. The "manual" is just one card, which in all honesty is all that's needed because this thing is really easy to operate.
The back
You're probably wondering if this thing can be battery powered. Similar to the Ditto, no, it can't. A 9V center-negative power adapter is needed to power this thing. And no, it does not come with one.
It really is tiny
This is without question the smallest pedal I've ever used. But thankfully it was designed well. It has some good weight to it and does not feel cheap at all. The casing is proper, the knobs are smooth and proper, the footswitch has just the right amount of tension to it, and the lights (it has 2, one in the middle and one in the clear knob) can be seen easily from the floor.
Easy?
Yes, very easy-to-use.
Pros?
For a simple looper, it does exactly what you expect it to do. Instructions are easy and you'll be looping quick.
Cons?
"Effect", which is pitch uptuning and detuning, is pretty much worthless. You can hear digital nastiness whenever you use it. And the fact you can't overdub while uptuned or detuned kinda sucks.
Better than Ditto?
Yes. It's cheaper and has more features. While "Effect" is something I consider useless, what I don't consider useless is the fact it has both record (input) level and output level (top clear knob). Where that comes in damned handy most is when using different instruments. Switching from a guitar to a synth for example is something the Wally is much more friendly with compared to the Ditto. Guitars and synths obviously have totally different audio output types, and with the record level knob, Wally handles that with ease.
Can it handle long loops?
Yes. I recorded a few of those it and the Wally handled it easily.
However, I did "sort of" crash it once. While getting used to the foot switching pattern, I was getting a bit too ahead of myself and was accidentally recording really short stuff within a really long loop, trying to undo that, got a little overzealous with that and, yeah, screwed up the sample. I say I "sort of" crashed it because I was able to just delete the loop and start over. No big deal.
Does Wally "mud out" when you overdub too much?
When you first start using a looper, everyone "muds" it because they keep trying to overdub the same thing. The key to avoiding mudded-out sound on a looper is to not play the same thing twice unless you're going for a chorus effect.
Even if I had a really expensive looper like the BOSS RC-3 Loop Station, the mud would still happen if I overdubbed a guitar playing the same thing 3 times.
What does it sound like?
It doesn't sound like anything because its sole job is to repeat back the exact sound you play into it.
Looping technique
While it is easy and quick to loop, learning different looping techniques takes time.
You'll notice that a lot of guitar players that use loopers also use delay; the reason for that is that the delay acts as a metronome of sorts. When you're playing along with delay, it makes for much easier proper loops. You don't have to use delay, but it helps and that's one method of looping.
Is the Wally overpriced?
The Wally is the lowest-cost digital looper pedal as far as I know. The Ditto is more expensive, has less record time and doesn't do as much. I honestly would feel screwed had I bought a Ditto (especially since TC Electronic raised the price since introduction to market in 2013).
Do I feel screwed after buying a Wally? A little, and only because of that fancy dan packaging that, while cool, was totally unnecessary. Plain-box packaging could get the Wally's price down to $60 or even $50. But at present you're spending extra just for that stupid box. It's a really nice box, but that does nothing for the pedal itself.
Yes, I am saying it's the packaging that makes the Wally slightly overpriced. Not grossly overpriced. Just slightly.
Other than that, it's a very well-made, solid, easy-to-use digital looper pedal. No surprises, easy operation, works and easily fits anywhere.
On a final note, the footswitch is as such where for synth guys, using it with the hand on a desk is also a-okay. It has just enough give to it where it can be used with your foot on the floor, or index finger or thumb on the desk without a problem.
Which guitar effects are worth spending more money on?
I'm writing this one based on a recent email conversation I had with someone asking about guitar effects.
While I sing the praises of cheap guitars and cheap gear whenever I can (if you can get away with getting great sound for cheap, that's always a plus), there will be times when you'll have to spend extra to get "that sound".
Which effects are cheap and which cost more to sound any good?
Distortion or Overdrive: CHEAP
No need to spend a bunch of cash on this, as dist/od is one of the most basic guitar effects that exists.
There is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" dist/od pedal, because they all operate the same. The difference is in how it's wired and what controls you have.
Smarter players look for features and don't don't go by what the name of the pedal is.
For example, there are blues and classic rock players who use a Death Metal Distortion pedal. Why? It has a 3-band EQ on it, whereas most dist/od pedals only have 2-band.
In the more-expensive department, some blues guys use the Metal Muff because it has a 3-band EQ, master volume and a drive level (labeled "dist") and a booster on top of that. For those reasons, it's a great drive pedal even if you never use it for playing metal guitar music.
Be a smarter player and examine dist/od for features more than anything else. Most of you out there would probably really like the Metal Muff because it has all the tonal control you want that's suitable for just about any amplifier, be it solid-state or tube-type.
Modulation Envelope ("Wah-Wah" or "Crybaby"): MID-PRICED
You should go as cheap as you possibly can with wah-wah since nearly all of them exhibit the exact same problems. After less than 6 months, they "scratch", and then the foot switch mechanism starts to fail, then it starts squeaking and creaking, blah blah blah, etc. All traditional-made wah-wah pedals do this...
...except one, the Morley PWO. No potentiometers in it, because it uses optical circuitry. Yes, it costs slightly more and it may not "look cool", but it sure will last a hell of a lot longer and always operate properly.
Chorus: CHEAP
You go cheap with chorus because it is an effect you will not use that often. Many guitar players think chorus is something they'll use all the time, but that's rarely the case.
Chorus is bought because of a "sounded like a good idea at the time" reason and for no other, so you should go as cheap as possible with it. Behringer UC200. Cheap, works.
Flanger: DON'T BUY THIS
A useless effect for most guitar players. Don't buy it.
Phaser: CHEAP
You thought you wanted a flanger, but in fact you wanted a phaser. Behringer VP1. This is exactly the phaser guitar players want, and it's dirt cheap. Just one knob. And yes, that's all you ever need out of a phaser pedal. Anything more is just useless fluff.
BIG IMPORTANT TIP: How good or not-good your phaser sounds is directly affected depending on whether it is before or after your distortion/overdrive effect. If you're trying to achieve a Van Halen type of phaser sound, the phaser is placed after distortion in the effect chain and not before. But by all means, try both. Try the phaser before the drive and after the drive and see which sounds best to your ears.
Delay: EXPENSIVE (but totally worth it)
The delay effect is one that is absolutely worth spending good cash on, because I guarantee it will be one of your most-used guitar effects.
Take the DigiTech HardWire DL-8. Not cheap. Another is the BOSS TE-2 Tera Echo. Also not cheap. Another is the BOSS DD-7. Once again, not cheap.
Why put cash into delay? Because it brings about sounds that no other effect can do. A delay pedal when set to a short-millisecond delay acts as a chorus pedal. Long-delay can add in a cinematic big quality to the sound. "Fading" delays where each repeat loses a little treble in analog style (which many modern digital delays like the ones mentioned above emulate) really give a new dimension to a guitar sound.
I'll put it another way. A good delay pedal can be the difference between a guitar sounding like absolute crap and sounding sonically perfect. I'm not kidding. Delay can make a total piece-of-crap guitar sound positively beautiful, and makes expensive guitars sound even more expensive.
If there is any one effect you put cash into, it's delay.
Compression: CHEAP
Most players need compression and don't even realize it. Fortunately, it's affordable.
Think you need a pickup upgrade? I'm betting you don't. If you want your notes to last longer and be heard better, get a compressor.
Looper: MID-PRICED
I wrote about this recently with a full article, but the short of it is that you don't need to spend a ton of money on this anymore. It used to be true you had to, but these days there are lower-cost options. Namely, the Hotone Skyline Series Wally Compact Looper, and the TC Electronic Ditto. Both are great, both are built well and both get the job done in fine style...
...but I personally think the Wally is better. It has more features and it's cheaper.
Looper pedals at this point haven't reached cheap level yet because the compact looper is still a relatively new thing. In a few years they may bust below the $50 price point, but not now. You're going to spend a bare minimum of $70 to get a looper pedal at the time I write this and that's just the way it is.
Worth it? Yes. Looper pedals are great, and I plan on getting one myself (and yes it will be a Wally).
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar guitar review
Before I tried the '70s Stratocaster at the guitar store over the weekend, I saw they had a Surf Green Squier Jag in stock. So I tried it out.
This was actually the second time I ever played a Squier Jag. The first one, also from the same store, sucked. And the reason it sucked is because it wasn't set up at all and the bridge saddles were completely set up wrong. However, this one was in much better shape. While it wasn't perfectly set up, it wasn't all out-of-whack like the first one I tried before was.
So anyway, on to the review.
Does Squier's Surf Green actually look like Surf Green?
This is actually a question that's more important than most people realize.
Surf Green, be it by Fender or Squier, sometimes isn't green but rather a sky blue with a hint of green in it. You will see some guitars labeled as a Surf Green color where upon seeing it you will say, "That is not green at all; that's blue!"
This is the second Surf Green Squier Jag I've seen in person, and yes, it is definitely a proper Surf Green and not that light-blue-pretending-to-be-surf-green thing.
Switchgear
Solid. Everything worked flawlessly. Not a bad knob or switch to be found.
Neck
24.0-inch short scale goodness. But the funny thing about a Jag is that even though you know it's a short scale, it doesn't feel like one. And I think that's primarily due to the offset-waist body that pushes out the neck slightly further compared to center-waist construction.
Everything was fine on the neck. Frets were proper, tuners were proper, finish was proper and it all worked very well. No obvious flaws found.
Body
The Jag is based on the Jazzmaster shape. Very comfy. Plays right sitting or standing, just like the Jazzmaster.
Wonky Jaguar controls
Okay, this is where I have complaints about the Jaguar. It has nothing to do with the quality of build (which was spot-on and good) but rather just how the Jag operates.
The Jaguar has a rhythm circuit on top of the body with its own dedicated volume and tone wheels. When selected, only the front neck pickup is engaged, and there's a capacitor in the top circuit that cuts off some treble. This is exactly the same way the Jazzmaster rhythm circuit works. No difference whatsoever, save for the fact the pickup set is different.
In the lead circuit, which are the bottom controls, that's where things get weird, because first-time Jag players would have no clue what to do.
On a Jazzmaster, the bottom lead circuit is easy to figure out. Volume, tone, 3-way pickup selector. Easy.
On a Jag's lead circuit is volume, tone and 3 on/off switches. If you look at the above image of the guitar, from left-to-right it's tone circuit switch, rear bridge pickup on/off, front neck pickup on/off.
That first switch is traditionally known as a "strangle switch" on a Jag. When used, a capacitor is engaged that bleeds away bass frequencies and makes the sound of the guitar "nasal" and "honky".
Believe me, you will know when you have the strangle switch on in the lead circuit, because the tone will "honk" right out. Is that tone usable? Depends on what you play.
The other two switches are really easy to figure out. Rear pickup on/off, front pickup on/off.
First-timers to the Jag are never told what these switches do. And don't bother asking the sales guy at the guitar store, because he won't know either (he also won't know how to operate a Mustang either).
ANYWAY...
Here are my complaints about lead circuit Jag controls.
- It's almost too easy to hit that strangle switch by mistake when playing.
- Fast-switching between pickups isn't easy. In fact, it's really difficult.
- The fact the switches are black (on all models) and vertical makes it a bit difficult to know which switch position you're in even when directly looking at them in a brightly-lit room.
Playability
The neck is ridiculously "fast" because of the 24.0-inch short scale. You can seriously race on this thing.
Some people say the short scale makes the strings really floppy. That wasn't my experience. I felt just fine playing the stock 9-gauge string set it comes with from the factory...
...although I would admit I'd probably put 10s on it or at least light-top/heavy-bottom 9-46 just for my playing style. And if you play 10s now, you'd probably install 11s, which is fine because the Jag can handle them without a problem.
Once you get used to Jag controls, yeah, she sings; the guitar has a ballsy output because of the way its electronics are. Chords ring out true, but of course note decay rate (which you known as "sustain") isn't that of, say, a Telecaster because Jazzes and Jags aren't known for that sort of thing.
Verdict
Great guitar all around. My only real knock is the lead circuit controls. But then again, all Jags with a standard control layout have that oddball on/off switch thing going on, so it's just something you have to get used to.
It's also a super-comfy player and holds tune well. But of course it is largely built to original vintage spec, so it has the multi-groove string saddles just like the Jazz does, meaning it doesn't take well to wild, heavy picking without literally knocking the strings out of the saddle grooves.
The Squier Jag is a cool guitar, I dig it and will eventually grab one. But as much as I like Surf Green, I think I'd go with a sunburst finish instead. Why? There's a lot of blank space in the middle of the pick guard due to the skinny pickups, and the sunburst has a tortoise shell guard that visually fills that space up better. Same guitar, just a different look that I'd prefer.
Fender Classic Series '70s Stratocaster guitar review
Yesterday I had to go out and buy some guitar strings, and tried out two guitars at the guitar store. Of the two I tried, one was a Fender Classic Series '70s Stratocaster in natural finish with the maple neck/maple fingerboard.
When I saw it, I had to try it because there are several things about this particular Strat that are different compared to normal Strats.
Is it a proper 70s Strat?
Absolutely. This Strat is without question the same as a real-deal 1970s Stratocaster, with one exception: It's a lot lighter. But in this case, that's a good thing because real-deal 1970s Stratocasters are "boat-anchor" heavy. This one isn't and is a lot more civilized.
As for every other part of the guitar, it's all '70s. In fact, it's so '70s that this could easily qualify as a reissue.
What makes the guitar not a reissue is the fact there is a micro-tilt adjustment on the 3-bolt neck plate and the fact it's not boat-anchor heavy.
A bit "too '70s" for my liking
Fender made this thing so '70s that for most players - including myself - it is a little too period-correct.
Let's find out why.
Neck
Definitely a thick-and-chunky U shape. I believe it's the fattest neck Fender ever made, and yes, it's on the '70s Strat. Not only is the neck fat but the frets are the tall/skinny kind. This takes some getting used to.
I was surprised to discover it was not a fret-buzzy mess to play. However, the neck fretted out real easy when bending notes, but I know exactly why. Fat neck, skinny frets and a 7.25-inch radius fingerboard.
I'm not saying bending notes is an impossible thing, because you can certainly do it without a problem. The problem is that when you have a 7.25-inch radius fingerboard and skinny frets, yeah, you fret out a lot and that's just the way it is.
Pegboard and tuners
Big CBS-era style headstock with bullet truss rod cover and "F" tuners. Looks exactly like a '70s Strat should and is well done.
I'll address here the #1 complaint most people have about the '70s Strat, the "F" tuners.
Okay. "F" tuners are a very specific type of tuner with a very specific spacing that only appears on the '70s Strat and no other. Most players think these tuners suck (I personally think they're fine), however, they are the exact type of tuners Fender did use in their cost-cutter years of the '70s and are absolutely period-correct.
Buyers of the '70s Strat get really ticked off when they discover that in order to change out "F" tuners, you must get a set that is "F" spaced, because 70s "F" spacing is unique to that decade. Kluson or Kluson-style tuners do not fit the '70s headstock, and it's not because of the screw holes, it's because of the spacing of the pegboard holes.
In other words, with "F" style tuners and spacing, you're basically stuck with Fender part number 099-0822 tuners unless you want to do some modification to the pegboard to fit alternate tuners.
To those who get ticked off when discovering the whole "F" spacing thing, all I can say is that you should've researched the guitar more before buying it.
Again, I am 100% OK with "F" spaced tuners and their style. But if you're not, well... there's not much you can really do about it unless you hack up the pegboard.
Pickups
True to a '70s Strat, the middle pickup is not reverse wound, so every one of the 5 pickups positions has 60-cycle hum. It is absolutely mandatory to use a noise gate pedal with one of these Strats if you put any overdrive through it.
Also true to a '70s Strat, the pickups were weak, "thin" sounding and didn't have very good treble response to them. But again, this is true-to-'70s and that's what it's supposed to sound like.
For me, this is one of the reasons I can't stand real-deal 70s Strats. But of course, since this guitar is true-to-70s, you get a true-to-'70s pickup set.
Ordinarily I can deal with stock pickups, even on Squier guitars. But not the '70s Fender Strat. If I owned the '70s Strat, I would go ahead and buy a Tex-Mex pickup set and install those replacement pickups. I get my reverse-wound middle pickup (meaning hum canceling on positions 2 and 4) and the pickups are a higher output that would much better agree with me.
Body
The body felt like it had that less-contoured '70s shape, although I can't be certain. Maybe that was just me thinking the body was like that, but didn't know for sure. Felt comfy enough.
One thing I do know however is that yes, it has that total '70s "looks like a coffee table" look to it.
What both Fender and Gibson did in the '70s to cut costs was offer a ton of guitars in "natural" finish. And the only reason they did this was to save money because at the time it was cheaper to spray clear sealant on a guitar body rather than paint it.
The ash body on the '70s Strat looks... like ash. I guess the question is whether or not the guitar looked unfinished, as in not-complete. I can say with certainly that the guitar looks and feels completed. This is not the same cost-cutter crapola Fender did in the 1970s. You do get a properly-made, 100% completed guitar...
...but the natural finish does totally look like a coffee table. Maybe that's something you'd like. If it isn't, there's also Black, Sunburst and Olympic White. If you want a Ritchie Blackmore look, get black. If you want a Hendrix look, get Olympic White. If you want a really great sunburst (ash does take to a sunburst very nicely), get the sunburst.
I'm not kidding when I say the sunburst 70s Stratocaster is really a looker. Looks great in a rosewood board version too.
It is the ash body that makes the sunburst look so good on the '70s Strat model. The ash grain lines really pop out at you. You will notice however that the above two guitars have totally different grain lines to them; the reason for this is because ash isn't consistent from log to log.
Even with ash grain inconsistency, what you get will look good. And there's another perk as well. No two sunburst '70s Strats look the same. What you get will be unique to your guitar only.
Feel
I found myself fighting with the '70s Strat for a few minutes before I got used to it. And yeah, "fighting" is the appropriate word for it.
The feel of the body was fine. No complaints there.
The feel of the controls was fine. No complaints there either.
It was the neck I had to get used to. Like I said above, it has that big-ass U shape on the back to it.
Once I did get used to the neck however, I got along fine with the large-and-in-charge U.
Yeah, I know I make it sound like the U is this ungodly-large thing. No, it's not obscenely thick or anything like that, but bear in mind I'm totally used to "Modern C" slimmer Fender necks with a 9.5-inch radius fingerboard and medium jumbo fret wire. When you go from a Modern C flat-oval shape to the '70s U, yeah, there's a big difference in feel. But again, I was able to get along with it fine after playing on it for a few minutes.
Conclusion
Looks-wise, this guitar totally nails it.
Feel-wise, it takes getting used to, but after adjusting to it, it feels great.
Sound-wise, it sucks. It is true-to-'70s spec, but that's a sound I personally do not like at all. And the fact there's no reverse-wound in the middle position... yeah, bad. It's like I said above, dump the set for a Tex-Mex set and the guitar's sound would spring to life immediately.
To note: No, it is not the fact the neck has a 3-bolt plate that makes it sound so thin. There are so many idiot guitar players that think the amount of bolts at the neck plate actually matter here. They do not, so stop drinking that Kool-Aid. It's the pickups that make it sound thin and not that frickin' bolt plate. Change over to a Tex-Mex set and she'll sound A-OK.
Verdict: Good guitar, bad pickup set.
Alternative to the '70s Strat
You buy a '70s Strat for either one of two reasons. Either you want it for the look or for the feel.
If you only wanted it for the look, a good alternative is the Deluxe Roadhouse Stratocaster. Looks '70s, but is totally modernized. And it costs a lot less.
Alder body, Modern C-shape neck with medium jumbo frets, 22-fret instead of 21, Texas Special pickups, and some special control trickery where there's a master volume, 6-position "rotary tone" switch (kind of like a Vari-Tone) and a master tone. And yes, you'll like that rotary tone thing. Different, but very usable.
No bullet truss rod cover on this one, but there are standard tuners on it with standard pegboard hole spacing.
The neck is mildly tinted; that's a good thing, else that maple board would be way too white-ish in look.
Roadhouse is a hot-rodded Strat that has a '70s look to it. If you like a '70s look but want a modern guitar, a Roadhouse Strat is the guitar you want.