Superstrat

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Superstrat (or Super Strat) is a name for a design of electric guitars that resembles a Stratocaster but with modifications that set it clearly apart from a Stratocaster to cater to a different playing style. Hence, Superstrats are not considered Strat copies. Note that "Superstrat" does not refer to high-end Stratocasters, although few Fender Custom Shop Stratocasters and many boutique Strat-style guitars such as the Suhr Classic and the Tyler Studio Elite are also available with an HSH (humbucker/single-coil/humbucker) pickup configuration, a common feature synonymous with the radical superstrat design, popularized by Jackson/Charvel, Kramer, Ibanez, ESP and Hamer. Additionally, many Fender models such as the popular American Series and the top-of-the-line American Deluxe Series feature solid non-veneered alder or ash bodies with an HSH pickup rout, allowing players to perform a wide range of pickup configurations (including that familiar superstrat layout of humbucker/single-coil/humbucker).

Fender and other pickguard manufacturers produce Stratocaster pickguards specially designed to accommodate humbucker/single-coil/humbucker pickups.

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With an emerging revolution of heavy metal music in early 1980s, the guitar industry found itself in need of more advanced guitars, both in terms of looks (more aggressive designs) and playability (ease of playing and fatter tone that sounds good with hi-gain amplification). Eddie Van Halen was the first to own a guitar with superstrat characteristics. He had assembled the Linn Ellsworth Stratocaster body with a thin, 22 fret neck (also from Linn Ellsworth), with a Gibson PAF Humbucker in the bridge slot. This Frankenstrat, which was the guitar pictured on Van Halen, had later been repainted with a top coat of red paint and had during the years different humbucker pickups, some of them custom wounds. The use of this kind of pickup on a Stratocaster body, along with a thinner, 22 fret neck, spawned the production of official Superstrats by companies such as Kramer, Jackson, Charvel, Yamaha, Ibanez and Hamer. A whole new generation of guitar virtuosos emerged that employed fast and complex techniques (also derived from Eddie Van Halen) that demanded thinner and more versatile guitar necks and stable bridges. The answers from the industry were superstrats: buffed up custom versions of the original Stratocaster design. Due to huge marketing success, most companies started manufacturing superstrats in mass production.

The first superstrats were made by Grover Jackson in 1982[citation needed] as custom shop guitars that later became a separate Jackson Guitars series. Jackson Soloist is known as the first mass production superstrat, officially produced since August 28, 1984.

Generally, all superstrats are loosely based on the Fender Stratocaster design, hence the name. However, superstrats contain several significant modifications to the original, causing it to be different from the original Stratocaster. Note that "superstrat" is a subjective concept of adapting Stratocaster to be more suited for certain genres of music, and are not necessarily higher-end Stratocasters. An example of a superstrat series that is not a higher-end Stratocaster is the Fender Showmaster series.

However, there are higher-end Stratocaster series designed with similar improvements, with the overall disadvantage being just higher cost and no loss to sound quality or sonic range. These supersede the "standard" Stratocasters and can qualify both as superstrats and higher-end Stratocasters. An example of such a series is the Fender American Deluxe Series.

Furthermore, the definition of a Stratocaster bearing any of the below characteristics of a superstrat does not necessarily make it a super strat. As there is no formal definition for a superstrat, that categorisation is still largely left to popular opinion.

Stratocaster Super Strat Advantages of Super Strat Disadvantages of Super Strat
Body shape Original May be slender; May have thinner and deeper cutaways, producing pointier ends; May be arch-topped More appealing to hard rock and metal players; Gives easier access to higher frets Less wood under the bridge absorbs more sustain from the strings; Tone may lose its richness
Tonewood Alder or Ash Mahogany or Basswood or Alder Warm, soft tone; good for playing overdriven; better sustain. Mahogany is heavier; Basswood has a limited dynamic range. Both are not as bright or clean compare to alder. Some models made from alder.
Number of frets 21 (vintage) or 22 (standard) 22, 24 or more Extended note pitch range — full two octaves per string; easier access to the upper register With a 24-fret neck, the neck pickup is about 2cm (7/8 inch) closer to the bridge, it picks up more treble, and would result in drop of volume unless using a higher output pickup. Furthermore, due to the increase in treble, the bass sonic qualities of neck pickup are slightly lost.
Neck joint Bolt-on Neck-thru, set-in or modified bolt-on Longer sustain; able to reach upper frets easier Difficult to mass-produce; more expensive; more complicated to repair if broken
Neck joint heel Rectangular metal plate Slim and smooth Better top fret access Complicates mass production
Bridge Synchronised tremolo A Floyd Rose double-locking, Wilkinsons or other improved tremolo systems; May also have lower-friction nuts and/or locking machine heads Greater tuning stability; Extended tremolo range Less traditional sonic palette; More complicated mechanism that increases the difficulty of guitar maintenance
Neck Relatively thick C-shaped neck and round fingerboard (low radius) Thinner neck and flatter fingerboard (high radius) Comfortable playing of shredding leads Different feel of the guitar neck will not appeal to Stratocaster or acoustic players
Pickups 3 single-coils 2 or 1 humbuckers; may or may not have 2 or 1 single-coils; Overwinding done to increase output Fatter and less humming sound, more applicable for hi-gain amplification used in rock and metal music Loss of definition and chiming "vintage" tone unless the pickup was designed such that such tone could be preserved (for example, Ibanez's True-Duo system); Greater magnetic pull of ceramic magnets on the strings reduces sustain but some pickups have Alnico magnets.
Pickguard Present May be absent More sustain, as there are less plastic parts that dampen the sound; Also unnecessary as shredding techniques used in rock and metal music should not scrape against the guitar body No scratch protection; different routing of the guitar may also lead to difficulty of maintenance.

Almost every guitar company that produced electric guitars in 1980s manufactured some models that could be designated as a superstrat. There are several notable models that are unique in some way:

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