'56 CS Strat - Tone Secret?

[Tosprops]

A local shop has a closet classic '56 custom shop strat in stock. I fell for it completely except for the price tag. Wow!

Anyway, the thing has the most incredible tone and sound. It just rings and has a really dynamic, sweet, crunchy, vintage sound that reminds me a lot of Ed King's '65 Strat in "Sweet Home Alabama".

Besides the wood and finish, the '56 CS Strat uses CS 50's pickups. What gives the '56 CS Strat its tone? Is it the pickups or the trem block or the combination? I love the tone but hate the price tag. Any suggestions on a way to reproduce that tone cheaper than buying a CS guitar?

Thanks
Joe

[phantomman]

Well the CS '50s pickups are well-known for their chime an' sparkle. And an all-steel trem block is a proven vote-getter. I s'pect that were you to mate these two features to any quality lumber an' you'd have yerseff one helluva guitar. I know I could put somethin' like this together for substantially less than what a notorious shop on the left coast would charge.

Jus' mah 'pinion, y'unnerstan'......DTTAH, YMMV, etc etc.

[pc]

And my opinion is that it's the whole package. I wholly disagree with the "any quality lumber" suggestion. I have played Strats with the heavy trem block and CS 50s and they weren't as good as my CS56.

The "pick of the litter" that the CS gets on wood does indeed make a difference IMO.

The big-ass neck makes a difference too.

[phantomman]

And my opinion is that it's the whole package. I wholly disagree with the "any quality lumber" suggestion. I have played Strats with the heavy trem block and CS 50s and they weren't as good as my CS56.

The "pick of the litter" that the CS gets on wood does indeed make a difference IMO.

The big-ass neck makes a difference too.

I think you're right about the CS gittin' first dibs on the good wood. Except for their choice of rosewood, which IMO sucks (looks more like redwood or dark-stained mahogany to me).

I guess I've just been real lucky with my Strat-on-a-budget builds. They've all turned out pretty sweet.

Which means, accordin' to the law of averages, I'm due for a lemon anytime now! Good Lord!

[elicross]

You should go ahead and build a lemon & sell it to get it out of the way.

[phantomman]

You should go ahead and build a lemon & sell it to get it out of the way.

LOFL! Well the next one won't be (lemon) yellow but I got a "Tropical Green" hardtail body on the way. Wife has awready dubbed it 'pastel puke'. We'll see how it goes -- I'm tryin' to use up a buncha extry parts I've had layin' around. I got so much sh*t in my studio I cain't even walk around!

[DanTheBluesMan]

can those '50s CS pickups be purchased from the Custom Shop?

[phantomman]

can those '50s CS pickups be purchased from the Custom Shop?

These might be pretty sweet, Dan......

http://www.fender.com/products//sear...tno=0992112000

They also list the "Fat Fifties" set which sound pretty righteous as well.

HTH

[davidbir]

These are on epay right now:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...%252BSS%252BSD

[JM3]

I have one and I do not beleive you can just replace the pups or trem block to get the sound.

It's a total sum of all the parts that make it what it is. The thin skin finish, plus the body wood and pickups etc.

Save your money and buy one, you will not need another strat guitar.

[69strat]

+1 JM. But I'd like to say buy THAT one. Some of the CS strats have that woody, sweet thing in their soul. It's not just the pickups as you can hear it when you play it unamp'd. Some of them don't have it though, even though it's the exact same model.

I have an '04 '69 strat that is like that. I own other CS 69 strats with the same pickups and wood formulas. But somehow this particular '69 has that woody, sweet chime to it that you hear on those old records. It's just in the particular pieces. You can't rely on a formula, Guess it's chalked up to mojo.

[JM3]

I should add I have abot 8 strats, 2 MIJ custom models, 1 American 2 Mexican Classics a EJ and a Sou Cal strat.

The EJ and CS56 sound the best, stock with no mods.

[telemaster]

I've just put a partscaster together using a 56 relic body and an old MIJ nitro'd maple neck, all Callaham hardware and Bare Knuckle Apache pickups. Best strat I've had by far.
Incidently, the pickups in the 56 relic aren't CS 54s or CS Fat 50s. They are what Fender describe as 50s Single Coil Units and are not available aftermarket.

[longhair55]

Yeah,they're CS 50's,..and like telemaster said,..not available aftermarket,...outside of a CS guitar,...they are, however, available in the Limited Edition "Thinskin's,..'54 and '59.

[JM3]

I have em in my NOS CS 56 in see thru white. I like them very much