What was your first guitar? OK, next question. What was your first “real” guitar?
My first? A Memphis 3/4 Strat-style guitar with a single humbucker, like this one on Reverb, but mine was black. For years, I thought it was a Seymour Duncan Invader, but I’m pretty sure I was wrong. I ended up selling to the kid that lived behind me, who sold it to another dude, who doesn’t know who he sold it to.
My first “real” guitar? A 1985 Squier Contemporary Series Stratocaster that was made in Japan (or MIJ). It was custom painted silver and had likely been red and/or black before that…maybe even gold somewhere in there. After having become proficient on the Memphis, she took me to a local pawn shop and we bought that Squier and a Fender R.A.D. amp for I think $110 (the guitar was $85 of that).
You might ask “What’s a Contemporary Series” strat? That’s a good question. There are a number of them, including a more recent batch of releases, but mine in particular is model 27-6800, at least according to this page on FuzzFaced.com. You can see pictures on the bottom that match up with what I have.
It had a humbucker in the bridge and two single coils in the middle and neck positions. Rather than a five-way switch, it had two-way toggles for the single coils and a three-way toggle for the humbucker. There aren’t too many Strat models out there where you can enable the bridge and neck pickups at the same time, but this was one of them. To round it out, it had a single Volume and Tone control for all three pickups.
I played this thing for years. I thought I was a Strat guy, but I’ll get to that in the next tab. Everyone that played it complimented how nice the neck felt. It was a heck of a guitar.
Eventually, two of the pickups died and I had no idea that you could just replace those parts. I parted out the guitar, sanded it, gave up on repainting it, and sold everything. I. Was. An. Idiot.
As I learned more and more about guitars, I came to realize that I’d actually had a killer first guitar. I’d check eBay prices, and eventually reverb, but they were always just slightly out of whatever budget I had at the time I looked. They weren’t super expensive, but I didn’t think spending $400-$500 was worth the nostalgia.
Last year, in 2023, I saw a silver Contemporary Series pop up at a local shop that posts their guitars to Facebook. I called to make sure they had it, asked them to hold it, and immediately left to buy it, budget be damned.
I mean, what were the odds? I’d never seen another silver one in all of the ones I’d looked at online. As mentioned, I’d learned that even though it was a Squier, those mid-Eighties Japanese-built Squiers were very well thought of. It was $425 or $450…can’t quite remember.
I actually posted about it here on this site that you can read here. I’d forgotten about some of the details of that.
When I got home, I did some digging and that’s when I found the FuzzFaced site about it. I learned that they came stock as red, black, and white…not silver. A couple of paragraphs up, I asked “What were the odds?” and after learning about the stock colors, I have to reiterate the question. What are the odds I’d come across an identical guitar painted the same custom color?
Also, in researching it, I also learned it’s a 24.75″ scale, whereas most Strats are 25.5″. Remember how I said “I thought I was a Strat guy?” and how I’d get to it in this tab?
I’ve owned 28 Strats between Fenders and Squiers, and played countless more at Guitar Center, and I *NEVER* found one that I connected with enough to be my #1 guitar. People have scoffed at that, but it wasn’t until I learned that this model was 24.75″ that I could finally put my finger on it. For whatever reason, I can play most Telecasters without any issue.
I knew that this would be a keeper. Short of something absolutely catastrophic happening, I’d have this guitar until I die.
Shortly after getting it, playing it, and deciding it would be a permanent addition, I reached out to Big John at Big John’s Guitars and started talking electronic wizardry, because he has that kind of mind. We settled on Texas Specials for the neck and middle positions (N+M from here on out) and a DiMarzio Super Distortion at the bridge position (B from here on out).
We also opted to switch out the 2-way toggles for 3-way toggles, which would give us a large number of tonal options. He shielded the entire thing with copper tape, shaped up the neck a little, and got it back to me.
The toggles do the following:
N switch: N+M pickups in series/off/parallel
M switch (active when N switch is in series position): N/N+M in series/M
B switch: B humbucker series/off/parallel
Ok, so what does that mean? Good question. Strats normally come in one of three pickup arrangements: three single coils (SSS), two single coils and a bridge humbucker (HSS), or two humbuckers (HH). At first look, this guitar is an HSS model, but the way Big John set up the toggles, it gives far more than just the five options any normal Strat has.
Let’s take a look, and we’ll start with the humbucker in the bridge position, just like a 5-way switch would.
- B series: This is how a typical humbucker is wired
- B parallel: While still a humbucker, parallel wiring sounds more similar to the “quack” of a Strat’s 2nd and 4th position. It has lower output and more of a focus on the highs.
- B series and M: This would be the normal 2nd position of an HSS Strat, and will have the brighter “quack” that Strats are known for
- B parallel and M: An odd combination one doesn’t often find in a Strat and not one I often use
- B series and N+M series: This would be close to the 3rd position on an HH strat. From what I understand, wiring two separate pickups in a series vs. a humbucker in a series makes for a slightly different sound, but it approximates a humbucker nonetheless.
- B series and N+M parallel: Having every pickup on in an HSS guitar is, again, something not common in Fender or Squier Strats. Some Strats do have a button that can be pressed to enable the neck pickup in the typical 1st and 2nd positions
- B parallel and N+M series: This isn’t too common in Strats. One might say it’s like having a humbucker in the neck position and then two single coils. I mean, it’s NOT that but it’s close to it.
- B parallel and N+M parallel: Like the description above, this would almost be like having four single coils on a strat and having them all on at the same time.
- B series and N: This isn’t a combination you can get with most Strats
- B parallel and N: This combination is interesting because you get the brighter sound from the parallel wiring and the more bass-focused sound of the neck pickup. From one point of view, this is the closest this guitar can come to having three single coil pickups on at the same time.
- M only: Typical 3rd position on SSS and HSS strats
- N+M Series: This is like having a humbucker in the neck position, something you don’t often seen with Fender and Squier Strats, except on an HH, or Big Apple, Strat. This is my favorite position to use for rhythm on this guitar
- N+M Parallel: This is the equivalent of the 4th position on a typical Strat and has that bassier “quack” that Strats are known for
- N only: Typical 5th position on most Strats