Scott Henderson Discussion

[bonga]

Hey Scott,

Hope all is well.

Firstly, I’m incredibly disappointed that I won’t be able to make it to your Baked Potato shows. I was supposed to be in LA but unfortunately some other things have come up. Oh well…Hope to see you play live soon.

I’m writing this to ask two questions:

1. I know that one thing you love about the Suhr (as opposed to a vintage Fender) is that the high e string doesn’t slip off the edge of the fretboard. I’m wondering if this is because the fretboard is wider or if you use a trem with narrower spacing? I’ve got a callaham strat trem that they call the “V/N Version” where the spacing is 2 1/16" instead of the more common 2 7/32" and have never faced the issue of string slipping off the fretboard

2. What do you think of hardtail strats? I listened to a few and they sound interesting. Thinking of getting one but would you rather get a hardtail strat or a tele?

Thanks!

[Scott Henderson]

The Suhr necks are about 1/16" wider at the butt of the neck, and depending on the fret style and other factors, sometimes the nut is also cut a tiny bit narrower. Also, the bridges he uses are a bit narrower than the Fender Vintage bridge on my guitars. I don't have any problems with the E string - I guess the wider neck fixes it.

I haven't played a hardtail strat in a long time but I remember it being fatter sounding than a normal one - some tone is definitely lost with the whammy bridge, but it's worth it! Personally if I had to choose, I'd go with a Tele because they also sound much fatter than a normal strat and you get that amazing tone - the question would be ash or alder... ash is the traditional Tele sound, great for country, blues and jazz, but mine is alder because I use more gain and alder is darker - better for rock.