The dichotomy that is Fender.
If you set the action so that there is zero fret buzz and perfect intonation, the guitar sounds like shit. Perfect, but shitty.
To get the bottom thump that a tele or strat is known for you end up with the low E string fretting out at the 19th fret, not the 21st...Fix that and the thump subsides to the point of bland, generic guitar.
The same thing with the twangy upper end. Part of that sound is the melding of dissonance. Like wet tuning a mandolin.(Mandolins have 8 strings tuned in pairs, an octave apart - tune them perfectly and the instrument sounds awful, tune one of the paired strings a bit flat and it'll bring a tear to your eye)
If you set the trem properly, the bridge laying flat against the body, you sacrifice the "either up or down" action that a lifted bridge affords.
It is ironic? Weird?
Fenders are made to be a little bit out. Like the best people. Not perfect, but you love them.
Perhaps this is what affords a Strat with a soul a Les Paul doesn't possess? That a tinker came up with the Telecaster, not a luthier.
Jimi's birthday made me think about his sound. It was never perfect, but it was always the best.
"Any day is a good day for Hendrix."
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