My 1982 Fender American Stratocaster vs Silver Sky Core

[Revelation]

There are 3 main differences between these two guitars. I did not realize the last one until today.

1. The Fender has a fuller E, A, and D which provides bigger sound when playing rthy vs the even and balanced sound of the Silver Sky.
2. Toggle switch 1 is brighter on the Fender with no tone control to adjust it. The Silver Sky is not a bright and allows you to use the tone knob to adjusts the sound.

With these two differences, I decided to sell my guitar which would help pay for my new Mesa Boogie Mark VII amp. Now going through the two guitars on clean channel, I noticed another difference.

3. The Fender has a light and full dynamics when picking. There is not much difference on dynamics when picking med or hard. There is a huge difference on the Silver Sky which punches single notes more up front than my Strat. I kinda like that I don't have to worry about my picking as much with the Fender. Its reliable and I know what to expect from it. Though the dynamics are nice on the Silver Sky, I have to concentrate more on how hard or soft I am playing the strings.

Due to reason #3; I kind of wish I was not selling my guitar. However, the $1,500 in cash will help reduce the ouch on the price of the Boogie amp. Now I have to more aware of my picking on my Silver Sky so it does not punch single notes out so much. The Winds Cry Mary would be a great pedal to control this, however my pedal board has no more room for anything.

 

[shinksma]

Thanks for those observations!

Regarding Observation #2:

The Silver Sky bridge pickup (position 1) is indeed intended to be less "ice picky", even at full "tone".

I was surprised to read that neither of your tone controls on the Strat doesn't affect position 1 (bridge) - but I just read that they typically don't. One tone control does neck (pos'n 5), the other tone control does positions 2-4. I need to go check my Squier Mexi-Strat. I definitely prefer the Silver Sky control configuration.

EDIT: well, what do you know? My mexi-strat position 1 doesn't get tone controls, just like most other Strats! I have it for almost 30 years and never noticed (but I played with Tone = 10 for years before realizing how useful a control that really is...)