Superstrat

Superstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style. Differences typically (but not necessarily) include more pointed, aggressive-looking body and neck shapes, different woods, increased number of frets, usage of humbucking pickups and Floyd Rose tremolo systems.

There is no formal definition of a superstrat; the categorisation is still largely left to popular opinion and depends greatly on the artist(s) associated with a particular model and how it is marketed. Superstrats are generally suited for heavy metal music played with high-gain distortion.

With the increased popularity in heavy metal music during the early 1980s, guitarists began seeking out guitars more suited to the new style, both in terms of looks (more "pointy" aggressive designs) and playability (ease of playing and larger tone that sounds pleasant with hi-gain amplification). Guitarists such as Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth and Dave Murray had used Fender Stratocasters, but each had minor modifications made to his instrument to suit his individual playing style.

Eddie Van Halen was one of the first to build a guitar with superstrat characteristics. Dissatisfied with the performance of then-available original stock model commercial guitars, Van Halen sought to create a hybrid instrument that would suit his acrobatic playing style. The stock single-coil pickups of a Fender Stratocaster were noisy, and lacked the output necessary to drive an amplifier into hard distortion (characteristic of the Van Halen sound), but the body shape and wide pitch range of the Fender fulcrum tremolo appealed to him. An avid tinkerer, Van Halen assembled a Boogie Bodies Stratocaster body with a thin, 21-fret maple neck and a humbucking Gibson PAF pickup in the bridge slot. This guitar, known as the "Frankenstrat" was featured on Van Halen's debut album Van Halen, and pictured on the album cover. It was later repainted with a top coat of red, and has had different humbuckers over the years, some of them custom-wound.

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