Custom Shop Stratocaster Shootout | FENDER vs XOTIC vs LSL vs PRS | Thomann

This time Kris compares some of the finest Stratocaster and S-style guitars.
Enjoy the video!
Watch our mid-priced Strat shootout aka the American Standard Strat VS the competition:
• Fender American Strat ...
Gear used: tho.mn/nqr43
Recorded in Presonus Studio One: bit.ly/S1Pro6
Recorded and mixed with Universal Audio: tho.mn/uadx1
Monitors optimised through Sonarworks: tho.mn/sonar
Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Introduction
0:43 The guitars
2:20 Clean comparison | neck PU; neck+middle PUs
4:27 The guitars' setup and the full rig
5:35 Clean comparison | middle+bridge PUs
6:10 Overdrive comparison | Round 1
6:49 Overdrive comparison | Round 2
7:17 Overdrive comparison | Round 3
7:45 Overdrive comparison | Round 4
8:24 My thoughts and impressions
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[@jerrycarroll9068]

To my ears the white strat sounds the best, then the silver sky.

[@TheMytherian]

It’s interesting listening to these examples. I think each of these guitars has a setting in the pick-up selection that sounds better than all the others in the same position, but it’s always the case that it’s never all in 1 guitar for me. They all sounded great

[@craigthomson3621]

I tried a lefty Xotic HSS recently and was very impressed - I also ran it through a Marshall SV20H. Xotic do 50’s and 60’s versions of their single coils - each having a different sound. Quite a few lefty Fender Custom Shop and LSL guitars here in London UK, but PRS do not offer the Silver Sky in left-handed orientation. I can play right-handed but prefer playing lefty.

[@ibalrog]

They all sound good, but for me the overdriven split bridge pickup on the white one made the best sounds in this video by a mile.

[@AnkurWow]

For cleans, the Silver Sky. For OD/gain, the Fender Custom Shop (sunburst).

[@briandevitt6903]

Chris always sounds good. I liked the Fender and the PRS. Would want to get them in my hands before even thinking about spending that amount of cash though.

[@PainDive1]

The fender sounds the best to my ears, in last the PRS cause I thought it sounded harsh, but the fender was very balanced in the high frequencies and nice warm mids.

[@PaulCooksStuff]

I tried to be impartial, and each played in isolation you'd say they're all very strat, but back to back the fender just has more strat somehow. But it could just be it was played first and was the reference for judging the others. A full blind test might've been interesting. I'd also be curious what happens if you take a set of fat 50's from the strattiest strat in this shootout and put them in a Mexi Player. How much of that tone survives the migration. It wouldn't be the best playing/feeling, but how does it hold up on best sounding 🤔

[@JohnPriceJNPMusic]

I thought the Xotic guitar sounded the best all-around out of this bunch. The guitar sounds very traditional with a nice warm vibe. Then it would be the Fender/PRS/LSL

[@filip5150]

I confirm, Xotic sounds really nice and vintage, compared to Suhr Classic S, the vibe is much more vintage in tone, more top end sparkle etc

[@fraenkiboii]

I think the price sweet spot for a modern high end regular strat is around 1.5 - 2k, basically where the Prof II and the Ultra sit. Meaning everything above that, the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Most say that from that point up, you're paying 80% more money for 20% more value. Me, personally, if I was willing and insane enough (which I was once in the past) to go up to the magical 4k mark, I'd wanna aim for the original Fender CS. Not even for rational reasons like tone, etc., but for mojo, heritage and - yes - the brand name. I own a Prof II (1500) and a CS (4k) and honestly, there are attributes where the CS is worse than the Prof II. But the mojo you get from a CS also has its value. It inspires me more. Coming back to this awesome shootout. I was REALLY surprised by the Xotic. The clarity and articulation of that guitar is stunning and it looks awesome. However, I still prefer the F :)

[@scottmoreau5630]

I find with the Silver Sky, no matter what tone you are going for clean or overdriven, it seems to always have a clear/string separation that the other ones don’t have. I need to try more to see if I like the radius but it’s a great strat.

[@DimKAt21]

There's no point in picking a winner here they all sounded great. I also think they feel good too even the ones I haven't tried (xotic, PRS). I just think that if you're going to go so high in price you should go with the "big" brands cause if you change your mind or something wrong happens with your finances, you'll be able to get your money back relatively easy. PS: Solid playing by Kris as usual

[@crflores76]

The silver sound the best…. I don’t know if it’s feel better, but apparently it’s the best strat

[@GraniteSoundtrack]

They all sounded really good, the fender stood out clean and the rest kind of sounded similar with gain, at least through KZbin. I liked the look of the Xotic the best. Silversky would win for me though cause of price.

[@tmartin6717]

And for the next round, I would suggest comparing these guitars with any inexpensive Strat with a good neck and Kinman pickups. I just discovered Kinman because I was looking to reduce the hum, but the quality and tone are fantastic. I now have two Strats with an investment under $800US each, (EART +Kinman) that sound better than my original 1965 Strat, ... which is still hiding in it's case.

[@olafburgermann806]

All sound great in their own way but I think if I were in this end of the market it would have to be a Music Man Cutlass. Definitely wins on volume knob placement.

[@seven336]

I also thought that and owned a Cutlass for about two years. Was pretty disappointed with it. The pickups and v-shaped neck of the Cutlass weren't for me. I kinda fought with it when soloing. Later switched to the Xotic XCS-2 and it's my absolute favourite guitar ever since, never let me down.

[@JoeBear90]

Fender or PRS for me. Great video, thanks Kris

[@jeffreyeagen4896]

I personally liked the sound of the LSL the best, bridge humbucker not withstanding. To me it sounded closest to my American Performer strat with alnico 2s and 4s, which is also white (just a coincidence I'm sure). You didn't mention if they were all alnico 5 pickups or not.

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Hey Jeffrey, I didn't mention if these are all Alnico V or not, because they don't say what they are. You can probably start a research and figure it out but I didn't want that info to bias our opinion. This way we can simply focus on what we hear. 👍 Cheers //Kris

[@soofitnsexy]

Great stuff Kris!I owned and played all of these..yes lol The strat is the best for sure xotic a close second I loved my lsl but too defined too bright and sparkly for my taste The PRS is its own thing does not sound at all like a fender strat to me ..a bit too muffled warm...Can u do a high end tele shootout???

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

How could I possibly say no to a tele shootout? 😁 //Kris

[@gianluca.i]

@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses I wait for a tele shootout because I've a Xotic tele ;)

[@soofitnsexy]

@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses lets do it!!!!

[@frantisca]

Hey Kris, as you quoted, there is no winner: all great guitars. My preferred soundwise was the Fender CS, followed closely by the Silver Sky. The Exotic sounded a bit weaker to me, which can be an advantage for low outputs can be pushed harder. Special mention for the LSL with its HSS configuration, that makes it very versatile. Life's hard cause it's made of choices...!! :)) Keep well ;-)

[@grilledspaghetti]

The White strat sounded identical to the strat clean in the first two clips, and I liked it better with drive. At least until he got to the humbucker. Fender wins here for me.

[@strat0871]

The Fender remains the best to me.

[@SeanYang27065]

For me fender sounds standout the most, the PRS has amazing sustain and yet doesn't lose clarity, LSL is good but the bridge pickup in clean tone is a dead giveaway

[@Oilid]

Fat 50s "jingle bells" on positions 2 and 4 for the win!

[@dougs6433]

Nice comparison. I would have liked to have seen a Suhr in the mix

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Me too man. They're never in stock though, especially not with fairly traditional specs. So I stopped rescheduling this video again and again and just went with the others. 🤷‍♂️ Cheers //Kris

[@randygomez9595]

I thought the Silver Sky sounded the best. The tone was very even but still very strat like. Too bad the fretboard is a 7.25" radius. Anything rounder the 9.5" is too uncomfortable for me

[@kyle9667]

Once again, the best sounding S style guitar is the actual Stratocaster in my opinion. Not that the others sound bad, but for the Strat sound, nothing beats a Stratocaster. Seems at every price range comparison, the Strat is the better sounding to me.

[@stanislavmigra]

The Silver Sky has the most different sound. Like Strats tends to have certain scoop and Silversky has it somewhere else. Visualy cant vibe with the Xotic. The super flamey neck is beautifull, but is not matching rest of the guitar.

[@piro2890]

JRocket .45 Cal? I have to get that because of the name alone.

[@schaerfentiefe1967]

For me the Silver Sky had the best sound!😇

[@ransombaggins9301]

Now throw a Tom Anderson in there. Blew me away. Of course, hard to go wrong with any of these. Now, to win the lottery.

[@joejohnson8966]

xotic is bae

[@Chris-yq7xv]

Xotic, Fender, LSL, PRS

[@seven336]

Xotic XSC-2 all the way!

[@yetimatzenightcat8702]

Nichts klingt wie eine fenderstrat außer eine fenderstrat 🤷‍♂️ Sehr cooles video 👏👏👏👍

[@BYLRPhil]

No G&L? 😢

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

Check out the link in the description box. We did a mid-priced strat shootout with a USA G&L. Cheers //Kris

[@matzer8846]

UPS ... just let us not forget: a good Tele-Partscaster DIY based on Warmoth top notch selections will "blow out of the water" everything mentioned in this vid 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@soofitnsexy]

sure prove it

[@ibalrog]

...but it does require someone who knows what their doing to fit, finish, and assemble it correctly. Warmoth makes awesome stuff, but they fully intend that it be integrated by a professional. Also, you'd end up with a Telecaster.

[@matzer8846]

@@soofitnsexy ... humor ... Kris loves Teles ... If you are taking KZbin tooooo serious, you might end up in a rut 🪴

[@matzer8846]

@@ibalrog ... sure ... but DIY is a cool way to make a guitar become yours ... and you learn a lot by building/assembling it and setting it up. Warmoth does sell great Strat parts tooo (;-)

[@soofitnsexy]

@@matzer8846 maybe but they dont beat these cheeef

[@marcelomiranda1081]

To me, PRS Silver Sky and Fender CS sounds best. The Xotic sounds darker to my ears. Interesting that he said the Xotic were the most clear.

[@marcelomiranda1081]

The 4th place i’d give to G&L in terms of how it sounds to me. Is the one i liked less. I dont like so much the PRS design, too modern. I prefer vintage looks. So, the best to me stills Fender… I liked a lot lot the Xotic design… Very very beautiful. Loved the neck…

[@RickFoxx777]

I am a strat guy through and through however, I do like the looks, and some of the sounds of the gibson LP's and SG's and some of the knock offs (i.e. Firefly) but I never play them live as they are just not as versatile as a strat. To be honest, all these guitars sound good, but sound exactly alike... and every single one of these guitar companies today just copied the strat and changed the headstock (which IMHO are gross and unappealing). Also, these companies are all trying to get a premium price for these knock offs. Sadly, I have seen strat copies (not these listed) for twice as much as an original custom shop strat. Why oh why would anyone pay those extremely high prices for a knock off? Yet...people do! I am sure these guitars are great in their own right but again they are just copies. It's just like those silly boutique pickup companies that are charging ridiculous prices ($399.00 to $599.99) for so called vintage pups made as close to the fender or SD originals. Oh C'mon, you can pick up a set of Fender custom 54 pups (they are around $250.00) or a set of 59 pure vintage pups (Around $200.00) that are fantastic and will do whatever you need. These guitar/pickup knock offs are extremely expensive and have a fair to bad resale value i.e. LsL Saticoy HSS is around $4000.00 and on reverb the same guitar used goes for $1800.00 and the Exotic XSC is around $3800.00 new and $2400.00 used which is a little better and lastly and more affordable is the PRS at $2500.00 to $2600.00 new and around $1800.00 used. Sorry, but if I am going to pay this kind of money for the LsL or the Exotic I might as well just get the Fender ($4600.00 new and $3700.00 to 4100.00 used) with the better history/sound/feel/look and resale value. All in all, I would take that 58 reissue strat over ANY strat copy made in the world today!!! just my 2 cents worth. Peace.

[@matzer8846]

Soooo .... a Strat just sounds like a Strat 😉AND a good Strat sounds like a good Strat .... AND this applies to all of these 4 nice ones ... not much difference imho. 😁 (addendum: compared to a Tele ... or an upright or ... please don't take verything tooooooo serious) Thanks a lot for sharing!

[@soofitnsexy]

there is a world of difference in these 4 guitars Yes I owned and played all

[@matzer8846]

@@soofitnsexy You may have played all 4 ... but your sense of humor is lacking 😅

[@soofitnsexy]

@@matzer8846 im hilarious!!

[@soofitnsexy]

@@matzer8846 i own them wiggah

[@juliaojapelto]

To my ears and taste 1. Fender 2. PRS 3. Xotic 4. LSL

[@alittlebitoflight]

I don't like "modern rock" tones. I'd go Fender 1, XOTIC 2, PRS 3, LSL 4.

[@klausfritsch4350]

The Fender and the Silver Sky win.

[@richardcrews4863]

#1-Fender...close 2nd...PRS

[@deinerdiaz5978]

Fender

[@PooNinja]

No Floyds!? Wait that’s a Supa strat 😂. I think the PRS sounded best .

[@ThomannsGuitarsBasses]

But wait. So a super strat is like a normal strat just more superer? 🤔 //Kris

[@maraviyoso8473]

Sorry, but this is a case of a REAL Strat against very good, but only Strat pretenders