Tasteful playing . I’m huge TA fan and have 4 at the moment. T- Icon, S-Icon, T classic and Angel. S Icon is the one I have trouble bonding with. I ended up fitting it with Fender CS pickups in middle and neck and while it does sound awesome. It’s not exactly vintage 50-60s vibe I’m after. I do get that Tom never intended those to be vintage replicas but still.
sparkijones yes, the woods are identical. I thought the Icon would sound more, well, classic. But the Classic sounds far more... iconic. Go figure. It goes to show that it’s down to the magic combination of the components of the individual instrument, not one thing alone like woods or construction... I’m willing to bet that there are subtle differences even among two of the same year and model. The takeaway for me is this: The narrow nut spacing of the original Fender might be a pain in the ass for guys with fat fingers, especially for open position chords. But I think it’s a tonal factor - the notes of the chord seem to intermodulate in a complex, uniquely “stratty” way that the guitar with wider spacing does not. Likewise, the vintage staggered magnets will give you tuning problems, especially with anything played around the 12th fret on the fat strings with the neck pickup on. But the trade off is the glorious howl of that pickup, and feral snarl of the bridge. But of which are slightly muted by the reduced stagger of the modern radius pickups. It depends on what you are doing of course but the lesson I’ve learned is that if you go too far “improving” things you’re gonna wind up in a different place. If you want vintage tone you are better off sticking with vintage spec.
Hey Tristan, thanks for the response! I think you’re right. Chris Flemming (Fender custom shop) says that a guitar’s tone is a result of the whole system, and your experience seems to bear that out - woods, pickups, pots, bridge, nut etc. I have a lovely 63 custom shop strat with Abby pickups so that type is covered but there’s still an Anderson ‘itch’ that won’t go away (Tom seems like a really genuine fella that’s examined ever detail and just trying to make the best stuff he can).
sparkijones he’s the best. And he was the first to tell me, about the vintage stagger: “it’s part of the sound”. He understands the fender thing intimately and is the best at making it, imho.
Hey Tristan. I am finalizing the specs for my Anderson as we speak but I have such a hard time settling on a neck profile. I have tried most of them. Even taper is slick, even taper +.100 is just as good. I am so confused man...
I have both the Tom Anderson Classic S, 2018; and an Icon Classic S, 2024. I like them both a lot. I think the Icon Classic comes closer to a Stratocaster sound than the Classic, in my case. Might just come down to the individual guitar. Both are way better players than any F Stratocaster I ever owned or played. But, they do not sound exactly like a F Stratocaster. The Icon comes close enough, though. That said, unless I was doing a tribute show where a Stratocaster was required, when I would use a Stratocaster, which has a shaky, brittle top end that is pleasing/not harsh, but there, I would just use the TAG Icon Classic, which seems to lack that top / brittle but pleasing shaky fizz to it that F Stratocasters have... I think it might be the bridge (?). Anyway, the sound of the TAGs is more broad-spectrum "hi-fi" sounding... more rounded and broad. Less direct and narrow than a Stratocaster, IMO. But, that's why I like the TAG sound. But, I will always have at least one F Stratocaster, too, for it's unique and "Iconic" sound.
They both blow away Fender. Only thing they make that comes close to the feature set is the Fender Ultra, which still doesn’t have the same attention paid to the final handwork in fit and finish. Andersons play like a forty year old guitar out of the box, and also feel like the future. Unreal.
