Dave Murray talks about his 1957 Fender Stratocaster (short article)

I've heard about Kahler bridges (got the impression they were popular in the 80's) but never actually encountered one before.

Floyds I am familiar with.

The wood chopping I was referring to was for the Kahler bridge itself.
Kahlers were mostly popular in the 80's because they are easier to install and Floyds were hard to get, because Kramer bought the Floyd licence. Some kahler players today: Jerry Cantrell and Kerry King.
 
gMt50b
https://ibb.co/gMt50b

It smokes the 2115-2016 American Standard strat behind it. I'll put in a hot rail in the StanDard one later, because the Custom Shop 50's pickups aren't really very good for hard rock/Metal. But even then it won't be a match for the Murray strat.

This must be what it felt like for Jack Black when he finally held the pick of destiny in the Tenacious D.
 
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I have a 2011 which I bought new at the time and I still think's its the best guitar I have played.
Yes, it's ridiculous (by 2009 I meant the model, I haven't checked the manufacturing date yet). The single coil sounds surprisingly good. I wonder though, whether they copied the actual single coil in the original strat, or if it's just a standard pickup they already had on the shelf.
 
The single coil sounds surprisingly good. I wonder though, whether they copied the actual single coil in the original strat, or if it's just a standard pickup they already had on the shelf.
I don't know what kind of single coil Murray had in the original, but I'm quite sure he never had it connected, that way he could he get like a killswitch effect. It's possible that it was the stock pickup still in place.

The single coil pickup in the production model was a "Vintage-style Strat Single-Coil"
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-electric-guitar#productDetail
Fender used it on their 50's reissues as well.

iron-maiden-berlin-waldbuehne-2016-anno-1980-traten-zum-allerersten-mal-in-deutschland-live-auf-im-selben-jahr-stiess-gitarrist-dave-murray-zur-band-170535.jpg

He went back to the Dimarzio Super distortion and PAF with one of his new custop shop Fenders in 2016, after using the signature model in 2009 and 2010 for a few songs in the set.
 
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Hasn't he always used the middle pickup for cleans, though? I mean, can't say for sure for the 80s stuff but at least these days he apparently does. Although I figure the output difference between the single coil and the humbuckers would kinda mess with that, so maybe it's a more recent invention in the era of Hot Rails and the JB Jr. middle pickup.

Re: the new HSH Strat, I thought those were actually Seymour Duncan pickups, not Dimarzios? They changed a fair amount during the tour, but I thought I read that somewhere.
 
I don't know what kind of single coil Murray had in the original, but I'm quite sure he never had it connected, that way he could he get like a killswitch effect. It's possible that it was the stock pickup still in place.

The single coil pickup in the production model was a "Vintage-style Strat Single-Coil"
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/fender-dave-murray-stratocaster-electric-guitar#productDetail
Fender used it on their 50's reissues as well.

iron-maiden-berlin-waldbuehne-2016-anno-1980-traten-zum-allerersten-mal-in-deutschland-live-auf-im-selben-jahr-stiess-gitarrist-dave-murray-zur-band-170535.jpg

He went back to the Dimarzio Super distortion and PAF with one of his new custop shop Fenders in 2016, after using the signature model in 2009 and 2010 for a few songs in the set.

Those are Duncans, a JB and a custom wound Alternative 8.
 
What did he use before he switched to Duncans in that guitar then?
Hawaii 2015:
maxresdefault.jpg

Dimarzios?
 
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What did he use before he switched to Duncans in that guitar then?
Hawaii 2015:
maxresdefault.jpg

Dimarzios?

Probably Duncan JB/59 combination, same as his LP Axcess. He really likes this combo. Mind you, this guitar has zebras back in it again since the Prague 2016 show, but they are not the same as on this picture. Probably again JB/59 combo.
 
Those are Duncans, a JB and a custom wound Alternative 8.
Necro bump - sorry for this.

Where did you get the info that it's an Alternative 8?

On a sidenote, these pickups have changed for the black Strat in 2025.
He's now using a JB in the bridge and a still undisclosed bridge version zebra Seymour Duncan BRIDGE humbucker (flipped around) in the neck spot of the black Strat.

Trying to find infos on what bridge Duncan is in the neck spot of this black Strat for 2025.
 
Necro bump - sorry for this.

Where did you get the info that it's an Alternative 8?

On a sidenote, these pickups have changed for the black Strat in 2025.
He's now using a JB in the bridge and a still undisclosed bridge version zebra Seymour Duncan BRIDGE humbucker (flipped around) in the neck spot of the black Strat.

Trying to find infos on what bridge Duncan is in the neck spot of this black Strat for 2025.
Colin Price commented on his IG post. That set was white. The zebras that are currently in there are indeed 2 bridge JB's.

They were changed during 2016 tour and it's likely 2 JB's ever since. Probably LP axccess also has the same setup.
 
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Colin Price commented on his IG post. That set was white. The zebras that are currently in there are indeed 2 bridge JB's.
They were changed during 2016 tour and it's likely 2 JB's ever since. Probably LP axccess also has the same setup.
That's awesome, and clears up a mystery. Many thanks for this info.
Can you PM me Colin Price's IG account as I cannot find it?
Would love to see if Dave's using 500k controls on this one or 250k as with his HotRails setup
 
Colin Price commented on his IG post. That set was white. The zebras that are currently in there are indeed 2 bridge JB's.

That's awesome, and clears up a mystery. Many thanks for this info.
Can you PM me Colin Price's IG account as I cannot find it?
Would love to see if Dave's using 500k controls on this one or 250k as with his HotRails setup
It's tedtheroadie now.
 
The left guitar is Dave's black Floyd Rose Strat that he has played since 1999. It has a Hot Rails/JB jnr/Black Hot Rails pickguard, but in 2013 Dave experimented with DiMarzios in rehearsals, but swapped back to Hot Rails for tour, The right guitar is the Signature model prototype, with added Floyd Rose. It was used as a secondary guitar in 2009.

Here is the Kossoff strat with some kind of locking tremolo. Mind you, that in this picture it probably sports a different neck. This system was on the guitar only for approx. 2 months. It was swapped back to the standard tremolo and original neck during World Slavery Tour.
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If you look at the Kossof in the infinite dreams book, it has 2 holes just behind the nut. He never used a different neck.
 
Then, the original neck was Kahlered...

The Kossoff strat never had a Kahler, but it did have a Rockinger system installed for the first part of the World Slavery Tour. It was removed before the tour ended. The headstock still shows the holes drilled for the locking nut.

The installation of a Kahler requires extensive routing of the top of the guitar body. There is no evidence of one ever being installed on the Kossoff strat.
 

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The Kossoff strat never had a Kahler, but it did have a Rockinger system installed for the first part of the World Slavery Tour. It was removed before the tour ended. The headstock still shows the holes drilled for the locking nut.

The installation of a Kahler requires extensive routing of the top of the guitar body. There is no evidence of one ever being installed on the Kossoff strat.
Kahler nut, I mean. Not the Kahler tremolo system...
 
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