MIXED DOUBLES

While it’s only a Strat if it bears the Fender/Squier family name, there are plenty of three-single-coil, double-cutaway guitars out there worthy of your attention

VINTAGE V6 REISSUED ELECTRIC GUITAR £429

Persuade non-players to draw a guitar and they’ll draw this outline. But they won’t include the American alder body, American maple neck, rosewood fingerboard or Graph Tech nut. You’ll be lucky if they mention the pitchreturning, six-screw Wilkinson WCV vibrato, and we can be sure they won’t talk up the Wilkinson WVS single coils. Okay, so it’s very much derived rather than redesigned, but as far as S-types that’ll get you to the stage on a budget are concerned, your chariot awaits. https://vintageguitarsrus.com

KAUFFMANN ’63 S HEAVY RELIC £2,199

Lake Placid, who? The heavy battering that this ’63 S has undergone reveals the level of detail in the craft here, spinning the yarn of a vintage refin with a gorgeous Sherwood Green over an old three-tone ’burst. All of that is applied to a paulownia body – a fast-growing, lightweight hardwood used in Japanese koto construction. It’s more than a looker, though, with Cream T Bolero single coils that are controlled with a master volume, tone control and a third pot for blending in the neck pickup. www.kauffmannsguitarstore.com

ATKIN THE FIFTY-FOUR £3,199

You’d swear it was approaching its 70th birthday, but Atkin’s obeche-bodied The Fifty-Four is fresh off the shelf. While ageing isn’t for everyone, when it’s done this well, we love it. Old meets new with Gotoh locking vintage-style tuners and an aged Gotoh G101TS six-screw vibrato. Electronically, it’s topnotch, too, with Atkin’s own hand-wound pickups, CTS pots and Sprague Orange Drop caps. Old continues to meet new with a 648mm (25.5-inch) scale length but an in-between 254mm (10-inch) radius on the ’board. https://atkinguitars.com

MAGNETO ERIC GALES RD3 SIGNATURE £985

Forget politely suited blues licks, Eric Gales’ tone is depth and aggression, and here Raw Dawg combines attitude with bling. The basswood body is decorated with gold drip from the jack socket to the mirrored scratchplate. The hardware is Gotoh and we get a rich-looking roasted maple neck, too. Magneto’s own EG1 single coils do the talking – and boy, do they talk. The signature aspect is very much in force, but if you’re looking for Stratitude at sensible prices, the RD3 has definitely got it. www.magnetoguitars.com

PRS SILVER SKY £2,849

When John Mayer ditched his Fenders in favour of PRS, it should have come as no surprise that the resulting signature model would pay heavy homage to his previous arm candy. The Silver Sky is the Apple Store version of an S-type: slick, clean, contemporary and very, very nice. Ignore the headstock and focus instead on the tonal delights coming from the 635JM pickups, and the sum of their host. Fancy saving some cash? Look straight towards the SE Silver Sky at £979. www.prsguitars.com

SUHR CLASSIC S ANTIQUE APPROX. £3,299

There’s no mistaking where this guitar draws its inspiration from, but this premium vintage-vibe S-type is also met by some modern refinements. Suhr’s own locking tuners and a Gotoh 510 vibrato deliver road-ready tuning stability, there’s a compound radius fingerboard (maple or rosewood) fitted with stainless-steel fret wire, and key to the design are the electronics. Three Suhr V60LP single coils are run through Suhr’s noise-busting SSC II (Silent Single Coil) system for pristine, buzz-free tones, even at high-gain settings. www.suhr.com