Fender American Stratocaster Electric Guitar
August 9, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
There is a whole family of Fender Stratocaster’s on the market these days, from inexpensive Squiers to Custom Shop Strats that cost many thousands of dollars. It seems however, that one of the most loved and prestigious of all of them, indeed of all electric guitars, is the Fender American Stratocaster. It is not exactly cheap, retailing for $1,356.99 - $1,406.99, depending on the finish, with sunburst pattern finishes being higher priced.
The Fender American Stratocaster differs from the Standard Strat in that the Standard is made in Mexico. These are sometimes called MIM (which stands for “Made in Mexico”) Stratocasters. The American Stratocaster electric guitar is made in America, so it commands a higher price. It is available in black, 3-tone sunburst, Olympic white, Candy Cola, Butterscotch blond, Charcoal Frost metallic, and Shoreline Gold colors. In each of the colors, you have a choice between rosewood or maple for the fingerboard.
Many of the greatest of all electric guitar players down through the years have favored Fender Stratocasters over other brands of guitars. The story of the Strat is an interesting one. Fender released the Telecaster electric guitar in 1951 and many people liked its simple styling. Still, others complained that it felt like a slab of wood on your lap and that it dug into their ribs.
Fender went to work designing and came up with the Stratocaster. The name comes from two rather modernistic (in the 50’s) words. One was the Stratosphere - that part of the sky where planes fly and clouds float around. The other is broadcaster, which refers to the guitars suitability to being used broadcast on radio, television, and where ever. So the implication is something that is as modern as an airplane and deserves to being broadcast over the whole earth.
The Fender American Stratocaster has some great new upgrades. For one thing, it is routed so that you can install humbucker pickups at the neck and bridge in the future if you desire. It has a new neck shape that helps you play faster. The three very good pickups give you all sorts of variety. For instance, the neck pickup is great for playing blues. The bridge pickup, on the other hand, is perfect for a country sound.
Advantages: The American Stratocaster is one of the most comfortable guitars you can play, and it is very well made. This is a professional level instrument and will do you proud when you gig with it. The action is fast and good, and the strings have a light feel to them. The playability and the sound are excellent. It has a more curved fretboard than many other rock-oriented electric guitars, and that curved feel makes the guitar really good for playing rhythm.
As stated earlier, the American Strat is very versatile. You’ll find yourself playing jazzy sounds, blues, classic rock, country, you name it.
Disadvantages: The Fender American Stratocaster electric guitar is not really a metal guitar. You really need humbuckers if you are going to sound good playing heavy metal and similar styles of music. Still the Strat is very versatile. The tremolo is a good one, but all trems cause guitars to go out of tune. It has been suggested that the tremolo on the American Strat needs a few more springs.
Specs:
- Carved, contoured alder body
- Maple neck in modern “C” shape
- Choice of rosewood or maple fingerboard
- Rolled fingerboard edges
- 9.5 inch (241 mm) fingerboard radius
- 22 medium jumbo frets
- 25.5 inch (648 mm.) scale length
- 1.6875 inch (43 mm.) wide at the nut
- Chrome hardware
- 3 American Strat Single coil pickups
- Master volume control knob
- One tone control knob for the neck pickup
- One tone control knob called “Delta Tone”
- (“Delta Tone” system includes high output bridge pickup and special No-Load tone control for Middle and Bridge Pickups)
- 5-Position Blade pickup selector switch
- Position 1: Bridge pickup
- Position 2: Bridge and middle Pickup
- Position 3: Middle Pickup
- Position 4: Middle and neck pickup
- Position 5: Neck Pickup
- American 2-point synchronized tremolo with stainless steel saddles
- Fender-Schaller Deluxe Staggered Cast-Sealed tuning machines
- “Parchment” colored knobs and pickup covers
- Original headstock shape
- Original body shape with “Original Contour Body” decal on headstock
- H/S/H Pickup routing
- Nickel plated steel strings in .009 to .042 gauges
- Includes a standard molded case
More Info / Buy Online: Fender American Stratocaster
Other related sites:
- Here is a hands-on review of the Fender American series of electric guitars.
- This is kind of interesting - some thoughts on Strats and what this particular guitarist likes and doesn’t like about them. He gets into a discussion of neck radius that’s pretty informative.
- This review is of a limited edition deluxe Strat, but should be of interest to Fender fans everywhere.
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster
July 11, 2007 by Jo Minor · Leave a Comment
The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is the highest quality factory made Strat you can get. Made in Corona, CA, you can rest in piece with the knowledge that it is made in America. It retails for around $1700, and is designed to perform just like you want it to. It has a hand rolled maple neck that is smooth and playable. The single coil pickups on the American Deluxe Strat are designed to give you that vintage sound without the hum. Called Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups, these pickups are considered a revolutionary improvement over the older designs.
The Fender Stratocaster is one of the most enduring and popular styles of electric guitar in the world. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, located in Scottsdale, Arizona, was founded by and named for Clarence Leonidas (Leo) Fender, a designer of electric guitars and basses, in the year 1946. One of Fender’s most notable contributions to the music world was a solid body electric guitar that was bolted together to make manufacturing easier and less expensive.
The first design was called the Telecaster, and it is still in use today. One thing it lacked, however, was a tremolo arm. It was also made in the shape of a slab, so it wasn’t very comfortable to the guitarist playing it. To remedy these problems, Fender designed the then futuristic model he called the Stratocaster. It was, and still is, made with a carved, beveled back that fits comfortably against the player. It also had Fender’s own design of a tremolo mechanism.
The pickups used on the original Stratocasters were also innovative. They were more compact than the three single coil pickups used in the Gibson ES-5, which was already on the market. The first factory made Strats were on the market in 1954, at the then exorbitant price of $249.50. The finish was nitrocellulose, and a sunburst pattern was used. It had an ash body and maple neck. Buddy Holly was one of the first to use the Strat in early rock and roll.
Advantages: The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is a very nice guitar loaded with features, but one of the most unique and useful is the S-1 switching and 5-way pickup selector switch. With the S-1, you double your options. When the S-1 push/pull switch is in the up position, you can choose between five pickup selections. Then you get five more choices with the S-1 in the down position. (These choices are listed below in the specs.) The SCN pickups give you the Strat sound without the hum, and the pickup at the neck is hot for extra sustain.
The neck is slick and fast. The guitar delivers the heavy sound without the heavy uncomfortable body of some other electric guitars. The locking tuners save a lot of string changing time. The controls are handy but not in your way.
Disadvantages: While the American Deluxe Stratocaster is good for blues, vintage rock, country and jazz, it isn’t really designed for metal music. The SCN pickups just do not give the same sound as humbuckers. Also, it’s remotely possible (but not likely!) that you’d get the occasional factory lemon, but the Fender customer service people are real helpful.
Specs:
- Premium contoured alder body
- Modern C shaped maple neck with slick satin polyurethane finish and hand-rolled edges
- Choice of rosewood or maple fretboard
- Abalone Dot Position Inlays
- Highly detailed fret and nut work
- 9.5 inch neck radius
- 22 medium jumbo frets
- 25.5 inch scale
- 1.6875 inches wide at the nut
- 3 Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN) pickups
- 5-way blade pickup selector switch
- S-1 switching system (push/pull style)
S-1 Switch Up:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Parallel
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup in Parallel
Position 5. Neck Pickup
S-1 Switch Down:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 2. Bridge Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor
and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup in Series with Special Capacitor (No Tone Control)
Position 4. Neck Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor
and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup
- Polished chrome hardware
- String-thru-body bridge with polished stainless steel saddles
- Fender/Schaller Deluxe Staggered Cast/Sealed Locking Tuning Machines
- Fender Deluxe 2-point Synchronized Tremolo with Pop in Arm
- Schaller strap lock ready
- Fender Super Bullet 3250L nickel plated steel strings in .009 to .042
- Comes with Fender hardshell case, cable, strap, polishing cloth, straplocks, and Meguiar’s care kit
Buy cheap online: Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster
Related sites:
- Since you’re reading “The Music Gig,” and you’re reading about a really great professional quality electric guitar, thought you might be interested in this article about how to handle those nerves when you have gigs. I like the author’s final conclusion - to focus not on impressing your audience, but on giving to them. Nice!
- Here’s a link to Haywire Custom Guitars. They take new Fenders and put them through an 8 point process to get them gig-ready. Scroll down a bit and you can read what the 8 steps are.
