![Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster [2003-2010]](https://img.audiofanzine.com/img/product/normal/1/2/127133.jpg?fm=pjpg&w=300&h=218&fit=max&s=6ec597bcfd5ff57825eecba3836eaad0)
View other reviews for this product:
Hatsubai « This was the rosewood version »
Published on 10/04/11 at 16:27This is the rosewood model of the American Deluxe strat. They have both maple and rosewood models, but I happened to pick up the rosewood one instead for whatever reason. I guess it just spoke to me more. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, a two point tremolo, locking tuners, three single coil configuration, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The rosewood on this was nice and dark. You could almost mistake it for ebony, and it made me wonder if it was dyed previously. Nothing was coming off on my fingers when I played it, so I couldn't really tell. If you look at it closely, you can still see some of that brownish/redish tint going on, but for the most part, it looked pretty dark. The neck on this was a very nice, medium C shaped neck, and it felt really nice in my hands. It was a good alternative to the thin D shaped necks that I'm so used to playing. The tremolo on this is pretty solid, and the locking tuners are very cool. I wish more companies would include locking tuners in their guitars. Overall, there wasn't much to complain about except for some minor issues with the fretwork that I noticed.
SOUNDS
The guitar had SCNs in it. If you've never played SCN pickups before, they're super quiet single coils that almost sound like humbuckers at times. The bridge especially sounds like one hot humbucker. It was completely slient, too. I was able to get a metal tone with this guitar without much of an issue. Yes, a metal tone with a strat. I'm not talking just any metal tone, either. I could do some super high gain death metal with this if I wanted, the singles were that aggressive. However, they start to get a bit muddy on the low end once you do that. Speaking of muddy, don't even bother with the S1 switch. It's pretty useless. The neck and middle were great for some killer lead tones. I also got a very nice clean tone in the in-between positions, but it wasn't that classic Hendrix kind of sound that so many are used to.
OVERALL OPINION
These are very solid guitars, and I almost tend to prefer the rosewood model more at times. The rosewood helps give it some warmth that these guitars can need at times. It basically mellows out the overall tone. I've seen a few issues with these guitars -- mainly fretwork and nut issues. If you're looking into buying one, be sure to check for those. Neck joint issues are pretty rare from my experience, and they tend to be a bit better quality than Mexican ones. Most shop models just need a good setup.
UTILIZATION
The rosewood on this was nice and dark. You could almost mistake it for ebony, and it made me wonder if it was dyed previously. Nothing was coming off on my fingers when I played it, so I couldn't really tell. If you look at it closely, you can still see some of that brownish/redish tint going on, but for the most part, it looked pretty dark. The neck on this was a very nice, medium C shaped neck, and it felt really nice in my hands. It was a good alternative to the thin D shaped necks that I'm so used to playing. The tremolo on this is pretty solid, and the locking tuners are very cool. I wish more companies would include locking tuners in their guitars. Overall, there wasn't much to complain about except for some minor issues with the fretwork that I noticed.
SOUNDS
The guitar had SCNs in it. If you've never played SCN pickups before, they're super quiet single coils that almost sound like humbuckers at times. The bridge especially sounds like one hot humbucker. It was completely slient, too. I was able to get a metal tone with this guitar without much of an issue. Yes, a metal tone with a strat. I'm not talking just any metal tone, either. I could do some super high gain death metal with this if I wanted, the singles were that aggressive. However, they start to get a bit muddy on the low end once you do that. Speaking of muddy, don't even bother with the S1 switch. It's pretty useless. The neck and middle were great for some killer lead tones. I also got a very nice clean tone in the in-between positions, but it wasn't that classic Hendrix kind of sound that so many are used to.
OVERALL OPINION
These are very solid guitars, and I almost tend to prefer the rosewood model more at times. The rosewood helps give it some warmth that these guitars can need at times. It basically mellows out the overall tone. I've seen a few issues with these guitars -- mainly fretwork and nut issues. If you're looking into buying one, be sure to check for those. Neck joint issues are pretty rare from my experience, and they tend to be a bit better quality than Mexican ones. Most shop models just need a good setup.