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Hatsubai « Huge mojo »
Published on 10/10/11 at 12:58Fender has been working on trying to bring back that old school Strat aspect for the players who miss the vintage feel and tone. This guitar is basically trying to replicate that old school '57 mojo. It has an alder body with a maple neck, a maple fretboard with 21 frets, black dot inlays, vintage six screw tremolo system, SSS configuration, standard neck joint, one volume, two tones and a three or five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The neck on this guitar felt pretty awesome. It's a big neck compared to most modern Fenders out there, but I enjoyed it. The frets on this were nice, too. They were properly crowned, and there were no edges sticking out that could potentially cut your hand while moving up and down. The neck joint was nice and tight on this model, and that was a welcomed addition with so many Fenders out there with slightly sloppy neck joints. The radius wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but I usually always hate the Fender radius because it's too round.
SOUNDS
This guitar had the five way switch already installed in it. The pickups themselves are very much a classic type of sound. They had this really cool woody kind of sound going on that was real apparent when you started adding just a touch of gain. I wouldn't use these for metal or even hard rock because they're pretty low output, but it all depends on what kind of setup you like. They definitely can't do metal, though. The cleans on these were glorious, and the overdriven tones were to die for. Think of that classic SRV kind of tone at times. The five way switch is a huge upgrade, too. The in between positions are amazing for funk and cleans.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar just oozes with mojo. However, be absolutely sure that you like the radius. That was a pretty big deal breaker for me, but considering how great the guitar sounded, I couldn't rate it down too low. Also, the guitar isn't quite as versatile as other guitars in the Fender lineup.
UTILIZATION
The neck on this guitar felt pretty awesome. It's a big neck compared to most modern Fenders out there, but I enjoyed it. The frets on this were nice, too. They were properly crowned, and there were no edges sticking out that could potentially cut your hand while moving up and down. The neck joint was nice and tight on this model, and that was a welcomed addition with so many Fenders out there with slightly sloppy neck joints. The radius wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but I usually always hate the Fender radius because it's too round.
SOUNDS
This guitar had the five way switch already installed in it. The pickups themselves are very much a classic type of sound. They had this really cool woody kind of sound going on that was real apparent when you started adding just a touch of gain. I wouldn't use these for metal or even hard rock because they're pretty low output, but it all depends on what kind of setup you like. They definitely can't do metal, though. The cleans on these were glorious, and the overdriven tones were to die for. Think of that classic SRV kind of tone at times. The five way switch is a huge upgrade, too. The in between positions are amazing for funk and cleans.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar just oozes with mojo. However, be absolutely sure that you like the radius. That was a pretty big deal breaker for me, but considering how great the guitar sounded, I couldn't rate it down too low. Also, the guitar isn't quite as versatile as other guitars in the Fender lineup.