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Hatsubai « Very cool strat »
Published on 06/23/11 at 06:58The Fender American Vintage Series '70s Stratocaster is one of my personal favorites out of the Vintage Series lineup. The guitar features an alder body with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard, 21 frets, a standard synchronized vintage tremolo, SSS configuration, one volume, two tone knobs and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar felt great. I really enjoyed this neck for whatever reason. The only real gripe I had was the radius, but that's something I have with nearly every Fender out there. I'm much more of a flatter radius kind of guy as it allows me to bend further without fretting out. The fretwork on the guitar was pretty nice. There were no sharp edges, and the frets were crowned fairly nicely. The nut was also cut correctly which was a huge plus considering how Fender's QC can be a bit iffy at times.
SOUNDS
The guitar had that vintage sound going on for it in spades. The neck sounded very woody and vowely. The in between positions had a great quack going on, and the bridge was pretty killer sounding, albeit a bit bright. I never use the middle single alone, so I can't really comment on that. The guitar is fairly versatile overall in terms of its sound in that you can cover all kinds of different genres from jazz to rock. The biggest issue is that the singles are pretty noisy, so you'll have to ride your volume knob if you're playing at higher volumes.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm a big fan of these '70s strats with the bigger headstocks. They look great, generally sound great and they feel pretty awesome. The singles can be a bit bright at times, so you might want to look into swapping them if you're not a fan of bitey sounds. Play a few and choose the best out of the bunch if you can.
UTILIZATION
The guitar felt great. I really enjoyed this neck for whatever reason. The only real gripe I had was the radius, but that's something I have with nearly every Fender out there. I'm much more of a flatter radius kind of guy as it allows me to bend further without fretting out. The fretwork on the guitar was pretty nice. There were no sharp edges, and the frets were crowned fairly nicely. The nut was also cut correctly which was a huge plus considering how Fender's QC can be a bit iffy at times.
SOUNDS
The guitar had that vintage sound going on for it in spades. The neck sounded very woody and vowely. The in between positions had a great quack going on, and the bridge was pretty killer sounding, albeit a bit bright. I never use the middle single alone, so I can't really comment on that. The guitar is fairly versatile overall in terms of its sound in that you can cover all kinds of different genres from jazz to rock. The biggest issue is that the singles are pretty noisy, so you'll have to ride your volume knob if you're playing at higher volumes.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm a big fan of these '70s strats with the bigger headstocks. They look great, generally sound great and they feel pretty awesome. The singles can be a bit bright at times, so you might want to look into swapping them if you're not a fan of bitey sounds. Play a few and choose the best out of the bunch if you can.