« Cool but not my thing »

Fender decided to merge with in yngwie malmsteen with his own signature Stratocaster guitar. This is basically a remake of the original guitar at MalmSteen bought when he was just a kid. It's an unusual guitar even though it looks like a standard Fender Stratocaster. It has the old Fender headstock which is a little bit bigger than what you normally see on today's Fender Stratocaster headstock. The pick ups are his signature pick up as which are his own brand fender style voice to his liking. This guitar also features a scalloped fretboard. What that means is the frets are not flat or even slightly curved but rather they are scooped like a U-shaped between each fret. This is a different feeling guitar than a normal guitar that you have played any guitar shop. Because of the scallop frets, it takes a little bit time to get your fingers used to pressing it without necessarily touching the fretboard. It is strange to think when you play this guitar your fingers don't actually touch the fretboard and the reason he did this is because he's such a speed metal type player that he needed to run up and down the fretboard as fast as he could without having to do anything else.

UTILIZATION

Neck Shape: Modern "C" Shape
Number of Frets: 21
Fret Size: Super-Jumbo Frets
Position Inlays: Pearl Dot Inlays
Fretboard Radius: 9.5" (24.1 cm)
Fretboard: Scalloped Rosewood or Maple
Neck Material: Maple
Neck Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer
Nut Width: 1.650” (42 mm)
Scale Length: 25.5" (64.8 cm)
Headstock: Artist Signature on Headstock
Neck Plate: Vintage Style 4 Bolt
Truss Rod Nut: 1/8" American Series Nut
Electronics
Pickup Configuration: S/S/S
Bridge Pickup: Seymour Duncan STK-S10B YJM Fury Pickup (Bridge)
Middle Pickup: Seymour Duncan STK-S10N YJM Fury Pickup (Middle)
Neck Pickup: Seymour Duncan STK-S10N YJM Fury Pickup (Neck)
Pickup Switching: 3-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Middle Pickup, Position 3. Neck Pickup
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. No-Load Tone Control (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. No-Load Tone Control (Bridge and Middle Pickups)
Hardware
Hardware: Chrome
Bridge: American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
Tuning Machines: Vintage "F" Style Tuning Machines
String Nut: Brass String Nut
Switch Tip: Aged White Plastic Knobs
Tremolo Arm/Handle: American Vintage Tremolo Arm

SOUNDS

The tone of this guitar is very Fender Stratocaster voiced. The pickups are much better than the standard pickup you would find on most Fender guitars. I've never been a fan of the fender standard pickups in all of their brand-new guitars. Every Fender that I've ever owned, I've always had to switch out the pickups. This one comes stock with the ones that he supposedly uses and they do have a pretty good tone but the overall single coil buzz is still there. That is part of his tone anyway so it's not that big a deal but it's kind of annoying if you are used to humbucker pickup.

One cool thing about this guitar is the vintage white look. my favorite colors on any guitar is a faded white color that actually turns creme overtime. The pickup themselves are kind of an off-white, the pick guard is white, but volume and tone control knobs are cream color as well as the tops of selector and the tremolo bar. The guitar itself is in a bad priced guitar for a signature guitar and if you are at fan of MalmSteen then this is probably the guitar that you're wanting to get.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are a pretty cool guitar if you're a big fan of his music and or his entire catalog. You can find these guitars new at just about $1700. For signature guitar that's not a bad price because the regular Fender Stratocaster's run around $1000-$1100. So it's just a few extra hundred dollars for a signature guitar, so that's a pretty good deal. I would recommend this guitar to any malmsteen fan and if you're not a fan then I would suggest getting a regular Fender Stratocaster in a white cream color.