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MGR/BluesmanJedro « Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat »
Published on 12/18/01 at 15:00I bought this guitar from Mississippi Music in Gulfport, Mississippi in August 2000. I paid approx. $1000 for the guitar, including deluxe hardshell case and accessories. The guitar was brand new, still in the sealed box from Fender. I bought this guitar because of the features, playability, and because it's a USA made Strat.
This guitar is loaded with features. Solid alder body with transparent crimson finish, maple neck with skunk stripe on the back. Three Fender Vintage-Noiseless pickups (S/S/H). Schaller locking machine heads, deluxe locking tremolo, highly detailed fret and nut work, abalone dot inlays, maple neck, dual-action truss rod with micro-tilt, and aged plastic parts. LSR roller nut, Schaller strap locks, Fender deluxe leather strap, Noiseless guitar cable, deluxe hardshell case, and aged plastic parts.
The feel and playability of this guitar is just plain sweet. The finish and construction are excellent. The new neck design is very easy on the hand, and provides a very nice feel. The bridge humbucker provides a nice bite as compared to the standard single bridge pickup. There are a wealth of tones available by switching between or combo'ing pickups with the selector switch. Also, the sustain of this guitar is very nice, and it is quite audible even when not plugged in.
My main dislike is the 'aged' plastic parts. They really don't look aged, just a funky yellow/green color. IMHO, moto with black knobs would have been the ultimate.
The Fender deluxe locking tremolo took a little getting used to. The strings actually clamp into the saddles instead of running through the trem block. This means you have to cut the ends off the strings. Also, the saddles are fixed height and radiused to match the fretboard. This makes it a little more difficult to change the action, since you have to adjust the trem or neck to raise/lower the action. Also, when you restring and tighten the string clamps, it tends to loosen the saddle clamp bolts under the trem plate, which is a slight pain.
Other than that, I'm super pleased.
Construction of this guitar is top notch. Everything fits like it should with great precision. One minor issue that I found was that the poly finish on the fretboard and frets began to chip almost instantly. So, I just removed all of the finish off of the frets, which sharpened the tone as well. The LSR roller nut and locking tuners are just great. What a difference they make to provide the ability to stay in tune much longer when heavy on the trem.
This guitar is very well built and should last for quite some time.
This guitar fully embodies the reason that I love Strats. Built great, plays great, looks great, feels great, sounds great, and hey, it's just plain cool.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
This guitar is loaded with features. Solid alder body with transparent crimson finish, maple neck with skunk stripe on the back. Three Fender Vintage-Noiseless pickups (S/S/H). Schaller locking machine heads, deluxe locking tremolo, highly detailed fret and nut work, abalone dot inlays, maple neck, dual-action truss rod with micro-tilt, and aged plastic parts. LSR roller nut, Schaller strap locks, Fender deluxe leather strap, Noiseless guitar cable, deluxe hardshell case, and aged plastic parts.
The feel and playability of this guitar is just plain sweet. The finish and construction are excellent. The new neck design is very easy on the hand, and provides a very nice feel. The bridge humbucker provides a nice bite as compared to the standard single bridge pickup. There are a wealth of tones available by switching between or combo'ing pickups with the selector switch. Also, the sustain of this guitar is very nice, and it is quite audible even when not plugged in.
My main dislike is the 'aged' plastic parts. They really don't look aged, just a funky yellow/green color. IMHO, moto with black knobs would have been the ultimate.
The Fender deluxe locking tremolo took a little getting used to. The strings actually clamp into the saddles instead of running through the trem block. This means you have to cut the ends off the strings. Also, the saddles are fixed height and radiused to match the fretboard. This makes it a little more difficult to change the action, since you have to adjust the trem or neck to raise/lower the action. Also, when you restring and tighten the string clamps, it tends to loosen the saddle clamp bolts under the trem plate, which is a slight pain.
Other than that, I'm super pleased.
Construction of this guitar is top notch. Everything fits like it should with great precision. One minor issue that I found was that the poly finish on the fretboard and frets began to chip almost instantly. So, I just removed all of the finish off of the frets, which sharpened the tone as well. The LSR roller nut and locking tuners are just great. What a difference they make to provide the ability to stay in tune much longer when heavy on the trem.
This guitar is very well built and should last for quite some time.
This guitar fully embodies the reason that I love Strats. Built great, plays great, looks great, feels great, sounds great, and hey, it's just plain cool.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com