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Hatsubai « Floyd version »
Published on 08/16/11 at 18:23You don't see these too often, but Fender also made some american strats with a double locking tremolo. This is to help appease those who want a more stable bridge than the regular Fender one. This guitar has an alder body with a maple neck, a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, a floyd rose tremolo, HSS configuration, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar had some nice weight to it. It wasn't too light, and it also wasn't too heavy. The neck finish on this was a bit too thick, but it's easily stripped off if you want to go that route. I noticed that it was naturally flaking off, so you could also just play it long enough to wear it. The neck was nice and straight without any bowing, and the frets were in pretty good condition. The floyd on this was an original floyd rose, and I can't recall if that was stock or not. Regardless, it's a great trem.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good. It had a PAF Pro in the bridge with standard American singles in the neck. The PAF Pro is made by DiMarzio and is a very open pickup. It takes gain nicely, as well as clean tones. I find it can sometimes be a bit linear, and I sometimes miss the compression that other pickups have, but it can work for certain things. The singles in the neck and middle are decent. They're nothing too amazing, but they can work for those stratty tones.
OVERALL OPINION
The floyd rose version of this can be really hard to find, but if you find one, jump on it immediately. These are some of my absolute favorite strats out there, but they can sometimes be iffy in quality because of their age and how sloppy Fender was around this time. The good news is that you can always resell it for as much as you paid.
UTILIZATION
The guitar had some nice weight to it. It wasn't too light, and it also wasn't too heavy. The neck finish on this was a bit too thick, but it's easily stripped off if you want to go that route. I noticed that it was naturally flaking off, so you could also just play it long enough to wear it. The neck was nice and straight without any bowing, and the frets were in pretty good condition. The floyd on this was an original floyd rose, and I can't recall if that was stock or not. Regardless, it's a great trem.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded pretty good. It had a PAF Pro in the bridge with standard American singles in the neck. The PAF Pro is made by DiMarzio and is a very open pickup. It takes gain nicely, as well as clean tones. I find it can sometimes be a bit linear, and I sometimes miss the compression that other pickups have, but it can work for certain things. The singles in the neck and middle are decent. They're nothing too amazing, but they can work for those stratty tones.
OVERALL OPINION
The floyd rose version of this can be really hard to find, but if you find one, jump on it immediately. These are some of my absolute favorite strats out there, but they can sometimes be iffy in quality because of their age and how sloppy Fender was around this time. The good news is that you can always resell it for as much as you paid.