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Hatsubai « Very versatile »
Published on 08/16/11 at 18:20Along with the regular and ash bodied deluxe strats that Fender has, they also have one to suit those who want a bit more power in the bridge. This guitar has an alder body with a maple neck, a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, two point tremolo, HSS configuration, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The first thing I noticed when I picked this guitar up was that it's heavy. I'm not a huge fan of heavy guitars, and this isn't exactly a common thing for Fender. I prefer lighter guitars as I feel they resonate a bit nicer. The frets on this weren't perfectly level, and I had some issues when I started lowering the action to where I like it. To be fair, I can't complain too much because the 9.5'' radius itself is limiting how low I can get the action. I tend to prefer a flatter radius neck than the rounder one like on this guitar.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this are decent, but they're nothing too amazing. The bridge had a very standard style humbucking tone. It was fat and warm when comparing it to a normal strat, and it overdrove the amp nicely. I played it through a DSL, and it was very punchy. I found it a bit lacking at times for certain things, but most people should enjoy it. The neck and middle pickups were a touch bland, but they did the job in getting that famous strat tone that most people tend to look for. I think some aftermarket pickups could work nicely, but it all depends on what you're going for.
OVERALL OPINION
The HSS strats are some of my favorite, and this one was up there with the rest of them in terms of being able to get tons of sounds out of it. I'd personally install a push/pull where the tone pot is so I could have another sound, but the stock setup is pretty good how it is. Try to buy used to save money.
UTILIZATION
The first thing I noticed when I picked this guitar up was that it's heavy. I'm not a huge fan of heavy guitars, and this isn't exactly a common thing for Fender. I prefer lighter guitars as I feel they resonate a bit nicer. The frets on this weren't perfectly level, and I had some issues when I started lowering the action to where I like it. To be fair, I can't complain too much because the 9.5'' radius itself is limiting how low I can get the action. I tend to prefer a flatter radius neck than the rounder one like on this guitar.
SOUNDS
The stock pickups in this are decent, but they're nothing too amazing. The bridge had a very standard style humbucking tone. It was fat and warm when comparing it to a normal strat, and it overdrove the amp nicely. I played it through a DSL, and it was very punchy. I found it a bit lacking at times for certain things, but most people should enjoy it. The neck and middle pickups were a touch bland, but they did the job in getting that famous strat tone that most people tend to look for. I think some aftermarket pickups could work nicely, but it all depends on what you're going for.
OVERALL OPINION
The HSS strats are some of my favorite, and this one was up there with the rest of them in terms of being able to get tons of sounds out of it. I'd personally install a push/pull where the tone pot is so I could have another sound, but the stock setup is pretty good how it is. Try to buy used to save money.