Fender American Special Stratocaster [2010-2018]

Intro/Context:
Fender American Special Stratocaster SSS in surf green with mapple fingerboard.

I'm a Strat guy, this is my 4th strat and by far my favorite to date. I went to the shop wanting to buy my new main axe with a large enough budget to come out of the shop with a deluxe american Strat if that's what suited me.After testing Standard, Deluxe, AS Strats for a few hours (yes I'm that annoying kind of customer) I decided to buy the American Special for 2 reasons:

-Surf Green is life and a paint job is more expensive than changing the tremolo and the pots (if you, as I, don't like greasebuckets)

-The sheer sound of the instrument, the pickups play a role, for sure, but I had an immediate crush on the sound of that particular guitar and at the end of the day this made the choice obvious for me.

Keep in mind while reading that I had that "near perfect match" feel and that, as I try to keep it objective I'm talking about a guitar I really love and can't go by it without saying "what a beauty" even more than one year after the purchase.

I mainly play it on a Fender Blues Jr with a RC Booster into an English Muff'n wich is almost all the time activated and sometimes on a Ashdown Fallen Angel on the saturated channel

I play mostly bluesy stuff from Hendrix to SRV but I also like to shred a little and play hard rock stuff.

workmanship, electronics, and finish

The finish is really good, well assembled with a seemingly fragile but "lovely to touch" varnish. The fingerboard satin finish is quite nice but in my case the wood could have been chosen better as you can see not so sexy darker wood veins.

The trem, well, is a vintage trem. I tried it for a few months and while it works decently it affects the tuning too much to my liking so I locked it.

The electronic part of the guitar is what you'd expect from a US Fender, you can turn the volume all the way while keeping a bright sound.

Sound

That's where this baby shines. Texas Specials can divide but on the bonus side you immediatly know if you like 'em or not, they have a sharp attack wich I love and a quite high output for single coils. They make the guitar sing with an OD and are reactive to any variation of picking, nuance, very satisfying.

the bridge pickup has a very sharp attack without beeing too harsh an is great for saturated chords.

the middle pickup has a "telecasterish" sound, I love it, very in you face

The neck pick up adds warmth while keeping the middle-heavy signature sound of the Texas Specials

The 4th and 2nd positions are in the spirit of the SRV sound on "Mary had a little lamb", I just adore it.

The guitar seems at ease with any kind of clean and saturated sound both for solos and chords.

Pros and cons

+

Available in surf green
Build quality
Available in surf green
Sound
Available in surf green
Price
Available in surf green

-

Vintage 6points trem
Varnish looks fragile
Gig bag

The Fender Stratocaster guitar has to be my favorite instrument of all time. I generally lean towards humbuckers installed in my Fender Stratocaster guitars but no matter what it is, it's the ideal weight and balance of this guitar is just perfect for my needs. I love the look of this guitar to you because it has a great modern look with the vintage tone and feel. There is not a lot that this guitar cannot do. It's so versatile and extremely well balanced which makes it perfect for that person that needs one guitar to do everything. If I only had a choice to pick between a Gibson Les Paul guitar and a Fender Stratocaster guitar which in my mind are the two most versatile and highly used instruments, then I would definitely pick the Fender Stratocaster guitar. I would install a hum bucker in the bridge position and probably keep the single coil in the middle and in the neck but there's something about the way this body shape against the certain frequencies that I'd like to hear in my guitar tones.

UTILIZATION


Body Material: Alder
Body Shape: Stratocaster®
Neck

Neck Shape: Modern "C" Shape
Number of Frets: 22
Fret Size: Jumbo Frets
Position Inlays: Black Dot Position Inlays
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5" (24.1 cm)
Neck Material: Maple
Neck Finish: Satin Urethane
Nut Width: 1.6875" (43 mm)
Scale Length: 25.5" (64.8 cm)
Headstock: Large '70s Style
Neck Plate: Standard 4 Bolt
Truss Rod Nut: 1/8" American Series Nut
Electronics

Pickup Configuration: S/S/S
Bridge Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Bridge Pickup
Middle Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Middle Pickup
Neck Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Neck Pickup
Pickup Switching: 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup, Position 3. Middle Pickup, Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup, Position 5. Neck Pickup
Special Electronics: Greasebucket™ Tone Circuit (rolls off high without adding bass)
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup) Greasebucket™ Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass) Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit
Hardware

Hardware Finish: Chrome
Bridge: Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
String Nut: Synthetic Bone
Switch Tips: White Switch Tip
Tremolo Arm Handle: Vintage Style Tremolo Arm

SOUNDS


Whether you use this guitar with a clean amplifier all away to a Bogner Ubershalll type gain mega loaded distortion tone, this guitar is really good to give you a great feeling for no matter what you're playing. These guitars are very versatile too so if you take off the pick guard your can easily install a humbucker or another style pick up for your needs. These are very versatile guitars and depending on what you like to hear and feel you can add or modify these instruments quite easily. I generally like to play a Fender Stratocaster with a humbucker installed in the bridge position but I also like the ability to play single coils as well. I am a Stratocaster guy so I have multiple Stratocaster guitars for those times where I like to use a different pick up or variety of tones.

OVERALL OPINION


If you find these guitars pretty much anywhere you find musical instruments online or in most guitar retailers around the world. These are great guitars and I highly recommend any guitarist out there. These are great for gigging or recording and pretty much anything in between. If you're a rock garage or basement guitar player this is a great instrument for you as well. I recommend these guitars to every guitarists on the planet.