![Fender American Standard Stratocaster HSS [2008-2012]](https://img.audiofanzine.com/img/product/normal/8/8/88806.png?fm=pjpg&w=300&h=218&fit=max&s=cd547f07fc7f4ae1cbbf99cb9d01894b)
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Hatsubai « Decent MIM HSS »
Published on 06/23/11 at 06:46The Fender American Standard guitar is pretty much the Fender that everybody thinks of when they're thinking of Fender guitars. This one has an alder body with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard, 21 frets, a standard vintage style tremolo, an HSS configuration with one volume, two tones and a five way switch.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is put together decently. The fretwork needed a bit of attention, though. The biggest issue was that the frets weren't perfectly crowned. When you look at the frets, they should have a very nice roundness to them, but these were slightly flat on the top, and it wasn't due to fret wear. The nut was cut nicely on this, and it still had all the features of a regular strat. One thing I wasn't a fan of was the 21 fret limitation. That's a big issue for me as I'm a lead player who tends to travel up to the higher end quite a bit.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded decent. The stock pickups in this thing weren't the best. I forget exactly what they were, but I believe they were all Fender made. The neck single had a cool single tone going on, but it didn't floor me. I only use the middle for splitting, and the split positions sounded decent; they had a decent quack going on. The bridge was kinda dull sounding and lacked the clarity I would have liked in a quality humubucker. That said, the guitar was pretty versatile thanks to this configuration. You could cover all kinds of different genres with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is decent, especially considering the price. However, I recommend you play quite a few of these before you buy simply because some might have some fretwork issues. The biggest thing to listen for is resonance as everything else can usually be fixed by a competent luthier.
UTILIZATION
The guitar is put together decently. The fretwork needed a bit of attention, though. The biggest issue was that the frets weren't perfectly crowned. When you look at the frets, they should have a very nice roundness to them, but these were slightly flat on the top, and it wasn't due to fret wear. The nut was cut nicely on this, and it still had all the features of a regular strat. One thing I wasn't a fan of was the 21 fret limitation. That's a big issue for me as I'm a lead player who tends to travel up to the higher end quite a bit.
SOUNDS
The guitar sounded decent. The stock pickups in this thing weren't the best. I forget exactly what they were, but I believe they were all Fender made. The neck single had a cool single tone going on, but it didn't floor me. I only use the middle for splitting, and the split positions sounded decent; they had a decent quack going on. The bridge was kinda dull sounding and lacked the clarity I would have liked in a quality humubucker. That said, the guitar was pretty versatile thanks to this configuration. You could cover all kinds of different genres with this thing.
OVERALL OPINION
The guitar is decent, especially considering the price. However, I recommend you play quite a few of these before you buy simply because some might have some fretwork issues. The biggest thing to listen for is resonance as everything else can usually be fixed by a competent luthier.