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![MGR/Mark \"Whitey\" Zuelch](https://static.audiofanzine.com/img/user/avatars/generic.png?w=50&h=50&fm=pjpg&s=81222efdb36061e07c55c456115b49e3 "MGR/Mark \\"Whitey\\" Zuelch")
MGR/Mark \"Whitey\" Zuelch « Fender USA Standard Stratocaster »
Published on 04/04/04 at 15:00I bought my 2003 USA Fender Standard Stratocaster at the Guitar Center here in Sacramento, California for roughly $700.00 (including hardshell tweed case).
I am, unabashedly, a Strat man; always have been, always will be. My Strat is black/white/blonde and the paint finish is so smooth it looks almost poured on; just gorgeous. The neck and headstock, as well as the low heel at the neck joint, all make me think these are patterned after the '57 model specs. Balance, weight, feel are to perfection---it is a comfortable balance that will let you march all night and fight all day without the lower back grip that a heavier and less balanced axe will guarantee you. Completely standard, the model from which all other Stratocaster configurations are based on. Pure, quacky Strat tone that turns to a growl even with a little dirt in your signal chain.
There is nothing about this guitar that I don't like.
As mentioned above, construction, components, care and attention to detail are inargueable; a class act start to finish.
A little bit of Strat history: as Stratocaster sales began to slip once Buddy Holly was gone, Fender seriously considered cutting the Strat from its line-up altogether. It seems that, at the last possible moment, everybody got their jaws dropped by some new guy named Hendrix and the Strat was safe. Clapton "built" his "Blackie" Strat from the components of 3 Strats to make one good one (and by the way, "Blackie" was originally a three-tone sunburist [see Derek and the Dominoes cover]) that was later re-sprayed black. Clapton was hooked and the Strat has been his main axe ever since.
In the late 1960's Fender went "underground" when it began to advertise the Strat in a (then) little known, quad-fold newsprint we all call Rolling Stone magazine today. It (at least once) bought the center-spread advertising space that showed a white Strat with the hook "How to Purchase a Guitar". Want to slightly increase your Strat's "quacky" voice? Simply lower the middle pick-up just a hair and voila!, there it is!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I am, unabashedly, a Strat man; always have been, always will be. My Strat is black/white/blonde and the paint finish is so smooth it looks almost poured on; just gorgeous. The neck and headstock, as well as the low heel at the neck joint, all make me think these are patterned after the '57 model specs. Balance, weight, feel are to perfection---it is a comfortable balance that will let you march all night and fight all day without the lower back grip that a heavier and less balanced axe will guarantee you. Completely standard, the model from which all other Stratocaster configurations are based on. Pure, quacky Strat tone that turns to a growl even with a little dirt in your signal chain.
There is nothing about this guitar that I don't like.
As mentioned above, construction, components, care and attention to detail are inargueable; a class act start to finish.
A little bit of Strat history: as Stratocaster sales began to slip once Buddy Holly was gone, Fender seriously considered cutting the Strat from its line-up altogether. It seems that, at the last possible moment, everybody got their jaws dropped by some new guy named Hendrix and the Strat was safe. Clapton "built" his "Blackie" Strat from the components of 3 Strats to make one good one (and by the way, "Blackie" was originally a three-tone sunburist [see Derek and the Dominoes cover]) that was later re-sprayed black. Clapton was hooked and the Strat has been his main axe ever since.
In the late 1960's Fender went "underground" when it began to advertise the Strat in a (then) little known, quad-fold newsprint we all call Rolling Stone magazine today. It (at least once) bought the center-spread advertising space that showed a white Strat with the hook "How to Purchase a Guitar". Want to slightly increase your Strat's "quacky" voice? Simply lower the middle pick-up just a hair and voila!, there it is!
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com