Fender American Stratocaster HH Hardtail [2003-2005]

If you ever found yourself looking for a Fender hard tail guitar with two humbuckers, this is probably the guitar you're looking at getting. It's not as versatile as the other ones, but it can still deliver with certain music. This has the same hard tail bridge all the other hard tail Fenders use, so no real change there. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar had a few issues with it. The frets weren't too bad, but the ends of the frets needed to be shaved back just a touch. They were a bit sharp for my liking, and it was kind of annoying to move up and down the neck. The rosewood on this guitar was actually very dry, and it needed some conditioning. I recommend using Fret Doctor for this. The nut on this was binding a touch, and I had to reshape the G string slot for it to not buzz like crazy. The guitar actually has a hard tail bridge, and I'm not a big fan of this as I feel it hinders the overall feel and vibe of the standard strat, but I'm a bit of a purist in that sense.

SOUNDS

The guitar had two humbuckers in it that were replaced with PAF Pros. The PAF Pros were decent in this guitar, and you could get quite a few tones. The PAF Pro in the bridge was good for hard rock, and it could actually deliver a real killer blues tone as well. It was slightly bitey, and while it was somewhat lacking for metal, it could still deliver for all but death metal. The PAF Pro in the neck was great for leads, but I sometimes felt it had a bit too much on the top end. I found myself reaching for the tone knob a few times on this when playing leads. I really wish this had the cavity in the back for the tremolo as I honestly feel that adds some character to the overall guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitars are pretty good. However, be sure you like the way these sound first. A few people (like myself) feel that these hard tail strats don't exactly sound like strats. They seem to have a slightly different sound, and it can be very love/hate. On the other hand, some people don't hear a difference at all, so you'll have to try them out for yourself and see which camp you fall into.

Those of you who play hard rock or music that involves more humbucker usage than single coil usage will probably be looking at this model instead of the regular SSS or HSS model that Fender makes. This has the same hard tail bridge all the other hard tail Fenders use, so no real change there. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, dot inlays, a hard tail bridge, two humbuckers, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar had a few issues with it. The frets weren't too bad, but the ends of the frets needed to be shaved back just a touch. They were a bit sharp for my liking, and it was kind of annoying to move up and down the neck. The rosewood on this guitar was actually very dry, and it needed some conditioning. I recommend using Fret Doctor for this. The nut on this was binding a touch, and I had to reshape the G string slot for it to not buzz like crazy. The guitar actually has a hard tail bridge, and I'm not a big fan of this as I feel it hinders the overall feel and vibe of the standard strat, but I'm a bit of a purist in that sense.

SOUNDS

The guitar had two humbuckers in it that were replaced with PAF Pros. The PAF Pros were decent in this guitar, and you could get quite a few tones. The PAF Pro in the bridge was good for hard rock, and it could actually deliver a real killer blues tone as well. It was slightly bitey, and while it was somewhat lacking for metal, it could still deliver for all but death metal. The PAF Pro in the neck was great for leads, but I sometimes felt it had a bit too much on the top end. I found myself reaching for the tone knob a few times on this when playing leads. I really wish this had the cavity in the back for the tremolo as I honestly feel that adds some character to the overall guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

The guitars are pretty good. However, be sure you like the way these sound first. A few people (like myself) feel that these hard tail strats don't exactly sound like strats. They seem to have a slightly different sound, and it can be very love/hate. On the other hand, some people don't hear a difference at all, so you'll have to try them out for yourself and see which camp you fall into.

Fender Stratocaster is probably my favorite guitar in existence. Of course I'm talking more about the super strat of the Fender Stratocaster series with the humbucker installed but nonetheless the whole body shape and feel and the tonal balance is just perfect for me. I am just absolutely in love with the shape and overall voice of this guitar. It's one remarkable guitar that has been influential to guitar builders for decades now. It's a simple design yet produces such great results.

UTILIZATION


This guitar features three single coil pickups. This allows the guitar to gleam with precision and clarity. You get to get a little less distortion and a little bit more hum with these pickups than you wood a humbucker install guitar pick up. You have one volume control knob and two tone control knobs to allow you should dial in and out the overall tone of the pick ups. It also has a five way selector switch that allows you to dial in each pick up individually and also the two spaces in between the outside pick ups. Overall it's pretty simple guitar with no extra switches or boosts or anything like that. It's a simple design a basic set up and just a great rock 'n roll tone.

SOUNDS


This guitar works with any amplifier setting you have. Whether you're a clean amplifier player with pedals and controlling a plethora of different devices on your pedal board than this is guitar for you. If your guitar player with just a simple set up with the guitar cable tuner and amplifier then this is a great set up for you as well. This instrument is a very versatile and highly reputable guitar. It has a great balance a great tone and just gleems with such great sustain. My personal preference for this guitar is to put the pickup selector in the neck pick up. This is a great bluesy warm tone. It gives the guitar sound exactly what I want to hear in my head. It has a fantastic tone and is just absolutely iconic tone that no guitar other than a Fender Stratocaster can achieve.

OVERALL OPINION


These guitars are pretty easy to find but in the used market can be a little bit difficult. If you're looking for the specific color than you might have to look a little bit longer. But if you're just looking for an overall great Fender Stratocaster guitar you can find those very easily and the use your classified sections of different forms or on eBay. These are very easy guitars to locate and are just an absolute fantastic and versatile guitar for any owner and any use.

The Fender stratocasters are great guitar and one of the most influential guitars and probably the most easily recognize guitars on the planet. It has a great weight and balance that gives it such a great feel and overall spectacular tone. It's a simple guitar but yet such a fantastic piece of work done 60+ years ago. The blue paint job is excellent with the black pick guard.

UTILIZATION


The tone of this guitar is such a great tone with the three single coil pick ups one volume knob and two tone control knobs. With a five way pick up selector that makes this guitar very versatile and selecting the pickup to match your tone. It's a simple design but yet gives you extremely amazing results.

SOUNDS


These guitars are fantastic when coupled with the good delay pedal or maybe an overdrive pedal and a solid amplifier of some kind. If you're into clean amplifiers and like to use a lot of the effects or pedals then a fender clean amp such as a twin reverb or Princeton amp will do you very well. If you're more into higher gain tones that I suggest playing this through a Mesa boogie amplifier or even a Marshall amplifier of some sort. Either way this guitar with sound great in pretty much any mix to you have. They aren't that great at drop tuning or alternate tunings as much but they will give you a great solid clean or dirty guitar tone.

I really prefer these guitars with the Marshall JCM 800 amplifier of some sort. Or just any hundred watt Marshall amplifier in general. It's the same set up that Jimi Hendrix and so many other players after him have used and it's such a great and fantastic and easy tone to chief.

OVERALL OPINION


These guitars you can find pretty easily in the use market as well as in many guitar retailer shops. You're easy to find and not very expensive if you can afford the just above thousand dollar price. It's a great guitar and I would recommend every guitar player to a one of these guitars at some point in their playing career.