![Fender American Stratocaster HH Hardtail [2003-2005]](https://img.audiofanzine.com/img/product/normal/4/3/43332.jpg?fm=pjpg&w=300&h=218&fit=max&s=2cb3972392b87e342c5b68ffb6305c66)
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Hatsubai « HH hard tail model »
Published on 11/18/11 at 11:00If 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.
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.