Fender Buddy Guy Standard Stratocaster

This is a guitar based on blues hero Buddy Guy's polka-dotted Stratocaster. It's made in the USA. The bridge is an American Vintage tremolo bridge, one that is often seen on Strats. The body is ash, and the neck and fretboard are maple. The guitar has 22 frets, has Gold Lace active tone control pickups with mid boost and tone control knobs. The guitar also has a master volume knob.

UTILIZATION

This guitar is actually pretty awesome. There is a ton of control to be had over the sound because of the active pickups. I've never used this type of pickup before on a guitar, so it took some time to get used to and adjust. Eventually I figured out how to effectively use the mid boost and get a good sound. The guitar plays fantastically, and is great for rock and blues, as well as some Jazz and country stuff as well. Playability is great for rhythm and soulful leads. You probably wouldn't want to shred on this guitar, but that's not what it's for anyway.

SOUNDS

This is a pretty in-your-face, raw-sounding guitar, albeit in a pleasant way. The active pickups really bring out the character of your playing to an interesting degree. The mid boost is great for changing that tone up and getting that rich, bluesy lead tone. Putting it on a Twin with a good distortion pedal (like a tube screamer) gets you a great electric blues sound, and actually does come sort of close to Buddy Guy's tone. Heavier distortions are actually a little too intense with these pickups, so I wouldn't recommend this guitar if you are going to play a louder, more intense rock music. Stick with light rock and roll and blues, or even jazz and country, and you'll be fine with this. I'm not a hundred percent sure that I would prefer this kind of sound to a regular strat (the sound really is worlds apart), but I know that there are many people who would.

OVERALL OPINION

I think that this guitar is actually pretty good for the price (usually less than a grand). I tend to be really skeptical about guitars with famous people's names attached to them, but this one was pretty impressive. While not the greatest Strat I've played, and not quite as versatile as my favorite Strat, this one has a unique character that can mostly be attributed to the active pickups, which are really a game changer. This one might not even be worth buying for most people, but I think picking it up and trying it is worth it, it's actually a pretty cool experience just to hear the difference.

As the title indicates, this is a production MEX.
Channel V (soft), satin varnish throughout, with the signing of the master.
Vintage frets, vintage radius 7.25.
no eccentricity outside the finish, are all fairly class with a tuxedo ...
Kluson in mechanical, bridge & tremolo block honorable but not equivalent to the US Standard Strat.

UTILIZATION

The soft V profile is rather go anywhere (not too big, not too deep), although there is (in my opinion) is worth a C péroide 62.
the satin varnish (to défauit Detre little sexy), avoids slipping sensation that one can have with big nail that vintage "pêguent" when you sweat too much.
The Strat is lightweight, built for acrobatics on stage.

SOUNDS

This is where the bottom hurts; testing I found the pickups especially aggressive and very shrill in the treble ... So much so that I looked meadows, small magnets (diameter less than the usual staggerred .. .) a peculiar zest ...
I inquired, they are ceramic pickups!! So frankly there is shame, Buddy Guy deserved better.
lack of heat in all positions, particularly on the neck pickup, bridge pickup ultra loud ...
In short, that is what is passed through the head designers Fender on this model?
Is that the idea was to produce a set of cash up "heavy saturax" Buddy so angry?
maybe ... at least in clean and light crunch is pretty bad.
I put a 4 for the microphones.

OVERALL OPINION

Tested in a guitar mag. on a peavey classic 30.
Am a specialist strats (in possesses a dozen ...).
If the violin is very respectable for the price, the choice of micro ceramics is bad in my opinion.
If I had had my say, I would have prescribed the minimum of 57/62 or 54, from Fender to stay in the brand.
and I do not even mention the choice shop alnico ...
with this kind of "upgrade", you'll have a really nice guitar.
I put 5 only because of the ceramic pickups.

U.S. Manufacturing Corona, California
Saddle sleeve 1 pice "V"
Saddle Key
Frne slectionn body and blow on the length of the wood
22 Freight
Vintage: Mechanical Gotho
Fender vibrato bridge with synchronisbr /> 3 Gold Lace Sensor pickups
1 volume, 1 and 1 booster TBX medium rather
It's all good ... and nothing to do with the MODEL black picture with his "polka dots"

UTILIZATION

The "ACCS is to treble super.Le handle is gnial.
Good ergonomics, as all strata.
The sound is standard! and is easily obtained if one plugs into an amp lamps preferences.

SOUNDS

I play rock, hard rock and blues and this guitar is versatile.
It is ideally suited my style of music.
I play on a Peavey Classic 212 All tube 50 watts.
The sound is Symple gnial.
Crystalline sounds Gilmour, crunch sounds in positions intermediates and saturated fat thanks to the medium rather booster and Lace Sensor pickups Gold.Ce are worthy of the quality of this guitar and they are much better than those usually found on Start.
Edit of 31/01/2009:
I sold my Peavey for a Kustom 72 Coupe.
It sounds just as well with a more amricain thanks to lamps 6L6 instead of EL34's Peavey.

OVERALL OPINION

I use it for 15 days and frankly I am also availing oneself dingue.Je a PRS Custom 24 20th anniversary and I must say that this has nothing to envy Start cluck saturation despite the PRS is Team of Humbucking.
Its particularity? It is simply stunning in her book Honey Blonde.
The report price is good quality because it is a bit above the sries Deluxe.
29 years after you bought my first Start (1977) and have sold 2 years after financires for reasons I find the same motion while playing it.
I remake this choice with your eyes closed and I still wonder why I waited so long to buy another!