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MGR/Turco « Fender Classic Series ´50s Strat »
Published on 11/16/03 at 15:00I get the guitar thru a friend from a guitar store. I´ve paid $935 for the unit(I´m outside the USA, so is not a bad price at all).
I was looking for a maple fingerboard Strat since I already have an American Floyd Rose Classic Strat (Floyd Rose tremolo, HSS pickup config) and wanted a dose of pure classic Strat sound.
The American is awesome, but with DiMarzio PAF Pro hum and 2 standard single coil (plus the Floyd trem) just can´t be as vintage as I wanted.
The look: the guitar finish is simply awesome. The neck is perfect, no defects at all. The tinted maple neck is a beauty. Mine is two color sunburst and is so well finished that is hard to determine where the wood junctions are (it really looks like 1 piece alder body!!). I would like the Daphne Blue version but I was lucky getting this one, I live in Argentina and many things are unavailable, specially on these bad days we are running; So I´m grateful having this one.
The feel and playability: comfortable "V" shape neck, nice for open chords and phrasing. The maple fingerboard behaves very expresive when finger picking; I just love this. I felt this neck more comfortable than the American Series Strat but if you´re looking for an Ibanez fast neck type then this one is not for you.
The body is maybe smaller than an American Series, very comfortable too.
I think the guitar´s weight is similar to the American Series.
The sound: Ultra ultra clear. Neck PU very SRV likes (not so hot, but close) Mid PU nice David Gilmour sound and Bridge PU with good bite. Neck+Mid PU, airy rhythm sound, very detailed for finger picking and arpeggio executing. Mid+Bridge PU, I liked this blend but can´t get a comparition that depict the sound you get with it.
The noise: all the PU positions have it´s noise dose. No noise cancelling on pos 2&4 at all. Is a little annoying but I believe you can deal with that.
The machine heads aren´t perfectly aligned, is not that bad but I don´t have any other complaints to fill this section.
Maybe I should read all the questions BEFORE I start writing, but for the moment please refer to the "Likes" section to get the info about quality and contruction you´re looking.
Uh, I´ve got something to add: This is a MIM guitar. The quality achieved on this Classic line is very close (if not better in some cases) to the MIA series. I´m serious: I´ve played alternating my American Classic Floyd Rose Series (remember this is an American Special Series) and this ´50s babe for a while and I´ve noticed this: equal quality construction and beautiful tone (while different) on both guitars.
I´ve played some MIA Standard Series (and an ugly "American Traditional" series) that sounded and felt just as ugly as my fat ass.
So the Mexican buddies have a very well done instrument. And for a reasonable price.
Congratulations and thanks pals.
I´ve never played a "real" vintage Strat but I guess this guitar must be close to that sound: very clean (while a little noisy on the background) classic guitar.
As you´re suspecting at this stage I liked the guitar a lot.
Highly recommended.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I was looking for a maple fingerboard Strat since I already have an American Floyd Rose Classic Strat (Floyd Rose tremolo, HSS pickup config) and wanted a dose of pure classic Strat sound.
The American is awesome, but with DiMarzio PAF Pro hum and 2 standard single coil (plus the Floyd trem) just can´t be as vintage as I wanted.
The look: the guitar finish is simply awesome. The neck is perfect, no defects at all. The tinted maple neck is a beauty. Mine is two color sunburst and is so well finished that is hard to determine where the wood junctions are (it really looks like 1 piece alder body!!). I would like the Daphne Blue version but I was lucky getting this one, I live in Argentina and many things are unavailable, specially on these bad days we are running; So I´m grateful having this one.
The feel and playability: comfortable "V" shape neck, nice for open chords and phrasing. The maple fingerboard behaves very expresive when finger picking; I just love this. I felt this neck more comfortable than the American Series Strat but if you´re looking for an Ibanez fast neck type then this one is not for you.
The body is maybe smaller than an American Series, very comfortable too.
I think the guitar´s weight is similar to the American Series.
The sound: Ultra ultra clear. Neck PU very SRV likes (not so hot, but close) Mid PU nice David Gilmour sound and Bridge PU with good bite. Neck+Mid PU, airy rhythm sound, very detailed for finger picking and arpeggio executing. Mid+Bridge PU, I liked this blend but can´t get a comparition that depict the sound you get with it.
The noise: all the PU positions have it´s noise dose. No noise cancelling on pos 2&4 at all. Is a little annoying but I believe you can deal with that.
The machine heads aren´t perfectly aligned, is not that bad but I don´t have any other complaints to fill this section.
Maybe I should read all the questions BEFORE I start writing, but for the moment please refer to the "Likes" section to get the info about quality and contruction you´re looking.
Uh, I´ve got something to add: This is a MIM guitar. The quality achieved on this Classic line is very close (if not better in some cases) to the MIA series. I´m serious: I´ve played alternating my American Classic Floyd Rose Series (remember this is an American Special Series) and this ´50s babe for a while and I´ve noticed this: equal quality construction and beautiful tone (while different) on both guitars.
I´ve played some MIA Standard Series (and an ugly "American Traditional" series) that sounded and felt just as ugly as my fat ass.
So the Mexican buddies have a very well done instrument. And for a reasonable price.
Congratulations and thanks pals.
I´ve never played a "real" vintage Strat but I guess this guitar must be close to that sound: very clean (while a little noisy on the background) classic guitar.
As you´re suspecting at this stage I liked the guitar a lot.
Highly recommended.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com