Fender Deluxe Double Fat Strat HH

Fender has been building guitars for half a century now and they have changed little about the classic American Fender Strat that has made them so famous. Sometimes you have variations of pickups and different tops, but the overall design hasn't changed much. These guitars have been so popular that nothing other than the Fender telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul have made such a huge impact on the guitar world. If has even given much inspiration to modern guitar builders of today. Many other builders have copied this design and body shape and some have made it better but nothing says rock n roll like an Stratocaster. This one guitars is called a fat Strat because it doesn't have single coil pickups but two humbuckers installed.

UTILIZATION

Specifications:

MODEL NAME: Deluxe Strat HH
SERIES: Deluxe Series
COLORS: (306) Black, (343) Pewter, (Polyester Finish)
BODY: Alder
NECK: Maple, Modern "C" Shape, (Satin Polyurethane Finish)
MACHINE HEADS: Fender/Ping Vintage Style Tuning Machines
FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, 9.5" Radius (241 mm)
NO. OF FRETS: 21 Medium Jumbo Frets
PICKUPS: 2 Tex-Mex™ Fat Strat Humbucking Pickups (Neck and Bridge)
CONTROLS: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup)
BRIDGE: Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
PICKUP SWITCHING: 5-Position Blade, Special Switching: Position 1. Full Bridge Humbucker, Position 2. Both Inside Single Coils, Position 3. Both Full Humbuckers, Position 4. Outer Coil of Neck Pickup, Position 5. Full Neck Humbucker
HARDWARE: Chrome
STRINGS: Fender Super Bullet 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003
CASE: Deluxe Gig Bag
PICKGUARD: 3-Ply Black
SCALE LENGTH: 25.5" (648 mm)
WIDTH AT NUT: 1.6875" (43 mm)
UNIQUE FEATURES: Large '60s Style Headstock, Transition Logo, Black Plastic Parts and Pickup Covers
ACCESSORIES: Deluxe Gig Bag

SOUNDS

I like having the two humbucker in the guitar but I wish it had a couple single coils in the middle and neck position. This guitar is beautiful on top of a beautiful tone. The tone of this guitar is just one of a kind. The two humbuckers give more of a superstart style, but doesn't nail eh Charvel thing at all in my opinion. Sure other builders have build a better sounding and more versatile strats and certainly Charvel has taken the STrat platform and build the world's first superstrats, but this is classic and original. Something to be said about the original.

This guitars features two pickups cascading up the body and a selector switch. Not too much as far as features go but this guitar is a player's dream. This is the same thing as you would get in a new Charvel guitars and those guitars in my opinion are far more superior to this and plus they use better pickups. IN every Charvel you get either Seymour Duncan pickups or DImarzio's.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are harder ti fond now ad days. And I think most of the buying public for these guitars are in Japan and Australia. I actually think they are built in Japan. I would pass on this guitar and buy a newer made in Japan Charvel. Those guys are required to go to luthier school unlike our American builders from Mexico.

The Stratocaster has been around for almost 60 years now and there have been a ton of varations. If you can think of it there has been a strat made like it. The Fat strat came around in the 70s when people want a heavier sound from their guitar. Soon after the double fat strat came out. This model is not as popular as the fat strat but it has still been around. The double fat strat is basically a stratocaster with two humbuckers. The specs on this guitar are pretty basic for a strat. It has a poplar body with a maple neck. The neck has a 21 fret rosewood fretboard. The neck has a 9 inch radius so it is pretty vintage. It has the large 70s headstock which I prefer but most people hate. The example I tried out had aftermarket pickups which I will talk about later. This example had a volume knob for each pickup and a master tone knob switched with a 3 way blade selector. I do not think these controls are standard.

UTILIZATION

The playability of this guitar is pretty stratty. The neck is no super flat but it is alright. The frets are medium. The set up on this model was pretty good. The strat shape basically is very comfortable. The square heel for the bolt on neck gets in the way if you are playing up top. The non locking trem goes out of tune if you use it so dont.

SOUNDS

I cant really tell you how the stock Tex-Mex humbuckers sound because this guitar had aftermarket pickups installed. It had a set of EMG's installed. It is kind of like a budget Jim Root signature Stratocaster. It had a set of EMG's with the 81 in the bridge and the 85 in the neck. You do not see many stratocasters outfitted like this for heavy metal. The 81 is a very common bridge pickup for metal. It has a nice high end crunch and decent low end. It retains clarity no matter how much gain you are using. The 85 is good in every position. Most people use it in the neck along with the 81 in the bridge. In the neck the 85 is great for high gain leads and has an alright clean tone. I think this model is discontinued now so I havent had many come through the shop so if I get a stock one I will update this review.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars were never super popular because of the humbuckers. If you play a strat you play it because you like the way it sounds. People who like strats like single coils. Many can handle a splittable single in the bridge but when you go two humbuckers you lose a lot of the unique tones a strat gets with the middle pickup. This guitar is like Gibson making an SG with 3 single coils. It is pretty much opposite of what the established fanbase looks for in a guitar. But for people who are not normally fans of the guitar it can be a way to get them to buy it. People like me who are not the biggest strat fans like a guitar like this because you can get the feel of the strat with the familiar humbucker sound. If you are like me and want to like strats but cant do with the single coil tone this guitar is for you.