All user reviews for the Fender Stratocaster [1965-1984]

I got this guitar in a starter kit that also came with an amp, tuner, a little manual, some picks, and some other random stuff. It was about $200, I think.

This is an exellent guitar for people learning to play. It's very well made for the price, and has all the features that a more expensive guitar would.

It isn't the best guitar in the world, so it does have minor issues. The action isn't the best, it doesn't stay in tune for very long, and the neck on mine is warped, but that might not happen to everyone.

Like I said, it has certain flaws, but they aren't that bad. You'll be able to deal with them.

Again, the perfect beginner's guitar. Inexpensive, and easy to learn on. For the price, it's almost perfect, so I'm giving it a five.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

i am a 13 year old girl and i wanted an electric guitar i didnt have much money only about $300 i went to brothers music
i was looking at squire by fender and i also wanted an amp but even the small ones were about $150. i was going to buy it when i told the sales associate and he showed me a "strat pack" that came in bass and electric it included a fender stratocaster(new) a large practice amp picks a strap amp cord and electric tuner and an instructional video
the best part was it was only $259 it was a GREAT deal considering a stratocaster without all that stuff was about $500

its very pretty all my friends wish they had mine and it has wide frets wich i like
the neck and the finish are also great

its very durable comsidering i have dropped it about 50 times and it has been stepped on

its a great gituar i recommend it to anybody with a small budget but wants a good quality guitar

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I actually inherited this guitar from my grandpa. but i guess he probalbly paid bout 100 buck or so.

Its really a neat guitar and sounds fine when well tuned, and has a really cool sunburst design in the middle. very simple design. It would be a fine starter guitar if it wasnt so hard to tune. when i first got it it sounded awful but after i got the electrics tightend and got it restrung it sounded great.

wow this guitar has some major probs,It doesnt like to stay tuned for more than an hour. Its not very loud. It tends to make this awful tinny loud when u pluck certain strings. the bass strings are impossible to play and make that awful tingggggggggggggg that makes your ears ring. I would definetly not recommend this to someone who wants to rock.

It has horrible construction! the head is misshaped.the bridge needs to be lowerd and widend. it only has one little pickup.
needs replacements strings because the originals are awful sounding and hurt to play.

please dont buy a conrad. its one of the worst made guitars youll ever find. and unless u receive it for free dont bother on paying your precious $ on it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this second hand from a friend, i had heard really good reports of this guitar, so i played it and loved it. I payed £300 for it, after it had a plec set up. Ed: This guitar has the Kent Armstrong hot and cool rail pickups built in and a tremolo.

It has so many sounds just by mixing the pick ups with the 5 way selector switch. It also sounds so good with the hot rail at the bridge, it gives you a great crunchy sound. The single coil middle pick up is great for recreating Hendrix sounds and the such like. The Kent Armstrong cool rail at the bridge gives a creamy, smooth vintage sound perfect for blues etc. The solid alder body looks fantasic and sounds great. The scale is perfect as i have quite large fingers.

After using the tremlo arm for a while it put the guitar slightly out of tune, but after a quick waggle of the arm it came back in tune.

It's built really robustly and has held up to many long travels, it has been gigged and there is no dammage at all. It is the best quality guitar i have ever played!

Such a great guitar for the price, unbelievable sound.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought this great guitar from Music & Arts Center and by cash because it was incredibily cheap. Instead of getting the Fender Strat pack when i started, I paid a bit more for a sound five to eight times better.

This guitar is one of the greatest out there and its under $200. But don't let the cheap price fool you. It's sound is incredible, it stay in tune for a long time (at least for an electric guitar). Unless you want to make the $1500 climb to better guitars, this is the guitar for you.

Nothing is bad.

The quality on this unit is amazing. It's a single piece of oak wood that makes the sound quality excellent. The pickboard is a solid piece of plastic that helps beginners not to sratch their guitars.

This stylish, affordable guitar will please the owner whether he or she be a beginner or an expert. This is a guitar that even pros love (Jimi Hendrix's guitar), and you will be sure to love it as well.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased this black body, white pickguard, Fender Stratocastor as a pawn shop near the edge of town. I was at the time deciding whether or not to purchase a guitar from the many they had strewed about the racks. It shown through the rest more brilliantly and dazzling than the others. I quickly picked up this fender Strat, plug it into the amp, and played a few chords. Aside from having a horrible strings, and a dint here and there, it was perfection. I managed to talk to cashier down to a mere $100. I nearly broke his arm off, paid him the cash and walked out the door.

The look is very nice. The colors complement each other and are classic. The sound is wonderful. Also, the original labeling, and mechanics are still intact.

The occasional glitch in the paint. I would rather it be American made rather than Mexican. It would be nice if the logo were a bit more attractive.

It's constructed, to the best of my knowledge, very well. There are no visuable manufacturing defets.

It's a wondeful guitar purchased at a very reasonble price. I would buy the same again if I had the chance.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

This 1992 U.S.A. Fender Stratocaster was purchased at a garage sale in Salt Lake City, Utah for $400.00.

When I saw this white guitar, I had to play it.



This white Stratocaster has a Fender/ Wilkinson roller nut, a rosewood fingerboard, unused jumbo frets that do not buzz, three Fender-Lace Sensor single coil pickups, and the original bridge. It also came with a black Fender hard shell case and a brand-new smell.

Once I had this nicely balanced guitar in my hands, I knew I had to have it.



I am use to a Floyd Rose bridge and nut that keeps a guitar in tune no matter how intensely it is violated.

The only disadvantage I can see with the original Fender bridge on this Stratocaster is that it is somewhat stiff and prone, when used intensely, to knocking the guitar out of tune. I believe this bridge problem is correctable with a little custom fine tuning which I have not yet mastered.

The body is in wonderful like-new condition, and the neck is fast with low to moderate action. The electronics are in fine working condition with no "pod creakling" what so ever.

I would truly recommend Fender Stratocasters. The tone is amazing, and the craftsmanship is outstanding! Plug it in, and you are ready to go.


This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I paid £120 From the argos catalogue,
i bought it as my first guitar. This guitar is made in China.

Umm well it looks ok, its got quite a nice plastic black finish to it. it has 22 frets, 3 single coil pickups (im struggling here) and it was quite reliable. is better than a Hohner.

Where do i start? After a little while the neck started to bow, the frets buzzed, if you strummed the strings too hard the truss rod in the neck would vibrate making a horibble noise, there was next to no varnish on the fret bored, the pickups sound so thin and tinny,
when i opened it up i dicovered random bits of metal stuck to the back of the pick ups, screws coming thru from underneath where the trem had been screwed in, cracking paint and badly fitted joints.

awful, looks nice enough from the outside, open it up and find allsorts of surprizes and surplace bits of metal.
This guitar was put together by some blind one armed chinese 5 year old. (poor kid tried his best, what do you want for 3cents an hour)

if u dont want to spend much money then this is the guitar for you! if you are going to buy a squier please (for your own sake) dont buy a chinese one! there are much better budget guitars around like tanglewood or for a bit more an Epiphone.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

A while back around 5 years ago i got my first guitar, it was a fender stratocaster, I played everyday and I still do. I purchased it at New York Music(from boardman Ohio) i paid around 800 dollars for a package with an amp and picks.

I really like this guitar, its flat out good. right out of the box it was ready to play,The real reason why i bought this guitar was the wide range of customization i could get, The Strat was the only guitar for me. You Can get tons of parts for it and upgrade it to the max.

There was nothing really wrong about this guitar, its great for beginners and experts,The neck does over a while though.

The Quality of this guitar is the best, its strong, and durable. It has 22 frets, 3 single coil pickups, its a freat guitar

The bottom line is this is a great guitar for the price,i recommend this product so anyone who is starting off, and wants another guitar, its a very strong,no gimmick guitar that is made by one of the greatest manufactures ever!!!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I bought my Fender guitar at Mars music store. I bought it because when I played it in the store it was easier to play than any other guitar I had played. I saved my money up for about two months to buy it and it was well worth it.

I bought it beacause the sound of it was awesome and pressing on the strings was not that hard on this guitar. I started with this guitar as a learner so it made it a hell of a lot easier.

I don't like the neck of the guitar it's to small and I do not like that I have to tune about after every time I play it.

The quality of this unit is remarkable. I love the fat bottom it has and the color black. All and all its pretty decent guitar.

This guitar is worth the money. It has a nice pitch and easy to press strings and there is hardly anything about it bad. Fender is also one of the top of the line brands. The guitar its self can be played on for years and years.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I wanted to start learning so i bought it from a music shop for about £200 with strings, case, amplifier and tutor video (which was crap) and a lead.



Its easy to play, well constructed and light and looks the part as well. Black and red are the best colours.



Cracks are appearing on the back, and sometimes when a string breaks its annoying and difficult to get the string ball out. also when playing shotgun the pickup selection switch cathces the hand which is annoying.



Well constructed, good quality and looks great although cracks and dents easily.



Great value for money - looks the part, plays well, and overall a great guitar.



This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Fender Stratocaster guitar has to be one of the best instruments it is ever been created. It is where this guitars just has a great feel almost perfect balance. The guitar hasn't change too much as far as features go over the years but it has seen some great improvements along the way. Most of the original design is still intact with the Fender Stratocaster guitar. It still remains to be one of the most highly recognizable can I collect guitars throughout the music industry.


UTILIZATION

This is a three single coil operation. This vintage guitar carries such a huge weight in tone that it makes it hard to play anything else. if you have ever played a mid 70's Strat than you have no idea what you are missing. You are missing a great deal of tone and sound. The look alone on this guitar is fantastic and the sweet vintage white color is remarkable.

SOUNDS

The tone of this guitar is a nice vintage feel so they can go well and pretty much any style of music. Whether you are playing in a country band and all the way up to the hard rock you have seen a Fender Stratocaster featured. It has a tone that is easily recognizable especially on the neck pick up which gives you that soulful blues he cleaned tone that has a robust and bouncy percussive sound. One of my favorite settings with a fender Stratocaster guitar has to be plugged into a nice boss overdrive pedal going into the vintage Marshall amplifier. That tone really gives a great sound that is very reminiscent of the 60s and 70s music scene. It is one of those tones that is inviting and always sounds good and pretty much any musical setting that you put it in.


OVERALL OPINION

You can find a Fender Stratocaster for right around $1100 and pretty much any guitar up an online retailer that you find, but finding one of these for the right price may be a bit tougher. It is a guitar that is easily accessible but this mid 70's will have to go through a high end guitar shop Probably suggest going out and trying a few and getting a feel for what you like and what you don't like. Overall I suggest everyone and every guitar play a Fender Stratocaster at some point in their musical career.

This is one of the infamous CBS era strats that just has an absolutely amazing vibe going on. The guitar has an alder body, a three bolt maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 21 frets, the big CBS headstock, dot inlays, a vintage style tremolo, three single coils, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar is beat to hell, but this thing has one of the most amazing necks I've ever laid my hands on. It's all dirty and grimy from years and years of touring abuse, but it just felt so perfect in my hand. It's been refretted with 6000 frets, so there are no issues with the thing being some fretless wonder style guitar, although the frets on these originally weren't super low. The guitar has the infamous three bolt configuration, and it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. There's no real need to convert it to a four bolt like a few guys try to do. The three bolts will hold the neck fine. The main issue was that the quality control was pretty poor on these, but man if this thing didn't resonate...

SOUNDS

The guitar had all orignal pickups in it, and they had the coolest "woody" kind of tone going on. If you've ever listened to SRV, you'll know what I'm referring to. I actually think the 60s are some of the best pickups out there, and these early 70s ones are very close to my coveted 60s style pickups. The five way switch in this thing allowed me to get some crazy good tones out of this thing. If you're looking for a blues machine, this is exactly the kind of guitar you'd want. If you want to rock like Jimi, this is the guitar. I was just blown away by everything...except the price.

OVERALL OPINION

If you're looking for a solid guitar, and can afford these guitars, I recommend checking them out. I don't recommend rushing out and buying these blind as they can be real iffy in terms of overall quality and tone. I've seen some real dogs around this era, but the ones that are good are simply amazing. This was one of the amazing ones.

The CBS era is a very love or hate era of the famous Fender stratocaster. They went through some major changes, and not everybody liked these changes. On top of that, they were a bit inconsistent, not to mention CBS started to employ bean counters who were pinching on every little thing. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 21 frets, dot inlays, a vintage style 6 point trem, three single coils, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The first thing I noticed about this guitar was that the neck joint on this was pretty awful. It has the three bolt neck, and I'm just not a fan of these. It has shifted slightly off, and the high e is slipping off the fretboard. I worked on moving it towards a more centered position, and while it worked out for a bit, the neck joint is so sloppy that I'm afraid it'll happen again. The frets on this were fairly worn due to its age, and the nut needed to be replaced. The rest of the guitar was pretty good, especially weight wise. Some of these can be a bit heavy, so keep that in mind.

SOUNDS

The guitar had some pretty cool vintage style singles. Well, we call them vintage now, but they were standard pickups back in the day. In the bridge, you have your standard bright and medium output single coil that works great for everything from blues to hard rock. It struggles with metal, but it can pull it off. Just listen to old school Yngwie before he swapped his pickups for noiseless ones. The middle I never use alone, but it got some great funk tones when mixed with the neck and bridge position. The neck was a bit too underpowered for what I tend to play, and I was struggling a bit with how the guitar was setup in combination with this pickup. Great cleans, though.

OVERALL OPINION

These are very hit or miss guitars, and you need to be careful when buying these. Some of these are absolutely amazing and have tone for days. Others are pretty dead sounding or have other QC issues that might cause problems with heavy usage. Be sure to play a few if you can. Buying blind is a bit of a risk, but you can usually sell it for what you paid.

ATTENTION, JUST NOTICE hilarious but NOT RELIABLE
Fender Stratocaster vintage 1973 US MODEL "standard" (equivalent to "American Series" today).
Mine is sunburst with an alder body and neck pice maple fingerboard solid trs.
The head is large, typical of the 70'S.
there is a classic Fender tremolo bridge (I'm using does not DPOS)
21 keys 1 volume knob, 2 tone.
3 single coil alnico pickups are all original.
A 3-position switch (but I always leave the south in position T, I think it's THE fender).
Mine was more a phase inverter / splitter practice (the only part of the guitar is not original, has added a +).
rglage barred from appearing on the sleeve head (typical 70'S).

UTILIZATION

The neck is fabulous for those who love handles but Troit pais typical fender.
CHAC is perfect for acute (up 21me the box ... there is no other then ... but hey that is often much lower ?...).
The shape is the famous contour fender, if we are to believe the brand "trs often copied but never galquot;.
Ergonomics is the same as perfect balance.
Everything is in place for the sound of legends ...

SOUNDS

The sound is vintage but are adapting well trs pop and rock of today and all styles Played clean sounds and soft saturation.
Also for the impeccable funk, jazz, and blues so.
Saturation ....!!!! WAOUHHHHHHHHH vintage hendrixiennes guaranteed!!
but those looking for saturation more "modern" or more "extreme" will turn to MODELS or registered with humbuckers.
is a "vintage" 1973 requires.
I put her in 10/10, I can not get enough both in the clear (clinggg. ..) that saturation (vvvrammm. ..) is the legends of rock at your fingertips.

OVERALL OPINION

I have since 1986.
To me my first purchase for my 20 years in a shop marseille, which no longer exists (rue de la Palud) Premire a hand ...
I tried and I fell!
We often hear that the PERIOD 70's would be the worst of fender PERIOD (CBS).
In fact hendrix played on begins CF career at the end of fender 70's and for example, "The Edge" (U2) and many other stars were among other strata 70'S.
Just the cost and choose "good" because in each fender are all believed.
Mine is a good as I say a pearl, and I sell it for anything in the world (when the makers rglent me wonder of their cder, I know the score but not more than j 've a sentimental attachment to and jou have almost 20 years on it ...)

Start 1977 black, black pickguard
Maple neck Maple button
3 Alnico single coil

UTILIZATION

The handle is one of ease and rve jouabilit. I'm so used to this guitar that I play very hard on another!
Legere and well balance.
I changed the selector to put a 5 positions.

SOUNDS

The original Alnico pickups are excellent, with a preference for the neck pickup for blues.
Only the microphone acute (bridge) I do not like too much (I've often thought the change to a splittable humbucker Seymour Duncan genre but I did not bone denatures that girl!)
I have no amp now but I had a Deluxe reverb lamp and it's deadly! SOUND fender inimitable! The only downside with this kind of amp is to have a sound it must be saturated to almost the bottom and the neighbors do not really like! So I sold (sniff). Now I can plug into a Tubeman on a console. It is more than respectable, but I buy a lamp amp one day (Fender Blues Junior).

OVERALL OPINION

I bought used in 1979 to 2000f Marcel Dadi "himself"!
It's a beautiful guitar that I do not separate myself. Yes the 70's models do not cotent huge (1500euros), but I think it's unreasonable given the quality of these guitars from those of today made with wood and a pretty average finish edge of foutage of mouth (for the price).
I love Fender and I will always be a fan of Fender. Next purchase an amp lamps (Fender) and low (or Precision Jazzbass) vintage 70's of course.
"I love my Start." Mr Leo thank you!

Fender had a knack for making the most superior instruments back in the day. These guitars have been played by almost every guitar player in the word at one time or another. Any guitar who has ever been playing the guitar longer than a few year most likely have picked up owned a Fender Stratocaster at some point. They have been feature on countless recordings and touring from every stage under the sun. They even have a tribute festival dedicated to the guitar it self for its 50th anniversary. So to say that these guitars has left an impression on the musical world would be an understatement.

UTILIZATION

Every thing about this guitar is stable and sturdy. The pickups were wound better in those days but I still would swap these out for some better modern wound single coil pickups. This guitar doesn't take too much to get a great sound out of it. It already sound amazing on its own. The older wood and the craftsmanship is immediately recognized when you first pick up the instrument.

SOUNDS

The tone from this guitar is absolute top notch. This guitar has such a deep soul that is just alluring. This fine instrument is so silky and smooth that is makes you amp sing like it was meant to be together. This guitar will connect with you like no other guitar can and probably ever will. There is a reason why these guitars have been copied the world over and still remain one of the most classic icon on music history. Any of you are into that kind of music you already know that. Other than that it will suit most players just fine. This is an extremely versatile guitar with the 5 way selector switch and three single coil pickups. Any old amp will do with this guitar. This guitar will also work for any style of music except most of the drop tuning stuff. You won't be able to get a deep thick fat metal tone from this guitar.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are no longer available new. They have the same guitar but just in different colors on many retailers websites. If I ever buy another Fender Strat I will have someone take off the lacquer on the back of the neck. I would recommend this guitar to any guitar player. Everyone needs a Fender Strat in their arsenal. A great everyday guitar and a players dream. So many tonal possibilities that will accompany anything musical genre from pop to modern rock.

Fender is probably the biggest music company in the world when it comes to amp and guitars. They have been played all over the world from beginner learning guitar players to the best professionals in the world. Any guitar who has ever been playing the guitar longer than a few year most likely have picked up owned a Fender Stratocaster at some point.

The feel of the instrument has to be the very most important thing to me. Sure it does need to sound right but the feel will be the first determining factor in any future purchase of a guitar. When you first walk into a music store or shop, you pick up the guitar and take a quick strum of the strings without out being plugged into an amp. You can hear the resonance and craftsmanship when hearing it unplugged. These old Fender guitars has such age to them and the wood is also harder now so it resonates even more

UTILIZATION

This guitar doesn't take too much to get a great sound out of it. It already sound amazing on its own. The older wood and the craftsmanship is immediately recognized when you first pick up the instrument. Evey thing about this guitar is stable and sturdy. The pickup s were wound better in those days but I still would swap these out for some better modern wound single coil pickups.

SOUNDS

This guitar has such a deep soul that is just alluring. This fine instrument is so silky and smooth that is makes you amp sing like it was meant to be together. This guitar will connect with you like no other guitar can and probably ever will. There is a reason why these guitars have been copied the world over and still remain one of the most classic icon on music history. The tone from this guitar is absolute top notch.

This is an extremely versatile guitar with the 5 way selector switch and three single coil pickups. Any old amp will do with this guitar. This guitar will also work for any style of music except most of the drop tuning stuff. You won't be able to get a deep thick fat metal tone from this guitar. Any of you are into that kind of music you already know that. Other than that it will suit most players just fine.

OVERALL OPINION

You can still find these guitars in some specialty shops or dealers who specialize in vintage guitars. They do cost quite a little bit but less than ,nay custom shops that are sold new today. It is a great guitar and has a fantastic feel and touch tot he neck.

CBS USA, roswood handle end 21 frets, alder body!

UTILIZATION

Channel fabulous!

SOUNDS

Its very close to the L series of Gallagher (Rory of course)
Used on two amps: Fender Super 60 lamps + lamps Marshall DSL 401
Position 4 very Rock, positions 1 & 2 fabulous!

OVERALL OPINION

Used since 2003, light and very catchy (we did not want to leave)
On the mine it has no price given the sound! If I find one I buy the same!