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Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar
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The Fender American Stratocaster Electric Guitar is a Fender icon. Juicy upgrades include a richer, deeper neck tint for a more elegant and expensive appearance; glossed neck front for improved looks with satin back for smooth playability; and bent steel Fender saddles with classic look and great tone. String spacing is narrowed for modern playability, saddle height...
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Searched Fender American Standard Stratocaster Electric Gui in Reviews
A classic, an absolute classic 
| Sound |
The Fender Stratocaster has one of the most recognizable tones since its introduction in 1954. You have some mellow and shining cleans, with the 5 combination's of the 3 single coil pickups. If you ever heard guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler or David Gilmour, then you know how the Stratocaster sounds like, its very distinct and unique sound. This guitar goes well not only with clean sounds, but also with overdrive crunches and light to medium distortions.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
I got a used one, and I made the setup myself. Pretty easy to setup, worth mentioning.
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| Reliability & Durability |
The Stratocaster is build to last. There are some guitars around for more than 40 years, and with the time they seem to sound even better. The white plastic parts tend to age becoming yellow, but most people like the fact, that's the famous "vintage look". I've never seen anyone having problem with a Stratocaster during a gig, the guitar holds severe abuse.
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| Customer Support |
Never had to contact Fender.
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| Liked about it |
1) Absolutely awesome clean tone;
2) Awesome crunch tone;
3) Great feel and playability.
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| Didn't like |
1) Not suitable to high gain distortions;
2) Plastic parts go yellow with the time (most people actually like this);
3) Too many fake units, you must take care when buying one.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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as american as apple pie
| Sound |
The guitar is world renound for its unique sound.With this guitar you get the timeless sound of Fender, and probably half of the music of the world has used this guitar in it.On the neck pickup you get the classic bell type bluesy sound, no matter what you play it through .Alot of other guitars try to immitate this sound so you know it is sought after.On the bridge pickup you get the classic rock sound you hear in almost all american classic rock, and i don't need to name the names, just look up rock and roll hall of fame.I wouldn't recommend this guitar for metal, but iv'e seen it done, this guitar was meant to go right out of the box, plug it in and rock, and get the sound you wanted American Fender Stratacaster sound.I use mine for blues and jazz but thats what i got it for and nothing does it better.Theres nothing that sounds exactly like a strat but a strat.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
When i got the guitar it was set up with higher than normal action, but i lowered it and got no buzz.The pickups are noisy on distortion, but thats the way the single coil originals are supposed to sound, and you get the noise when changing pickup selections .That's just part of this guitar, and thats the way they've been, and that's the sound we all love.Mine is black, and it has a tortiose shell pickguard . The paint is holding up nice which sucks, because i want my Fender aged looking, hahaha a Fender looks best when it looks like crapp.The neck is rosewood, and the frets are done up pretty good. It could use a thinner neck though, but im sure it wouldn't sound the same, so it is o.k.The guitar handles bends well, and stays in tune, but i wouldn't suggest using the tremelo bar much. I snap strings, and it doesn't hold tune that well when pulling it hard.
Over all it's a quality guitar, that will stand the test of time, and value will go up as age does .For instance a 70's model can go for 20,000, good investment huh?
I would suggest a graphite nut, and saddles for better tuning stability, and good for tone also.
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| Reliability & Durability |
Since the older ones are sought after, they must still play good huh ? They look better beat up, so hopefully the paint is bad, but i've seen some pretty mint 70's model strats.I have not had any problems with mine ever, i just change strings and use Dunlop polish on the neck, and thats it .
The neck has a stripe of wood on the back, to make it less prone to warping, and helps stabalize it, so thats a plus.I would always recommend a backup with this one,due to string breakage. They are pretty prone to it compared to my Ibanez guitars.
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| Customer Support |
I never had to contact them, but a company that old has to be doing something right, and im sure they stand by their product.
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| Liked about it |
The sound is irreplacable there is nothing thats going to do the intended job of this guitar except it.I love just having it because you dont rock unless you have this guitar it should be awarded a seat in the rock and rol,l hall of fame but it might i just havnt heard of it yet.The thing is just blues heaven and i play some U2 with it too it is a blast.The heasdstock is probably the most recognizable part of any rock and roll instrument and will always be that way.The case it comes in is unique to others it like missing part of it making it smaller and easier to carry around.It sounds great clean and thats the main reason i love it some of my other guitar fall way short of having a nice rich clean tone for playing beautiful music.And like i said before there is nothing that can replace the sound of this guitar ever.
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| Didn't like |
The tuning stability could be better after so many years of making this guitar, but maybe a newer trem could effect the sound of this guitar.I've never seen a strat with a crazy paint job from Fender, like the neon color of the rg550,but always the classic, maybe classy colors.
Also they need more strats with a floyd rose from u.s.a., that have a locking nut. Would be cool . And for god sake man, 22 frets when you could have 24 frets, that's like getting (old) man. But that's probably why they are so unique. They never change, and stand the test of time, and remain a classic american rock and roll/blues guitar.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
 By andrewsfury Dec 29, 2009
Last updated: January 06, 2010
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A classic guitar that transcends boundaries
| Sound |
I use this Strat with an Egnater Mod 50 head with the Bassman and SL2 modules. For cabs, I use either a Mesa or Marshall 4x12. Well, if you haven't heard a good example of a Strat, you must be living under a rock. Clapton, Malmsteen, Trower, Johnson, Adrian Smith, Gilmore have all made their mark on music with the simple and yet very effective Fender Strat. The sound is very distinctive yet all sorts of tones can be conjured from it. The particular strat I am reviewing is an early 90's American Standard. In recent years Fender has made a lot of improvements on the Strat with regards to finishing, tuners, bridge, etc, but these are small and don't have a particularly huge impact on the sound. No matter what you do to a strat short of putting in humbuckers, it should still sound like a Strat. My American standard has your typical Stratty sounds; a bright bridge pickup, an even middle pickup, and a warm bell-like neck pickup, with nice quacking in between positions. I am not a big fan playing alot of heavy distortion with my Strat, but don't tell that to Yngwie Malmsteen or Billy Corgan! In all honestly, this guitar can be used for pretty much anything short of high octane metal. You would need to definitely do a pickup change for some really heavy sounds, but otherwise it can cover pretty much any genre. Along with the Les Paul, the Strat is one of the most versatile guitars ever made. If you don't believe me, just listen back through the last 50+ years of recorded music.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
I won't comment on the set up from the factory since I purchased this guitar second hand. Everything looked pretty awesome except for two things. The first is just my personal preference and that is that the guitar had the 'swimming pool route'. The swimming pool route is where they actually route out a big rectangle for the pickup cavity instead of individual routes for each pickup. This is cool if you want to use a bunch of humbuckers, but I didn't buy my Strat to replace the singles with humbuckers. This leaves less wood to resonate, which theoretically will affect the tone. I am not sure to what degree the tone is affected, but I would prefer as much wood as possible. My second gripe is a relatively glaring finish flaw under the clear coat. They managed to leave an almost bubble of paint that protruded above the rest and was very obvious. I don't really get too bothered by that kind of stuff, but that is not acceptable for a new guitar. On the upside, the neck has a really nice satin finish on it, which is really comfortable to play; very fast and smooth. Other than that, the guitar looks great!
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| Reliability & Durability |
I have owned this guitar for around 6 years and it has held up fine. From cold to hot climates, this baby had no issues. I would never gig without a backup, but that is more of an issue with string breakage than anything.
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| Customer Support |
Never had to deal with them
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| Liked about it |
Classic sounds
Classic Looks
Great neck!
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| Didn't like |
Unnecessarily large pickup routing scheme (although, they might have changed the new Std's to a smaller route)
Not too beefy with high gain
Some finish flaws point to lax QC
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.0 |
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Worth ever penny
| Sound |
The sound is exactly what you would expect from a Fender, both "punchy" and "buttery".
I play all kinds of music...what ever my heart tells me to play.
I use SIT 9's for strings.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
When I got mine, it did not need to be setup at all but I did have new strings put on and they do a setup for free so there is that.
These guitars play like a real dream. The necks are so smooth and clean feeling.
No flaws, no issues just a perfect guitar!
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| Reliability & Durability |
Built like a tank! I smacked it several times and it never went out of tune.
The paint is a glossy black that shines for days.
These guitars are built to last a lifetime.
5 way switch works great.
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| Customer Support |
Never had an issue.
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| Liked about it |
#1. The neck, like butter.
#2. The tone, it has something pure to say....listen...you hear that?
#3. The look, she is so pretty.
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| Didn't like |
I wish it came with locking tuners like my American Deluxe did. That's the only "bad" thing I can say.
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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4.5 |
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the 'standard' guitar
| Sound |
This guitar sounds great. Mine has lace sensor gold pickups, and the guitar sounds like a dream. The neck and middle pickups sound very warm and tubular when clean, but can handle some crunch without a problem. The bridge pickup is very bright and sharp. The pickup gives me a nice growl with some high gain. Sometimes though, the bridge pup is too trebly, and the neck pup can get very muddy. this only happens though when the guitar is given too much gain, or the tone knob is in the wrong position.
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| Action, Fit, & Finish |
The guitar came to me new, and the action was perfect. The guitar was easy to deal with, and is very comfortable. The neck was perfect for those cool, comfortable chords, and it felt like, well, a strat neck.
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| Reliability & Durability |
This guitar was built in 1991. The only visible wear is on the neck, and the white pickguard as slightly yellowed. This guitar hasn't suffered a single ding or scratch, even after so many years of being played
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| Customer Support |
never had a problem with fender or any of their products
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| Liked about it |
very good sound
has that 'standard' electric guitar look
reliability and durability
very versatile sound
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| Didn't like |
heavy
sometimes too warm
they aren't all made in USA
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| Overall satisfaction: |
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5.0 |
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internal use: spec98 spec474
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