Fender Stratacoustic

First, let's be clear on one thing - this is a Squier guitar, and not a Fender guitar. OK? it's a $200 instrument, which I believe gives you plenty for those bucks.

The finish is nice but simple satin brown-stain, neck is same tye of satin finish with dark (rosewood) fretboard, standard bolt-on Strat 22 frets, and easy to access truss rod. Machine heads are tight and smooth, not loose. The body is classic Strat double cutaway but using a fibreglass shell instead of the standard solid wood, tough and light, and there is an oval sound hole, allowing for some projection. I'll get to that later. The bridge is acoustic-style with pegs.

The pickup is installed under the bridge, and really does the job well. It makes the guitar suitable for any style, really. It delivers on acoustic fingerstyle, acoustic strumming, electric picking, electric overdrive soloing, heavy chords, power chords, distorted screaming soloing etc. The trick is, keep this beauty plugged-in, even when playing acoustic, it does not have the depth when unplugged. When plugged, everything changes, be sure to use minimal settings on your effects pedal, and you will get a rich, full, soft/satiny/crisp acoustic tone, depending on what you like. What I really appreciate is the sustain - you cannot get that kind of sustain from solid body guitars without tons of electronics! The equalizer is very useful three-band type. Also I got rid of the crappy factory strings, and put on D'Adario .009 electrics, and the sound brightened up immediately. I can play Stairway to Heaven or Closer To The Heart without a pick, and it sounds great. On the other hand, I can play the solo part with overdrive, and it sounds great too.

Action is high, as in an acoustic guitar, there is no need to lower it, cause the pickup is under the bridge and is very sensitive. You don't really need to get closer to it. Get a thinner bridge if you absolutely must lower the action. The body is thicker than a regular strat, and that makes it comfortable to hold than a real strat, and seated, you won't need a strap, which by the way, is not included. A few scratches on the body, but what's perfect in this life? Does not dampen my enthusiasm for this guitar.

Never, played live, cannot tell you. Even if i did, I would not toss it in the air, smash it on the speakers or ram it into the amps, it might break.

All hardware seemd very solid, so no reason to be afraid it will crap out on you, but for 200 bucks, you can buy a Telecoustic as a spare. Looks pretty cool too, so that's what I did anyway.

Havent's tried yet.

Umm, basically that's it. Love the feel and look AND sound as well. Beware of thick gauge strings - they really take the life out of the sound. I believe that this instrument is meant to be played plugged in, so experiment with different electric string gauges to see what gives best sound. For me .009 does the trick.

Beautiful satin finish, solid bolt-on neck construction, reinforced adjustible electric 22-fret neck, seems like a standard Strat neck, rock-solid fiberglass box. Looks fantastic. Body is exactly like a classic Strat with a sound chamber and an oval soundhole. Bridge is like on an acoustic guitar, with pegs. Very solid and pleasant to handle. Acoustic pickup installed under the bridge, and a 3-band equalizer making it possible to shape the sound as desired.

This guitar MUST be played with soft strings, it does not have the depth and the dynamic range to support the factory-installed .012 or .013 acoustic strings. At best you will get a scratchy and shallow sound, but make no mistake: this is not an indication of the guitar's bad sound. I threw them out right away and installed .09 electric strings (.10 will work also) and the sound improved 75%. It merely works as a purely acoustic guitar, but when plugged in, it really shines. Use hall reverb and as little processing as possible to use the guitar's acoustic capabilities. On the other hand, use effects for screaming, overdriven sound of an electric axe. Sounds fabulous either way, with very good sustain - better than any of my electrics, including Ibanez. Electric strings make it possible to use it as either acoustic or electric. The equalizer is very handy to control sound on different types of equipments. The pickup is sensitive, and versatile. I'll repeat again, this guitar is GREAT as electric or plugged-in acoustic.

Action cannot be changed, that's just the way it is - it's an acoustic bridge, inless you change the bridge piece. But it's fine. The neck needed just minor adjustments, and worked fine. No problem with the electric controls whatsoever. Finish not 100 perfect, but then what is? Acceptable.

Hardware seems rock-solid, the soundboard is small enough to offer solidity, but there is one minor warp-like flaw, which I can live with. I don't play live, and even if I did, I would avoid smashing the guitar on the speakers, tossing it in the air, or setting it on fire. Use it well, and it will last a long time.

not tried

Overall superb guitar, excellent value for $200 Canadian bucks. Would definitely buy another one, if stolen or broken. What I like the most is the creative way Fender mixes acoustic/electric features. Most guitars in this class are acoustic with amplification. This one is a perfect hybrid - a true electric guitar design, with a sound chamber instead of a solid body, and an acoustic bridge. IT will appeal more to an electric guitarist who wants an acoustic sound with electric playability and performance. I personally love its Ovation-like sound when plugged it.

Onboard EQ

Dude, it's a plastic guitar, I only bought it for it's looks. I thought it looked cool, so I bought it. Through an amp it's OK, acoustic's kind of lacking. I am suprised that it doesn't feedback through my amp(Mosfet & 1960 4x12.

After dropping the bridge & shimming the neck, the action is fine. I have an Alvarez that I hate playing due to the neck, I never liked acoustic necks, but I like this one (probably because it's an electric neck)

This guitar looks like if it fell it would break....let's just hope it doesn't fall.

Fender is a great company. I love 'em.

I've been playing metal since 1986. I prefer Carvin's & Jackson's but have in the past few years been leaning towards Fender. This guitar looks kick ass, I've always wanted one just for that. I also saw another stratacoustic with a Kramer neck, or perhaps just Kramer's own Stratacoustic. I almost bought it too.........if I had to play this all the time I would most likely swap the "Strat" neck for a Carvin bolt neck. Just remeber if you buy this you will have to take the bridge saddle down and adjust the neck, like I said shimming worked just fine for me.

It realy doesn't matter if it doesn't work.

I have been very disappointed with the sound from this guitar. The body is plastic and thin, very weak, empty sound. I got caught up in the way it looks and convinced myself that it would work great for me. Plugged into a good acoustic amp, it got better, but the balance is way out.

The only thing worse than the sound was the way it played. For a guitar made to look like an electric guitar, it has horrible action. I understand that dropping the bridge helps, but I never could get it low enough. The strings are too close together and make it hard to play open chords. The I thought it would be great for barchords, but the action and neck don't make that easy either.

The pins need replaced after most of them have broken. The pickup doesn't work on the E string very well. The finish is horribly scratched.

I have had this guitar for 5 or 6 years and while it is fun to look at, It doesn't play well for me. I fell into some money and replaced it with a Martin DC16. There is no comparison, but I also have a Samik that is 11 years old and i would play that over this fender any chance I got. I always hoped that the fender would find a place where it would shine, but it doesn't do anything well that I have found. My mistake was not comparing it other guitars in its price range. I would have realized it wasn't for me. Now I am having problems getting rid of it.

2005 (Crafted) in China
21 Frets on Strat style neck
Laminated Spruce top
Undersaddle pick-up
Fishman Classic 4 pre-amp w/vol,lo,mid,hi and brillance slider controls
Maple neck, Fiberglass back and sides
Glossy Black finish on top and matte black (non-skid) finish on side and back
Strat style body w/ oval sound hole
Chrome generic tuners
Comes with Fender gig bag

After reading some other user reveiws I find it amusing that someone could purchase this guitar and then be surprised by the sound. The very first thing I did was remove the Classic 4 pre-amp. This was replaced with a new Fishman Prefix Plus system with fantastic results. I do not play this guitar un-plugged. It is plugged into a Fishman Aura Acoustic Imaging Blender thru a Behringer Eurorack UB802 mixer and then to a Fender Acoustisonic 30 Amp. The thing sounds fantastic, how could it not. I love the size of the guitar its small size make it easy to play seated on the couch. I also run it thru my Behringer V-Amp 2 if I want an electric sound.

Action was high initially. I replaced the tuners with a set of gold Grovers that I found on E-Bay for $25.00. I installed Elixir Nanoweb .010's and custom fit a new nut to achieve the best possible action. The neck required some adjustment of the truss rod and I also lowered the bridge by sanding, all with great results. So the action and fit sucked out of the box, but what do you expect for a $250.00 guitar! I also found a gold jack plate on E-Bay so I now plug in from the front. Just like a regular Strat. Looks very cool.

I don't do any live playing although I have some lively sessions at home from time to time. This guitar feels tough and I think it with last with only the normal care that I give any guitar. Strap buttons were replaced with gold ones as well. All of these components are now quality stuff. I know it's dependable.

I've never dealt with FMIC for anything so I can't comment. I did buy the extended warranty from Guitar Center a time of purchase but after all these mods I don't think they will do much under warranty.

If this guitar were stolen I would be pissed. It was bought with the idea that I would change some things. I got a little carried away but the end result is a guitar that looks great, (all that gold and black is cool) sounds great and is a pleasure to play. I have never modified any guitar prior to this so it was interesting to make all these mods. Anyone that has seen it can't say enough good about it. There were no surprise's when I bought this. It's a low end instrument and it sounded and played accordingly. I'm really happy with what I have now.

Chinese built Stratacoustic. Probably not the best decision by Fender for a product. Look for discontinuation. Exactly as described in other reviews.

I have a couple of hollow-body acoustic/electric guitars built by other manufacturers. What you get with the stratacoustic is low volume unplugged. Don't be suprised, this is typical of all Narrow Hollow-bodied guitars; that accounts for the electrification. Also, don't expect a "typical Strat - it isn't going to be with a Fishman Acoustic -wire (in the )Bridge pickup. Practice with it unplugged, then play amp'd up.

Read what I submitted under "Sound". This isn't a regular Strat, so don't expect it to be. The strings are too high and it is hard on the fingers. I recommend a trip to a trusted set-up techie, out of the box. I received an extra bridge, so what the hey - I cut the original as low as I could. That was step one. I probably lucked out, but I haven't noticed any fret buzz related to my alteration - yet. Step two is going to be a good set of light electric strings. Factory strings are too heavy. Also, I don't seem to get as much volume from the high "E" (no.1) string as the others.

Did I say this is not your regular Strat yet? Don't think it was intended to be. If you're playing metal, grunge, rock, or bending/shaping unique sounds, pass on this guitar. It won't live long - get a solid-body guitar. If you are playing contemporary, modern, country, christian (me) etc. This will be a good second guitar (emphasis on second), and good when you need to have a little amplitude (powered sound) - at least for the discounted sale price.

If it didn't have the Fender name on it, and wasn't on sale, I would have passed. Limited lifetime warranty, I trust Fender to back it up.

This Guitar makes a good practice and learning tool for me, not necessarily intended for performance. I have played all my life, reworked and set up several guitars. Surely I can find a way to make this Guitar work. REMEMBER, YOU CAN/SHOULD ALWAYS GO BY YOUR LOCAL GUITAR CENTER AND CHECK IT OUT/TALK TO SOMEONE BEFORE YOU BUY.

21 fret chinese strat body w/stock tuners. Looks good and plays bad.

Pluigged in it doesn't sound as bad as unplugged but don't think that matters, either way it's junkie sounding. Kinda like a coke can with strings attached.

Action very high yet I still get buzzing on a few frets. Everything else looks ok though.

It's plastic - what can I say. It'll probably survive the next nuclear holocaust along with all the throw-away baby diapers.

Playing 25 years, too long to have been suckered into buying this thing. I guess it is what it is though and for 179.00, well...I was gonna say you can't go wrong, but I did. Save up enough cash to buy three of these and get a real acoustic!!! Avoid recording wih i all all costs, you'll give your recording engineer a brain tumor in about 2 minutes trying to figure out a good mic placement - there isn't one. Almost better to run straight into a good pre and go from there.

Already well-described in previous reviews. Like just about everyone else's, mine is black wooden top on black stippled fibreglass. Some reviews have described the top as spruce, but I think it is more likely to be spruce laminate or somesuch. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. The tumers are non-locking and not of particularly high quality, which pretty much describes the whole package, really. The electronics a very basic Fishman brand, although I suspect they too are the product of a factory in Asia somewhere. It is actually strange that Fender put its name to this one, given its mainland Asia origin. More bottom-end Squier really.

Like other reviewers, I believe the unplugged sound to be somewhat uninspiring, but what do you expect. It is a cheap thin-line acoustic with a synthetic body. It is not going to compete with a Martin or even a Yamaha student. But then again, at this price you can leave the Fender in the corner unattended with a lot more confidence than you can a Martin costing 10 times as much.

Plugged in, you need to work the Fishman volume slider and Eq on you amp to avoid the dreaded howl of feedback. The sound leans more towards the electro than the acoustic, but hey if you want it the other way you wouldn't buy something that looks like a Strat, would you?

I bought it as a travel guitar. If it doesn't work out, at the price I will simply sell it and cut my losses.

The action is high, as you would expect on an electro acoustic. Having said this, I can still get fretbuzz on a couple of points on the neck. I am not too sure just how much scope the guitar has for tinkering to resolve this problem.

Some people have expressed a dislike for the stippled fibreglass body. It is something I actually find of value. Have you every tried to play a medium Ovation bowlback sitting down? Wait until you have before you level too much criticism at the Stratacoustic.

The strings are about 11s with a wound G string, as you would expect on an electroacoustic. I am not so sure that it would benefit sound-wise from putting lighter strings on it. It already lacks bass projection and lighter strings willl simply exacerbate that problem. While some electroacoustics claim to be user friendly for electric players, to me it is really more a matter of degrees. The more like an electric they try to be, the more they sound like an unplugged electric. The Stratacoustic is a classic example of this.

I suspect (hope) that this thing is bulletproof. It is going to spend too much time in aircraft holds for it to be too precious. The fibreglass body should contribute to it providing a long, if rough, life.

I bought it from Billy Hyde's Music in Parramatta Australia. They seemed like good people and came recommended by others. Time will tell.

I have 40+ years of on and off playing and play a range of electrics including other Fenders, a Les Paul, a PRS, Steinberger and a Line 6 500. Acoustically, I have a Taylor, an Ovation, an older Fender dreadnought, and Ibanez and an Art & Lutherie dread.

I pretty much knew what I was buying with the Stratacoustic. I had been looking to try one out for some time and just happened across it while window shopping. It was an opportunistic purchase to fill a particular need for a rugged cheap electroacoustic.

There is nothing I could say that I 'love' about it, or 'hate' about it for that matter. It feels sturdy and light. These are qualities I look for in a travel guitar. Great action, sound and plush feel are simply luxuries that I usually do without and nothing is different in this case.

The only other thing like it, besides an Ovation Viper (way too expensive to throw in an aircraft hold), is the Fender Acoustasonic Strat (hollowed out alder body with carbonfibre soundboard). Like the Stratacoustic, it too is hard to come by in Australia and it too gets mixed reviews, so the choice was clear. Show me the money! (that I saved buying the Stratacoustic).

While I would prefer not to, I believe I could gig with it, provided the amp I was using was able to tame the likely feedback.

2005 model, made in China. 21 frets, wooden top with fibreglass or maybe plastic back. It's not a bowlback like an Ovation, it's a regular strat shape, a bit more than twice the thickness and no body contours. Has a Fishman pickup and pre-amp which is activated when plugged in. This has volume/bass/middle/treble/brilliance slider controls.

Maple neck with rosewood (I guess) fingerboard. Black top which goes quite well with the black fibreglass body.

Neck feels quite nice, about the same as my 80's Jap strat. Not too fat, but comfortable and quite fast.

I like the fact that it has a standard strat neck bolted on to the body, as opposed to regular acoustics which have the neck glued on.

Came with a gig bag (bit naff but at least it fits), lead, spare bridge and bridge pin and an allen key for the truss rod.

With the factory fitted strings it sounded a bit dull and boxy, acoustically at least. Put it through an amp with a touch of reverb, wind the treble and brilliance up a bit and it starts to sound OK.

Anyway, after a couple of days I changed the strings for some d'Addario EJ15's (10-47) and now it sounds (and plays) a whole lot better - for me at least.

As other reviewers have said, you'll probably get a better sounding acoustic for the same price - but you probably won't get as good intonation and definitely it won't look as cool.

If you want a guitar that sounds like a Martin or a Taylor, you'd better save a bit more cash :-)

So my rating for sound is based on my expectations for this unusual guitar.

To start with, the combination of the relatively high action and probably 11-53 strings was a bit irksome for me. OK, you have to remember you're not playing a strat with ultra-low action and 9-42 strings ...

Having said that, the playability was reasonable for the price and also comparable to other guitars I have owned/played in this price range.

Switching to light gauge strings improved the action and playability immensely (if you generally play electric guitars, you'll know what I mean). I could also see the tension in the neck visibly decrease, lowering the action a little - and there's a bit more to play with, so once it settles I might loosen the truss rod a little. I would say there is also room for shaving a bit off the bridge and nut to make it even better.

No real flaws, but it would be nice if new guitars didn't come with crappy kinked strings, wouldn't it? I might gripe about the bridge pins being irregularly pushed in, but that's very common carelessness.

I haven't had it long enough to comment on its durability, but it certainly looks solid and well put together. The finish looks durable.

The strap buttons could do with being a bit larger.

I would certainly gig with it, but it wouldn't be my main guitar.

Never dealt directly with Fender, although most of their authorised dealers have been OK.

Playing around 35 years. Own two other acoustics - an ancient Suzuki F-10 and an Ibanez EP-7 Euphoria. The Stratacoustic is a little nicer than the Suzuki to play, but nowhere near the Euphoria. Surprisingly, it sounds slightly better than the Suzuki.

I also have a Strat, Telecaster, Jem, Gordon-Smith, Shine 6-string bass and various amps, processors and pedals.

I like this guitar, but I don't love it like I do some of my others. If it were lost or stolen, I wouldn't be too bothered - it's not my best guitar, but it is both practical and fun. I'd put the insurance money into my Les Paul fund :-)

My favourite feature is that it's not too loud acoustically (yet still OK sounding) - quiet enough to practise in a hotel room or at home, late at night - yet you get enough sound quality to appreciate what you're playing. It's a very practical beast, and it plays in tune all over the fretboard. But whilst it has a bit of flavour, it lacks real character.

I love the looks and some of the sounds. Also, as a "mainly-Strat-player", the neck shape and 6-in-line tuners are very comforting. Like Fender say in their ad, "it feels like home". Now I know what they mean.

I don't really hate or even dislike anything about it.

I bought it because as soon as I saw one I had to have it, just for the looks - simple as that. I'm quite pleased with it, as it serves my purpose as a guitar that plays well, sounds all right and I can leave in the car and still sleep OK ...

My overall verdict? Not the best guitar in the world, but it looks cool, sounds OK and plays in tune - so you can't go too far wrong, especially as it's excellent value for money.

Cool looking 21 fret electral acoustic guitar. It has volume, mid, treble, bass, and briallance controls. Passive electronics, the pickup turns on when you plug it into an amp. It has a mahogany fretboard which doesnt get dirty very easily and a maple neck. The body is strat style. Comes with non locking tuners. I bought mine new and it came with a guitar bag.

If you put distortion through this it will produce ear-peircing feedback. It has a very quiet sound on its own and in order for it to sound acoustic on an amp, you must have an acoustic amp. Otherwise you will have trouble playing with the controls to make it sound good.

I've been playing for 2 years and pressing down on these strings and playing still kill my fingers (too much action). The fretboard comes about a quarter inch higher then the body, which I dont like. After owning it for a year, the sticker inside with the model and serial number on it came off. The neck has a steel bar going through it which is excellent for up-tuning and not braking the neck.

Seems to be very dependible. Bought it a year ago and still looks/plays/sounds the exact same as when I bought it. Guitar is built solid, but doesnt LOOK extremely solid.

I fell in love with this guitar the moment I saw it. Its not the best sounding electro-acoustic for its price, but if you own one you will be envied by everyone on the block. Its good for a casual guitar player like me, but if you don't care about looks and want to go right for sound, this guitar is not for you. Play this guitar around a campfire/by the beach/on a balcony and girls will fall in love with you. But of course its not about the girls, now is it?