Fender "The Strat" 1981 - 1982

Great pickups, Great sound.

Great for Rock & Blues. If you like rock & blues, GET IT!!!!

Every thing is set up right. One of the best guitars ever!

It is great for playing live.

Fender is very friendly!

I have been playing for 3 years, & out of all my guitars (parker fly, epiphone 335, amigo acoustic, epiphone flying v, exc..) this is the best

Firstly, there are a few models, the one I am commenting on is roughly 1981 -1982. From the "Smith" era, but very different to the standard strats of that era. It is actually named "The Strat" on the headstock, (matching color) and very few web searches will bring it up. Mine is a 1982.

Body is Candy Apple red (also came in LPB and sometimes white) but mine has a maple board, which is less common than the rosewood.

Although superficially looking like most strats, this model was quite different: it used gold plated brass hardware (tuners, knobs, trem, etc)and is VERY heavy (ash). Mine is heavier than any of my Les Pauls.

The quality of the hardware is outstanding, best ever, and in its day was probably the most expensive strat ever offered.

Originally came with a 5 pos switch where the bridge tone control usually lived,(as well as the usual lever switch) but mine is now "custom" wired without the tone switch.

USA made, standard sort of Strat in other ways, but rather highly contoured. The neck is what "makes" this guitar for me.

Having played hundreds of strats, and still owning another 4 - 5 (including a '61) no other strat I have ever found has the rather unique "narrow" neck, reasonably fat profile, and older style radius. 21 frets.
Even between The Strat models, neck shape varies a bit. Perhaps mine was custom!

I have never found a strat that my hands felt better with than this profile.

Many players hate it because it is heavy, and perhaps the neck profile is unfamiliar, but I love this guitar!

The rock solid hardware is terrific. The knobs have a good feel.

I play many styles, from traditional strat (hendrix) and blues, and own a huge variety of guitars ( + amps!), from Gibson to Hofner + japanese ...

The guitar can accommodate a big variety of styles, especially with the new "custom" wiring (combos of series + parallel, etc.)

Years ago I was going to sell it, and I pulled a few nameless pickups from the parts box and wired them in. When I listened carefully to the guitar in the shop ... I decided against it, sounded great.

Turned out to be some pretty basic Squier pickups (neck + mid) and I have a rail style mini-humbucker in the bridge.

Guitar sounds really good, but not quite the same as , say the '61.

Someone trashed the body to make it a "relic" on steroids, so it has a lot of paint missing, with a nice honeyed grained ash now showing.

However, it has to be one of the best strats made (see above.)
Action is superfast, with very even playing and tone right across every spot on the neck.

I find the extra weight makes bending and vibrato more effective.
Standard 4 bolt.

Better than most strats.

Playing for over 40 years.

This guitar went missing for a few months, and I was distressed...after finding it again, I realised how much I like it.
It is almost impossible to replace ( I have played a few "The Strats" ...rare as they are), but none feel as good as this one. It is quite easy to find an "average" Strat .. but this is almost a "one off."

I used it for gigging a lot some years ago, and I decided recently that if I only could keep a few guitars from my vast collection, this would be in the top 5.

Overall, I want to "plug" this rather unknown model.
If you are a Gibson player the weight may not faze you, if you are a lightweight strat player (I am, sometimes!) give one a try if you can.

I tried to find another when mine was missing. I found a few nice strats, but nothing can directly replace this one.

Totally under rated model which deserves much more attention.

OK the small headstock is not the same as other models (so what?!?)
but this model has real player potential.