Fender 60's Reissue Stratocaster

1996 Japanese reissue--Basswood body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard (no skunk stripe), 21 frets, 5 way switch, 1 volume, 2 tone, s/s/s reissue pickups, good ole fashioned *comfortable* strat body. Its a 25.5" scale...the neck is *fat*!! It has a 7.25" fingerboard radius--totally cool. I give it an 8 because of the pots...my volume pot went bad soon after I got it (more about that later).

I play a lot of 60's rock and blues--Hendrix, SRV, Buddy Guy, etc. and it runs pretty good with a Fender Roc Pro 1000 (solid state) but is a little too trebley..and that's why I am getting a tube amp. I've played it thru an original 65 Twin Reverb and a Blues Deville and it plays excellent. It has an excellent vintage-blues tone with the Deville. I run it thru a crybaby wah, TS-9, chorus, and fuzzface...killer with a tube amp. The only think I dislike are the pickups...they sound kindda weak when its running on a clean tone. Just run it thru a tube amp and you'll be in heaven!

The factory setup was the usual "not the way I want it." So I stuck on some 11's, raised the action, adjusted pickup height. Finish is great and its starting to yellow a little (oooh ahhh). The volume pot went bad (I'll explain later).

I definatly wouldn't take it to a gig without a backup, but that's only because I break strings like crazy--on any guitar. I'm starting to think this guitar could withstand a tornado...but I don't wanna try it. The frets are thin, so they wear down faster...which is a minus. The neck-body joint is rock solid! Its survived a many-o-plane rides when people are cruel enough to try to jam a ton of luggage on top of it--you know the type...get on the plane at last minute and jam their stuff into every possible (and impossible) place they can. The neck is strong as an ox...I used to play with 13-54 gauge strings and the neck stayed perfectly straight. I now play with 11's because my strings were discontinued...<sniff, sniff>.

1 year warranty. After I got it the volume pot croaked and I had to get a new one...had it back in a week. The customer support wasn't great, but it wasn't bad...after that I learned how to do repairs myself so it wouldn't take a week to do a 3 minute job.

I've been playing guitar for 4 years and work at a music store here in Atlanta and it can outplay almost any guitar. It definatly beats my tele standard and my 82 jap-72 reissue strat in many ways. I would definatly buy another one like it and I recommend it to everyone. I love the fat neck and the way it sounds thru a tube amp...just don't like the sound thru a solid state amp. I played a whole rack of guitars and this one was my favorite. The only other guitars I'd play instead of this one would be the SRV strat or a relic. I wish it had a nitrocellulose finish instead of polyurethane to help bring the sound out a little more. But hey, for $450--this was more than an excellent deal.

This is a 1987 Japanese-made strat with a solid basswood body and a maple neck with 21-fret rosewood board. It has three single coils, with standard controls. The bridge is a vintage trem with subpar saddles. The non-locking, covered tuners have a fairly smooth feel and keep me in tune quite well. The neck-to-body joint is excellent. The plastic nut is cheapo. A previous owner replaced the string trees with little wheel-loaded things that are ugly but effective. The neck is straight (not much taper) and the fretboard has a round radius. (BTW she's black with a black-white-black pickguard. Her name is Pris)

Pris has a mellow, balanced voice. I got her new pickups, and now she screams just as well as she whispers.

A couple of the pickguard screws are kind of stripped, which is a minor annoyance. Also, the truss rod is accessed on the body side of the neck, which can definitely be a pain. Otherwise, everything is in order.

A drunken dorm mate dropped my frigging bed on her while she was in her stand. She escaped this monumental party foul with a mere bent tuner (which still works fine). My roommate's mother's cookie tin was destroyed upon impact. Her neck is still arrow straight. I feel very confident in Pris now. She is a tenacious bitch goddess.

Pris needs no customer support.

I've been playing about three years now. Pris complements my all-tube Silvertone bass head and 12-watt Epiphone Devon Tremolo combo as well as a Danelectro Daddy-O overdrive and Prescription Yardbox fuzz. If she were stolen, I would find the thief and refinish Pris in said robber's blood. I chose her because of her solid feel and tone, and I wouldn't want any other strat.