Fender American Standard Stratocaster

2008 American Standard Stratocaster - Corona, CA
Tinted maple neck - Chrome red alder body
S/S/S pickup configuration with Delta no-load
Bent steel saddles and copper-infused inertia block

Came with the newer Fender/SKS so-called "flight" style rectangular case w decent latches, cord, allen wrenches, Fender strap.

Suitable for any style of music. I use it for everything from Jazz, Blues, Country, Rock, and even Showtunes and BigBand.

I use Tech 21 Trademark 60 and TM 300 amps generally, though sometimes a tweed Deluxe clone. Generally no effects except sometimes some amp distortion, depending. It records well through a rack POD to Pro-Tools too.

Humbucking noise reduction is available in switch positions #2 & 4.

The pickups are moderately strong sounding enough for more modern Rock sounds, but not overwound to the point where highs are compromised.

The general sound is a single-coil crisp and bright signature, and the pot tapers work well to take the high end off when desired.

The Delta system denotes a hotter bridge pickup and the No-Load lowest pot also has the bridge pickup wired through it as well as the middle pu.

Close to Tele sounds are available, and it still has some "sweetness" to the tone available, though not quite as much as softer 57/62 pickup sets.

For high distortion use I like to combine bridge and middle pu for noise reduction and roll off quite a bit of the highs. There's still enough left for pinch harmonics and through almost any amp I sound like what I'm after. No surprizes or bad tones lurking in there that I stumble across when I'm going for something else.

It sounds like a modern Strat with single coils and modern wiring, which I find plenty versatile for all the styles I want to play.

Flawless.

Durable by design.

The new strap buttons have a relieved area that the strap drops into very securely, though they look just like normal old generic Fender style strap buttons.

Lifetime warranty.

I've never needed anything from Fender on any of their guitars.

49 years experience.
This is my #1 workhorse guitar for sideman jobs in several catagories and also around the house grabbing for pleasure or practice.
There is also a self-assembled partsocaster kicking around the house for when I want humbucker sounds, which is rare. I can usually get what I need over a wide range with the s/s/s Strat.

I love the neck. It's perfect for how I play and feels great.

I have had the AV '62 RI Strat in the past, and though I like those too I appreciate the refinements and improvement schemes onboard this more modern take on the same idea. It's more versatile sounding and the neck fights me a bit less and flows more. Sustain seems the same between the big vintage block and the new copper infused block, and I like the bent steel saddles over most die-cast, though the stainless and chrome plated brass on some models are fine.

I had an AmSeries hardtail with a second pickguard loaded with humbuckers -and GraphTech saddles- I sometimes used in the past for Jazz gigs, but I don't bother with that stuff anymore. The pots work well enough on this Standard.

I use GHS Nickel Rockers: 0.011" - 0.050" strings.

Oly white, rosewood board 2006 model good tuners crap electronics, frets are way to soft, neck shape is great I love the original contoured body

I have owned a few strats and i must say this one dissapointed me first the pick-ups I found the stock ones were lacking sustain, no power so I replaced them with a set of DiMarzio virtual vintage noisless, that helped. I bought this guitar in 2006 and i'm already looking at having the frets crowned, I can't beleive how fast they are wearing i'm only a hobby player I guess there are differant hardnesses of frets and i would suggest if someone pays good money for a guitar find out what kind on junk they used for frets. Other than that i guess i'm happy! My next one won't be a standard! Iown several guitars with more miles than my strat and no visible wear

everything about this guitars look and finish is great. my only problem really is the fret issue. I think the medium jumbo frets are too round if they were flatter like gibson frets they make last longer.

sounds great(now)frets wont last another year

fret wear is not coverd under warranty

not worth the money!!!!! With a few upgrades fender could hold their heads high

This is a 2008 model with 22 medium jumbo frets.5 way selector switch, volume, tone for the neck and middle pickups, and a "Delta" tone control for the bridge pickup. Three single coil Fender pickups, The body is made fron Alder and the neck is maple with a maple fingerboard too. The finish is Blizzard Pearl. This guitar comes with an excellent new style Fender case.

I play in local pubs and clubs as a one man band using backing tracks. I play everything from Country, Pop, Irish, Rock, you name it,and in typical Strat fashion this guitar covers it all with ease. I use a AwardSession JD10 pre-amp straight into my Peavey XR600 PA Amp. Can be a little noisy on high gain settings though not that much more than my other guitar that has Gold Lace Sensors. This guitar is very versatile. Played clean the neck is very full and classy without ever being muddy,i.e like a humbucker. The middle is a little brighter again and I dont really use the bridge for anything other than high gain sounds which is where it excels having a bit more body and gain than expected and certainly more than my Strat Plus with its lace sensors. I like everything about this guitar.

The guitar came with 9 guage strings which I changed to 10's. The factory set up was pretty good though I made minor adjustments to the truss rod and string heights to suit my own tastes, and had the nut grooves lowered slightly, I screwed the pickups a little higher to the strings. One small thing about all the latest American Standards I've noticed, is that there is a small gap between the bridge just at the angle where the tremelo arm screws in, and the body routing for the bridge. Its quite tiny and I suspect the routing is very slightly over large to accomodate the larger bridge on the Deluxe Strats. This makes not one bit of difference to the sound or playabilty of this otherwise excellently made guitar, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Built to last a life time. I use only this instrument when I play now. My other guitar, a 1989 USA Strat plus has had 20 years of hard playing and is still going strong, though I've put it away now for safe keeping. It has a rosewood board and I fancied a maple, so bought this new Standard and was surprised to find it knocked the socks off my old guitar in every department. Its quite a bit lighter in weight than my old guitar too.

Never had to use it.

Have been playing for 37 years. As previously stated I have a 1989 Fender Strat plus, and I also have a Squier Precision Bass fitted with a Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounder pickup. If it were stolen I would buy the same model again straight away without hesitation. I love everything about this guitar.

It's a standard U.S.A. Fender Stratocaster made in 2007 in black finish, alder body, c shape maple neck & fretboard (22 frets)w/ white pickguard & knobs etc., 5 way selector switch two tone and one volume knobs 3 american strat single coils and a 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo with the new changes they made to it plus a hardshell case, a strap and a fender cable, bought brand new for about $ 900 shipping included.

It suits me more than well in the music I play wich goes from blues, to 70's rock like led zeppelin, 80's glam rock/metal like motley crue, hanoi rocks, poison, guns n' roses, skid row etc. and also 80's metal like metallica, megadeth, and all metal in general such as pantera, lamb of god, nevermore etc. and also 90's nirvana, alice in chains, pearl jam, smashing pumpkings, and even offspring, so you see, I cover A LOT of genres and the srat doesn't stand out, but does the job well, I use it with a Zoom GT9.2tt (wich is in grand part responsable for me being able to play almost anything) through a Fender '77 Twin Reverb 2X12, it isn't noisy on any kind of distortion/overdrive because of the pedalboard, wich yet again allows for any setting, it does have a brighter more bitting edge to it than the rosewood fretboard ones, and in clean mode it's just heavenly, but it doesn't have as much sustain as I would like and the tremolo does detune it when used, as a tip for the tremolo I read in an interview to Jeff Beck that a Fender factory worker told him to set the bridge at 45 degrees of inclination because it's designed to go back into position and reduce strain and wear as well as keeping the tuning, I tried it, and it works! again, not as well as desired or possible, but it works.

It came perfectly set-up from the factory, the action I already described above, The pickups are fine but I raised them to have them closer to the strings, properly routed and without any factory flaw.

In my experience it does withstand live playing, it's my only guitar and I even change tunings from song to song sometimes and it comes through, the hardware seems durable, I depend on it 100% and as I said it's my only axe in gigs, no backups and no need for them so far.

I've been playing for 8 years, I've owned mexican strats, peavy predator, a U.S.A. Jackson, a schecter C-1 and an epiphone L.P. custom, presently it's just the strat and a washburn D10SCEDL electric/acoustic dreadnought style, if it got lost or stolen I'd probably buy the new Ibanez RG1550M prestige series guitar, wich is basically a strat on steroids.

2007 USA 22 fret Fender Stratocaster ( The real deal!)
volume and 2 tone knobs, S/S/S
One piece solid body, maple neck.
Arctic White (classic Hendrix look)
Standard bridge, the new models have rolled saddles which apparently sound more vintage and add to the stability of the instrument.
New molded hard case.

I normally play Classic/Psychedelic/Progressive rock and overall it suites my style of playing very well.
I put the guitar through an Orange Tiny Terror head, through an Epiphone valve junior cab (Eminence Lady Luck speakers)< Not bad for ??60
It sounds really raunchy and wild, a LOT of crunch. The standard pickups are really hot and I would not recommend changing them.
I have played an American standard with noiseless pickups, (kinmans Woodstocks) and it sounded way too thin and lifeless compared to the standard pickups.
mind you the hum from the bridge and neck pickups can be annoying.
you can never win can you?!
There is a lot of variety on the sounds you can get out of this beast, without using any pedals, I cant get glassy clean on the neck pickup with the volume knob on 7, then turn it up to get some serious bluesy crunch. with high gain sounds you can get some serious vintage tone from the the mid and bridge mixed. then flick to the neck for solos. it is a very versatile guitar.
The bridge pickup is to die for!

The setup was okay from the factory, but i had to get it setup by my local guitar guy (Les - the roadie from Venom)
It plays really well after being set up.

I have to say that the hardware had absolutely no problems what so ever.

I have recorded, practised and gigged this guitar for over a year now and it has had absolutely no problems.

however... uhh there's is always a however!
I did take everything off the body ( even the neck) about a month ago and stripped the paint off completely using a power sander...

now let's forget that this was absolutely crazy and irresponsible.

I put everything back together and had it set up by Les again ( he nearly killed me when he saw what I had done)
And now it plays just as good as when i got it, even a little better cuz the neck is now worn in.

And it looks the dog's bollocks... ( It's a good thing btw!)

iunno!?!?!?!

I have been playing for a year and a half.
This was the first electric guitar I bought.
If it was stolen i would definatly buy one again.
possibly a red one, then i'd get bored of the paint job and strip it again. :)

Just purchased a "brand new" 87 Stratocaster, the first of the American Standards, and it is NICE. Usual 22 frets, 5 way selector, 3 single coil pups, has two string trees, which is not found on the later Strats. Body is alder, I guess, standard tuners, rosewood fretboard, original molded case which is sweet!

Oh, the sound. Is as glassy and clean as you would want a classic Strat to be, and then some. Play essentially everything from rock to country and this axe can handle most anything. Use this with a Roland Cube 20x at home and Fender Twin on stage. Is noisy on 1 3 and 5 settings, but on 2 and 4, quiet as a mouse. The sound is, well, a Strat sound! Chimey and glassy on the out of phase settings, and full on the bridge and neck settings. Want to put noiseless pups in this, but will screw the value up, so will deal with it. All around tone monster!

Action is pretty good, I figure someone in 20 some years would have taken this thing to get setup, but action is fine as it is. Pups had to be lowered initially, as they were pulling on the strings magnetically. Now, tone is better. This thing is fairly old, and it has hardly any problems with rust or otherwise. For all the reviewers with newer purchases, rest assured that your axe will last a LONG time...

This thing will withstand a great deal of punishment, though I will not do such a thing :> This guitar is made with quality in mind, and will last a very long time. Finish is glossy, and appears to be made to withstand more than regular usage. I could depend on this thing on stage without reservation, period. I would gig with this w/out backup, but I bring my Tele just for the heck of it.

Support for an oldie like this is nonexistent (virtually). Still, was able to download a manual from fender.com for this particular year. No warranty, dont need one

Playing for app. 20 years, have a Gibson LP and Mexican Tele. If this were stolen, would hunt the perp down, and he would be toast. Would buy another one of similar vintage, but this is the one for me. Love the sound, is dead on Strat goodness. Only dislike is the hum, can rectify, but am gonna live with it. Compared to new Highway One Strat, and 08 American Strat, but with the price I got it at, it was totally a done deal! Strats RULE!

Well after all my odd japanese fenders, I was told to get a strat by everyone I knew. White USA Standard Maple neck rosewood fretboard. 21 frets - not enough, The knobs hit my hand every time I pick a note which is annoying. rosewood fretboard because thats just how I roll. The bridge is standard strat of course and the little screws tear up my and when I do some crazy palm muting thing. 3 single pickups - no interesting sounds. The body is contoured which I hate also it is wide and square-bottomed unlike my Jag-Stang. The neck too big for me, I prefer shortscale for shredding. also the neck is flat and you get RSI after 10 minutes of playing. Tuners are too close together too. It comes with some fancy accessories - nice case and stuff.

I play lots of metal and there is just no way this could compete with my jagstang. There is just no range on this guitar, it is not heavy enough and all the pickup settings sound the same. One thing that really bugs me is that there is no tone control for the bridge!

In conlusion, it sounds good but not right for me. This is just a blues guitar and cant take any distortion.

Well its a one year old guitar so no damage or decay but it is well made and fairly reliable. Having three pickups and that 5 way selector switch I wouldn't dare mod it

This guitar is solid, no doubt about that. It will probably survive till the apes take over the earth. I know it would survive a gig, no doubt about that. The finish thogh is easy to scratch

10 year warranty, don't know the details

If this was stolen, i'd think oh crap there goes ??700. To me it is worthless as a guitar because it is so mediocre and dull.

My other guitars are Fender jagstang and an eastwood Hi- flier, both of which are better than this. Strats just don't have that capacity to 'blow you away'.

June 2008 American Standard Stratocaster, made in Corona, CA, 22 frets. Solid one-piece body alder body with Blizzard Pearl finish, rosewood fretboard, S/S/S with american standard strat pups, Volume, Tone, Tone controls. Comes with the new molded SBK case (case itself is fantastics) and all sorts of case candy.

I mostly play progressive pop--so, Trever Rabin Yes, Asia, late Rush, Boston. Plus classic rock like Steely Dan, Doobie Brothers, etc. I run this through a Zoom G7.UT modeler with a 12AX7 tube preamp, and run that output to a Hughes and Kettner 15 watt that has a Celestion 10" speaker. Going through that H&K cab, the guitar sounds fantastic. It can go from very clean, to a funky clean-with-flange or clean-with-chorus for fast-strum chording, to somewhat heavy rhythm, to soaring leads to great clean leads. The single-coils can be a little bit noisy some times, but nothing compared to the MIM Strat I had before this. More importantly, you can get a more balanced lead tone from the American than from the Mexican. The only thing is that the pups could be just a little bit hotter. But that can be dealt with by cranking the speaker volume...

The fit and finish were flawless. (Just one note about the fit and finish--someone below said that they saw poor bookmatching on a Sienna Sunburst model. But the body is actually a single piece of wood--I took a close look at a Sienna in the store the other day, and that's also a single slab. That doesn't address, though, the complaint about poorly figured wood, which could still be an issue--the model I looked at had rather plain figuring, FWIW.) The setup out of the box was very good, too.

The guitar should be fine on stage--hardware, finish, components, all seem built to last. In terms of reliability, I would gig without a backup (but as I like different sound textures, I would still bring the Tele and LP...)

N/A

I've been playing for 25 years, although I hadn't been very active for about a span of about 10 years, before starting to play very much again 3 years ago. If it were lost or stolen I would get a new one as soon as possible. It feels great to play, and to hold, and even sounds great unplugged. I get every strat sound I want from it, and it responds very well.

2008 Model made in '08 as well, in California (nothing beats American quality). 22 Frets, solid alber body in Olympic white with maple fretboard. Volume pot, 2 tones (one with a detent at 10 to remove all filtering), 3 single coil pickup (considering putting in a JB at the bridge). Single coils are standard passive AlNiCo V pickups from the factory. String thru body style. Came with kick *** molded flight case from Fender.

I play everything from Goo Goo Dolls to Bon Jovi, to Van Halen, to Hinder, Black Crowes, to music from RENT. This is the most versatile guitar I have EVER played. My old guitar was an Ibanez RG 550 hot rodded with a Tone Zone. The thing screamed with distortion, but on cleany sounded way too brown. With a strat, each pickup configuration is it's own distinct rich sound. It's phenomenal. The only thing that bothers me, and I knew about it when I bought it, was the bridge pick-up gets too bright for me...that can be fixed with some tweaking on the amp, etc. or with replacing the pickup. It's just my opinion though.

Perfect. The only one in white in the GTA. The tech at the guitar shop threw on 11's for me, and the thing booms and roars. It's amazing. I wish I had gotten one 5 years ago.

It's a Fender. 'Nuff said.

I've been playing guitar for over 10 years. I've toured the country, playing in a different town every night. I've played a number of guitars over the years, but only ever stuck to my old tried and true Ibanez. I've got a Line 6 spider but that's going to be getting upgraded soon as I pay off this bad boy. If this guitar was stolen I would hunt down the bastard that took it, beat the **** out of him, take my guitar back, and then slash the guys tires. This is an outstandig guitar.

The finish is great. It's white, it's simple, yet it's just got this shine and gloss to it that makes it jump out at you. I wish it had a floyd on it just because I like the locking systems out of years of having one on my Ibanez, but to be honest, this thing stays in tune considerably well given how hard I'm playing it.

I played an HSS strat and found that there wasnt much of a difference. For the same price, I wanted the traditional strat look. I thought about buying an Ibanez JEM but it sounded way too similar to my RG. I chose this guitar because of it's beautiful tone, and it's absolute versatility.

Buy Fender, you won't be disappointed.

2008 american standard stratocaster mad in USA.
22 frets maple fretboard, 3 single coils. floating tremolo
includes case, cable, strap, cloth, and all the tools and manuals.

Its a good guitar but the floating tremolos are something to get used to. I really dont like them

The action was good right out of the case.

The case bolts on mine are really loose and look and feel like they are going to break.

didnt deal with them.

its ok. If it were stolen i would get a american vintage 57 reissue stratocaster:):)