Fender American Strat Plus

You see the guy's review just below mine? From Xhefri? Well, ya know you're the bomb when Wikipedia uses YOU as a reference - and that's exactly what Wikipedia has done with our friend Xhefri, there. As a matter of fact, his review may be a little too modest, because that guy knows what he's talkin' about. Do yourself a favor and go check out his Strat Plus website. It's chock full of good and useful information and you're sure to learn a little somethin' about these guitars that you didn't know before. I did.

These Plus Strats hold a certain mystic about them, kinda like old Harleys.
I bought my 1990 model in Silverburst a few weeks ago and sure as the world, the guy who sold it to me knew all about it. Turns out most everything he told me about it was flat out wrong. To make matters worse, on this particular Saturday he had placed yard-sale type signs on the sides of the roadway stating "GUITARS FOR SALE" and had opened up his business's warehouse to display about 15 guitars he had for sale - so I stopped in - and he had some really nice, quality pieces, this Strat Plus among them.

First thing right off he tells me this Plus is a 1999 year model. Hmmm.....OK....then he plugs her up to a small practice amp and shows me that it plays great - only problem was I could see the Wilkinson roller nut wasn't strung properly so the strings weren't ringing out like they should, but sitting around me for sale was a damn fine Rick, a Guild to die for, and some other big gun, big name axes - so who am I to argue? We talked price and I owned me a Strat Plus. I kept my mouth shut about the Strat. A first for me.

As soon as I got home I pulled up our friend Xhefri'S Strat Plus website to confirm what I had suspected about the year model, but the Fender serial number on the headstock had already clued me in, and followed up on some other info while I was there.
Took me (and the wife) a couple of hours to re-string her and do a proper set up. The Wilkinson nut can be a bear to deal with when re-stringing and and extra pair of hands or a little Jack Black will go a long way in making the task easier.
Plugged her up and saw visions of Jimi and SRV in the distance. Or maybe that was Jack Black.....

Last time I talked to a Fender rep they were owned by CBS.
I own 13 - now make that 14 - axes(I hate that word), and the only ones that can hang with this Plus for quality, fit and finish, sound and playability, are my beloved and cherished 1980 Kramer XL5 Alumaneck and my mint 1986 Carvin V220.
Another axe I also own is a lovely 2005 MIM Fat Strat with factory routed Floyd Rose that I modded with two single coil Hot Alnico V's from the good folks at Reliable Fender and a DiMarzio Double Whammy hummer at the bridge. I thought this guitar was the sheeit until I brought this Plus home. When compared, the MIM falls flat on its face. The Plus just outshines and outperforms it in every way.

I been playin' since geezus was a baby, 'round about 1968. Never ceases to amaze me what '60's era Strats and LP's sell for on eBay. Hell, I sold mine and made a small fortune. But people seem to forget that just because something is old and vintage doesn't always mean it's better. Just ask any Harley driver that ever owned a hog that had AMX on the side of it. Same era. About the same build quality.
These Strat Plus' are head and shoulders above that. Well made instruments hand crafted in that rarest of all places. The USA.

Hi, I have owned around 250 Strat Plus guitar and love almost all of them. They range from the Standard Plus with 3 Gold Lace to Customized Plus' with various combinations of colors. You can see these www.xhefriguitars.com

Like many people have indicated. your will love or hate Lace Sensors. I love them and the tone is great. I have noticed that they can be weak on the high E string sometimes, especially using .09s. My favorite combination is found by using Fender's Ultra wiring and a Gold/Gold/Gold-Red dually in the bridge. With the use of a mini-switch you can have all the standard Plus tones (bells and quack) but also a humbucker sound and even Tele bite. Lace introduced some new colors (tonal flavors) of Laces a few years ago and they have proved nice to obtain some new voices. The Golds are a 50s tone, where as the other colors voice various types of pickups from the P-90 to a humbucker.

As with all guitars, set up is critical. Ever Plus I get I do a complete set-up from top to bottom. Like tonight, i picked up a Midnight Wine Plus made in 1991. I checked the truss rod adjustment on the neck, reset it and the guitar played 85% better with just 1 turn on the truss rod. I was thinking, I wonder how many years someone played this with the strings buzzing of above the 12 fret and set high all the way down. So setup is critical. One can judge all guitars by just getting one and comparing it too all the rest!

The Plus guitar we well built...hand down. Compared to the late 70s CBS era Strats they were a marked improvement. The features of the bi-flex truss rod, hip-shot tremsetter, roller nut and finished, made them a good deal for the price. Some of the guys that moved into Fender's Custom Shop made a lot of the necks on these guitars.

Fender is usually pretty user friendly....

Great guitars for the price. They are becoming more of a collectors item, especially the 87-90s models.

My plus is an 89'fiesta red U.S.A. model. Standard SSS,rosewood board,
gold lace sensors,Wilkinson R'nut,Sperzel locking tuners etc. Neck is
a med.'C'satin finish. For my style of playing(blues/blues rock:A'Bros.
Jeff beck,SRV et al),It's 'THE BOMB'.

I'm using a Furman powered P'board with(from guitar),Fulltone Clyde
Deluxe Wah,Dunlop vol. pedal,Voodoo Labs Sparkle Drive,Fulltone Full-
driveII mosfet,Boss DD-5 delay,vintage T.C.Electronics chorus/pitch
modulator/flanger,Keeley Katana clean boost & Boss TU-2 tuner into
various vintage Fender amps(BF Deluxe Reverbs,Vibroluxe reverbs etc.)
Absolutely 'NOISELESS' no matter what O'drive or distortion setting!
This guitar gives me whatever sound I require.No dislikes at all.
All cables are GeorgeL'S thru & thru.

I bought It used, 2006. It needed a minor set-up but, overall, It was
playable right out of the case.All hardware was xlnt(for an almost)20
year old axe.

As far as I'm concerned, my 'PLUS' is bulletproof! This is one solid,
dependable guitar. I'm a 'HEAVY' string bender & she stays in tune perfectly.I bring a backup axe to gigs but,I've never had to 'uncase'
it. A totally solid dependable guitar!!!

Have not needed support or repair so far.(knock on wood!).

I've been playing 30+ yrs.& own 30-40 vintage Fender & Gibson guitars
& amps.I have two other 'PLUS'S'that are great but, 'FIESTA' is my
'*****'!! She tells me how to spank her.

Strat Plus '88, mint green with 3 SC's (Lace Sensor Gold). Former tour guitar so we are better not talking about the finish (a lot of scratches, dongs...), this one is aged the classical way :-). Schaller straplocks, Sperzels, AM-style tremolo

The sound of the Lace Sensors is a love/hate thing. If you want a classic Strat-sound go for the newer Fender noiseless PU's. I really love 'em for percussive clean or bluesy crunch sounds, but playing in a cover band I needed a bit more distortion also. So I replaced the perloid pickguard by a white one with HSS routing and put a DiMarzio Fred in the Bridge-Position.

Don't know about the factory setup. This one has been setup by the former players guitar-tech so it was near to perfect. As said the finish is that of a heavy used and abused guitar, everything else is in perfect working condition and the main thing: I took it, started to play it and it initially felt good in my hands. It's always the same (and still is) with Fender: You can try a hundred of them and every single one feels different.

This one already prove that it will withstand live playing, dropping it on the stage and so on... Since changing the bridge PU I even play it as my main guitar sometimes. When it comes to guitars I never play without a backup as there is always a chance a string breaks during a long set.

Don't know, never had contact to Fender

playing classical guitar since 1979, electric since 1983, more than 20 years on stage with different bands. Originally I bought this one because I was missing a Fender for studio and this one is also noiseless. I'm not a collector - I'm a player, so I didn't care for the finish, the electronics, hardware and neck-condition is fine and this is just a good working-horse for the job. The sound was good and after modding the Bridge-PU it is just perfect for my needs. The price was great compared to the original price, not to mention the prices you have to pay for such a Strat nowadays... so I doubt that I would get another one like this if it was stolen - but I would surely try.

95 American standard plus, olympic white finish, 3 gold lace sensors, LSR roller nut, locking tuners, Hipshot tremsetter, maple fretboard, alder body.

For me this is the utltimate strat feature wise, add any more and it is not a strat any longer, take away and it's not as versatile.

Versatile, this is the word, been used on the road for everything from a blues to heavy metal covers band, always managed to get the sound i wanted no compromises (within reason of course).

the beauty of the laces is that they're virtually noiseless and will stand driven hard, better use that tone control though, the bridge pickup can snap necks.

I've thought about replacing the bridge pickup for a stacked bucker ala Malsmteen, but found no reason to, with my GT-8 I can recreate the tone down to a tee.

One thing that can be negatory, is that those pickups will do you no favours if you've anything less than a totally clean technique, they're very transparent and will not cover up mistakes.

I honestly can not remember the setup condition when it was new -this was 11 years ago-. But the guitar has no flows build wise, very nice fret work and finish on the body/fret board

Work horse, this guitar has been gigged for 11 years and apart from a couple of scratches still looks new, it is unbelievable, the hardware still shines, if you know how to take care of'em strats will outlast its owner, I've replaced the saddled with some graphie variety cause a screw fell off one of the old ones.

No electrical problems what so ever

Never dealt with them.

Been playin' for 16 years now, she's my baby and has never let me down in 11 years

This one was made in usa in 1989, 22-frets, 2 Lace sencor pickups and one Dimarzio chopper in bridge position with a singelcoil-effect-switch.

It sounds just beautiful! I play it through a Line6 flextone HD II and i just love the sound. The Laces has great blues n' jazz sound and the dimarzio is a badass distortion-bucker haha. It's a very "overall" guitar.

Nothing to say, it's a strat!

I totally trust this guitar!

I've been playing sicne 1997 (im born in 1989) and i own this strat, an Ibanez RG570 and a levin stratocaster copy, i've also had a les paul with emg's and this strat plays better than all of those! If it was stolen i would buy another one, i would not find one simular to this but i would deffinetly buy a strat :D . Im sorry for my spelling and grammar stuff.

hello, this review is for a 1997 Strat plus made in usa, bought at jeff blochs guitar centre in brooklyn new york in august 2005, and flown back to australia with me

frets etc same as other reviews,

nice ice green silver colour with pearloid guards, maple neck, really is in mint condition, ie brand new, didnt get a case and actually think i paid a bit much, it was a consignment piece and he wouldnt budge on price

features are good, like sperzels and lsr

hmmm, i came here to see what reviewers think of pickups, cause i am a bit concerned the gold lace sensors havent got enough bite

my brother has a 94 standard, and we compared the sponds through same amp, same settings etc

honestly, his sounded more bitier (bite) and start style, mine sounded a lot cleaner, bit like a new modern car versus an old muscle car

i play this a lot for acousticy style sounds

excellent set up, mint condition, no flaws wotsoeva

seems reliable and hasnt broken a string yet, despite some hard playing and chronic sring bending, ie making it go yawhaoooeee a lot

have to watch the strap coming off, dont kno if it is the strap buttons or strap, but i am always mindful, after catching it twice when it has dropped

no details here,

i would recommend this guitar

i also have a 2003 fat tele usa, and a 93 gibson les paul standard,

the gibson is 3-4 times louder on the same amp setting than the strat plus, and the tele is louder also than the strat, is that a problem? maybe it is the pickups, i would possibly change them but in australia they are quite expensive, (we get ripped off for all guitar stuff, ie strings are $15.95 a packet, say $12 us, yet in the us they are six bucks)

overall a good guitar, but a bit like the efficency of a modern hyundai compared to the unpredictability of a gto muscle car,

if it was stolen i would buy a standard strat (hope my plus cant read)

This guitar is made in the U.S.A. It has a '50 year' sticker on it saying 1946-1996, I bought it new around '99. Mine is antique white I believe with a rosewood fingerboard .It has gold lace sensor pup's and a wilkinson nut, 5 way selector and locking tuners. It has one volume and two tone controls

I play a lot of 70-90's rock/metal and this guitar has a perfect tone as far as i am concerned. I use a digitech RP2000 multi effect unit for recording and a Marshall DSL201 valve amp. I own a Gibson LP standard double cut and a 1980 Ibanez iceman. The iceman has the most comfortable neck to play but sound wise this strat blows them both away for tone.

Finish is perfect after 6-7 years. I had it set up when I bought it and haven't touched it since(action slightly lowered). Everything about the fit and finish is perfect. Its not my favorite colour but thats a personal choice

I have not gigged this guitar but I have no doubt it would cope perfectly (I have gigged with plenty of cheap crap in my younger days). Everything about this guitar is as solid as the day I bought it. I would gig without a back up except for the occasional string break when using the whammy. My only 2 complaints with this guitar are 1) goes out of tune if I use the whammy and 2)The occasional string break if I use the whammy. Both problems solved by using my RP2000 to make the 'divebombs'

No knowledge.

I have been playing over 30 years. Always liked the strat sound but found the neck too narrow for my fingers on ones I had tried. I bought this as my first guitar with a whammy bar but I don't use it 'cos the guitar goes out of tune and string (top e) breaks. I use the Digitech RP2000 for the same effect now. The tone of this guitar is awsome and nothing else matters now. I have even got used to the narrow f/board. Always wanted an LP standard but don't see the need now.

I own an awesome 87 plus. It's got the standard stuff; maple neck, sperzel tuners,lsr nut, candy apple red, gold lace sensor pups. I could tell all about the body style and woods and metal configuration of the bridge, but after all it is an 87; I think they have all been researsh enough by now.

I play in a texas blues trio, doing our own stuff and of course covering SRV, Clapton, Hendrix, Gary Moore, along with the standrad Blues brothers and BB King shit. The guitar was originally my dads when he tours out west in the eighties with all kinds of country bands. Subsequently, Most of them sign the guitar; So now I have a killer blues guitar that is ironically sign by Merl Haggard, Patti Loveless, David Allen Coe, and Dottie West. It's A sick irony I know. Anyway I play out of a marshall avt50 half stack and an effects chain consisting of a crybaby, ts9, and a boss analog delay. I get the sound that dreams are made of man let me tell you. Although it doesn't have a lot of edge and you have to kick it in the balls with the ts9, it gets the srv sound that so many players are after. I just want to clear one thing up though, I get the sound but I play my own shit. Anyone who says,"stop trying to sound like someone else and look for your own sound", you people can suck my balls because the wheel is round and there are a plethora of automobiles, Get it? So in effect it is a great tool to biuld your perfect sound upon.

I don't know how well this guitar was set up from the factory besuase honestly it is eighteen years old. I do know that my dad had the ton controls bypassed to give it a full on hard on all the time. it is great because I have played other guitarist'd strats and were digusted by the sound and not know why only to find that the tone knobs were all the way down,DUH! The finish itself is holding up very well to the test of time. The candy apple red fish only has one little group of superficial scratches wear my dad and my belt buckles have pounded it for 18 years. The neck is a different story though. The bar scene has done more for the maple tint than anything giving it a golden orange color. The laquer has chipped off in spots on the fret board<mainly becuase the guy that refretted it last year had a bitch of a time with the extra jumbo frets>and the finish has all but worn off of the back of the neck. I don't know exactly why but I think it has to do with the acidity of my palm sweat because it wasn't like that when I inherited it in 96 for my 16th b-day. Kinda wierd though. I have to replace the saddles soon because of oxidation and rust. The d-string is especially bad because it has pitted in the string guide and keeps busting strings. I think I'll put some of those string saver saddles on or maby some factory ones.

This guitar has withstood ten years of professional five night a week playing and another eight of me banging oround on it until I was good enough to forge into the blues scene. So I would definately, and have done it many times, take it out solo w/out a backup. I've always loved the fact that it was so versatile that I could cover such a broad range of tones moving from the neck to bridge pups. Although the coveted sound is the neck pickup full out honk that makes the birds sing in the morning and the nipples ahrd at night.

I've never delt with fender straight on but I assume they are pretty reputable being as they've been around since the single coil.

I have been playing for twelve years and have experemented with god knows haow many guitars but the sound is just a srtat through a Marshall and The strat plus has been there since the beginning. Now there is another point that needs to be brought to the table. With everyone that I have talked to,and I have talked to alot of musicians in my career as a technician and salesman at a promeninent music store in Peoria IL,they have all said that their favorite guitar is the one that they started out on. Gibson Players have all started on Gibsons, Fender Players have all started on Fenders; as a rule, now there are always exceptions.The bottom line is that if your starting out playing or are just looking for something that is just plain "right", Start with comfort and playability and then go from there. For me it was the strat. God Bless It!

Thus endeth the sermon

I just bought a 91 strat plus black with a rosewood fretboard. Very simple and cool. It has the typical locking tuners, wilkinson nut, and block tremelo. It has all the strat features with some nice updates compared to the old ones, and reissues. It has lace sensors-blue, gold, and red from neck to bridge.

As far as the combo of pickups as described above...it sounds like what I would expect. I really can't trash this guitar because I bought it based on what was available on the guitar-which I wish others would do. It's sounds good for what it is. I do favor Fralins or CS 69 pickups, but I don't think they suit this style of guitar. The red pickup is a little nasal sounding, but has decent output. The gold is nice and bell like without noise. The blue is a bit too bassy, but can get some cool tones. It's a very versatile guitar and it makes a great live guitar because it doesn't go out of tune very often and gets a lot of good tones quickly. No it isn't the most organic earthy pickup, but I knew that when I bought it. You really can't expect a true humbucker out a single coil without pole pieces and you can't expect to sound like Hendrix either. It's just good for different situations when you need more than one guitar tone on a song live or in the studio.

Very comfy neck. I love Fenders mainly for the body contours and the way the controls are set up. Very well made and built like a tank. Much sturdier than a vintage reissue.

This is where this guitar is way better than all of the other Fenders period. It may be the best made guitar that Fender ever made-yes, ever. You could change a string in less than 5 minutes and that includes digging in your guitar case and tuning. The vintage reissues look good, but don't deliver and the real vintage ones aren't worth the money that guitar prison, or I mean guitar center sells them for out here in L.A.

This is where Fender sucks like a porn star. They are just so so which isn't good enough for what they charge for guitars these days.

I have been playing for 17 years and I am your typical tone dork. I am very particular and I have played/owned everything. I own a Victoria amp, a Silvertone combo, and an Ibanez les paul copy (best guitar I have ever owned). I have owned 7 strats, 1 tele 62 vintage reissue, and I always go back to my Ibanez. I bought this strat plus as a backup for my Ibanez. I only like to own 2 electrics at a time. I think less is more and if a guitar doesn't blow me away I don't keep it. I really dig the strat plus so far because I was tired of trying vintage reissues that had nice looks, but didn't deliver live. I believe this strat plus is just a great live guitar. You can always go for the vintage tone in the studio and mix and match tones, but live you just want a guitar that sounds good overall and plays solid. I have a real dirty reverb drenched tone and this guitar actually can do it-tone is all in your hands. The lace sensors have some pro & cons, but so do all pickups. Just use your ears and hands as much as possible and try not to get too tied up on wood type, finish, pickup brands, and even name brands. If you're tired of paying too much on vintage reissues that go out of tune or just for the price then try one of these-you may love them. I'm sure that in about 10 years people will start falling in love with these pickups because they will be retro or vintage like everything else-locking tuners rule. I apologize for rambling, but I hope this was helpful to someone who has been searching on ebay or in their local papers and wondering if it will work for them.