Fender American Series 50th Anniversary Stratocaster

It has everything you could want in a Strat, and nothhing more. 22 frets, USA, 5 position switch, tremolo bar, you know all this by now.

I play lots of different styles of music: classic rock, 80s pop/glam rock, 90s alternative and grunge, blues, country, folk, and jazz. This guitar can handle them all perfectly...except maybe folk music, which is all acoustic! But basically this guitar has all the awesome bright, toppy Strat sound you could want, while still having incredible warmth and clear low end. I play it mostly through a Fender Evil Twin and the sound is incredible.

Basically everyone knows what a Strat sounds like, but I want to point out that they really took a lot of care with this particular model and you can really tell by the incredible sound. Honestly, I must have played 50 different American strats over the years and this is probably the second best sounding guitar ever (the first being a custom Eric Johnson Strat).

I got it used, so I don't know how it was setup from the factory. I take my guitars to get set up by a luthier anyway. After my luthier set it up, this is one of the best playing strats I've ever held. No flaws anywhere as far as I can tell.

It definately withstands live playing. The finish keeps a beautiful shine and everything seems made from quality hardware. Well, I always feel that Fender's volume and tone pots feel a little "cheap," but I've never had any problems with them.

You could certainly use it at a gig, but I probably won't because it's kind of a collector's item.

Never had to deal with it.

I'm 44 this year, been playing since I was 14. Wow, 30 years. I own a few other electrics at the moment, a Mexican Strat that I've modded, a 90s Les Paul Standard, and a 90s blonde Telecaster. This is by far the best sounding and playing guitar in that collection.

I usually buy guitars used and sell them after a few years when I want something new. Something tells me that I'll never sell this baby. This is a top of the line Stratocaster that you can get without paying $3,000 for the new custom shop stuff. If you have the opportunity to buy one of these, don't hesitate, just get it! You won't regret it.

Same as others: ash body with CS54 pickups, moder c shape neck

This is the real ting. Played fenders since the 60s and the LE 50th anniv strat with CS54 pickups comes close to vintage. Beautiful full range of vintage strat tones and harmonics. Has glassy bell like tone with a delta tone boost. Best sound from fender I have heard in years. Pickups are awesome - better than my Hendrix Tribute 69s. The combination of the 54 pickups, ash body and maple neck work well together and produce that classic fender strat sound. Notes ring out - no muddiness - runs, double and triple stops sound fantastic. You can make the wind cry Mary....Chords, flat picking etc all sound great.

I am impressed with all wood and hardware components except the neck. Its ok, straight and plays nice - frets are polished but average neck quality and maple selection - just vanilla - no flame. My Peavey Falcon has a more impressive flame maple neck.

The ash body is custom shop grade - 2 tone finish is beautiful. Neck joint is nice and the edges are smooth. Hardware all fits perfectly nothing out of whack. Action is great.

Solid and the ash weights more that my other strats.

On the money - mine was used but close to mint. Had a deluxe that I sold not interested in SCN pickups - too artificial. Was sorry I passed up on the American series 50th Anniv model in 2004 - one came up and I went for it and glad I did. Becoming hard to find now.

Have not played a custom shop which is most likely best quality from fender. For an American manufactured guitar LE50th Fender model is hard to beat.

This is where THIS American Serie's is VERY different than any other American Series Strat. First off its a Two-Tone ASH body Stratocaster. It has a TWO-PIECE body which is harder and harder to find on Production line Strats. It has the Fender 54 pick-ups which very well may be the best pups Fender builds along with the CS-60's which only go in Custom Shop Strats. The rest aside from the Case is American Series Strat. But those FEW features I mentioned make a BIG difference.

One of the nicest Strats I ever played and I been playing these since the 60's. This is the REAL-DEAL. If you were smart you would buy one while the used price's are around $800. There is NOT a nicer Strat for that money! I added a 500K Tone pot and wired it as a Blender with the neck/bridge pup wired together. Turn to Ten and the Bridge alone is on turn to 1 and the neck alone is on. In the middle 5 it blends the two. The other Tone knob and volume knob are stock. I also added a Multi Pli Black PG to replace the single-ply PG that came stock. Also a matching Trem Plate. This Strat is right there with any other Strat I ever played. Its also the least expensive Strat I own. It has a few modern features with the Tuners, bridge, routes etc etc. So its a cross between Vintage and Modern but a nice Strat. Its Tones are very similiar to a 50's Strat. It definatly cops the Vinatge vibe.As far as Noise? I have heard a few players complain about excessive noise? As far as I can see its no different than any other single-coil with 60cycle hum? Thats what Strats do? It doesn't bother me. And with the Tone you are recieveing its worth a little hum.

Nice Strat, as good as or slightly better than another American series Strat. Fender do's a very good job on the finish and craftmanship of the AS Strats. I just never cared for the pick-ups. Thats where I love this one along with the two-tone, two-piece ash body? NICE!

Its a Strat?

N/A

One of the BEST Strats I've ever seen built by Fender. This Strat is that good. Check around from other players who been at this awhile. I been playing since the 60's! My advice? Check E-Bay and BUY ONE before the price go's through the roof. Because its gonna! Simply put its a keeper. My Strat is also 7-1/4LBs? Hard to find Production Line Strats with that kind of weight nowadays. To Date I play 2-Vintage Strats. A Eric Clapton and a SRV Strat. This one holds its own with the otheres and is by far the least expensive! A very very good buy!

Well I play rock....indie rock inspired by sigur ros, radio head, and Death cab. I don't really know what old strats sound like, but I do know what my ears tell me sounds good. I've played primarily through les pauls and other guitars, most of which I've loved. I play through a Collins 5e3 tweed deluxe clone. I was looking for a new guitar and was actually looking for a tele until I played this thing. I went up to Wildwood Guitars in Louisville with amp in tow and played a thin skin tele which really sounded great. I asked for something else that would be comprable in price and steve gave me this. I walked out that day with my guitar. The reviews are for real. This thing is amazing. The middle position is the sound I was searching for. I don't use the in between positions at all, but the bridge and neck position also sound great and have found a spot our(band) set. The 54's are awesome. I've gotten multiple compliments on how this guitar and my amp sound together. When the amp is warmed up with a little grit, those 54's are in their element. And it just gets better with more drive. I love it, and literally just sit in my basement playing chords cas they sound so good. Its noisy, but only when I turn on my clean drive to push the tubes hard. Its really not that big of a deal.

Wildwood Guitars.......No comment.

Like I said, I havent owned a strat, but I have seen the SRV video. Its not going to break.

Been playing for 8yrs. My band just got signed, and will be going on the road extensively this spring. I will buy another soon, since there are still a few left from wildwood, and I will also buy another deluxe from collins as back up. Which also happens to be a name you should check out for amps if your looking

2004-only Limited Run 50th anniversary Fender American Series Stratocaster in 2 color sunburst, ash body, maple neck, 9.5" radius, 22 medium jumbo frets, three custom shop '54 single coil pickups, modern bridge with trem, parchment pickguard and knobs, poly finish, ect.

I believe this guitar and the Eric Johnson Stratocaster are the only 2 non-Custom Shop Fender guitars to have Custom Shop pickups.

This strat is a 10 all the way. The combo of a ash body with the custom shop '54 pickups make Fender magic happen - - sweet chime, cut, clarity yet warm sounding. The Custom Shop '54s are not hum-free but when your are playing this beautiful strat all you hear is "holy-grail" quality tone.

I would rather have "holy-grail" quality tone with some hum than "hum-free" tone that is a compromise!

Please note that IMHO, the 2004 Fender 50th Anniversary Deluxe with the Noiseless pickups and gold harware is also a great guitar but sounds less like a vintage Fender Stratocaster than the American Series version!

Spot on action, fit and finish.

This appears to ba solid guitar and has performed flawlessly for me.

I have been playing for over 30 years and this Stratocaster is capable of "jaw-dropping" tone - - it is that good. Just play one and be prepared to be blown-away. This is also one the most beautiful strats I have ever seen with the 2 color sunburst covering its beautiful ash body. I would expect this guitar to become a collector's item and to appreciate in value in the years to come. I believe this Stratocaster to be a great value!!!

2004 50th Anniversary Stratocaster made in the USA. Two tone finish on ash body, parch. pick gaurd and pup covers/nobs, C shaped maple neck with satin finish. Custom shop 1954 pick ups, medium jumbo frets, fulcrum tremelo and non-locking tuners. 50th Anniversary G&G vintage tweed case with all of the extras included (wrenchs, fender strap and cable, polishing cloth etc.).

I feel this is exactly what a strat should sound like. Great for blues, rock, country and clean notes. Currently using a Marshall AVT 50, and I have tried this guitar on Vox and Peavey also. I am able to achieve the sound I want using all three. The custom shop 1954 pups are a bit noisy, although the sound they produce when playing is great.

The guitar needed the into. set on one string, although I am changing them from 9s to 10s and have the guitar undergo a full set-up and adjustment. Action, neck and pups were nicely set-up. The body and neck looks and feels great. There are no flaws that I can find.

This is a guitar to be played. It will not be stored as a collectable. I feel I can depend on it to gig with, there should not be any issues. As for gigging without a back-up, that would be bad idea with any guitar! The finish is very nice, although I wish it had nitro instead of poly.

Never had to deal with them. There was a few issues with the case and the place of purchase gave me a new one immediately.

I have been playing for approx. 20 years and currently own the following: 1980s Ibanez Roadstar II, 1980s Charvel, 1990 Jackson Soloist, 1994 Epiphone Emperor II Joe Pass Model, Takamine Acuostic EG-330C, and Wechter Maple Lake 1607 Travel guitar.I truely love how the 50th Anniv. American series guitar sounds and plays. If I had to change anything, I would change the strings from 9s to 10s, a slight tint added to the neck finish and the boby finish changed for poly to nitro. The strings are easy to fix and I can live without the tinted neck and nitro finish.
I highly recommend this model over the deluxe version. The sound between the two are very different. The case is great, I catch myself handling it just as careful as the guitar.
There was one other guitar I played and liked very much. This was a G&L George Fullerton signature model and was a very close 2nd. I do not like buying guitars over the internet and insist on playing them first. If the 50th american was not available to play, I would have bought the G&L.

Its a Strat, typical tonal options. Delta tone pot, see other reviews for the rest

Well, it definitely sounds like a vintage strat. It does sound good, however I could just cannot get over the noise. Understanding that this is a guitar modeled after the vintage strat That must included the prerequisite noise. Don't get me wrong this is a very nice sounding stratocaster, but in today?s world, come on,,,,, there is no reason to put up with the noise.

I tried both the standard and the deluxe and went with the deluxe. IMHO, the deluxe just offers more tonal variety. Doesn?t had quite the quack that the standard has, but what it does offer is more, a lot more! Well at least to me. I love strats but needed something that could work in any environment. The standard just didn?t cut it for me.

BTW I love gold hardware,

The Deluxe sounds amazing, very sweet. With the S1 switching it makes a strat sound huge! So many more options and dead quite.

Very good, no issues here. Fender has improved the quality control. The guitar was set up very well to my style of playing.

Well its a strat, I owned a few and never had a problem with any of them that weren?t operator induced.

Well its a Fender!

Now I'mnot some young wipper snapper, I'm 47, played tones of guitars, this is a nice guitar. But not one for a quiet stage, or recording.

Everything is exceptional on this quitar, well everything except for the hum. Couldn't live with it. Sorry guys, to each their own.

Went with the deluxe, more option, very very quiet. And again I love gold hardware!

This is the 2004, 50th Anniversary commemorative Stratocaster. It is made of a 2 piece ash body, one piece maple neck and fretboard and Fender CS 54 pickups. The CS54 pickups are a vintage style pickup and the middle pickup is not reverse wound, reverse polarity and so there is no hum cancelling in the in-between (2 & 4) positions. Trust me, you won't miss it at all -- you'll be too busy enjoying the in-between tone. It also employs the no-load tone control wired to the middle and bridge pickups. The fretboard has a modern "C" shape and a 9.5 inch radius. The tremolo (whammy bar, wang bar, whatever you call it) is the modern two point, stainless steel variety. The body is of the original contour style. This guitar is perfect for anyone who likes the way a modern Strat feels in their hands, but likes a vintage, chimey bell like Strat tone as oppossed to ear the splitting over-rectified tone that passes for much of today's music. I also own a 2004, 50th Anniversary Deluxe model and in many ways, this guitar is far superior.

As I said above, this guitar is a great modern edition of the classic, time-tested Stratocaster. It is the finest sounding guitar I have ever played personally. Better than my Deluxe anniversary model by a long shot, and better than any custom shop guitar I ever played. If classic, chimey, bell-like, vintage Strat tone is what you're after, then you owe it to yourself to at least try one of the out before you buy anything else. It is especially great sounding when played through a blackface amp. I personally played it through both a Super Reverb and a Deluxe Reverb and I was literally blown away by the tone. I can't imagine a Twin Reverb would be bad either. And of the Hot Rod series amps would likely sound very good too, and I am thinking a Marshall stack would be sweet too. Actually, I can't imagine getting bad tone out of this guitar unless you played it through a 1" speaker or something.

The sound itself is bright with the "snappiness" you would expect from an ash bodied guitar. This compliments the vintage style CS54 PUPs perfectly and gives this guitar a voice for the ages -- sweet, ultra sensitive, clear and articualte. When I tried this guitar out at the store, I dimed the DRRI I tested it through and the gain structure was rich and full and bright, but not tinny.

Actually, this guitar was purchased at Guitar Center and had only been in the store 2 days. I was skeptical until I looked it over and wiped down the few visible fingerprints with a microfiber cloth. I was very pleasantly surprised at the condition of it and I felt good about buying it -- and I was in to look at a Super Reverb to start with! It is in perfect condition with the only exception being that the middle pickup cover as some excess plastic that I only noticed upon the final "about to pay" inspection. The action is great and as I like using Super Bullet 9-42s (which were also new and not grimy), I will need to do nothing to this guitar. The trem works flawlessly -- something I could not say about my 50th Deluxe anniversary model which I needed to burnish the nut slots on the G and B strings on. Now don't get me wrong, my anniversary Deluxe is a great guitar, but I needed to set it up to my liking and fiddle with the nut to get there. This guitar needs absolutely no setup work by contrast and is beautiful to look at and flawless of finish.

I own 4 American Series Strats and an American Series Ash Telecaster, plus two Fender tube amps and I've never had any reason to contact fender for support. Enough said.

Never had to call them -- ever.

I have been playing since 1969, and I have a lot of pretty nice gear -- probably more than I ought to -- but this guitar went to number one with a bullet. Before this, my #1 was a 2002 American Series 3TSB Strat loaded with CS Fat50s pickups. That guitar is still mighty fine, but the combination of ash body and CS54 PUPs is just so much better than even that to me. The only knock I ever had on the Fat50s PUPs is that bridge pickup is a tad too thin for my tastes at times. It is, I believe, correct in its vintage (modelled after a set of 1958 Strat PUPs), but I just wasn't 100% on that bridge PUP. That (albiet small) problem has been solved quite nicely now as these PUPs are full and rich in any position and the in-between tone (of which I am a huge fan) is to die for. I went in the store to look at an amp, and I came out with this -- it was that good.

This is the 2004 American Series 50th Anniversary Stratocaster. It's features are listed below by others and, of course, on the Fender website.
The pickups are 1954 Custom Shop single coils.
The body is ash.

If you want a vintage strat sound then try this guitar, if you can find one. The combination of the '54 Custom Shop pickups and the ash body is simply terrific. For a clean, evocative tone this is it!
I play Shadows, Hank Marvin, Mark Knopfler; the quality of the tone is more than important to me.

I was simply staggered when I opened the tweed case. It's a gorgeous guitar and the quality of the workmanship is of the highest order. It was impeccable.

This guitar is both a work horse and a work of art. It is very well made, but it won't be abused by me. I like it too much.

No dealings to report on.

I've been playing on and off for 35 years. This is the best guitar I have ever owned. My previous 'best' was a Yamaha 812W - a great guitar, but it did not have 'that' tone that I wanted. I did try the 2004 50th Anniv. Deluxe strat: I like the S1 variety, but it's pickups are not '54's and the tone is not quite what I wanted. Also the gold finish would be a long term concern.

made in jan 2004 i believe. 22 medium jumbo frets. 3-piece ash although from either the front or the back, you'd only spot 1 seam. v. no-load tone control. came with a 50th anniversary embossed tweed case (which is so much cooler than the molded case i got with the american series tele) and the 50th anniversary book written by tom wheeler. but...those custom 54 pickups are the best thing yet (more of that later). this is a through and through strat.

before owning one, i'd tried the deluxe version as well. while it looked and sounded impressive, it was really ott for me. i figured the gold plating will wear off some day and the s-1 switch was just a tad too modern from what i was looking for. after trying the deluxe, i picked up the standard at the sales rep's recommendation and the first thing that came out from the twin amp was the sweetest sounding strat tone i've ever heard. the custom 54 pickups are just awesome. never overbearing but with just enough bite to move the soul. switching to the in between setting positions brought about the claptonian chimey bell-bottom blues tone. if you do not already realise by now, i love the sound.
the pickups are not noiseless and the combined pickups positions are not hum cancelling; so there will be some noise when you are playing with more gain. but as a previous reviewer mentioned, i'd gladly take the noise that comes with the tone of this guitar.

the guitar came with a medium action, with a bit more upbow on the neck than i would have liked. the middle areas of the strings were thus very springy. a quater turn to tighten the truss rod was all it took to straighten the neck and to provide the reduced relief that i like. it also gave the strings a bit more tension. the straightening of the neck brought the action down to a low-medium. measured with a capo on the first fret, the bass e was 4/64" while the high e string was 3/64" off the 17th fret. this low action gave a slight fret buzz only when i strum real hard.
the nut slot for the g string was giving a bit of problem at the start. each time i perform a divebomb, the g string will go extremely sharp. instead of using pencil lead to lubricate the slot, i chose to use talcum powder so as not to blacken the nut. this seemed to have cured the problem quite a bit.
except for the nut slot problem, the rest of the guitar was top notch.

it wouldn't have lasted 50 years if it weren't reliable now, would it?

never had to deal with them yet, but their website is chocked full of stuff.

after trying out the strat at the store, i came here to check out the reviews to see what everyone was saying about the guitar. i read about how one of the earlier reviewers had gotten the strat as a present from his wife and was wishing it would happen to me. i guess there must have been a star with my name on it that day, 'cause a week later, my wife gave one to me as a birthday gift!
take my word for it, get one!
if you're undecided between the deluxe and this one, take my word for it, get this one!
sure, if the gold plating/ locking tuners/ modern switches float your boat, buy the deluxe. but if you're looking for great tones but can't afford the custom 54 anniversary strat, you need look no further.
did i say go get one?