Fender American Standard Natural Ash Stratocaster

Although I bought it in 2006, the one I got is 1997 OR '98 USA made stratocaster. Stock single coil PU's, frets etc, are all original. It has an ash body, maple neck & fingerboard. The transparent finish lets you to see the beautifully figured ash body. I bought this guitar on ebay with all new black trim, pick guard pickup covers etc.

The black really looks great against the natural ash.

I had not been used to single coil pickups. I have a Guild Starfire III (hollow body) and and old Ibanez LP. This guitar is so bright and clean you will need to turn down some highs. I play through a Deluxe Reverb and use some effects; ME50 & real tube 901.
The guitar lacks the warm richness of the humbuckers and the Fat Cat (p-90 type) pickup I put in the neck position on my LP. What I do get is a very bell strat tone that can pierce through the mix. Clean to a little drive (I use a Dr Z Air brake attenuator) is what this guitar seems to be designed for. I do not play country music but this guitar could take on a tele for that fender twang. I would like a fatter tone at times but I would also hate to loose the classic bell tone. Perhaps I been a humbucker player for too long. The guitar does not do well for the driving swells and heavy chords. The tone improved using 10's from using 9's strings.
The guitar is very quite.

When I bought this guitar it was nicer than I expected, you never know from an E bay purchase. When changed from 9's to 10s I replaced the center spring with one I found (custom made) that had a higher spring rate. The tremolo bar now feels like my bigsby, tighter and much more solid and controllable and stays in tune well. Fender ought to look into this mod.
This guitar is very nicely put together, the all maple neck is as good as it can be, much better than the MIMs of the highway 1 guitars.

Very well put together. Well made parts.

never used

I have been playing 30 years. This guitar is a great guitar for what it does. It is not a "one size fits all" guitar. My modded Ibanz with a strat pick up in the center is a much better all around guitar but putting an stat pick up in an LP will not make it sound like a strat. For clean unbelievable pure tone, especially through a deluxe reverb, this is the guitar.

'97 Strat, two piece Ash, US made, with 3 vol/tone pots, and a pearl pick guard. Won't go over the specs, as they are set forth elsewhere, and I am not from the Department of Redundancy Deptartment. Added the LSR nut and Schaller locking tuning machines. Came with the square Fender case and the usual keys.I am rating the final product, as Starts are OK out of the box, but after a little tweaking, can be great...this one is, now, great. The Strat is as good as the tech and I found a very very good tech.

I feed it through a Boss tuner and either an Ibanez Screamer or a Boss Blues box, and into the Fender amp. Keep the set up simple, and this Strat has that Strat sound...very fine indeed. As noted above, techs are needed for the Strats to reach their potential, and after the adjustments, this Strat suits me fine.

I have no idea about the factory set up...the Strat was 6 or 7 years old before I bought it. It came to me with pick up wires broken, and had to be repaired...however, Strats are never entirely broken....they are just in need of various degrees of tweaking. This one needed serious work. The nut had been "worked on", and the high E kept jumping off track. The Fender quality was the usual Fender quality. Good start, needed work.

This guitar is part tank....historically, the Strats have proven to be very relable. It'll last as long as I take care of it, and I will. Dependable to the max. Take spare strings, but reliable is its middle name. Very solid build.

No idea about customer support....don't care. Mike Koontz in Ferndale, MI, is a marvelous guitar tech. He repairs 'em, improves 'em, and gives 'em back to you in excellent repair, and ready to play. Don't need no stinkin' customer support. Find a good tech, and give him or her the respect they deserve.

I've been playing a LONG time, and have owned a number of guitars. Almost always I have a Strat, and this one will be with me a while. Strats are like the old 1911 Colt .45s...out of the box, they are a project, but they will be all you want once you know what you want.....find a tech!!! It came to me broken, but it was saved, and I really like the look and the feel. I think this one is heavier than other Strats I've had, probably because of the Ash body, but it is rapidly becoming one of my all time favorites. I wish the seller hadn't shipped it in the codition it was in, but that all worked out. I will always have a Strat in some state of tweak. What do I love about it? Easy...the sound. What do I hate? The fact that it weighs 753 pounds (at leats at the end of the night).

2000 model, USA. Natural Ash - 2 pc swamp ash body, about as heavy as an LP, with clear finish (nice woodgrain!), white pickguard, pups and controls, 22 fret rosewood over maple neck. Medium frets, medium neck radius. Standard sss setup with 5-way switch and three vol/tone pots. UPGRADES: Settled on Joe Barden pickups (YESSS!!!). Good whammy made better by adding another spring. Good tuners made better by adding Sperzels. Good bridge made better by adding Graphtec stringsavers. From the factory it's an 8 but when you take care of the details it goes to 10. I'm rating the factory gear.

Great clean bell tones & chimes all the way to a nice hard edge with a lot of gain. Superb harmonics everywhere. The only gripe I had the factory setup was a little bit of noise with the single coil pickups (which had a great traditional Strat sound). Tried lace sensors and puked. Then put in a Joe Barden at the bridge and I heard a Strat from heaven, incredible tones, and DEAD SILENCE in between. Wound up putting Bardens in neck and middle too. Good quack in the out-of-phase 2 and 4 switch settings. The factory sound was an 8-9. With Bardens its off the charts.

I don't know about factory setup. There was one owner before me who knew nothing about this axe and it was a mess when I got it. BUT, as they say, she cleans up nice! I'll bet it was sweet from the factory cause it sure was easy to get it there. The neck is wonderful with a really fast satin/matte finish that doesn't bind on your skin ever. The nut was well cut but slots a little too deep (easily fixed). All the electronics were fine. Replaced the bridge saddles. Added another spring to the whammy because I only use if for dive and don't like messing with tuning. This setup stays tuned like a rock.

I've gigged with this and like all Fenders, it's tough. I hope never to test its durability though, it's too nice looking and playing as it is! The finish is superb and will probably still be good 20-30 years from now. The guitar came with straplocks, great! I'd never gig without backup but mainly for different sound/style. I'd trust this even with the whammy after putting on the stringsaver saddles.

No need to deal with Fender, which is the best customer support in my opinion!

Playing 30+ years. This is the nicest Strat I've owned, by a wide margin, even over some old ones I wish I'd kept from an investment standpoint! I love the sounds, the playability, and the clean natural look. Nothing to hate about this guitar, AT ALL. I would play it exclusively except there are times when you want more of a monster sound and that's not the Strat's home field... for that it's Bill Lawrence or Tom Anderson humbuckers on your favorite slab o wood.

Just an addendum to my earlier review. I've been gigging with my 1997 Am. Std. Ash/maple strat for a couple of years now and there are good and not so good things. The good is that the guitar is a rock. It has held up perfectly. That's pretty much what I expected from a good Strat, but you never know.

The Not so good is the versatility and pickup situation. I got the strat in hopes of putting together a sort of one-size-fits-all guitar so I didn't have to swap around when playing with my cover band. I'm closing in on my 'ideal' I think, but it's still not *quite* there.

I replaced the original delta tones with a Kinman AvN Blues set - pricey, but a nice change. The cheaper and even more usable change is one that I have come to rely on every time I play: I changed the wiring so I can get the neck/bridge pickup combination. That's by far my most used position now. At first I did it using the standard switch, but that makes the switching 'upside down', so I put in a Mega switch from Stew-Mac. I don't have the middle pickup alone anymore, but I never used it that way anyway.

Since that chance I have been swapping bridge pickups in and out in a search for more of an EVH or Richie Sambora kind of sound - while still keeping that single coil look. The closest I've gotten so far is with a Seymour Duncan hotrails pickup. I suspect the cool rails would be a bit smoother sounding (the hotrails can be somewhat harsh I think), but this combination is working pretty well.

The hotrails is, obviously, 'hot' and relatively loud, so I have it a bit lower to balance with the Kinmans. That powerful pup in the bridge position along with the sweet Kinman neck is excellent for getting a tele-ish country sound, and it gets a pretty convincing Rickenbacker/Gretsch vibe as well.

The bridge pup by itself does get into the harder rock soloing neighborhood, with nice harmonics and all, but it's still not quite what I'm looking for. I'm in no hurry to change it tho' because I love that neck bridge combination so much.

Although I bought it in early 2002, the one I got is 2000 model and USA made stratocaster. I did not make any changes on it because I don't need any. Stock single coil PU's, frets etc, are all original. It has swamp ash body,which is almost as heavy as Gibson Les Paul, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The transparent finish lets you to see the beautifully figured ash body.

I play electric blues blues which includes SRV, Hendrix, Eric Gales, Chris Duartee, BB King Jeff Healey etc. With those gears, this guitar gives me the 100 % clasic Strat tone I like. My gears with this guitar are; Vox Valve Tone over drive (The pedal which I owe my tone), Ibanez TS 9 reissue, c-tech sonnyboy, boss dd-3, marshall subervibe chorus, vox v-847 wah and 1969 model 4 x 10" fender super reverb. These gears, the hard and heavy ash wood gives me a balanced brightness and mid with great sustain in all positions. This allows you to have a growling overdriven sounds as well as balanced clean tones. I can say that the sustain is great with the neck position. However the bridge position is a little bit weak. Anyway, all the positions fits my style best.

Its playability is excellent. Some can complain about its heavyness but I love the heavy wood felling of this guitar. You can feel all the resonance while you are playing. Its neck is also excellent.The neck and fingerboard finishings are both great. There is no flaw with the guitar. A nice job of Fender Guys

It is totally dependable and reliable. It looks like it will last forever without any problem. The quality of the wood, bindings and the hardware seems to be high. One problem can be with the gloss finish. It looks like the gloss finishing layer is very thick over the wood. If you hit the guitar, nothing happens to the wood but the gloss finih gets broken easily. I hit the guitar once and the broken finish doesn't look good. But the guitar still deserves at least a 9.

To be honest, I have no idea.

I have been playing for 12 years. I also own '95 Gibson Les Paul Standard and '97 Fender Stratocaster (USA). If it were stolen I would definitely buy this guitar again. First of all I love the woody feel when I play this guitar. Secondly I love the tone that I get from the ash body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard combination. Finally guitar easily outperformes the more common strats with alder bodies in terms of sustain and richness of tone. If you are playing the music closer to my style and you are taking playing seriously, at least you should give it a try.

Ash body (very nice grain!), maple neck, rosewood fretboard, tremelo bridge, 3-ply pickguard (wh/bk/wh), and other typical Am. Standard Strat features like 3 single coil p/u's, straplock buttons, hardshell case...etc...I give it a 10 because it's an American Standard Strat...it does what it's supposed to! Plus it's got a beautiful wood grain! If you want more features, you can get a different model like a Fat Strat or Big Apple Strat, etc.

I play hard-driving blues rock and slower "ballad" type music most of the time but I also write alot of my own material that covers other genres, so I need a guitar that is versatile. This Strat is perfect for my needs! There are a lot of different potential sounds in this one guitar as opposed to my old Gibson Les Paul that only had one basic sound. I'm VERY happy with what my Strat can do...especially when I'm playing that hard-driving blues rock!!! That's what this baby was MADE for!

The guitar wasn't "set-up" well at first, the action was WAY too high, the strings sucked, and it went out of tune ALL of the time...but I took it to the tech and within an hour he had lowered the action, put on some Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (pink package), and tightened the bridge down for tuning stability. Now the guitar plays like a DREAM!! Every once in awhile part of my wishes the bridge wasn't sinched down, but I doubt that I would really use the tremelo anyway...I never have had much use for them...unless it's a locking system their gonna cause tuning problems no matter what! Like I said, now it plays like a dream...but I'm giving it a 9 here due to the tremelo prediciment

I've had this guitar for roughly three years now...and LOVE it!!! It took me awhile to get used to the "Strat" style of tone and playability (I was used to my old Les Paul), but now I'm in love!! The finish is awesome; it's what made the sale for me. I love the woodgrain...guitars are made of wood afterall, so why cover them up with a solid color like black or red?? It's very dependable; in fact, I gig with it at least once a month with no backup...as long as it's got a good set of strings it will get the job done!!

I've never had to deal with Fender's customer support so I don't really have an opinion here.

I love this guitar. This is my ONLY guitar right now, so I'm looking for a good backup...in fact, I'm looking for another Fender American Strat!! I know that one guitar can't suit everybody's needs, but I'm a Strat-man, and I'm glad I've found a style of guitar that suits me so well. If it ever got lost or stolen I would cry...literally...every little nick, pick-scratch, and sweat stain on that guitar is MINE...and I hope to have it for a VERY long time! Fender puts out high quality instruments at very reasonable prices. Alot of people say Strats are "old-school" but you can't beat the original...besides, I think "vintage" type instruments have MUCH more style than alot of these neon-colored jagged-shaped things some people play...those things will go in and out of style, but Strats have a timeless quality to them!

1997 American Standard Strat, feautes are the same as others...blonde ash body, maple neck, delta tone pickups, standard trem bridge that has been tightened down all the way and blocked using a rosewood block.

The basic sound is good. The Delta tone pups are not bad, but they are a bit noisey. I do like them better than the toneless...err...I mean noiseless pups that came on the Deluxe strats. Still, I swapped them out for a Kinman AvN Blues set and was happier still.

Your basic strat sound - a little fatter and a lot quieter with the Kinmans. Outstanding for that shimmering clean strat tone or a bluesy - SRV type tone. Also does a real credible job at the Steve Cropper/Motown type sounds. The Ash/Maple combination is a bit brighter than Alder/Rosewood, so I think the AvN Blues set really works well with this configuration.

Absolutely useless for high gain or heavy distortion, but great for the clean to overdriven sound. Currently using this with a Mesa Blue Angel 1x12 and they sound real nice together.

I bought it used and it had just been set up nicely by a good tech. The ones I tried new were not set up as well and didn't have the frets dressed as well. It's pretty standard stuph. Fenders (especially the American ones) are pretty solid and relatively consistent as far as construction. The wood is nice, finish is that thick plastic - or whatever it is - that'll probably last through nuclear attack. The only physical thing I've noticed is that the neck pocket is not quite as tight as I've seen on some high-end strat types - although it's certainly not 'loose' by any means.

Still it's a strat. Construction is relatively simple compared to something like a Les Paul or PRS. On the one hand I like that because I have no problems taking it totally apart and putting it together. OTOH, the fact is that from a construction standpoint (at least IMO) it's not as elegantly put together as many other top-end guitars. That's reflected in the cost, of course.

That said, the strat doesn't stay in tune nearly as well as my Carvin or Les Paul. I'm not sure why that is, but during a gig I need to check tuning regularly (which I do anyway) and tune up every couple of songs. The other guitar sometimes seems to stay in tune for months at a time (only a slight exaggeration!).

Strats are planks of wood - that's part of the beauty. It's not going any where. All the wood and hardware seem very tough and I haven't had any problems at all. Other than breaking a string, there's not really a need for a backup at a gig (although I *always* bring a backup). Of course, I did all the pickup wiring and soldering so I'm comfortable with it. I've never had a problem.

Never had a need, although I haven't heard great things about Fender in this regard.

I've been playing 26 years (Yeowch!!!) at this point. I've owned many guitars, but have mainly been a humbucker player. This is my 4th strat-type guitar (had to finally go for the *real* thing). It's not the best guitar I've had, but it's really got a great vibe and is a lot of fun to play. There are some songs that nothing works better on.

I don't know if I'd instantly replace it if lost or stolen. I've got a home made strat that I like as much and another that's close.

Mine is the American Standard Stratocaster, but with the natural ash finish. It had some unusual modifications in that it had an L.R. Baggs bridge with piezo pickup for "acoustic" sounds. It also has a Roland GK-2A synth pickup installed. It included a molded hardshell case. Maple neck. The middle tone control has been replaced by a piexo volume control. The remaining tone control affects all pickups, which to me is an improvement over the usual Strat wiring.

It has the usual Strat quaxk in positions 2 and 4. The remaining single coil positions are much quieter than a MIM Strat, though not as quiet as my Strat Plus Deluxe. It is, by Strat standards, a very rich, full sound, though not a match for humbuckers on that score. I use it through a tube amp (Laney LC15), a solid state practice amp (Fender Amp Can - two inouts makes it easy to use the piezo and magnetic pickups at the same time without a second amp, just a stereo cable. I run it through some Boss effects (CS-3 Compressor/Sustainer, PH-2 Super Phaser, OD-3 Overdrive) or a multieffects box (usually the Johnson J-Station). There is an enormous variety of sound with the different pickups, but even just with the stock pickups, there are useful differences between all 5 switch settngs.

Absolutely gorgeous. I don't know if I'd spend the extra $150 if I were buying it new, but natural is my favorite finish, even more so than sunburst. No flaws that I could see, other than the two little holes in the pickguard needed to install the GK-2A. Intonantion was dead on.

Fendera are tanks. The only thing I'd add would be straplocks.

I never deal with them. Very good information on the Web site.

American made Stratocaster with natural finish and ash body. Built in 1997, I bought it second hand in 2001 for $ 635,-. It was still looking as if it was new. The usual stratocaster look (I don't have to explain that, I'm sure) with Schaller tuners, String-thru body bridge. I noticed that the springs to which the bridge was attached were a little too weak. One-piece maple neck. Complete with a nice black Fender-case.

The sound is wonderful. Played on the neck-elements a beautiful warm Hendrix-clean-sound. Played on the bridge elements with distortion presents a screaming high sound. I own a regular Strat with alder body, but this ash body adds a touch of magic to the sound. The guitar isn't noisy at all.

I bought this one second-hand and I had a strong feeling that the former one thought he was a guitar tech, but really was someone who could barely understand the basics of guitars. Anyway, he must have been screwing around with the bridge because I could see this wasn't the way it's supposed to be. Willing to admit I don't know enough about guitars and willing to admit I have to left hands, I'll have to bring it over to my regular guitar tech who will do a nice job, I'm sure cause he always does. So I'm rating the action high because I know it can be A LOT BETTER

I own two Strats now and I know you can depend your life on these guitars! They always sound good, hardly ever get out of tune. Everything is rock solid. Though I wonder what would happen if it fell down the stairs or something. I do not think I am willing to try that, though. Of course this guitar will withstand live playing, if it doesn't I do not have any use for it. I would never use ANY guitar without a backup. Not EVEN this one, though if there was a guitar I would use without a backup, it would be this one.

Never had to contact Fender.

I have been playing for 14 years I own a lot of different guitars (8 in total) including another Strat Sunburst, a Gibson Marauder and a Washburn HB-35(american made). This Natural Ash is one of the best!!

This is an absolutely fantastic guitar. It has the same specs as all the other reviews have said...natural ash body, 3 single-coil fender pickups, non-locking tuners....I'm giving it a 10 even though it is a relatively simple guitar...which is exactly what i wanted, and which is what makes it PERFECT.

This guitar will suit any style. I've been able to play everything from blues to shred metal to funk to jazz to anything under the sun on this instrument, and it comes out great. With the proper amp and effects setup, you can make this sound like whatever you want it to.

The action is very low and beautiful, with no buzzing at ALL. I use Ernie Ball pink slinkies, which are somewhat thin, but they sound GREAT. You dont have to worry about pushing down on the string at all, just THINK about the note and out it comes. For those of you who like higher action though, you could easily adjust it at the bridge.

The natural ash finish is a bonus for durability, because if it gets scratched at all, it won't show through so easily as it might if there was paint. The strap buttons are VERY sturdy, no worries there. I would definitely use this guitar without a backup, i think it can handle almost anything.

I've never dealt with the company before, but Fender is VERY well-known, so i'd imagine it would be very pleasant.

This is my first electric guitar, but i've been playing my Washburn D-21S for years. I would DEFINITELY buy this guitar again new if it were stolen or lost, God forbid that ever happened. I would be beside myself if anything even happened to it. I'm in the process of ordering a Boss GT-3 effects floorboard for it for stage usage, which should make it all the more useful.