Fender American Standard Strat

Year : 1997, US-made American Standard Strat, 22 frets, bookmatched alder body (suspect it has laminated veneeer?) 5 way pickup selector with no-load setting on bridge tone pot. Pickup config. S/S/S stock.
Solid maple neck, sunburst finish. American Standard tremolo.

Price w/ case US$ 680, purchased in 1997 at Guitar Center

I play a variety of styles usually blues, clean R&B stuff and occasional hard rock. I have played it through a Peavey Transtube Studio Pro 112, a Line 6 Flextone and a Fender Prince (2x25).

I use a little bit of delay with some chorus. For the slightly overdriven stuff I use a TS-9 Tube screamer reissue. I really hate
the American Standard pickups because I found that they are very
shrill and trebly sounding, overly bright. So I changed all the pickups, in the neck position I installed a Seymour Duncan APS II
pickup which has very nice smooth sound, although it really has a lot
of output(quite loud).

I find that it really sounds great in the neck position with the
Tubescreamer turned on. WHen I plug it into the Line6 with the Black Panel model, I can get a very, very crisp and sweet Fender clean tone
especially in the bridge & middle pickup setting (setting four).

Bear in mind I did change my bridge pickup to a DImarzio HS-2 and the
middle to a HS-1 because I couldn't stand the Hiss in pickup positions 3 and 5 using the stock american standard pickups.

I find that the guitar is really suitable more for dirty blues or
clean rhythm type work. In my opinion nothing beats a humbucker in the bridge position for a straight-ahead rock sound.

again it really sounds great with the neck pickup but then again
I changed it to a Seymour DUncan. I think the tone is a little more
full because I use .010 to .046 rather than the regular .009s to .042s.

So overall I am not too impressed with the stock pickups. That is
why I changed them to try to reduce the brightness that is already
inherently there with a maple neck.

I walked into the store with the intent of getting a rosewood neck.
After trying 5 different American Standard I walked out with the maple neck one, primarily because it sounded the best, also the other
four were SO badly setup. On most of them the neck was way out of
adjustment which made them really difficult to play. Also the fretwork
was not polished enough also I supposed this would have taken care of itself once the guitar was broken in. I found that the bridge was really floating too high above the guitar body.

I like the bridge to be flush with the body, so in the end I made
all the neck, saddle and bridge adjustments myself, having put in
an extra spring in the tremolo cavity, adjusting the saddle and bridge height and straightening the neck a bit. I like a slightly high
action and I have to say after adjusting the guitar, it played
very well.

Problem is, I went to one of those guitar warehouse places that sell
guitars so quick they really have no time to adjust them. I found that
in smaller stores, almost every Strat I played was set up well and played well when I picked it up. However the price was also 150 dollars more.

Regarding the fit, the neck sits very snugly in the pocket, there is
no movement/looseness at all. The neck finish is superb and this
makes the playability really good. Also the sunburst finish on the body was very good from the start. Four years later, it's still very good. THe bookmatching is very good.

I noticed that in the tropical Malaysian climate, the metal parts
ie. bridge, screws, etc have really suffered. After I moved back
from the US to Malaysia, I could really start to notice the corrision/
wear on the bridge parts, primarily because I sweat so much.

Reliability wise, this guitar is really very tough, I have dinged
the neck a few times. Also I find that if I stretch the srings right
after a putting on a new set, my strat stays in tune very well (I bend strings a lot since I play blues). So no complains about the tuning, even with only about 5 wraps on the post for each wound string.

I would say this guitar is reliable for live playing. However once
in a while you would need to clean the pots, switches, jacks, etc.
This has become my main live guitar so I feel realibility is not
an issue.

i have been playing more than 10 years so i feel that finally I have
managed to develop some taste as far as finding a good guitar and
listening for tone, etc.

I also own various effects, Tube screamer, chorus, Korg, Roland stuff
and a Studio Pro 112.

If I lost it I would definitely buy a Strat again but I would go for the Rosewood neck one since I am looking for a slightly warmer tone.

I love the tone, playability and reliability the most.

I hate the fact that you really have to adjust the setup a few times
before you are comfortable with it. I have found that this situation
exists with many Strats especially the foreign made ones. I find that the Strat copies made by other companies are generally better setup than a Fender-made Strat.

My advice to those lookng to buy a Strat -- it's a really versatile
guitar because you have a whole bunch of tones, as compared to a Les
Paul type guitar which basically has the straight-ahead humbucker tone.

Also make sure you try all the Strats in the store before you get
one--hey, it's your $$, not theirs!!. And if you're not cash strapped
and are not too sure how to set up your guitar, it's better to go
to a smaller store where you get better service, and also you can probably keep going back to the store if you need free guitar adjustments. However you also have to pay more.

US made standard, so not much to add than Standard.

Well, burn me! I don't like the sound through my Marshall Amp!
I have a Les Paul that I can't make sound bad, yet this Fender seems to be a muddy mess when using distortion. OK for the clean and twangy sounds but thats it.

Beatifullt set up and a joy to play.

I think so, don't you - but it will be tested by another owner as I will sell it.

I think the name Fender drew me to the purchase. Now after a few years I know a little more and really don't see the premium tag is justified for a Fender. They are SIMPLY guitars with crap trems.
I really believe many other guitars at the price of a strat offer better value.

I,ve been playing guitar for about 12 years now,8 of those playing an Ibenez R.G. Through a fender stage amp and a Yamaha GW10 pedel at the time i was mainly playing hard rock , metal then once i started playing live gigs i found that i never had a very versatile axe which made me lean towards the standerd strat.

The only thing i have thought about changing are the pickups i have found that they have a little too much treble and not enough low down punch, so I think i'll go the humbuckers .

Mine is a 2000 American Series Standard strat. s/s/s with sync tremolo. Maple neck and fingerboard 22 frets, volume and two tones, with 5 way selector.

I've played a couple of strats before, and I think that the american strat truly lives up to its legend. The sound ranges from warm and fat to the classic fender twang. No fret buzz at all, with an extremely bright sound. I play it on my roland jc-120, and you will not find a more vibrant tone in any other guitar. Definitely one of the best guitars ive played, and i'd recommend to anyone.

Perfect spick and span finish. 100% quality from the start.

I think it'll last me my whole life, and im bettin ill be passin it to my grandchildren.

Haven't tried it out yet... cuz .. well... no need to!

I've been playin for about three years and i have two other strats. I'd definitely buy another if stolen... except... i heard they stopped production of this model!!

i love this guitar it is my favorite!

i play a mixture of funk matal rock and sca and i love this guitar anthing i want it to do it does it goes from treble funk in the bridge pickup to bassie blues in the neck pickup

the only problem i had was the neck is slightly bent but that is b/c it is used and it doesnt make a difference

never had to call

cmon its fender