Fender American Standard Stratocaster

The NEW American Standard Strat, 2008 (s/s/s) model. Made in USA in surprisingly enough ..... 2008 !
This is the slightly more expensive Sienna Sunburst finish on an Ash body (the solid colours are made with Alder), maple neck and fingerboard (gloss finish on fingerboard, satin on the back of the neck). I'll come back to finish later, and if you're thinking of buying a 'transparent' finish it'll make important reading.
22 medium jumbo frets, solid all the way through, 3 American strat single coil pick-ups, Fender Deluxe staggered tuning machines, and 'Delta' tone circuit. New style Fender SKB hardcase which is fantastic, so much better than the case that came with the previous model.

I've been playing just over 18 months (and I'm 36, not some kid who doesn't know what he's talking about) so I'm still learning, but I know my guitars, and this one sounds great. I play blues, rock, pop, and funk mainly. I play this through a Marshall JCM DSL401 all valve combo.
This guitar sounds fantastic, it's range is better than any strat I've played, even my Blade which has the VSC circuit. Using the Delta tone you can range from really bright texas twang through to some pretty full-on grunt with no problem. You can even get a pretty good acoustic tone out of it on a clean channel. I compared this to a new 2008 USA Standard Tele and the 2008 USA Standard H/S/S strat and I found that this one had more versatility and bite.
My only dislike is that I wish Fender would swallow their pride and add on something like the excellent Blade VSC, because a VSC cicuit on this guitar, coupled with the Delta tone would make it perfect !

Action was a little high, but I always hardtail my strats so by the time I'd taken the slack out of the trem it was fine. The pick-ups were fine and all the hardware appears flawless. The 'hand-rolled' fingerboard edges are a dream to play. As for the finish, this is the important bit I mentioned earlier.
I knew I wanted this finish and I went out to buy expecting all the guitars I saw to look pretty similar, this was NOT the case. I must have looked at six Sienna Sunburst guitars and this was the only one I would have considered buying. Fender charge an extra hundred pounds for the transparent finish on Ash because they say the wood costs more, and I guess that's fair enough if you think they have to find an attractive piece of wood 'cos its gonna show through the finish. Of the ones I looked at they hadn't bothered with the wood at all, I'm amazed they even got through quality control. The grain had major flaws, the joins were awful, and the wood looked cheap. I was about to give up but the store I was in at the time said they had a boxed one out the back so I asked them to get it. The salesman opened the case and there it was, the guitar I had set out to buy.
This one is perfect. If there are any joins in the wood you can't see them (and I've looked hard), the grain is beautiful and rich and it shows perfctly through the clear finish, PRS eat your heart out!
PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS GUITAR ONLINE - You need to see what you are getting, some of the examples I looked at were awful, they were so bad they could have been 'B' stock (they weren't). If you want a 2008 Fender with a transparent finish SHOP AROUND !
I'm scoring this catagory 10 for my guitar, but overall based on what I saw it should really be a 2 or 3.

It's a USA Fender so of course it's a gigging guitar. I wouldn't doubt any aspect of this guitar.
The case is BRILLIANT, really tough and so much better than anything Fender have offered before.

I've been playing eighteen months. I currently own this Fender, a Blade Texas Pro, a Peavey Generation EX (my travelling guitar), and a Taylor acoustic. In the past I have owned the previous USA standard strat, a Les Paul, a Mex strat and a Tele.
If it were stolen I would definately buy it again as long as I could find another one this good ..... which I doubt. I love the playability and the wealth of tones available. I miss the VSC of my Blade, but it's there when I want it.
The finish on mine is perfect, something to drool over, real guitar ****! But as I said earlier they aren't all like this so shop carefully.

Brand new Fender Amercan Standard Strat in Black with rosewood fretboard plus case

Tool kit and cloth ,included also a comprehensive hand book [take note Gibson]

The delta tone is very trebly at max setting. I run this Guitar through a Boss DS1 into a Marshall DSL50 head to a 1936 2x12 cab

I usualy set the tone knob on the guitar to 8 which sounds less spikey ,the bridge pickup is quite powerfull and sounds quite humbuckey for a single coil .The neck pickup sounds all strat ,very Robin Trower ,exellent

I work on all my guitars myself. Out of the box It played and felt good, allbeit with a high action,and quite an under bow on the neck.

I flattend the neck and lowered the action a bit, it felt a lot better.
I dont use the trem so I blocked it off with two small taylor made mahogany blocks. its now rock solid and feels 100 percent better

I also own a mid 80`s Japanese standard Strat which is the nicest strat I have ever played,It feels good against that

I have used my Jap strat for 20 odd years live with no problems at all.

I have used the American on a couple of gigs so far and it was great.
It will outlast me no problem

Rock solid tuneability is all I ask for live, It past with flying colours

The hardware is solid ,the new bridge saddles in particular. I am more used to the old fashiond bridge and saddle assy ,but I soon got used to it

Never delt with Fender ,But Peter Cooks from London Are exellent

Guitar wise I own an 80`s Jap Standard Strat, a Gibson SG Classic,a Gordon Smith GSI thick body,and now the new American Standard

A Marshall DSL50 Head with a 1936 2x 12 cab

Overall the American Standard compares well with my other guitars

I will use it all the time

Standard Strat configuration, Olympic white alder body with a 22 fret maple neck, Fender tuners, new American Standard Tremolo, really nice SKB style case.

The sound is typical for a Strat. The stock neck and middle pick ups have enough output for most types of music. I especially like the tone I can get on the neck pu for the Los Lonely Boys tune "Heaven", nice and rich. The bridge PU was not ballsy enough. I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Lil' 59 humbucker, and now the guitar sounds just right. Very quiet for a Strat, with virtually no 60 cycle hum evident. I play in a cover band doing everything from Pretenders to Green Day to Blink 182, so the versatility of the Strat can't be beat. I play through a Fender Supersonic, with a Fulltone Fulldrive pedal, and use a Maxxon OD808 overdive pedal for leads. I also have an old Boss stereo chorus and a couple of homemade boost pedals.

I absolutely love the feel of the neck of this guitar. This is my 4th Strat, and by far the fit and finish out of the box was the BEST! The guitar was set up with .009's, which I changed out to .010's. All that was required was a minor neck adjustment and tremolo adjustment, and it was good to go. The new Fender neck finish is terrific. It is a satin finish on the back of the neck, and a shiny finish on the fingerboard, and exhibits none of the "stickyness" that some maple neck guitars have. The frets are nicely finished, with no rough edges anywhere. The Olympic white finish is flawless.

Is it durable? Well, I have an 83 Strat that I've used for 25 years, and I think this new one is built better than the old one! The hardware is the standard Fender issue, and I have no doubt that it will last for a long time.
I would not play ANY gig without a backup, but this guitar has already become my main gig axe, and I play it for more than 85% of the tunes we do.

No opinion.

I've been playing for about 30 years. I own an '83 1962 Vintage Strat re-issue, a 2005 Eric Johnson strat, a '97 Les Paul Classic, a '91 PRS Custom 24 and a custom built Telecaster. I also have a 1967 Fender Bandmaster.
If this axe was stolen, I'd have to go get another one.
The best feature is the feel of the neck. For me, it is the most comfortable neck I own. Sometimes you don't choose the guitar, it chooses you. All it took was 5 minutes playing this one and I was sold. The great case is an added benefit, too!

USA made 2008 (new redesign) Fender American Standard HSS - Sienna Sunburst finish. Normal fender 5 way switch, 2 tones, 1 volume. Includes hardshell case, strap, 10' cable, misc wrenches. The new redeign includes the addition of a small spring that fits in the tremelo arm hole, which helps to "tighten" the tremelo arm connection with the block. I read about this modification a couple years ago in a guitar repair book - and thought it made sense. But...one small annoyance is the spring falls out if you don't remember to cover the hole when the trem arm is out. I remembered, but my setup tech didn't and lost the spring. The problem is - dealers don't seem to have them or know how to order them. I e-mailed fender and after 11 days have had no response. I e-mailed them again...we'll see.

Features-wise, its an american strat.

Its good for for crunchy blues. The tone is excellent and that's a result of the wood, pickups, etc. Worth the price by comparison to a couple other guitars I have at lower price points. Generally, I'm happy with the purchase.

The HSS pickup is a bit tinny sounding - a bit harsh - but can be accomodated through amp tone controls or EQ pedal.

Bascially though - it sounds like an american strat. It's tinnier sounding than say...the SRV with Mongo gauge strings and different pickups - I had one of those home for a while but the neck is a bit too fat for my tastes. So American Standard HSS it was.

The factory set-up sucked. Intonation was way off, neck needed adjustment, pickups needed adjustment. But with a $75 set-up at a quality repair shop - its good.

I've seen better wood on a couple other "identical" guitars since I bought mine - I'm a little annoyed now at the lack of quality control in selecting the wood for consistently, but I could see it when I bought it, so that's my own deal.

Too new to comment but stratocasters seem to have the reputation of being pretty indestructible unless you squirt lighter fluid on them and light them on fire on stage. :)

The finish is good, strap butons are solid, I don't gig but if I did I'm sure I'd take more than one axe. However, I have no doubt this product will be durable and reliable.

As noted above, I e-mailed Fender regarding the tremelo arm spring (not the tensions springs, the one that goes in the block hole with the trem arm, to help secure it and also to prevent overtightening and damaging the block.

11 days later - no response.
The dealers don't stock or know how to order the part. I have tried Guitar Center and 3 other local quality stores that carry the fender line. So -- really poor preparation for launch of this newly redesigned product. Fender obviously knew it would be an issue as their literature warns about losing the spring. I remembered, but my tech didn't and lost it. So how come they didn't include a part number for re-order, or better yet, include 5 of these 2 cent springs with the thousand dollar axe...and a part number to order more.

What do I say, the Fender Stratocaster is the absolute perfect guitar. Leo Fender just got it perfectly right

I use a Marshall 50 Watt transistor amp with Genesis effects and this baby just sings its hear out. It has a rich full sound and heaps of sustain

The action on this beautiful baby which has a sunburst finish is absolutely perfect with Light strings fitted but its cool with any size strings I'm using D'addario, the wood finished is perfectly bookmatched and the clear satin finish is perfect. The tuning pegs are perfect and it never goes out of tune. I was especially impressed with the moulded flight case it came in which protects my baby and keeps it just right, you pull her out of the case and it is rarely out of tune, I just love this 1999

Customer support is via Kosmic sound in Osborne Park Perth Western Australia but I've never needed it but I've heard it's A1

You simply cannot go wrong with a fender stratocaster

Made in 2006/7. 22 medium jumbo frets, Rosewood fretboard, satin finish on neck, sealed non-locking fender machineheads (the ones for the 5th and 6th strings have longer posts for optimised string pull angle which is great attention to detail), 2-pivot post standard bridge / vibrato, master volume, tone for neck pickup and shared tone for bridge and middle pickups, 5-way selector switch, sunburst alder 2-piece body, routing for H-S-H (factory standard) though comes with S-S-S configuration on a white 3-ply scratchplate. Pickup cavity painted with conductive paint for shielding. Fitted Fender case included.

They say they have improved the strat and they really have, in all the right areas. It's really refined yet still feels like a Fender Strat.

Ok, I bought this model over the deluxe because the SCN pickups are horrible. I mean really really poor. They sound really hard and unmusical. They might have no noise but they have no tone that I would be happy with. The stock standard pickups sound nice and stratty and would be great if you wanted a traditional strat sound. For me however they were a little weak and being standard singlecoils were too noisy so I replaced them with Kinmans (Woodstock plus if you're interested!). Other than that this a great sounding guitar. The bridge is excellent for subtle vibrato when setup correctly (see below).

The refinements they have made have retained the whole strat feel. As soon as you start using carbon fibre reinforced necks, graphite nuts, wilkinson trems, locking tuners, S-1 switching etc etc you completely lose the soul of the instrument. It ceases to be a Strat and that's why I think the latest standard Stratocaster is right on the money. Rating 8 with the stock pickups, 10 with Kinmans!

The neck on this guitar is great. Perfect C profile (no disgusting V's of clubby D's here!) and perfect radius which allows for easy chording and fluid soloing, helped by the perfect size of fretwire! The finish on these is generally excellent. The build quality is superb, the paint is perfect, the neck pocket is perfect, the cavities are shielded very well with conductive paint. Although I'm not a huge fan of satin finishes (only because they look cheap to me) the feel and quality of the satin neck finish is great.

From my perspective the downsides are as follows;

The bridge is really really good but because of the length of the trem block, the springs rub on the backplate (and no, I don't have the bridge set stupidly low or anything) causing it to snag slightly and go out of tune. Here's a tip for you - put Big Bends Nut Sauce on all string contact points and the bridge pivot points. Set the bridge up so that it is floating about 1mm from the body at the pivot end so that it is clear of the body and then raise the backplate to give the springs more clearance. I just used several layers of PVC tape around the perimiter of the underside of the backplate for this and belive me the difference is unreal. You'll have a strat that really holds it's tuning and has a beautifully responsive bridge rather than the sort of on / off feel vibrato you get from the factory. Now I can do real nice vibrato like you can on wilkinson trems and the G&L Dual Fulcrum trem but without the issues particularly the latter has.

The wiring in these things is really really neat and the electronics are almost totally free of grounding buzz when you take your hands off the guitar.

The cases are SHIT. Really cheap feeling and the aluminium extrusion bends way too easily so the case is awkward to shut. The catches are cheap too.

Fender - have a look at Gibson cases, understand why they are so much better than yours and rethink! The last good cases you made for standard starts which I have experience of were from the 60s!

I've owned the following Strat guitars and I will compare them to this guitar to substantiate my ratings!!!:

Mexican Strat - great starter guitar but tuning issues and generally cheap feeling (but then, they ARE cheap!)

USA Strat Plus Deluxe - had a Fender / Floyd Rose bridge (quite like the bridge of this standard but with string clamps), locking tuners, LSR roller nut etc etc and still didn't hold it's tuning as well is these guitar when set up well. It also had horrible flat jumbo frets and a generally awkward neck to play, plus 3 different types of Lace Sensor which didn't sound great. This was nowhere near as playable as this strat.

G&L Legacy USA - very very well made guitar with a really nice feeling bridge but the thing was awful for staying in tune and had a really clubby neck with sharp edges

Mid 80's Jap Strat - Had a similar profile neck to this which was really nice but skinny frets and a quite small fretboard radius made it very hard to solo on.

Fender have honestly got this strat close to perfect. It's just SO playable. Highly recommended.

This Strat is an American made Standard with the silver 60th anniv. emblem on the back of the headstock. NOT a Brown emblem like the Fender 60th Anniversay Commemorative American Stratocaster. The 60th Mexican made also has the silver emblem, but this guitar clearly says "Made in USA" on the front of the headstock! Also the neck plate says Corona, California. I bought this because of the sound and not where it was made!

I got this '06 Strat from Guitar Center in 7-07 and all I know is that it has the "delta tone" wiring on it and I'm trying to fiqure out if the pickups are Delta Tone's, American or American Vintage. The Mexican made has the Tex-Mex pickups. Otherwise this guitar has a Alder 3-tone sunburst/maple modern C shape neck and parchment pickguard. Classic.

Usually I dont write reviews because I think everything about playing guitar is so differant from everyone else's way of playing. So much depends on other things like Amps, guitar wood, cable's, room size. How can you justify anyboby's review, even mine. I play from clean to slightly distorted and I use differant picks and pick attack to get my tone's. So there may as well be reviews for $0.35 picks out there, hehe. But for know let's talk about this Fender Strat!

THE SOUND, this is why I'm here. When I went into Guitar Center I was looking for a Amp. Lately I've been playing with my Tele's but the Amp I was going to try had this strat already connected to it so I thought I'd try the strat first and then try a Tele later. The moment I played that guitar completely satisfied my strat tone quest I've been searching for all these years. I played for 10 minutes thinking it was the amp that sound so good. So I grabed a Tele and played awhile, it sounded ok. The salesman brought over a couple more Tele's to try. Some sounded good, some sounded bad. Then I decieded to play the strat again. It was the most open musical snapping sound I ever heard from a strat. So I thought that this amp must love strats, I must have tried 5 other strats priced around $1300.00 with the amp, NONE sounded as good!
I needed this guitar sound but hated the 3 tone sunburst color since I already have 2 strats that look just like it. I put it on layaway and waited til the next weekend to bring in my best playing strat to compare it too. The 60th made my other guitar sound like the tone knobs were turned down halfway! Not even a close fight, thats why I switched to the tele lately, to get more snap and I but all gave up on getting a great strat sound, Until Now!!
As it turns out I didn't know this guitar had the Delta Tone in it. It is a No-Load on the middle and bridge pickup when the tone knob is dimed. And it gives the pickups a bright sound. If you love the 2nd position on a strat as much as I do but what more clarity, you'll like this alot! Yes it may be too bright on the bridge pickup and I'm going to try a Fralin in the bridge position for a warmer, hotter tone. But the other pickups are awsome!! For classic rock and bluz, u can't loose!

I love to work on my guitars so other than a warped neck anything can be adjusted. After taking off the .009 strings and putting on .010's, tighting the tremolo springs for the heavier strings and raising the action a bit. I like it a little higher than most people for better bending and NO BUZZ!(hate the buzz). There were no problems, it is new. Intonation is very impotant to me and it was spot on from the factory.

Fender dependability!

Not for me, don't care.

After about 20 years of playing at this time I own around 26 guitars, I fix and sell some. 7 of the usual keepers are Strats (Clapton, USA Strat Plus, another USA standard, '94 Mexican, 50th annvi. Custom Shop '54 and 50th annvi American Deluxe with the S1 switching). The reason I got this guitar was because of the sound! But it does feel and play like a nice broken guitar which is always nice. I will wire up another Strat with the Delta Tone knob to see if it helps on other pickups, but I think the vibe of guitar with the electronic's and the tone woods made it the best strat for me. I feel lucky that I finally found a musical weapon!
Played guitar thru amps I own, Cyber Twin SE, Bassman RI, '65 Deluxe RI, THD Univalve and tried it thru a Fender Super-Sonic (Real nice!), Vox AC 15 and Blues Deluxe. Sounded great with all. High gain seekers need not apply, they make other guitars for that.

2005 American Standard Strat. Candy Cola red with a maple neck. Came with 3 stock single coils. Ash body.

The neck pickup gets a really nice warm tone, great for alot of clean tone stuff. I replaced the stock bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan Hotrail. This thing really wails now!! I love the sound of the neck pickup. I can only rate the sound of it a 9 because I put the Hotrail in.

Action is amazing.

Only had it 1-1/2 years so I have no complaints as of yet. I changed the original knobs and put chrome bell knobs on it.

1993 American Standard Stratocaster - Three-Toned Sunburst.

Typical stratocaster setup, you know the deal. Three pickups, 5-way switch, floating bridge/trem. Nice machined bridge saddles to help fine tune the setup. Maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard. Has the high-tech looking plastic and metal string trees. The guitar looks nice. Looks like what it is: An icon of rock 'n' roll! Tuners are fine. No need to upgrade. Neck profile, I believe, is a soft V. I'm not certain but it's certainly not as chuncky as the 50's style necks. Think the frets are medium-jumbo. Pickups, single-coil of course. No frills. Still, it's art. Not sure what the body is, maybe ash, alder? Has some heft to it--a beefy feeling guitar. Noticeably heavier than my son's Mexi Satin strat. Feels great in my hands! We've had a relationship for years.

IMHO, this guitar has the widest useful sonic range of any electric.

To start out, my guitar even sounds good "unplugged"! The tones are accurate and true. I rarely plug in at home, unless I'm working on a technique or something that needs the amped signal.
Electrified, it gives an even, single-coil sound. Not dark, shrill or sterile. Just a nice 'balanced' sound that can be greatly adjusted via the various controls. It's not as plunky or spanky as a Tele (have one, 2001). It's more compressed, mid-rangy--the sound of rock 'n' roll (and, ... pop, funk, the blues, etc., etc., etc.) It's beefier than the thin Jag (have 1962 'original'). Way brighter than a Gibson (had a 1967 SG and played others) and with more versatility (and, ... perhaps, personality?). Much of the strat's sonic rainbow depends on the guitar's settings. There are sooooo many variations. That's part of what makes it so versatile. I like the lower tone knob way up. I keep the middle one down, and tweak it up for more cut and punch. I noodle the 5-way a bit too, often putting it in the in-between positions (out of phase), particularly the one towards the neck. I'm not one of these that leaves all settings the same all the time. I experiment. The stock pickups are entirely adequate and not noisy with my tube amps (Fender Blues Deluxe, Crate V58, Ampeg SR212-RT, Mesa-Boogie Nomad-55, Peavey Classic-50 410, ToneMaster 261 High-Fidelity). The guitar takes pedals and other outboard gear well too. But, you know what they say, ... start out with a "great guitar" and put in "great pickups" and, ... BAM!! Tones to die for. I may experiment some day. My friend has changed his pups at least three times on his 50th Anniversary strat. In a store not long ago I played a white, early 1980's strat with a locking trem setup. Lots 'o hardware. It felt like it weighed twenty pounds. It had coil taps and some space-aged looking double-wide (humbuckers?) pickups and a mini toggle. When I plugged it in it sounded pure in-your-face metal. Like a Jackson Randy-Rhodes through a Big-Muff. Crazy over the top gain. The guy in the music store said it was a Fender model back then. You could order it. That shows how most solid-body guitars will be what you want them to be. Look at Eddie's FrankenStrat. I love my Stratocaster guitar.

Can't say how it was new, but the guitar was setup reasonably well when I bought it, around 2000-2001. But a few years later I took it to a local luthier/guitar wizard in Milwaukee, Jim Ianelli. Awsome work. Rock solid setup. He knows his Fender strats. Talk to Greg Koch on that. Jim builds amps too. He changed the volume knob on mine, which was acting flaky. The volume knob could be all the way down but you could still hear a little volume bleeding through. He put another pot in, along with the setup and 11's. He set the bridge to float just off the body. The way it should be for standard trem usage. The trem has pretty firm springs. I think I have three in there (can't remember removing any). The guitar stays so 'on' I can use strings for months and and they still sound good. And I play nearly every day and gig once or twice a month. I do use D'addarios (XL's 11 to 49) and they're pretty good. Heavier strings last. I must say though, Jim in Milwaukee did a masterful setup for me. Jim you're GREAT!

This guitar is tough. I mean, didn't Hendrix and Stevie stand on theirs? I dropped mine while carrying it down stairs. Slipped right out of my sweaty hand. Carrying too much at once! Only bent the end-pin (strap peg). By setting the guitar down kind of hard in the softshell case (tweed gigbag) that same endpin screw finally broke. I unscrewed the broken screw with a pliers and put another screw in there. Gotta get a hard case for her. The end-pin was somewhat stripped when I bought the guitar. Had that fixed (dowel and paint work) early on. Still, the body and paint are in great shape. This guitar is very sound. It will have it's small maintenance issues like any guitar that is well used. No major failures or serious issues here though. It should last as long as me. That's all that matters.

Never called Fender. Why would I, with the wealth of good techs and luthiers around. My guitar was bought used and is over ten years old.

Brother, it's a Rock ICON. How can you go wrong. And I got mine cheap. You want something more raw and in-your-face? ... change the pickups dude! Buy an HSS strat. Put a high-tech whammy on it, ... whatever! It's adaptable. Stock, this guitar is the best choice for modern electric-guitar tones. It covers the most bases. God, look at everyone who's ever played a strat, for every type of music. I play it through tube amps mainly, but I've played it through PA's and it still sounded good. My favorite is with a lower wattage tube amp. Blues heaven. I'm 46 and have had played many guitars. I own seven electrics, including a Yamaha arch-top and a Samick semi-hollow (335 style) and have to say, if I was stranded on the proverbial desert island and could have only one electric, it would be the Fender American Standard Stratocaster. Did I say I like Rock music?

PS - Reviewers who give ones, especially all ones, are major a-holes. I've occasionally seen that in these reviews. Shameful BS. It's like they have an emotional need or urge to try to discredit a brand, model, etc. ... like some demented, disgruntled ex employee trying harm a company. Well, this site is not the place. I'm sure others agree with me.

Mine was a black 1993 USA Strat with a white pikguard. It was just your basic, stock Fender American Standard Strat with 3 single coils. It came with a beautiful American molded case (best case ever) and Fender American tuning keys rock as does the American standard tremelo. Very nice.

I don't know what it is but I could'nt get this guitar to sound like the American Strat I had owned before. No matter what I did it was super glassy, like way to trebly and not enough out put even when I raised the pickups. I have owned an American Standard Strat before and it was my favorite guitar, stuff happened and I had to sell it, but this one just can't hold a candle to that guitar. I have owned Mexican strats that have sounded better then this guitar. Just bad pickups, not the strat sound I am used to at all. No noise though, bonus I guess, but that can't suffice for the terrible high treble garbage that this thing puts out. This guitar had no warmth at all and no Strat chunk. Just bad.

The action was terrible, I took it to three different guitar techs and they could'nt flatten out the action on this thing so I took it to a luthier and he still could'nt do it. The thing was fine and played great with 9's on it but as soon as you put 10's on it the neck bowed horribly and don't even think of putting 11's on it because then it was totally unplayable. It was so bad that I am now a reformed Gibson man, and I used to be a Fender man all the way. I bought the guitar used and it played great and sounded great when I bought it then I get it home, change the strings to a new set of 10-52 strings and it was screwed and there seemed to be no fixing it.

The finnish was great and all the hardware was top notch but I woud'nt even dare try to gig with this thing because I would probably have smashed the piece of junk. It is the worst Strat I have ever owned and I have even owned Squire and Mexi Strats. I cannot believe that something like this would come from Fender USA. So, because the hardware and the finnish were so good but the playability and dependability are crap I will be generous and give it a 5.

Bought it used and changed the strings after the one month warranty was up.

I have been plying for 14 years and I have owned 11 strats from all over the world. I also own a Gibson Les Paul Studio, Gibson Les Paul double cut faded, Fender Mexi Tele and a Squier Tele custom 2 and every one of these guitars are better then the Strat. I run all my guitars through a Traynor YCV40 and a Marshall JCM 800 with an A/B switch so it is a good combo to get a wide array of sounds and no matter what I did I hated it. It was so bad that I traded it For my Gibson Les Paul Double Cut Faded and I wont look back. If it were stolen I would thank god and use the insurance money to buy another Gibson.