Fender American Strat Plus

I bought a leftover baby blue Strat Plus (it sat in the store for a year or two because of the colour) I think it has an Alder body. Came stock with 3 Gold Lace Sensors, one volume, two tones (one TBX that I can't understand), ball bearing nut, locking tuners, and a Trem-Setter. I liked the features of this guitar when I bought it and have grown to love them, especially when playing live. The locking tuners make emergency string changes a snap, and the Trem-Setter and the roller nut keep things in fairly good tune even with dive-bombs on the whammy bar.

The sound unplugged is medium-loud and ringy, with lots of bass. I've been using it for rock and Satriani-styled solos, through a Zoom valve preamp and a peavy Special 112 and a Fender Blues Deville. I love the neck and mid pickups, but for my style I am going to switch the bridge pickup to a stacked humbucker to get a more cutting tone with more volume. All the pickups seem to be as or almost as quiet as humbuckers, and are quite close to real single coils in tone and sound, minus a little personality. Lots of sustain considering I run my trem real loose.

When I tried the guitar at the store, I had been sitting for a year or two, so the neck had dehydrated shightly and the fret tips protruded slightly. The action was set reasonably low, about right for most but a tad high for me. A tech at Steve's set it up again and did everything perfectly, including a nice job on the fret tips (free). The finish is a nice Baby Blue, and it seems to be flawless.

I had to put on a set of Graph-Tech string saver saddles to combat string breakage, but now the guitar stays in good tune. It is a beefy, strong guitar that should stand up to years of hard stage use.

Haven't dealt with them...

I have been playing for around 8 years. I bought this guitar because it combines the sound and practicallity of a Strat with the ease of playing and features of an Ibanez (or other ultra-modern soloing guitar). Great for anything except Jazz or metal. I would buy another one in a second if I wasn't a pennyless college student...

This has 3 gold lace sensor pickups, I think an alder body, maple neck, roller nut, fulcrum tremelo, locking tuners and most everything you want in a guitar.

I play heavy distorted death evil black metal and this guitar has a great rythm and lead tone at the bridge, and some more good rythm and lead sound at the neck. All of the pickups sound great un-distorted.

I got this guitar quite used so I can't really comment on this section.

I have only had this guitar for about a month but it plays and looks great for a guitar made in '91.

I have played a BC rich Warlock and getting this guitar was a great releif, it has great sound great features, you CANNOT go wrong with this guitar.

This fine peice of a$$ was purchased exactly a year ago from now. It was made in the US and i believe it has 22 frets, not that i ever use the 22nd fret!. I shouldn't even have to tell you that it has 1 vol, 2 tone knobs with a 5 way switch. Three gold lace sensors (passive) come stock on this guitar, which really was the reason why i got it. Alder body with a Maple neck. My finish is called Inca Silver, I believe its fender's finish #24, I couldn't have asked for a sweeter color. It has the american standard tremolo. Deluxe locking tuners come stock on this guitar as well. They RULE! No winding forever while re-stringing, just put it thru the hole, lock it and clip it. Also, these tuners allow my guitar to stay in tune longer than any other guitar i have played (not counting whammy action, it definately goes out of tune then!). If you don't have these on your strat the're definately worth it! My neck is probably medium sized for a strat i guess. I don't know the actual scale but i know its thinner than a SRV or a JB strat by far! (Fat necks suck!) I give this section a 10 because i don't know what else i could have asked for in a strat.

It suits my needs to a great extent. Sometimes the beef of an SG/Les Paul is necesary though. I use a Hot Rod Deville thru 4 12" and it plays great with no noise at all. In the neck position i get a lush sound, hard to really put in words, but the gold LS is a good one for the neck position. Neck and Mid pickups together give me a less punchy sound, smooth and well balanced. Mid pickup on its own packs a punch, crystal clear clarity, a little bit on the trebly side, but what did you expect? Now the Mid and Bridge pickups together i simply do not care for. I never use this position for any of my music. I call it "ultra twang" which might be what you are looking for, but it doesn't suit me at all. The Bridge alone is thin, very trebly. I use it rarely, usually just for a small quiet part of a song. I am VERY tempted to put a RED/RED or a RED/SILVER dually (lace sensor humbucker) in the bridge to fill up my strat's bottom end. For the most part, the gold lace sensors allow my guitar to reach territory that's simply not possible with typical standard single coils.

This guitar had good action when i bought it. Since i have lowered my strings not so much to increase the playability, but to cause the guitar to be more in tune with itself. For example: even if a guitar feels good, and its totally in tune when you're playing an E chord, it may sound a little off as you play chords farther up the neck. I find this problem all too often in guitars and i'm not willing to deal with my own guitar acting up like that. The Strat Plus is a fine instrument.

I think this guitar will outlive me. I really can't see it falling apart. Hardware is dandy. The strap buttons were solid, but i replaced them with Dunlop strap locks, its worth the $12 for "guitar insurance" while it is on your body. I would definatly use this guitar without a backup even though i have one.

I hear that fender really sucks. Take it upon yourself to fix your gear or find a professional that will probably know more than the dudes at fender anyway!

I have been playing for 10 years. My only other guitar is a cheapo Epiphone LP Special II. I only bought it cuz my band uses multiple innovative tunnings, and having another guitar ready to go in another tunning was neccesary. However, for $150 the Epiphone was a hell of a lot better than probably any other guitars in that price range. I notice sometimes with the LP my hand can get soar from the thick neck. That never happens with the strat, it is a very comforable guitar to play. One of the main reasons why i got this and not an SG is because of the shape of the strat, it feels better in my hands than most other guitars. I tested out the Jeff Beck strat to compare to this one. The JB had a gold/gold dually in the bridge which really didn't impress me at all. It was $300 more for a signature of some guy i have never even heard before (I AM a teenager). So the choice was clear. I had to have a hard shell case of course, it would be silly not to get one for such a qualifying instrument. With the case the grand total was $840. The only thing i could ever want to change is the Bridge Pickup, not that its bad, it just doesn't suit me. One last thing, check out the Lace Sensor HP if you're interested in them (they ARE the best pickups for strats, they were designed specifically for strats!)
http://www.agi-lace.com/sensor.html

Year made: 1998 (I think) Frets: 22 Solid top Controls: 5-way pickup switch, TBX, volume, tone Pickups: 3 Gold Fender Lace Sensors, passive Body: Alder Neck & Fingerboard: Maple Finish: Sunburst Bridge: Stainless-steel Strat-style Tuners: Locking! Neck: Right between thin and fat. Sweet. Accessories: Awesome case, strap (w/ straplocks, cable, wrenches)

I play mostly rock and blues. Initially, a lot of the reviews on the Plus scared me (I had my heart set on this guitar for the longest time, and I discovered the reviews here on harmony central the day before I was set to buy the guitar). A lot of people said the gold Sensors were too quiet and not good for loud rock playing. I always found the red Sensors to be too much; they make Strats BARK! in the bridge position. The gold Sensors are great for making a Strat sing on clean and dirty settings. I own a Carvin Master Tube 2X12 100w/50w, and I think this guitar/amp package is a match made in heaven! I needed to boost the treble on the amp to get the guitar out of the mud, but once you get there, step back! It sounds wonderful. The TBX control is kind of wacky. It doesn't really seem to do much for the tone to my ears, but, maybe with the proper amp settings, it'll pop out one of these days.

The factory setup is irrelevant, since the guys at Chuck's set everything up as guitars arrive. The pickups were well-adjusted, the height was nice (except that the middle Sensor got in the way of my picking, but that has more to do with my long fingers than anything else). No flaws, and setting the guitar up for .010" thru .046" strings was a snap. The intonation, action, neck, etc. are perfectly set for my playing style, and I couldn't be happier. The sunburst finish is hard-core, man.

The guitar seems to be dependable, but, I've only had it for one day! Jimi and Stevie Ray beat the crap out of their Strats, and I expect the same kind of durability from mine. The strap-locks work well, and they seem solid. I'd use this guitar in a second without a backup. If a string breaks, the locking tuners make getting back up to speed a very painless procedure. I'm thrilled with the tuning stability, and I don't think I'd buy another Strat unless it had the lockers on it.

N/A, but Fender apparently now offers a lifetime warranty on all guitars purchased after February 1998, so I'm told. The warranty covers everything except finish and strings. This is great news, and I hope more manufacturers follow suit in the future.

I've been playing for 8 years, and I couldn't be happier with this guitar. I love the variety of tones I can get with it, and, even though it doesn't have the snarl of my EVH Music Man, its simplicity in setting up and comfort of playing make it a tremendous value for the money. Don't expect it to aid you in your death-metal gig. It's pretty traditional-sounding, so don't expect it to do what it simply can't. It's got a personality all its own, and don't think I'm going to replace the gold Sensors with the blue-silver-red-whatevers like i thought I would. I love it the way it is.