Fender American Vintage 62 Reissue Stratocaster

Mines a 2004 in Vintage White, with a mint green scratch plate. The fret board is really dark almost black. The neck has got a lovely fat C-profile (a lot fatter than the modern shallow C-necks). I have got a 57' model and the diffence in the necks is very noticable. The 57' is a lot more V shaped. So features wise its a strat from the 60's with a fat(ish) neck, vintage tremelo etc. thats why I bought it, so it gets a 10! Its a lot heavier than my Vintage 57' reissue.

I play through Marshall JCM2000 DSL50 / 4x12 cabinet.

I'm now very happy, its gets a 10. However, I did have to play around with the pick-up set-up. The neck and middle pick-ups are a dream, however, the bridge pick-up was just to trebley. It was too extreme. The solution was easy - I lowered it! Alot. however, it took me almost a year of playing to come to this solution. Now it almost sits flush with the scratch plate - and hey bingo! What a fantastic sound. In fact I lowered all the pick-ups so that output levels are the same for all three pick-ups.

The great thing is when I play with a crunch or even a lead sound, I just need to roll the volume back to get a really nice clean sound. It is very flexible.

I play alot of blues, rock (Blackmore, Hendrix et al) I like changing the pick-up selecter in mid solo. The sound is just fabluous. From a a full rich bass (that classic strat sound) to a full bridge scream and back again.

Another thing is, is that this strat is a lot louder than my Vintage 57'. Its also heavier. The sound is completely different.

The 60's HUM is there, so depending on how you're standing / positioned in relation to your amp and how close you are to the amp will influence the hum level.

The set-up was ok, however, when fitting the five-way selector I took the chance to set-up it how I like it. I've found that plays better with a slightly higher action. I play with 10's.

Finish wise its great.

Its built like a tank - with this quality you can see how Fender built up the repretation that they've got today. Once it got played in it stays in tune well. Its like any other guitar, if you change the strings regularly and keep it clean it won't go out of tune (providing that its well set up of course!)

Very good. Mine got delivered with the wrong tremelo arm, so Fender Scandinavia pulled out all the stops to get it fixed. Great service!

Its the best strat I've ever played. I've been playing for 25 years. this guitar will do anything, from blues to shread. From metal to jazz. If you've got it in your fingers, this guitar will do it.

This ones not for sale!

Actually just to clear something up about the previous review: the slab rosewood board is actually period correct, laminated boards or veneer as most people call them only started to be used halfway throught 1962 so the first 5 or 6 months of stratocasters produced had slab board on them rather than venneer, since fender doesn't specify wether this is an earlier or later 62 reissue (which would be kind of senseless anyway) one can consider the slab board to be period correct, therefore mr T.M.Lilley no need to deduct a point for that matter... rock on ;)

2005 American Vintage '62 Stratocaster in Surf Green. 21 vintage frets, 3-way selector for 3 '57/'62-single coils, alder body, maple neck with a slab rosewood fingerboard, white (plastic?) era-incorrect dot markers. Nitrocellulose finish that feels really good + smells... that could be the brown tolex case though.

Basically it has everything one would want from a vintage strat reissue + a 5-way selector, extra tremolo springs and ashtray tremolo cover and a crappy strap. Honestly, why can't they include the deluxe vintage strap instead of this flimsy, thin, cheapo rubbish. I'll deduct a point for that. Also, as the previous reviewer pointed out, the features on this guitar are not correct for '62 (the slab board instead of the round lam, the missing patent numbers on the headstock, white dot markers instead of clay). I'll deduct another point for that.

The sound is crystal clear and bell-like through my 15-watt class A Monster El Mariachi. The clean- and breakup sounds are what this guitar really excels at.

The pick-ups are a quite weak compared to my Les Paul or Rickenbacker, but that's what they are supposed to sound like. Needs a little help from my Crowther Hotcake to drive the amp into overdrive.

The bridge pup is rather bright. If I tweak the controls on my amp to compensate for this, the neck pup will sound muddy. Something may have to be done about this. Pehaps I'll install a bass-plate or something. I'll give the pickups some time though. Maybe they'll mellow out with time. I didn't really get this guitar to rock out on the bridge pup though, I have an LP that is far superior in that department. This guitar is all about painting sonic pictures with clean and semi-clean tones on the neck-and middle pups... echo and vibrato action... you get the picture!

Great for those clean Jimi Hendrix tones too ? la Wait 'til tomorrow and Little Wing.

Off course I'd like it to be an all in one guitar and perhaps I'll do something about the bridge pup someday. At this moment I'm just enjoying it as it is. Lovely tone! I can't imagine a strat sounding better. Still, -1 for the bridge pup.

The guitar was a disaster when it arrived. The nut was cut so bad that it was impossible to get the guitar to stay in tune. Guitar players seem to expect to have a crappy nut from the factory and have it cut again without question. Why? Why can't the most expensive factory Fender Stratocaster have a decent nut? Guitars should be playable and stay in tune straight from the factory. Sort it out Fender!

Anyway, I had the nut cut, intonation set, neck straightened, 5 springs installed etc. Now it plays the way I like it! Pup-, action- and fret-wise the guitar was OK from the factory. A solid guitar in every aspect.

Ok, I've had this guitar for a month or so. Haven't played a gig with it yet. My Jap strats took real beating though and they withstood it well. Hope this one stands up to that standard too. I have a good feeling it will!!

I owned 2 Jap strats prior to this guitar but one burnt and the other was just otherwise unplayable due to fretwear and the fact that I once installed Lace sensors on it and don't like the sound of them anymore. I have a Les Paul and a Rickenbacker 620 but I was missing the strat sound badly. I also needed a guitar with a nice tremolo for some Shadows-type stuff.

Fender have a lot of strats. I ended up with this easily though. I like the vintage look, vintage frets, a thin neck on a strat and a small radius on the fretboard. What I don't like are special switching systems, active electronics and other special tone-sculpting knobs.

After eliminating the possibilities, I was left with either a Mexican Classic-series strat, ordering a '68 strat from Ishibashi, Japan, or the AV'57/'62RI. I really wanted an American strat because I'd never had one. Easy! I'm really happy with the guitar!

A strat is something you can easily grab and strum about at home. A Les Paul is a bit cumbersome and heavy and the Rickenbacker isn't well-enough contoured to be played on the sofa while watching the TV without it beginning to eat in to your ribs;) Strats rule on this front!

Ok, the guitar had problems with the setup, the pups had their own quirks and the features weren't quite period correct but I love the guitar. Good partners tend to disagree on some matters and so do my strat and I, such as tuning! It keeps the whole thing interesting!

2005 Fender AV62 with nitrocellulose 3color sunburst, 21 thin vintage frets and 3 way switch for the vintage spec single coil pickups. Since about 1998 or so Fender has been using revoiced, beveled pickups on the AV62. This guitar is all about vintage vibe so it's features are pretty accurate to a 1960 Stratocaster. That's right I said "1960 Stratocaster", but I'll get to that later. Tuners are klusun style and the neck is Indian rosewood. The case for the AV62 is brown tolex with leather end pieces and gold interior. If the clerk hands you a tweed case just give him your best gear snob look and say, with a raised eyebrow and french accent, "My good man, the tweed case is for the maple neck AV57 and is quite inappropriate for this instrument. Please, bring me the brown tolex case." Case comes with strap, polish cloth,5way switch, hex wrench,and extra springs for the tremelo. I rate this a 9 only because there are not a ton of features. But the AV62 is everything that you will need in a guitar.

The Sound. I listen to everything from country to rock, pop and blues. My playing is blues influenced by the styles of Albert King,Clapton, Hendrix and Keith Richards so this guitar fits my
sound. I play through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue and I find that this is a perfect match...bell like tone with the amp volume under 4 and a touch of roadhouse growl with the amp and guitar volumes pushed. What do ya wanna play? Jazz, blues,rockabilly, country, funk, rock...this is the guitar to cover all styles, except for apocalyptic speed thrash metal. It's possible to get a nice overdive with this combination but I don't think you will get a speed metal crunch. Fender says that the pickups are reverse engineered from an original 1963 strat pickup and I think they got about as close as you can get to a perfect vintage sounding pickup. These are vintage bell like, if you've got the chops you can get both a Sultans of Swing like sparkle and a Little Wing like reasonance. If you're thinking of changing pickups, well go ahead, but here's what I've found out. I've owned at least 8 stratocasters and all of them were either American Series, Custom Shop Time Machine or American Deluxe so I've heard and used a variety of Fender pickups. I've also tried the Fat 50's, Custom Shop 54, Texas Special, and Seymour Duncan Antiquity II's in my American Vintage 62. My favorite pickups have been the Custom Shop 54s, because of their balanced tone and ability to adapt to different amps, music styles and pick or fingerstlye playing. What I've found is that the 57/62 pickups that come stock on this guitar are slightly warmer sounding than the Custom Shop 54 pickups. The 57/62 pickups have a sustained clarity during lead playing and are balanced with a slight warm bell like ring when playing chords. Both the 57/62 and the Custom Shop 54's use a .1 capacitor for the tone pot so I think this may account for the warm sound even though "technically" the tone pot should not affect the pickup when the pot is on 10. Also the 57/62 are modeled after a later time period than the Custom Shop 54's so that gives the 57/62 a slightly different sound. I'm not a scientist but I know what I hear and I think that the Custom Shop 54's are a bit louder than the 57/62. However, the preception of loud may be attributed to the greater vocal range of the Custom Shop 54. Anyway, the point is that in my opinion the Custom Shop 54 pickups are hands down the sweetest, most vocal and lyrical pickups that I have tried. In comparison, the 57/62 pickups are very, very close in terms of pick response, tonal versitlilty and lyrical vocal quality to what I hear in the Custom Shop 54's. I'm talking RCH close. If you don't know what a RCH measurement is, then ask your Dad. The sound of the 57/62 pickups are smooth and chimey in the neck and middle while the bridge is almost telecaster like twangy but without being shrill or icepick. A good upgrade is to add a tone control mod for you bridge pickup, it's a simple mod that your local guitar store can do in less than an hour. The tone control modification allows you to use the second tone knob to roll back some of the brigthness of the bridge pickup. So before you spend hard earned money on new pickups get a cd that best captures the tone that you're looking for...Sit down with a tasty beverage and listen. Now take a screwdriver and adjust your pickup heights untill you dial in the sound that you want. It won't be dead on balls exact to the cd, but it will be close enough that your own indivdual sound will shine through. Want to get in the range of Stevie Ray? Well, the AV62 and a tube screamer will get you there. Forget the Texas Specials for a while and go up to a heavier set of strings. 10s are good...work your way up to 11s if you can! The big strings will provide more beef to your tone and are a lot cheaper than new pickups. Got the attitude and the metaphyscial ability to sing while playing simultaneous lead and dance floor but

This is my third American Vintage 62 and over the years I have bought, borrowed, tried out or played many other AV62 and AV57 Stratocasters and AV52 Telecasters. With one exception, and I mean ONE exception, each guitar has been consistent in quality fit and finish. The one exception needed a professional setup for the action and that brought the guitar up to professional level. By now everyone should understand that a factory setup is a just a baseline standard that should fit most players but realistically can not fit every individual. You may have to have the action adjusted to fit your playing style but what you receive out of the box should be within a set tolerance. I've found the overwhelming majority of the American Vintage line guitars to be in tune, plug and play status out of the box. The nut and frets on this guitar are well cut and the frets are polished and smooth edged. Under the pikguard you'll find black bottomed pickups wound to vintage specs of about 5.6k resistence complete with cloth wiring and precise solder joints. Surgical tubing is used for the pickup screw adjusters, wire springs weren't used until the late 60's. The pickups and tone pots are mounted to the pickguard under an aluminum shield that covers the full area of the pickguard and acts as a shield against hum. The Indian rosewood fretboard is slab style, slightly rounded on the shoulder edges and has a robust chocolately coloring. The nitrocellulose finish looks terrific and will age nicely. Remember, nitrocellulose is a thin finish so the AV62 will show wear more quickly than a poly finished American Standard or American Series. Still, I like the nito look as it will allow the guitar to age like a vintage strat would. By the way, most strats are now and have always been 2 or 3 piece bodies, the difference is how well joined and reasonant the pieces are. Yes, there are exceptions, there are always execptions, but for the most part a Strat is going to be a 2 or 3 piece Alder wood body. The attention to detail is evident in this guitar and I think that despite it's 1962 moniker, the American Vintage 62 Stratocaster may actually be a closer reproduction of a 1960 vintage strat. Case in point, true 1962 stratocasters have two patent numbers on the headstock decal but the AV62 has no patent numbers on the headstock which is like a 1960 strat. Also, the yellow target style sunburst like the one found on the Time Machine Custom Shop 60 is more likely to to be found on a later period strat. Yes, there are exceptions but for the most part a true 1960 Stratocaster would have a 3 color Sunburst with a translucent yellow in the center. Meaning you would be able to clearly see the grain of the wood through the yellow portion of the sunburst, just like on the AV62.
Finally, Dan Smith a Fender employee who helped launch the AV series has been quoted as saying that the AV62 was modeled after the neck and body of two guitars...a 1961 Stratocaster and a 1960 Stratocaster. So there you have it, not a very scientific dissertion but those are some of my reasons for thinking that the AV62 is actually closer in many respects to a 1960 stratocaster rather than a 1962. The comparisons and speculating are all in fun because the real goal is having an reliable instrument that is made of quality components and that will challange you to become a better player. In my opinion the AV62 is a high quality instrument that is consistent in fit and finish. Action is typically set to facory specs, playable out the box and readliy adjustable to individual playing style.

This guitar is sturdy, reasonant and suited for professional use. The frets are thin vintage stlye but as long as you stick with nicklewound strings you should be fine. Strap buttons are vintage syle but well fitted. The nitro finish is going to scratch, dent and probably get a little richer in color, but that's what as vintage style strat is supposed to do! I have gigged with this guitar and other guitars of the American Vintage series and will continue to do so because they hold up to professional level performance. Within reason, you will not have to worry about this guitar. Just don't spill beer in the jack cavity or do a botched pickup change and expect the instrument to work well. It'll take a whipping but don't subject it to any abuse or hostile climate worse than you could take yourself.

I have used Fender authorized repair services before and have been treated in a professional manner each time. Just keep your receipt.

I've been playing for about 10 years now and I keep my gear pretty basic...AV62 Stratocaster for jukejoint blues-rockin' and a Martin 00028ec acoustic for chillin'. There's a Tube screamer and a vox wah pedal around here somewhere and I use a PODxt for recording in cakewalk Home Studio. I would buy this guitar again because it is consistent in quaility, versitile and as close to a vintage stratocaster that I am willing to pay money for. Cost is relative, even a Squire can be expensive jump depending on your commitments to college, mortage or heaven forbid...alimony. It's good to know that for the most part I can consistently buy an AV series and get the sound, quality and durabilty that I expect. I don't have any compalints about this guitar and I would recommend it. Compared to other guitars like my friend's 58 Les Paul and American Series Stratocaser, the AV62 has a thinner neck but it's not a bother for me since I have medium sized hands. In comparison to the Les Paul the pickups of the AV62 are lower output pickups, but man they are soulful! Again I suggest that you use the pickup height adjustment screws to dial in your sound..it works. If rosewood necks aren't your style then try the AV57, which has a larger maple neck. Either way, the American Vintage series is a solid buy that I recommend.

USA 62 reissue in Olympic White - 2004 model. Features? It's a Strat. It won't drive a midi computerised processed whatnot but why buy one if that is what you want. It is THE guitar. Buy something else if you want the guitar to play for you and serve you drinks at the same time.

Certain accessories are quite pointless. I suppose you could use the lead if you ever needed to restrain a burgular.

Nice case.

The sound from this guitar is very very good. It is exactly what a strat should be. You really do not need to fit the 5 way selector as the fitted three way switch can access all the 'in between' twin pick-up modes easily. The real revelation of this guitar is the bridge pickup sound - it has a really fat sound. I have to say I really was overjoyed with the sound. The stock pickups are excellent and I would normally always immediatley change to aftermarket pickups (which I have done for just about every other guitar I have owned). The bridge pickup on my old jap 62 reissue was unusable due to a laughably thin sound. The neck pickup has the right contrast from the bridge pickup sound - warm but with the necessary bite especially when digging in. Even the middle pickup sound is very usuable. The inbetween sounds are absolutely superb best I've heard on any strat I have played. The guitar really does benefit from heavier strings; certainly no lighter than 10's. A higher action also helps achieve a purer fatter tone as we all know that the fingerboard radius of strats can cause fretting out and they can suffer from buzzing with a low action. The pickups are not overly noisy and certainly do not merit changing because of noise. Don't adjust them too close to the strings - yes they are relatively low output but they really do allow fantastic clarity when using an overdriven sound. The guitar is very versatile although most of the sounds are quite recognizable, you'll know its a strat. Great for blues,rock and everyhting in between. Not an obvious choice for heavy metal or whatever it is called these days. Sounds excellent with a variety of amps but I certainly don't subcribe to the a good guitar/amp will make anyone sound good theory - it won't you'll still have to learn how to play the thing and alot of players find strats difficult compared to modern guitars.

Fabulous finish. A great looking instrument. The neck really excels on this guitar - yes I understand the criticism of the slight overspill of coloured lacquer onto the fret marker dots but this is a very minor flaw and overall the neck is fabulously finished. Mine has a slight flaming on the headstock which looks great. You cannot beat these old style tuners and the tuners are far superior to those on the cheaper reissue models. The neck is super comfortable but this really is down to personal preference. I have always preferred a strat neck and play in the blues 'three fingered style' with thumb over the fingerboard. I cannot stand flat, ironing board wide, fingerboards which are dreadfully uncomfortable - but again it depends on your playing style. My only worry regarding the finish of the guitar is how the coloured lacquer will age. Will the maple look too dark after many years wear? any thoughts anyone? My only real criticism of the guitar is the finish of plastic tremelo spring cover which looks like something made during a junior school home economics project. But most of us will take it off and lose it anyway. Had mine setup at the shop before purchase although this was a waste of time as I had to adjust it to my taste anyway. Most guitars techs think everybody wants the lowest action and only three springs in the tremelo block! Great fretwork however.

It's a strat - you could beat off a hoard of marauding monsters with it and still get home in time for supper with hot butterred eggs and lashing of strawberry jam. I mean play a gig.

Beware of using steel strings on it. Those vintage frets will wear in no time.

N/A

Have been playing for around 25 years and really do think this is one the best guitars around. I'm just not interested in any of the modern guitars. You can't beat a decent strat or a les paul. Real vintage prices have gone crazy recently. It's funny how the fashions change - you could by an old marshall and a seventies strat (mostly terrible guitars) for a piece of string and a murray mint in the 80's now they are worth a fortune. This guitar does therefore represent a good buy especially when compared to frightening vintage prices and what you can now pay for some new instruments. Overall an excellent working guitar. You really only need to look at the wealth of guitar greats who use a strat to understand the value of these instruments. Would certainly have to buy another if lost. There really is currently no other choice.

Basic 1995 American Vintage '62 Strat, Black with rosewood board, 21 frets, '57-62' pickups

I'm primarily a blues player. Not much on effects except for a Dunlop original Cry Baby occasionally. I pretty much plug straight in to a Peavey Delta Blues. Doesn't appear to be exceptionally noisy, but I keep the gain down. The 57'-62' pups really deliver the vintage sound I was after and I haven't even put the 5 way switch in yet.

This one had been sitting in the shop for several years, so the tech had to do a thorough set up and spray the pots and switch. He would have to break it down anyway since there is no way to tell the date of manufacture with certanty unless you remove the neck and find the date stamps.

This guitar can take some punishment. I think that's a pretty well established fact.The hardware is solid. Bridges will rust if not taken care of and the finish will wear. Finish wear can be a good thing. Strats are as dependable a guitar as you will find, but always take the backup.

If you buy from a reputable dealer, you won't ever have to deal with them.

I've been playing off & on for 35 yrs. It's more of a hobby now. Currently own a '97 Big Apple Strat and a 2000 American Series. I didn't really want this guitar but it sounded too good. I'll probably keep it a year or two and trade it for something else. I think the American Series is hard to beat for playability. The AV62's with their neck radius and skinny frets make it a little tougher doing those two step bends.

Mine is an Olympic White,Alder body, maple neck,rosewood fingerboard aged pickup covers,switchtip, tremolo tip. Mint green pickguard. American made in 2004. Nice "C" shaped neck.Comes with a strap, signal cable,extra tremolo springs , and 5 way pickup selector switch if you want to update the 3 way switch that comes installed at the factory. I have another 62 reissue made in 1984 that I bought new that same year. It has a thinner neck. I actually prefer the neck on the new onw but they are both fantastic instruments.This is a beautiful guitar. Nice contrast between the white body, mint green pickguard, and rosewood fingerboard.

It has the legendary Fender sound. I play through a Mesa Road King and the amp just loves Strats !The strat is a very responsive guitar to your touch.

I didnt change the setup much from what was done at the factory. I dont use tremolo so I had the floating tremolo laid down on the body.The guitar was manafactured very well at the factory.

I have several fender strats and teles. I've never had an issue with any of them.

Ive only called them once and they answered all my questions.

Ive been playing for 35 years and I love this guitar. I play lots of dates and these guitars stand up to the test. The working mans guitar !

My strat was shipped in from america in 2002 as i am a cheapskate and can't be bothered to pay english prices. All in all the guitar came out at about #600 which ain't bad.
the 21 vintage frets play nicely, but don't like massive bends which is annoying for blues artists, and also, the neck could have been more accurate to vintage guitars of the time as they were thicker than todays reissues. Fender could bung on the SRV strat neck and that would probably be a could compromise.
the finish is olympic white laquer and seems nice to look at. What i would suggest is to change the shitty green pick guard for an even cooler look.

pickups sounded awful when i first got it- too much treble, but now they have smoothed out nicely, except for the bridge, but i'll come onto that later. i run mine through a marshall avt 100 combo, and it sounds damn good, this guitar is suited to most styles (bar metal) but if you want a decent distortion, lower the pickups or they will feedback too much and do not produce a decent "true" tone. As for the bridge, this is crap. The sound is far too thin for a bridge pickup, and even with 10's for strings, it doesn't give a decent enough grunt, so i hope to put a seymour duncan ssl 3 for more punch. The pickups are quite noisy, but to be honest, SRV, Hendrix and others didn't complain when they gigged, so my advise is- just deal with it, and if you must, get noiseless pickups. I would recommend that you use 10's or higher gauges of string, as it don't sound very good with light strings, and will leave you dissappointed and 6 pounds out of pocket.

The guitar came with a lovely dent in it (thankyou fender) but it isn't visible to anyone but me when i'm playing it. Also, the bridge screwthread was dodgy, so vibrato use is pretty much crap (thankyou fender), but still, i'm a slowhand fan and so have clampped down the thing anyway. other than those flaws, the guitar works well, and once i clampped down the floating vibrato, it stays in tune very well.

The guitar still works after 2 years, and the pickups sound very good, so if you are worried about the tinny sound when you first buy, don't worry, as in a year they will sound nice and smooth. If impatient, buy some SSL 1's, and thatll be just as good (if not better) than waiting.
The finish is still sturdy, and has begun to darken nicely, and i can see this guitar lasting for a few more years yet.

haven't delt with them, but apparently the guitar shop assistant is a very nice chap.

this guitar is a damn good one, and better still, it will be amongst a few vintage reissues in years to come that will still work, as the originals will inevitably fall apart, and will be upgraded so much that they will no longer be original, so this will be as good as you get to the real thing in around 20 years time, and if it was stolen, i'd claim the insurance and buy another one because it is so good, and if you havent got the cash to buy an original, get a vintage reissue, and you will be merry.- but i'd still change the bridge pup as it is shit.

1986 Fender Stratocaster '62 reissue, American made in vintage white
rosewood neck (finger board) dot markers, traditional appointments
kluson tuners, complete with vintage style tweed case, case products including a cord, bridge cover, tremelo arm, five way switch (to upgrade from traditional 3 way switch) and fender guitar strap.
small traditional headstock, chrome hardware. Very cool looking strat.

A Fender Stratocaster is the ultimate guitar for me. I play Blues, and 60's infulenced pop music...but can play country flavored stuff. The tone is all I need, I can play nice and mellow with a strat in the neck position, yet jangle up the tone in the out of phase position between the bridge and middle pick up. The American '62 reissues have not disappointed me with regard to their sound. I have owned several of them over the years, (all from the mid to late 1980's), and have found them to be what I had expected from the sound of a fender strat....but of course, as compared to a vintage 1966 I used to play, the tone is not even close. But unless you are in the position to compare the reissues to the real thing, you'll never know the difference. Some players feel the reissues sound weaker, (changing to Seymore Duncan Antiquity strat pick-ups should do the trick). I have a vintage 1962 Start, and the Duncans are nearly duplicates as far as the tone. Now the Jap reissue strats of the late 1980's and mid 1990's sound awful. The cheap poplar bodies, and crappy pick-ups will never live up to my expectations, so if you can't afford a custom shop strat, buy a USA vintage reissue. They'll do just fine! I play straight through any tube fender amp I can find. I have a 60's princeton reverb, and the only effects I use are from the amp. Just alittle reverb or tremelo once in a while. I love Tom Verlaine, and his playing style...so I have fun messing around with fender amps.

I have always hated the necks on these guitars. They are way too thin for my liking, and I have since sold/traded off all of my '62 reissues for that reason. Lately, I have been buying some of the custom shop strats, which typically have a thicker, FATTER neck...usually with figured wood...and better sounding pick-ups. I am much more comfortable playing these guitars. Actually, the Jap reissues I had mentioned earlier, have nice fat necks, and play so much better than the USA reissues. I will argue that they are finished, and stay in tune just as good as any USA reissue, the down side is those shitty (plinkitty plink) sounding pick-ups. I had considered putting a Jap reissue strat neck on an American reissue body....this would have solved the problem for me, but I bought a custom shop instead. You can purchase my old '86 1962 reissue from www.andysguitars.com. The other pet peave I've had with these guitars is the FAKE looking white plastic dots on the finger board. I don't think fender really did a good job paying attention to detail when creating those reissues prior to the custom shop getting involved.

Fender gutars are the most durable guitars you can ever expect to own. I saw an interview with some musician who played a telecaster, and a strat. He was asked..."why do you play fender guitars" His responce..... "because you can hammer a nail into the side of a barn with them, and then go play a gig".

Never had to get support from fender. All you need is a schematic sheet, and the right tools. Anybody can work on a fender guitar.

Overall, the USA '62 starts are good guitars. I would have kept mine if the necks were Fatter, but otherwise, a good solid performing instrument.

Bought 2nd hand in 2004, made according to the neck and body stamps in April 1999
I won't bore you with the features, they should be quite familiar by now.
Whatever it's history, I bought it with no visible signs of wear, and all accessories still sealed in the original packaging.
It's a suburst, with an almost black rosewood fingerboard. I'd tried another '62 reissue whilst looking for an amplifier and been most impressed with the general feel of the thing; tried in vain to locate a sunburst example (Fender seem to be going through a bit of a hiatus in the UK at the moment (April 2004)), so when I saw this one, I grabbed it. Fortunately it's an excellent example, I've seen others with fingerboards which can only be described as "donkey brown" in colour, and they vary somewhat in feel. This one's gorgeous.
It's a Strat, so "10 - tons of features" seems an odd rating, however it's an excellent Strat, so it gets 10 regardless.

From what I've had a chance to run it through (Mesa Boogie, Peavy), it seems to hit all the right strat noises. It's not too noisy unless you put it very close to a gainy amp, and a few minutes with a soldering iron gets you the (included) five-way selector switch and the lovely out-of-phase tones, which let's be honest, make all the difference.
I really don't know why Fender don't fit this by default and leave the 3-way for any retro nuts. Unless they are guessing that people buy these, rather expensive, guitars as collectors items. That would be a great pity, because it plays a lot better than my 94 American Standard Strat, and that's a pretty decent guitar as well.

Don't know about the factory setting. Someone had adjusted the pickups in a somewhat eccentric fashion, but as I said, it's history is a mystery to me. I took it apart, put in the 5-way switch and adjusted the neck for heavier (0011 - 0053) strings and tweaked the action as per the instructions.
Thus fiddled with, the tighter radius and slightly faster neck than the '94 mentioned above make this the perfect instrument for shuffles, chords and fast runs. I've played it so much since getting it that my hands hurt, and I play a lot of guitar!

Again, It's a Strat, and a premium one at that. I imagine that my grandchildren, should they be so inclined, will get a lifetime's use out of it.
The nitrocelluose finish will wear, but that adds to the charm.

Nope.

I've been playing for 26 years, and have always been rather fons of Strats, even in the 70's-80's when they were a bit of a mixed bag.
I bought a new one in '94 and have been delighted with it, even though the slightly larger neck makes it a bit of a fight for someone with relatively small hands. This one in comparison plays like a dream.
It has the best neck I've ever played on a Fender guitar, and flatters my playing to a most agreeable degree.
If it was stolen, I'd get another one like a shot.
Here in the UK, there is rather a large price difference between the '62 vintage reissue ( about #1250) and the U.S. standard (about #690) strat, but really, there is no doubt; you should save up for twice as long. You won't regret it. Again "10 - fantastic value" is a bizzare rating for such an expensive instrument, but considering what a genuine '62 strat in perfect condition would cost, perhaps it is fantastic value. It's the best Fender instrument I've ever played.