Fender Big Apple Strat

1998 American Made Strat, w/22 jumbo frets. Solid Alder body w/5-way selector switch, & two Seymour Duncan passive humbucker pickups ('59 in neck and Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge). Solid Maple neck & fretboard (as opposed to some CBS Fenders that had Maple necks w/Maple fretboard glued on like Rosewood necks usually are), and same neck thickness as American Standard. Basically an American Standard w/2 humbuckers, & upgraded wood. Same hardware as American Standard Strats.

I play blues & classic rock, & this guitar fits pretty nicely with those styles. I use a Marshall JCM900 combo or a Fender Twin depending on style of music. Not a noisy guitar at all, and is pretty versatile. I play Strats, & I wanted a versatile guitar for thicker sounds when needed. Is a fairly bright guitar for a two humbucker guitar. I think this is because both pickups are Alnico V pickups, which are brighter than their Alnico II counterparts (which is what the original Pearly Gates pickup is; this Pearly Gates Plus was made for Fender to match the '59s magnets). Overall, the "ping" of the two pickups together (3rd position) is a nice clean sound, and the '59 by itself is nice & low, a good full sound. These combos sound good clean or distorted. The bridge Pearly Gates Plus does not sound that great clean (a little bright, not too full), but it does sound good when distorted and pushing the tubes a little bit. The in-between sounds (position 2 & 4) where the coils are split are a little weak, especially if you are in position 2 where it is the split neck coil by itself (that has a DC resistance of roughly 4K Ohms, which a Strat pickup has ~6K Ohms). I can see that this would be a very versatile guitar for someone without a Strat, but I use just the humbuckers w/o any split coils. Overall, I am happy with the sounds from this guitar. You just have to work with it a little bit, & wanted a Les Paul sound without having to play a Les Paul (which I can't worth a damn). It may be a little brighter than a Les Paul, but that has to do with the Alnico V pickups, the Maple Neck, and Alder body as opposed to Alnico II pickups, Rosewood neck, and Mahogany body of a Les Paul.

Played great right out of the case. No adjustments needed except changing gauge of strings and re-setting intonation. No buzzes or other problems.

Seems pretty sturdy have only had it a short time, but seems real dependable.

Lifetime warranty on certain parts, but have had no need to test these waters.

I have been playing 19 years, the middle ten professionally, now just weekends from time to time as a hobby, do some home recording as well. I own two other Strats (one 7 years old & the other a couple of years old) and a '71 Fender Telecaster Deluxe (my old road axe). I had a chance to return this guitar if I wanted to, but I did not. I wanted a Les Paul sound, but with the string spacing and whammy bar of a Strat. I cannot play a Les Paul very well (I used to own one many moons ago, but once I started grooving on Strats, I couldn't go back to a Les Paul). This guitar gives me versatility, & I would buy it again. The only beef I have is that Fender does a standard routing on all their factory guitar bodies so that they can use different pickup combinations without changing the body. Everyone assures me this is no big deal, but C'Mon guys!!! keep the wood around the pickup, not just a vast, empty space!! Also, for some unexplained reason, the bridge Pearly Gates Plus pickup is a standard humbucker spacing (for Les Paul Tune O'Matic bridge spacing), but the '59 neck pickup is Trembucker spaced (wider for Fender Tremolo bridges). I haven't noticed a major fallout with my "E" strings when on the Pearly Gates Plus, but why couldn't they both be Trembucker spaced???

This guitar is one of the most versitile out there. It's sort of used but technically new; the store owner kept it around the shop and they played around on it for a year. He knocked 40 percent off the price, so it's all good. It's a '97; the first year that Fender made the Big Apple; and basically just an American Standard with Semour Duncan humbuckers. People always remark that it is a Fender Les Paul, but coil taps for two single coil settings make it much more than that. Mine has an excellent Strat neck; easily one of the best I have ever played on. It's got an American Standard 2-point tremolo, but lacks locking tuners. Although it does have rolling string trees and decent Sperzel tuners, locking keys would be a huge help. I plan on putting a set on sometime. The only other complaint that I have with it is that the truss rod is recessed so far into the body that I can't even use the Allen wrench which came with it. I realize that this is fixable if you take the rod all the way out, but I wouldn't dream of doing it myself.

I play mainly blues and hard rock, but this guitar works beautifully with literally any kind of electric music. The humbuckers are warm, bright (as far as humbuckers go), and powerful, and the singles (the coil taps) sound about average for Strat singles. As I mentioned earlier, the 5 settings make this one of the most versitile sounding guitars that I've ever heard of. I use it with my Marshall JTM30, and it sounds great (now that I got the amp working right, but that's another story). It's extremely quiet; I literally tried to make it feed back and it wouldn't.

As far as the physical construction of the axe itself, it is as reasonably close to flawless as you'll find outside of the Custom Shop. The finish is a beautiful 3-color Tobacco Sunburst, and a black/brown speckled pickguard and white plastic hardware really make this a nice looking insturment. All three tone knobs are on lobsided, but I this is a minor problem which I'll get around to fixing someday. The action was hard to adjust because the truss rod is sunken into the neck pretty far, but I'm pretty sure this is because of a guy at the store monkeyed around with it; not as much as a flaw from the actual construction of the guitar.

This guitar has been completely reliable for me, The only problems I've had with it are just normal guitar problems; broken strings and going out of tune. If you're in a situation where you can't retune or swap it for a different guitar, don't use the tremolo too much. It will throw the guitar out of tune quickly, but no more than any other Strat. I wouln't gig without a backup no matter what guitar I had; that's just common sense.

It's got a five year warranty, but I can just take it to the store where I bought it since it's a liscensed Fender dealer. The trick about doing this is to know who to talk to once you take it there. You see, in Texas, people rarely admit they don't know how to do something until they've screwed it up. I've heard that Fender has good consumer service, but I've never dealt directly with them.

Overall, this guitar is great. It's my main insturment, and basically the only decent electric that I own at the moment. Once I throw some locking tuners on it, and get a pro to adjust the rod so that it is more accessable, it will be just about perfect (for my needs, at least). I'd definately get another one if something happened to it, but I'll guard it with my life in hopes to prevent that from happening.

The Big Apple Strat is a very well designed strat. It has one SD 59 Pickup in the neck position and one SD Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge. It uses a 5 position switch that yeilds the following settings: Bridge Only(both coils); Bridge and Neck(single coils); Bridge and Neck(both coils); Neck(single coil); Neck(both coils). In addition, it is avaible in both trem. and hard-tail versions- mine is a hard-tail. Other than that it is nearly identical to the American Standard Strat.

I manly play Cowpunk. This guitar work well from clean single coil to truly raunchy humbucking distortion. This ability is important to the cowpunk subidom. The Big Apple Strat should work well for Blues, Country, Hard Rock, Metal, Pop, and nearly any other style that lends itself to solid bodied electric guitars.

It came from the factory with 9's, The store's tech set it up with 11-49's. The action is now right on for me. The only flaw was that the rear strap button was loose the store's tech fixed this without any prodding.

This guitar is soild. I also have an American Standard Stratocaster. In five years, I have experienced no problems. I expect this guitar to hold up nearly as well.

I've never personally dealt with Fender.

I've been playing for about 10 years. I own the following: one Heritage LP style Gold Top; one 1983 Fender Telecaster; and one American Standard Stratocaster. When I was looking for this instrument, I was origionally looking at purchasing an ESP. The Big Apple was a better instrument for a lower price. I would buy this guitar again. If stolen, the SOB better disapear. This is the most useful guitar in my collection.

Basic US made Strat with a Seymour Duncan '59 in the neck and a Pearly Gates Plus at the bridge. Special switching (full neck,single neck, full both, single both, full bridge)
It would be nice to be able to have a bridge only single coil setting. Dropping a Texas Special in the middle would be another nice touch. My only real complaint is that the tuners do not lock.

An amazing range of tones, much beefier than a standard strat. Easy to dial in Aerosmith (Back in the Saddle), AC/DC (Hells Bells), early Stones, and a variety of country and blues flavors, as well as standard strat sounds. I think metal might be possible with the right amp.
This thing is dead quiet on the humbucking settings. There is a slight hum when using the single coil neck setting (what a surprise). But it is less noisy than my Epiphone, even though my small room has a computer and refrigerator.

The guitar is perfect with exception to a loose tone pot, but it's not really that loose, nothing to worry about anyway. The guitar was strung with .09's, and the tech at the store set it up with .11's for me, now the action is perfect. The pickups were adjusted perfectly and the tech didn't even tpuch them.

I've only had it for a month, but it seems well built. Straplocks are standard so you shouldn't drop this axe. The finish is great and the neck joint could not be any tighter. I wouldnt gig without a backup with any guitar, but if I were in a bind I'd choose this one over most others to gig with solo.

All new Fenders have a lifetime warranty, that makes me very confidant. Haven't had any problems yet, fingers crossed.

This guitar beat the standard Strat, Roadhouse Strat, and Lonestar Strat hands down. I would definetly buy it again if it were lost. If it was stolen I'd kill the SOB. As I said above a bride coil tap or a Texa Special in the middle would be nice. I'm definetly going to get locking tuners for this thing. Lots of guitar for the money, Les Paul tones at a fraction of the cost.

Standard USA-made strat. Two Seymour Duncan humbuckers. 22 Frets (medium jumbo). 5-way switch. Controls: Tolume and two Tones (brigde & Neck). Solid Alder body. One-piece maple Neck. Rosewood Fretboard. Machine Heads: Fender/Schaller.

I play mostly blues, and use the Big Apple as a practice and backup guitar. I have used it with a number of amps. The 5-Way selector (1-Full Brigde. 2-Two Inside Coils. 3-Both Full. 4-Single Neck. 5-Full Neck.) provides a wide variety of sounds. Very warm, very clean, "fat" tones. The Single Neck setting (2) is the only postion that creates "Hum". I love the the '59 neck pickup, but the Pearly Gates "PLUS" in the brigde leaves a little to be desired; I will probally replace it with something different. Brigde pickups only negative (thus the lower rating).

I had to tighten some screws and adjust the pickups when I first got it, but it is very well made. Wood: Alder body wood (smooth decay and balanced tone) & Rosewood fretboard (warm sounding "sweet" tone). No flaws. American Standard hardware. Good Finish.

I feel very confident about this guitar. Very very solid. (standard Fender USA quality) I travel with this guitar and know it can take a beating. I use it as a backup during performaces, but I can pratice and play with this guitar without worry. Great "work" guitar. Dependable - no surprizes.

(If you can, buy Fender guitars without the case. I brought a great used case from a pawn shop ($25) and saved alot of money.) Great guitar for players who loved Strat feel, but want a different sound. Great for Blues. I perform with a more expensive guitar(Gibson), but love the Big Apple for its practical, dependable and solid build. Good sound. Great tones - Clean, warm & fat. I might change the brigde pickups, but thats purely a matter taste. Others may feel differently. Check it out. Alot of guitar for the money.

The Big Apple Strat was a new model introduced in 1997.It is made in the US and has some of the same features of the American Standard Strat such as the bridge and 22 frets. It has two Seymour Duncan pickups; the Pearly Gates Plus at the bridge and the '59 at the neck. It has an alder body and has a maple neck. It has Fender/Schaller tuners. It has 22 medium jumbo frets. It came with a black tolex case.

This guitar suits all of my needs while I play rock music. It gives me just the sound I was looking for. I use it with a Peavey Bandit and it sounds great. It is not noisy with the humbuckers. It has a nice cutting sound which sounds great with distortion. The only problem is that the bridge pickup is not too great for clean sounds so I use the neck pickup. It sounds great playing Smashing Pumpkins type songs with heavy distortion. It has as good of a sound as any guitar I've played.

I have played it live around 10 times in 3 months and it does great. I think that all of the parts should last. I can and have depended on it as my main guitar. I would not use it on a gig without a backup or any guitar without a backup because I play with alot of force and break strings easily and have during two gigs with this guitar.

Never had a problem.

I have been playing it since December and it has held up nicely. I always use it with my Peavey Bandit. It were stolen or lost I would definately buy it again. I love almost everything about it. I compared it with the California Fat Strat and this one killed it. This a great value.