Fender Deluxe Strat Plus

1997 model made in USA. It's a metallic red color that I haven't seen before on this model. Blue/silver/red Lace Sensor pickups. Sperzel locking tuners. Straplocks. Floyd Rose bridge. LSR nut. Usual Strat controls but one of the tone controls is a TBX control which can boost treble and bass. A shaped hardshell case, strap, and Allen wrench were included.

I'm a big fan of the Lace Sensors - that's one of the main reasons I wanted this guitar. The Blue in the neck and Silver in the middle position are good for cleaner sounds, but also handle overdrive well. The Red in the bridge is good for harsher distortion. I most often play through a Johnson J-Station. These pickups are so quiet that you really have to crank up the gain to get a distorted sound. I also use a Fender Amp Can and Mini-Twin. I use either the J-Station or an overdrive pedal for effects.

I bought this used. It was in fine shape in general, with two minor flaws. One of the tone buttons didn't work, so I replaced it. There was a scrape on the side of the guitar by the first fret, which I retouched. Outside of that, no complaints. I don't like that you can't adjust the height of the individual saddles in the Floyd Rose bridge. This is a beautiful finish.

Fenders are built like tanks. This would be a great guitar for a gig in a lot of respects - great variety of tones, straplocks, excellent tuning stability with the locking tuners, and the good nut and bridge. It is also far better shielded than many of the other Fenders. I would only have a backup, and I'd be reluctant to use it at a gig until I could make sure that I could find an appropriate replacement if I broke it.

I sent $5 away for the manual a couple of weeks ago and haven't received it yet. Fender's Web site is pretty good, a;though putting up PDFs of the manuals would be nice.

I would definitely replace it if it were stolen or lost. I've had a number of Strats over the years and this is by far my favorite. I prefer the Lace Sensors to the Vintage Noiseless pickups in the current Deluxe models. They are defnitely not "vintage" sounding, but are very smooth and sound great with overdrive. The straplocks are a great feature and should be standard on all guitars. I'm not crazy about the bridge, and this is a little heavy for a Strat. My other guitars are a Parker P-38, a Standard Strat with Gold Lace Sensors, a Lace prototype with Holy Grails, a Danelectro Hodad, a DeArmond Jet Star, two Route 101 Solimar Customs (great guitars!), a Fernandes Nomad, a couple of acoustics, and a bass. I play this, the Parker, and the Route 101 the most.

1990 American made 22 fret maple neck. Natural blonde wood grain laminate. Wilkinson bridge, roller nut, locking tuners. Blue, Silver, Red Lace sensor single coil pickups.

I play alot of Alex Lifeson, Yngwie Malmsteen, and 80's shred. For playing Rush I found the quiet single coil sound ideal. The red lace sensor had pretty nice output, however the silver and blue provided the nicest tone. I have since replaced the red lace sensor with a Duncan hot rail. I am playing this guitar through a Marshall 30watt 3103 Artist head and 4/12 cab. I absolutely love the tone. I can get a real nice overdriven humbucker type metal edge as well as the glassy clean tones Fender is famous for.

I bought this guitar used. It played like a dream. I was impressed with the playability of the neck, which seemed absolutely custom tailored to my playing. I was equally impressed with the locking tuners and how well the guitar stayed in tune. To me this is the ideal guitar in the 700-1000 price range hands down. The craftsmanship is top shelf. I am sorry they discontinued this model!!

I have done numerous gigs and this guitar has never let me down. I am looking to buy another, perhaps the Ultra, which is also discontinued. The neck and locking tuners are unbeatable. I would like this guitar with a humbucker in the bridge. They are not easy to find!

Made in the good old U.S. of A. Ash body with a nice crimson burst finish. You can see the grain of the ash through the finish. 3 lace sensors (blue- neck, silver- middle, red- bridge). Fender- Floyd Rose locking trem, maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboard, LSR roller nut, schaller locking tuners and strap locks, 1 volume, 1 tone, and 1 TBX (what is it??) control.

Great Hendrix style sound out of this guitar. clean middle gets great, punchy blues tone and the neck is really warm. The only problem is that the red lace sensor isn't as powerful as I want it to be. Might put in a hot rails or a humbucker in bridge.

bought used so i don't know about factory presets. The guitar was scratchless when i bought it. Perfect finish.

This is a solid guitar.

This guitar is great. I don't know whats the big hang-up about the lace sensors. This guitar sounds good. So what if it doesn't sound like a "traditional" strat, it's a good guitar. It's too bad Fender discontinued this model.

1993 Deluxe Strat Plus witha rosewood fretboard. Made in the US. 22frets. See through red with ash body. Pickups are S/S/S, came with 3 lace sensors, blue-neck, silver-mid, red-bridge. Passive electronics. This one has a snap on tremelo arm with a string-thru body configuration. A year later, they came out with the Bullshit Floyd Rose system. Has locking tuners, a LSR nut, and came with a tweed hardshell case. Its a 25.5 inch scale length. Large frets, not jumbo. Another important aspect of this instrument is that the inside cavity was painted with black shield paint, with the underside of the pickguard in protective foil. This helps reduce 60 Hertz hum. It has more features than other strats, therefore 10.

This guitar suits alot of musical styles. It differs from most strats because its basically a hot rodded strat. It doesn't sound like a traditional strat. Why, because of the pickups. The Lace Sensor (which are being criticized too much these days) are voiced to produce a varied of unique sounds. Fender claims that the Blue Sensor produces a fat neck humbucker sound (12 Ohms), and it does work quite well. The Silver Sensor (7 or 8 Ohms)is more of a traditional sound with more midrange. The Red Sensor is hot (14.5 Ohms)and is wound to produce more of a Hot Rail sound, similar to that of a Humbucker. This is not a "purist" strat by any means. But, what it was designed to do, it does it well. Also, this guitar does not feedback at all!!

No problems here. After two years of playing I got a good set-up done by a reputable dealer and it was worth every penny (actually about 100 bucks). Since the pick-ups are Sensor's they can be adjusted close to the strings. They sense string vibration and very little magnetic pull. This is a good thing!

The guitar had ZERO flaws, nothing misaligned, everything worked perfect and still works perfect today.

I never had a problem, and never will. Nothing looks to be wearing and it looks like it will last forever. I have 11 guitars and I use this one the most. I jam with the guys on weekends with the occasional studio work but I can tell you that you could tour the world with this instrument and not have any problems.

I wouldn't bother calling Fender when there are so many good qualified guitar shops here in Toronto.

I've been playing for 20 years. I had many good guitars with this being the most reliable on the most versatile. I picked this strat out of 15 in the store with this one being the one I like because of the features and its sound. However, every US Strat in there sounded good and was well made.

Have you seen some of the quality of Gibson guitars these days. I've never seen such overpriced and over-rated shit like I've seen with Gibson these days. I recently went shopping for a Les Paul Studio, every one had paint flaws especially on the neck. One Studio Gem did not have a slot (on the nut) cut out for the G string. I'm not kidding!! The salesperson said "that's why this one is on sale for $899. Fuck that, buy a Fender!

I've got a 98 (I believe it was the last year they made these with the Lace's), US made, 21 frets. Red/Silver/Blue Lace pickups, the locking Floyd Rose(ish) trem, and the blue burst finish.

The sound from it isn't quite for everyone.....if you're looking for the biting overdrive you can get out of EMG's, this guitar might not be for you. Since I'm not into that, this thing's a dream. On the bridge or bridge/mid pickup combo, you can get some nice full-on lead, but the neck pickup sounds for all the world like an old Les Paul. It's great.

The workmanship on this thing was great....only thing to complain about was that the top strap button comes a little loose now and then, but that's just to be expected over time.

Factory action was fine w/ the trem setup, but I only use the trem once in a blue moon, and then just to dive/swell, so I have it pulled all the way down to the body which allows for extremely low action. Also adds a little more warmth to the sound.

The finish is beautiful, all the girls love the blue burst.

Strats are tanks....my live setup is just two of these guitars, and I keep a spare neck handy just in case.

Never had to call...

I've been playing for about seven years...I've got two of these strats, an oddball frankenstein superstrat style guitar with a scalloped fretboard, and a couple of acoustics. The blue strat is by far my favorite of the bunch. If it was lost or stolen, I'd probably scour the planet looking for another one.

THE ONLY THING I CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT: I've seen a couple other people say this same thing....if you're going to use the trem heavily, replace it. The thing is hit or miss...sometimes it's rock solid, but a lot of times it'll throw the G string right out of tune. No idea why.

Mine was a 1998 model.Crimson Burst,maple neck.Fender Floyd
locking bridge.The above mentioned Lace Sensors.Body is alder,
with ash top.Shcaller locking tuners.

sounded okay,but I'm not a fan of the lace sensors.They were
too "dry" sounding,and not clean/bright enough.I was planning
on replacing them before I got the guitar anyway.I had a Marshall
valvestate 2x12 combo,with a Boss GX-700.Also a Roland JC-120
made an appearance.

I could smell the finish the moment I opened the case.I was a little turned off by the warped pickgaurd.Set up was bad,but then again
it was mail ordered.I had trouble keeping the thing in tune after
the strings were broken in.Later,I found that tightening the screws
on the Schaller tuners,it was rock solid! Action was okay,but I
did'nt know about the micro-tilt adjustment till afterward.
No real problems to speak of.

I think the construction was durable,but the finish was not.
Other than that,It las ta while.I'd might have a back up if a string broke.Changing strings with the Floyd style bridge,would be really
slow.

I did'nt own it long enough to have a problem to call then for.I dont
think I would have needed to anyway.

Overall this guitar is okay.I preferred to drop EMG's into
it.I'm not a really great technically speaking,I think I
spent a little too much for what I needed.Looking back I would
have baught a stock American standard,and hot rodded the shit out of it.In fact,I'm planning to do that now.The Floyd style tremelo
is not for everyone,only if you'd like a locking trem,but rather
not deal with Floyd Rose.I prefer Kahler myself.Unless you're a
purist,I feel that a strat is great guitar.With a few modifications
it can become a monster.Drop EMG's with a SPC midboost,and you'll
see what I mean.I'm putting a Kahler 2300 cam in the next one I buy.

I got mine a couple months ago and it's great. This guitar has created a new look towards fender. When I think of fender i think original. And let me tell you, this thing is far from original. This guitar has all the goodies. Hoeck, thats why I got it. A lot of people dislike the bridge. I disagree. Although it does take a little getting used to, it's a hoeck of a lot easier to put on the strings than the regular locking tremolos. this guitar also features the sperzel locking tuners wich are very useful. Anybody out there that wants to get a locking nut or anything like that spare yourself and gets some sperzel tuners. They are quick and easy and they also improve tonal response. Then there is the L.S.R roller nut. I don't really get this thing to much, but I think it keeps the strings from slipping. Note: if you have an L.S.R make sure the little beeds don't fall out of the holes because they are a pain in the butt to put back in. This guitar has 22 frets. Wich I only see on special versions on fender guitars. The lace sensors pickups are are very nice. What I like about these pickups is that it takes out that high shrill sound of single coils and gives you a smooth sound.the bridge pickup is great cuz it sounds like a humbucker.guitars tone wich filters outthe high frequencies when needed. It's kinda like taking down the treble on your amp but still leaving you at the same volume with a little more clarity. The 5 way switch is great with these pickups. it literally gives you that fat round sound of a les paul. The schaller straplock is good for on stage performances. the only thing about this guitar that dissapointed me was that under the frets I found yellowish hugh on the bottom. Not that this matters. It probably had to do with the transportation. the bi-flex truss rod is nice although it meeds to be adjusted while in drastic temperatures. The micro tilt neck is good for adjusting at your comfort. It has a nice smooth maple neck. This is one of the best guitars I have ever played. But remember there will always be a better guitar. But hell who cares this one is pretty damm close.

I have a wide variaty of playing. It all depends in what mood I'm in. I play blues such as kenny wayne and SRV. I play metal such as KORN and sevendust. And my main playing is based on jazz rock vibe like Steve vai and satriani.guys like that.{the masters} I run it through a Boss GT-5 through a dunlop crybaby and a marshall G215R. Hey, it sounds great and thats that. I can't say this guitar is noisy. it's actually quiet, but when set on high distorions this thing kicks. I give credit to the lace sensors on that one. The tone on this guitar is veryyyyyyyyyyy flexible. the possibilitre virtually endless. You can get that fat round sound of a les paul, and of course have the cutting tone of a strat. The only thing I don't like about the sound is that the tone is flexible that it's hard to tweak it just right. But all in all it sounds great.

This guitar was set up ok. They should have said something about the bridge though. It's a floyd rose non locking bridge. It's more like a floating system. When I got it the bridge was bent back. It sorduff pissed me off cuz i thought the guitar was screwed up but it wasn't. The pickups were fine but with the lace sensors it doesn't really matter. If you want a fat round sound I suggest you keep the bridge and middle pickup low and the bridge high. Kinda like a H/S/S thing. In my opinion I think this setting works for all different types of music quiet and loud. If you are a metal freak and don't give a crap about tone then go ahead and put them all high.

This guitar is very tough like all strats. I wouldn't recommend doing anything stupid to test it like run it over woth your car. Especially on a guitar like this. This guitar seems like it can withstand a long time. I haven't gotten rough with it yet cuz i haven't had it that long. Everything seems solid to me. I would not use this guitar in a gig without a backpack. Even though it could.....IT'S JUST TOO PRETTY AND BEATIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!.

I'D say the support was ok. I really have nothing to complain about though. This guitar is better than perfect.

I have been playing for almost 8 years now and have played a lot of guitars. And if you are looking for a guitar with great tone and good in concert this is a must have. If this guitar was stolen I would 1. die of shock 2.start a war 3. kill the person who stole it i compared this guitar with a 70's strat a gibson SG supreme and a fender roadhouse. but for some reason, each time I always went back to this guitar. It gives the sound of a lot of guitars. I wish this guitar came with the skills of steve vai.

Tinted Maple neck, locking tuners and roller nut, sunburst, floyd rose bridge (a real dog), red, silver, blue lace sensor pickups, wide flat camber.

After I got rid eof the floyd rose bridge and replaced it with an an american strat standrad brisdge unit I could concentrate on the sound, which is great!
This instrument, provides a beautiful sequence of tones, especially in positions 2 and 4. Sometimes, a rich bell tone, and depending on style and amp settings a brightvintage fender harmonic.

Perfect, clean, ready to go as soon I exchanged the bridge assemblies. Why fender opted for a floyd rose set up is beyond me.

excellnt. rock solid

Fine as ussual, for fender.

Again, that lousy floyd rose bridge was a mystery!
Aside from that the lace sensors and the instrument prove fenders ability to knock out greta production line instruments!

1989 Model. As described in other reviews, 3 Lace Sensors were stock, with maple neck, jumbo (wide, but fairly flat) frets - appears to be the nature of the fret, as opposed to being fret ware. The body is see-thru blue, and very attractive. The guitar is heavy for a strat - almost as much as a Les Paul, so it is probably Swamp Ash (or Ash... one of the two is the heavy one, and the other the light one... I forget). The nut is the Wilkinson type which was abandoned in subsequent years. I considered modifying it to the LSR, thinking it might be a little less friction, but haven't yet.

When I first got this guitar, I loved it. Thought the lace sensors were the best thing on the planet. And all I had for guitars at that point were a Les Paul Standard. I think that is the problem. I didn't have a good frame of reference for Fender tones, and by comparison, this guitar sounded very Fender-ish. Since then I grew increasing dissatisfied with how it doesn't sound like a Strat in the traditional sense (I have turned into a purist!).
With lace sensors, the distortion gets smoother like a humbucker and the clean tones lose bite - more smooth. I describe it as "built in compression", though that is just my term for it. Anyway, I got sick of it. So I have modified the guitar. I put 3 Seymour Duncan SSL-1 Vintage Staggered pickups instead of the lace sensors. Now it sounds like a real strat. But there is still a problem, which is that the wide, flat frets take away some of the spank that you can usually get on pull-offs and string bending. I might let this be, since I have two other strats now as well.
I may put the lace sensors back in or maybe put in some combination of pickups - this is my guitar maintenance "learning" guitar.

The see-thru blue is very nice. The guitar came with a white pickguard, which I removed and brought to a concert to have it autographed by dada. Now I replaced the pickguard with a black one, and it looks very unique.
The action on the instrument is good, and sometimes buzzes on the low E string for any reasonable action setting - I think again because of the width of the frets.
One of the locking tuners has some free play in it which is not adjustable, so you can only come in gradually from one direction (tuning up). In the other direction, one tends to overshoot. Not a big deal.
With the Wilkinson nut, and .010 string set, I find that using tremolo tends to catch the strings up in the nut a bit, and lose the tuning due to friction. I rarely use tremolo so this is not a big deal either.

It's reliable. Good finish. Nothing much to say about it.

I pity the day I need support from Fender... they seem virtually unreachable. You need to send them $5.00 and photocopy of your birth certificate to get literature, so I hope I never need a factory repair.

This guitar WAS the best deal I ever got on an instrument. It went for $550 when most of its equivalents were selling for 650-700. Makes up for the bad deals I have made. Recently I got a G&L Legacy used for $425, which I must say takes the cake.
I own an American Standard, the Legacy, and this Strat. Of the three, each has its own advantages and disadvantages. I don't plan to sell any of them. This is one of the most attractive Strats I have seen. If the frets were more like the G&L it could be the winner of the bunch.
I also own an old Telecaster, which is usually my favorite of all, but I am on a Stratocaster kick these days - so it has taken a bit of a back seat.
Amplifiers are Mesa Boogie Mark IV, Mesa Boogie Maverick, and Fender Twin Reverb. Boss Pedals + ProCo RAT + Ibanez TS-9.

Get rid of the floyd rose bridge, and all is well. I replaced it witha standard fender bridge. Whata relief!

Beautil beltones are possible here, plus standard enhanced strat sounds. a great soic oiece of work. not exactlty 10% traditional strat.

teh best I've found on any strat.

N/A

excellent as ussual

excellent, fender discxontinuing the pickups and the model.\ replaced by strat deluxe, with low noise pick-ups. I have that strat. It's o;k. but its no strat plus deluxe. even dtrat plus, with its 3 gold lace sensors out performs new noiseless strat deluxe.