Fender Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster

2004 Jeff Beck Fender Strat (Surf Green)
22MJ Rosewood FretBoard on a maple large C shape neck
Contoured heal around the lower frets which is balls
LSR ROLLER NUT SHALLER LOCKING TUNING MACHINES TWO POINT AMERICAN BRIDGE
THREE PASSIVE DUEL COIL NOISLESS PICKUPS
SET THE ACTION PRETTY HIGH WITH ERNIE BALL SLIKY 10 GUAGE STRINGS

THE HARDWARE IS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY AND THE CRAFTMANSHIP OF THIS PATICULAR STRATOCASTER IS EXCELENT!!!!

THIS FUCKER IS QUIET AS HELL NO FEED BACK FROM THE PICK UPS AT ALL I CAN BARLEY TELL I HAVE THE AMP ON (100 WATT MARSHALL 1/2 STACK) FROM CLEAN TONES TO HEAVALY OVER DRIVEN LEADS THIS GUITAR IS THE MASTER OF THICK AND THIN TONES TO FIT ANY ONES STYLE. THE VIBRATTO IS AMAZING VERY SMOOTH AND EVEN WITH HEAVEY USE THE GUITAR STAYS IN TUNE VERY VERY WELL. THE JB STRAT SUSTAINS UNTIL THE COWS COME HOME I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN.

THE GUITAR WAS SET UP VERY VERY WELL. CAME WITH 9 GUAGE STRINGS WHICH I IMEDIATLY CHANGED TO A HIGHER GUAGE AND ONLY HADE TO MAKE SOME MINOR ADGUSTMENTS TO THE SPRING CLAW. THE INTONATION WAS SET PERFECT TO MY SURPISE AND THAT MADE ME HAPPY. I DO THE USUAL TIGHTEN UP ALL THE SCREWS AND ALL BEFORE I GET DOWN AND DIRTY AND THIS GUITAR NEED MINAMUL SET UP RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.

IT'S A STRAT WILL OUT LIVE MY GRAND CHILDREN

NEVER DEALT WITH

IF YOU WANT A STRAT WITH CLASSIC TONES AND MODERN HARDWARE THIS IS THE GUITAR FOR YOU. I AM A FENDER MAN AND THIS GUITAR IS AN ROCK BLUES MACHINE THAT WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN I GIVE IT A TEN. FOR EXCELENT CRAFTMANSHIP AND BEAUTIFUL TONAL DIVERSITY!!!

US-made 2004 Jeff Beck Artist Series Stratocaster. Alder body with soft "C" neck; Fender/Schaller Locking Tuning Heads; Rosewood fingerboard with 22 frets; 3 dual coil ceramic Hot Noiseless pickups; Chrome hardware; Contoured heel; LSR Roller Nut; American 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo and aged knobs and pickup covers.

I ordered mine in Olympic White. I changed the saddles to to GraphTech, because I like'em better for tone and to avoid strings breaking. This guitar has very cool, features allows the player to take the traditional Stratocaster into completely new territories.

The guitar came with a vintage case and the usual case candy that accompany Artist Series guitars. I have to mention that the smell of a new Fender guitar always gets to me.

I plug mine through a Boss TU-1 tuner>Crybaby From Hell>Maxon OD-808>Ibanez TS-9>Ibanez Analog Delay AD-10>Danelectro Tunamelt Tremolo>Radial Tone Bone Classic and finally into either a 1962 RI Deluxe reverb or a HotRod Deville 212.

I find this guitar to have quite an aggresive sound and I love it. I find myself using the middle pickup a lot, especially for loud Hendrixian stuff. The harmonics scream. The neck sound is also very sweet and thick. The bridge is very powerful and in conjunction with the middle pickup it has all the spank you would expect. Noiseless? Sure...there hardly any noise, more so if you consider the amount of overdrive that one would expect using three overdrive pedals at the same time.

It stay in tune very well. I even grab it by the whammy bar and shake the guitar and let it hang and it would still be in tune afterwards. Easy to re-string. No string trees. Awesome!

I had Dave's Guitars set it up for me with 11's and the Graphtech saddles, before they send it over. The guitar has to stay over a couple of days due to Hurricane situations in Florida. When it finally arrived it was still perfect.

The overall workmanship is excellent. The painting is perfect and the fretwork was very well done. Better than mi SRV Stratocaster I must say. The neck on the my Beck Strat has a nice dark rosewood. I wish Fender would put the artist's signature on the back of the headstock. The Jimmie Vaughan model has it that way.

This is a Fender guitar. It will take a beating and keep on playing.

Never had to deal with Fender. Dave's Guitars gave me great service and good e-mail communication. So this 9 is actually for Dave's Guitars. The price I put below is not only for the guitar, but also for the saddles and the work.

I have been playing for 17 years. I own only Stratocasters and I have a few of them. This guitar has become my main guitar. It sounds awsome and it stays in tune. I have some of my guitars with Lindy Fralins Blues Specials and Vintage Hots, Fender Texas Special, Vintage Noiseless, Pearly Gates and Nashvilles and what else not...And all have their special sounds. I have to say that I really like the Hot Noiseless pickups, because they simply scream!

I chose to buy this guitar, based on my love of Beck's music. Also I wanted to play with the whammy bar again. Most of my Strats' tremolos have been blocked.

If it were stolen I would have to get a another one.

lace sensor pups, humbucker w/ button for single coil in bridge, locking tuners, roller nut, big c shaped neck, rosewood fret, surf finish

i love the sounds this thing gets--not everyone has been so happy, but it lets me play a range of stuff--blues, jazz, rock, fits in great w/ all styles, have used it in semi-orchestral settings for film work

it's not that i found anything wrong w/ this aspect of the guitar, but i did have to adjust the neck a bit when i changed the strings to elevens. this has been the best experience i've ever had w/ a trem: the thing never goes out of tune, even when you pop a string. the only complaint is that the trem arm doesn't seem to screw in so that it stops comfortably where i like it, but this was easy to deal w/: i just wrapped a little cloth around the threads and it's right where i want it.

though i would never choose to play live w/out a backup for any guitar--i break a lot of strings, even w/ elevens--i don't have any doubts about the reliability of this guitar.

at first i didn't rate this a 10, b/c eleven hundred bucks isn't normally my idea of a bargain, tho over a lifetime i suppose it is. i've got quite a few other guitars--a vintage casino, a gorgeous hamer monaco, a great 70's tele deluxe, and some more bargain-oriented numbers, but this guitar is probably the one i'd have to pick for playing live, if i had to choose one. i know nothing will go wrong, it sounds awesome, the trem is perfect, and i love the feel of it. fuck it, it's a ten

1994 Jeff Beck strat in purple with rosewood fingerboard.LSR roller nut,gold lace sensors in HSS layout.The one with that big neck.

First thing was to turf those sensors.Ive got the David Gilmour EMG's in there right now.Very versatile,lovely sustain,sings on distortion,but a wee bit sterile.Noiseless,though.Running the guitar through a valvulator,sparkle drive,tuner,carl martin compressor,to a club royale 2/12.Am rating the guitar with these pickups.

Surprisingly fine quality for a non custom shop instrument.Fret work in particular shines.Nice dark slab of rosewood,super tight neck pocket.Strings line up with the neck,trem stays in tune.I love the large neck and big frets.Was attracted to the guitar because of the neck size.May be an issue for some who prefer a smaller neck profile.Find myself going in different directions when I play this neck,and for a factory fender guitar thats saying alot.

Seems as durable as anything else out there.

Havent had to deal with them,but the general opinion seems to be that customer service seems to be a low priority.

Been playing 30 years.Also own an Anderson hollow cobra,early relic tele,and les paul special double cut for slide.Play live twice a month
in a couple of different bands.Had the opportunity to play the beck several times before I bought it.The guitar is very useable for me as a mucisian playing out.It fits in nicely with my other instruments and sounds,plus it looks cool in that purple finish.I trust it,it stays in tune and sounds great.

This guitar is about a year old now, and the honeymoon goes on. The features have been listed elsewhere, so I'll spare you. I'm a one guitar kind of person, and I knew what I wanted in a Strat, and this guitar had everything I wanted plus much more. The neck is perfect, and also comes on the American Series line. The tuners are great, and the rollers add to the overall excellent harmonics of this guitar. The smoothness of the rollers at the nut gives you less tension at the top of bends, for a slinky feel. I especially like the bridge which is slightly curved, and made not to tear up your palm if you like to vibrato that way. No string trees either. There's no way it doesn't deserve a 10.

Take a 1961 Strat, put in in a time machine to the not too distant future, and this is what you'd get. The snob-crit line would say that it was a "full throated sound with incredible chime and harmonics."- yet it doesn't end there. The middle pickup has that vintage, slightly nasal quality to it like the Strat version of a Tele in the middle position. The voicing of the ceramic pu's, while not as ultimately bassy as say Texas Specials, blends the sound from string to string better than any Strat I've played. With a high gain setup on the upper frets it forgoes the typical flutey sound of most Strats in favor of a more precise siren like sound, very expressive. The soundstage provided by the ceramics, while not 'pushy', is broader than other Strats, and definitely favors players who use their fingers, and the increased output is great for pedals and digital effects. I don't know about sounding like Beck, but if Hendrix rose from the grave, who do you think he'd call? After trying a 'Voodoo' he'd toss it in the tip, get one of these, paint it with flowers, and it would be the Jimi Signature. And did I mention it is stone quiet? They say Back worked over 2 years tweaking to get it perfect, and it shows.
I play through a Dr Z Carmen Ghia now, and with this amp I have to check to make sure it's still on, it's that quiet. This guitar has a soul of its own, I swear.

This guitar came from the factory set up perfectly. No flaws anywhere. I only had to put on 10's to replace the 9s, and that was it. I also wanted a slightly lower action, which the guys at the guitar store were happy to do, standard procedure.

Any guitar will go out if you like to ride the whammy bar, but this will come back close enough to finish a set, no problem. You could even beat the club manager with this guitar and still finish the set. I won't even bother to mention the strap buttons, they are the same with every guitar. Rock solid? Definitely.

Who cares? Don't need 'em.

Let me spare you the revenge fantasy if it were stolen. I've been playing let's say a long time, and if someone gave me a pre-CBS Strat, I'd sell it and buy this guitar, that's how good it is. There is really nothing to compare it to; in Beck's typically egoless fashion, he's recreated an early 60's Stratocaster with everything he could want, yet retaining its original character. I'm straining to find something bad to say about it...the closest I've been able to get is if you play an open string and strongly bend another against it, the open note will go down slightly because of the responsive bridge fulcrum, but that's just physics. My JB has more than I could ask for, even if I had one custom made. What more is there to say? A great value at any price for a truly professional quality guitar.

Mine is still a 100% original 2001-model - that means the already updated version which now is basically a standard Stratocaster, but with locking tuners, roller-nut and noiseless pickups.
But for those, who want to read all the details:
- USA-made in 2001
- 22 frets
- master-volume, 2 tone-controls (one for neck and one for middle/bridge pickup)
- standard Stratocaster S/S/S pickup configuration
- Fender Dual Coil Ceramic Noiseless Pickups (obviously a special construction for this guitar, not similar to the Vintage-Noiseless series)
- alder body, maple neck and rosewood fretboard
- olympic white with slightly aged pickup covers and knobs
- Fender American Standard Strat Tremolo (knife-edge non-locking)
- Fender locking machine heads
- especially designed fat C-shape neck - you got a lot of material in your hands, but still very comfortable and thinner that the original Beck-model neck
- case, strap, cable and tools included

I think: a modern version (noiseless and tuning stability) of the original Stratocaster - in that way perfect (if you want a Paula-sound, you won't buy this)

As this guitar is basically a Stratocaster, it is as flexible as the 60ies original - fits perfect to classic rock styles, but would also fit metal, blues, soul, reggae, .....
Together with a Fender Combo and Boss multi-fx, there are not any problems like noise or something - but hey, they call them noiseless for a reason!
This guitar can make a wide range of typical strat sounds with an extended range towards high gain, because the pickups are voiced slightly darker, especially the bridge unit.
I like both: the top-pro clean sounds and the really good-sounding drive-sounds
and: no dislikes - honestly!

- action was set up perfectly
- as well the pickups
but anyone may expect this from a guitar that costs that much
so I was quite disappointed when I realized that the the strings run slightly out of centre from nut towards body. It is not in any way problematic, but still an unexpected fault for a pro-guitar of this level

No problems until now and no problems expected.
BUT:
why do this Schaller-strap locks become loose on every guitar.
I experienced this on just any guitar equipped with those Schallers and I will replace them everywhere as soon as I found an alternative
but I will not let that influence the rating of the guitar

The experience, when complaining about the out of centre strings was quite bad - no real help available

I'm playing since 12 years now and had different stratocaster of my own and I checked out tons of Stratocaster at music stores - this is my favourite.
I would by it again without testing any other guitar, if it were stolen.
I compared it to a lot of other guitars like Fender Stratocaster Deluxe, G&L and others. Besides the locking-tuners, roller-nut, noiseless pickups and overall sound, it was this wonderful neck (feel and playability) that made up my decision
I cannot imagine, what could be improved !

1991
22 frets
s/s/h
active electronics

Lace Sensor pups are somewhat flat. Clean, but flat.
I have since replaced Lace pups with Fralin Blues Specials in the neck and middle position and a Steel poled 43 in the bridge.
Really good clean tone and very good edgy blues when put through a TS9. I always play through a Fender Twin with sometimes a little delay and compression.

The finish is really dissapointing. There are 2 lines running through the paint where the body appears to have been glued toghther. ( I am assuming this is a 3 piece body.) I not a 3 piece then I don't know what caused the lines as they run the whole lenght of the body horizontally on the face.
The fit in the neck pocket is really nice. I have owned this since 1991 and there is no sign of any movement or cracks, nothing.
Action was acceptable but is much better since I replaced the frets with Jumbo frets and blocked the trem and also replaced the original Wilkenson Nut with a LSR roller nut only because I now play with 11's for strings and 11's will not fit the original nut. I do although like both nuts and wish I could still use the Wilkenson.

Very Dependable. Stays in tune very well, especially after blocking trem. The neck on this guitar is large. This guitar is solid as a rock.

Ive been playing 12 years now. This was my first guitar and I will keep it and pass it on to my son when I die. I play this through a Fender Twin (evil Twin)clean channel with a Boss DD-3 for slight delay and a Modified TS9 for a little edge and a Keeley Compressor.
This is a great combination for any one from SRV to Robben Ford to Coco Montoya and a little Joe Pass and a little Keith and a little country.

This guitar was made in 95 or 96. Sea Foam green color, Gold Lace Sensor pickups, Wilkinson Roller nut, Sperzel locking tuners. Maple neck with Pao Ferro fingerboard. Included a tweed case and the usual Fender accessories.
The neck came with a deep baseball bat shape that I subsequently replaced with a Warmoth Strat neck with a compound radius and medium frets. It is a much nicer guitar to play now.

Sound is excellent. My style is blues, R&B, Ry Cooder. The pickups deliver very clean, ringing highs, lows, and bass, plus they deliver the entire range of patented Stratocaster tones, as well as having a beefier honk if you enable the 'double coil' configuration at the bridge. Brights are bright and the neck pickup delivers a very mean Hendrix/Stevie Ray thunder on demand. No complaints here.

Where was the QC department on this?
There were finish flaws in the body and in the neck. The body finish, presumably poly of some sort, had cracks around the 4-bolt neck plate and around the bridge (mostly hidden by the pickguard). The neck had a finish crack (more like a finish 'split') along the skunk stripe.
The Sperzel locking tuners were extremely poor quality. The tuner grommets, which screw down onto the tuning posts on the face of the peghead, were made of a soft metal that allowed the threads to strip out under VERY little torque. I stripped one the day I bought the guitar, simply by tightening down a loose tuner grommet. I have subsequently replaced them with Gotohs.

It seems very reliable now, since replacement of the tuners.

N/A

I rate it a 7 out of the box, because of the finish issues and crummy tuners. The fact that I changed necks because I ultimately didn't like the feel is subjective - I knew I was buying a beefy neck.
After replacing the tuners and the neck, this is my ultimate Stratocaster - a definite 10. Too bad Fender didn't make it that way to begin with.

Innovative, tasteful, tuneful and visionary... That's how we describe Jeff Beck, and his trusty Strat is certainly part of his signature sound. This updated model reflects the significant changes Jeff made to his guitar to accommodate his constantly evolving style. You'll notice the new neck shape is a softer "C," not as large or deep as Jeff's previous choice. Also, the guitar features the new Fender special design dual-coil ceramic NoiselessTM pickups, a contoured heel for easier access to the higher registers, and straight-ahead Strat 5-way switching.

Jeff's updated signature model had better pickups than the previous one. It had also a softer C-shaped neck, not deep and large than his previous choice. His famous warhorse sported Lace Sensor Gold pickups in an efficacious HSS configuration and a clubby maple neck with Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. The Gold Lace Sensor Dually - who was basically two adjacent pickups - looked like a humbucker placed in the bridge position with a push-push mini toggle switch for single or dual-coil pickup operation. After 10 years of extensive use of Lace Sensor pickups, Jeff switched to the Vintage-Noiseless pickups in 2001.

Jeff wanted a softer neck shape for his trusty Strat to accommodate his constantly evolving style. Otherwise, the new Jeff Beck Stratocaster stresses the quality of the model, developed from various early-'60s vintage-style Strats. A new contoured heel now allows the full access to the upper frets for total playing comfort. From the American Series pivot-point tremolo to the LSR roller nut and the Schaller locking tuners, the essential features of this reworked guitar are faithfully replicated. It's a pity that the new model was not available in the cool Midnight Purple finish, the fact that the Olympic White and Surf Green came as "standard" finishes on this wonderful instrument.

Jeff Beck was not only famous for playing a Strat. During its early career with the Yardbirds, he mostly used a cherry sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard (purchased from the Selmer store in 1966) and a 1950s butterscotch Fender Broadcaster fitted with Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele pickups. Jeff switched to Fender Stratocasters in 1976 during the "Wired" album release (strongly influenced by his good old friends Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton) and since 1980 he plays several guitars (including a Jackson Soloist superstrat, made in 1985). For honouring Gene Vincent's toting guitarist Cliff Gallup, Jeff Beck used a single-cutaway Gretsch Duo-Jet solidbody to record the "Crazy Legs" album in 1993.

Can't dealt with Fender yet, sorry....

Most of the features of this trusty signature Strat had been kept (the pivot trem, the locking tuners and the roller nut), but the new changes (the softer neck shape, the contoured heel joint and the dual-coil Ceramic Vintage-Noiseless pickups) reflected in some points Jeff's current choice for updating his signature model, rather than the previous one with its early-'50s deep profile and the Gold Lace Sensor HSS pickups. Both signature Beck models (the old and the new) are specially designed to meet the demands of Jeff's virtuosity.

This is the brand-new model--mine's a 2003 and not to be confused with the original JB signature model. USA made, naturally. Solid Alder, I think. Comes with a tweed case, surprisingly acceptable-looking Fender strap (not the one I'm used to seeing), extra trem springs, 10 foot patch cord, adjustment allen keys, instruction book.

It has the standard Strat controls--Vol, tone, tone, five-way selector. All modern hardware--two-point knife-edge tremolo, cast bridge pieces, locking tuners, roller nut (not a Wilkinson), strap-lock ready strap buttons (I hate these, but the quality's great--it's a personal thing).

Uses the new Noiseless pickups, but a special "hot" version that uses different magnets. To the best of my knowledge, these are only available on this model.

Maple neck, satin finish with skunk stripe and rosewood fingerboard, medium-jumbo frets. The real headline here, though, is that it is NOT AT ALL like the original Jeff Beck neck. That think was like a tree trunk. The new neck is the best one Fender makes, in my opinion. Up by the headstock, it's fairly full and rounded, but no more so (and maybe less) than an American Standard Strat. As you move toward the body, the neck profile becomes less "c" shaped and more "u" shaped, and gets thinner. It makes for a guitar that feels great playing open chords, yet is also very easy to play fast runs up high. Just as I hated the old Beck neck, the new one is fantastic.

I've rated this down just a bit for one reason--it only comes in two colors, dang it.

The sound of this guitar is amazing. The new pickups are terrific. What they are NOT, though, is classic Strat pickups. They are substantially higher output, for one thing. The neck pickup is a good deal more midrangy, and does not have some of the twang you might expect. This guitar sports the first Strat middle pickup that I'd consider using by itself--bright and clean. Bell-like might be appropriate. The bridge has a lot of twang, but not with the piercing highs that you find on a standard. For some this may be a disadvantage, but for those of us who've been trying to get a meatier strat tone, this is home.

You still have the usual wide range of strat sounds, but slightly different--stronger and slightly darker. To my ears, the settings that combine pickups are much better than usual--better balanced and because the middle pickup sounds so good, they are usually full. I find that combining, say, the neck and middle on a standard strat leaves me feeling like I'm hearing the neck and middle pickups. On this guitar, it sounds like one new pickup that's very different, and quite rich.

The pickups are also very quiet--quieter even than other vintage Noiseless pickups I've auditioned.

The setup on this guitar was top-notch. I don't know whether this is a factory setup or not, but since it had to be brought up from the basement, I imagine it's the factory setup. Action is great, intonation (inasmuch as I could tell) is fine.

I'm a little suspicious of the pickup positioning--they seem really far from the strings. I may mess with that a little, but I'm not going to go nuts--it sounds really really good as-is.

I will be changing out the 9's (strings) that came on it for 10's, and suspect I may have to adjust some things once I do that. I will also be pulling the tremolo down to the face of the guitar. I seldom use one--on my other guitar it's blocked. With the new nut, I think I'll leave this tremolo useable, but not floating.

Finish seems flawless so far.

I couldn't say what the reliability is, but I trust it--it's a Fender, and doesn't appear to be a lemon.


I probably wouldn't gig it without a backup, but does anyone ever do that anyway?

Don't know anything about dealing with Fender--hope I never have to.

I've been playing for about 20 years, and only own two other guitars. One is a Hamer Special P90, which is a totally different animal (love it, though), and the other is a $250 Charvel Model 1 that I put a single coil at the neck. I've had the Hamer for about 6 years, and the Charvel for 12, with the Charvel being my workhorse through 3 years of playing out with a band. Been playing for nearly 10 years through an MXR Distortion+, Crybaby Wah into a Yamaha T100C (1x12 Soldano designed tube combo), and doubt I'll change much. I've known for a while that I wanted something else, and figured a Strat was the right thing--it'll do straight-ahead rock well, and is unmatched for blues.

I've had to do a lot of research to find the perfect Strat, though. Once you get to a certain level of expertise, you know what you want in pretty much every aspect of a guitar, and it's hard to compromise on any one thing. For me, it was Strat, modern hardware, rosewood fingerboard, some kind of noiseless s/s/s configuration, medium-to-jumbo frets, fatter sound than usual, and not the graceless baseball bat that most Strat necks are. That left me pretty nearly high and dry--there were three choices: The new Clapton (near perfect but for vintage frets), The Classic Player (standard neck, no fat tone), or the Jeff Beck.

I was worried at first about this guitar--most literature and reviews mention that the neck is not nearly as extreme as the old JB neck was (and I thought that an unplayable nightmare). But what nobody says is that this is in fact an extremely moderate and graceful neck. As I said before, I've never seen its equal. I've seen some aftermarket neck diagrams that sounded like this, but never seen a stocker this nice. If you're worried about the neck on this guitar, you owe it to yourself to try it out--it's a 180 degree turn from the old ones.

As much as I love the neck, though, it was the tone that sold me. The salesman (a guy I know personally and trust) said that they get calls every day from guys wanting the HOT vintage noiseless pickups, but they can't get them. I see why (though I don't see why anyone wouldn't just buy the JB and be done with it).

If mine was stolen, you bet I'd replace it, and right away (well, I might have to save up a little--they're not cheap). I didn't even intend to buy a guitar the day I tried it. I didn't even intend to try the JB at all--I was trying the Classic Player, but the sales guy urged me to give the JB a chance when I said what I disliked about the other Strats I'd tried. I played it for 1/2 hour, and knew I had to have it.

I know that not everyone wants a rosewood neck, or maybe they want a Fat strat, or maybe they like the more cutting tone of the other noiseless pickups, but if you are looking for what I listed above, you really need to check out this guitar.