Fender Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster

2002 Model: Oly White,new cut-away base plate at neck heel,new noiseless pickups. The rest is covered in other posts!

Style? 60's - 80's Rock mostly. Bought this model since it appears to cover several styles.

Set up was acceptable. Flaw? Chipped Body joint - where it meets the neck.Reason to return to Fender? No. Not noticeable unless you look for it.But rate it low for this reason. At this price, this guitar should be near flawless.Shows American made (assembled) does not mean jack anymore.

Reliable - like most Strats I am sure. On the heavy side overall, so should take a whupping!

No experience here. No comment.

Playing on & off since 1976. Would probably replace this one if it was lost or stolen.

2001 USA Made, "new' model. mine's olympic white wit h the white pickguard (i changed it out to a bronze moto for a hip look), 22 medium frets, LSR Roller Nut (take THAT! wilkinson), Locking tuners, medium maple neck with rosewood fretboard, alder body, 3 Fender Hot-Noiseless Ceramic single coils, volume, tone, tone controls, 5 way switching. American Standard tremelo bridge, came with Tweed Fender Case, cable, polishing cloth, straplocks (why don't all guitars come with straplocks?!), tools, trem bar, etc. For the money, you get a whole lotta features that are all 100% usuable, hence my "10".

My style(s) are pop, funk, latin, blues, R&B, and gospel. I'm playing through these effects: Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive (modded by my tech for ultimate smoothness), Vox Wah-Wah, Akai E1 Headrush loop/delay pedal, Voodoo Labs Tremelo, EH Small Clone Chorus, Ibanez LF-1 Lo-Fi Filter. Through a 1995 Mesa/Boogie DC-5 combo (for some things), otherwise I run the SD-1, Wah, and Akai into a '73 Silverface Twin with Jensen speakers. Now, I really like these pickups because they are what they say- hot and noiseless. No noise. No hum. When playing a strat thru a vintage twin, noise can be a damned problem, which is the main reason I'm liking the HN's so much. Now, you don't get a pure vintage single coil sound, and I do prefer the Fender '69 pickups for that pure tone. But as far as versatility, I prefer the HBs in my Jeff Beck. The bridge pickup is usable- less shreiking highs than my old AmStd Strat, but it still could use a tad more low end to even things out when used 100% clean- I'm thinking about a Fralin baseplate to smooth things out here. The middle and neck pickups are fabulous- neck is very smooth and buttery, and the 2&4 "in-between" positions are probably my favorite for those funky rhythm licks, NOTE- at first, the sound wasn't really up to my standards and I considered taking the Jeff Beck back, but... ***PLAY WITH THE PICKUP HEIGHTS!!!!*** these pickups are VERY sensitive to your string gauge and pickup height, those two go hand in hand. For the record, I use Thomastik .11s or DR .11s, depending on how poor I am that month (I still like good strings)

I had it setup upon purchasing, with my choice of Thomstik .11s, but as noted in "Sound", you really have to play with the pickups to find the ideal height, mine sound superb now. Fit and finish are A-OK, very tight neck pocket, fretwork is fine (not perfect, but for the price you can't complain). Easily equal to the PRS CE24 I used to own.

You shouldn't have a problem with a Strat, I never have and doubt I really will.

I used to work in a music shop, and I did deal with the company reps and they are great guys, but never as a consumer, but I'll give em a rating anyways.

This is my ideal strat for under $3000. From August to December, I was occupied with finding the perfect strat for my needs, and the JB did it for me. I wanted a vintage guitar, but honestly, the new ones feel better to me, I couldn't really justify the extra expense for a vintage piece. The sound is nearly perfect for everything I do, just want to try that Fralin baseplate on the bridge pickup, maybe smooth it out, then I would be as happy as a pig in shit.

I have the new Jeff Beck Strat in Olympic White finish with the Noiseless single-coil pickups, new neck profile (thinner but still has a nice heftiness to it), and the LSR nut, which is a vast improvement over the Wilkinson roller nut. Other than these features, it's a typical Strat with alder body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 3 single-coil pickups and a 5-way switch. I used to own an old Surf Green JB Strat with the Lace Sensors and I could honestly say that this new incarnation is a VAST improvement. The new JB Strat stays in tune better, doesn't have the annoying open-string rattling caused by the Wilkinson nut, and the new pickups sound a LOT better than the Lace Sensors, which I think are just terrible pickups. This Strat also has a heel cutaway that makes upper register access a lot easier. It's a nice feature. As far as Strats are concerned, this new JB Strat pretty much covers it all. I can't imagine adding anything more to it and still retain its Stratocaster character.

I play a variety of styles and own a variety of guitars. I'm a true believer that no one guitar and/or amp could do it all. My other guitars are a Brian Moore MC/1, a Parker Fly Artist, a PRS Custom 22, and an Ibanez JS1000. So compared to those guitars, this Strat is the most "traditional" solid-body electric that I have in terms of look, sound, and feel.

I felt I needed to have a Strat around with the single-coil pickups. One thing I've always hated about the single-coil pickups is the noise but this one doesn't have it. It's pretty damn quiet while retaining the single-coil character for the most part. The Noiseless pickups in this JB model is also somewhat hotter than the Vintage Noiseless single-coils. I like to play with high-gain distortion a lot, so it helps to have some more kick from the pickups. The output is still nowhere near that of typical dual-coil humbucking pickups, but it's definitely hotter than vintage-style single-coils.

The guitar on its own (acoustically) has a typical warm, open and springy sound. I'm sure the the hefty neck adds a lot to the tone of this guitar. The alder body/maple neck/rosewood FB combination is a classic that I do not feel has been surpassed on a bolt-on guitar.

The new JB Strat sounds great. I personally feel that this is as far as you can take a Strat and still retain the timeless Strat character. Once you start adding Floyd Rose bridges or dual-coil humbucking pickups, etc., it really isn't a Strat anymore. This guitar embraces the modern concepts while retaining the classic Strat character.

The action, fit and finish on mine out of the factory was just fine. I put on a set of .010's as soon as I got the guitar because Strats just sound wimpy with .009's. Putting on .010's improved the overall sound and feel a great deal. It also meant I had to readjust the tremolo cavity springs, the truss rod and the action, but I'm pretty good with that stuff, so it was no problem.

The fretwork is excellent for a mass-produced factory guitar. The action needs to be set higher than on guitars like a Brian Moore MC/1 or the Ibanez JS1000, but I believe that's the way Strats should be set up: thicker strings with higher action. Strats sound and respond much better that way. This is a guitar that you want to dig your fingers into. It's not something you want to play Holdsworthian legato licks on.

The new neck shape is just splendid. It's got the heft but is very comfortable. The first JB models had that ridiculous end-of-the-baseball-bat chunkiness that I could never really get used to. I don't like thin necks, but that one was a little too much in the other direction. This new neck shape is one of the best I have ever felt on any electric guitar.

This is a professional instrument and is going to stand up to the rigors of live playing night after night.

Thank God that I won't need to deal with the Fender Customer Service staff.

As I said earlier, no one guitar could do it all. I play a lot of styles but prefer high-speed fusion kind of stuff personally. For that kind of stuff, my other guitars like the Brian Moore MC/1 and the Ibanez JS1000 suit me better. For more tonal variety, I also use the Parker Fly Artist and the PRS Custom 22. Still, this new JB Strat could also cover a variety of musical styles very well. The only styles that I would not try to cover with this guitar would be heavy metal and jazz.

It's a Strat and it does everything that a Strat is supposed to do and does all of that better than any other Strat I've owned. If this one got lost or stolen, I'd definitely replace it with the exact same model. The only thing I wish Fender would do with all their Artist Signature models is to remove the signature from the face of the headstock. Why not put that on the back?

Overall, the new JB Strat is a great instrument that takes the feature set to the limits while retaining its great classic characteristics. I love Jeff Beck, but I don't care about getting his sound. I want an instrument that fits MY own peculiar wants and needs and this Strat fits me better than any other Strat that I've tried.

Purple, 93'(possibly ealier) made in the US blah blah blah blah

I recieved this guitar as a gift so it packs sentimental value. I hated the wilkenson roller nut, the locking tuners, the pickups and the trem block (too thin, the block should be thicker then this)....since I have all my strats customized by my tech, he and I have had to really work with this guitar to make it enjoyable...New pickups(lipsticks, our own wiring which is secret) new tuners and my tech made me a new nut made of ivory...it would have been less costly to just trade for a new strat but it was a gift so I was stuck...I also need dunlop 6100 fretwire so this guitar needed a fretjob...I use 12 to 60 guage strings so you can see why I had to change the roller nut.....after all this, my guitar was thought to have come out of the custom shop, the sound of this thing is killer but for price I had to pay to have all this shit done was just wrong...I give it a one for the initial guitar, and a 10 for the work I have put into it

the factory set up on all strats that I have played and owned sucked which is why I thank god for my techie......he is a miracle worker...thanks Rick K.

I always travel with at least 5 guitars....this strat, like all my others, is used here and there.....whenever I feel like using it

always been a fender guy, but have never dealt with them

Been playing for about 11 years, I own a 61' strat, a red strat, an orange strat, a jeff beck strat, a 57' reissue...

See previous reviews for details.

I originally sold my Steinberger GL2T to pick up an instrument with some soul and less perfection--specifically with single coil pickups. Looking for a similar feel in the neck, I ended up with the JB strat primarily for the rosewood fretboard and the meaty neck. I would have liked the bite of regular pickups, but the splittable Lace Dually in the bridge position made it a real attraction. I cover styles from early 80s clean sounds (The Tubes) to modern grunge rock, and this guitar does a better job of covering that range than any other instrument I've known. I may upgrade pickups soon to EMG's.

I bought it used, and until very recently the set-up was poor. However, studying a few recommendations on string set-up for tremolo-bridge strats made a huge difference, and now it plays like a fraggin' dream!

I read an earlier review and was surprised to hear another JB strat owner has an intermittent neck position pickup. I, too, had that exact same problem. The pickup became thermally intermittent--that is, when the instrument was cold (or at least not under the influence of stage lighting...), the pickup worked fine. As soon as the stage heated up, the windings on the pickup would open up. Less than $50 for a new pickup + 30 minutes of soldering, etc., cleared up the problem, and I've had none since other than string breakage.

N/A

This is a 1997 model; surf green. I won't go into all of the details as the other have above, except to note that I have changed out the pick-ups for a set of Blues Special Lindy Fralin Pick-Up set, purchased from Torres.

I am basically centered around rock and blues, though I do appreciate many other styles as well. But for rock and blues, this guitar is pretty tough to beat. Pretty great strat sounds from all positions...I think that a lot of it has to do with that HUGE neck.

In fact, even stock, with the lace sensors the tone was pretty great. To be honest, I wanted a bit more of a vintage look and sound and the pick up upgrades did just that.

I play this through a Mesa Maverick and am quite pleased with the variety of tones. It does tend to need a stomp box if you want searing sustain, as the Mav is more of a mid-gain set up. Humbuckers definately drive the front end harder than the fralins.

There is also a bit of noise with the fralins, but Lindy says there wil be right on his site!

I actually bought this used and it was set up O.K., but only O.K. nneded more than a bit of tweaking...But once that was done, everything was perfect.

Hey it's a strat! You can (and I have) drop a strat and expect the thing to be in tune when you pick it back up... I am not exactly easy on my stuff, and this (and other Fender gear that I have or still own) has been great. I do not like to gig with only one guitar anyway (I'm a bit heavy handed and can break strings regularly) but I suppose if I had to this would be O.K.

Never had to...

I've been playing for almost 20 years and own multiple guitars and amps including PRS, Gibson, etc. I would certainly entertain another JB Strat if it were stolen or whatever...Especially now that they have done a few mods, including replacing pick-ups. I actually chose this guitar because I had been playing Les Pauls and wanted to get back into strats, but had grown acustomed to the bigger necks on the LP's...As it turns out, this thing has a bigger neck than many LP's I've played!

I've played rock (Van Halen style), blues, and country with this guitar.

The setup and finish was very good. Neck position pickup developed intermittent problem (my reason for the poor rating).

I bought this guitar especially for live performance. I broke a B string after 2 hours of playing and decided to replace the bridge saddles with a set of Graphtechs (no recurance of premature string breakage). The neck position pickup quit working leaving me leary of the reliability of Fender Lace Sensors. I wouldn't use any guitar without a backup, but since the pickup failure the backup guitar will remain readilly available.

The lack of a toll-free phone number for customer support sends up a red flag. I also have not been able to find an email address for customer support or anyone with the company on their website (It seems they are insulating themselves from the problems encountered with their products). I have been trying to get the local Fender dealer to replace the pickup for 6 weeks (three visits). It is an intermittent problem which has not been cured by re-soldering a suspected "cold solder joint", reversing wires that caused the pickup to be "out of phase", or whatever "mojo" Fender forgot to bless it with before it left the factory. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll diagnose the bad pickup before the warranty runs out (I think it's has a one year warranty).

I've been playing 20 years. I also play a Charvel, a bastardized Strat with a Warmoth neck, and a Tobias. If the Jeff Beck Strat were stolen or lost, I would get something else. One good thing is the tone in the bridge pickup position with a Marshall tone. It has some good blues tones, too (when the neck position pickup is working). The ablility to stay in tune after dive bombing the tremolo is disappointing as I was expecting better after the way this model was hyped. My goal was to purchase a high performance guitar. For the price I paid, it should work flawlessly.

1999 corona california -22 frets -antique white-3 gold lace sensor pickups/s/s/h-rosewood fingerboard-schaller locking tuners-fat neck-tweed hardshell case.

it covers all the tunes i use a electric for. i run a 50 watt sovtek head thru a 61 bandmaster cabinet with a 707 effects mod to simulate reverb. its not as warm as the noiseless pickups but it has a fatter sound than the american standard and the humbucker will just cut through with bitting treble. the roller nut and vibrato work well on string bending and the guitar does stay in tune when you beat on it.

the factory did a great job on the set up . this thing sat on the shelf for 2 years before i bought it. the workmanship was flawless.

i've called fender before- its ok but they need a 1 800 number. i think gibson does a better job!

ive been playing as long as beck-34 yrs-(i think) i currenty own a taylor acoustic 614ce and a early epiphone thin line emperior. i sold my 89 strat in order to pay for the beck. the beck is very solid.

1996 hand made in usa,
stratocaster with 22 frets volume,tone,TBX 5-way selector,
s/s/dual(which you can switch from single to hum) lace sensors gold,
maple neck, rosewood finish, alder body, vintage white color.
american deluxe bridge, LSR roller and sprezal locking.
very fat neck.
tweed case, strap and cables included.

i couldn't imagine a guitar with wider range of possibilities then this.

i play usualy 70's rock, like led zep and pink floyd, also a lot of my own stuff, i use fender all tube amp : "hot rod deluxe" and i also have a zoom gfx-8 and wireless samson cable,
all togather it's the best, i could sound like whoever i want with a veraity of sounds i couldn't imagina going out from just one guitar, but only cause i own a fender all tube amp, if you have a marshal, maybe you should consider something else.
i know meny of you won't like the lace sensors pickups for them being over clean, without a single buzz, but i love them, especialy the dual which i can switch it from single to hum.

this guitar didn't need setup at all for 3 years, everything was perfect, from the pickups to the neck.
the finish is the best fender make, looks very impressive.
also it never goes out of tune for me, i can play for two or three weeks and not tune it.
you also have to know that this baby has a fat neck like you have never seen,i love it ,but it's hard to get used to ,so you should know what you are buying,i would give it a -10
but not everyone can play it and feel comfortable.

have to say that i never tested it for a long lasting concert, so i don't know.

i'm playing for 7 years, i also have 2 nylon-strings acustics, i have been thinkin for a whie about buying a ibanez jem but when i played it i just wanted to play the jeff beck again,
my opinion is that if you are comfortable with this fat neck, you won't need any other guitar, it is the les paul, the 50's strat and alot more in one guitar.
i woudn't trade it for anything.

bought in atlanta 1997,
look for the rest in www.fender.com...

i suits my music style perfectly, all kinds if new sounds that i learn to know about every day...i usualy play old classic rock, like led zeppelin, but i'm not even close to discover the veraity of the ful sounds rang eof this baby...
I use a fender all tube amp, HOTROD DELOUX and a zoom gfx-8, both fukin' graet.
this guitar has the most beautiful, clean sound, you'll never find cleaner then that.

this is the best guitar fender makes.

i have total confidace in it

don;t know

this is the best guitar anyone can make, the ret is compermise