Fender Lite Ash Strat

2005 fender mik lite ash strat specs you have read 100 times so I won't repeat Rate it as a 9 finish is flawless neck is totally tits and after an ajustment for personal tastes. This baby beats my mia standard and my mim strat hands down

I play country, clasic rock, blues and jazz. This guitar does it all with amazing clarity no mater how hard I drive it. Tube or solid state or hybrid amps no matter

It needed a slight adjustment to my taste but that is normal for me ...raise pickups lower action tweek truss rod slightly And You have the perfect beast. duncun pups are the best set up I have heard for a long time. clear and sweet slightly dirty, or balls to the wall they are clear crisp and resonsive, and the fender quack? It's there all the way

This guitar will have no problems giging I gig an avarage of 12 to 14 days a month and it still handels anything i throw at it. Hardware is better then my american standard. I always put strap locks on so I can't comment on strap buttons. I would and do depend on this guitar. Look I'm 49 been playing since I was 12 Had every name guitar you can think of I have always giged with my carvin dc135 as my main ax the mia strat backing that up and my les paul as my 2nd back-up now its the lite ash strat 1st carvin 2nd and the american standard 3rd and the les paul rarly comes out of the case.my mim strat is my beater guitar (pic nics outings just genaral abusive invirements)

Have not delt with fender so I'll make no comment

been playing for 32 years ( yep I'm an old fart)I own the ash mik strat a mim strat and an american stanard strat a carvin dc135 mahogony neck thru mahogony body custom strat style guitar, a usa yamaha pacifica,A 1976 les paul custom,and my 2 acoustics and this korean keeps on impressing me. A+ to fender on all aspects of this thing from clear finish, hardware, wood and electronics the total package is more then i could have ask for

It's been said but, Rock Maple neck laminated burled board. Light Ash 2 pc. body in a natural ( Poly ) finish. Nice looking guitar. American elec. including Seymour Duncan USA single coils. Chrome hardware with 2 pnt vintage style trem. Standard Strat control layout. 3 caps 5 pos. switch. No case just the case candy..Extra trem springs, wrench, inspection sheet and HA directions.

I use this guitar for classic hard rock, Texas and Chicago style blues. ( and you can pull phat tones for the delta style stuff outa those S.D. PUPS ) OK..This is not your fathers Strat. It is capable of the classic Strat quack and all the great stuff Strats are known for. But,,,this one takes it up another notch! With proper use of the volume and tone controls. You can really get this Korean monster to sing almost as warm as a hum bucker. This guitar can sustain. Superior harmonics for single coils and just the right amount of break up that you can control via attack. VERY versatile axe. More than a standard Strat. Love the tones you can coach out of this guitar. I bought a Custom Shop vee neck. Kept this guitar and sold the Custom shop pcs. This guitar played and sounded better. I don?t care what it cost or where it was made. I want a guitar that makes me smile and that allows me to feel what I play. This guitar does that in spades. Don?t be fooled by the price tag. Also the neck..Unique..U with a pretty sharp V in the center. LOVE IT! Feels like no other. I like my action a bit high, around 3/16th? @ 12. This thing just came alive at that string height. No right to ask for this kind of playability for $500.

Well it was playable, at best, when I got it. But not peaked out. She had mild buzzing in the upper register and a slight curve in the neck. Took her to Noll Guitar. A very hot tech shop here in RI. He just dialed her in like ma bell. The rest is history. He said a light truss rod adjustment and she was home. So, from the factory a 6..from Noll Guitar a 10. Only complaint now is the first string is a bit to close to the end of the neck. I play a lot on the lower registry and like room down there. But this is a personnel preference issue.

I play HARD!! But I also take great care of my equipment. With proper care this axe will keep on playing long after I croke. Not a single problem that I can report after 18 months of playing the snot outa her. Strap buttons are oversized. I move when I play. They and the rest of the hardware are as tight and functional as they were day one. Short of pulling a P.T. on her. We are talking energizer bunny here people.

I have emailed Fender on a few occasions. They always answered my ????'s in a timely manor. I have never sent in a guitar for any work though.

I am not associated with, nor do I know anybody at MUSIC123...but I buy everything through them and Jason. Great service and policies. Great guy. Overall..I will never alter or sell this guitar. I am 43 and been playing since my teens. I have owned more guitars than I can remember, including the "great era" Fenders. I wouldn't trade you this Light Ash Korean job for a pristine 62 Strat..Based on sound and playability of course. LOL I am not just throwing these 10 marks around. This guitar has earned them and that is no lie! For $550 and a $50 set up?? I would have never thought I could find sonic bliss so cheap. But you have to keep in mind; I do not care where a guitar is made or whose name is on it. Many others do. I seriously doubt this guitar has a strong resale value. Even if it?s priceless to me.

Korean Made Fender Strat,Seymour Duncan (REAL DUNCANS,NOT THE "DUNCAN DESIGNED" crapola,3 single coil-NOTE TO ALL GOTTA-HAVA-HUMBUCKER in the Bridge position Players out there,TRY THIS BABY OUT AND TRY THE PICK-UP SELECTOR SWITCH IN the REST of the positions,not just all the way down,YOU WILL
find some REAL SWEET SPOTS AND YOU WILL,like it or not-
BE PLEASED with the tone this baby puts out,this is the truth as told to you BY one of you,THIS STRAT KICKS ASS! GO AHEAD PLUG IT IN AND YOU'LL SEE!! Nice feel to the neck BEAUTIFUL,BEAUTIFUL BIRDSEYE WOODGRAIN w/DEEP GLOSS LAQUER Finish,Should hold up to the usual OOPSIES and OH SHIT's.

ONE WORD--AWESOME,...ok Three WORDS, JUST F'ING AWESOME!!from Country Twang to some very MENACING METAL GROWL,Harmonics really come out easily with your pick attack,combined with some HI-GAIN,....KILLER. Cleans up well also ,nice and warm.

Action needed tweaking,but I use Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9-42's,so had to do it anyway,SET-UP/ALIGNED/iNTONATED PERFECTLY,also VERY QUIET no "usual" minor hum from the pick-ups,VERY,VERY NICE.

hasn't been gigged with,or even left my house yet,but looks to be up to the challenges of performing,can't really rate it by those facts,but I'll use my judgement from what I see,and it looks GOOD.

HAVEN'T DEALT with FENDER,NEVER HAD ANY PROBLEMS THAT WERE THEIR FAULT!

I first saw it,but shyed away because of the MADE IN KOREA deal and being "MR.METALHEAD-GOTTA HAVE A HUMBUCKER GUY",after seeing it a few times I CAVED,it was way too PRETTY to leave alone,ONE TIME IN MY HANDS,HAD TO MAKE HER MINE!!I may still go with a DUNCAN CUSTOM in the saddle,...STILL SOUNDS TOO DAMN GOOD TO JUSTIFY IT!! If I lost it Or IT WAS STOLEN, HATE TO THINK ABOUT VIOLENCE,BUT SHE"S MY GIRL AND LIKE PART OF ME,All I can say is a "TEMP. INSANITY" Defense might work,if one or more of the jurors hearing my case was a Guitarist and Had One of their own LITE ASH STRATS!! ANYWAY,GO GET ONE BEFORE THEY'RE GONE,GOOD NEWS GETS AROUND FAST especially for what you're getting QUALITY-WISE for LESS MONEY THEN THEY COULD GET,PICK-UPS ALONE ARE ALMOST A THIRD OF THE PRICE of these babies,THESE ARE MORE THAN WORTH THE MONEY YOU'LL SPEND,WITH NO REGRETS that usually come later,especially on the HIGH-PRICED stuff when you get home with it and find the "QUIRKS,...NO SUCH LUCK HERE,SHE"S A BEAUTY AND I HAVE NO REGRETS!.
THANKS FENDER<KEEP THIS KINDA STUFF COMIN!!!!!

Everything you need for traditional strat rocking out.

At first I thought I would be replacing some parts like pickups, tuners, pots, etc., but that was before I owned it for a month to see that it really is a fine instrument stock, I dont see a need for any change

Here is where it shines. When driven it sounds so much meatier than standard strats but also has that great clarity and charm clean, so its the best of both worlds. I think Fender really nailed it with this guitar. I initially purchased it as a backup to my main guitars on stage, but after a month it made its way into the group of player's guitars and it gets used just as often as my Deluxe Strat and my modded Teles.

Very happy with this guitar. usually after a few months the honeymoon period is over but I still have that chuckle on my face when I pick it up. I have to say I reach for it more often than the other Strats when I'm recording as well and that says alot to me. I want to play it onstage as often as my "best" guitars and reach for it to record more often than all the others. I have recorded our wholw first demo using the Lite Ash on every song. Sometimes main lead, sometimes sweet cleans, often its both

I did have to tweak the truss rod and do a complete setup on this guitar but I do that with every guitar I purchase so no biggie. Like I said I thought I would be replacing parts to make this thing just a little more like my other Strats but how can I change anything when I reach for this more than the others?

Its a solid guitar with quality parts and was constructed as good as most US Strats Ive owned. I did play a few others that had problems so there are issues with quality control but that can be said about any fender guitar

So far so good

Great value and I personally think this is the best value today in terms of bang for the buck....period

These have been covered, so feel free to skip it...
Made in Korea
Body - Ash. I'm not sure if the body is 2 peice or solid ash, I can't realy find the seam lines.
Neck - Birdseye Maple with Abalone inlays, 22 frets, 9.5? Radius
Standard Fender scale, frets, controls
Pickups - REAL Seymour Duncan Pickups APS-1N, APS-1RWRP, APS-1B.

Lots of features for the price, Ash Body, Birdseye Neck and SD Pickups.

The SD pickups give a really nice rich bell tone. Less bright than normal strat pickups. I didn't notice that much normal 60 Cycle hum on the 1/3/5 settings, it was there, but not as much as most other strats.

I can't comment on how well it was setup from factory becuase I bought it used. Overall it was setup well, the finish was nice and even, looks fairly thick and shows off the grain really well.

However, I played a couple new Lite Ash guitars and noticed that on some the frets were really sharp on the edges, and some had a gap between the top of the skunk stripe and the actual back of the neck. As with any guitar and Made in _____ (fill in the blank of oriental country) guitars, you really need to check them out, cuz they vary greatly.

So far it seems solid, its EXTREMLY light though. I could definatly easily see strapping this one for a while with no problem. I always put strap locks on all my guitars, so I can't comment on strap buttons. I definatly think though with any strat, if I plan on using the Whammy a lot I'd throw on some locking tuners. With any Fender product (MIM, MIJ, or MIA) I've never had any problems with reliability and durability.

I've only delt with Fender directly a few times, but every time they've been really helpful.

I've been playing for 10 years, and I've owned my share of guitars in that 10 years. This is the 3rd strat that have come across my collection. I love the seymour duncan pickups ,ash body, and the birdseye neck, and the abalone inlays really set it apart. I don't know if I'd really do anything different, except perhaps better quality control. All in all, if you find a really good one, its gonna be really good. For the price, I don't think anything could beat it.

- Fender Lite Ash Stratocaster, special edition, made in Korea 2005
- 22 frets
- solid top? neck is normally detachable
- normal Fender 1 volume and 2 tone controls, 5-way switch
- S/S/S pickups
- Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro APS-1 mic set!!! APS-1N, APS-1RWRP, APS-1B
- body is ash and the neck is probably maple, nice pearl dots in the fret, neck is blond
- strat body and finish is normal lacquer, this particular guitar is Natural Birdseye Maple
- bridge style is 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo
- tuners are non-locking chrome
- neck scale "normal", feels good

- I have played the most of my guitar hobby time only with single coil type guitars, I play dance music (pop, rock, fox, beat, walz, "humppa" etc) for example in wedding and christmas parties. I think Fender is very flexible and versatile guitar. I play 2nd guitar.
- I have Line6 Flextone III XL (212) combo and Line6 FBV Shortboard. Then I use Ibanez foot pedal effects like TS7, PH7, PC10 and DDL20
- Fender is noisy on 1st, 3rd and 5th pickup settings
- I think the sound is full enough mostly on the single coil settings and the guitar "sings" nicely when bending. Bright sound is often in the bridge (of course)
- Variety comes when mixing the pickup settings and the tone with the amp. I guess there is more variety than in 1 or 2 pickup guitars?
- Mostly I like the sound but I think the tone controls could be little bit more aggressive, because they don?t cut the sound so effectively. Or they cut it only quite far down position, let?s say in 1-3

- I think the bridge was too loose for me (only 2 strings), otherwise in good condition
- pickups were too low
- everything else was quite ok
- I tightened the tremolo arm by turning it one turn more than it felt, now it is more stable
- the guitar was protected and packed so well, that I didn?t find any marks on it and it had plastic cover on the plastic parts and so on

- I think it is very cool looking guitar live and it feels good in hand
- I guess the hardware is as solid and well made as in the more expensive models...
- the lacquer finish looks like it could last long
- I have played on a gig and usually I don?t have any other guitar than this on live...

- No actual comments, I ordered it outside Finland, everything worked well

- I have played electric guitar for 18 years
- maybe I should have asked more about the electronics especially the tone controls before buying
- I love the looks and the feel of the guitar and I think the Seymour Duncan mic set in this kind of guitar is totally good value for the money!
- I don?t like why the Fender couldn?t make the logo/label like real and like in the mexican-fenders, this is probably better or at least the same class than any of them...
- I think it could keep tune better (maybe had a bad set of too different kinds of strings)
- maybe I would by same guitar again if it was stolen or lost (or maybe some hiway series model...)
- I wish it had more responsive tone system or maybe little better tuners or bridge system to keep it better in tune
- I recommend this model to any serious amateur musician who likes Fender brand and I suggest that you?ll add a 3rd string at the back for more stronger feel for the tremolo, tighten the tuners and use maybe fat 9 or regular/fat 10 series strings in this so you?ll have a perfect all-around blues/rock/pop swinging-tool in your hands!!!

2005 MIK Fender Stratocaster, 22 Fret, solid top/body. Standard Strat controls - master volume and two tones with 5-way selector switch. Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pups in passive S-S-S configuration.
Natural finish Lite Ash body coated in clear polyurethane, with satin finish birds-eye maple neck.
Two-point tremolo with brass block - similar in style (and dimensions) to American standard version, but of slightly lower quality.
Sealed chromed mini-tuners - using screwless mount which has different dimensions to MIM/MIA standard models.
Neck is boat-shaped, with 25.5 scale, coated in polyurethane that has been de-glossed to appear like unfinished wood - a very nice effect. Medium jumbo frets that are dressed and finished better than MIM standards but not up to MIA standards.
No accessories included.

The Seymour Duncan pups are excellent sounding (check out the Seymour Duncan website for comparison). They do sound different to a regular strat - when clean they sound slightly more nasal (with less bass) and percussive than the more regular chimey classic Strat. They do, however distort well, with a very clean and subtle detail.

The guitar, when behaving itself, is nicely accoustic: better than my '97 MIM strat.

It only had two tremolo springs, which reduced bridge stability, slightly - but not a problem. Tremolo springs and bridge action are a personal choice.

Sound, however, is where the problems began to kick in. I had two of these guitars, and while one of them sounded beautiful, the other sounded like a sitar on the two high strings when they were played open. There were two causes for the problem: a nut that had benn fitted badly, and a bridge/tremolo that was mis-aligned and loose due to large cracks in the body where the mounting studs had been inserted... Not good...

If you get a good one it will sound beautiful. If you get a bad one, it won't. Accept nothing less than beautiful!

As mentioned above, I had two guitars. Both were returned due to poor fit and finish.
One of the two guitars had a faulty nut and serious cracks around the brass studs/inserts that form the tremolo mounting - resulting in a misaligned tremolo and a sound that resembled a sitar. The other guitar had perfect alignment, solid bridge and delightful sound: it was a joy to play. However, once I got it home I found that the polyurethane neck finish was bubbling and peeling away from under the frets. I hadn't noticed this in the store - it is only visible in strong light.

A guitar with perfect fit and finish would represent awesome value for money. However, it would appear that there are enough less than perfect guitars to warrant care.

Both guitars were returned with serious flaws.

Never dealt directly with Fender.

Playing since 97. Learned on a '97 MIM Standard Strat and a Gibson '97 Les Paul Studio through a Fender Blues Junior (yep, you guessed it - '97). Bought the lite ash model as an upgrade to the MIM Standard Strat - I wanted the medium jumbo frets, APS pups, an ash body, boat neck and two point bridge: this was my perfect configuration, and much cheaper than building from parts.

I am disappointed by Fender - $600 is too much to pay for defective guitars. While there will be a beautiful model out there for you if you are willing to search for it, I wasn't prepared to put in the effort.

i bought this guitar 2 months ago from a local music shop for ?500. it is a korean made fender and i think it was made in 2004. from a distance, it appears just as a standard fender stratocaster but a closer look reveals that the body is made of lite ash (very helpful, as ash is not naturally easy on the shoulder). The guitar is also loaded with seymour duncan alnico 2 pro pickups which ROCK (more on that later...) the neck is maple and the fretboard is birdseye maple with abalone dot inlays. the neck has a soft shape somewhere between a C and V shape. there are 22 frets which are medium jumbo; great for bending. the electronics are standard strat configuration (s/s/s, 2 tone 1 volume, 5-way selector switch) which is all I could ever need. The bridge is a 2-point synchronised trem which balances well and stays in tune, even after divebombs. Tuners are Gotoh, I think and they stay where you put them and keep in tune well.

I mainly play blues and country, so a fender seemed the perfect choice. I would have gone for a telecaster instead but I couldn't live without the out-of-phase sounds from positions 2 and 4 on the selector switch. I use this through a fender princeton 65 solid state amp and I use a Dunlop crybaby wah, DOD eq pedal, Boss sd-1 super overdrive and a USA big muff. This guitar is just insane and fender should by rights shoot the person who decided the price on it. The pickups on their own cost around 170-180 pounds on their own when bough seperately, and they are the best strat pickups I have ever tried. As I mentioned earlier, they are seymour duncan alnico 2 pros with a reverse-wound middle pickup (a nice touch- this means that when used with the neck or bridge pickups on positions 2 and 4, it works as a humbucker) these are so sweet and have a refined twang to them. I thought that fender Texas specials were the best strat pickups around until i heard these badboys. They have THE throaty strat growl that is so sought after and was defined by the texas specials. These pickups are so much better in that they are more refined but still have that twang to them. the bridge position is great on its own, especially with overdrive. biting but rich and twangy. position 2 lends a darker edge but still keeps the twang: THE country setting. the middle position is one that i wouldn't normally use, but on this guitar it is amazing. think pride and joy, think johnny.b goode think.......KKKKEEEERRRRRAAAAANNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!
my favourite has to be position 4. neck and middle. it is not very often when this position on a strat is both warm and biting. but when loaded up with some rockin' overdrive it just tears down the walls. I use this position almost exclusively for blues, but when I need that extra balls I flip to the neck pickup. this is a singing growly SRV setting, down to the last drop and is great played clean as well. The ash body resonates well, and the volume control is responsive. you can get a great hendrix-y tone by puting on a hint of overdrive, setting the guitar to position 4 and rolling the volume off to about 8. the tone controls aren't so responsive, but i never use them anyway.

the guitar was well set up for guage 10 srings (pffftt!)so I had to put the extra trem spring in and re cut the nut as well as adjusting the truss rod to set it up for 12s The finish is flawless. (a brilliant natural finish) and the whole guitar is really well put together. I recently took the guitar apart and discovered that it is actually routed for a H/S/H pickup configuration. good if you like that sort of thing, but I couldn't help feeling that fender were cutting a few corners here production wise. still, the ludicrous price tag more than compensates for this. The pickup selector is good quality. better than the mexican and USA satndard strats, I thought. The controls are a bit lose, they turn very easily and I prefer something which I can 'feel' but all in all this is well made

I have gigged this many a time and it stands up well to abuse, particullarly whammy bar dives and chucking it about a bit. I have not had this guitar lonh enough to say if it is durable or not, but no problems so far. strap buttons are oversized and chunky. they are great and keep the strap where you put it. I have a habit of breaking strings, so I wouldn't use it without a backup but I trust this guitar with my life

never had to deal with fender, but the shop have been helpful

I was considering buying a mexican strat and gradually upgrading it (pickups, hardware etc.) whenever I had spare money. But i remembered one of these in another local music shop a year ago and i was considering going to london to try and find one. I walked into the shop in my local city and it was just hanging there. I put a deposit on it even though I didn't have half the money of what they were selling it for, but luckily I worked for 3 weeks and bought it a month later. Everythiong about this guitar is perfect to me.

email me @ sphilcox @ yellow.esinet.org.uk if u want to share your thoughts

mentioned below...

This is a great guitar for the price. It's sounds and looks different than most of the strats available today which is why it really jumped out at me. It does sound liek a strat but it can do some other impercinations pretty well. The duncans are pretty good, I would like them even more if they had just a little more clarity but they're definelty musical. I personally think that the finishes on korean guitars are too thick and deaden the resonance a little but that's just me. I've played this guitar through a speedster 25 watt deluxe, a speedster class a 40, a univox custom(wired like a jtm) and a peavey classic 30. it sounded great through all of them.

I purchased it locally and it was already set up and ready to play so that was no big issue. I did a couple mods that will offer a few more sounds out of this already versatile guit, first off i replaced the pots, and then re-wired a new push pull in and now i can have the B pu and the N pu on at the same time or all three pu's in parrelel.
I've never had a problem with it, just treat it decent and it'll do fine.

I've had it for about 10 months and had many gigs with it. One i will mention because I played for mike mcready(guitarist from pearl jam) and talked to him afterward, and he autographed the strat and told me he liked it.
But back to the point I've never had a problem with it, just give it a set up 2-4 times a year and treat it well.

never had too ask anything

It's a great guitar for all styles, and for the price too!
I play so many different styles it's hard to say but i'll name just some of my influences: slash, larry coreal, david bowie, the sex pistols, joe walsh, morphine, SRV, jerry cantrell, david gilmour, and so on.
I have used it live and in the studio and it holds up well. It's not the best guitar out there, It's not going to get you famous, but it's a solid, good sounding player and it can take a beating.

Korean made ash bod birdseye maple neck and fretboarb. Seymore duncan pickups and 5 way switching. Neck has a soft V shape, very similar to 50,s model and the American Claypton model. The finish (at least in the natural model I purcased was beautiful, with no run or visable flaws

The Seymores sound great and give the strat a whole new amviance without trading away those things that make a strat a strat. But the Seymores ARE noisy.

The guitar needed to be set up (as all guitars do) but the edges of the nut were VERY sharp. I ended up replacing the nut with a graphite model but the tech at the stor I purchased the guitar at said that a lot of the nuts on these models (they had quit a few and all were sharp) would be replaced so I guess I got to hit them up for this.

I've had experience with Fender and they're useually pretty good.

I'm 48 and I've played a long time. If it were lost or stolen I'd replace it with the same. I own a lot of guitars and this is one of my favotites