Fender Lite Ash Strat

Well we all know.
If not ,go to fender .com
For 600 bucks i got the case, leather strap, 3-packs of strings and the wrong tools.

Well I'm a bass player not a guitar player.
I needed something to record with. And this guitar had what I needed.
First it took me some time to get use too.
My style would be classic rock, Robin Trower ,Jeff Beck,EC and all those othe strat guys.
I sound just like a Strat.
I'm using it through a Pod and it covers all the strat sounds.
From that bluesy tone to the classic metal sounds of the 80's.
Pickups set to single coil are noisy as hell and sound like they should.
Bridge pickup is super bright so I roll of the tone knob all the way. Sounds really good there.

Every thig was real nice on this guitar.
But the nut was cut wrong.
It sloped toward the fret board and would not tune right.
My tech had to help me figure it out.
Pain in the @ss drove me nuts. Ha ha
Would not intanate (hope thats right).
Thats what you get when 3 year olds build guitars.
Once that was fixed and I maxed out the springs in the bridge
And this thing Rocks.
I holds tunning real nice and I bend the hell out of the strings.
No broken strings or retuning just like my Basses.
I like that.
The finsh and fret work were awsome and the stap buttons are nice and large, holds real well.
Some say the body feel sticky.
Mine felt that way and I just polished it out.
Its fine.
To everyone out there who thinks the neck it unfinished, your wrong. I thought so too.
I feels so natural.

This is a fine guitar for gigs,
From the bedroom to world tours this guitar will do it!!!!
Never do a show without a backup.

Not yet

I've been playing bass for over 25 years
with a 6 string not far behind.
But I'm Still a bass player.
I have a 30 year old Epiphone that in moth balls.
I would buy another lite ash.
I bought this guitar for its wood feature and then the tone came 2nd.
Now after having it for 6 months I don't know if the tone is 2nd??
This is a great guitar for the money.
If your looking at the lite ash tele try this one with the tone knobs set to max,
it might do that job too.
Good luck fellow string benders

features have already been covered here, so ne need for me to elaborate on them.

basic strat setup, 1 volume & 2 tone controls.

i guess this other reviewer ordered a guitar without playing it first and had a bad setup/finish. i played through 12-15 strats (a few mexican and mostly american) before picking this one up, it just caught my eyes. i had an american in my hands fixing to leave, but decided to try this one out first, especially after noticing all the fine DETAIL on this beats.

the finish on the lite ash i have is flawless, from detailed frets to the nice shaped neck with no hangs. everything on the lite ash strat i purchaesed was perfect. no sloppy shorcuts taken in production, this thing is sweet.

it sounds great. if youve played a strat before you know basically what to expect. the difference is the tone, i guess from the swamp ash body. the neck pickup is a little darker/warmer, and the in between spots seem to have more shimmer than stock MIA pickups. this strat has the SD staggered pro single coils.

it is a little noisy on a high gain setting, but what single coil isnt? unplugged you get a great loud and articulate sound, pluggged in it just amplifies that beauty. alot of great sounds on any pickup conf, sweet spots, dark spots, bright spots,....you get it.

great for the hendrix rock thang!

this guitar was flawless. i did play through alot of strats before picking this one out. ive had american and mexican strats through my 15 years of playing, and alot of other style guitars. but after setting down the last american strat and picking this up i immediately went from great guitar to slightly better all around great guitar.

im not knocking the MIA strats, ive owned em and love them. but i kept playing back & forth and inspecting the finish/sound and was floored by this.

great birdseye maple neck with abalone dot inlays, great thick finish on the guitar. the strings were just the right height, extremely smooth fretwork and pleasing to look at.

its a strat, so it should last, great build

dont know

i know these ratings are high, but thats how i feel about this guitar. it might not do for the serious metal head thing, but its fine for blues/hard rock and iron maiden, and such

the 2 point trem is great when used with subtlety, fast med jumbo frets which to me are just right, tuners seem to work great, but most importantly it kicks ass in the sound department.

i guess it also depends on the amp you use with it. overall a great strat, but you may have to play a few to find the sweet ones (same with any strat model)

It did not sound ilke a strat at all. It was extremely dark and un inspireing sort of a lp with out that ausome distortion (and i was playin through a valvestate so no problems with the amp) it sounded like crap for 600 bucks, but than again all fenders have gone down the drain in the last 20 years

This is the WOrst guitar for 600 dollars you could buy, the finish was about an incu thick and the hardware felt almost plastic like, the pickguard was not cut right and the edges looked like crap, the pots are junk and so is the wire. I played a godin SD (handmade in canada) for $400 (USD) it is the most amazing guitar ive everplayed, if you want strat sig sound look to godin. Its the most amazing quality i even compared it with a fender amarican delux and it sounded better played better and had MUCH better quality parts. enough said

i think because the ifnish is so freakin thick it would not scratch BUT its a EXTREMELY cheaply made guitar that i would not trust

fender in general has gone down the toilet in the last 20 years and godin has takin over!! for real try one of these out i guarantee you will like it its teh brightest most beautiful HANDMADE guitar FOR $400!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! www.godinguitars.com

As soon as I saw this particular Guitar, I immediately wanted it. The Birdseye Maple neck is much more figured than the Lite Ash I had played in my hometown music store. (Hey, I'm not too loyal when it comes to getting a better guitar elsewhere)

Here's all the crap from Fender's site:

-Beautiful figured Birdseye neck with Birdseye fingerboard
-Abalone dot inlay
-BODY Light Weight Ash
-MACHINE HEADS Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines (non-locking)
-PICKUPS Seymour Duncan? APS-1N, APS-1RWRP, APS-1B, (Neck/Middle/Bridge) (APS=Alnico Pro Staggered)
-CONTROLS Master Volume,
Tone 1. (Neck Pickup),
Tone 2. (Middle/Bridge Pickups)
-BRIDGE 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo
-PICKUP SWITCHING 5-Position Blade:
-HARDWARE Chrome
-PICKGUARD 1-Ply Black
-SCALE LENGTH 25.5? (648 mm)
-WIDTH AT NUT 1.625?
-UNIQUE FEATURES Black Plastic Parts,

This guitar is much brighter than I am used to. I usually play a SwampAsh Strat with P-90's. This one is so cleam amd bright that I don't even need to take showers anymore. It has the "signature Strat sound". Not super-loud, but the TONE is great.

I personally LOVE the clarity and tone of the Seymour Duncans in this Ash setup. More bluesy and old rock than my other Strat, so it suits my style perfectly. Rock out in position 1 or 2 or throw down some bluesy funk in 4 or 5.

I bought the guitar from the Musicians Friend scratch and dent place in KCMO. It had been played, but there was nothing wrong with it.

The action when I first picked it up was about a mile off the fretboard. I had played one in my hometown and knew how low it was capable of being so I didn't think much of it. Other than that (like others have previously mentioned) it is put together very solid. No gaps or finish cracks...everything is very straight. Intonation was spot-on and the neck was not abnormaly doinked or tweaked in any way.

When I got it home, a little action set was all it needed to play like any other top-of-the-line Blues-banger. I really do love the feel of this thing.

The first day I bought it, I played it out. I brought my back-up, but didn't touch it. I have since played it w/o a back-up and will continue to do so. I trust the integrity of the instrument.

The hardware seems rugged and should last a lifetime. The clear laquer finish is thick and should withstand a smack on the head of virtually any annoying drunk. The strap buttons are very snug and could probably hold me up when I trip on my rediculous amount of pedals and cords.

Never had to...it's Fender.

Like I said, I own a Swampy P-90 Strat which I feel is too aggressive at times, so this one offsets it well.

I have been playing off and on for 17 years, the last 5 of which has been pretty consistanly on more than off. I play every style every day. I play through a Roland JC-120 because I love the True stereo chorus. I run my guitar through a Visual Sounds Route 66 OD/compressor then to a Don Jones Boutique Custom built point-to-point Fender Bassman preamp with 2 'Holy Grail' 12AX7's and a grnd-lift. Since I play more than just blues, I also use a Digitech GNX2 and Roger Linn Adrenalinn II. I run them off of 2 Boss AB2 a/b boxes.

ANYWAY...OVERALL LITE ASH VALUE:
You can go out and spend the same amount of $ on a Fender Highway 1 Strat and have an American-made axe, but tonally/visually/and ergonomically you will not have nearly as good a guitar as if you bought the Lite Ash Strat. Sure it's made in Korea...that just means that they spend more money on materials and less on name.

You get a better neck, tremolo, body, pickups, and controls for the same price. Not to mention that the Birdseye maple is just kickin'.

I have only been playing for a few years, but i have been aroung axes most of my life...enough to know a jewel when i "Hear" and see one. when i saw the price before i picked it up to sample i thought another overpriced foreign want to be, but after i plugged it in i was in total shock!!! I usually dont turn the amp past 3 when in music stores because im still in that shy phase, but that ended after this test run...man i cranked it up to about 8, i was in a sweet tonal zone.

I dare you to plug into a fender twin 100watt all tube amp. combining these two together is the ultimate perfecet "Clean" marraige.

Neck is fast, quick, and smooth....speechless

I see this axe lasting a very long time.

Never had to use it.

only problem is that it did not come with any case at all, hard or soft. But I'm not mad....I got an awesome, sweet, investment.

This review is on the Made in Korea Fender 2004 Lite Ash Stratocaster. This was a mail order purchase and arrived with original box.
I have been playing for almost 40 years and have owned at least 3 dozen guitars over the years. Most of these have been Fender models from MIM standards to Custom Shop models and everything in between.
This model has far exceeded my expectations.
Out of box set up was dead on. Intonation was excellent and the neck plays cleanly. No buzz or fret issues. Neck pocket is tight with no gaps or finish cracks around the neckplate. I did adjust the trem and added a third spring as it only came with two. The only other issue was the jack came loose right away but that happens on any guitar from time to time.

Duncan pickups are great for clean natural tones. Through my 68 twin they respond well for leads and chords. They do not respond well to my fulltone2 or rat distortion. They lose definition
on single notes and chords. I may just upgrade these to 69 Custom Shop pickups but that will be later.

I have been playing for almost 40 years and have owned at least 3 dozen guitars over the years. Most of these have been Fender models from MIM standards to Custom Shop models and everything in between.
This model has far exceeded my expectations.
Out of box set up was dead on. Intonation was excellent and the neck plays cleanly. No buzz or fret issues. Neck pocket is tight with no gaps or finish cracks around the neckplate. I did adjust the trem and added a third spring as it only came with two. The only other issue was the jack came loose right away but that happens on any guitar from time to time.
Finish is flawless. Beautiful Ash body
Neck
The Neck on this guitar is one of the best I have owned on any guitar. Big jumbo frets with a large amount of birdseye pattern throughout.Abalone dots are neatly placed.
When comparing this neck to other guitars I have owned I would say this easily surpasses any of the American issue, MIM or Highway Strats as well as a recent Custom shop 60's reissue and Showmaster that left my collection . It is that good!!

Electronics are typical import Fender issue. Flimsy 5 way and tiny low quality pots connected by the cheapest wire available. I wish Fender would just start using quality pots and switches on their import models. I'll pay the extra couple of bucks. Change of these is highly recommended when possible!!
Hardware
Bridge is stable and well fitted. Tuners are little import models that match the cheap pots and switch. They keep the guitar in tune better than I would expect.

Overall vibe of this guitar is killer. It really looks and feels like a vintage guitar. More of a 70's look because of the black guard and pickups. But unlike the various boat anchor and cinder block weighted 70's Strats this one is a pleasure to play.
If you are looking to purchase a overpriced vintage 70's Strat try one of these. You could save yourself a pile of cash even if you decide to hotrod it a little.
The neck alone is worth the price!!!
If the matching Ash Tele is anything like this I will have one soon.

The features on this guitar are really a great deal! I got it for it's normal price with a hardshell case. You get Seymour Duncan pickups installed standard! It has 22 frets with a natural ash wood look and clear finish. It's made in Korea. The neck and fretboard are highly figured Birds-eye Maple and it looks absolutely beautiful! Aside from beauty, the neck is extremely quick. It's a natural wood finish and slides like crazy!

I play contemporary Christian music and this guitar suits my needs perfectly. Of course, it has the classic Strat versatility. I played it next to both a Mexican and American made Fender through a huge Marshall amp at the Guitar Center that I bought it at and it blew both out of the water! It sounds sooo nice. It's very clear with NO buzz. I specifically checked for that. I've also played it through a Fender tube amp, a Crate bass amp, and my churches sound system and it's sound is great through them all. The Seymour Duncan's are a little loud, but it's well worth having them. They are noticably deeper and clearer than the ones that come with the Highway 1 series and other Fenders. I am fully satisfied with the sound that comes from this guitar. I'll give it a 10.

Everything seemed good and so far, everything still is good. My dad and I were very particular in our examination of this guitar at the store, but we could find no flaws. The pickups are all perfectly aligned.

I play this guitar every day (practice) and "gig" with it live every Sunday at my Youth Group with our band. The finish is clear, but thick and the pickguard is thick as well. I don't see the finish chipping any time soon and I will continue to use it daily. I trust my guitar! It's a very solid piece.

I played this guitar next to a Highway 1 Strat and a Mexican strat and it ted!!! I have no qualms with my guitar. I love everything about it. It's a beautiful guitar. If it were ever lost or stolen, I woulld definitely buy the same thing. It's an outstanding band for the buck.