Fender Lone Star Strat

This guitar smokes
could use a fatter neck

great for all styles except metal ; maybe

great

safe

perfect guitar would like to get one with rosewood neck as well

Great guitar loaded guitar, Im the second owner it rocks. Any style!

2001 Sienna Burst Ash American Series "Hot Rodded" Stratocaster with Dual Texas Specials and a Pearly Gates Plus. Maple board 9.5 radius and Med-Jumbo frets. I've owned FOUR of these over the years. A 96 a 97 a 2000 and this 2001. I like this one the best for a couple reasons. Its vert light and resonant at 7lb even and its Ash were my other three were Alder. Man these Texas Specials sound GREAT with ASH. I have Schaller Locking Tuners with this one also. The others held a Tuning well. A better Trem unit could have been used. But this is a KILLER Strat for the bucks. Find a nicely QC'd one and you'll have a KILLER USA Strat.

I'm getting great vinatge Strat Tones and a nice edgy raw bridge Tone with the Pearly gates Plus...Damn I love this pick-up.

As good as I ever seen on any USA Fender Strat and I grew up on 50;s and 60's Strats

Your Kidding a Strat? These are Lifelong instruments that can take an unreak amout of abuse. Ever see SRV play his? Or Jimi?

For Whatm never need them.

Like I said I've owned FOUR over the years. The upgraded Ash Body on this Strat really puts it over the Top. Especially this one being so well QC'd. A VERY VERY NICE Fender Strat. KEEPER comes to mind, and all STOCK....well Locking Tuners added.

2007 MIM Deluxe Lone Star Strat, 21 Frets, 3 burst Sunburst with red tortoise shell pickguard, SSH with the texas specials and seymour duncan pearly gates humbucker. Don't have a tremolo, but I might get one eventually.

Bought it used from the original owner, and he had it touched up by a pro guitar tech who was a good friend of his, and he did a freakin amazing job. No rough edges or anything.

I play alot of different types of stuff. Mostly rock, classic rock, alternative, grunge....I love it all. I'm not a big country music fan but if you are, you can get a nice twangy sound from this guitar with the neck pickup. If you want something a little beefier, the pearly gates is great. If you put the selector switch in position 4, it really gives you an amazing SRV sound, great for songs like Little Wing and what not...Very bright and clean, but like I said, if you switch to the humbucker, it gets very beefy. Not quite Gibson beefy, but it's a Strat. It's like comparing apples and oranges. I love the Strat because you have so many different types of sound, and they all sound great. The fact that it is MIM really doesn't matter. I've played USA ones and I CANNOT tell the difference at all. The pickups sound amazing, and the guitar very rarely goes out of tune.

Plays great with Pedals too. I've only run it thru a TS808 and a Crybaby, but sounds great with both of those. I have 10's on the guitar right now. They sound great.

The only real reason I gave it a 9 is because the Texas Specials produce a little buzz. It's nothing major, but its still noise. The Pearly Gates is incredibly quiet tho, no buzz at all. Positions 2 and 4 are my favorites....not alot of buzz on either of those.

Well like I said before, the guy I bought it from had it set up by one of his best friends who is a professional guitar tech guru guy...or something. But he did a fantastic job from what I can tell. No rough edges, no fret buzzing. Put 10's on it. No flaws whatsoever. Finish is great, no marks/chips. It's awesome.

Rock Solid says it all. I've only had it for a month, but no problems. I would use a backup, but only because I'm paranoid something would happen to it. Not because of something wrong with the guitar.

Never had to. bought it used.

Been playing for like 5 or 6 years, so I'm learning every day, but this Strat was a great steal IMO, and definitely worth the money. Mine was set up by a great guitar tech, so I'd probably recommend having that done, because it sounds and feels incredible.

If it were stolen I'd be upset. I'd most likely get another one if I could find one. The pickups are really what makes this guitar. If not I'd get an American and just upgrade the pickup's to Gilmour's or something...

I give it a 9, mainly because I wish the Texas Specials didn't buzz. Other than that, it's freakin awesome.

1996 USA Corona. HSS with Texas Specials and the Seymour Duncan humbucker. String-thru-body bridge. It's an alder body in black with pearl pickguard with a rosewood fretboard. I'm not sure about the frets - they might be a little fat but not jumbo-sized.
Standard rectangle case came with it. There's a good balance with the handle offset which has the additional feature whereby you can walk it with the case straight even when going up or down stairs, without it banging. That shows technique and care in manufacture.

I really like the sound this gives. The humbucker is real hot, but sometimes you need that to cut thru live. Mine gives a grunge sound that is not unlike a Gibson in strong power output but is sweeter in that the light bell sound comes through even with that grunge thing going on. It doesn't give the long sustain like a Gibson though. But it has a sweeter tone, imho.
I find the Texas Special on the neck SRV buttery in tone - beautiful in tone, but a little soft. But that softness may be an amplification issue or that my pick-up height is too low in the body. Or, I am too used to using the humbucker.
Sliding the pu selector is clean as.
There are five pick up settings. There is a lot of variety in the sounds, even a telecaster can twang through on what is it, setting four? Settings 2 and 3 are pretty neat though not used as much.

First of all, I find rosewood very warm. But rosewood is not slick like maple often is. My rosewood has to be worked. Playing the Lone Star for me is like working tough clay - it needs strong fingers. There's nothing slippery about it. Added to this is that I bought it used and the frets themselves are a little jaggedy - that is sometimes my fingers rather than slide over have to climb over them. Oh well, it least it ain't scalloped. Also with this though is that your fingers have to be planted firmly so the sound you ultimately get is pretty clear. But, it is not a speed guitar like Ibanez's seem to be. You can tap it, but as someone else here said, it ain't a metal guitar.
It stays in tune no matter what weather and what movements it goes through. It's got standard tuners but they keep the strings tuned. Tuning is a breeze. Stretch your new strings and wind them to their natural tuning and they will stay there.
However, I don't use tremolo so cannot comment on the bridge or strings after using tremelo. Bridge is bolted tight down to the body so no free play on the trem.
The neck is straight. The action is pretty much fine, although there is one particular fret that if I don't press hard for it it sometimes gives me a bung instead of a clear note. However, I have never adjusted the action, haven't replaced the nut - haven't done anything to it.
It has been well-used before; there is some wear on the board and a ding in the back of the body and a missing back plate. It may have been around a bit, but if that is the case it is holding up very well.

I've used it a few times only at gigs. I am a working father in another country so can't find gigs regularly. It seems to hold out well under lights and with a few bangs. I'm pretty careful where I lean it but it stands well when leaning against something. It's well balanced. Have never broken a string on it at any time, and I have played it hard on occasion.
It's dependable.
If I were a working band guy I'd want a back-up, for peace of mind. Also I'd want a few guitars, not just because it were my source of income, but that every guitarist dreams of having a few guitars.

Never had customer support as it was second hand and is older guitar now.

I once had a warm and unique Tama acoustic guitar. The rosewood Lone Star is up there in warmth.
I tested a maple HSS Lone Star. I prefer the rosewood for depth, though the maple put out some pretty and warm sound.
A Japanese Fender is much more limited in sound and is a little clangy in comparison.
I had a Squire once. Having 40 squires wouldn't be better than having one Lone Star - except that you could sell them to finance the purchase of your Lone Star.
If it were stolen I'd do my best to get another one just like it.
To compete with the Lone Star I'd want the one that Mark Knopfler uses (a Schecter?) or a signature Strat. I think the quality of the Lone Star is pretty high.
It's also a unique guitar. I haven't seen my one on the internet yet.

cherry apple with pearloid pickguard and all american hardware. Seymore duncan pearly gates humbucker and two texas special PUs

This guitar is so friggen veristile!! You can pretty much play anything but hardcore metal. Dont underestimate that pearly gates humbucker it really rocks and its got so much tone not even your mom could handle it!! However the texas special asre perfect for blues the beautiful sounds you get out of them just make me so happy. Just think stevie ray. This guitar sounds incredible its got everything!

This guitar was perfect when i got it. Fender really made this thing like they intended on making a tank. Extreme craftsmanship was put into this an dyou can tell emediately when you pick it up. The neck on this guitar is the best neck i ever played its perfect for my hands. Its like its part of my own body when i play it so i can just close my eyes and fly up and down the neck and i know itll play ok. This is my favorite part of the guitar. The nech alone is worth with the 900 i paid for it

This guitar got stolen from me and th epolice found it at a pawn shop. when i got it back there was a crack in the bottom of it and a tiny crack at teh top of the head stock. Besides that i beat the crap out of it and ut still plays and sounds great. I dunno why but i just feelliek ill keep it for ever and i know i cant breka it so i dont treat it that well. I gig with it all thetime its just an awesome awesome guitar you dont have to worry about anything.

overall id give this a 9 just because theres other guitar out there that are a few grand more an di bet there even better. HOwver for the price you cant beat this strat its got everything any body who like sgood music could want

mine lone star strat is in shoreline gold and a white perloid pickgaurd, i think it looks very sharp

when i first bought this guitar i pretty much only used the Seymore Duncan in the bridge spot when i gigged, fact i still pretty much do. But at home when i could fool around, i really liked the sound of the neck p/u. they don't really match for me. in fact i've sort of gotten to like the sound of single coils a bit more over time. i sometimes think i would kind of like to pull out that Duncan and put it in another body and slap a neck on it and put an alnico V PAF in there or a Lindy Frailin or something with just a bit more sparkle. i think the Duncan is a really nice P/U but it just doesn't go with Texas Specials for me.

this guitar has been resest a few times but right now its playing great. the finish on the fret board is chipping away, but it kinda looks cool. i don't know if i have to seal it or something. i really like the neck. Shoreline Gold is a wicked color

i always carry another guitar but i never have to use it unless i break a string in the middle of a set

????

i have had this guitar for maybe 12 years, its the first new guitar i ever owned. i have played for thousands of hours on this insturment. i have souped it up over the years, put a hipsot tuner on it and had the p?u all wired with the Player's Strat mod and a coil tap and phase split. i'm betting ready to put a Tram setter on it so i can use the Whammy Bar at bit more liberally. I play all kinds of styles on this ax ( idon't like it for jazz...but everything else. i've bought a few more guitars over the years.. a Les Paul, a Tele a Hagstrom with P90's and an ES335... and i still gig with the strat. its my main axe and always will be

Candy apple red finish strat with your standard American bridge. Fender tuners, 22 frets, SSH(2 Texas special singles and a Pearly Gates humbucker). Made in 2000.

One of the most if not THE most versitle guitars out there. Can go from Jazz to Metal with ease. I play Hard Rock and a lot of ballads and rock stuff at church and this guitar can do it all. I come from the hair metal days of the 80's and used to only play Charvels and Jacksons. I switched to strats about 6 years ago and haven't looked back since. It took me a while to find the Lonestar and when I did that was it. The Lonestar has the smoothest sound of any guitar I've played and the clean sound is the best.

I bought this used and was set up great when I got it. It is 7 years old now and still looks new.

I play this live at church every week and even though I am not running around or anything it stays in tune great and is just a solid guitar all around. Finish is great. Defintely can play without a backup but I always have extra strings on hand in case of a string breaking. Hasn't happend yet but you never know.

N/A

I have been playing since 1983 and this is my favorite guitar so far and I have owned just about every major brand out there. I would definitely buy another if it was lost or stolen.

My freind has a Shoreline Gold one, and I liked it so much I bought a Blue/green one. 2 Texas specials 1 Pearly gates humbucker. VERY versital for a strat!

I run it into: planet waves tuner, Maxon AF-9, 535q wah, Sparkle Drive, Mesa Lonestar, (effetcs loop) H2O chorus/echo, Small Stone, Short timer delay. This strat rocks! The Texas specials give a very twangy, yet still stratish tone. The duncun humbucker gets fairly close to my Les Paul.The 5 way switch allows you to use just one of the coils in the humbucker and that gives this guitar the "bell tone" No noise, even with the single coils. The Lonestar strat can handle anything from jazz to metal (I play in a reggae band and a tool-esque hard rock band. really shines in both situations. The only issue I have with this guitar is the volume drop when you switch to the single coils (I just use the volume knob or pick dynamics).

I bought this guitar used so........ But the guitar looks structurally solid

It is a USA fender... you know the drill

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I have been playing for 25 years and playng pro for 10 years. I own a customized Les paul special and a Tele. If it were stolen I would replace it. I love that although it is a strat, it sort of isn't. no wimpy sounds here. I wish it had one of the new fender noisless pickups for more versatility but what do you want for 500 bucks. This guitar is one of the best ones i have owned.

Mine is a Teal Green Metallic Finish with a white Pearloid pick guard. Everytime I bring it somewhere I get comments on how beautiful it is...for me the pick guard is what sets it off...the pearloid looks very sharp. Two Texas Special Single Coil pickups and the Seymour Duncan Humbucker as has already been documented. Mine has a rosewood neck that looks great.
---Just an aside...I remember reading that this guitar was actually designed by Seymour Duncan for Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top...so that would explain a lot.

I usually play Classic Rock and Blues...with very little country sometimes. I play through an 80 watt Crate amp, usually with some distortion but very little effects. As someone noted earlier, if you have the pickup in between the bridge and middle position you can get a very good Tele / Country sound. I personally love the Texax S pickups. You have to fiddle with them a little to get the right pickup height and the right tone on your amp and guitar. But they have a great sound. I use .013-.058 strings so that also affects the sound...but it sounded very similar when it had the normal .010-.046 on when I bought it.

I bought the guitar used but other than raising the strings a little bit off the neck I have done very little to it. Whoever had it before had a good set up on it (could have been the way it came from the factory for all I know). The first thing I did was tighten the strings attached to the bridge to death grip. I can still use the tremolo bar and it sounds the same...but now the bridge rests firmly on the guitar and it truly does make a difference in the sound. I would recommend tightening up those strings to anyone.

All of the pickups, selectors, knobs still look great and sound exactly the same they always have since I bought it. The guitar does not have a sing;le scratch in it, and I am not always easy on it (at one point I had a large blood stain on it that I left because it looked cool but my girlfriend made me wash it off). This is due in very large part because I use heavy strings but this thing stays in tune like a piano. I will take out the tuner every couple of weeks but normally there is one string,if that, out of tune. This might also be because I usually don't use the tremolo bar.

Never had any problems at all.

I had a Les Paul before this and I also own 3 Acoustics and a 12-string. I also have a 70s Epiphone electric. I have played several Les Pauls and other Strats along with many Teles. The only guitar that comes close to mine is my grandfather's '58 Strat. If anything happened to this guitar I would cry for days and pay whatever it cost to buy another one. But let me be frank. If you want a guitar to sound like a Les Paul...BUY a Les Paul. This guitar can certainly do songs like Led Zep, and Cream songs very well...and it really comes close to a LP sound....but it is a Strat, and a hell of a good one at that.

Shoreline Gold, maple fingerboard, pearlescent white scrathguard. I bought this recently second hand for 599GBP. It is dated to 1996. It has a couple of small marks on the neck but apart from that is mint condition. The fingerboard is actually better for being played plus the set-up is immaculate. I'm guessing it was part of someone's larger collection as there isn't much wear and tear on it and has obviously been well looked after.

This is a versatile guitar, I have a Fender Tele which is a 2006 model and that is good but this is EVEN better. I wanted to try and get a 'U2' 'Edge' sound and this is perfect. I was doubtful about the concept of humbucking bridge pickups on a strat but I am SO pleased I bought it despite my initial reservations. Sound is brilliant even through a 30W Marshall practice amp.

The set-up is great - as it is second hand it's difficult to say how much after work occurred but this just ouzes high quality.

This has already seen 10 years' action - 10/10 for me.

N/a

Get one.

The most versatile guitar you can get. I've owned mine for 10 years now and have played everything from Blues to Heavy Metal on it. I now play a clean blues/jazz style and I use an Ampeg SS-140 amp with minimal effects so this guitar has no help. 10 years later and she still sings like an angel.

I've put some work into my guitar. I've sanded the frets down a bit and blocked the tremolo to the body for a really low action. I've been told that this doesn't work on Fenders but this guitar still sounds as it did before but plays much faster.
That being said it was of great quality off of the showroom floor.
The finish is the Shorline Gold and it looks sharp. I've never seen another guitar with a similar color. It's 10 years old and has worn very well. Still looks like new, except for 1 or 2 dings.

Great live performer. I've played SRV, Metallica, Pink Floyd and the Police with this on the same night. Pretty diverse and durable.
I have gigged w/o a back-up and have never been worried.

I have never needed it. That tells you how good the instrument is.

I have been playing for nearly 30 years. I have a few other semi-hollow body guitars for a fuller jazz sound but this Lone Star is my only solid-body guitar I own. Sometimes, out of boredom, I try to get a new guitar...I can't do it. The Lone Star is the best Strat I've ever played, period.

1997-Think I paid like 6 or 7 hundred US ???
Would have paid a grand.
Got the hard shell case with it.
Eggshell white w/tortise shell pickguard
Flattened the bridge down all the way so I can go all night without tuning.

I play mostly original rock and have a variety of influences, and this guitar owns.
Currently using a 50watt Sovtek amp through an orange cabinet. THICKNESS!!!!
Also sounds real f'in good throught the twin reverb & the v-twin from mesa boogie.

Removed the volume knob cuz I'm alway banging it and turning it down when rocking.

Perfect out of the box.

Toured for 5 years and gigged localy another 10 and its going strong.
The maple neck has a few dings and the lam is coming off the dots, but I love it.
The finish is too good cuz I want it to look like hell. Oh well.

Never had too.

Playing for 20 years. Got a les paul studio (heavy). epi chet. martin. ebo bass. usa jazz bass.
If it were lost...suicide.

Dont know if it's for you, but its the answer for me.

I have four of these....All american! Two are original "Lonestar" strats two are standard American strats that have been upgraded to ALL the Lonestar specs, you can't tell the difference. Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates bridge pick-up, Texas Specials in neck and Middle. Five way strat "SUPER SWITCH" which is a must for any HSS guitar IMHO. Typical useless strat tone controls, don't know why any guitar has tone controls, they should be called "tone removers", but, they are needed to retain that classic strat look. Cool pearly pickguard too, I love the vintage toilet seat look!

If you want one guitar that can do it all.....this is as close as you'll ever get. I play in a cover band with a few originals thrown in and there is nothing I've found that this guitar can't handle. I have several Les Pauls and a Tele also that I use but could easily get through the night with out them if need be. The humbucker does metal well, back off the volume cotrol a little and get a nice AC/DC crunch. The singles sound great, bluesy and clean but HOT! Bonus, I'm not getting any younger and the weight of these guitars in much more managable all night long than a Les Paul. What does the strat "SUPER SWITCH" do you ask....Well, in position two you get half the humbucker mixed with the middle single coil wired in a humbucker mode for the standard position 2 strat sound.....kinda twangy, almose Tele like.

I've had great luck with all Fender products for many different years. Alot of people will bash the 90's products and that's great, it keeps the prices down for the average guy like me. When was the last time you bought a Les Paul standard for $450-$650?? I did....many time,in the early eighties! as with any guitar, you'll have to set it up to your liking before you get the most out of it. Recently I swapped a rosewood neck on one guitar for the maple neck on another to get a different look. One was a 97 the other a 95. Both necks fit properly as if they were done that way in the factory. Very consistant quality!!

I beat on these things weekend after weekend without fail....they come back for more! Stays in tune well....who needs a Floyd Rose?

Never had to deal with them, never had a problem that needed their attention!

I've been playing for 24 years. I've owned alot of guitars and still do. With most guitars I have specific "tweeks" I do as soon as I aquire them. Different pickups for example. This is the only guitar I've been happy with right out of the box, stock! What more do you need? I've swapped necks around on them for different looks (maple/rosewood) and everythiing fits together like original.

My Strat has a rosewood fretboard w/22 frets, made in 1997~, pearly-white finish and a turtoise pickgard. UGLY... but I like it anyhow.

I got this one used, and the guy I bought it from replaced the original tuning keys to a set of locking tuners, which are great.

He also had the tone knob replaced with one that looks the same, but you can pull on it to split the humbucker - highly recomended. the humbucker sound stays just the same (it's just a very simple electronic thing), plus you get that great strat single-coil sound on the bridge pickup.

The only thing wrond with mine is the bridge - the guy who owned it didn't like the original bridge, so he had it changed to something else. I didn't like the new one, so I had a fixed bridge (no tremolo) installed. and I must say I was really impressed - you could hear the change instantly. it really does sound a lot better when the bridge is bolted right to the body.

The original fender case is pretty lousy, btw. it's one of the old ones - just a big rectangular lump. if you're getting it used and can save a few $ on it - don't buy the case. buy a new fender case instead, the new ones are a lot more comfortable.

It used to be an 8. Now it's a 10. having a fixed bridge installed made a world of difference, and you won't believe me until you try it. as a said before, I didn't have the original bridge on it when I got it, so I really had nothing to lose.

If you have the original bridge, you can get the same results without risking anything: just try setting your guitar up so that the bridge'll rest right on the body, and give it a go.

The original TS singles are very bright and have a bit of a crunch into them. sounds great playing with a clean sound, and even better if you add just a liitle bit of dirt into it. the SD humbucker can scream like crazy with an overdrive or some real distortion, but it's a little dirty when you go too far with the gain (it's still a strat...).

Nothing special here. it's a strat, with all the little noises, buzzings and humms. The finish on it is excellent, though. the neck's great, the body's massive, and electronics seem to be good (and it's over 9 years old).

The locking tuners are a great addition to mine. I have to tune it once or twice a week, and even then it's just mild corrections.

This one is good to last. the electronics on my guitar is 9 years old and working great. as long as you take good care of it - it'll get the job done.

I think the American Standard line was a lot better than the new American Series line fender have out now. it's true for this specific model as well: the new Fat-Strat isn't too great. it doesn't have the same crunchy sound the older ones have (even though it might just be a wood-aging thing, and the new ones'll get better over time).

If you're looking for a bright and dirty sounding strat, the Lone Star is as good as it gets. the SD humbucker on it is a killer, and the TS singles have a great clean sound and an even better crunch when you give them just a little overdrive to work with.

But if you want to use heavy distortion on it - don't. use something else. the singles won't be able to pull it off. the humbucker can scream allright, but it's too messy for any fast shredding, and it's crunchy sound'll just go to waste.

2002 Made. The features have been covered pretty much by other people here. The only thing which is special to my Lonestar is that it's got a REALLY nice ash body in Sienna Sunburst finish, which looks more or less like cherry burst to me. Any way it's not only the really great finish. This ash body vibrates so nice even unplugged. Briliant.
Locking tuners would've been nice though.

What can I say about the sound. It's just great. This is definitely partly due to the really nice ash body, but the pickups sound great in my opinion as well. You can get pretty much any sound you want. But I play mainly Jazz/Blues/Rock kind of stuff and this axe fits great.

Bought second hand off ebay, so not sure how it was set up from factory. I had to adjust the intonation though, since the previous owner had obviously used 9s and that's awful in my opinion. I imediately put 10s on and changed the trem setting a bit as well.

Pickups did'n need adjusting. What also impressed me about the finish and the wood selection is that you can't really tell if the guitar is made aout of 2 pieces or 1. Initally I thought it was one. But about a month after I had bought it I noticed that it's made out 2 pieces, but they are matched PERFECTLY, so you really have to look hard. Amazing.

This axe is built to last. Can't say more than that.

What would you need them for. This is not a some kind of crap.

I've been playing for over 20 years and earlier I used to play an AM tele. But the Strat is 1) more versatile 2) easier to play (countour body, easier bending due to trem) 3) it just feels right.
From playing a tele a long time I learned to finger pick quite well, cause this way you can get a much better and fatter sound even in the bridge pickup of a tele. I kind of always wanted the strat sound, but playing a tele wasn't giving me that.
Anyway, I think this is a great strat and you won't go wrong if you get one of those. I think fender stopped producing them in order to get people to by their CS models (which also have Tex Pickups). If it was stolen or lost I would definitely look to buy one of those again. Although in the mean time I think one can get a really nice Jap strat. Some of them are really well made and IMO are better than the AM Strats. I give an overall 9 since the Jap strats(Tokai, Fender, ESP...) are IMO better value for money

I've owned my Lone Star Strat Since 1996 it has since been welded to my inner self. 22 Frets of pure finger gliding excellence, Seymour Duncan Humbucker can scream louder than a woman on fire if the right gladiator has this instrument at hand. Better all round than any Gibson that I've owned personally, including my 88 Lessy. Any doubters should remember that U must make it love U, 2 truly bring out this guitars full potential. Better than any fat or super by far.

Rich and Versatile, Just like a true legendary guitar should sound

Best action ever on mine, dark sunburst, Rose Wood Neck, A GEM In Every Since, Not a Scratch on her. Babied Her Since 96

Tough as nails, a true gig guitar

Bought mine about 4 years ago, has been mine fav guitar since. ( I've owned a strat plus, deluxe plus, am standard, Gibson Les Paul standard and a Burny MG-350)

I bought it second hand and her previous owner replace 2 texas special with these stack seymour duncan pickups I'm not so sure about the model. Everything was great but i wanted a lot more so I took it to my technician and I have the 2-way switch replaced with 3 way switch so I could have my bridge pickup in pararelle mode plus i have one of the tone pot replace with a push-pull pot so i will give me a twangee sound when it's in pull position.

everthing is great except the strap button would fxxk up now and then but I got it fixed recently.

Wow, This guitar sounded damn great, I was a bit disappointed because with her previous owner set-up the neck pick up sound muddy, but after a few adjustment she sounded so good, dark sounding strat but yet retain the twang sound. I really love the neck pick up position and the bridge pick up would scream,

What i dislike is it's pretty hard to get a pinch harmonic of out this guitar, I'm not quite sure if it's because my technician set the bridge to float or is it the pick up.

This guitar is VERY EASY to play, I play funk, soul, 80's metal and modern rock (weird ehh?) and this guitar is far easiest guitar I've played so far BUT you have to get this guitar set up by a professional only otherwise it will buzz as hell.

I guess my grand child will still be playing this baby in his last 40's and this baby would stay the same.

never deal with fender directly, all my strat were second handed and does come with any warranty

I would cry if it were stolen and I would swear to god i will hunt it back but i dont' think i'm gonna go buy another Lone star cause every guitar sounded different feel different so I not sure if i ever gonna find another strat that play like mine again.

97 lone star usa. candy apple red, w/22 fret maple neck, cream pearloid pickgaurd. duncan pearly gates humbucker. all the awesome lone star goodies.

very versitle sound you name it and you can find it. (with a little tweaking)I didnt care for the texas specials until I got the hang of them. In my opinion the pearly gates / texas special combo is a tough one to get used to. I found dropping the bass string side of the single coils right even with the pickgaurd and leaving the treble side high solved all my issues.

unbelievable action. the way this guitar feels is what made this the only keeper in my arsonal. The candy aple red is one of my favorite fender colors. Mine unfortunately had one blemish on the back Thanks to the previous owner.

Played live in dive bars weekly and still other than minor neck wear has no other evidence of the abuse I put it through. holds tune almost indefinately.

never needed any customer support

This guitar was stollen. but i stopped at nothing and actually got it back. (For every thief, there is at least one snitch) this gutar is a member of my family. I have been playng for 7 years. I have owned over 50 guitars. and this is the only keeper.

This guitar is one of the first built in 1995. It is a Olympic White with a tortoise shell pick guard Fender/Shaller tuners, 2 Texas Specials with Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker. The neck is a maple with a rosewood finger board and 22 frets.Built at the Corona Factory in California. It came with a nice tolex case. It has a five way switch with tone control for the rear pickup. Fender Wilkenson style trem bridge.

Well for those who are content with the sounds of the original pickups, all the power to yez. I pretty much bought the hype when these first came out. I found the Texas Specials to be extremely midrangy and muddy with my amps. I eventually had to replace the pickups with Lindy Frailin vintage hots. The Seymour Duncan Humbucker started to leak all of its pottting wax an began to unravel on me. The guitar sound fantastic now. I sold the original pickups to a friend of mine who installed them in a Mexican Strat. He loves them(to each his own).

I had originally wanted a Shoreline Gold color. However, they did'nt have one with a rosewood fingerboard. I settled for the Olympic white with tortoise pickguard because I liked the color combo. The feel of the original neck was pretty good. However, with in the year the finish began to crack and peel off. I could have lived with this problem but eventually, the neck began to delaminate and come apart. This is the only Fender guitar that I had so many problems with. Eventually I had to raise a stink with the Fender factory. I took it to the shop where I purchased the guitar from and even they said that the problems were extremely abnormal. Fender eventually made good on their end and sent the shop a new neck from the newer American models. It was even better than the original neck for comfort. This guitar has now become completely rebuilt. No original vintage value here for this axe, but it plays and sounds awesome now.

Aside from the previosly mentioned problems, I should now have this guitar for a long time. I have not had a repeat of the cracking and pealing of the finish. It has now been through some wear and tear, and is holding up fine. No guitar should not have a backup when gigging. That's asking for trouble.

At first, I would have giving Fender and "F" grade because they said the guitar was now longer under warranty. However, once they relized this guitar was a lemon, they stepped forward and corrected the problems and now I give the a grade "B".

I have been playing for over 30 years.I own and have owned dozens of guitars over the years. I like most Fender tube amps but I also like the Hughes & Kettner solid state amps. I think they have the best solid state tone. If I had to do it over again, I would have bought a standard american strat, either new or used and modified it to my own specifications. If you are pleased with the features and tone from this guitar, by all means go for it. I felt overall that the hype did not quite measure up to what was delivered. Be sure to play this guitar though you own amps before purchase. That way you will know for sure.

I purchased my Black US Fender Lonestar while living in Bermuda four years ago for $1100.00 US dollars. Yup, everything is more expensive in Bermuda.

It has a five way switch and I love the tone of the Seymore Duncan single position. However, I really did not like the Texas Specials so I took them out and replaced them with Seymore Duncans. One single in the center position which I can't remember what it is specifically. I believe that it is one of Duncans hot country Belly toned pickups. I put a Duncan Little 59'er in the neck position which gives a single or double. It wails. I play everything from Heavy rock to country. This is the most versitile guitar that I have ever owned. I use the Fender Cyber twin as my main amp. Also very versitile.

The factory setup was very impressive. The only flaw was that the neck bolts were a bit loose.

I use this guitar on all my live gigs. Ocassionally I will bring my 1980's Schecter Strat along but only if the gig is local as I don't like to fly with it.

Never had to use customer support.

I have been playing guitar for 25 years, own a recording studio (Lonestar wails in studio) and write for Capital Records. I would probably purchase another Lonestar if this one was stolen. However, the pickup upgrades did cost me quite a bit so I would be tempted to look for a guitar that had all Seymore Duncan's in it.

1997 Lonestar Strat bought brand new for $650 w/o case. Olympic White w/ red tortoise-shell pickguard. Duncan Pearly Gates Plus in Bridge + 2 Texas Specials. Lightweight alder body. Maple fingerboard.

Excellent vintage, woody tones from Texas Specials. Classic crunch from the humbucker. A little thin sounding for some genres. Had to have at least 10's for strings.

Fret edges were so sharp it impeded play. Lacquer peeled off fretboard in several spots in just 2 years. Fender wouldn't do anything about it. I traded it back to the dealer for a Natural Tele with the nice handrolled edges;haven't looked back since.

Had problems with the jack always loosening up. Already mentioned peeling fingerboard.

Least reliable Fender product I have ever owned. The newer ones are better. Also have a 91 Deluxe Strat Plus(reviewed here) that is rock solid.

This guitar was made in 96 or 97. I bought it off FEbay ( ebay ) with no pick ups or controls.Pickups are h/s I installed a EMG 81 in the lead and a blue lace sensor in the middle , I tried the lace sensor in the neck possition but it was VERY muddy. I wired it up to a three way switch, a volume and tone control. It was upgraded to a delux tremolo with the snap in arm. I like this but I need to put locking tuners on it or I cant use the trem. All of the other things are the same as other lonestar strats. It,s shoreline gold ????? LOOKS GREY OR SILVER TO ME!!! but I like it. It came in almost new condition with a like new case.

This has a LOT to do with pickups, your amp , ect.... If you play a 150$ guitar with a EMG 81 thru a Killer tube amp For bone crushing music it will work fine. If you plug a Les Paul custom or PRS or maybe a Fender Lonestar into a P.O.S. solid state amp it might not sound so good... well you get the picture.I have worked on pickup height a lot with this guitar and it sounds great for everything to southern rock to metal, But I change pickups like I change shoes or strings. This guitar sounds good unplugged and rings very nice on open chords notes ect..Since I put my on pickups in of course it sounds great.But I wish it had came with factory pickups, I have heard good things from others about them.

Well, since I got the guitar used but like new ,I will guess it was set up like I got it. With a little work it is the best playing strat I have ever played.The finish is good, the neck is tung oiled? not sure but it's fast and VERY COMFORTABLE.The only things I have found wronge is as mentioned in other reviews, the finish on the neck over the frets has came off like it was refretted but only on a few frets??? I'm pretty sure it has not been refretted. Locking tuners would have been a nice touch.Anyway all in all I like it.

It will take a beating,I have used it live, the hardware is sturdy enough and the finish seems like it will hold up. I think you could depend on it BUT in my humble opinion anyone who plays a show without a backup is a F***** IDIOT.I Saw a band last weekend in fact and the guitar player had no backup guitar and broke a string, so guess what an extra ten minute break while the band stood there and looked at each other and the singer tried to cover.Very unprofesional.Hell I have to take at least 5 since we use 3 different tunings and I like to have a backup for each guitar

Never delt with them.

I have played for 20+ years I have been lucky enough to have found some of the best guitars (for my taste)Les paul custom and classic a older explorer, a Kramer Nightswan, a washburn a 20 , USA ibanez custom shop, and 10 or so other guitars, AND THIS ONE STAND UP TO ALL OF THEM, it's a strat but one of the most deverse and easy playing strats around.If you Like strats but can't handle the thin sound This is your answer. For the money you will not find a better guitar.Locking tuners would have been cool.

This is a 97 made in the USA with all the same features of everybody else's. I enjoy the bright inside of the case. I mean, its a guitar.

It is a very bright, slightly noisy guitar, and the humbucker absolutely sucks. My favorite pickup is the neck one. I am using it for everything from jazz to funk to rock to blues, etc etc. It is pretty full bodied, but nothing really spectacular. I play it thorugh a deville 2x12, and occasionally use a small clone, delay, or a pod. It really isn't that good, sound wise.

It came in decent shape, but the bridge was a little bit off, and I have had to bring it in for repairs a couple of times.

The frets died on me. The guitar is now unplayable because of how much I wore down the frets. I don't play espescially hard, and I even have a second guitar that I use often. I would gig without a backup, but the guitar is almost nonfunctioning now. I don't think it would be unreasonable to ask for a guitar to last a little bit longer!

fender is a big corporation, booooo

I have been playing for 8 years and own a parker p-40, a fender deville amp, a bunch of the stuff mentioned earlier, and a lot of recording equipment. That is actually the main reason why I am writing this review. Due to the horrible intonation (I have gotten it set up multiple times), and the horrible fret buzz, the the overall thinness of the pickups, I cannot even record with it! It ruins recordings when I try. I think it is sad to see that a 450 dollar korean made guitar (the parker) is more reliable, versatile, and a better deal. I think that this is just another case of fender slapping their name on a product and assuming that people will fork over an enormous amount of money because of the headstock. Shame on you Fender!

mine is a 1997 black w/tortise pick guard and rosewood neck.

sounds great. The sound in position 2 and 4 are interesting because the space between pickups is different from a normal strat. The humbucker blennds well with the singles because it almost sounds like a single but with a little bit more balls. this is good for me because if you set the height correctly you can get an even balance in vol when switching p/u on a clean channel. The bucker has independant tone control (cool). It is NOT versitile if you want to play 20 different kinds of music. This is still a strat and unless you,re a strat lover (like me) dont waste you're time. It's not gonna sound like an LP or an SG or a PRS just because you see a bucker on it. I play blues and classic rock and the sound is perfect for me.

i bought it used and it was all messed up but i'm lucky enough that i repair and set up guitars for a living (besides giging) and i got it set up to my speks within an hour or so. I'm not a fan of the two point bridge because i block them and it easier to block the 6 screw bridge so what i did was put 5 high tension springs and tighten the claw all the way and flush the bridge to the body and readjust the action. perfect. the tight 5 string even give the guitar a natural reverbish tone. i liked it so much that i unblocked my other 6 screw strat and did the same thing. great tone volume and tuning stability. try it.

this guitar takes a beating and its still in tune at the end of the night. it will last long but then again, just about any american strat will so that aint saying much but i really do punish my guitars. Any repair i do myself so i guess it dont affect me as much as it might others but i recomend it and any other USA strat. but if you love strats you already know this and so i guess i can shut up.

i never had to deal with that but i hear the're ok

i've been playing professionaly (im not a rich famous guitar god but this is what i do for a living so i guess it my proffesion) for 18 years and i've owned i think 72 guitars since. i said before that i punish my guitars so i really never get to keep them for very long (after about 25 fret dressings) and i've had many many strats from japs and mex to 60's and 70's and all kinds of newer models. my current favorite guitar is actually a lower priced highway 1 that i put fender noiseless p/u and i love it. if you like strats buy one for the road because when that ugly paint dries and starts chipping (about 2 years of guitar abuse) thats when they start to sound really really GREAT. The lonestar is among the best strats i've ever had or played. REALLY! its not for everyone but its a good sounding one or maybee i just got lucky so dont burn me if yours sucks ok. i play through an old crybaby and two tubescreamers (a ts9 and an 808 for lead boost) and an original blues de ville 212 with jensen speakers. thats it. i record with a lot more gear but that depends on the client and their needs but my live set up is that simple. strats sound good like this but please try to get your own sound and dont try to be SRV or Clapton because the beauty of a strat is that it can really adapt to your own style and sound (if you have one) so.....the lone star is a bit expensive but it can do the job for a strat lover. very important though, if you love LPs and such, go read a LP review because the lonestar just aint for you.

In teoria dovrebbe trattarsi di una strato standard con pup's diversi,ma la realta e ben diversa.
Premetto che la mia e arrivata direttamente da Los Angeles ed e ovviamente una produzione destinata al mercato interno USA......
morale della favola la chitarra e in realta fatta con una cura superiore rispetto ai modelli che giungono da noi,suona molto MOLTO MEGLIO,la scelta dei legni e decisamente piu oculata ed il risultato finale si ripercuote in modo palese sul suono.
La chitarra mi e arrivata in un superbo hard case con chiavi e card,finitura sunburst superba manico e tastiera in acero (superbo anche lui) 2 pu texas special e al bridge un Duncan Pearly Gates.

Il suono che dire......
E' esattamente cio che ti aspetti da una Strato,oserei definirlo Strato al massimo della sua espressione.Gia,proprio quel suono alla Knopfler/Vaughan ,meraviglioso, tondo e cristallino, con in piu l'humb che gli conferisce ancora piu versatilita.
C'e poco da dire se non ami una chitarra simile non devi acquistare una strato perche non e la chitarra che fa per te.
Dicono che i Tex siano rumorosi...bah...francamente, forse sara la cura nell'assemblaggio,ma io li trovo pup stupendi e pochissimo rumorosi,e chiaro che se li compro per montarli su una koreana da 100 bucks il risultato magari sara pessimo,ma su questa bambina suonano divinamente...FOR US : It sound like God

Ottima,anzi fantastica.
La chitarra si lascia suonare con una facilita incredibile,e veramente morbidissima ed il manico puo piacerti tanto quanto un manico shred,io possiedo una Jem 7v e quindi puoi fidarti di quel che dico,anche se con un action un po alta la chitarra si lascia suonare divinamente.....FOR US : very very easy playable,even with action no too low,very great neck.

E' FENDER !!!!
Ne ho vista una un mese fa del 60' suonare in modo meraviglioso.

IT'S FENDER !!!!
THERE ARE strat 40 years old with a wonderful sound..
NO PROBLEM AT ALL!!!!

INUTILI !
UNNECESSARY !

Suono da una quindicina di anni,non sono un mostro di bravura ma riconosco una chitarra da una fetecchia,e questa ragazzi suona,Dio solo sa se suona.
Ci faccio di tutto con questa chitarra, dal pianobar alle serate estive,hard rock,blues,qualche volte metal,ed altre volte suono in una chiesa evangelica, mi piace tutta la musica e d'altronde non credo esistano molti modi per suonare la chitarra,ne esiste uno solo,SUONARLA BENE! Chitarristi come il grandissimo Portera ci insegnano che si puo esprimere il proprio "chitarrismo" anche facendo musica leggera.
In definitiva se siete in cerca di una super strato, acquistatela senza paura.
L'unico appunto che faccio riguarda la provenienza della chitarra.
Non ho provato altre Lonestar se non questa e non vorrei che la F. producesse per il mercato interno chitarre superiori rispetto allo standard da esportare,la qualita dei legni della mia NON E' QUELLA DELLA STANDARD,i legni sono molto piu belli e l'elettronica e molto curata,non vorrei dare adito a leggende metropolitane,magari il mio e solo culo,pero e meglio essere precisi per dovere di cronaca.
Credo che mi ci seppeliranno con la mia Lonestar...doh!
E questo e tutto...PEACE & LOVE

PS. Se ne cercate una direttamente dagli usa ditemelo che il mio amico e sempre disponibile

'97 U.S. Lone Star Strat, all stock (see other reviews for list of features).

I used to not like the Texas Specials (neck & mid) and was about to replace them with Fat 50's. However, after lowering the height of the pick-ps, I am very impressed with the sound. They have a nice dark Strat sound. By lowering the pick-ups, I was able to eliminate the mid-range spike that turned me off from them, but it sounds sweeter now. There may be some reduction of output from the pick-ups being further away from the strings, but the sound is so much better now. A very versatile Strat that can cover a variety of musical styles. The humbucker is o.k. for some metal, but the Lone Star is not really a Strat for true metal purists. It's great for blues and rock.

The guitar is flawless. No hardware problems or other issues here.

The guitar was built to excellent standards. I am not rough with my gear, but Fender's will stand up to a good bit of abuse. I've had the guiatr for seve years and it's in near mint condition.

N/A

I have grown to love this Strat. While I still prefer my American Standard Strat, this Lone Star is an excellent guitar. The secret is in the adjustment of the pick-up heights. That illustrates one of the nice things about Fender guitars; they can be easily adjusted to your liking. Unfortunately, Fender no longer makes this guitar as well as the updated Fat Strat Texas Special (same guitar). If it were stolen I would be pretty upset, but it would definateley be repalced.

My Lonestar Strat came to me through a co-worker. He bought it in New York, for too much money, and wanted to learn how to play. Fortunately for me, he never did and offered it to me, along with a Line 6 Spider amp, for $400!!!! Got lucky on this deal, so needless to say I took it home that night and met him later and forked over the money without a second thought.

It is the 3-tone sunburst with tortise shell pickgaurd and maple fretboard. As you probably know, it has 2 Texas specials (neck & mid) and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates (in the bridge). 22 medium jumbo frets, typical Start volume and tone pot configuration. I love this guitar!!!

I play a heavy sort of Blues Rock, along the lines of Cream, early Led Zep, Robin Trower, Rory Gallgher, Jimi Hendrix, SRV, etc. This guitar seems to fill my tonal needs very well. I am a plug in and play type of player and don't rely on too many effects. I am a die hard tube amp player, although I have played a couple digital amps that impressed me....BUT...I go back to the tubes time and time again. I plug into my GA-15RV Gibson Goldtone (class A at it's best) and link over to a customized Fender Blues JR. I use ONLY JJ Electronic tubes from Bob at Eurotubes. He supplies me with the best sounding tubes for my playing style every time I order from him. These tubes make a big difference in tonal quality. Give Bob a call or log onto www.eurotubes.com and send him an e-mail as to what you want out of your amp(s). He knows his stuff folks!!!

Note, as I said, I am a plug in and play kinda guy; but I do use a Morley Super Pro wah, and occasionally, a chorus pedal. Couldn't live without my wah wah!!!! The Morley is okay; but I will be getting a Vox wah soon as I like it's tonal sweep better than my Morley.

I have no problems nailing some Jimi and SRV tones through this guitar/amp set-up. Ironically, I seem to get some good old early ZZ Top Billy Gibbons sounds as well. I say ironically because the Rev. Billy G. usually, or always?, used Gibsons through Fender Tweeds in the early days. I may be wrong there; but I think that's what I read in Guitar Player Mag. years ago. Nevertheless, the SD Peaqrly Gates, as well as combining the neck and middle Texas Specials give me that old Tres Hombres tones that I live for!

I immediately changed over to SIT .10-.46's, re-set the intonation perfectly and jammed the next night with it in a local blues club. I have been satisfied with the pickup heights thus far. Fit and finish seemed very good, considering I bought it used. Neck and frets felt good with no sharp fret edges...they were dressed very well from the factory. This guitar stays in tune very well, even when dropping the hammer on the tremelo, which I rarely use. I will probably change over to Sperzel Locking tuners just because I prefer them.

Man, I have had at least 10 Strats over the years and currently have this one and another American Series, as well as an original 52 Tele, an American Deluxe Tele, and a US Hwy. 1 Tele. All I can say is if it was made in America, it will probably serve you well for many, many years! Unless you do some old Pete Townsend or Jimi guitar bashing...LOL! My 52 Tele sounds as good today as it did in 1976 when I bought it.

I cannot give a rating here because I have never had to deal with Fender on warranty issues. Never had a problem with their equipment during the 5 year warranty period they offer. Plus, I'm a take a part and fix it myself player.

I have been playing for 34 years now. I know good equipment and have always bought American, other than a Mex Strat I bought for my son. Other than the above mentioned Fenders I own, I have an original 57 Goldtop Les Paul, a mid 80's SG, an ES-135 Limited Edition w/ Classic 57's, a Reverend Rocco, a Rickenbacker 620-12 string, and a 1976 Martin HD-28 acoustic flat top.
If my Lonestar were stolen, I'd be fighting mad and would fork out the money for a new Texas Special Fat Strat, which took over for the Lonestar. I can't think of anything this guitar needs to suit my playing style. As much as I love my Gibsons, I always come back to the Fenders for the pure-blooded blues sounds I crave. But....and a BIG BUT, I must admit I have never played a guitar that sounds as good overall as my 57 Goldtop Les Paul for Cream and early Led Zep sounds.

Made in 1999 (I think) in the USA
22 frets, maple neck, candy apple red finish
5 way selector with the stock s/s/h Texas special Seymour Duncan humbucker
came with case (a Fender and a damned good one)

I play rock and blues through a Mesa Boogie DC-5
Effects? with that amp...no
it's not noisy at all
Lots of bottom particularly through the humbucker and the Boogie
I haven't had it that long (six months)
I love the feel of it...very easy to play

I did switch to John Pearse 10-46 electric strings from the get-go, set it up in about 10 minutes (intonation and all) and despite temperature changes between 0 F. and 75 F., haven't had to change a damned thing.
It stays in tune beautifully
It's very well built without any flaws that I can see...a good-looking and good sounding instrument

All I can say about it is that it looks good, feels solid, nothing rattles or wiggles that shouldn't.
I've only played a couple of dances with it and didn't have any problems...

I haven't had to deal with Fender for tech stuff...I have had two Strats and they've both been great instruments

I've been playing over 20 years
If it were stolen or lost, I would be a very nasty person. If that didn't work, I'd certainly buy another one...great instrument
I don't hate anything about it. That neck, the durability and the sound make me a happy guy.
It's the best instrument I've ever owned (a couple of Les Pauls, a Tele, another Strat were the ones worth mentioning)
All in all, it's a lovely guitar...I wonder why they stopped making it...I'm sure it wasn't a technical flaw. Maybe it's because they have about a zillion other models...they can't make guitars much better so they diversified.

Just kidding. It's a Strat, what do you expect? A straight-forward, no-frills design that has everything you need and nothing you don't.

Not the ultimate machine for shredheads, but handles most styles pretty well. I don't know if my particular example is atypical or what, but I don't hear what some others have described. The Texas Specials, far from sounding "dark" or muddy, seem to me to actually be a bit brighter than standard Strat pickups, and the Duncan humbucker, even when played squeaky clean, is very smooth and rich, not "screechy" at all. Overall, I haven't heard Strat tones like this coming out of my amp since I foolishly sold my candy apple red '65 back in '88. Guess it all depends on what you plug it into. And your playing style, of course. <G>

It's an American Strat. 'Nuff said. Mine's a 1996 model in teal green metallic with rosewood fretboard, and it's flawless. I'm not wild about the mother-of-toilet seat pickguard (too "country" for my taste), but twenty bucks, ten minutes and a screwdriver will fix that.

Typical Fender. Built to last.

Chez watt?!?!? Customer support for a Fender? These things last forever. I've seen 40 year old Fenders that were still perfectly playable. And besides, I can handle that stuff myself, thank you very much. :-)

I've been on the planet for almost 51 years, and have been playing for nearly 40 of them. I've owned a good many guitars in that time, including Washburn, Jackson, Kramer, etc. along with the obligatory Gibsons, but I always seem to come back to Fender. This one was really in rather sorry shape when I got it. My friend had given it to his son, who proceded to leave it sitting out of the case in a damp basement for a couple of years. It was filthy, the strings were totally rusted, and the neck was rather badly bowed. I put new strings on it, managed to get the neck straightened out and, much to my surprise, when I cleaned all the grunge and gunk off of it, it turned out to be in nearly new condition. All in all, not bad for free. <G>

I bought this in 2000, built in Corona California. It's got a beautiful Candy Apple Red finish and a white perloid pick gaurd. Nothing different about the configurations. I love the Duncans. I would never buy a strat without humbuckers. The Duncans get rid of that strat "buzz".

You can get a fat sound from the humbuckers, or draw in some nice blues tones with the old single coils. You get a very nice crunch out of the humbuckers, so it adds a nice edge to your sound. Only problem is there are a lot of strange spots on the guitar. For example, on the 16 frett of my a string i get a very strange vibrato like sound. Other than that you can get all the strat sounds with the extra humbucker crunch.

The screws were a little too tight when I bought it. I've noticed fenders tend to have that from the factory. Everything else was sturdy and has held up nicely. Have had no trouble with the pickup placement. Although there is a connection problem when putting the pickup selector to the middle. I get no sound out of the guitar, unless i fiddle with it a little. That is very annoying. The intonation had to be adjusted but other than that it's same old fender.

The guitar has held up very well over the years. The frets need polisihing but that's about it. The finish still sparkles after a fresh polish. Nothing has come loose, or rattles. Perfectly fit for live play.

I have dealt with fender, though not for my strat, but my amp. The service i got was an 11. They were very friendly and got my problem fixed fast. It was a warranty problem and the service shop was trying to screw me. Fender faxed them a copy of the warranty and dealt with them. Only dealt with them once, but it was about as good as it gets.

I've been playing about 4 years, and this was my first guitar. It has been everything i needed thus far. I don't think I'd ever buy another new fender. I'm sure i'll have this guitar my whole life. For a fender made past the 70's I think it's much above average. I chose this fender for the sole reason of it's humbuckers. Although, the beautiful finish added to the purchase.

Read the other reviews for the features. Mine is a '96, first year made, black with a maple neck. Neck is super fast, got it used from Elderly Music in Lansing Michigan, nice folks to do business with. Neck has nice toner on it, vintagey looking, frets nicely dressed, came w/OHSC (black tolex, COOL) and a nice black leather strap (bonus on a used guitar). Setup was OK for someone else (9s, action too low, etc.) All that was fixed (by me) easily. If you don't know how to set up your own electric guitar LEARN! There are numerous books (Dan Erlewine has a good one), articles and web info on the subject. Now if you have a fine acoustic that needs a neck reset, by all means take it to a good repairman. If your electric needs a refret, ditto. But to do a setup? It's not rocket science, if you take your guitar to a repairman to have it setup you are merely proclaiming your total patheticness to an uncaring world. Please.

For me, great. Mine is all stock, I love the texas specials and the pearly gates. I play it straight into a '93 Fender Pro 185. Sounds super, I play through the clean channel at a goodly volume, mostly rhythm for a praise and worship band. I like Eric Johnson's (as well as Jimi's and Stevie's) clean strat rhythm tones and this setup gives me that sound. I'm not a tube snob. I'm over that. I've owned a '60 Fender Showman, a '56 Fender Deluxe and 1 '71 Marshall 100 watt. I bought them all a long time ago when such things were affordable and have since sold them for food and drugs and family responsibilities. My Pro 185 is solid and reliable and never needs tubes and sounds great. I did have to raise the pickups on the strat for my sound. There are factory specs on strat pickup height all over the web but the bottom line is what sounds good to you. It takes a phillips screwdriver, your guitar and your amp and your ears, NOT a guitar repairman. Please.

Well I didn't expect the guitar to be set up perfectly for me so I wasn't disapointed. All materials and hardware are first class and everything was properly adjustable. Nut was cut a bit deep for me so rather than going for a new nut I filled in the low cuts a bit with a mixture of bone dust and super glue. That's a trick I learned from Dan Erlewine's book which I picked up at the local library. A somewhat tricky operation but well within the capabilities of the avg non retard. Take your time and think. Please.

Of course it'll withstand live playing, what kind of retard question is that? It's a USA Fender strat. It's my only electric, I'm a working stiff. Please.

No experience.

I'm 52, I've owned a boatload of stuff, who cares? This is a great guitar for me, might be for you, dunno. Please.

This is a 97 bought used for $700 with HSC. You know the hardware, so I'll skip all that. This one has the three tone suburst and a tortise shell pickguard. You know the features, already: 2 single coil texas specials and 1 pearly gates humbucker and standard strat controls.

I mostly play Gibson Les Pauls and historically have played for 10-15 years the type of music that is now being called "pop punk." Greenday, Pennywise, Offspring type bands were actually around before blink 182 (who I do like, though) and other modern day "pop punk" bands that get so much crap now. I have owned a wide variety of guitars and now own everything from Gibson Les pauls to Jackson dinkys to martin acoustics. I play through a marshall and through a class A tube amp. I like to think I have a lot of tone experience. Anyway, this guitar offers a very wide variety of tones that you can dial in during live situations with ease just by switching pickups and rolling up and down the volume pot--I have the humbucker cranked up really high and use it for good crunchy rocknroll rhythm playing. The neck humbucker I have cranked up medium high and it is good for singing lead & SRV type tones (I believe this is the pickup that SRV used and nails that tone for blues). The middle pickup I have cranked down low and roll off the volume and play clean tones with it. I use the in between bridge and middle for a hum-cancelling sound that is a little thicker for clean tones with a little more depth. In spite of the humbucker, this guitar does not sound anything like a Les Paul, which I guess is a good thing because it is a strat and should sound like a strat--which it does. The only negative tonally I would add is that this guitar does not do pure, clean, shimmery fender-type tones with the texas single coils quite as well as regular strat pickups--they have too much bite and treble. If you lower them down and roll the treble down quite a bit on the guitar and the amp, you still get a really good clean tone, but really not as good as a regular strat--again, not what this guitar was intended for, but not perfect strat versatility, either.

I bought it used and the setup was horrid--but I bought it from someone who clearly didn't know how to play and who knows what he tried to do to it. After spending $50 for a full setup this thing plays really well. The finish is really sharp on the body, although the finish on the neck is starting to chip away slowly around the frets--this kind of just happens over time on these and adds to the vintage look, IMO

Fine to gig with--I try to bring a backup anyway. hardware is solid, high quality guitar all around. See my comment above though re neck finish.

never tried

If I were looking for a hard rockin, blues playing strat, this is the one.

It's made in 1997 USA, stood 1 or 2 years in the guitar shop and then in 1998 I bought it, Its finish is sunburst with the special pickguard, 2 texas special SCs and 1 perly gates HB. Normal Tuners, STandard Bridge, comes with black case ...

PERFEKT! it's THE guitar for me. I play mostly rock, blues, soul, jazz funk, and you can fit all. The texas special SCs are good for funk, jazz, soul etc. and the perly gates HB on the bridge position kicks ass for rock, hard rock, etc. ...
I use it with a Fender Hot rod deluxe and a marshall drive master.
The sound of the HB ist not as dark as that of my les paul (gibson), but a bit more agressiv and with more power ...

unfortunately, the action wasn't set up very well and now, after 5 years, i didn't have it set-up well because of my own lazyness, but the next months i will do that.

But on the otherside, it was flawless, very well finished, and everything is fine!

it WILL and DOES withstand live playing ... i play every gig since 1998 with it and it went through hell but still does its job perfectly.

I normally play with a backup guitar because strings can always brake. But the guitar itself would never give up!

never dealt with them

I own 4 Electric guitars, but I like this one best. The only bad thing is the action which wasn't perfect, but except from that, all the other things are excellent!

I love the beautiful Neck, the color of the wood, that there are no sharp edges because everything was rounded, the sweet tase of the wood.

I's a real working machine!!!

I recently acquired a used a "Lonestar" Strat. I also own a 2001 American Series Strat, which I will use as a point of comparison. The sound of the Texas special pickups seem like they have a "Mid" boost to them. I'm not sure if they have that much more output of regular Strat Std. pickups, but these have a certain edge and bite to them that focuses in the mid area. The tone of the Lone star is much more round, fuller sounder with a bit more depth to it than a regualr Strat. However, the down side to that is it lacks the clarity, snap, a bit of the sparkle of an American series strat. These diffs, can be heard clearly thru clean and overdriven channels.

Overall a solid guitar. If you want to move away from the classic fender strat sound and go with something a bit more beefier and fuller sounding (but at the cost of clarity and sparkle), check out the Lonestar. I find the SD PG Bridge pickup is a nice touch as it sounds much more deeper than the bridge pup of a std. Strat - which can sound thin, brittle, and ice picky at times (unless you swap it with a Fralin hot vintage or a SD stacked bucker:).

My Lonestar has a maple neck, alder body, Amd. Strat style bridge, medium-jumbo frets, Fender/Schaller Tuners, 2 Texas Special pickups (as found on the SRV signature) and a custom SD Pearly Gates on the bridge/lead- by the way this Pearly Gates is not the same as the one you can buy directly from Seymour Duncan, the Lonestar has custom wound Pearly Gates made especially for Fender which differs from the retail version.

I play mostly blues/jazz/and some rock. My main amp is an all tube 30 watt. I really like my Lonestar b/c it has a unique tone, the mid and neck pickups can be very punchy and aggressive ala - SRV when you have the tone knob dialed to 10 (pickup-selector position 4 and 5). When you roll off the tone knob, it soothes it down for a more subtle sound. The mid/neck texas special pickups handle overdriven tube distortion very nicely and articulate well. On clean channel, they are very bell-like and chime nicely with a round, full sound. When you roll of the tone you get a more balanced, calmer sound. I find these pickups to be very versatile.

The SD Pearly Gates has nice output and distorts extremely well. What I like best about it is that it sounds nothing like a single coil, so it adds an extra dimension to the Strat. With the tone up you get a sharp Texas-style biting sound and when you roll the tone down to around 3-4 it gets nice and warm and smooth (selector position 1).

Pickup position 2 (1 bridge coil + mid) gives a great twangy sound for country-picking techniques and position 3 (mid pickup only) gives a good rhythm sound that sounds much more passive than any other position.

Overall it is an extremely versatile guitar sonically and its an excellent match for someone who has good chops and a good ear. I find it responds well to volume/tone adjustments which is awesome b/c it gives you so much more control over your range of sounds.

I have read earlier reviews saying it sounds "too trebly/sharp" or "lacks the classic strat snap". Well, if you have a good tube amp, and you know how to use volume/tone/EQ knobs to shape sound & tone, and you have decent chops...you can ignore those comments:)

A little buzzing on the frets but nothing that I couldn't fix...overall very good quality.

Solid built guitar, I've had no problems yet.

N/A

The Lonestar is a great axe that's really versatile and has a strong voice to it. It encompasses the classic Strat sound and then some! I wouldn't advise beginners to get this guitar b/c it takes a good amp/chops/ear to make it shine. But thats the great thing about it b/c it separates the men from the boys right?

American Std. body w/Maple Fretboard. 2 "Texas Special" Pickups and 1 SD "Pearly Gates"...The rest of the features have been covered extensively (see below).

First of all the 2 Texas Specials are extremely punchy and piercing and they sound great thru my 30W all tube-combo boosted with a TS9 tube screamer and .10 GHS Nickel Rockers. This guitar is suited for blues and jazz players...rock players should give it a cautious test drive and metalheads should stay away. The Pearly Gates are a nice addition as it adds another dimension to the guitar. The key to this guitar is knowing how to control the TONE knobs. If you want a smooth sound you can roll off the treble and lower the volume a bit or if you want piercing sounds (ala SRV) crank the tone and vol. You definitely want to play this guitar thru a nice TUBE AMP. Very bright clean tones and an overall UNIQUE sounding guitar. BUT the pickups tend to be EXTREMELY noisy - so if you are very anal about that then oh well - that's the price that must be paid for tone :P

Fender Quality as usual. MADE IN AMERICA

I've had this guitar for about 6 years and I havent even needed to adjust the truss rod yet...by the way I've changed string guages about 20 times so far:)

In MY opinion I've had a great experience with this guitar and it sounds terrific to me - very lively and wild. Great clean tones. IF you have BAD CHOPS then stay away from this guitar b/c it will leave you with no place to hide!

IMPORTANT: Take all opinions with a grain of salt b/c in my 10 years of dealing with musicians/guitar techs/music store people I've realized that they are not the most intelligent ppl on earth - hey I consider myself half-retarded:) GO to the music store and TRY IT OUT! PLAY IT YOURSELF! TONE IS VERY SUBJECTIVE! See if YOU like it and don't rely on others to hear for you.

By the way for those of you who make comparisons btw the Strat and Les Paul...you should all burn in guitar hell. A STRAT will always be a STRAT and a LES PAUL will always be a LES PAUL! That's a FACT. Get both slappy slappy ding-dong.

Just want to clarify that the Lone Star or currently known as Fat Strat Texas Special is a versatile guitar that can nail a Les Paul and a Strat at the same time. This Fat Strat can sound more like a Les Paul than current production Les Pauls.

The Pearly Gates Plus is NOT a bright pickup like many reviewers claim in this page. The flathead screwdriver was invented long time ago and it is used to adjust polepieces to tailor the sound of your guitar.

The problem with guitar players is that either they are scared or lazy to play around with pickup heights and action of guitars let alone experimenting with amp tone controls. Come on guys, you bought it and it is yours. Break the guitar if you want to, but please do some adjustments. It is like adding salt to fine entree to suit your taste.

One thing for sure - if you use the Pearly Gates with solid state amps then it is nail-across-the-chalkboard time. They were designed to be appreciated thru a tube amp and thru a tube amp the Fat Strat Pearly Gates Plus sound warm, smooth, buttery, like a moist banana chiffon cake.

Mine is a 1999 Lone Star. Maple neck, 24 fret, absolutely gorgeous darling Shoreline Gold. Think the body is ash or alder. Medium-weight, perfect. The guitar of course came with the SD Pearly Gates 'bucker in the bridge, and the Texas Special single coils elsewhere. Came with absolutely drop-dead cool flaming orange lined hard Fender case. Nice touch.

I made significant mods to this guitar to customize it for my needs. I play in a very contemporary church worship service, everything from hard rock to country, so needed a versatile guitar. 1) Wasn't fond of the full-size 'bucker in the bridge position, and wasn't overly fond of the sound of the Pearly Gates. Seemed very bright and trebly...almost like a louder single coil. Replaced with Seymour Duncan Li'l 59 single-coil sized 'bucker (changed pickguard, obviously). 2) Replaced tremolo unit with LR Baggs X-Bridge piezo-acoustic unit. In this configuration, the jack becomes a stereo jack (can go to two separate destinations, i.e. pickups to amp, Baggs bridge to soundboard). 3) Replaced stock tuners with Sperzel locking tuners.

Like I said, I just wasn't fond of the Pearly Gates...very bright and piercing to my ears. For what I play, the Li'l 59 is perfect to be able to go to for hard rock stuff. In position 2, it splits that coil and joins with the middle Texas Special for that love-it-or-hate it (I love it) quack sound. This is really like having two guitars. People who review this guitar and say that the Pearly Gates allows you to "sound like a Les Paul" are smoking something...I have a Les Paul Goldtop, and the Strat will never, can never sound like that...and that's okay. It "approximates" that idea, but really doesn't come close. Your audience doesn't know that anyway, so who cares? We do, right?

One note: if you're thinking about doing this operation, and thinking that the position 2 will still be dead quiet, it may not because the replacement bridge 'bucker has to be built a certain way for that to happen...I'm not a techno-geek, but I called S.D. and asked (when I was shocked to find after the replacement, I had noise in that position) and they said I'd have to send the Lil 59 to them to reverse the polarity or something like that. I live with the noise.

I hear a lot of controversy about these Texas Specials...I think descriptions of "rude" and "twangy" are accurate...they have their own sound, and I've grown to like it. Very bright and very sparkly, they make you work for the love. Not to sound like every other guitar geek, but you really can cop some pretty close SRV tones...if only we could play like him. But if you like that sound, the Texas Specials in this guitar will do that. I love position 4 out of phase also. I have come close to replacing these pickups, and held back every time...I think I would miss them.

I do a lot of volume-pot manipulating to change the amount of overdrive, and this works very well on this guitar. I use a POD, usually on the Brit Hi Gain setting, with the drive set at about noon. With the Strat volume on 9 or 10, I can get a very big hi gain sound, good for hard rock stuff. Backing off to 6 or 7 cleans it up quite nicely, for punchy, bubbly clean tones.

Quick note on X-bridge: I don't use this all the time, only when I find myself without time to switch between electric and acoustic guitar. It sounds very convincing through a Tech21 Sansamp Acoustic DI, but when you start strumming hard, the fret buzz kills the "natural" acoustic tone. It's pretty cool. The design of the X-Bridge is nice, too. The tremolo arm slides in (don't know why all Strats don't have this...come on, Fender! Feel free to modernize some things on the old design!) and the tension is adjustable so it can swing free or stay right where you want it. I have mine set up for slight float, and use this quite often...it's become part of my style on mellow songs, quite lovely. Stays in tune fine, but I don't dive-bomb. The locking tuners helped this, too.

The guitar came with 9's, I used 10's for quite a while, tried 11's, and remembered how lovely the tremolo was with 9's, very easy and floaty, so I'm back with those. I have to be honest here: I hear a lot of guys talk about how much their "tone" improved with 10's and 11's...I don't hear a bit of difference. I think this is an issue you have to settle with yourself. String gauge for me is mostly about "feel", not tone. On my Les Paul, I like to fight the strings and bang them a little harder. On the Strat, I tend to play with a lighter touch, and the lighter strings just seem to make it easier to play.

Love the feel of the neck. The guitar is made very well, I think. Feels very solid. Finish is thick, doesn't chip easily. I like the classic Fender logo on the headstock, and the satiny finish on the neck. My guitar does not have the "swimming pool" rout under the pickguard like I've seen some guys mention. Mine has the classic three-pickup rout. Hardware and pots, switches have held up fine under weekly use.

See above.

Never used.

I love this guitar. I suffer from serious gas...have owned over 30 guitars in 15 years...I have been trading less and less the last couple years. I have owned a Strat Plus with Lace Sensors, a Mexi-Strat with Rio Grande pickups, and a Japanese Strat. This is my 4th and last one, and my absolute favorite, in sound and feel, of all of these. I have come close to trading/selling it twice (in fact had it on Ebay a couple months ago for exactly one day, and pulled it off after looking at the pictures I took and posted with the auction!!!). I have decided I will always want a Strat. My only other electrics are a Danelectro DC reissue (fantastic value, awesome unique tone) and a Gibson Les Paul Standard Goldtop. I'm down to the basics, and if I had to lose either the Gibson or this Fender, the Gibson would probably go, due to the Fender's versatility.

I think basically everybody else cover it in this area. Mine is a 97 50th anniversery model. I bought it off of ebay. One thing I noticed is that it seems that you can't just get the middle pickup by itself. Instead it sound like an inbetween sound of a traditional strat which is good because i don't usually use the middle pickup by itself anyhow. Other than that, this is the most versatile guitar on the market.

Well i guess my musical style is undefinable. I love to play lead and pretty much any genre of music with the exception of most country. I didn't like the sound of the texas specials so i changed them out for fender fat 50's and i can honestly say that is the best sounding strat i have ever played. I am not an immitator of sound but i do appreciate and recognize and i must say i really dig the sound of the humbucker on overdrive or anything heavier. It has a really smooth sound and in combo with the fat 50's this guitar rivals my prs custom 22 as my favorite guitar. Really an awesome guitar, but i just didn't dig the texas specials even though they weren't bad they just were too mid rangy and muddy for my tastes. Before the pickup change i would give it an 8 but after a definite 10.

I picked this particular guitar because of its sweet looking tabacco sunburst finish. The action was pretty crappy when i got it, and the tremelo is still a little loose for my taste but overall it keeps its tune, has a wonderful neck and plays fast and smooth.

Well i bought this thing used and i don't have any troubles with it. It was made in the U.S.A. so i don't expect any major problems in this area.

I do wish they would have individually drilled for the pickups to allow the guitar to resonate a little better. But to tell you the truth i probably wouldn't be able to hear the difference anyhow. This is a great guitar and able cover any set out there along side the right amp and/or effects. And at the price i got it, i don't think it could be beat. Maybe by a G&L but those are hard to find with one humbucker and two singles.

'97 USA Lone Star Strat.
Bought used from a "Swap/Consignment Shop" in San Jose, Ca., for $500+ tx, w Fender deluxe form fit and strap.
Two Texas Special single coils (humbucking when combined, upper tone pot affects both)
SD Pearly Gates Plus (alnico V polepieces vs II on regular Pearly Gates) Fender/Seymour Duncan collaboration (I assume F spacing) humbucker in bridge pos, with it's own tone pot (lower pot).

Rosewood board; 22 medium frets.
Schaller/Fender sealed machines, Am std trem.
Shoreline Gold paint (metallic biege) on alder body.

Typical Fender Strat with a bit more sack.

Versatile general Fender sounds. Nice that the bridge pu is fat and can roll off highs with its own pot.
Not "fragile" Strat sounds, a bit beefier.
Thin bridge Strat sound has been taken care of by humbucker and tone pot.
Texas Specials a bit hotter than "normal" or "vintage" Strat single coils, but still chime some. Blend good with Bridge humbucker (middle only).
When blended with bridge pu, the lower tone pot doesn't affect it that I can hear, but the middle pot does the job then.

Good for Rock and Blues, Country, even Jazz.
I endosre Tech 21 amps. I also have a Frontline Reverb for home. practice.

Typical Fender US fit and finish (which is to say good, in my book)
I blocked the trem, which helped the sustain some, though it was OK to begin with. It doesn't sustain like a Les Paul, and it's got more twang than a LP, but it has enough for me.
The rolled edge seems OK. Maple examples seem more rolled to me (this one is rosewood). No big. It's fine as is.

Typical Fender maple bolt-neck rugged. No worries.
Electrical controls seem good and work/sound smooth.
StrapLoks (Schaller) included.
Form Fit Fender Deluxe case is plenty protective for ground travel, but I wouldn't fly commercial airliners with it underneath (baggage handlers are mal-contents, wouldn't you be, at their pay?).
It's a dependable guitar for jobs. I personally usually keep a spare handy, but not always.

N/A

Bought used.

I do my own work, setups, repairs, whatever.

New Fenders have limited lifetime warranties. I don't sweat it with bolt-neck solidbodies with decent OEM parts like this guitar.

I'd replace it in kind, maybe w maple neck (I prefer), but used ones you get what you get.
The current Fender model is the Hot rodded American Fat series, I think. 'Bout the same but maybe pearl dots, H/S/H routing (don't know what this one has for routing, and don't care: swimming pool rout would be OK with me, I don't think it matters).
I've played guitar for 40 years, all style.

This '97 U.S. features an alder body with ash veneers on the top and back, Fender/Schaller tuning machines, American Standard Hardware, a faux-tortoise shell pick guard, a beautiful 3-color sunburst, and a maple neck with a rose wood finger board. Electronics included are two Texas-Special single coils, a Pearly Gates humbucker (Seymour Duncan), and a 5-way pickup selector. This is basicaly a hot rodded version of the American Standard Strat.

Let me say that if you are looking for a traditional Strat sound, this guitar is not the way to go. The Texas Specials are very mid-rangey and don't have the "spank" that a Strat is known for. Don't get me wrong, I do like the way the guitar sounds but just keep in mind that it is "different" than your typical Strat tone. You will either love it or hate it. The Texas Specials and the humbucker makes this guitar better suited for light to mederate overdrive although the humbucker does come in handy for heavier rock styles. The clean tone is not as nice IMO as an American Standard, but it is decent. Overall I would say that this is a very versatile guitar

The guitar feels great. I love the 9.5" radius of the American Standard neck. I have adjusted the guitar to accomodate my playing style. I use GHS Boomers guaged 11-50, tuned down a half step. The guitar is flawless, construction and workmanship are excellent. The controls and hardware feel nice and smooth, no complaints here.

I don't abuse my guitars, but this Strat seems like it's built well enough to withstand some punishment. I don't forsee any reliability issues with the Lone Star and it can definately stand up to lots and lots of playing. I would gig without a backup if not for the fact that I break E and B strings alot (looks like Graphtech saddles are in my futre). I have an oler American Standard Strat that is still in great shape and I expect to have a similar experience with the Lone Star as time goes by.

Never had to deal with them.

I have been playing for 20 years, but have not owned alot of guitars during that time. This is the second Fender Strat that I have owned and I don't regret spending my hard earned money on it. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it in a heart beat. I think that the Texas Specials are good pickups as long as you know that it's not going to sound like a pristine vintage Strat. I chose the Lone Star becaus I wanted to have another Strat, but with a different personality than the American Standard. This guitar delivers the goods and adds a little variety to my small arsenal.

I mean its the usual fender setup. The pickups are amazing even though I onlyt really use the humbucker. But besides that their is nothing out of the ordinary

The perfect guitar! It truely has the perfect soun ive played 100s of guitars and nothing can even compare to this. The palm muting is incredible. I mean i use really big strings, 12 gauge, so that does help the tone i think alot but the sound is beyond belief.

When i first played it at teh store it the action was ok i mean the brige was raised though. Then i got it fixed and now its incredible and i havent had to adjust it once. The only reason its not a 10 cuz i have played a few guitars wit slightly better action.

It has great durability that guitar has been dropped, thrown, dragged, strached, punched basically everything except me smashing it like the who or nirvana if u get me. But it still stays in tune the whole time and still looks great. Actually the pick guard turned a yelowish color but i dont really care about that.

n/a

AMAZING!

go to fender.com , hot rotted american serie .
Mine is three color sunburst.

I give only six point , because she's less effective than my ESP H301 or Ibanez JS-1.After all , it's normal , ESP and Ibanez are from the 90s , the stratocaster from the 60s.

I'm using it with a Peavey Bandit 112 , and a Boss GT2 with some others boss distortion (DS2 , OD2 ,...).

And all I can say is FUCK !
That sounds really reallly good!
Texas specials deliver you a true vintage sound(think of stevie ray vaughan , and Hendrix).And the SD is is is...my english is not rich enought but he is so great...A push/pull ar push/push would be welcomed.

The strings were a little to high for me ,
and the guitar , it don't know how you say that , the strings maked a kind a vibration before i fixed it.

it's a strat , it's fender , a you know what it means.

I dealt with a Fender autorized shop.
Excellent at all. LIFE WARRANTY !!!(I use it often )

I started playing in 1997.
This guitar is less modern than my JS1 for example.It means that if I wanna play some Satriani or metal things(which you need to go to the higher frets) it's harder to do it with the strat.
But if you want the true vintage sound , that when your are playing you feel it into you soul , this is your guitar!
If she was stolen , I would buy another immediatly , this guitar has THE sound , try it , you will understand

Two texas special single coils, one seymour duncan pearly gates plus humbucker at the bridge, and the rest of the usual strat stuff. (Bolt on neck, 5-way switch, etc.) Mine had a maple fretboard. Much better sound (in my opinion) than the average strat, due to these nice pickups.

Great for that Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" type of sound. Works great for blues soloing and light riffing. Due to the single coils, it doesn't have a lot of chunk to it. So if you're looking to your guitar to produce most of your band's sound, go find yourself something else. But it does have a great sound to it - if it suits you. Not a lot of sustain, due to light wood and bolt-on neck, but strats aren't really known for that anyway. Nice smooth neck, easily adjustable action and intonation.

I don't remember how it was setup when I got it, but I just sold it and I had it pretty good. Someone who really knows what they're doing can really set it up nice. The guitar parts all fit very nice, and the finish was great. My only cosmetic complaint is that after a few years I noticed that my frets had some kind of hard clear stuff on them. I guess that's the clear coat they spray on the neck? Anyway, from all the use and string bends it was starting to come off - so I just scraped it off the frets and gave it a polish. Didn't ever affect the sound, but taking it off took a few chips off of the fretboard finish too. Oh well.

I play a few small gigs here and there, and I never had a backup. Construction and electronics are made to work well - Fender knows how to make their stuff stand up. I don't even baby my guitars as well as I should, and this has never let me down. Made great.

N/A

Like I said, I just sold this guitar. Not because it wasn't great, but I simply wanted something with a little more chunk and sustain, like a Les Paul or something. But I did have the guitar for a few years. My preference just changed a little. If you already like Strats, and are comfortable with the scale and all, I would definately recommend this one. I haven't played too many others, but this one did have a nice unique sound, and having the humbucker is a great option too.

I think the 2 Tex-Special, 1 Humbucker is a great feature which puts this Strat over the usual 3-single coil setup. For the blues and rock tunes I play, I couldnt ask for anything more.

Perfect blues/rock sound. I use a VOX Cambridge at home, and a Hot Rod Deluxe for playing with friends. I have never played a "gig", so I am not the authority on stage sound, but I think it sounds great. The Texas Specials are a little hotter than classic strat single coils, but I think the neck-pickup is perfect for playing Texas-blues.
Semour Duncan bridge humbucker is as close as you can get to Les Paul sound from a strat.

Played great right from the start, but I use heavy strings, so I have to raise my action a bit. For my technique, I prefer a little high action anyway. The fit and finish of American Fenders is second to none.

Well, I never have, and never will abuse a guitar, so Im sure it will last me forever. I have know individuals that beat the crap out of their strats, and they just keep on going. Hell, look at what SRV and Jimmy did to thiers !

Never had to use Fender Customer Support.

The only complaint I have ever heard about strats, is their lack of a humbucker, and maybe a few complaints about the radius of the neck (which any luthier can modify). The Lonestar strat gives you the humbucker slot, and puts a damn good pickup in there. Plus the guitar is a relative bargain when you look at other comparable ones.

This is a year 2000 USA made lonestar strat. Has 22 frets. Usual tone, tone, and volume control from fender. It is a H/S/S set up which is passive. Neck and middle pick ups are fenders texas specials and the neck 'bucker is a seymour duncan pearly gates plus. The body is alder with a beautiful rosewood neck (was after a maple neck). finished in black with a strange looking tortoiseshell pickgaurd which works well.It is the standard strat shape, that being double ctaway with ease to the upper frets.It has a fender tremolo bridge.Tuners not sure about but they are chrome and so far its has not gone out of tune.Included was a moulded fender black case,strap,tools and fender cable and 5 sets of strings. Not the most loaded guitar for features but none the less not stripped either.

This guitar sound splendid. I play rock to metal. Its suits me well.
I run it straight into a mesa boogie nomad 55 2x12. With bucker on via the distortion sounds great. Not muddy at all. Lots of growl but not over the top. I have to admit that clarity is always maintianed. The SD pearly gates is a great pickup. Plenty of output, but not noisy.
The texas specials for what they are sound OK. Great for a claen sound for softer toons. But I did not buy it for that.
Overall impressed.

I bought it off the rack and the set up was A1. The action was not too low and without any buzzing (this does not bother me anyway).
When I purchased it the guitar tech in the shop restrung it with 9's
and did a full pro set up. with regards to the finish one small flaw where a minute paint bubble has appeared. Soon saw to that.The neck is like butter. I had to get use to how fast it was.
Apart from that well built and solid.

I do not play live. Just do session work in studios(usuall my own).
It seems that it will last. Very solid esp. with the alder wood for the body.Has straplocks already fitted (nice touch).
As for using it without a back: Assumption is the mother of F**kups.
ALways take a backup.I have only given it a 5 as it would be unfair to say it was indestructable.Seems like it would take a bollocking though.

Have never had to deal with the company.
From what my oppo's say good support.
So until I call upon them no comment.

I have been playing for 14 years. I also own Ibanez Jem 7VWH,Jem 7DBK,
Jem 77FP, Jem 10, Jem 90, Jem 77BFP, Jem 7BSB, Jem 777DY, Jem 77SK, JS1000BTB, ESP KH-2 + KH-2 OUIJA, PRS 24 Custom, Ibanez RG570EX, Jackson SL2-H, ESP M-100, Jackson DK3 custom, Charvel model 6.
I have always avoided fender because of the kind of music I play but after picking this up and strumming in the shop I was impressed.
Its is a an excellent axe for hard rock (look at R Sambora, Dave Murray, Janick Gers, Bobby Gustafson,). Even good for metal as well.
If it was stolen I would hunt down the MF disembowel him and F**K his girl was he was slowly dying in front of him. Oh and screw his dog as well if I had time.
I like the whole axe. As a whole piece it works well and I take back all those bad things I ever said about fender.
I dont know what the rest of the range is like but I can vouch for this model.
I cant compare as I think all guitars have their own uses, good and bad.
But for under #800 this is a guitar worth consodering(now hot rodded sereis I beleve).
thumbs up fender.

1998 LONESTAR STRAT. 22 FRETS. BEAUTIFUL SUNBUST. ASH BODY, WITH ROSEWOOD FRETBOARD. PEARLY GATES PICKUP IN THE SADDLE, WITH TEXAS SPECIALS IN THE MIDDLE AND BRIDGE POSITION.

I PLAY EVERYTHING FROM CLASSIC ROCK TO COUNTRY. I RUN IT THRU A "65" FENDER BASSMAN THAT IS HOTRODDED TO SIMULATE A BOOGIE. THE PEALY GATES ARE GREAT A LITTLE DISSAPOINTED WITH THE TEXAS SPECIALS BUT THEY PERFORM FLAWLESSLY, A DIFFERENT TONE FROM CLASSIC STRAT PU'S

SET UP WAS PERFECT FROM THE STORE I BOUGHT IT FROM. I HAVEN'T TOUCHED THE ACTION. PERFECT INTONATION. LOVE THE TREMELO. HARDLEY EVER GOES OUT OF TUNE,EVEN WITH A LOT OF WHAMMY BAR ACTION.

HAVE USED IT EXCLUSIVELY FOR 2 YEARS NEVER A PROBLEM. GOT DRUNK A GIG WAS PLAYING ON TOP OF THE TABLES LEAPT FROM THE TABLES, FELL FLAT ON MY ASS, TOOK A CHIP OUT OF THE FINISH SURFED ON IT FOR A COUPLE OF FEET PICKED IT UP AND WAS IN TUNE. ALWAYS TAKE A BACKUP NEVER HAD TO USE IT. LOVE THIS GUITAR.

NEVER

BEEN PLAYING FOR 30 YEARS, I HAVE A KRAMER FOCUS(POS), IBANEZ ARTIST (BEAUTIFUL GUITAR) TWO LES PAUL GOLD TOPS 59 AND 65(NEVER LEAVE THE STUDIO) LOVE THE STRAT VERY VERSATILE GUITAR

I Got a Fender "Lone Star" Stratocaster, I bought it second-hand in january of 2001. Made in 1996 in Califonia its got a little "50 years of Fender 56-96" sticker on the back of the headstock, dont know how much relivence that is... its got 22 frets(one more than usual)and the usual 1 Vol,2 Tone,5-way pick-up selector. This guitar is your bog standard US Strat but its got lots of nice special humbuckers; two Texas special single coils(bridge and mid) and a Seymour Duncan Pearly gates humbucker at the bridge. I didnt get no hardcase with it...poo!

This guitars main feature is its versitility, you can get your strat tones with the individual single coils or like a tele with both the single coils on(there out of phase) or a big rocking metal demon with the humbucker at the back, if it wasnt for the fact that there is something a bit wrong with it(not the pick-ups), im sure it would sound great and id give it a higher mark

As soon as i walked into the shop i thought i had to have it. Second hand so it was cheap but without a scratch on it and my friend owns a Big-apple strat which i thought was great. The colour was perfect, all my guitars are sunburst and this was no exception.For some strange reason, the guy who had it before me had set the bridge as high as it would go( i mean really high!)and some stupidly heavy gauge strings on. I thought i could easily sort the action out but i just can't get it right. The guitar has NO sustain which sucks and i break strings on it almost every time i play which is not down to poor technique or string winding skills. Im hoping if i get it set up properly and the bridge filed down it might stop being so annoying

This guitar feels pretty flimsy. It almost feels like i could break the neck with my bare hands. It has however survived a PA stack falling on top of it with only a few minor scratches.

Dont Know....

The day i bought it i thought this would be the guitar i would keep and play for the rest of my life. Largly because it was the first expensive(if bought new) proper guitar i had bought ( but not my first Fender, i got 3) and because my friends Big apple strat was so good, but there is a huge difference between the two even though there isnt a huge difference in price or model. I want rid of it. Anyone want to trade for a Travis Bean?...thought not.

It's an American 99-00 model, not sure but I got it brand new from the store. It's got an alder body and maple neck. It came with 2 of Fender's Texas Special single coils at neck and bridge, and a Seymore Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker at the bridge. Volume knob, two tones, 5 way selector switch. Body is black, with a tortoise shell pickguard. I don't think they make that combination, and it was actually a screwup, supposed to come with a white one. It was a gift, so I didn't really get to pick it out, and it was ordered via online from Georgia. Came with lots of Fender docs about authenticity and all that, plus a nice case.

I play blues and rock, and I run it through various Boss pedals into a Marshall MG80RCD. I noticed after I got a Monster cable, I could have my amp turned up, have a couple pedals running, switch it to the humbucker, and set my guitar in the stand right next my amp and not hear a thing. When I do make noise with it though, it's sweet. I use it for the bucker mostly, and it's awesome. It's loud, hot, and sounds sweet when running it through overdrive or distortion. I can also run it clean and get a really nice strum. When I do use the single coils, it's mostly for softer stuff or different sounding blues work, and they're nice too.

Oh man, the first time I pulled it out of the case, it was absolutely cherry. Smooth playing, gleaming finish, happy guy. The only problem I had with it, was that a week or two later, my neck pickup went out. I had it serviced, and it turns out it was just a loose connection, but for the price and quality, I'd have expected a little better/

I've only gotten a chance to play it live a couple times, but it played great and I got some compliments. The hardware and finish all look good. Besides, it's a Strat, I could get a friend and play catch with it for a while and it'd still be in tune. I've been forced to use it without a backup, but it's never something I'd recommend.

I'm not sure off the top of my head how long the warranty is, and I'm too lazy to go get it, but I know it's really good, and as long as you get it serviced at one of their "Authorized Fender Dealers" they'll do anything free. The only problem with it was with the pickup, and I had it taken in, I went out of town, and I had it picked up and waiting for me when I got home. No problems at all.

I've been playing for 6 or 7 years, and this is the best guitar I've owned. The only beef I've got is that I wouldn't have wanted it black, but hey, can't say no to a free guitar, right? If it was stolen or lost, honestly, I'd probably get Fender's Fat Tele to replace it, just because I'm beginning to prefer the lighter weight and smaller size. But it'd be a huge loss, because this is an outstanding guitar, I can get any sound of it that I want, and I'd definitely miss it. Regardless of price or marketing hype, this is one of Fender's top guitars, and I'd definitely recommend it to a friend.

1997 American made Strat. Pretty much an American Standard with Texas specails and Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates double coil in the bridge position. Not sure if it's Alder or Ash, I've read both. This one caught my eye because it was Candy Apple Red with maple neck. I like the pearloid inlay dots. A classy touch. As far as the tuners and other hardwear, no complaints.

Sound....full of potential. I didn't like the way the volume dropped when you went from position 1 (both coils of the Pearly Gates Hkg) to postion 2, in cunjunction with the middle Texas Special. I also didn't like the constant low grade hum (passive electrical noise) of the Texas specials. Not a problem with music happening, but just standing there with it, it bugged me. I guess I'm just spoiled rotten with the deathly quiet 490's in my Les Paul Custom and my Classic 57's in my '72 ES-340.
So, I decided to do a little modifying. I had a Seymour Duncan JB Jr mini dual coil Humbucking put in the middle and a SD Classic '59 put in the neck. Then I had the Pearly Gates wired together so I didn't have that volume drop. Then...I had the first tone knob replaced with a push-push switch-knob that, when in switch position 3 (all pickups) would give me the ability to cut out the JB Jr and go strictly neck and bridge. Now I have a 'Do-Almost-Everything' guitar. Clean...quiet....healthy....nasty..it can do it all.

For some reason, you seem to have to play a lot of Strats and Teles before you pick one up that plays like butter. This wasn't one of them. My Strat Dlx Plus is, right out of the box. So...a quick trip to my luthier...and now, my Lone Star plays like butter, melted butter.

What's to go wrong? Good quality guitar. Good company. I'm proud to pull this one out of the case.

Prior to buying this Lone Star, my first Fender, I heard horror stories about how Fender, like many big companies got too big for their pants and forgot the common man. I'm here to tell you....they were just that: stories. I've had occasion to call Fender on many occasions for both my Strats, and amps I've bought used. These people treat me like a king. Courtiously, friendly, respectully, and I've felt like a reviered customer. Even guiding me to a Fender Warrenty shop that would help me...as it was, it turned out to be my long luthier from many years ago. Thank you Fender. I'm in your debt.

I've been playing guitar, or should I say 'With Guitars' since 1966. I never owned or spent much time with a Strat. I love my accoustics and my Gibson ES. But I always figured if you're going to play, you should have a Strat. It's the law. So, I waited till the time was right and I found one that would do more then one thing. Although there's not much left of the origional Lone Star configuration, Fender provided the basis of what I wanted from a stratocaster. I love my Lone Star. It's me...and plays like a Son of A....you know.

I bought my Lonestar Strat in early '99 and I must say that I'm thoroughly pleased with it. Mines a cream finish with a tortoiseshell pickguard and rosewood fingerboard. I bought mine straight off the rack. It came with a black Fender hardcase with the usually extras. The guitar has 2 Fender Texas Specials single coil pickups in the neck and middle positions and a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge. Other than that, the Lonestar's feel isn't a million miles away from any USA Standard Strat.

FANTASTIC TONE! The Lonestar is basically a hot-rodded American Standard with the extras that I mentioned above. It's well worth paying extra for this baby ahead of the USA Standard Strat and even the Roadhouse Strat (3 Texas Specials). The tone is fantastically versatile on the guitar. I play all my guitars through a Fender Twin Reverb '65 reissue. For clean tones the Texas Special pickups are obviously very bluesy and very SRV sounding which ain't no bad thing! When I add a distortion pedal to my setup with my lonestar and Fender Twin and switch to the Pearly Gates humbucker....IT'S JUST A HOT TONE! Les Paul-style tones come out of this brilliant humbucker and it's great for Bluesbreaker-era EC tone - Very hot and smooth but with that excellent bite! This is surprisingly one hell of a versatile guitar and it fits my blues/rock guitar style perfectly.
FANTASTIC!

I bought this Lonestar Strat straight off the rack and I've had no problems with it. It stays in tune very well, the finish is wearing well and the neck is as straight as a di!

This guitar has been very reliable to me and I love it very much. As I mentioned above it stays in tune very well and it holds it's own when played with my reissue '57 Strat and '52 Telecaster.

Not dealt with company. Had no problems with it.

My other guitars are a '52 reissue Telecaster, '57 reissue Stratocaster, and a Clapton Strat and this guitar feels as comfortable as any of them and sounds as well as them too! It's a great guitar and very vesatile and good value for money definately. Whatcha waiting for then?!

Made in 1997 in Corona, California. Part of Fender's hot-rodded series of American Standard Strats. I fell in love with it the moment I held it. The pick-up configuration is H/S/S which consists of a Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates Plus" in the bridge position and two "Texas Specials" in the middle and neck positions. The model that I own is the Lone Star Strat Special, which has a one piece Ash Body, and Maple Neck. It comes in a beautiful Sienna Sunburst Finish with a pearloid pickguard. I feel that this is one of Fender's most versitile guitars.

A great lead guitar with a SRV sound to it. I am into playing classic rock and top 40 tunes. I however, am mostly a rythem guitar player in my band so I do find the Seymour Duncan to be a little bit "hot". However for some one who is into lots of leads, this is definately a contender. I am running it out of a early 90's Marshall Valvestate. In my opinion, there is nothing better than making music with Fender Strats and Marshall Stacks.

Fender has outdone themselves on the factory settings. I haven't adjusted hardly a thing since I purchased it. The tuning pegs are snug and tight. It never goes out of tune. And the finish is excellent. (It's Sienna Sunburst, what can I say?)

I have been playing this guitar live for a year with no back-up guitar and there is absolutly no sign of any wear or tear. The strap pegs are solid and have yet to be tightened or adjusted. The hardware seems to be holding up just fine, although it is not all that old of a guitar. I am pretty optimistic about this guitars duarbility.

I have been dealing with the store where it was purchased for about 3 years now and am completely satisfied. I had a Takamine which I bought there. 11 months later, the finish cracked. Takamine refused to warranty it even though it was still under warranty and "Sight & Sound" gave me the full purchase price of the guitar towards a new on of my choice. My choice was the "Lonestar".

I have been playing guitar for approx 13 years, and for a year in a band. I would definately look to purchasing another if it were stolen or lost. I would also consider my other dream guitar, a P.R.S. Macarty. Ultimately, I am satisfied with this Strat mostly because of its versitility and sound. I encourage other's to give it a try, you may get hooked.

This is pretty much an American Standard Strat with a few upgraded features like 2 texas special single coils at the neck and middle position, and a nice smooth custom made Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker at the bridge. The one I bought is 3-tone sunburst with an alder body.

I play mostly blues and blues-based rock, and this guitar is great for that style. The 2 texas specials sound great for blues lead work, very SRV. The Humbucker sings. it's not hot enough for metal or anything like that, but for rock or blues...WOW! I don't like having a tremolo so I wish they had made one with a hard-tail bridge. I had the tremolo blocked off. I also would have liked to have a push-pull split switch for the humbucker so I could get some nice bridge single-coil sounds, but other than that it's the most versatile guitar in fenders arsenal.

nice durable finish. action needed some adjustment, but that was an issue of personal taste. nice smooth fast neck.

I've had this guitar for a couple of years now. and it's held up great. I never gig without a backup, but that's just cause you never know. I've never needed the backup with this guitar

never had to deal with fender

I've been playing for 10 years and giging for about 8. I play it through a Mesa Boogie Mark III and a vintage Marshall 4x12. I also use a Mesa Boogie Maverick. This guitar is the most versitile guitar that fender produces. It's great for blues, rock, country, and most any other music you want it to do. I don't think it would be a great guitar for metal, but why would you buy a fender for that? If this guitar were stolen I would absolutely get another just like it.

1998 USA Lone Star with the standard setup. Maple finger board.

Extremely versatile. I play everything from blues to rock, country and some jazz played though a Marshall JCP 2000. Typical single-coil noise and, surprisingly, some hum from the humbucker. To me, the Specials don't give the real classic Strat sound. They're hotter but are missing that twang. The humbucker is a total waste; you lose the single coil characteristics and don't gain the Gibson tone 'cause the wood ain't right.

This was the reason I got this instrument. Stunning burgandy to clear 'burst that looked like real wood and truly the most amazing neck I've ever played. Fretwork on par with my vintage Martin, smooth, fast finish, perfect grip. A joy to play. Electronics and hardware excellent, heavy duty. Never expect a guitar to be set up perfect at the factory so that doesn't count.

Seemed like no one could ever break the thing...but I did. Stepped on it and broke and split the neck off at the bolt and broke the body into 3 pieces! I checked with Fender and they said that if I had weighed 165 pounds instead of 190 it would have been covered under the warranty. Oh well...

I've been playing poorly for 30 years and this was the first my first electric guitar. I own a Martin 000-28ec, Yamaha acoustic 12 string and now a Standard Strat. I have ordered a Heritage H555 so I won't be replacing the Lone Star. I love the classic Stat sound but I found it in the cheaper Standard (but ohhh do I miss that neck!). The quality of the US Strats is noticeably better that the Mexican Strats so it is worth the price differential to get the real thing. It is not, however, worth the extra money for the humbucker option.

one humbucker, two good single coils. shit tremolo, good neck. sick ass perloid pick guard. basic strat features.

I play from grundge to metal, and this is my main stage guitar. it is probably the most versatile guitar ever made. i love it so much. i have many other guitars (mainly fender or gibson) and others may be better in certain categories, this is the best all around. I play it through a marshall tsl 100 and a fender hot rod deluxe. it ripps thru both of them.

perfect. after all, it is the american standard.

This guitar could survive a tornado. Ive had mine for two years, with not one scratch. I would use it without a backup, but i always have an sg for certain songs.

Never dealt with them

ive been playing for nine years, and i own 11 guitars. this isnt my favorite, but its very good. it is the most versatile guitar ever made. if it were stolen, id get another one.

See others before...

I got an old echolette and an hh cs100 te combinations kick ass
it fits better with the hh.
the echolette is more for my mexico tele

I think for stuff like the clash i still prefer my good old tele, but
for the rest i use my lonestar

* 2000 model, made in USA
* Ash body in sienna sunburst finish
* Solid maple neck, 25.5" scale length
* 22 medium jumbo frets
* "Micro-tilt" neck, Bi-Flex truss rod
* Schaller tuners and straplocks
* 2 "Texas Special" single coils
* 1 Seymore Duncan "Pearly Gates" humbucker (bridge)
* 1 vol, 2 tone knobs
* 5 position pickup selector
* Hardshell case

I like to play mostly Blues/Rock and this guitar sure fits the bill. The heavy ash body gives a very strong and bright sound, and awesome tone (after upping the gauge from those wimpy factory 9-42 strings). Sounds great even unplugged! The "Texas Special" single coils are hot, yet deliver superb clean sounds along with that classic fender "quack". The "Pearly Gates" humbucker is downright NASTY! (think Billy Gibbons), and although it has great sustain, the artificial pick harmonics aren't quite as dynamic as I'd hoped they would be. Nevertheless, this Strat is very versatile and can serve well for a wide range of musical tastes. With drop D tuning you can even get a fairly decent metal sound.

The finish was nearly flawless and the Sienna Sunburst (it looks more like Gibson's cherry burst to me) is one of the best I've ever seen on a Strat. The workmanship is excellent, and is a great improvement over what I've seen from Fender in the past. The action was quite adequate from the factory (mine was NIB - never played), but I knew right away those factory 9-42s had to go. I upped the guage to 10-46 for now, added two trem springs and set it flat to the body, and adjusted the relief, action, harmonics, ect. All I could say then was "IT'S ALIVE!!! The solid maple neck is satiny smooth and VERY fast, and the fretwork is well finished and very consistent all along the fretboard. The Schaller tuners are OK, but I'll eventually install some Sperzel locking machines later on. Overall, this is one of the finest looking Strats I've ever laid eyes on.

Like all strats, it's built like a tank. The ash body makes it noticably heavier than you might be used to. Durability has never been one of Fender's weak points.

Never had to deal with Fender, but with a lifetime warrany I'm not relly concerned. The folks at Mars Musician's Plantet where I bought it are fabulous!

I've been playing for over 30 years and would buy this guitar again in a heartbeat. No regrets whatsoever. I won't try to impress you with all the gear I've ever owned or spew out clever phrases, but I can tell you this: through a quality all-tube amp the Lonestar Strat delivers, and does it extremely well!

Made in USA '97, I don't have to go into details, only that this one has the rosewood fretboard w. 22 frets. Solid finish, Teal green metallic. Two Texas special singlecoils in neck and middle, and one Seymor Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in bridge position.
It seems the body's made of one piece. One volume and two tone controls helps balancing the sound very good between single-coil and humbucker settings.

Unplugged, this guitar really vibrates against your body. That's what I'm looking for in any guitar, if it's "alive" or not. Believe me, this baby really is alive. When plugged in, it is very versatile. Any Strat is versatile, I know, but the Pearly Gates humbucker makes it even more so. I mainly play blues and rock and it suits my style fine. I find myself using the neck position's Texas special most of the time when playing blues, the 'bucker is mainly used when playing rock, tone on 6-7. Heavier strings give a better sound in my opinion.
I've played it through Marshall, Peavey Classic and Line 6 amps, and it has always performed well.

The setup was OK from the store, but since I changed to heavier string gauges almost immedieatly, the setup had to be adjusted. No big deal, fixed in half an hour. I had to lower the humbucker somewhat to get a better balance compared to the single-coils. Nice finish, no flaws anywhere. The neck-pocket could have fit the neck just a little better, but not much. Therefore, no 10.

Well, this guitar is very well built, and it will propably withstand any kind of abuse I'll give it. I've owned it for 2 years now, and there is not a mark on it yet. Very durable piece of wood, this.
I think it will last for a long, long time.
I never play without a backup guitar. I could depend on this guitar alone, if I really had to, but you NEVER know when a string will break.

Never had to deal with'em.

Beside the Lone Star, I have a MIJ 50's Telecaster, an Epi Viola bass, and a Levin nylon-stringed guitar. I've been playing since 1975, buying and selling guitars often, but I found that Fender's guitars stay with me for a longer time than other guitars do. I played a Fender Lead I ( a tank ) for about 9 years before trading it in for the Lonestar. If it was lost, I would replace it A.S.A.P. Perhaps, just perhaps, I would concider a strat with three Texas specials. Then again, the Lone Star is so incredibly all-round.

This guitar is my baby!!!Hum/single/single config.,Seymour Duncan Pearly gates plus in the bridge,two texas specials in the middle and neck.It has a mother of pearl pickguard and a CANDY APPLE RED finsh!!!!decent tuners and bridge.Alder body,maple neck and fretboard.Good neck joint,better than any copy out there,Nice low action with no buzz!An all around good guitar!

This is a great blues guitar even though I don't play blues that much.I'm in a death metal band and I tune to A so it has an allright sound for that if you like a little more mid range for that style.I love the awesome single coil tones you can get from it because you can really tell the difference over the copys!the only thing I've thought about doing is putting in a more metal p/u in the bridge but I might just save that for my other guitar.

Every thing was perfect.the only thing I did was adjust the truss rod for the low tuning and tightened the trem springs because I dont use the trem anyways.I LOVE the CANDY APPLE RED finish with the maple fret board and mother of pearl pickguard.

I've had this guitar for 1 1/2 years and it hasn't let me down yet.It's the guitar I use to record with but I'm probably not going to play it live because I'm afraid what might happen to it.I talked to a guy from a popular death metal band and a good chunk was taken out of his pre-nineteen ninty-five PRS so I dont think I'll take that chance!!

Ive been playing for nine years and its the best guitar I've played yet!I have played your PRS's and Gibson's and have owned an Ibanez Joe Sach.,but I feel that its the one that will be passed on generation after generation.

-Texas Hot Coil single pickups
-Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker. (whoohoo baby it sings)
-sweet silver color (they say its shorline gold but i say inca silver)
- EVERYTHING adequately tweaked, everything you could ever need in a slick little strat

I like bluesy, rock sound and searing hot solos. (Or searing hot anything when i am in the mood) It delivers the goods, all the pickups are crystally and well defined. It is ver versatile. Great fat tone, it sustains and it rings very well. The Pearly Gates is simply supurb. I crank up the overdrive and put a lot of bass on my amp, it makes the neighbors gather around and listen! My only criticism is that the single coils are a tad noisy. (they squeak and buzz a bit) Other than that, everything i need.

I got the guitar second hand, (only by 3 months, it was played maybe twice)and it had already been setup and tweaked out by the dealer. It plays perfectly, great action, responsive and tight. My guitar teacher who has been playing forever said this: "Damn, this is guitar feels
N I C E!" when I suddenly showed up at my lesson with it instead of my old crapper. It looks great and has a professional finish. Fender has not cut a corner anywhere.

Built like a rock. It has been designed to last FOREVER. Nothing else can be said, its perfect.

Never dealt with them

I am 17 and have been playing for about 3 years. I got the guitar used for half the price and it was never played. The old guys at the guitar shop passed it around when i broguht it in for inspectiuon and they all just grinned. "Sweet deal you got kid." they said. I agree. When i played it on my teacher's Marshall cabinet it changed my life! It also sounds awesome on his Line 6.
Final Word: WOW, its a great guitar, get one if you are in the market

I bought a 1999 Fender Lone Star, USA (buy just USA made..)
it has 22 frets, the color is kinda groovy soft green metalic (Awsome)
I bought it with mother of pearls pickup guard, and maple neck
it came with 2 single coils Texas Special (SRV !!!!!!) and 1 awsome seymour duncan Humbacker
well at the beging I wanted to buy a fender guitar with floyd rose & 2 humbackers.. but.... as soon as I played on it in my house, that's it, my heart is now belong to the guitar...

well Im playing mostly, Blues, Rock-Blues (kinda like Pat Travers), and Rock (Van Halen style) and when I'm shredding (Malmsteen, Gilbert, Jow Stump)
well from the 2 texas special I cant stop thank god..
the texas pickups kinda noisy when playing infront of light spots BUT
a simple setup can fix it (just give the diller to do it)
well about the seymour duncan... nothing to say it is a kick ass Humbacker, I couldnt belive that such sound come out of a fender... heheheh

well for some reason the 2 texas pickups, were down, when I got the guitar.. so I took a scrow-driver and made it higher a bit
everything else was amazing....

hell this guitar is for life
I cant play on other guitar now...
if I cant play on it, I wont play... That's how much her sound is good ...

Hope I wont need to talk 2 them ever

well I play on serval amps, I heard my baby on my guitar teacher Mesa Boogie Amp..
if it will be stolen, I will personally find that man and cut his balls ! (heheheh) and sure I gonna buy it again..
well I got to say this, if you want a good Overdrive / Clean Guitar with Power of seymour duncan (Rock) buy a Lone Star,
p.s. I think They Changed the guitar name to Fat Strat Texas Special..

? 1st Year Lone Star Strat
? American Made
? 22 Frets
? 3 color sunburst
? Rosewood fretboard
? Standard strat 1 vol, 2 tone set up w/5-way switch
? H/S/S pickup configuration
? Duncan ?pearly gates? humbucker w/2 Texas special singles
? American Standard bridge, tuners, and Hardware
? Motopearl pickgaurd
? Set up with 3150 RH .010-.052 fender nickel bullets

Absolutely the best souding guitar in Fender's arsenal.
They took a humbucker that was punchy and sweet like a single coil, put in the bridge, then took the fattest, raunchiest single coils (that in turn sound like humbuckers) and put them in the typical neck/middle positions.

What they ended up with was a bad ass tone machine that can hold it's own with any guitar ever biult.. EVER!!!

For the price, the guitar is a damn good value.

I did spend several hours intonating and setting the action once I changed over to a custom matched set of bullet end .010's.

But the amercian Standard series of Strats have to be the easiest guitars to set up out there.

You can tune it up, throw it in the van, drive across the state to a gig, play all night, sweat on it, then put it back in the van, get drunk, go eat breakfast and drive back home, leave it in the van and when you take it out the next afternoon it will still be in tune.

Fender has to be the best at their game, becuase they have so much competition in this area.

I can tell you that if you spend the time finding out where to go, a Factory Authorized Fender repair center can be a trip worthwhile.

Another good point about fender is that the prices are so good that it is usually best to upgrade than repair... unless you like that sort of thing!

I would like to see this tone machine offered in vintage aged hardware much like the "Relic" guitars from the custom shop.

This is a 1997 Lonestar, USA-made. Shoreline gold on alder with the eggshell pickguard. Maple neck & maple fretboard. Texas Specials in the neck & middle with a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker at the bridge. A nice, versatile upgrade to an American Standard. I wish it had a nicer tremelo like the L.R. Baggs on my Godin. Otherwise, what else do you need?

Great sound! All I've ever done is lowered the bridge pickup a bit to balance it better with the other pups, put on 10's and a tremsetter. I can coax just about any sound out of her - country, blues, rock. She's a little bright with the maple fretboard but I just tone down a bit elsewhere. The 10's help too. All the typical strat sounds plus a lot of bonus tones when you switch to the humbucker. I've used her with several setups but currently go strat/Godin - TS9 - POD - A/B (for the Godin) - CS9 Chorus - DM2 Delay - Yorkville 200K. It's a killer setup that has taken many years to settle on (and will continue to evolve as I go through various G.A.S. stages)

Setup from the store was great.Raised it a bit and replaced the 9's with 10's. No finish flaws, perfect, silky neck. Put on a Hipshot Tremsetter to stabilize the bridge a bit. A beautiful, no-nonsense workhorse.

Have played many gigs with her - never a problem 'cept for the odd string. Nice weight, well-balanced. Three years of playing and the finish is like brand new. No guitar has a nicer neck.

Never dealt with Fender and probably never will have to. They have a decent website with some useful information. They're warrantees are the best and some can knock 'em all they want but they build a better product for the price than Gibson or Gretsch together.

I've been playing for over 30 years off and on. I own the Lonestar, a Godin LGX3 (absolutely wonderful), a Hagstrom III, a Yamaki acoustic, a couple of basses (and a few beaters), a Yorkville 200K (for POD & acoustic), a Fender Stage 112SE, a Roland JC55, a Line6 POD w/ floorboard, a dozen or so vintage and modern stompboxes, a Boss ME30, ...

I will always own a strat. If this were stolen I would truly miss her and after the appropriate mourning period, go and buy her sister.

I bought this 1997 model new in 97, USA Made, 22 frets...basically an American Std Stratocaster with a cooler pickguard (I call it "mother-of-toilet-seat") and, most of all, better pickups. Y'all can read the gazillions of other reviews for the details, but the main thing is the dual-coil Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge position, and the two single-coil Texas Specials in the mid and neck positions. Mine has the champagne finish and a rosewood neck--a very nice-looking axe. Good tonal variation with the 5-position selector switch. Bridge is the non-locking trem, which I never use anyway--I essentially have it blocked off.

I play a variety of styles, mostly R&B-influenced rock and funk, and blues. My setup includes a few good pedals--a Teese RMC1 Wah, Fulltone Fulldrive 2, Ibanez Delay, Boss PH2 Phaser--which are routed into a Rivera Suprema 55, or possibly a Fender or Mesa Boogie depending on where I'm gigging. This guitar is definitely a step up from your average strat, and on the occaisions when I really need to dig in for some heavy hardrock distorted power chords, the humbucker in the bridge position is a true godsend. Considering that the Texas Specials are not hum-cancelling pickups, they're pretty quiet--the noise level is less than the regular Fender pickups in my American Std Tele. Also, it's nice that there is a separate tone control for the bridge humbucker. The sounds are good, and it's never confusing.

This guitar felt good in the music store--I tried out a total of 10 different Lone Star Strats, and this one had the best combination of finish, action, etc.--but it still needed a LOT of adjustment following purchase. I had it professionally set up for 10's, but I was still experiencing the usual guitar intonation problems--you know, D chords not sounding quite right even though the guitar was set up properly and in perfect tune. I had an older strat that I was forced to sell--a '79 that didn't play very well--but at least it was easier to get more consistent intonation when that guitar was properly set up.

The guitar is relatively durable and well-made; it's a Fender! The finish is quite good, and it doesn't blemish too easily. However, I can NEVER, NEVER, EVER use this guitar live without a backup. I'm always breaking the high E string. I've had the bridge worked on to remove any burrs...twice. Plus, compared with my American Std Tele, this guitar will not stay in tune or intonate properly. I've had numerous professional setups, and I've even had the trem blocked, but to no avail. There has been some fret wear--not too bad considering this guitar has been played out steadily for almost 3 years. However, the less expensive American Std Telecaster--also a 97 model year, I might add--has proven to be more durable in every way under the exact same playing conditions. The Tele never goes out of tune, requires very little adjustment with regard to intonation. What's more, the Tele holds up well even when I'm using alternate tunings, which I can't even think about doing on the Lone Star Strat. I'm more of a Strat person than a Tele person--I bought these 2 guitars at the time to fit my needs--but I think I'm about to ditch the Lone Star in favor of something else.

I haven't dealt with them, and hopefully never will...

I've been playing for well over 20 years now. I don't go through guitars too quickly; I've owned quite a few mediocre guitars and one or two really great ones. This particular Lone Star Strat had a lot of potential, but for some reason just fell short. Again, the concept is killer, the resulting sounds are good, but there is something inherently wrong with the backbone of this guitar, for lack of a better term--I can get the guitar set up, and it will play in tune good enough for me to be in a high school or college circuit band, but definitely not good enough for a studio or pro playing situation. I'm not a professional guitar tech, but I can hold my own, and the couple of pros I've had working on it seem to think that the combination of the trem, nut, and neck angle might be contributing to the problem, even though the action remains terrific and the neck straight as an arrow. I've owned other axes with tremelo bridges and haven't had these problems. This is one of three Fender Stratocasters that I've owned, and it's too bad this guitar did not meet my expectations. I think it might be this actual guitar--or maybe the model--that just isn't cutting it. The TONE is great, the playability is good, so it's too bad I'll have to ditch this axe. Again, I had a Fender American Std Telecaster to compare it to all this time, and the Tele has been a dream in comparison to the Lone Star. Anybody else have this experience? I'm not sure if it's worth having a Buzz Feiten tuning system installed on this particular guitar, but it might solve the intonation problems. Feel free to email me if you'd like to share any thoughts, suggestions, or horror stories.

This guitar is a 1998 model made in the United States. It has 22 frets and has two single coil pickups and one Seymour Duncan humbucker. It has a nice sunburst finish and a shell pickguard.The neck is made of maple.

This guitar is versatile in every aspect except jazz, which it can still be used for, but its not the best. I am using a Fender Blues Junior Amp, which sounds great. The pickups are fairly hot. I find i get a nice mellow sound when i have the pickup in the middle and have the tone down to two or three.

I had to change the factory set up and i had the nut grooved out a bit but everything else was good.

Strats are probably the toughest guitars around, everything lasts on this guitar for a long time. I used this guitar on gigs for a whole summer without a backup and i had no problems at all.

1999 Made in US. Candy ass red. Seymore Dolittle bridge pickup. Two
Texas special pickups for neck and middle. Alder body, maple neck and
maple fretboard. The case I got was not a standard Fender case.
It was made by SDK, not Fender.

I love the way this guitar sounds. Excellent for rhythm. The SD HB PU
sounds incredible with any amp, especially a tube amp. I use a Fender
Hot Rod Deluxe and a small solid state practice amp. It is very quiet
in the # 2 and 4 positions with the center pickup's reverse polarity.
It is completely silent in the #4 (or is it #2?) position when the
center PU and the SD HB are switched on at the same time. It has a brighter sound than a standard strat. The DC resistance is raised from the standard strats 5.9 to 6.2 in the neck and 6.5 in the middle PU giving it a brighter sound in all positions. The sound is very clean. I hated the Fender bullet strings and ripped them off right away. I will replace the neck PU with a 69 strat or DiMarzio soon.

I had to do a lot of setup work on this. The Fender strings are the worst I've ever seen on any guitar in 30 years. I replaced them with
heavier gauge D'addario and it sounds incredible. Amazing for only
4 bucks!!! Action is good now, I really had to tweak it. No flaws in the finish, but I wish they would make a white Lone star with a white
tortise shell pickguard.

This axe is brand new but I had a '65 Jazzmaster for years and it
seemed to age like a fine wine.

N/A

Been playing all my life. I own a Martin. If it were lost I would feel like an idiot since it never leaves the house! I love the variety of sounds and the "strat" sound when strumming chords. I think the action should be lower on this guitar from the factory.
I traded in a Gibson Les Paul Studio for this because it was a blow-out special and sounds great for my style of play

WOW.....what a guitar...Made in the USA.22 frets. alder body.i volume 2 tone controls,5-way selector switch,and a the traditional tremolo system which i have great playablity on.It has the 2 tex mex pickups on it with the new seymour duncan pearly gate which is so great soundin.t gets down right to the nitty gritty of guitar playin.I have a rosewood neck on it with medium jumbo frets.It is just 1 of the greatest rock-blues guitars u can get. It is very very good.

This guitar sounds great for rock, blues,country, and hard rock. I love it. i play versatile music on my own but with my band we play blues and rock so it fits perfect.This guitar is also goin through and ibanez tubescreamer,chorus,delay, and crybaby wah wah.On the pearly gate ther is no hum, but on the tex mex u get the lil' hum but the siounds are just incredible it can go from rippin leads to your great sounding bluesneck pickup solo.Very Very versatile.It has a very full sound to it.These are mainly my likes for this guitar my dislikes are pretty much the hum of the 2 tex mex singles but u have to expect that in a way, other than that its a great guitar.

The guitar was set up well in the factory well and the action was a little too high for my liking, but i adjusted that everythin came very well made and etc....the guitar pickups were adjusted pretty good but i had straightened them out and risen and lowered it.The pickup selector was loose and came oput but glue solved that problem, other tan that the whole contour was good.

This is a vwery versatile guitar and it can withstand any knd of playing around, and the hard ware is very good and solid. the finish fits very well with the durability of the guitar.I could depend on this guitar to give me a great play any day, and i would use it even with out a back up.

The guitar has a lifetime warranty and they were very helpful and i got the action reparied and it was great.

I am 16 and i've been playing for 4 years, and this guitar withstands any other ive played. I am also playin it trough a fender deluxe 112 plus and with a tubescreamer it sounds really good.If it were stolen or lost i would definitely get another 1. I love everything about it . No complaints.If i had to compare it to anohter guitar i would compare it to the Fender Fat Strat. the reason for this is they can be similar and share great qualities.It has everyting i want and need and if u want a great guitar to play and to withsatnd any type of playin, this is the guitar. IT IS AWESOME.

1998, maple neck, alder body (as per the sales guy), the usual pickup configuration. The thing that stands out the most for me is the finish, which is a red to clear burst that shows off the woodgrain just beautifully. Haven't seen another one like it.

I love it. The Pearly Gates needs to have the treble knob backed off to six or so to fatten it up if you're using it clean, though. When you do that, it just opens up more doors for your blues sound. The Texas Specials are just great, hot, single coil strat pickups.

was set up real well, frets all fine

so far so good. I left the plastic membrane on the rear cover for a little more belt buckle protection.

n/a, although their website sucks as far as organization goes

Been playing about 18 years. I play through a Hot Rod Deluxe, which I may sell and get a Blues Junior (great sound but you have to turn the HR up too much to break up the sound). Dunlop Cry Baby is the only effect I use with it. Recently bought a Line-6 POD guitar direct box for recording on my Mac. Sounds great, the strat sounds great on disc that way. I highly recommend the POD, BTW.

Look at other posts for features. I chose a rosewood fretboard.

I like the clankyness of the the Texas pick ups and really like the DH. This is my second guitar. My first was a $600 Gibson. I sold that only because I like the Fender sound. Cold yet warm. Clean but noisy. My amp is a Fender Princeton 112 plus. I bought a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe thinking it would sound better, but I like my 112 plus amp better, so I returned it. I also run a TS9DX to beef things up and add sustain.

The place where I bought this set this up for me just right. Guitar was clean and finish is excellent. This guitar fits like a glove.

By my naked untrained eye this seems like it will last a long time. Nothing feels cheap.

Didn't deal with Fender, but had some adjustments done from the place I bought it and they were real helpful.

I've been learning for a year and a half and I practice 4 times a week or more. I have had this guitar for 1 year and like the vareity of sounds I can get from it. I play rock/blues type of stuff and found that I can get the sounds I like out of it. The only reason I don't give it a 10 is that I haven't played a ton of guitars to say this is the best.

Made In U.S.A. In 1997
Contoured Alder Body, One-piece Maple Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard
It has 24-frets (Medium-jumbo Frets)
Pickup Configuration: 2 "Fender" Texas Special (Neck, Mid)
1 "Seymour Duncan" Pearly Gates Plus (Bridge)
(S/S/H)
Pickup Switching: 5-way Blade
Controls: Master Volume, Tone(neck&mid), Tone(bridge)
It also has 2-point synchronized Tremolo, Brown Shell Pickguard
3-color Sunburst Finish.

I use Marshall VS30R Amp and Boss- Metal Zone(MT-2) Fuzz(FZ-3)
Turbo Distortion(DS-2) Super Chorus(CH-1) Digital Delay(DD-3)
Flanger(BF-2) and Vox Wah(V847)
Two "Fender" Texas Special Pickups Are used by Stevie Ray Vaughan!!
It sounds fatter than any other Fender Pickups.
And "Seymour Duncan" Pickup provides Hum sound.
So I can play some "Heavy Metal"-like music.
It has some noise of course.
But I think you can play more variable music than any other "Fender"
-- From Texas Blues To Heavy Metal

In Private, I wanna play Hard Rock Sound.. need more sustain and
fat, mid-boosted sound, Ya, exactly "Les Paul" do...
My guitar is very good for Blues or "Crunchy" Funky...Ya!!

Action was prefect.. but I adjusted because I started to use
"011" gauge strings. I strenthend Truss Rod, and Springs..
and adjusted a little action..
Pickup Height was not correct. Neck & Mid Pickup had smaller volume
than Bridge Pickup. So I set them higher.
Any other Finish was great.

It's perfect... Once I dropped my guitar on the stairs.
It rolled down.. But it had some claws only..
My guitar is STRONG enough..

I live In Korea...
So I never went to "Fender Co.", never called (It's Impossible)
So.. I cannot comment.. Sorry..^^
But Fender Homepage is very nice..

I used for 3.5 years. I love it ...
It was the first guitar of mine..
If you want some FAT-Sound blues Guitar.. That's It!!
If you want some Thrash-like Guitar... Check ESP or Jackson
My guitar need more Sustain to manage with Hard Rock/Heavy Metal

'97 Lonestar Strat (all are made in US) Olympic white with rosewood fretboard

This is a good sounding guitar. The only trade off is by having the humbucker in the bridge, you sacrifice a little vintage sound in the second position out of phase (which just happens to be my favorite sound, "think Robert Cray"). It's not bad though, it just is not quite there. I played 4 lonestars for about 2 hours before making my decision. It was based on weight (light is better) playability or ease of working the fretboard, and most important TONE! All 4 were different. If you want SG or Paul sounds, look somewhere else. In order to get some key Fender sounds, this humbucker could not be too fat. I believe the Sambora strat may be fatter at the bridge.

I adjusted the strings lower and also lowered the pickups accordingly. The guitar was pretty much perfect otherwise.

I play live 2 or 3 times a month, and every day at home (almost!) I have no reason to suspect any problems with durability... (my 83 strat I bought new has had no problems in terms of reliability)

Never dealt with Fender

I've played for 22 years. Mainly Fender guitars and amps. Use Carl Martin compressor, Budda Phatman, TS-9 or 10 Tube screamer to a 59 reissue Bassman. A Lonestar or any Strat is the perfect compliment to the above rig. For the money this is a high quality instrument. Unless you really want the fatter sound though, I would recommend the standard strat pickup configuration (all single coil)

American Start with a Perly Gates Pickup in the Bridge position and Texas Specials in the mid and neck positions.

Test drove at a music store for a couple of hours. Play mostly blue/rock. Used a Marshall DSL-401 combo amp ( also a store model ). The sound of this guitar was disapointing. I thought it was very noisy and was not getting that real nice bassy sound from the neck pickup that I enjoy. The humbucker sounded ok but kind of thin for my tastes. The bridge/middle position didn't seem very usable to me either as did the middle by itself. The only combination that had any workable tone was the neck/middle position. It gave the classic Strat sound for that position, but something still seemed to be missing. Overall I disliked the sound of this guitar.

Here is the reason I didn't buy the guitar. I was doing a run up around the 14 - 17th frets and almost cut my finger open on a couple of frets that had not been dressed properly. It was a pretty unbelievable experience and definately the first time I have seen anything like it. Then 16th and 17th fret of this guitar were not rounded on top, but angled with a sharp edge. Really lowered my opinion of this product considering its price of around $900.00. I have played $300 - $400 dollar Hammer's and Yamaha's that had superior factory setup. The rest of the guitar seemed ok although the bridge and neck would also need to be setup as it was fretting out on high bends.

This guitar could only withstand live playing it was setup properly and was also shielded better. Hardware was standard chrome of a medium grade. Finish in general was good ( standard strat solid color ).

Didn't buy it, so I wouldn't know.

I have been playing for 17 years and I was excited to test drive this guitar. It seemed to have the right combination of features I was looking for. It turned out to be a real disappointment. The guitar was just to noisy for me and trouble producing the tones I expected it to. That along with the undressed frets made me loose a lot of respect for the fender company. I mean $900.00 dollars to me is still alot of money. No I don't expect the guitar to be perfect from the factory but this setup was too shotty to justify the price tag. Anyway will probably end up building my own Start from Warmoth or buying a higher end guitar from PRS.

Made in the USA in 1998 I beleave. Standard LS strat blue with white pearloid pickguard. s/s/hb pickup configuration. Every thing about it seems to be of the best quality.

I have been playing for about 2 years . Mainly for my own pleasure. Before I had a mexican strat (still do) and it was Ok.Can sure tell the defferance between it and the Lone Star ! I play throu a fender Blues JR And also have a zoom505 pedal( don't like it much yet). I like the blues and Rock in the styles of Clapton and Jeff Beck.This strat seems well suted for my developing style. I am still exploring the variety of tones and sound I can get out of it.The humbuuker is like going from a Honda to a Harly. I like the sound. I think this guitar is capable of any thing you want.

Action and set up seem fine from the get go.I am no expert by far and have only had the thing for 2 weeks but I realy can't find any wrong to it.Finish is great every thig is tight. It stays in tune . Seems A-OK to me!

I have limited experance in playing guitar But in my 45 years of life I think I have learned to know good quality whin I see it , weather it be guns ,cars,equipment,whatever.Everthing looks and feels great about this thing.I think it could take alot and keep going.

Never dealt with Fender. I got a lifetime warranty,maybe I will someday

Like I said , I have been trying to learn ( with some success and much injoyment for about 2 years. I also have a Takamine G 330 That I like very much.In the past I have owned other very cheap electric guitars (other than my mexican strat that is still a good guitar I think)This Lone Star stands out as the best guitar I have ever owned so far. I think I will be happy with it for some time. So far I like everything about it . The only thing is I might expariment with differant strings.If any one can suggest a better set than the standard stock fender 09s for a nice blues rock sound please e-mail!

Has everything I could need. Pickup configuration kicks.

Running this through my Deluxe 85 it sounds great clean and distorted.Can't ask for much more. The only bad thing is that the center pickup dosen't have that good sound quality.

Mine was black with turtle shell pickguard but I changed the pickguard to pearl so it now looks even greater. Made solid.

This thing would never brake on me. It rules.

No need

I love this more than any of the other fender strats. I would never get anything else.

The Lonestar Strat. It's got a very cool pickup configuration, folks. You can run your amp clean and get your choice of neck for Jazz, neck/mid for jazz or pretty chords, middle for country, or mid/bridge for funk, which is especially good with a wah. When you do the mid/bridge thing, the bridge humbucker acts as a single coil. But wait, that's not all; you can then switch your amp into overdrive and use the bridge pickup to get that big, phat, lead tone. And please, don't start whining about, "well...it doesn't get that Les Paul tone", 'cause if you want that tone, go get a Les Paul, and leave the Lonestars for the people who like more than one sound. Anyway, this is a '98 model which I bought in...well... 1998! It's a Shoreline Gold, but it's not the typical "brown-ish" color you usually find, it's more Silver, and it's got a maple neck, which is what I prefers. Lastly, they come with a beautiful hardshell case.I give it a "10" because it really should've been called the "Strat Plus", for it's extry cool pickup config.

These guitars usually sound beauty ful. You won't get anybody else's tone with it so don't whine that you can't do Stevie. If that's the sound you want, go buy a Stevie guitar, and leave the Lonestar for people who want a sound of their own. Anyway, this guitar sounds very good in all positions, and each position has a fairly separate tone, as a good Strat should. MY OPINION about the pickup selection use was described earlier. I am using marshalls, (how...old of me), and Peavey Classic 50 amps., which I likes ever so much. The guitar is very quiet, and I likes that too. Rates a "10" because it doesn't sound like some other guy's guitar,it just sounds excellent.

One of the reasons I bought this guitar is 'cause the fretjob was excellent, which I find, is usually the case with Fender. The neck has been perfectly straight from day one. My only complaint was that the nut could've been done just a smidgeon better; the high-E was a bit high, but I fixed that myself with my chainsaw (...just kidding- I've got nut files!!!). Tuners are ok, I've seen better quality on other Fenders of lesser value, but these work just fine. Gets a "9", because if they took the time to cut the nut, they should do it right.

Comes stock with the "straplock-ready bit", so, as opposed to Les Pauls, you can play it right away without the fear of dropping it, IF you already have the other parts. (Not to be picky, but if they include the part of the straplock that goes on the GUITAR, why doesn't they just throws in the STRAP parts too- whadda we talkin' here, maybe three bucks? Charge me $3.00 more, for cryin' out loud!). Anyway, this guitar is built for the working musician. Tough, and made to last.

If I needed customer support, I would either return the guitar for a full refund, or sell it outright.

I've been playing for over 20 yrs. and either own, or have owned every guitar at least once, (...well, maybe not every guitar, but quite a few), and these guitars are about as good as they come. You can certainly get better quality guitars from lots of manufacturers, but you'll pay ALOT more for it. The quality of the Fender Lonestar Strat is great for the $800. price range, and generally, I have no complaints, (and I'm a real picky son-of-a &$#@!).

One Fenders best strats: Body;Alder Neck;Maple W/Rosewood Finish;3 Tone Sunburst (Note which adds to the price by $60.00} Pickups;Seymour Duncan Pearly gates humbucker in the Bridge, Texas Specials (extra wound) in the middle and neck

The sound of this rig can just about cover all avenues. I have played this guitar on many amps a I can more or less tune to the sound I like. Over all it's more suited for blues-rock. examples;Clapton,SRV.

Setup was perfect from factory. No completes.

Will last forever and will grow in value.

This is a 95 Lone star Star and It kicks ass. A 22 fret maple neck with rosewood fingerboard is smooth to play and fast. The 2 Texas special pickups give a higher output than most single coils. The Duncan Humbucker in the bridge gives a good balance to the single coils but with more output.

The Texas special pickups are great for blues and any rock. The humbucker is pretty cool especially with some heavy distortion. You can get many different types of sounds with this giutar. It sounds really good in the neck position with the tone on 1-3 and some nice chorus.

A high quality guitar with 1 flaw. The tremelo isn't that great.

It's a Fender. Im not sure if you can get any better.

????????

If you want a good quality guitar and you don't want to pay thousands, GET THE LONE STAR STRAT!

All the great features of the Lone Star Strat. This one is a '97 maple neck / Shoerline Gold (i think).

A lovely sound. Fender Rocks.

The factory set up was so good that i never did anything to tht guitar except change strings and play.

It's a Fender! What do you expect??

Never need.

Until 1997 i ever played with Gibson Les Paul
When i went to the store i was there to buy a Gibson Les Paul Standard but my girlfriend said: - Why do you want another Les Paul. Now you need is a clean guitar. I tryed this one and wow! what a sound!
Now it's one of my favourite guitars. I have other Fenders (am std) and a pair of Gibson Les Paul.

1999 Fender Lone Star Strat, shoreline gold with a maple fretboard, Texas Special pickups at neck and middle positions, Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in bridge, white pearl pickguard and back plate, medium jumbo frets, standard trem, etc.

I purchased the Lone Star because of pickup configuration and because I am a total Strat fan. I mainly play in the styles of SRV, E. Johnson, J. Beck and Hendrix, but also enjoy EVH, Vai, Satch, et al. The Lone Star covers all of these styles fairly well. However, it is best suited for blues, rock and hard rock and is not the best for metal (although you can get a metal sound with the humbucker). While it is impossible to get a real Gibson-type sound out of the Lone Star using the Pearly Gates, it definitely allows to obtain that SUPER STRAT sound ala EVH. The Pearly Gates is fairly bright sounding, but sustains well when using an overdrive, distortion or fuzz pedal. The Texas Specials are somewhat hotter than traditional Fender single coils and are darker sounding. I find that the middle pickup performs the best for getting that SRV sound when using a Tube Screamer. The Texas Specials' height must be set relatively low or they sound muddly when using overdrive/distortion. I am playing my Lone Star through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp, using a Tube Screamer, Daddy-O and Fulltone Ultimate Octave (I don't really care for the amps drive channels. I am able to get a great Texas blues tone using the Texas Specials and the Pearly Gates allows me to get a nice Eric Johnson lead sound.

While I have played a few Lone Stars over the years since they came on the market, I have mostly been disappointed with them until I tried the one I purchased. My Lone Star plays very smoothly and the action was relatively low without any fret buzz. However, I have to say that Fender strings are the worst, they always sound dead to me. The Shoreline Gold finish appears to be flawless. The satin finish on the neck is not too heavy, but is fairly slick if you are used to rosewood. The neck also has a vintage look which is nice. I am using 9-46 Dean Markley custom light strings tuned to standard pitch.

Fenders are built to last

N/A

Overall I think the Lone Star is a fantastic guitar. I have three other electrics (Strat Plus, Standard Strat w/ Tex. Spec. pickups, and an Ibanez S470 -- for that '80s shred thang). While I would have perferred a rosewood fretboard, the one I purchased was the only one they had and the price was too good to pass up. I considered ordering a Lone Star with a rosewood neck, but the quality of Fenders is so variable that I was afraid I would get a lousey one. It is really hard to find Strats that don't play tight. I can really bend strings easy on the Lone Star and am able to play extremely fast on the neck (although not as fast as on my S470) I have been playing guitar for over 25 years, both pro and just for fun, and my Lone Star is one of the better Strats I have played. I highly recommend the Lone Star. In fact, I am considering purchasing its brother in the hot rod Strat series -- a Big Apple. But my guitar aquisition syndrome will have to wait

1999 Lone Star Stratocaster by Fender. MADE IN USA by Americans and not starving Korean children! Standard Stat body, medium-jumbo frets, maple fretboard, Texas Special pickups on the neck and middle positions, a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in the bridge, and standard american tremolo. Beautiful candy apple red finish with pearloid pickguard. Looks classy! No strat has a lot of features, but they only have the ones that are necessary.

yeah, baby! I have just come off of a 1997 Squier strat and can you ever tell the difference. This is by far the best guitar I have played (owned now!) The humbucker is very high output, very quiet, and has a good balance of tone (not all treble). The humbucker and the middle pickup gives a nice crunchy sound. The combinations of the neck and middle give off nice, rich, blusey sounds. Very nice.

I tried my best to find anything wrong with this guitar before I bought it. The price you pay for the USA strat is not just for the label! Maybe I just got a gem, but this guitar is flawless. The only thing that might need replacing is the somewhat cheap looking tone and volume knobs (easily replaced).

I have only had this guitar for a week.

N/A

I love this guitar. Yes, I was coming off a Squier, and yes, I have had it a week. I do not care. This guitar will last me for a great many years and I do not plan on going professional, so it doesn't matter. All i wanted was a guitar that can play well and I got it. (And if you stare at it too long, you will go blind from the mirror-like fininsh) :-)

This is a 1997 USA made sunburst Lonestar Strat with a tortoise pickguard and a nice flamed neck. I but some chrome barrel knobs on her too. I think her features have been described well before so let's move on.

I like to TRY and play SRV, Bonnie Raitt, and such. She does this extremely well of course. Lenny sounds great on the neck pickup. Position 2 is great for steady blues rhythms. I hardly ever use the other positions. I play bars and play her through a Crate GX60C which works for me. Our sets are mainly acoustic through a PA but for blues songs I just play her straight through the amp.
Recently I've been playing some ZZ Top but I can't get that Gibson sound from the humbucker!
I can't really tell the difference between this guitar with the Texas Specials and the American Standard with the Deltatone blahblahblah! Maybe I'm not good enough but I can't tell.

I bought her used and it had a lot of buzz on the D and G strings. So I set the action a little higher. Also, I had to raise the pickups to get "my" sound. She looks great but I can't get the action down without creating a lot of buzz. Nut, finish, etc. are great.

I'm sure she will. I gigged with her a couple of times and I am not bringing a backup anymore. In fact I sold my backup! I can always grab an acoustic of course.

Don't know

I've been playing electrics for three years, first a Japanese Tele Thinline, now the Strat. I had classical training for three years in elementary school but didn't pick up acoustics till I started college. My Guild JF30 is my main guitar for our gigs, for some bluesy stuff I pull out the strat. I also play a Takamine EG330C as my drop D guitar. If she was stolen I'd buy another Strat and perhaps--depending on my cash reserves--try Lindy Fralin's or Joe Barden's. I like the look of the humbucker in the bridge. A friend of mine says it breaks the line of the guitar but I like it. The chrome barrel knobs make her look so much better too!

1999 US Corona California model. The S/S/H Texas Specials / Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates config has been described in detail in previous reviews, which I won't rehash. Master volume, two tone - one for singles, one for hum. Unlike the typical single coil strat applications, the tone pot for the humbucker actually makes the pickup sound better (too damn harsh/bright/brittle wide open), and I find myself using the hum more and more as I get used to it. Strictly a single coils guy before. The Pearly Gates is a good bit hotter than the Specials, so switching back & forth requires some knob twiddling.
The cool thing about this particular guitar is that it's the (apparently) new for 99 SOLID ash body model in the transparent Sienna Sunburst, which is a kind of semi-transparent red two-color job. I am ordinarily not a fan of sunburst finishes (except on Telecasters), and I was looking for a Shoreline Gold one based on the 98 catalog, but could not find one anywhere in town. I looked up on the wall in the third shop I went to though, and there She was. Beautiful. The ash body is made from ONE piece of wood, which is very unusual on a run-of-the-mill production guitar, because the trees aren't usually big enough to make a one-board body, and the ones that are get sent to the custom shops. Even the edges of the burst finish are transparent, so I can see the grain all the way around, and the very experienced luthier I took it to for set-up take-apart once-over agreed that it was one solid piece. People come up to me and say "That's a beautiful guitar, what year is it?". To which I have to say "Well it's, uhh, new".
One piece maple neck and fretboard (i.e., no separate fingerboard glued onto the neck - the whole neck is carved from a single piece of wood). Die cast tuners, otherwise usual American Standard Strat fare, but also the casket case with the vintage orange velvet lining - way cool.

I have two Strats and play them both through a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and Mesa/Boogie Subway Blues (except when my Kid's doing her homework and I plug the overdrive pedal into my little battery powered Pignose - which is an absolute riot, by the way). Great sounding. Much wider variety of sounds with the Tx Specials and the Hum compared to my basic American Standard. I had never really been much of a believer in all the hoopla about tonewood and so on for electrics - just a way to jack up the price for posseurs - especially with a floating bridge and sprung-suspended pickups. I still don't know how much of the tone difference I'm getting from this guitar is from wood and how much is from electronics, but I can feel the string vibrations through the body on this one much more clearly than through my other one, so it definitely has a different resonant quality. Solid, quiet electronics; hotter than my Am Std.

Excellent, really, and I was surprised here. I've read and heard all the Fender horror stories like everybody else, but I love Strats and I wanted another one that I could switch between with the Am Standard but that would also have its own personality (and the Pearly Gates makes playing ZZ Top kind of stuff a lot more fun). Besides, I broke a string on the Am Std so I had to buy a new guitar, didn't I? :-)
Because of all the horror stories, I took the thing straight from the store to the expert luthier everyone around here uses. I asked him to block the trem, go over the whole thing, setup, strobe tune, etc, and to look specifically for the kind of manufacturing defects and shortcuts and everything people are always talking about.
He found it to be square, plumb, tight neck joint, everything where it should be, and only needed to tweak the truss rod and move the bridge saddles around a little to get it perfectly into spec.
The action is great - low with just a little buzz on the big E at 2 and 3 when I'm sloppy. The one-piece neck / fretboard is very smooth and fast, and the finish is silkier and more even than some of the crappy older Fender maple fretboards I've fooled around with. Very very nice - no drag when I have a thumb hooked over the top running up the neck in a Texas blues groove, and bends are slick and infinitely adjustable - none of the grabbiness I'm used to trying to bend on rosewood.

Has straplocks. I've knocked it off the stand with my other guitar a couple of times but it doesn't seem to have hurt it any. Looks and feels solid and should last as long as I want it to.

Never dealt with them.

I have heard all the Fender disaster stories, but this guitar is excellent and I am happy and relieved. I have also heard all kinds of things about how American Strats are made out of alder veneered poplar and the solid colored ones are half bondo or something like that. One day I will take my Am Std out back and grind all the paint off it just to see. Not today though. I can tell you personally that this here Lonestar is one piece of solid ash wood with a one piece solid maple neck and there ain't no bondo to be seen anywheres.
I expected to be at least a little disappointed, and was really pretty anxious about dropping a grand on it, but after two weeks I am really very happy with this guitar. I recommend it. For a production instrument it is well made and is an excellent value compared to what some other axes are going for these days.
If it were lost or stolen I'd buy another one.

This U.S.A. made Hot Rodded American Lone Star Strat is one very nice guitar. It features 22 medium-jumbo frets, 5 way pickup selector, 2 Texas Special pickups (one in the neck position, one in the middle) and 1 Seymour Duncan custom wound Pearly Gates Humbucker at the bridge. I have the Shoreline Gold finish with the rosewood fingerboard. The body is contoured alder and the neck is one piece maple with a 25.5" length and a 9.5" radius. The electronics are all passive and the controls are 1 volume, 2 tones. The bridge is a 2-point synchronized tremelo. The tuners are Deluxe Fender Die Cast.
This guitar is very well rounded. The features give you the opportunity to get just about any sound you want. It doesn't seem to do any one thing great but it can do just about everything very good. If I had to choose just one electric guitar out of all the ones I have previously owned/played I would take the Lone Star hands down.
The price included the tolex case, three sets of strings, a strap and a cord. *IMORTANT* The strings, strap and cord came with it because I ASKED FOR THEM. The dealers won't always throw stuff in but it never ever hurts to ask. You may be very happily suprised. I just bought a Standard Tele that had a small nick in the finish on the back of the body. I asked for $50 off the price and got $30 off. I was going to buy the guitar anyway but now I'm 30 bucks richer because I asked one simple question. Think about it.

I have been playing guitar (non-professional) for 12 years. Ten of those years I mainly played and listened to hard rock (Satriani, Vai, Van Halen, Nuno, George Lynch). Then the blues found me! Personally I have never liked a single coil pick-up in the bridge pos.(too twangy, crappy distorted sound). The Pearly Gates humbucker in this guitar (distorted) produces one of the best crunchy, throaty, mean meaty sounding tones I have ever heard. The Texas Specials are perfect for electric texas blues (SRV, Duarte, Corey Stevens) and the clean tone through the neck position is extremely full and brilliant. Very nice jazz tones.
I haven't noticed any out of the ordinary noise coming from the pick-ups.
I play straight through a Roland Blues Cube 310.

I have moved the saddles around a bit from the factory setting but otherwise have left it the same as new. I haven't had to adjust the truss rod but the fretboard has contracted some and the frets have popped on the sides a bit. (It's rather dry here in Fairbanks' Alaska) I raised the humbucker a bit but have left the Specials alone.
If you like the neck action on Ibanez' and/or Gibsons you might not like the neck too much at first. I have been playing Jems for ten years and it took me quite awhile to get the feel of this neck. The Jems seem to be a lot flatter across the fretboard (larger radius) than the Strats. But if you stick with it you'll really learn to like it. I have no problems with arppegios and fast tremelo picking. And the blues feel and chording are right there everytime.
The fit and finish are really top notch. I sold my Ibanez Steve Vai Floral to buy this guitar (no regrets). The Vai is a top end model ($1500) and this Lone Star is right on par with quality and workmanship.

I don't play live but I play at least a couple of hours every day. It is handled and moved around alot. I take excellent care of my guitars but stuff happens ya know? After at least a couple dozen coffee table bumps, wall bangs, chairs thumps, doggie tip overs and head stock stabbings, two years later the finish is still MINT! I am very impressed!
I don't use the whammy and it never needs tuning until I put on a new set of strings. I have been using 10 tops and 11 bottoms for strings
My only gripe so far is that when I get into heavy vibrato on the fretboard I can hear a rattle coming from the spring cage in the back. I haven't taken time to look into it yet but I think one of the springs is acting up. Maybe it's not hooked right.

Never had to get ahold of them.

I purchased this guitar just over two years ago and it has been the only electric I play. I actually wanted a 3 color sunburst but there were none in the country (I know. I checked.). I thought I was settling for second best with the Shoreline Gold but after the salesman over the phone (I bought this guitar sight unseen) insisted that it was one of the best looking guitars he's ever seen I decided to go for it. I am so glad I did. This guitar has all of the best qualities of all the axes I have owned and then some.
The very best thing about this model of Strat is the vesatility. It really seems handle every different genre I throw at it. And easily. From super cruchy distortion and screaming leads to texas blues and the rich sounds of jazz.
If it was lost or stolen I would buy another just as soon as the tears dried.
After a lot of thought I really can't think of one thing I dislike about it. All right I'll try...it doesn't have a handy carrying handle like my Vai did.
I have just purchased a Standard Tele (mexico) 3 color sunburst today. I'll tell ya about that one later.

USA made, Alder body (I hope; rumors abound about 9?-97 USA Fenders with POPLAR {AAIGH} bodies...anyone confirm this? email me please! Thanx), 2 Texas Specials (cool) and a Pearly Gates Plus Seymour Duncan Humbucker. Rosewood fretboard with med-jumbo frets. Cool features, enuf to keep me happy. I'm not big on a bunch of coil-splitting, coil-tapping, in/out phase switches...I like it simple...

Sounds great. Bedroom player through a Fender Deluxe 112 plus, an economy amp, but I aspire to own one of those new Carvin Vai Legacy combos. They sound killer...anyway, I mostly play rock/punk kind of stuff which the Pearly Gates is wonderful for. I can't play lead for sh*t, but when I practice the Texas Specials get some nice bluesy tones. My blues-God friend says it has lots of bite and really loves it. He comes over just to nic it for a few licks now and again.

The finish caught my eye on this one. I thought I was happy with my SonicBlue AmStd (it's a 97...is it poplar or alder? someone please let me know! thanx!) until this Shoreline gold beauty caught my eye. I love this color, just killer. I plugged it in and was sold. The setup was okay, had to set the tremolo flush, and the nut could be prettier, but it works. Stays in tune pretty good.

Had for about 2 years with barely a scratch. Still looks brand new! I would still bring my Sonic as a backup...just to be safe...

I hear Fender is just terrible...I personally never had a problem where I had to deal with them personally...

I have been playing for about 3 years or so...being in the military I don't have the time to dedicate practice time as I would like...being in the field for a month is a bitch...but I have 3 USA Strats and I love them all, although I may get a Warmoth Ash body for my Sonic Strat. I also have an Ovation Std Balladeer and an Epiphone LesPaul STD(what was I thinking!!). If I had to do it all over again...I would've waited because Fender has better warranty today, and cooler finishes. If this guitar were stolen, I'd save up and get a G&L. They are, to quote the late Leo Fender, "The best guitars I have ever made"...cool...

This is an update.I've had my Lone Star for two years and became increasingly frustrated with the midranginess of the Texas Specials. I made a pickup change. My Lone Star Strat is now a Fralin Strat.

I put Lindy Fralin Vintage Strat single coils at the neck and middle and what a difference.The tone is much more balanced and gone is the midrange "boxy" sound I was getting.The Fralins are clear where the Texas Specials were muddy. Now, I must say that part of the problem is my beloved Bassman Re Issue which I love to pieces. It is midrangy amp to start with. It just is not a good match for midrangy pickups. If I had a Blackface amp I think the problem may not have occurred.
This has also had me rethink the issue of "hot" pickups. Maybe Danny Gatton was right....get your tone and make the volume up at the amp.
Just some food for thought if you're going to buy a Lone Star. By the way, if you're going to get a Am Standard or Mexi standard get the Fralins..you won't be sorry.

See Sound

This is an update to my previous submission: If you read my other submission, and indeed many other submissions from Lone Star owners, you will see that the single coils sound a little un-strat-like and that the humbucker is trebly. In my submission, I noted how the tremelo spring tension has a lot to do with the sound/sustain/bending, etc. My submission had me wondering about this so I've been playing with it. I removed the two of the three stock springs and replaced them with two aftermarket springs of slightly higher tension.
AN IMMEDIATE AND AMAZING DIFFERENCE IN SOUND QUALITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The guitar has retained its sustain, yet the single coils have become noticably sharper in sound and the humbuck slightly less trebly. Sounds unbelievable, yet it is so!
I think that this is the sound that Fender wanted the guitar to have, but I also think that somewhere between Fender's R and D people and the factory, somebody decided to save money and put the incorrect springs into the guitar. Or maybe it's an honest mistake. Whatever it is, the springs were the cause of my few dissapointments. Now, with slightly more tension, the single coils are less muddy and the guitar reacts much better to bending, while retaining its amazing sustain.
Anyone who has a problem with the muddiness of the Texas Specials -- It might be in the bridge and not the pickups!!!!

1998 Lone Star Stratocaster. 22 Frets, contoured alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Metalic teal body. 2 point tremelo. Fender non-locking tuners. Chrome hardware. 9.5" neck. 1 volume, one tone for positions 2-5, one tone for the bridge humbucker. 5 way select. 2 Texas Specials and a SD Pearly Gates Plus in the bridge. So, it is an American Standard with some high zoot options.
Plus a nice case.

Hmm. How to put this? The Lone Star is its own beast. It has it's own personality, one which is really unlike the standard strat sound which, when we say "strat," comes to mind.
The sound is produced by a combination of pickups, woods, AND BRIDGE. The two point bridge has some rather weak springs holding it down. When I first got the guitar and was fooling with string guages, I put a heavy set of elevens on, tuned up, looked at my bridge to see the tremelo an inch out of the base. Just sticking right up. The weak springs couldn't hold it in. So, I bought a set and added two stronger springs in the base. Sure, it held the tremelo down, BUT THE SOUND CHANGED DRAMATICALLY! Went from a warm, clear, almost acoustic sound when playing the single coils clean, to a sterile sound, with little sustain. So, I set it back up as stock, with 9's and the three stock springs.
On to the sound: As in the other reviews, the Texas Specials are love-em or leave-em pickups. I like them, and adjust my amp settings to boost the high a little to offset the strong middle. They make for wonderful clean players, and I also like to play them through my Blue Doo pedal with very little distortion just to get the rich tube sound that the pedal delivers. Of course, they sound great distorted. If you are going to play heavy distorition, you don't use the single coils because the bridge humbucker is excellent. I have to agree with others who have commented that the humbucker is too trebly to play clean -- it is. But distorted, WOW. Heavy distortion and this humbucker is an awesome combo. A crunchy, 3-dimensional sound.
I find myself only using 3 of the 5 positions: The humbucker, the slit between the humbucker and the middle TS, and the split position between the two TSs. The neck and mid single coils give off this loud hum which is annoying. When you play, you can not hear the hum, but when you are sitting there, it bothers you. So, the split positions of 2 and 4 are quiet and sound rich, so I use these.
The great thing about this guitar is what you can do with it: Blues to heavy metal at the flick of a switch. You can play rythm, switch to lead and get a dramatic change in your sound. This makes it a super versital guitar, in my mind. Kind of a Paul/Strat combo.
I have a love-hate relationship with the tremelo. With my other strat, which has a traditional tremelo with six screws, Every little finger inflection is reflected in a dramatic tonal response. With the two point, because the tremelo moves a little more with each inflection, it absorbs some of the bend. On the other hand, it really gives this full, rich sustain for rythm work. So, I have not figured out what I'm going to do with it yet....

Beautiful. Gorgeous. Most beautiful strat I've ever seen. great neck, great action. No buzzes, nice frets. Beautiful paint. No complaints.

I haven't had it all that long, but it seems super solid. A well made instrument. But I don't feel that I can give a number.

I don't know. Thankfully, I have not needed customer support.

I've been playing a year, and own a Washburn HB 35 with SD 59s, and a Mexican made Powerhouse Strat. This is the nicest of my guitars from a versatility and construction standpoint. It was a lot of money, for me, but I love to play it. If it were stolen, I would want another, and would problably look for a used one. For some reason, this guitar is loved or hated, depending on the owner, and you can find them advertised used for reasonable prices. I'm glad I bought this one new, because it is such a nice guitar, however. I also bought it from a smaller shop, so the price was about 25 bucs more than I could have bought it from a mega-store, but I like supporting the little guy.
This guitar has really made me fall in love with the sound of a humbucker, and I have a new respect for my Washburn, which was for sale but I now couldn't bear to part with. I was a strict single coil guy before this guitar, so I guess I'm a convert. This guitar, for me, represents the great compromise: The fender fit, feel and sound, plus the bonus of a humbucker for jamming. And that, in my opinion, makes it the ultimate guitar for ME.

1996 model. 2 texas special (neck, mid), and 1 Seymour Duncan(bridge). Mine is white with a brown shell pickguard. Maple neck. It came with a coffin looking hard case. What else do you need? very good I'll get it a 9. Nothing in the world deserves a 10

Played through a Fender Princeton Chorus (weird and useless effect) it sounds just like a strat is expected to sound. Bright and clean. The brigde pick up gives a fairly good distorsion through the overdrive channel.

Everything ok but the action. Too high for me. I lowered the bridge and this would cause fret buzzing. The curvature of the neck I think it is accurate. I went back to the store and tried different strats, but they all had this problem. They salesman said that if you want low acction, you get the buzzing. Finish fine

Looks like this guitar will last a long long time. Solid and tender at the same time.

The company is overseas. I haven't dealt with them.

This is my first real electric guitar. Before this I had an electrified piece of wood from the far east. I don't even think it had a name. Besides I have an acoustic Takamine and a spanish flamenco guitar, but I had always wanted a strat. All my heros used one. Love the way it feel in your hands. Very playable. The maple neck turns me on. The buzzing problem is not that important when you play it through the amp (well somtimes, at night, i play it unplugged). Any suggestions about this will be welcome. If it were stolen or lost my wife would kill me, (it cost me a fortune - 1300 US$!!!)but I would manage to come back to life and buy a new one or steal it from another fool.

Made in the USA. A 1997 model. 5 way selector. It has two texas special pickups & a seymor duncan pearly gate humbucker. It has the rosewood neck with a vintage sunburst finish & dark brown pickguard. The strat has medium jumbo frets. It has the floating tremolo. It came with a case. I looked at buying from Willis Music shop but you had to buy a case. The salesman at Willis admited it should come with a case but they never seemed to make it to the store.

It sounded good for playing blues. It was pretty much the sound I was looking for. I use a Fender silver faced twin, a Fender hot rod deville (Fender put the wrong plate on the amp, listing as a deluxe), Peavey backstage, Boss distortion & overdrive, dod delay & dunlop wah wah. It has a good sound. It has a barrelhouse type sound & a rock type sound. I like the tone.

The setup from the factory was affected by the temperature differance that required adjustment. The place where I bought it refused to adust it stating they would not adjust from factory specs. I took it to another place & he looked at it & refused to adjust it because the neck was bowed so bad. He said I should return the guitar. I took it back & they sent it to a factory authorized service center. They said they couldn't find anything wrong with it but adjusted it. It still was not adjusted the way I wanted it. I also did not like the size of the strings. They were 11+. I put on 10+. This threw everything out of whack. I tried to adjust it but still have not got it right. I don't see why the music store can't adjust it the way you want.This is poor service.

I would say the reliability & durability would be good if I could get Fender to set up the guitar properly. I don't see why they won't set a guitar up to meet your specs. You pay enough. I would not call Fender a musician freindly company. The finish & other things are satisfactory but what good is it if they will not set it up properly. I'm the one that's playing it. I don't need them to tell me how I should play.

I really can't say very good things about the music store I bought the guitar from. They adjusted the neck to how they think I should play it but I still am not assured the neck is not seriously bowed like one guitar tech told me. I'd say customer support stinks. I don't thing I would ever buy another piece of new Fender equipment & am thinking about getting rid of all the Fender gear I have. I have a new Fender amp that has a loose connection & the wrong nameplate on it. I also had an acoustic Fender guitar that had a faulty neck on it & they had to give me back my money but only after I complained about the buzzing & they said it would ruin my playability. Turned out that Fender was having trouble with the necks in that particular model.

I have been playing for over 30 yrs. I have a Epiphone Sheraton, a American standard strat, an Electra les paul copy, a Takemine 341C, a Yamaha acoustic six string & classical, a Dixon 12 string, a Fender silver faced twin, a Fender hot rod deville, a Peavey backstage, a Boss distortion & overdrive, a dod delay, a dunlop wah wah & a cabinet with 12" JB Lansing speakers. I'll never buy another new Fender piece of equipment. They don't care about quality for the average customer. They give all kinds of free stuff to establised artists to sell more junk. Since I was a kid I wanted Fender equipment but could not afford it till recently. I had junk when I was a kid & I got junk now. I played other peoples Gibson SG's when I was a kid & old Fenders & thought they were great but bought this new Fender stuff & I regret it.

Just like an American Standard, but Texas Specials in the neck and bridge positions, Seymour's Pearly Gates Humbucker in the bridge. Maple neck, Shoreline Gold Finish. Stock tuners. Strats are not typically loaded with features, but I gave it a coumple of bumps up for the groovy finish and the pickups.

Blues, blues/rock, (SRV, no kidding!)alternative, crunch, this axe really cuts it. The number 4 bridge/middle position really surprised me, considering the HB in the bridge. Better than any single coil combo I've ever had, this is my fifth Strat. Rich and full, not particularly bright but enough detail in the highs; I find that rather than rolling the tone back a bit like I did on other Srats I can leave tone controls on 10. Good cluck in the 2 and 5 positions. Good, full neck positition sound, warm and clear. I can even play a strum rhythm with the bridge HB in clean settings. Screamin' lead.
Dislike: seems silly like what else could you expect, but I miss getting a real good twang out of the bridge position

GREAT action and tremolo setup, right off the wall. I have a love/hate relationship with my Strats. I love to fiddle with the setup, but hate HAVING to fiddle with the setup. I usually use 010s or 011s, but this Strat feels great with 009s so, big breath, I'm going to leave it alone.
The guitar feels very solid, it has great sustain and rings very true. The needle on my tuner doesn't even waver as I'm tuning up.
I HAD to replace the nut. I went with the newer Wilkinson roller. The guitar would not, would not, stay in tune. Why did I buy it? Tone, feel, it feel like it has a soul.
I went into check out the Texas Specials, saw the Lonestar on the wall, plugged it into a JCM-900 half-stack, and found a new religion. So, I felt it was worth the upgrade/repair. I don't see how Fender could have shipped it, actually. Without this one very bad flaw, I would have given this category a 10.

Rock solid. I don't know that much about finishes, but it's absolutely clean and seems like it'll stay that way if shown a little respect. I rarely take only one guitar to a rehearsal, and NEVER take only one to a gig. I just love to switch back and forth. But, if I had to choose one, it would probably be the Lonestar.

1 year warranty, I think. Haven't needed to use it. The nut upgrade was not covered, of course.

Playing for 30 years, I play through a JMP-1 preamp and Butler power (handmade in Michigan by Max Butler, 60W, two EL34s) for rock/alt stuff, a combination of tweed Pro 1X15 and blackface Vibrolux 2X10 for blues. I have a tired 10 year old Strat Plus (hence the search for new pickups), a Hamer Studio Archtop w/Seymour P90s, and a Robin Ranger Custom. My main axes.
I'd definitely buy another one if this one was lost. I'd have to ask if it would stay in tune, though.
I love the SRV/Robert Cray thing it does for blues, the jangle and crunch for rock, and it does a great David Gilmour, too.

Well you've probably read the other reviews already but basically, it's just a strat with better pick ups and tortoise shell scratch plate

I play mostly blues (SRV, Kenny Wayne Shepard) and a bit of rock. It suits my style. The two single coils at the neck and middle are great but I'm not to keen on the humbucker at the bridge, it doesn't suit what I play

The guitar was in great condition when I got it. The action was quite low but not stupidly so. The pick ups were adjusted well. I had a bit of trouble setting the floating bridge to the right hight when I put heavier strings on, but that was no real problem. The hardware is brushed steel so its going to be looking good for years to come

Its a really well constructed. If I could a back up, I wouldn't need it with this guitar on my shoulder. Its well built and looks as if I'll be using it for years

I got a bit of a problem with a noisy selector switch which is going to be sorted out soon at the shop. It's under a years garentee, but I'm sure I'm not going to need to use it for anything else

Until I bought this guitar I had a squire strat which is usless in comparison

Im not too crazy about it, especailly for the price. I dont know y i bought it. First of all the Pearly Gates humbucker is way too low. I tried adjusting it up, but it wont go that high dammit. The main reason i dont know why i bought it is because i hate maple. I own 2 Les Paul Standards and 1 SG Standard and i love ebony. I just cant get good sound or feel out of the maple. This is not a Gibson lovers guitar.

Like i said, I really cant get too good of a sound outa the maple and the humbuckers too low.I bought a Fender Vibrolux to go with it and it flat out sucks.

This is the only thing i really like about it. I like the look of a black strat with a tortise shell pickguard.

No complaints. I've had guitars that would fall apart in months if you played em too hard and this isnt 1 of those.

If you dont buy something theyre about as helpful as a tissue after a 2 hour shit.

Ive been playin for about 15 years and i almost never put the guitar down. I even tried fuckin and playin once, but it didnt work out too well. It might be a good guitar to a Fender lover, but im just not 1. I made a mistake in askin for it as a present from a friend.Look into it be4 u buy.

My guitar is a 1997 Lone Star Strat made in the good ol' U.S.A.It has a 22 fret maple fretboard, one volume control, two tone controls, a five way pickup selector that chooses between two Texas Specials or a Seymour Duncun humbucker. The guitar is black with a turtle shell pick guard.

I like to play 60's and 70's rock'n'roll like Jimi Hendrix and Cream to Aerosmith and Black Sabboth.I play through a Marshall Valvestate 30R.The Lone Star and my amp put together makes the perfect sound for the music I play.I love to use my humbucker for the overdrive channel. When I have my clean channel on I don't use my humbucker because it sounds to trebely.I usually use my middle range pickups.

I think my guitar has the best action. I love maple fretboards. There is no other fretboard I'd rather play.My guitar is in great condition and plays great.The Lone Star is very easy to break in.After the first month I felt like I had the guitar for ten years.

I'm planning on using this guitar for a very,very long time.I've used this guitar playing live with my band and needless to say it produced extremely well.I was playing ryhthm and I believe this is a lead guitar.But either way it plays good.

I got this guitar about six months ago.I don't even worry about the warranty because I know it will last me a long time if not longer. I strongly suggest this guitar to a lead guitar player.

I've been playing for about three years and this is the best guitar that I've come across so far.If someone stole this guitar from me I'd hunt him down and whip his a**.My favorite feature is the maple fretboard.I love this guitar.

'98 Model. Basically an American Standard with different pickups. One thing I liked about the American Standard was that the back was solid, no back plate. My Lone Star is Shorline Gold, my hat goes off to Fender for selection of this finish. S/S/H pickup configuration, 5 way selector switch and three tone nobs(bottom tone nob controls humbucker). The mid and neck pickups are Texas Special single coils and the Bridge is a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates Humbucker. Came with a hard case and cable and I think a strap but the music store shafted me on that one.

Perfect. Strats are the most versatile guitars and this is the most versatile strat. I play it through a fender Hot Rod Deluxe, with a Morley volume/wah/dirt pedal and a Danelectro Daddy O overdrive. The neck and mid pickups give great blues/texas blues tones on clean and the humbucker is great for dirtier stuff. I play mostly Classic Rock (Stones, Allman Brothers, CCR,) and some blues(SRV) with a sort of "country" twist. It is great for all my styles

Sexual Chocolate!!! Every thing is perfect, and the maple neck is very playable.

Very durable from what I've seen. Solid strap buttons. If this guitar were a person, I would trust it with my life.

Never had a problem.

I love this guitar, I compared it with the Stevie Ray Vaughn Stat and the Clapton Strat and several Vintage Strats. I would buy it again should I ever have this musch money for a guitar again. Don't get the model with the rosewood fretboard, they are very often flawed on the edges of the fretboard.

BASICALLY AN AMERICAN STANDARD STRAT WITH A TORTOISE SHELL GUARD A PEARLY GATES BRIDGE HB AND TEXAS SPECIALS MIDDLE & NECK SINGLE COILS.ONE PIECE MEDIUM (READ:SKINNY) MAPLE NECK AND STANDARD HARDWARE AND TREMOLO.

NOT EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR.THE PICKUPS ARE HOT WITH NO DETAIL WHEN YOU PLAY CLEAN (A GOOD STRAT NEEDS LOW OUTPUT PICKUPS LIKE LINDY FRALIN OR CUSTOM SHOP 54/S TO REALLY SHINE).THE BRIDGE HB HAS A GOOD (BUT QUITE GENERIC) OVERDRIVE SOUND AND A HORRIBLE CLEAN SOUND.THE IN-BETWEEN PU POSSITIONS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THE AUTHENTIC STRAT SOUND.ALSO THE OVERENGINEERED TWO POINT TREMOLO DOES NOT LEND TO AN AUTHENTIC SOUND.(I BELIEVE THAT THE VINTAGE STYLE TREMOLOS SOUND SO MUCH BETTER!).THIS GUITAR COULD BE GOOD FOR PLAYERS WHO LOOK FOR A ?BROWN? SOUND.IF YOU WANT A CLASSIC SPANKY CLEAN STRAT SOUND BUY A 50/S JAPANESE REISSUE IT SIMPLY KICKS ASS ON THIS LONESTAR (AND COSTS 3 TIMES LESS). ONE VERY IMPORTANT FACTOR FOR THE WEAK SOUND IS THE SKINY NECK. IF YOU WANT A GOOD SOUND GET SERIOUS AND BUY A GUITAR WITH A NICE CHUNKY FATBACK NECK (IT WILL CURE YOUR TUNEL CARPAL SYNDROME TOO!)

GOOD FINISH AND SET UP.

SEEMS PRETTY WELL BUILT

FENDER HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY GOOD TO ME

I DON/T THINK THIS GUITAR IS A REAL STRAT. ALL JAPANESE REISSUES ARE MUCH BETTER. I EXCHANGED IT WITH A CUSTOM SHOP 50/S STRAT AND THERE IS SIMPLY NO COMPARISON!EXTREMELY OVERPRICED (IT DOES NOT EVEN HAVE AN ASH BODY WHICH IS IMPORTANT FOR A MAPPLE NECK FENDER!)

It has an olympic white body, 22 frets, made in the good ole' USA, come stock with 2 Texas special pick-ups and 1 pearly gates seymore duncan humbucker, standard fender tuners, basically a beefed up standard.

I play mostly rock and a little alternative suits bot nicely, i use it through a Peavy 112s, not really noticeably noicy on any of the settings, it can go from a great distored sound good with solos, to a good distorted rythem, to a good clean rythem, no dislikes.

Guitar was set up well from factory, no complaints.

I think Ill have this guitar for many years to come, a very sturdy guitar.

Never dealt with the company, comes with a 5 year limited warranty.

Ive only been playing about a year and own a dean ss1 and an old alvarez acoustic. When I went to the store I played one just like it and compared it with a cali strat, a tele, a prs, and a peavy wolfgang, overall i liked this one best for its price. Only thing I wish it had is locking tuners that bout it.

Alrighty! Two Texas Specials. One in the neck, and one in the middle. In the bridge: A custom wound Pearly Gates. Maple neck. The rest of the guitar is pretty much like an American Standard.

First off I have to say I that I have problems. Everything sounds great and feels great at the music store. It's not until you have spent some quality time with the instrument that you realize that something is wrong with the relationship. I guess it's kinda like dating. Or marriage! You have to live with them before you marry them so you know what you're in for.
I'm not a real genuine Strat man. No where near it. Other guys sound good with good Strats, but not me. The way I play I need something that sounds thicker-er. But I wanted something to give me that Strat sound if I needed it. kinda like a paint brush. What I eventually did was change everything on it to suit my needs.
It sounded like a nice generic Strat that was fairly versatile. I like the Texas Specials but if you are going to claim that it's a hotter single coil be hotter! Hotter that what? Sounded luke warm to so-so to me. Like what a normal good Strat should sound like. Or in this case a new good Strat. It's not hot to my ears. Just a nice sounding fat single coil sound with that faux SRV tone. The Pearly Gates didn't do a thing for me. Very trebly and screechy! No balls! I never expected it to sound like a Paul but it didn't sound like anything I could use.
Like I said I'm not a big Strat man. I prefer thick and beefy humbucker tones. I just couldn't live with the guitar the way it was and since I have the knowledge and ability to work on guitars, I went wild!

I was lucky and got a good one as far as action, frets, and all the rest. The body was good and had great acoustic tonality. When a guitar sounds good without the amp, then you know you've got a good one. Later on I realized that the neck felt thin.

I can be more reckless with this guitar than others that I own. It's just a great gig guitar. It didn't cost that much and stands up to abuse very well.

N/A

I like it because it's cheap and gives me the materials to do what I want with it. I wouldn't do this to a PRS Custom.
Surgery and Tranplantation: I got rid of the neck. After a while the neck just felt kinda thin. Felt great in the store but later on I just wanted something with some meat on it. Maybe I shoulda got the Jeff Beck Strat. I went to Perfomance Guitar in Hollywood and they made me a Stat neck that was modeled after the thickness of a Yamaha SBG3000. I was playing this guitar alot at the time and I was really into those big ole' necks. They did a great job.
Then I went through a shit load of various pickups and after months finally settled on a Duncan 59' in the neck, a Duncan Hot Single coil in the middle (You think Texas Specials are hot. No way! This one is the hot one!), and a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge(Buttery Bottom!).
It's a completely different guitar now and fits my playing style and style of music which is progressive Blues/Jazz/Rock. This guitar works! Warm Jazz tones, Blues overdrive, High Velocity Rock Screaming, and Country Spank!
Another thing is that the wood is already routed out under the pickguard so you don't have to do any cutting or routing. You can pick out all kinds of cool pickguards with various humbucker variations and be you.
If you are into doing your own thing and not just playing anything off the rack I recommed getting something like this or even better a regular American Standard. The bodies are nice, just make sure that you get a neck on it that you want to marry for life. That's the one mistake I made. After that you can customize the sucker anyway you want it. Have your own Signature model Strat!

All the same features of an American Strat except the Lone Star includes 2 Texas Special Pickups and 1 Pearly Gates Humbucker. A hardshell case , strap, and cord was included. Y'know, all the basics!

I love the 2 Texas Specials on this guitar. Someone said before that these pickups are "thin sounding", I HIGHLY DISAGREE! They are overwound, hot pickups, thin? I don't think so! These pickups have tons of punch and bite, and the humbucker cuts through with tons of mid and high. THIS GUITAR WAS TAILORED FOR LEAD MEN! Not for guys who stand in the background with no voice(last 2 submissions...). I use this Guitar w/ a VOX AC30, a Prosonic Combo, and a Mesa Boogie Trem-o-Verb, and screams on each! It really shines w/ a class A amp. Only one complaint: positions 1,3,and 5 are a tad noisy, but you can live with it.

Whenever you buy a guitar, you should give it a good look over, unless you are an idiot. This guitar was in perfect condition. Enough said.

I've had this guitar for about 2 years, been abusing heavily, and it's fine. Can't complain here.

I can help myself, thank you very much!

I would buy it again, definitely! This guitar is super versatile, and has lots of flavor and tonal quality, with excellent worksmanship! This guitar will scream for you or be a smooth rythm tool for you. The Last 2 submissions who gave the Lone Star mediocre reviews with the impression that they don't care for the guitar much bothered me. Then why did you geniuses buy it? You two obviously can't handle this guitar-you probably can't play lead, as this guitar demands it. This guitar feels, looks, sounds, and plays fantastic! Everyone I know agrees! Go to the music store and let your ears be the judge!

This is basically an American Standard Strat with a bridge humbucker. It was purchased in 96 which I think is the first year they came out with them. This guitar is really well designed for versatility (even more so than the average strat). Alder body with different colors than the american standard and a pearl pickguard.

I play mostly surf style guitar. Undistorted for a surf lead I use the bridge/middle combination which has a bit of a lead tele sound and is very quiet. The humbucker is very rich (not quite to the point of a LP though) and handles a distorted lead tone very well. The key with the sound is the versatility. All five pickup selections can be used. neck gives great rhythem and jimi/stevie blues; neck/middle very good for funk/reggae; middle is for clapton blues; middle/bridge is a bit like lead tele and works great for 60's instrumental/surf; the bridge pickup is the favorite of most in this guitar and has great lead and offers the full humbucking sound that completes the versatility of this guitar. If versatility is your game it gets a 10.

I picked this one guitar out of all the american standard strats and lone stars in the store (about 15). This one was the best and that is why I bought it. ALL of the others had some sort of fret lift or glue showing. This one had some not so obvious paint touch-ups right by the back of the neck. Otherwise the paint is flawless and about a millimeter thick. The pickups were staggered really well and the action was pretty good. I play it with .10-.46 strings and this works perfectly. The big frets are really nice.

This guitar is very durable and has held up well. The finish is bullet proof after decent abuse. The american hardware really is great despite my love of vintage looks and sound. The bridge works great and the guitar stays in tune. I have had no electrical problems yet. I have had the guitar for two years and there is already significant fretwear. I give it only another year before I will need to replace. I'd like to think it is due to how often I play but it still seems to be wearing too fast. Overall very good but surprising wear of the frets. Never gig without a backup.

Have not dealt with anybody.

Overall I am happy with the guitar though I am starting to want a more character guitar. I don't really like how flashy the finish is with the pearl pickguard. I actually don't think I would buy it again, though I wouldn't be surprised if I would miss it. Despite my desire for a more unique guitar you cannot beat the sound, versatilty and comfort of a strat. It seems that if you are raised on a strat you just keep coming back. They are easily the most comfortable electric and sound great.