Fender Robert Cray Strat

You know all the features and stuff.

I suggest doing a blender mod to the guitar to take a bit of the shrill sound from the bridge pup and to get that nice neck pup blend!

You have to adjust the pups to find the sweet spot. It takes some time.

Guitar needed some luthier tweeking. Some high frets at the top of neck e-b-g strings. Neck needed adjustment.

This guitar is pro all the way. Feels like you are playing an original production 62 Strat.

Ha! Fender gives customer support?

Been playing for 40 years. Let me make this perfectly clear. Once you get this MIM Strat set up, you will be blown away. This is what it is all about! Reminds me of the production strats that one could buy back in the early 60's. I have played many strats, but this is hands down my favorite! Do not be afraid of people saying it has a "chunky" neck. It is nothing like a baseball bat or anything. It is just very slightly beefier than a regular MIM strat. Super nice action! No crappy trem so it has wonderful sustain and keeps great tune with the stock machine heads. Buy it!

Robert Cray Standard Stratocaster Mexican with 21 Medium Jumbo Frets. 3 colour Sunburst with a Rosewood neck with 5-way selector & 3 Custom Vintage Strat. Body's Alder with a Polyester finish & the neck's C-shaped Maple with a Polyurethane finish.The bridge is a American Vintage Strat Strings-Through-Body Hardtail & the tuners are Fender??/Ping?? Vintage Style non- locking Tuning Machines. Came with a gig bag which I replaced with a re-issue Tweed case.

First thing you notice is when you play it straight out the box acoustically. It rings like bell & sustains well. Probably down to the hard tail. I run it through either a stereo set of a Fender Blues Deluxe & 2 Fender FM 15's or a stereo set of Marshall combos. With the Fenders I use a ProCo Deucetone, Zoom G7, Behringer EQ 700 Graphic Equalizer & a Boss DD-7. With the Marshalls I use a Zoom G9, ProCo Solo, Boss CE-1 & a CryBaby. As the old adage goes however, it sounds the best straight into a Marshall clean channel with just a little reverb. Real blues/R&B sound. Real easy to play (I've got big hands) & stays in tune better than any guitar I've ever owned in 35 years of pro playing. I've five other strats (1998 50th Anniversary Eric Clapton, '96 Powerhouse with EMG DC20's, Fender Standard Upgraded with Tex-Mexs, a Deluxe Players & a '96 re-issue) but this one wins hands down...

Nothing to dislike really...

Came out of factory A1. Needed nothing doing to it. Quality & cheap. A rarity.

I take it, the Powerhouse & the Standard live but because of different sounds & styles. I'd quite happily use it as the sole guitar.

A years warranty but being in England it means the dealer I bought it from handles everything if anything ever does happen.

Along with the Strats I have a '96 Les Paul Custom, '08 Les Paul Studio & an '08 50's Tele with an EMG Tele set. I really love the Cray & would be very, very intransigent if it were to go walkies. I definately get another.

Sunburst finish with rosewood fretboard.
3 Custom Shop single coil pups
Hard tail through the body vintage style bridge,
Vintage style tuners
Alder body. Maple neck.

Pups are a little weak, but sound great for for blues/clean/twang.
Position 2 and 4 is where it's at. Position 5 (neck pup alone) sounds great too. Bridge pup alone is to shrill for me.
Play for fun using a Spider II, 75 watt.
Also have a mid 90's Crate G-250 solid state that is so loud it will strip paint off the walls. Quantity ain't quality!

I bought it through the internet from a well known national vendor.
Crappy factory set up and to make it worse, neck adustment/trus rod screw is at the pick guard end of the neck. So... I had to take the pick gaurd off to adjust the neck. A real P.I.T.A. The neck takes some getting used to, but after adustment a a few weeks of playing it's now fine.
Will eventually replace the bridge pieces and the tuners. both feel and look Cheesy.

Seems, structually very well made and put togather.
Sunburst finish and tinted neck look great, couldn't find any flaws.

N/A

Been playing for35 years, on and off.
Haven't plaed in a band setting in about 12 years. My main guitar is a late 70's LP Deluxe w/Duncan Mini Humbuckers.
Have a 2005 MIM Tele Nashville Deluxe and a D-15 mahogany Martin.
The RC Strat fills out my collection rather nicely.
Great deal for the $$$. I played a bunch of different priced and model Strats before choosing the Robert Cray model.
I will say the the nationaly known internet sales company that I purchased this guitar from honored their promise to refund the difference in price if I should find it cheaper somewhere else.
I'm satisfied with my purchase. Both my Tele MIM and this Cray MIM are great, well made guitars and definately worth the money.
Still I meet alot of snobs that refuse to beleive in the MIMs, until they hear how great they sound. Half the $$$ of their USA made instruments.

The one I purchased is sunburst. Specs are pretty well established at this point. Mine is the Mexican built version. The guitar is very well built and looks fantastic. I couldn't find any flaws in the guitar, but the fretboard was a little rough around the top edge. It only took a couple of minutes to remedy this condition. The rest of the guitar was finished to perfection.

The sound is the best part of this guitar. It has a very stratty sound but it is full and round. The pickups are not noisy and they have a low to mid output. I use a GNX 3 Pedal which can be very difficult to tweak, but this guitar sounds good no matter what. It is pretty much the Robert Cray sound to a tee. Positions 2 and 4 have tons of quack without loss of volume.

The guitar was set up perfectly. I did not have to adjust the intonation or string height at all. I just tuned it up and started playing. There were no flaws in the guitar. My only concern was a rough edge along the fretboard, but some fretboard polish took care of that. Everything was tight and adjusted properly. I was shocked that the guitar arrived so well set up. I like the weight and feel of this guitar. As others have noted, the neck is big. Don't buy this guitar if you don't prefer the larger necks. It is very comfortable to me, but be advised, this thing has a big neck.

Everything seems very solid. I would compare the build quality with anything Fender offers in the Classic Players line. The finish is very nice and the neck is slick and fast. I think this is a very fine instrument.

No comment

I have been playing for 40 years give or take. I own five other strats which includes a very nice 50th Anniversary American Deluxe. The Robert Cray is an outstanding guitar. It has great feel, resonates like crazy, and really defines the classic strat sound.

I have the one with the violet finish. It looks very cool with the greenish pickguard. OK it was cheap on ebay, so I had no choice. The 3-color-sunburst might look the best, but this is a freaky 60 color and it tends to dark blue, so that is no girly color.
Very light guitar, because of the wood choice of the body.
The neck is a ??61-style with a really fat profile, very nice!
I nearly never use a tremolo on a strat and this one with a hardtail has more eathlike sound with more susain.
3 single coils + 5 way switch, i think it is the most versatile guitar ever!

I play Rock??n`Roll, Rock, Funk, Pop... some Jazz plus all combinations of them and this guitar is a winner for all styles.
The unplugged guitar resonates very well, also the neck resonates better without a tremolo system.
The pickups have low to medium output, that depends on the height adjustment. All in all the tone is very vintage. Warm, bell-like, but also bright with a good bite. Position 2 and 4 are very quacky, pure strat tone! You can go from the bluesy neck pu to the grinding bridge a la Chilli Peppers.
I play at home through a 18 Watt 2 channel plexi clone head (cab 2x12 with one eminence tonspotter) and a modified tweed deluxe (1x12 combo with a G12H20 anniv.), both made by Ceriatone. This guitar sounds awesome on both amps, you can get mellow jazzy tones to full grinding hard rock, tonal bliss!

I bought it used on eBay and it came with plastic sadles installed, but also came with the original steel saddles. After one try I installes immediately the original saddles and set the action in kind of way, that there is no fret buzz and as low as possible. The low e string has not the best defintion, but i can live with that flaw.
The finish is flawless.

It is a strat, it will last over 60 years...I think it will last longer than my body...;)

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I play over 20 years, from freaky funky jamming to classic rock cover project and also do some homerecording. If you want a vintagestyle strat, that??s it. Classic tone with character! I also have a modern Deluxe Locking strat and now I have each one from both worlds (vintage and modern). But I love the neck of this one more, because it is FAT!
Very good quality, muchas gracias Mexico!!!

First, let me tell you i'm french, sorry for my bad english...
1993 custom shop model i bought new in 1996.Vintage strat model with a hardtail.See fender for full features.

I use this guitar to play funk and pop in band and blues rock at home. It's a very versatile strat with all the sustain you can expect from a hardtail model.amp:fender 60w valve with 1*12, maxon od808,morley wah ,mesa boogie v-twin. The sound is very clear, punchy but it lacks some mids and harmonic richness i find in some other vintage strats.I prefer a more fat and full sound.I upgrade the p-u in 2005 with duncan texas hot antiquity,and now that's it!(very srv on the neck pickup).But i notice the cray bridge strat is very very good ( and i'm not a fan of bridge p-u)

The fret job was beautiful,very well made.The neck is a little big and difficult to play at the begining,but after some time i'd fall in love.I must tell it was my first strat and i didn't understand first how to play a strat to have a nice sound (dig in, be a man...).I do a refret in 2005 with larger and fatter frets like on my nash strat, but it's a matter of taste.
The guitar was incredibly ligth, 3.5kg.the body ,2 piece alder ,is very well made and elegantly sculpted(not like my other strat...)
The finish nearly indestructible.

Only a problem with E string break, so i use graphtech saddles.It changes the sound a bit, less full and fat but better sustain and no more string breaks! I use straplocks.
I never have any problems with this guitar, the set up was very good and never moves, i change it twice in 10 years(trussrod and saddles, thanks for the hardtail)! built to last...

never use it
she only goes to my local luthier

I play this guitar as my main guitar for ten years.But i bougth last year a 63 bill nash strat with lollar pu and the robert cray sadly now stays in the case. The nash is so easy to play with a thin neck and big frets,the sound is so rich... sorry my robert cray, rest in peace.The fender is beautiful and well made but it lacks some vibes i found in the nash,some harmonic richness. Maybe the duncan are under the lollar, or the vibrato gives a richer sound than the hardtail.The fender is a very very good guitar, but it's not the strat of my life.

This guitar has a great blend on vintage classic styling but with a more bend friendly 9.5" radius and more realistic frets. I cannot understand why fender use the vintage fretwire when these types of gauges are available. The guitar has a big neck which helps sustain. Please do not let this put you off. Keep playing a neck like this and you will grow to love it. I
The wood used on the guitar seems to be very good quality as the guitar has a nice acoustic ring with good acoustic sustain and overtones, very very impressive. Alder body with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.
Usual strat five way switch and annoying tone controls where no control works on the bridge pickup Why? why? why? surely this would be a better option. If you wouldn't use it, well, you would not lose anything but for the many that would use it, it would be a godsend.

The sound of this guitar is very impressive. Great distinction between the pickups selections and all the classic strat tones are here with a little bit more clean sustain thanks to the hardtail and lack of tremelo. I use this strat through a vintage musicman 2 x 10 and it sounds awesome. I use a keeley compressor to squeeze things up a little and a barber Ltd overdrive and Hermida Zendrive for overdriven duty. The pickups and guitar react very well to the quality effects and the complete package gives a very very honest professional fender tone.

The set up on the guitar was reasonable. I set up my own guitars, and there was a few tweaks needed. The action was a little high from the factory, but this is easily remedied with a hardtail. Just lower the saddles. The rod was a little slack, and needed to be tightened by half a turn. This is not so easy for someone less experienced. Craftmanship on the guitar is great. The paint job has a few ripples but hey, it's a working guitar and the sooner she looks a bit distressed the better. The frets are finished A1. The fingerboard is a good quality piece of rosewood. A little dry perhaps but super after a little lemon oil. I changed the tuners for a set of Gotoh's as I found the fender/ping's a little loose feeling, and the bridge saddles are terrible light tonesuckers, which I replaced with Graphtech Ferraglide's (What a difference this made to the sustain).
These upgrades are not expensive and make a world of difference to the guitar. It is now great. The woods used are very good quality, so the foundation of the guitar is excellent

Bombproof with a big man's neck. This guitar could be gigged for the next 40 years easy. Hey, these guitars have proved themselves, they can work hard and still sound good for it.

Fender are unapproachable, everyone knows, they cannot back up their product with customer care, I suppose this is due to the amount of damn guitars they sell. If one in ten owners contacted them for advice, they would need a call centre to take the calls

I have been playing for 25 years. The bottom line is this guitar does the business. Forget it being Mexican and not American. This guitar is as well made if not better made than most of the USA strats I have owned. Please please do not be fooled by these Custom Shop guitars. I succumbed to the urge and bought a few of them. I can assure you, they are no better than 2% more quality than any other strat at a lot more money. A custom shop strat does not work for me. The strat is a working guitar made with non exotic woods, so why do we need this masterbuilt bullshit. The classic guitars they are trying to recreate made in the 50's and early 60's were turned out on the factory floor, and they are selling now for 30 thousand dollars, so was this not good enough quality. A Strat and tele only needs to be built on the factory floor, it does not need a custom shop. If quality control is tight, you will have great guitars that will do the business for a long time. This Robert Cray strat is easier to play, it sounds as good, the neck joint is snugger, and it is more balanced than my Custom Shop 1960 strat from the John Page era. Go buy Mexican and get a great guitar

Genuine Alder, Quality rosewood board, nice maple neck. good weight, good quality pickups with vintage cloth wire, the volume and tone pots work fine for me. I have seen some comments about them in other reviews but I find them as good as any other quality strat. Great finish. Looks and feels like the real deal. A great meaty neck. As mentioned, lose the bridge saddles and tuners though.

Surprised to find it sounds very very good. I tend to replace Fender pickups with Fralin or Lollar or pickups from the North of Scotland Called Wizard which are amazing and are to be had for exceptional value, but these pickups on the Robert Cray sound superb, really great classic strat with an extra kick in the bridge. It looks like Bob definately had an input in these and demanaded quality before putting his name on the guitar. I play classic rock, R&B and blues. I am not going to go on and on about the sound as everyone knows what a good strat should sound like and this guitar delivers!!!!!!!

The quality of this Mexican guitar is very very good. No flaws that I can see. The frets are well installed and finished, the rosewood board is a quality piece of wood. The inca silver is a fabulous finish, really classy looking, however it does cover up the quality of the alder for the naked eye. But the guitar is a great weight, definately not heavy and it sustains any rings very well. The neck pocket is very well finished and very surprisingly the neck angle is good. This is the first time I have not had to insert a shim in the neck pocket of a vintage style strat, and I have had a lots and lots of vintage style guitars. I sold a 96 Custom Shop 60 Strat before purchasing this guitar as personally I do not see the point of expensive strats. They do not play any better, the pickups fitted are the terrible texas specials and on a fender no exotic woods are used, just higher grade alder etc, but a strat is a workmanlike guitar and a factory strat at a quarter of the price of the Custom Shop is all that is required. The Robert Cray genuinly plays a lot better than my previous Custom Shop and it definately sustains and is acoustically as vibrant as well. This is a great great deal!!!! However, no matter what is said in other reviews, let me tell you that the bridge saddles and the fender/ping tuners are terrible. They do need to be replaced, but this is not expensive to do.

It's a strat, I will last forever unless you use it to break rocks

Contacting Fender is more difficult than contacting the higher being

If you do not use a Strat's tremelo, go buy one of these guitars. It will not be bettered by a USA or Custom Shop strat in a Blindfold test. This is a great instrument.

2005 or 06 Robert Cray Stratocaster. Alder body, 3 tone sunburst, hardtail, with custom shop pickups. Classic vintage Fender early 60's Stratocaster features except for jumbo frets which is one of the reasons for this purchase. I love the vintage features of Stratocasters but I don't really like the small frets and 7.25 fretboard radius so the RC Strat suits my preference well with the jumbo frets and 9.5 radius which by the way makes it feel like silk going up and down the fretboard. The neck is rosewood and the chunky C shape feels awesome.

Great finish on the guitar. I love the mint green pick guard as well with the aged pickup covers and knobs.

I play blues, rock and metal. Yes that's right metal on a Stratocaster. I know people think that Strats aren't suited for metal but you'll be surprise if you really wanted to play metal on a Strat. Yngwie Malmsteen did it so why can't you? Granted you can't get a super low action on it but I think you just have to apply yourself to playing metal on a strat. Moving on...

I run this through a Peavey Classic or a Fender 57 twin amp and this guitar just sing blues. I run it just straight to the amp for blues and classic rock type playing and I bring out the big muff and tube screamer for more neo-classical or thrash metal riffing. No matter what amp setup the RC strat just amazes me with its clarity which is the hallmark of strats.

Amazingly the pickups are pretty much silent on position 2 and 4 but get the hummin on other positions. I'm not picky on the noise.

The sound is very glassy, but mellow especially at the bridge. The neck is my favorite position to play in. Good piercing sound. I've tried a RC strat at my local music store a while back and I was impressed with the bridge pickups but this RC model I have I prefer to play it on the neck pickups.

You can achieve a lot of sounds with this guitar, blues, rock, country, metal and even some Jazz. However you won't get into the Grant Green, Kenny Burrell realm with a strat try a Gibson L5 or similar.

The action on this guitar is just perfect for me, not too low or high, just enough to dig in. The jumbo frets and 9.5 radius helps with the playability of the neck. Everything was just perfect with this guitar. Usually I would have to adjust the bridge, adjust intonation etc...But this one surprisingly came in perfect to my preference. I attribute this to luck because most of the time I had to fudge with the setup, which I really don't mind.

Only thing I changed was the strings to DR - I just prefer them to Fender.

Very sturdy and I've been playing it in multiple 4 hour Jam sessions. It has a good life span for long hard gigs. Hardwares are great. They'll last a while before any kind of upgrade.

Although this is a very sturdy guitar I always carry 3 back up guitars.

Never needed to or tried.

Been playing for 10 years mostly Fender guitars but I also own and play a Les Paul classic and Gibson SG as well mostly for slide playing. Those are great guitars but nothing makes me feel better than playing a Strat. I'm just a Fender guy. Most of my guitar influences like Clapton, Hendrix, Frusciante, Gilmour and Malmsteen probably have something to do with it. But to me nothing compares to a Strat.

I've owned many strats mostly American or Japanese models and this Mexican made is really up there in quality. No rolled edge neck needed here. I didn't really see a difference in my playing with it anyways.

New late '05 Mexico made model Robert Cray with custom shop pickups and hardtail bridge. Beautiful three color sunburst on nice seamless alder body. As nice or better than my hardtail American made.

Very sweet and tonefull strat, sounds as good or better than my USA hardtail.

Nice color and no lam lines on face, looks like one piece of wood until you turn it over. Not quite the detail of finish as my new American but close enough and plays very well. Looks and feels just as good as any USA strat made before the new hand rolled edge models.

Fender is sturdy and this one feels great.

Fender is too big to worry about the customer...

A very nice strat worth every penny !