Fender Standard Stratocaster

It is a Strat with very Strat like features, mine is a maple neck (the only way to go if you ask me), hey for the money you can't go wrong, this is just a great players guitar for the working guitar player, you can bang it, spill beer on it, knock it over and you know what, who cares....Now if your a metal head or something like that, the cool Fender sound is not what your looking for, but for everything else from classic rock to jazz, country to blues it is the guitar of choice for me.

It's you basic strat and sounds just like a strat, mine still has the stock pick-ups and they sound just fine I may change them but right now really don't see a reason to, I play mine through a Marshall amp and you know what, it sounds just like a Strat through a Marshall amp, the only effect I use sometime is a cry baby.

I bought mine used from a hippie guy and it was nasty, dirty, beat up, covered with strange art work when I got it (why would you color all over the pick guard with magic marker????) I disassembled the entire guitar and cleaned and polished every part (by the way WD40 cleaned the strange stuff off the pick guard really nice) and put her back together, gave her a good set up, dressed the frets now I have a real nice strat that plays and looks great. Mine is a maple neck & the body is that deep blue almost purple color

Man, it's a strat there is no more realiable guitar and if you break something they are easy to work on. I play lead guitar in a local blues band here in Detroit City and this guitar just begs to go to the bar and have beer spilled on her. Would I use it on a gig without a back up, would anyone, If your a pro, you have back-ups, acually on stage now I have the strat & the tele and move back and forth between them. This my second mexican strat for the $$$ you just can't go wrong.

Bought it used, do my own guitar work.

OK, I'm 42, been playing since I was a kid, have been in wedding bands, jazz bands, top 40 bands, classic rock bands, blues bands etc. for a long time. Now I am kind of old school my main rig right now is the strat we are talking about a old tele I had for years and a Epiphone Emperior (jazz box), I plug them through a cry baby into a old 50 watt Marshall 2-12 combo who could ask for more. If my stratr was stolen I would have to get another strat

Made in Mexico 1998. 21 frets. Black with white pickguard. Maple neck.

It came with a HSC, 15' ProCo cable and a Zoom 606 pedal. Hard to pass up the deal for $150. I get the feeling that this guy bought a guitar and pedal but never got into learning and playing the guitar and got bugged. The guitar did not show much use.

The original owner had made some adjustments that didn't suit me so I blocked the trem and lowered the action by one full turn on each saddle. Adjusted the P/U's to my taste and intonated the guitar.

Has Vol., 2 Tone knobs and 5 way switch. 3 single coils. Typical standard strat.

I play all styles and the guitar is adequate for most. I play mostly rhythm and the 2 and 4 positions on the 5 way switch seem to satisfy my requirements.

Where it DOES shine for me is the neck p/u with the bass rolled up to max and through a distortion pedal. Clapton's "Woman Tone" type sound is really nice.

Playing clean I find that the neck and neck/middle p/u positons (1&2) are a bit muddy.

I use a number of different F/X units and amps Boss, Carvin, Peavey, Danelectro. I actually like the sound of this guitar with no F/X, just plugged straight into the amp ( Peavey Bandit) with a little reverb.

I might consider swapping out the P/U's for American Strat type P/U's sometime down the road. I think they would sound cleaner. I can live with the original ones for now and they DO have the Strat tone.

The guitar seems pretty solid and the frets are medium jumbo with no problems. they are rounded and seated well and I don't feel any sharp ends on the edge of the neck.

There were a few wear marks on the maple neck but I think this adds character. The body was perfect and not a scratch on it.

I switched the strings to 10's and it caused the bridge to rise up. I decided to block the trem cavity for stability in tuning and it works well. I like using tremolo but have several guitars with Wilkenson and Kahler trems so the trade off was was no big deal.

This is a decent workhorse guitar and I would certainly use it for playing a gig. Besides, there are just some clubs and bars where I don't feel comfortable bringing an expensive guitar to use.

Plus.... it's a Strat!!! It looks cool!!!

No need for support as I prefer to work on the guitars myself. It ain't brain surgery to set up a guitar and the web has all the spec's for all the instruments. Basic hand tools will get you through most adjustments.

Been playing for 36 years and own all Carvin basses and guitars (except for this strat) If it were lost I would buy another.

I have had this guitar for 4 days and am liking it more each time I play it. In truth it is not the quality of my Carvins but it is a good guitar and fun to play. If you set it up to your specs it will serve you well.

My guitar was made in 1994-1995, in Japan.
21 Frets, Basewood body, Maple neck with Rosewood fretboard, normal fender stratocaster electronics, no clue as for the pickups (haven't checked), SSS passive configuration, Vintage Fender Tremolo bridge, and locking tuners (no brand on them).
The finish in Aged Cherry burst, semi-transpert, and i have no clue as for what the top wood is. It have a lot of color differents in strips, and very light flame. Not a light wood like maple, and not a dark one.
Bought it with a used cheap Fender hardshell case.

Just nothing but the standard strat with 21 frets, decluding the basewood body and vintage bridge.

I play rock \ funk \ pop \ blues and pretty much anything, and its suits me great. Great bass respond for a fender, and less crunch comparing to todays american strats.
I play it with a horrible BC Rich 10W amp. raising funds for a new amp.
The guitar is a bit noisy. Yet, its non-noisless singles, but nothing outstanding.
Great clean, with a balanced bass and mid, and not that much treble.
Although you can't make it crunch as hell in funk like todays strats, it serves you way better in blues and rock.

The clean nocks me off my sit everytime I play it. The distortion is decent.

Don't have a normal amp yet, so can't really tell about the distortion.

I bought mine for a shop who had it second handed. The set up was pretty good at all means, but I like overdoing it to get the best of any of my guitar.
The top wasn't bookmatched all that well.
No flaws found, considering its cost. some paint dings, not all that clean routs, but hey, its a no-cost guitar!

I'm not the gigging player, but yet, I would take it as my first guitar out of the 7 I own currently.
Everything looks fine, but you always need a backup guitar. Its not a monster Ibanez that will last forever during shows, but it isn't bad at all.

Never dealt with, hopping will never do.

I've been playing for 3 years, and I own 1 classical guitar and 6 electrics.
Found this guitar when I went to buy picks. Didn't had the need for a guitar, but couldn't resist it.
I would buy this guitar anytime again, its a great product for the money.

2004 made in Mexico. 21 frets, beautiful maple fretboard, c-shaped maple neck makes it real easy and smooth to play. 5-way pickup selector, 2 tone controls (one for neck pickup, one for middle pickup), 1 volume control for all pickups. All single coil pickups. Vintage tremelo style bridge; not that same as the American strat bridge and I actually like this bridge better because the saddles are easier to palm mute on.

I replaced the strap buttons with dunlop locking buttons. I wish I would've bought schaller ones but these work.

Sounds gorgeous both clean and dirty on all my amps and almost every amp i've tried(marshall MG10CD, guitar research 60 HS). If you are playing around a lot of electronics like computers, flourescent lightbulbs, TVs, ect, you will get a lot of buzz on the single coil settings. The middle pickup sounds great, it's my favorite one and I don't think i'd ever change it out. The bridge pickup was a little too harsh for my tastes so I replaced it with a GFS lil' killer and wired it to a 500K tone pot and now it sounds great! I plan on replacing the neck pickup because it sounds too dull for me. I pulled the bridge all the way back and the sustain increases like crazy! The tone that this guitar makes cannot be beaten!

Everything was well done at the factory. I had to adjust the action a bit, and now theres virtually no fret buzz. I've heard that mexican strats are hit-or-miss and sometimes frets are put on crooked or the neck isnt dressed right...but mine was perfect. Best feeling neck I've ever felt.

I've played dozens of gigs with it, without backup, and I have no reason to ever believe that it will ever fail on me. My friend has knocked it over a few times and I've bumped it into stuff and it still sounds fine.

If I lost this guitar I would buy it back in a snap, its my prized axe...although I might get the fat strat version with a humbucker in the bridge instead, that way I wouldnt have to replace the bridge pickup again. I like it better than the american standard definitely. My favorite feature is the tone. Unbeatable, unmatchable.

Black Made-in-Mexico Standard ("updated") Strat. Bought new, date stamped under pickguard January 20th 2006, so I guess that indicates it's age. Alder body, maple neck, rosewood board.

Features are traditional Strat - 1 volume, 2 tones (neck and middle only), vintage tremolo, 3 "Standard Stratocaster" pickups.

It's difficult to score for "features". Minus side - no coil-taps, no tone on bridge pickup, no locking trem. On the other hand thousands of people have made great music with the Strat and I can't think of any basic "feature" (as opposed to improvements that don't alter its' basic character - the Strat is the most versatile guitar ever) I'd want add to it, so I'll give it an 8

I currently need a clean sound through to pseudo-synth textures. For blues/blues-rock gigs I want a straightforward tone and use a basic setup of guitar-Twin Reverb(or Cyber Champ for gigs where I can't crank the Twin). At the other extreme: a bunch of filters and overdrives and modulation fx dating from the 1970s to now, into a Cyber Champ(several good usable amp tones plus a ducking delay, tremolo and reasonable flanger in one box) - mic - PA. For recording either mic a speaker or NI Guitar Rig.

I chose this guitar out of about a dozen Strats - MIM and American Series, primarily because it has a good, woody unamplified tone and excellent sustain. The amplified sound was less important in decision making (you can always change pickups, which I now have, but the wood fixes the most important part of the tone). None of the four American series I tried could match the MIM on this. One MIM was louder, but also very bright indeed. All 12 Strats sounded different.

The stock pickups have ceramic magnets, with the middle wound in reverse to give hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4. These pickups are amongst the ugliest I can remember seeing, with the pole pieces very proud of the covers. When working on the guitar I discovered that the stock pickups are wax potted, and sprung by Fender's usual rubber tubes (unlike a 1999ish MIM Jazz Bass I've worked on where foam rubber stuck to the bottom of the pickups was acting as the spring). The p/us are decently made with no obvious flaws.

I assumed that a cheap guitar meant I'd need to screen it. On opening it up I found the pickguard screened by foil and a volume-pot to ground wire screwed into the cavity (these look like they're just screwed into the paintwork - Fender put a layer of screening paint on under the finish so you can't see it. Experiments with a multimeter indicate it's there alright). Well done Fender.

On to the sound. It sounds like a Strat (it is a Strat...). It's very sensitive to the amplifier used. Through the Cyber Champ it's bright and a touch clangy, but not too bad at all, especially through clean and crunchy settings. Through the Twin high volume gets a bit painful and hum rears its head a bit too much for comfort. Through a Class A Laney LC15 it's hum city (though the pickups don't cause the buzz - they're simply responding to EMF emitted by the amps. If you have this problem playing near your computer don't blame the guitar, switch the monitor off or get a TFT). The pickups are a bit inclined to squeal if too close to the amp, although the "infinite sustain" trick is dead easy, and a heavy pick hitting the strings is clearly audible as a click. I've played (and owned) vintage Fender that was worse.

On the plus side the tone is generally pretty good once you get the amp set up right (and the Cyber Champ works well on its' stock settings), with good depth and definition. It's very much a modern sound, slightly agressive and cutting, but still quite flexible and the neck pickup can be made to sing. If you expect to sound like you're playing your Grandad's guitar you won't. If you want a modern-sounding single-coil sound it's OK. Just don't get too close to a loud amp. Through British-style amps (which tend to be treble heavy) it's too bright for me. Pickup output is fairly high for a Strat single coil - as loud as my Duncan 54 Tele Bridge and very close to P100s.

I've now changed the pickups and pots for a Fender Vintage Noiseless set (I'll post a few comments about them in the pickups reviews) which have tamed the treble down a bit, and have more of a "traditional" Strat sound. Apart from saying goodbye to the hum and a noticable drop in output(and treble)the main difference is a kind of "filling out". The Noisless are better pickups, but the MIM is a far cheaper guitar than any US Fender and often plays as well or better, with a stock sound that's very acceptable for the price, especially if you've yet to find your own voice, and a pickup swap is easy. Mine has a body routed to accept a bridge humbucker by the way.

Incidentally, those of you who want the bridge pickup wired into the middle pickup's tone control (and are willing to lose many classic Strat sounds in the process), take a look at www.fender.com. Look at the wiring diagram for any basic Strat with that control setup (e.g. the Lone Star). See how it's done? You link two switch terminals and there you go.

I'd best mention I've been setting up my own guitars and other peoples for over 30 years now, so I'm familiar with the principles involved in getting a guitar to work well.

Finish. Body is black. Very black, a good paint job. All routing tidily done, parts accurately fitted. The neck is light maple with a nice wavy grain. The neck and head lacquer looks to be clear and is applied as a very thin satin coat. It almost looks and feels like there's no finish. Personally I like the feel this gives to a neck, others may not. Neck is a C profile (but I've yet to find two exactly the same, which is a good thing), 9 1/2" fingerboard radius.

The pots are 250K, and the wiring is tidy. The cable is a bit cheap-looking, but does the job perfectly well. All soldering done properly and neatly. No treble-bleed capacitor on the volume pot, but these pickups don't need one.

Tuners are nothing special but do the job.

I'll give this a genuine 8 - my two Gibsons would score higher on the finishing touches, but no better on the action and playability).

Frets are smaller than many modern profiles, seated well, with no file marks, loose ends, mis-shaped crowns or ends sticking out of the side of the board to lacerate fingers. The nut is cut a bit unevenly, with the B string a little lower than the others, but not enough to cause fret buzzing or be noticable when playing. I'm replacing the nut with a GraphTech one to aid the trem but the stock one sounds OK and plays OK. The nuts differed on all 12 Strats I tried, and two or three were all over the place (on US guitars as well as MIM).

This neck is one of the best I have ever played (and I don't say that lightly). You may hate it, but I love it. Fast runs up the board and position changing are really easy and I can bend a string further than on any other guitar I've owned.

The "factory" setup was OK, but the pickup heights, tremelo and intonation needed adjusting (note - Fender *do* set up instruments before despatch, but as the manual says, they regard the final setup pre-purchase as the job of the retailer, in case anything's moved out of spec. Many retailers don't bother with this, so don't blame Fender if the shop can't be bothered or don't even know how to set up a guitar). I've lowered the action a lot with no problems (changing to Fender 150 10-46 strings helped with this and the sound) and the bridge intonates well.

The trem is a right **** but so are all trems of this type. Remember, when Leo Fender invented his "Synchronised Tremelo" "light guage" strings usually meant a 12thou+ top E and a wound third. In the 1950s/60s/70s Fender trems were the best there was. They were designed to give a gentle Hank Marvin warbling effect, and they do it very well. Dive bombing till the strings go slack was unheard of. This particular trem, after extensive tweaking of the springs, will comfortably and predicatably give about a large semitone upbend (depending where you are on the neck) and a third downbend, and returns to pitch plus or minus about 5 cents most of the time and never so far out that I have to stop mid song to retune. I'm happy with that, it's all I need. Fender supply the guitar with three trem springs in the cavity.

One hint. The trem arm wobbles in its thread unless you tighten it up hard, when it ends up poking up your sleeve - neither makes it any easier to use. What it needs is a small spring in the bottom of the hole the arm screws into (like the American series has). Try one from a ballpoint pen.

Reliability? I've a 1994 Mexican Telecaster (came with a 5 way switch, TBX and a neck h/bucker) and that's still going (needed both pots and the switch replacing after about 8 years sweaty use and that's all). I've a 1974 Tele - that still works. I had a dreadful 1974 Strat, but MIM Fender now better the CBS/Fender period hands down. Fenders are simple, with very little to go wrong and easy to fix if it does (that was part of Leo Fender's design intention).

Durability? I've only seen one Fender get its head broken off (it got trapped in a luggage lift, out of it's case. Body in lift, head out of lift. Lift goes upwards, neck meets ceiling, lift doesn't stop....).

I routinely gig with this guitar. I'm paranoid about breakdowns so carry a variety of spares - and it's rare for me to only carry one guitar (I play slide as well so I need a guitar for that, if nothing else). It's always a good idea to carry spare pots, switch and jack socket if nothing else.

Dealing with Fender by email, no problems. For local support in the UK we rely on Fender's approved dealers, who vary vastly in quality. We also have to contend with the importer, but that's another story.

A bit of background. Been playing electric guitar since my 13th birthday (in 1974 in case you're wondering). Never stopped since. Been gigging around the UK for a very long time; pubs, clubs, town halls, that kind of thing. The field I work in won't make anyone rich, and is live performance orientated rather than huge CD sales, which is OK with me. I've had long-term relationships with a CMI Les Paul copy, Gibson SG, 135 and 125, a couple of Teles, a couple of Strats (one, made in 1974 in the US, that I got cheap second hand in 1982, was total crap - I had to file down paint lumps in the neck pocket plus plug and re-drill the screw holes - the original owner had hardly ever played it. And it wasn't a particularly poor quality example from that period - why guitars that many people avoided when they were new now fetch collector's prices is beyond me.

I've also been setting up and reparing electric guitars for about 20-odd years, so I've played, tweaked and examined a lot of instruments.

Amps - Marshalls (early 1970s Superleads and more modern), Fender (valve and solid state), Laney (modern valve), HH, Pignose...

If it were stolen I'd claim on the insurance and go and try a few more Strats.

Finally - lots of negative comments about MIM Strats (and other guitars) seem to come from people who bought them sight-unseen via mail order. Never EVER buy a guitar you haven't tried unless there's no alternative at all. They all vary, they are all different despite mass production (thankfully) and one persons meat etc....

And always remember - there's more bullshit talked about guitars than anything other than hi-fi and politics, and the law of diminishing returns sets in early. If a guitar is right for you that's all that matters.

Rating is based on bang per buck rather than comparison with esoteric Custom Shop stuff.

standard 21 frets, 3 not bad singlecoils, trem which i have set like it is a hardtail, very nice neck and body, mine is arctic white which looks just the best. fender tuners. tonnes of versitality. suits basically every style (well of course not death metal!!).

sounds great how ever it would of been nice to have noiseless pickups. clean through a valve amp, is at least to say, orgasmic. very versitile. can play all styles especially rock and blues. my style is funk/rock/metal and i wouldnt think twice about changing guitar to get the sound it makes. lacks a bit of beef in realy heavy amp settings but i suppose we can all get over that..

firstly went it arived i set the trem flat to the body, i feel you get more tunnibg stability and sustain like this. i then fiddled about with the nut and set the action lower and it now plays the same as a strat worth #2000 in a shop i recently tried- no joke! very nice finish. nothing really more to say. plays like a dream now.

played many gigs, never faulted me, havent snapped a string on it for nearly 2 years and still counting. used without a backup every gig iv played since ive had it.

never needed

man i like this guitar

Made in 2004 in Mexico, 5 way switch with 1 volume and 2 tone knobs, 3 single coils. Mine is an alder body with an all maple neck, the "midnight wine" paint scheme looks sweet with the all maple neck, much better than the mahogany freboard in my opinion. It has your basic strat trem system, which is a great thing even though I don't use it much. I give it a 9, it would be nice to have those noiseless pickups but a dang good sound for the money.

Excellent sound. I play all kinds of music, classic rock, alternative, hard rock, a little punk here and there, and praise band at my church every week. I always use Dean Markley Blue Steel strings on it, which give it an amazing sound, and I have used many amps with it, mostly Fender solid states and Marshall Valvestates, but I've also played it through Marshall TSL's and a Hot Rod Deluxe 4x10. On any clean channel it sounds amazing, sparkling highs and defined lows. It also does distortion great - classic rock, alternative, punk, and any light to mid distortion I can get away with at church. Of course it's at its best with a crunchy blues sound, especially on the Hot Rod, truly the best bluesy sound I've ever gotten out of any guitar. It can't exactly crank the metal and hard rock like something with humbuckers, but it does pretty well - no one will laugh at you. The 5-way switch provides a lot of variety in the sounds it can produce, it does hum just a little on a couple settings but not too bad. Great sounding guitar, especially with the right strings and amp.

It was new, so of course after about a year I had to have a set up done on it, but nothing major. The finish is great all around. The neck is awesome, I have an all maple neck and it felt worn in and comfortable from day one, and in my opinion it feels much cleaner and faster playing than a mahogany fretboard - but that's probably just a personal preference. I prefer the way this guitar plays over any expensive LP or SG, or pretty much any other guitar, it's so smooth and fast.

I've had this guitar for 2 years, I use it every Sunday at church, and play a lot during the week, and have never ever had a problem with it (except a set up, but that was just regular maintenance). No broken strings, no loose wires, nothing. The hardware is solid, and the finish will stand up to pretty much anything. The strap buttons were great but I got locking pegs because this guitar is my baby. I would definitely gig this thing without a backup, but isn't it awesome to have a bunch of guitars to play anyway?

Fender sucks. Don't get me wrong, they make awesome guitars, but you'd be best off parting with them after buying the thing. I had a Fender acoustic replaced because of a neck defect, and it took almost 4 months to get a replacement. I called them to see what was taking so long and they they seemed annoyed that I wanted to know why I hadn't received a replacement in 3 months.

I've been playing for 5 or so years, and I would say strats are the best overall guitars you can get. I use mine with a Zoom 606 effects pedal and a Rocktron Zombie Distortion pedal. The best thing about the strat is the way it plays - way smoother and more comfortable than a Gibson. I wish SG's played like a Strat, that's what holds me back about getting a SG is that they just don't feel as good. Granted, mine doesn't have all the fancy features of the American Series strats, etc, but I love it. If someone stole it, I would get another without hesitation. Here's what I want you to do: if you're stuck between buying a standard strat and any other kind of guitar, forget the other one and buy the strat. You won't regret it, there's a reason the strat is an American legend.

a 1993 model... maple neck, upgraded trem block, woodstock kinman pickups...maple neck, tortoise shell pickguard on a black body, .022 sprague orange drop caps, the old ones made outside of boston, ma...
sounds great unplugged, unbelievable plugged into an amp. don't be afraid of the polyester coating on these. warmoth seals all their critically acclaimed bodies in polyester before they get the nitrocellulose coating. these guitars are great, if you plan to upgrade them.

can you say wow? i prefer it to my american strat.

when buying a mim strat, shop around. they let the so-so ones and not so so-so ones through the filter and that has always been an issue. i got lucky, but i doubt if someone would have upgraded it, if it were a lemon.

i gig with this with a vengeance. no problems, always have backup, but i don't worry about it too much.

smoking, quiet little strat with all the tone and output you would need and none of the issues associated with a strat. i would never buy one new, and i waited until i found a good one that had been upgraded, deluxe. shop around, though. there are some lemons and issues with the neck and frets on some mim strats.

Mexican made Fender Stratocaster. Im assuming this is the standard version. Made in 1996, 5 way switch, volume, 2x tone... the whole shabang. Fender 'f' style tuners. Pretty much your average Fender Stratocaster. Came with gigbag.

Im using this through my marshall valvestate 8080, or my pearl solid state amp (practise). Guitar tends to get a bit noisy at some settings, but its a single coil guitar so thats pretty much what you always get. Guitar suits my style (alternative/rock). I can easily get that sweet The Cure tone with a flanger, or a Smashing Pumpkins Gish era crunch. Giving it a 8, pretty good...

Guitar was set up pretty good. I got it 2nd hand, so this aint the factory settings. Cant really find any flaws, looks solid.

Ive been using this guitar a few times during practise now, and it stays in tune very well. I`ll definately gig with it one day.

Never dealt with them.

Ive been playing for allmost a decade now. Ive owned strats, prs style guitars and les pauls. Im a stratman, i just really like their feel and sound. This mexican made fender does the trick well. At some settings it sounds a bit muddy distorted, but either you like that or you hate it. Clean sound is outstanding. Im giving this a 8, good value for the money, especially for those among us who cant afford a expensive custom shop fender (including myself).

I bought this guitar 7 years ago--it's a '98. It's the brown sunburst and rosewood neck, poplar body, vintage frets. Since owning it I put in Fender Fat 50s pickups (alnico) to replace the ceramic ones, although, truth be told, the ceramic ones sound good too, as I've been able to tell from playing a few in the shop. I also wired the bridge pickup in with the middle pup's tone control. Added a string tree and grap-tech saddles. Even stock though, this guitar has 100% strat features and can make good music if you can. Has the features you expect from a strat for the most part. Although the 2006 models have been upgraded to alder bodies, medium jumbo frets, and heavier trem block which supposedly is more stable and gives better sustain(but mine has always been stable and I have good sustain/resonance); They even include a gig bag now. They cost about $80.00 more than what I paid for mine 7 years ago, so with inflation and the upgrades, I say they're an even better deal than they used to be--I'm definitely considering buying another with a maple fret board--the only thing I'd have to change is wiring the bridge pup to a tone control and maybe adding a string tree.

I have run this through several amps over the years, both tube and solid state. JC-120, Blues Cube, Reverend Hellhound, Epiphone Valve Standard, Crate Palomino, Trace Elliott Custom Shop 4x10 Bonneville, Fender Custom Vibrolux, Hiwatt Bulldog 40 etc,etc..Really sounds great with all of them. I run the guitar through the following FX--Dunlop 535Q wah, Arion Tubulator OD (GREAT), Marshall Guvnor 2, Dano EQ, Dunlop Jr. volume pedal out to Boss EQ, Voodoo Labs Trem, Arion Delay (Great) Boss CE-5 Chorus. Works great with all of these too.
When I picked up this guitar I chose the one that had the best sound and feel unplugged--that's what I always do, electronics can always be changed later-this was the best of about 8 or so standards I tried around town and even beat out some of the much more expensive American Deluxes in this regard. Anyway, the Fat 50s pups strike a nice balance between brilliant,'glassy'and warm. It takes overdrive and distortion well and since I've wired the bridge pup to the tone control, I can use all the selections and cover a Huge range of sounds, which I need to do since I primarily play every weekend in a praise and worship band which covers every style from easy listening to border-line 'pop' metal--if you have the right pedals you can do it. On my own time, I play blues and rock primarily. Stock, I'll give it an 8, but with mods, a 10.

I can't remember how it was from the factory, other than I knew it felt and sounded the best of what I had played unplugged. I had it set up with 10s right away and since then, I,ve learned to do setups myself primarily on this guitar. I can get it right where I want it--neck almost flat, comfortable action, good resonance with no string buzz with the bridge floating just right for my tastes (I like to do Chris Isaak's guitarist type trem work--mostly for vibrato, although I have done some dive bomb heavy metal type wanking and it springs right back in tune). I like the tuners--their tension is adjustable, they're enclosed--they stay in tune quite well.

Well, the vintage frets are nickle and so have developed some pretty good grooving over the first 7 or 8 frets, but I don't have intonation or buzz problems yet nor dead spots, so I'm not complaining. This thing has been knocked over several times--on its back, on its face and, until this last time, never needed anything more than a retuning and a little bit of a spring adjustment in the bridge. Well the last time, I knocked the bloody thing out of my guitar stand face first and the guitar hit the stage toward the headstock end. In fact, I think it hit hardest at the nut. Anyway it ended up that the neck and headstock were fine (which probably wouldn't have been the case with my Gibson) but the a, d, and g strings were out of tune with the rest of the guitar exactly by a half step--almost like the first fret was a zero fret for those strings. My guitar tech changed the plastic nut to a bone one and that fixed it. He figured that the plastic may have been compressed or something during the fall, changing its radius. Anyway, everything else has lasted and she still plays and functions a.o.k. NEVER gig without a backup, especially with a floating bridge strat--you break a string and the whole tuning goes wacked.

I also have a Les Paul Classic with Duncan Antiquities which I love and really is a better quality guitar--but it cost $1250.00 too. I also own a Big Baby Taylor Acoustic. The main thing I like about the strat is that it is a solid performing workhorse which you don't have to baby (but you really shouldn't knock it off its stand either). It covers a lot of sonic territory--you can play almost any genre on this and use it with almost any amp--it'll still sound good. Even though I love her, my Les Paul is more finicky with what you hook it up to--I think it must be the difference btw (good) single coils and humbuckers.
Heck, for the price they're asking now with all the upgrades, I rate this guitar a solid ten--A fantastic value.

if people tell you that you can't replace the pickups, they are dead wrong. this is just a bad urban myth. the pickups are the same shape and size as any pickup you would replace them with. this guitar was completely rebuilt by me. this frankenstein rebuild included new pickups (gfs I28, premium overwound alinco's), new volume and tone potentiometers, new sprague orange drop capacitor, brand new wiring and a new switch. buy one of these and hotrod it, and you can laugh at people who pay over $1000 for the same tone and less output.

stock sounded okay, but i wanted the warmth of real alnico pickups and the high output needed to drive the amp and pedals i prefer to use. stock, the mim's pickups rate about 6.0k-6.5k output. this is a little hotter than the american standard, but not what i need for my style. now, i am running 9.0, 9.2 & 9.4k neck, mid and bridge. i have to dial it down to 5 to stop overdriving my amp. perfect for myself.

when i bought this guitar, it had been spending the last 10 years in a gigbag in some closet. i am lefthanded and the guitar isn't. so, i had to completely set it up and it now works beautifully. there was a big ding on the side of the guitar that i covered with black nail polish.

come on, this is a real strat with real fender parts. it isn't an SX, or some other cheaply made, horrible sounding guitar.

warranty? it was in a closet for ten years and it's used.

i bought this guitar super cheap ($75.00) by running an ad on craigslist and running into someone who offered it to me at this price. of course, i jumped on it when i got the offer. i would have been an @sshole, if i offered $75, but i am not an idiot. i don't know this would happen every day, but it is worth a try. for about $150, i bought what was a very good starter guitar and turned it into a great guitar. again, the pickups in the mim fender strats are the same size and shape as any other fender strat pickup and it is just an urban myth that fender routes the bodies so you can't upgrade them. these are great guitars. buy one and you won't be sorry.

1999 Mexican Standard Strat, 21 frets, maple neck/fretboard.

I play mainly blues, and I must say that this guitar can hack it. I don't know what it is, but my guitar sounds exceptional on almost every amp. The bridge pickup is a little too twangy for me though.

The action is great, the pickups needed to be raised a wee bit, and as far as I could tell there were no superficial flaws. Outside of that, everything works great.

One of the saddles on the bridge looks like its about to fall off, but besides that, it's an amazingly solid guitar. I can't remember how many times I've dropped it, and so far I have one slight ding.

Never needed customer support.

I'd still go with an American Strat. On the flip side, my guitar plays as well as any American Strat, and it costs about $500 less. I have played other Mexican Strats that have been subpar, and I do believe that I just happened to get a really good one. I do not intend on buying another electric guitar for a while. I've bought two more acoustics and a resonator, and still haven't had or wanted to replace my strat.

-95' MIM fat strat special
-21 frets
-Volume knob, Tone knob, and a humbucker switch in the position of the normal second tone knob.
-H/S/S
-Maple neck, Alder body
-Black body, black pickguard with white lining.
-Gorgeous (Her name is Black Beauty)

I can get the signature fender stratocaster blues twang, and the fat gibson distortion in the same guitar. The strat special implies that instead of a second tone knob, I have a humbucker switch which changes the bridge humbucker to either a single coil or to be used as a humbucker pickup. I use a Marshall Valvestate amp to mimic more expensive tube amps, but with three channels, I can get gnarly distortion as well. I also use a boss gt-6 multi-effects pedal to get signature amp sounds and loads of effect combos.

The standard strat pick-ups sound perfect, although was thinking about trying some texas specials for the neck and middle positions to get a more vintage blues sound. The standard humbucker in the bridge position isn't quite hot enough for metal, but sounds just fine for rock...it is a strat.

Dropped it a few times chipping off some of the black finish, but she maintained her sound and playability. Built Fender tough.

The Fender is super versatile, and not to mention it's damn good looking. One can't go wrong. Save yourself $400 and get a mexi-strat...then if you like, use the money you saved to get upgrades (pickups, harware, etc.) I just wish mine had some vintage gold hardware to accent the black body.

My Stratocaster was made in mexico.2000, it has the usual number of frets and a normal amount on controls.The colour was white but has gone cream due to its age. It has a really nice maple Neck/Fretboard.

This guitar sounds absolutly amazing. I have played a Gibson Les Paul SG Standard, and the Strat (in my opinion) sounds sooo much better. This guitar sound so good and would suit most types of music.

Its Great??

This guitar seems sturdy when playing so i guess its very reliable.

Such an amazing guitar, you should buy it if you are looking for a fantastic sounding guitar without the use of any effects. Brilliant and much better value for sound than an SG.

My strat is a 2003 model made in Mexico. It has 20 frets. A solid top. there are two tone knobs and one volume just like any other strat with a 5 - way switch. I have a three single coil pickups. They are speed bullet pickups. I have a standard strat bridge with Graph Tech String Saver saddles.

It suits the blues and rock that i play. I am more of a heavy metal but i sometimes play a little blues. I use a danelectro compressor, fab tone, and chorus with a dunlop wah. There is a little noise but not enoght to really recognize. Amazing tone like no other. I can use many distorted sound and recieve plenty of feedback. I like the the whole body style.

In my opinion the factory setup this guitar very poorly. I had to raise the pickups at least a quarter of an inch. The bridge was fine but i dont like how the saddles are 1mm to small. The guitar was fine with everything else.

This strat can withstand any type of playing. I put my own cutom touch to it so it will last. The finish seems to be staying. I am going to buy strap locks because the buttons i have now allow the strap to slip off and i dont like that. This guitar is durable and i like it. I always bring a backup on a gig but i would trust to take just that one.

The company has been very nice and thay arent looking to rip me off like the other companies were. I have never tried to get it repaired. I have a lifetime warranty on my strat.

I have been playing for 6 years and i am 16. I own an Ibanez GAX 70, and an Alvarez acoustic. For pedals, i own a danelectro chorus, fab tone and compressor, and i also have a dunlop wah pedal. I own two amps. A KMD and a 50 watt Gorilla. I also own a 25 foot fender cable with little fender pedal cables and a couple radioshack 15 foot cables. I would prolly go into a little mental state of my own if i ever lost it or had my strat stolen. I love how it makes a sound like no other guitar. But i hate the weight. But i guess in all heavy guitars you will find the weight. I like the body style. I wish i had marshall stack amps and i wish i had an american made strat.

2002 model, made in Mexico. 21 frets, the body is alder or poplar..something like that. 2 tone and 1 volume knob. O.K. tuners, brindge, pick-ups, etc.

This was my first electric guitar and when I first got it I thought "Oh, what a great guitar!" But the longer that I had it the more and more dissatisfied I was with it. It was too "middle of the road". Not exceptional in any way....BUT that is the great thing about these little guys. You can add so much to them you can make them what you want. I bought a set of the Texas Special Pick-ups. Huge sound difference. Put on new tuners and saddles were upgraded. The next thing that I know, other than the body and neck (which were fine to begin with), I am playing a completely different guitar than I had in the first place. Make no mistake about it...this is an entry level guitar, and it is suited perfectly for that. Because it isn't great sonically it forces you to dick around with the tone and volume knobs and experiment with your amp and playing technique with your fretting hand. You damn sure can't rely on this thing to play itself for you and sound good. I recently purchased a Gibson '61 Reissue SG and after playing this Strat for awhile it makes you sound a lot better than you really are. But as good as that SG is I will continue to play my Strat because it is a good guitar. Between the pickups and other mods that were made to the guitar it is pretty much an old style Texas Special Strat. Don't think that this is a bad guitar because it's not. I would never get rid of this thing. Sounds great with only about $250 invested in it after the original purchase price. And the sound that $250 got me actually sounded more like $1000.

everything was what you would expect. I wasn't jumping up and down happy with the setup but I wasn't kicking myself either. Easy playing guitar. The finish on these things is tough as a damn billy goat. Unfortunatly that comes at a price and that is a somewhat "plastic" appearance which from about day 3 of having that guitar always kinda bugged me. Neck is pretty snug in the body cavity. You can't fold a piece of paper in half and get it to slide between the neck and body. Like I said "pretty snug". And another thing that I have noticed that just irks the piss out of me is that the maple headstocks on about 3/4 of these guitars looks like they have been bleached. AGHH! I think from spending so much time playing in smoke filled garages and rooms mine has actually tinted itself and looks almost like it has been stained. But just notice that if your buying one. It's purely cosmetic but to me it just screams "I am one step above a Squier!". And if any of you actually buy a Squier then you get what you deserve. Just spend the extra money.

aside from the input jack wearing out from being played so much there has been no problems at all with this thing. I have played it in temperatures from 10 degrees in Idaho (yes garage playing sucks in the Northwest during the winter) where it was so cold you couldn't even tell if you were touching the fretboard to 110 in Texas where it was so hot you were sweating so much that you couldn't brace your hand on the guitar because of slippage and havent had the least bit of next tweak or fretboard twist at all.

never had to deal with them. I have heard good and bad from friends.

Like I said before I am so glad that I got this guitar because I have grown to learn how to "shape" my tone because of the capability that this guitar offers. Without it I would just be another one of those guys that NEEDS a $1500 guitar to sound good. And let me tell you from a guy who has a high end guitar, I would put my little Strat up against a helluva lot of guys who think they are the $%^& becuase they bought "a name". If you learn to play and understand what makes things sound like what they sound like you'll be okay. And I feel that this guitar is great for developing that. Don't think that buying a $400 dollar Standard Strat means that you can't sound good. Simply not true. It may not be as easy to find a tone that suits you but if you keep playing around with the tone knobs and your amp, you;ll find what you're looking for. THEN you go buy a high end guitar and watch people say "Damn, that guy can strait play his ass off!" And another thing,...and I think that every musician does this......don't read all these reviews and base your decision on what other people said. You don't know if the guy's review your reading even knows what he is talking about. He could suck or not know what good tone is and here you are reading everything that he has to say and basing a decision on an idiots opinion. Anyways, if this thing were stolen I would probably get another but it wouldn't be the same. This one kinda has senitimental value in that I learned so much with it. I matured musically with this thing. When my son starts playing he will, like it or not, have a Standard Strat as his first electric guitar. That's how much I recommend this thing.

Brand new updated Fender Stratocaster MIM. Undated with noiseless pick ups (actually are quiet) and jumbo frets. Chrome red with maple finderboard. Typical Stratocaster.

Surprise. The PU's sound very good in all positions. Sounds like a strat. Quiet as well. IN fact the PU's are quite nice. Good clean side and with some distortion you can get that blues sound with out going overboard.

The guitar needed to be set up. I had the tremelo blocked off and the action reset and it was good to go. The finish and construction had no flaws at all. I looked it over with a microscope and just could not find anything wrong.

Too soon to say but I bought a MIM Telecaster last year and I've had no trouble with that. Solid guitar.

none with fender. However the store where I do business with takes very good care of their customers....

Excellent guitar. They're not all the same. Try a bunch before you buy. A good one is worth it's weight in (whatever it is you value).

2005 model, purchased new, made in Mexico, 21 frets, typical strat equipment, etc ...

The thing actually sounds okay (typical generic strat sound) but I'll probably get one of those pre-wired pick guard assemblies with Lace Sensors in it eventually. I bought this guiatr because I didn't want to bastardize one of my Les Pauls with a Roland GK-3 pickup. These pickups mount very well on strats and the strat being a servicable instrument makes using a guitar synth practical. A lot of folks use the crappiest guiatr they can find for synth, I dunno why.

I bought this guitar new from an excellent shop in Manhattan. Of course, like a lot of new guitars it needed a setup. The owner wouldn't let the guitar out the door without a killer setup, and he mounted the GK-3 pickup on it for me and did a killer job of it. The finish is fine (typical sunburst like on a zillion other strats). I lowered the middle pickup all the way down as far as it would go cuz it gets in my way otherwise.

I haven't had this guiatr long enough to know how rugged it is.

I have been playing for nearly 30 years. I own 2 Les Pauls, an ES-335, a Lucille, several amps, and a Vox ToneLab. If the thing was lost ro stolen, I'd probably replace it with a Roland-Ready strat.

Just a plain and simple standard stratocaster the way it's meant to be with all the features you'd expect from a strat, nothing more, nothing less: 21 frets, alder body, 3 single coils, maple neck & fretboard, vintage frets, 1x volume 2x tone, midnight wine finish

made in mexico/2005

This strat suits almost every style of music except metal, gothic etc. of course ;-) it delivers a nice vintage sound (bright with bite, screaming as a strat should be in the bridge position, sweet and warm in the neck position) , played trough a fender tweed amp it compares even with much higher priced guitars;
as i realised this guitar reacts in a very dynamic and intense way to the style it's played! i like the sound very much and it fits my needs (playing hendrix, vines, the strokes, franz ferdinand, chili peppers) perfectly.

A hint from my experience: i tried every standard strat in the shop and some classic models too and i must say that there was a big difference between all the standard strats, generally they all sounded alright (i'd give them a 7-8), some (especially the ones with darker colors such as black and midnight wine) had an outstanding sound. I ended up deciding between a black and a midnight wine colored (both seemed fantastic to me), i even compared them to some classic models because i thought that the ones with alnico v magnet must sound better but those standard ones i picked (featuring ceramic magnets) made the game with ease!

So if you plan on buying a standard strat compare them carefully to find the best quality choice!!!

the guitar was set up in a good way but i changed the string gauge from 0.09 to 0.10-0.46 and lowerd the strings and also the tremolo bridge to suit my needs.

A hint from a guy from the local fender company: heavier string gauges increase the sound of the stratocaster dramatically. the higher tension makes the strat work even better. i tried this on my standard strat and must say: this is DEFINITELY right!!!!!

the standard strat is definitely built to last! the quality is just fine!

didn't need some

I'm playing for more than 20 years and i've had quite a few guitars (lots of ibanez rg series, john petrucci model during my hard rock days) and compared to my older strat and those ibanez i was quite surprised by its quality so i'll give it a very good 9!

Unsure of the year, but Mexican made....for those who didn't know, Mexican has an MN in the front of the serial number. 21 Frets, mine is a cream white, 5 pickup selector. I replaced the pickups in it with Seymour Dunxan Antiquities, beautful sounding guitar now. Stock pickups were fine, but the Seymour Texas Hots are the stuff, particularly if you are into the Henry Garza/SRV/Eric Johnson sound, but hey pickups are another review. I never had the tuning issues, but since I am not one to do a lot of pitch bending with the Tremolo bar, adjusted it to be flush with the body. Never had a tuning problem, and if the nut is imperfect as another reviewer has stated, I've not noticed and am not noticing it now. A workhorse strat, if you want a collectible, but something else. I did have a problem with the bridge wearing down (by that point, and I bought this used, I had already been gigging steady with it two years) to the point where burrs where breaking strings on me left and right , That was the only problem I've had with it.

Using it with a Hot Rod Deluxe amp. Nice combo. WIth the texas hots I'd give it at least a 9. As stock, an 8, but my frame of reference for being a ten would be an all stock '57.

Excellent, lowered the bridge this being my preference.

Does great live. The bridge still moves slighty when breaking a string, making changing a string with the tremolo a pain in the neck. Have had this issue with every guitar I've owned with a floating tremolo. Again getting it as slat as possible against the body seems t have solved that problem, mostly but not completely.

Never called them.

Been playing about thirty years. Have owned American Made strats in the past, if there is a difference it is minute. I have heard the pickups are different ten what they put in the American Strats. I have also heard that they bore some of the Mexicans out differently so you can't upgrade the pickups, and that this was intentionally done to make the American more appealing. However, I upgraded my pickups without having to have it rebored. The Lowdown - the only problem I have had was with the string breakge that I had mentioned, the tremolo issue when breakig a string (although as I said, I have the same proble with all tremolos), and if you want to get picky, the SD Antiquiies sound so much better then the stock, although played those out plenty - up until the last year. In My opinion, given the price you can get for these, the ABOSLUTE most bang for the buck workhorse guitar out there. Love it still after 5 years of owning it (and did I say I bought it used?).

2000, made in Mexico Standard Strat, blue agave with a maple fretboard. Nothing fancy. Haven't changed a thing. No complaints.

Sounds like a strat. I play classic rock and blues from the late 60's through mid 70's. Good for that kinda music. Not a metal guitar, so metal heads should look elsewhere but I don't do metal, so don't have a problem with that. Run it through a Hartke G60 Piggyback rig, Marshall MG30DFX and Marshall MG10CD. Standard strat tones from twang to blues/jazz depending on which position your pickups selector is in. Not bad on the noise. I love the guitar.

No flaws. I just set it up to my preference.

People play live with strats night after night. No problems. Dependable. Never gig without a backup.

Been playing for 40 of my 45 years. Also have a MIM Tele, made in Korea Epiphone Les Paul and SAGA Strat, Tele and HT-10 kits that I have assembled. I use Martin and Takamine electrics. This is a great guitar for the bucks.

2005 model I believe, just got it a few weeks ago. Standard features, 21 fret, 5-way selector, all single coil. Stock pickups, electronics, bought new off showroom floor. Gloss black alder body, maple neck, vintage bridge with tremolo, same tuners as USA strat. No case included. Would have considered a 10 with a case. It's getting harder all the time to get a case with your guitar!

I play Blues and Rock, attempt Jazz (right!) Just play what sounds good to my ears, and this guitar will get you there. It simply amazes me how good this guitar sounds. At the store I plugged into a Fender Deluxe Reverb in order to get the best possible clean tone. Right away I could tell the strength of this guitar. It just blew me away. The sales guy told me that sometimes they will give the pickups a couple of extra turns of wire. They must have done something, because I played an American strat right next to it, and there was no comparison. The Standard MIM Strat was much more powerful, almost the same difference as a humbucker, I'm not kidding! I switched back and forth between the guitars, tried another MIM strat that was not nearly as good as this one. What else impresses me now, after putting it through the paces, is for the first time, I can get usable tones from ALL of the 5 pickup selections. They all sound noticeably different, and can come in handy for a wide variety of musical styles, Rock, Blues, Funk, Jazz...it's all there. Also the trem bridge is a blast to use, and I've owned several USA Strats in the past that were never this much fun. Outstanding value.

Actually, I haven't even changed the strings yet. It came with bullets on it, and they sound so good, I'm going to leave them on for awhile longer. The nut looks just as good as the American strat. Everything looks solid. All knobs, switch, look the same as USA strat. The trem bridge is the vintage type, but I think it works easier than the modern version! It really is fun to use. I used to make all my strats hard-tail, but I'm definitely going to leave this AS IS.

I think it will definitely withstand live playing, if I ever get the chance. I play mainly at home or with friends and family. This is an instrument to be proud of. I really like that it resembles Clapton's "Blackie". I could definitely depend on it. I have two other guitars, so I have back-up. All hardware seems solid and dependable.

Haven't had to deal with them yet.

I've been playing for over 30 years, and have owned several USA strats, Teles, Gibson Les Pauls, a few imports, Fender and Marshall amps. All pro stuff, so I recognize quality when I see it. I used to not want a Standard MIM Strat, but I've evidently found a great one. I can't speak for them all, but do yourself a favor, and check one out, you never know what you might find. Anyhow, I love everything about this guitar...the sound, looks, price..you really can't beat it. Yes, I WOULD DEFINITELY BUY ANOTHER ONE. I play mostly as a hobbyist, but this could be used professionally. Give one a try, GREAT BUY!

This guitar is made totally from scavenged fender telecaster parts. The body is a USA Traditional Telecaster Body. It has 21 frets, it's a solid top, it has one volume and one tone knob and a 3 way selector switch. It has two stacked humbucker, Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups which are passive. Body is made of ash, neck is maple. The finish on this guitar is my first attempt at painting a guitar. It didn't turn out too good. I thought it had character though, so I kept it that way and renamed it an "uglycaster". It's a single cutaway, has a top loader bridge and I put a Les Paul Stop Tailpiece on it. It has Fender Schaller Locking Tuners, neck is C shaped, medium frets, maple fretboard. Accessories? You gotta be shittin right? I ordered the pickups and got everything else from parts and yard sales. I do have a gig bag for it. Now look, I ain't gonna brag on myself, so I'm just gonna rate this as a 6. I mean what the fuck features does a telecaster have anyway?

This guitar sounds fuckin awesome. With the Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups, which are stacked humbuckers, you can go from twangy country to pure heavy metal. I play blues, blues rock, classic rock, country, grunge rock, hard rock and metal. Whatever I'm in the mood for and I put this together hoping to be able to satisfy any mood I'm in with a single guitar. I'm running this through a Marshall DSL 401 and a Fender Super Reverb. I am not an effect man, just use a footswitch to change channels and an Ibanez Tube Screamer. Nice, beefy bright twang on the bridge, not thin like a regular tele and nice bluesy and jazzy sound on the neck. Output is excellent and the thing is quiet as a churchmouse. Very versatile for a tele and if I must say so myself, the finish might look like shit, but this guitar rocks.

Can't really give a rating here. As far as setup, since this guitar was so hybrid, it took a while to get it right on the intonation, neck, pickup height and action. Once I got it in the groove it's great. Flaws? Shit man, this was pieces of guitars. It was nothing but a flaw. I collected this cuz I wanted to make my own guitar. I have about $200 total in this thing.

The guitar withstands live playing everynite. Hardware is first class, you should see this fuckin thing. It was an ugly dinged and scratched up white when I got it. I set out to make it look great. Sanded it down, took all the old paint off, and decided to paint it "mahagony". Well, I fucked up and the paint dripped everywhere. It has streaks all over it. I stuck a white pickguard on it after I put the electics in and was gonna tear it apart and start all over and my wife says "Hon, I think it has character". Well shit, after looking at it, I realized, as always she was right. Hell, I decided to go for the gusto. I taped up the pickups, bridge and hardware and got me a bunch of different color paint and a brush and started splatterin paint like a mo fo. Then, I put about 10 coats of clear varnish over all that after it dried, so that it would be smooth. Now, it has all those streaks and differnt colored paints under the varnish and it does indeed have character. It became the "uglycaster". I liked my work so much, I went out and found a bunch of strat parts and call it the shitocaster. It is a rockin mo fo too. Strap buttons have strap locks and I depend on this guitar more than any other guitar I have owned. I always take two guitars to gig with.

N/A

Been playin 40 years. Gotta lot of shit. Hey dudes, build your own guitar. Then it will truly be yours. Nothing makes people chins drop like seeing you walk on stage with a guitar that looks like a dawg with the mange to find out that the guitar is one rockin ass kickin axe.

Strat Mexico 2001.
Everything great,but i wish there was a case for it.

I play everything from blues and jazz to heavy metal.
And its great, i sounds good in every style. After i changeg my bridge pickup ( to SD hot rails) it sounds just great.

Everything is fine!

Everything is good, but im not sure about the strap buttons..

Im playing over 5 years, and this guitar is just made for me. If i' had a chance to buy it again i wont be thinking,but just BUY it . It is really a greta guitar.

Mine is a 2003 (Standard?) Mexican Special Edition Strat. As far as I know, the only difference between it and the standard Mexicans is that it has a BEAUTIFUL flame maple top in tobacco/honey/cherry/etc sunburst. 21 Medium-jumbo Frets, standard controls, Maple neck and fretboard, I assume an alder body. Standard bridge. Mine came with aftermarket Schaller tuners. These features work for me and have been working for people for 50 years so I give it a 8. Personally I could go for one tone knob, and a better bridge.

I play mostly rock/blues/metal/funk/reggaer and some other stuff. I use it with a great Mid-90's Peavey Classic Chorus 212 (see review). The electronics are pretty quiet, but there tends to be a bit of ground noise when I'm not touching the metal parts of the guitar. The sound is pretty bright. Personally I like this but could go for some more low end. The lower strings have a tiny bit more volume than the upper ones. The pickup selector has pretty versitile sounds in my opinion. I like the neck pickup alone because of the slight lack of lows but the bridge pickup has a good crunchy metal tone and the middle pickup has some nice twang in it.

I bought it used so I'm not sure how the factory set up was. I lowered the strings and straightened the neck out a bit and I love the action now. The afformentioned disparity between string volume could have been a result of a tilted pickup; I did some adjustment and don't really notice it anymore but that could have been just because I got used to it. The bridge is a little weak. I'm not sure how the tremelo is because mine didn't come with a bar. If the string saddles were a bit deeper and tighter I think the sustain would be improved and when the guitar is tuned down some of the strings buzz a tiny bit at the bridge. The nut could also have been carved a little better - the low E is pretty close to the edge of the fretboard and slips over it a little too easily. This is a result of who carved the nut though, not the design of the guitar. I give this guitar an 7 because it's absolutely gorgeous. the flame maple top is not bookmatched but it's beautiful as is the burst. Like many other fenders I've played, the neck finish is too weak and easily chips at the ends of the frets. Mine came with a repaired chip in the headstock finish as well.

I've had the guitar for about two months now. I'm not sure how long it will last but it is a fender and I think it will be alright. The biggest problem in terms of its durability is the neck finish chipping but in my experience this hasn't really mattered as time goes on with older Fender guitars. All the hardware seems pretty durable and tight. I would use it in a gig without a backup if I wasn't afraid of strings breaking.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing guitar for about 3 years and bass for more than 5. As I understand it, these standard mexican fenders are sort of hit-or-miss. I would say I got a pretty good one. I like it alot. I would probably look at other strats if mine were stolen but I don't know if I'd buy a mexican. It sounds great and compares nicely for what is is with my friends American Deluxe. I wish it had a better nut (again this is just a result of who made it) and a little more low end, but overall it's a nice guitar and I think I'll hold on to it for a while. Great for a more inexperienced player or one (like me- a bass player) who doesn't need a top of the line instrument.

Made in mexico, 2003, 21 medium jumbo frets, 1 volume 2 tone pots, 5 way pickup selector, 3 mexican single coil pickups, alder body with maple neck and indian rosewood fretboard, 3 colour transparent sunburst, vintage tremolo, non-locking tuners, no included accesories.

it suits rock, blues and country incredibly well either clean or dirty. Has a very thick classic sound with the gain turned up to about 6 on overdrive channel 1 with the neck pickup. I use it through a marshall avt 275 with a valve pre-amp. The single coils obviously give out a lot of hum but as long as you don't leave the volume up during quiet sections then it shouldn't bother you that much, although positions 2 & 4 on the pick-up selector are incredibly quiet.

The setup was amazing, possibly due to the fact that Dawsons set up all their guitars before they put them on the shelf.

I have gigged with this guitar loads without a backup. Some of you may think thats a bit stupid but i take such good care of this guitar that its probably going to last 60 years at least before it needs anything repairing. That said, if you really want to bash this thing around you would have to be really trying to brake it because its one tough cookie.

One word of warning. Don't do Joe Satriani style divebombs with the whammy. The intonation goes gradually out of sync until you have to get it setup again. I did this and, because it only has a one year warranty on it, had to pay #50 to send it away, and it took 3 weeks. I have blocked the tremolo now any way cause I don't use it any more.

The main reason I choose this guitar was because eric clapton plays a strat and I really liked the spanky sound he coaxes out of it. On the whole this is a good beginners guitar but it is a good idea to fit noiseless pickups to it and have it shielded to get noise-free operation. Also the jack plug has a tendancy to come loose every few weeks so you need to tighten it up really well.

325 from musicians friend made in mexico,all you would want from a strat

yup its a strat,noisy single coils,but easily solved with a pickup swap,still when clean sound total strat

finish is a flawless cherry sunburst,tuning keys are excellent,tremelo is surprisingly smooth,AND STAYS IN TUNE !!!no flaws whatsoever

its rock solid product all the way unless your an abusive total hack

have not had to deal with them ,the product is excellent

been playing since 1976,i never liked strats,the only reason i got this one is because it was cherry sunburst which is my fav,and with musicians friends 45 day policy i figured what the hell,i got a humbucker with single coil fit,for when i need to be raging and dont want single coil noise.and let me tell you i am impressed,if you want a strat ,dont fool around GET THE REAL THING,all you might have to do is slide in a pickup or two!!!ive owned all you could imagine and these are incredible value and THE REAL THING,not bad for someone who never liked strats.right?

2005 Standard Made In Mexico, 21 Standars Frets, 3 Single Coil Pickups, 5 way switch, Standard Whammy Bar/Tremolo. Nothing Special

Thin sound, lack of sustain, intonation way out & won't stay in tune.

I have been playing guitar for about 20 years. I tried 10 of these Mexican Standard Strats ($369) over a 3 hour period at a guitar center. I really wanted to like this guitar. The pickups are really thin sounding, but I would have been happy to upgrade the pups and write a good review if that was the only thing wrong with this model of Strat. The build quality is very poor and NOT at all consistent. While I suppose that it might be possible to find a Mexi Strat that is an okay intermediate guitar, I certainly could NOT. I no longer believe people who say that the Mexi Strats are close in quality to the American Made Strats. If you find one that has the nut cut correctly you are lucky. But, even when the nut is done right, you will find unfinished frets or dead spots on the neck. Even if you are lucky enough to find one that was well built, the parts are so cheap, you would have to replace the pickups, bridge and the tunners to end up with a quality guitar. I even tried a Korean model for good measure and it was FAR WORSE! So, I tried a few Signature Series that are ALSO Made In Mexico, but have better parts. Both, the Richie Sambora and Robert Cray Models had a much higher quality feel to them. In fact, I took the Robert Cray model ($579) home. But, I am returning it ASAP! Even this Signature Series model Mexican Strat has dead spots past the 12th fret especially on the G string, and that is with a relatively high action. Truss rod, bridge, or nut adjustments were not able to solve the neck problems. I have a $300 Made In Indonesia guitar that plays better than any of the Mexican Made Strats I tried. Fender should really be ashamed to be putting Leo's name on this junk. But...I DID try quite a few GOOD QUALITY Fender Strats....all were USA made. I am going back for a USA Strat, but I am going to look at these with MUCH SCRUTINY! After this experience, I am convinced Fender is probably spewing plenty of junk out of the USA factory as well. For those of you who own a cheapie Fender product, don't take this review personally. Perhaps, the push to keep up with the Christmas demand lowers the quality. But, so far, I am VERY dissapointed in the so called VALUE lines of FENDER. I am still in search of a good Fender Strat.

Cheap parts...poorly made neck & nut...good luck.

?

Since I have a $300 Made In Indonesia guitar that KILLS the quality of ANY of theMexican Made Strats I have tried, I am not giving Fender a good report card on this model...sorry...don't take it personally...I don't hate Fender....yet...I am NOW looking at the USA models.

I really wanted to like this guitar...I mean you can't beat the price. Either I have the worst luck in the world or Mexico can't make a good guitar for the holiday season. Happy Playing People!

The guitar came bare bones. Whammy bar and that was it. I wasn't expecting much and I wasn't disapointed.

The sound is pretty good. There is a hum in the pick-ups, also expected. I found that if you keep it in the #2 and #4 positions the hum is greatly reduced. I am putting a blue, silver, and gold set of Lace Sensor pickups in it. Then the hum will no longer be an issue.

Everything was good on the guitar. I took it home, changed the strings and set it ip myself. I also put a new pick gaurd on it. Now it is Olypic White with a pearloid red pickgaurd and rosewood neck. It looks super cool!

This guitar is solid. As long as I play it like a guitar and don't use it to hammer nails into my new deck outside, it should last forever.

This guitar is awesome. I will keep it forever!

made in mexico 3 single coils one way tremolo 21 frets...ect

stock pickups are ceramic...they are very good for clean sounds but with distorzion is not that good...i changed my pickups with dimarzio vintage neck 2.2 vintage blues middle and vintage 54 bridge now guitar is talking like it suposed to...guitar has an execellent sustain and wood is faboulus..with stock pickups mark is 6 with dimarzio 10

set-up from factory was quite good but i made it even better is very easy to adjust action...finish is superb not a sigle flaw

this guitar is made for livi playing is very dependable i am giging without a backup...this guitar can take anything

i ve been playing this strat for a two years and it looks like it just got out of a store it's a great guitar for not so much money

2005 Standard Stratocaster, MIM
Agave Blue, Rosewood neck.
Red, Silver, and Blue Lace sensor pick ups(after market).
The guitar is nothing fancy. It is simply put a solid piece of equipment.

I got rid of the factory pick ups because they hummed too much. I expected this and figured the price of the pick ups into the total price of the guitar. It is still worth every penny!

The guitar came out of the packaging and looked new. I could not ask for anything more. I took it home, replaced the strings and set up the action. I could not be happier with the guitar.

One of the questions for the review asks if the guitar would survivve live playing. I cannot for the life of me see why it wouldn't. As long it is played like a guitar and not like a drum it should be just fine.

I paid $369.00 for the guitar plus $28.00 tax and I got the set of pickups on Ebay for $85. So all in total I paid: $482.00
I think that by doing a little work myself and replacing the pickups I got a superb instrument for a very reasonable price. I will not buy an American Fender now that I know that I can do this for half the price and end up with a guitarthat is just a good, if not better!

Made in Mexico in 1995. Poplar body. Black with white pickguard. Maple neck with "skunk stripe" and rosewood fretboard, 25.5" scale with medium frets. Tuners are cheap but hold tune fairly well. The neck config is a flattened "U" shape, too thin for my aging fingers. Standard Fender 6-screw trem system with undersized inertia block. The previous owner had changed out the stock (garbage) pickups with Lace Sensors, Red in the bridge position, Gold in the mid and neck positions. I bought this guitar with the intention of inserting its Lace Sensors into my SX SST Strat.

I've played other MiM strats with stock pickups and found their sound jangly and weak. Bought this one intending to exchange the MightyMites on my SX strat for the Lace Senosrs on this one and then selling this one for what I could get. I'd had a late 80's Fender US Strat Plus in the early 90's, equipped with Gold Lace Sensors and back then, loved their sound. Well, after playing this Mex Strat through my Roland Cube 30, and then playing my SX with its MightyMites at the same settings, well, the SX blew this one away every which way from Sunday. I guess if I had nothing to compare it to, I might be able to live with this Strat because it gives out some decent "strat" sounds on the "2" and "4" position but for the money, there are lots of better deals to be had out there.

Having bought this guitar used, I have no idea how it was originally set up. The previous owner had the trem set up "floating" with the action way too high. I "blocked" it and lowered the action substantially. The guitar seems to have decent sustain. However, it has cheap tuners and the "skunk stripe" in the back of the neck is not completely flush with the neck and one can feel its edges while playing.
This guitar is 10 years old and the finish still looks really good so I guess that's one thing Fender got right on this guitar.

Overall, this guitar just feels "cheap". I've had strat copies costing a lot less than this one that felt like they had more quality than this instrument. I guess you can impress your friends with the name on the headstock but hey, there are better deals to be had for a lot less money. Check out RondoMusic's SX and Agile line of guitars.

N/A. Never dealt with Fender warranties etc.

I've been playing for 40 years and have owned some really good guitars over that time. Bought and sold more than a few. One thing I've learned is that one can pay big bucks just for a name. A lot of hype out there. Let your fingers and your ears decide what's good and what works for you.
I kept this guitar for 2 weeks (long enough to decide that the MightyMite pickups on my SX Strat sounded better than this Strat with its non-stock upgraded Lace Sensors, and to realise that my SX SST-62 is just a better built guitar all the way around) and then put this one up for sale and managed to sell it quick (probably because or the Fender name). Would I buy another one of these? No way! I'd drop $99 for an SX SST-62 any day of the week first and end up with a better guitar for a lot less money.
To be fair, though, the later MiM Strats, the ones made in the last couple of years, are of better quality than the mid to late 90's versions and that's probably because so many of the "copies" were better and the Fender company, losing sales, was made to realize that it had to clean up its act to stay competitive.

2005 Fender Standard Stratocaster/ Sunburst w/ Maple Neck. (I would consider a 10 rating to mean this guitar is not the greatest guitar ever designed or built...but merely all it is intended and purported to be by the manufacturer.)
This is a Classic Strat setup...just like the name says, Standard...nothing more/nothing less! The 5 way PU switch is a "Great Leap Forward" compared to the days when I would have to try and balance the old 3 way switches between 2 PU's to get the out of phase tone that I have always preferred. Since I began playing 40 years ago, I have owned both a 1963 Strat(purchased used in 1968) and a 1965 Strat (purchased used in 1973)...and I would be hard pressed to tell you the difference between those two classics and this new one. It is a genuine Strat...regardless of where it was put together. There have always been good ones and bad ones. If you are a player who loves to use the tremolo arm, this might be a drawback to owning any Strat. I handled the screw in tremolo arm on this one the same way I did on my '63 and '65 models...unscrew it, throw it in a drawer, and forget it. (...although the 2005 tremolo arm, unlike the '63 and '65, doesn't have the superfluous ashtray bridgeplate to keep it company in the drawer...). As an aside, I also bought a brand new, generic vintage tweed style hard case from Musician's Friend for $39.95 (...on sale w/ free shipping...) to replace the Fender gig bag my Strat came with. It's a nice, sturdy case and very reasonably priced.

This is a very subjective category, as everyone has their own taste and comfort zone...that being said, this guitar sounds like a Strat has always sounded, and as good as any I've played or heard. If you want it to sound like something else, there is apparently no shortage of after market electronics and hardware one can add to make it sound like something other than a Strat...but the point of such alterations escapes me. I have always preferred a Strat to sound like a Strat. I play mine through a late 1960's Fender Bandmaster, a custom built pre - amp (to overdrive), with either a Boss Stereo Chorus or a Line 6 Pod 2.0. The harmonics ring out almost effortlessly and are very dynamic. The natural sustain of this guitar is outstanding and the tone is classic...but not all of the Standard or American Strats I played during my search were as good. Some played very flat and dead, and the electronics were overly noisy on some of them (especially in the 1, 3, or 5 positions, which as my '63 and '65 Strats taught me...have historically always been a little noisy. Beefing up the shielding around the wiring usually solves the problem). A few just didn't feel like they were put together very well. If you're buying a new one, any worthwhile dealer will be willing to have a tech set it up out of the box to factory specs if it hasn't already been done. There are also some great buys in the used market, just remember that a lot of what you find there may have been tampered with by the previous owner...so you may have to have it returned to its original setup. It would appear that Fender has made some significant improvements to the Standard in the last few years, some of the 90's models I played were clearly inferior in overall performance and quality to the newer ones. To find a real gem you really need to shop around.

The maple neck is a classic Stratocaster. The action is excellent, very close to the frets and easy to play. I have owned both, but I always thought the maple fret board had a little bit more high end sparkle than the rosewood...but it might just be my ear. 22 frets would have been nice but it's not a deal breaker to me. The alignment and intonation are true. Well balanced and comfortable to play. I bought a 1969 Gibson Les Paul brand new (you don't want to know what it cost me in 1969)...it has been my main guitar ever since, so the classic Strat frets are very close to what I am used to, and present no problem to me...if you like bigger frets, this would be a problem. The brown sunburst finish is flawless. I scoured this guitar looking for a fault that needed to be fixed and really couldn't find one...but again, some of these guitars (new and used/Standard and American) had some real issues and would have required some work. Shop Around!

This guitar is a beast...solid as a rock...very well constructed. The hardware is no frills, standard issue and I have encountered no problems with any of it. I was prepared to block the tailpiece, but really didn't need to. The tuners aren't fancy but as long as they keep the guitar in tune, replacing them seems an unnecessary exercise. If they present a problem down the road, it's an easy fix. No buzzing strings or frets/no dead spots/consistant all the way up the neck. The electronics, except for the need to upgrade the shielding of the wiring, appear to be functioning exactly as they were designed to perform. Although I usually use a Strat in conjunction with my Les Paul, I would not hesitate to use it live with no backup. If it were stolen I would start searching for another Standard to replace it. Spending more just to own an American wouldn't seem like an upgrade to me...it would merely seem like spending more. For me, the benchmark for Reliability and Durability is my 36 year old Les Paul, that has never once failed me...I'll update you in 2041 about the Strat. (...I'll be 88 or long dead...in either case I'll be typing slower...)

I have never had occasion to deal with Fender...but I've heard good things over the years.

This is an unbelievable value. I am completely "Old School" about guitars...it's the way I was raised. For electric guitars, there is Gibson and Fender...and then there is everything else. This Strat, along with my Les Paul, is all that I need. Whenever I have purchased a guitar I have always played as many as I could get my hands on in search of a keeper. I played approximately 30 Strats (Standard & American), over nearly a six week period before purchasing this one. The range in quality was much broader than I would have initially thought possible. If you know what you're looking for, and have the time and patience, I would highly recommend trying out as many as you can...there's always a winner out there waiting to be found...and when you find it, you'll know it. Don't be scared off by the "Made In Mexico" sticker, or fooled by the price tag...play a few. This is a first rate guitar and I would highly recommend it to anyone who wanted a true, classic Fender Strat.

2003 cream colored, polyester finsh Mexican Strat.
Alder body, maple neck and fretboard.
21-frets with S/S/S pups with 5-way switch. Standard cast/sealed tuners.
Ceramic magnet staggered pole pickups. Synchronized tremolo.

Talk about noisy!
The sound was overshadowed by the hum of the POS pups.
I replaced the pups with '04 American Strat pups that I got from eBay.
I then shielded the cavity and pickguard with copper tape.
It made a world of difference. It sounds a lot better now.

I didn't notice any flaws when I bought it and when I did the shielding.

The guitar is realiable and durable.

Never dealt with them.

Knowing the reputation of single-coil pups, especially on Strats, after 7 yrs I reluctantly bought one.
As expected, the pups stunk to high heaven, and I had to replace them.
The best thing about a Strat is the tone, it is awesome.
After some tweaking and replacing parts I have it to where I'm content...for now.
Be aware that you will need to replace the pups and shield the cavity if you don't have the money for an American Strat.
But, for a Mexican Strat, I can't complain. I got what I paid for.

21 Frets
Volume, Tone Control, 5-Way Selector
3 Single Coils

Basic Controls for the tone selection you need.

Great sounding guitar, it has that famous strat tone that we all love. It's a great guitar for blues, and I even play some rock and jazz on it. The single coil pickups tend to be very noisy though, so you often have to play with two pickups in order to get rid of the buzz. This is a hassle...

This guitar was pretty poorly set up, I had to have it fixed up at the shop. The bridge and the pickups were fine however. There were no other flaws besides the action.

This guitar doesn't seem like it's the toughest piece of equipment around. I would use this guitar without a backup, however. But if you are one throw your guitar on stage and such, don't expect this to last.

N/A

Good guitar for the price, but if I was ever to buy a strat again, I'd get an American model, not a standard strat.

Year: Bought it new in 2000. Made in Mexico... senor! 21 frets. Two piece (as far as i can tell!) poplar body in three colour sunburst polyester finish. Standard stratocaster controls, single volume and two tone pots coupled with 3 fender single coil pickups... is this sounding familiar or what! Mine is the maple necked version and it has the satin finish... chah i know, just like the rest of these ones! Standard vintage stratocaster bridge (except not made out of the stuff they use for american vintage strats!) with the usual floating tremolo. Enclosed tuners grace the headstock and are of a similar variety to those on the American standard strat. My guitar came with nothing other than a box and a couple of allen keys. In theory (read further) adds up to one of the most brilliantly conceived designs in human history, hence the 9.

I have been playing a little over 10 years and keep drifting back to the Clapton back catologue as well as other classic rock/blues. I also have a stab at indie and just recently a bit of country. Sound wise my strat covers these pretty well, however I believe the tone to be somewhat generic and thin sounding. Characterless is probably the best description. Upgrading the pickups would improve this considerably, but I would be more inclined to upgrade the guitar itself! I recently purchased a MIM 50's classic tele and it completely blows this guitar away with regards to sustain, playability and tone, so if you have the extra pennies i think the next step up in the range is money well spent. I do believe however, that my strat is not the best example of these guitars, as I have played others which were much more resonant and generally better made than mine. More on this shortly...

Here's where things get ugly guys. When I bought this instrument I was much younger and had only been playing electric guitar for a year. Furthermore this was my first step into the world of the "intermediate" instrument and hence my expectations and ability to discern decent build quality was greatly reduced. Put simply, as far as fit and finish goes, this guitar is a dud! Starting at the neck, the supposedly durable lacquer had already been chipped instore, exposing the bare wood behind the third fret. I didn't notice until I was past the return period with my dealer so now I'm stuck with a massive black spot there which doesn't want to buff out. I am only a bedroom player (at the minute... rock superstardom awaits!), and whilst this guitar has been well used in the time i've owned it, compared to other strats i've seen it hasn't lasted the distance at all. After about 2 years the edges of the fretboard started turning a cacky green colour as the thin finish wore away. My fingernails have made noticeable wide whitish scratches on the fretboard (not seen on other instruments of a similar age) and my light picking style has even chipped away more lacquer at the base of the fretboard. On the body itself there is a noticeable finish crack (which is gradually getting longer) creeping out from behind the neckplate (in my memory i haven't dropped the guitar at all so this seems unusual). My saddles on the low e and the a rusted out after about three years, despite being regularly wiped down, but by far the worst thing is the frets. Filing marks are easily visible either side of each fret (1mm wide on some) which collect sweat and turn the neck wood green. Also the fret ends were poorly finished over, with noticeable indentations in the neck as the ends aren't flush with the fretboard. These too oxidise and turn green as they collect hand gunk by virtue of me moving up and down the neck. I should point out htat i'm not a sweaty person, the neck lacquer is just ridiculously thin and frail. Notably, mine is a bad example and most other fenders i've played have been top notch. Try before you buy... and look very hard.

As stated earlier i am not a frequently gigging musician, however I believe that despite all of its faults, my strat would survive live use. The tuners are quite stable and everything works well and as it should. Just don't expect a sustaining, wailing powerhouse of tone. The instrument is solidly made, but I would always have a backup with me. Ideally this would be better suited (for me at least) as a backup guitar itself, as it looks the part and could stand up to being treated with neglect compare to a no.1 guitar.

Didn't seek it with this guitar, but to my knowledge fender dealers in my area are more than willing to assist in a prompt manner with any claims/problems.

As I said I was younger and dumber when I got this strat. Had I bought it now it would've gone back to the shop within a week. I'm sure though that it would've been replaced with another fender stratocaster anyway though! Nobody's perfect and it seems even the great guiar companies have bad days. I certainly trust the maker and have had only pleasurable playing experiences with other Fenders. If it were lost/stolen i wouldn't be devastated, as I have probably outgrown this guitar. At the end of the day though it still has that name on the headstock and is the right shape so I'm sure heaps of beginner/intermediate musicians will jump at the asking price.

Made in Mexico 2002
21 Frets
Standard Single Coils
1 Volume, 2 Tone
Alder Body
Sage Green Finish
It's a Mexican Fender what do you expect?

Actually I have never been a Fender fan. But I was beginning to grow tired of the humbucker sound from my Epiphone Les Paul and my Gibson ES-335 sound do I figured I would buy a cheap strat. I use a lot of effects and this thing worked perfect for my style. I run through a Roland JC-120 clean and an Orange Rockerverb for Distortion. The single coils provide more of a cut than the Humbuckers. My absolute favorite sound I am getting from the strat right now is when I run it through a modded MXR Blue Box, with a touch of Delay through the Jc-120. It may seem like an odd coupling but it sounds sweet. My only complaint is the humming from the single coils.Also the tremolo stays in tune considerably weel. I have become quite fond of crazy tremolo dives and the guitar seems to hold up pretty well. I love how low maintanence the trem system is too.

My friend is a tech at the Store where I bought it so he set it up for me. It is absolutely perfect.

This guitar is great live. Since it was so inexpensive I am not as concerned with cosmetic flaws, so I can eally rock out with this guitar. With the 335 I basically stood still praying that not even a bead of sweat woud get on the finish. The Strat allows me to have fun. The reason we all play music in the first place.

I have been playing for nine years and this guitar is what I was needing. It is not in any way areplacement for my other two guitars, but it has become my primary guitar. If it were stolen I would probably try out an American to see what all the fuss is about, but would probably end up buying another Mex Strat to rock out on.

Made 2004/05. Made in Mexico, but the quality of manufacture is very good. My model is a Arctic White solid color alder body with one piece solid maple neck with 21 jumbo frets. The guitar comes with 3 Standard Strat pickups (same as the american?) and a standard tremolo and standard Fender tuners- This really is the standard strat. Comes ith the usual align keys and tremolo arm.

I play mainly rock/blues (Guns n' Roses, Hendrix, Led Zeppellin etc.) through a Marshall MG100DFX. I find the guitar very quiet at high volumes, even with only 1 pickup selected. I usually play it using the bridge pickup with the bass tone control at 1 and the treble at 10- certainly not to everyone's taste- giving an almost telecaster like bright twang. Flicking the switch to the neck pickup, you get a warm, flat, much smoother sound with a quiter output, but with the bass turned up you can get a good blues sound. Using the settings that I use, the pickup selector becomes almost like an onboard wah when you quickly flick it from pickup to pickup. I would prefer to say between 8 and 9 as a rating, but this guitar suits my sound well, so it gets a nine.

The action on the guitar when I bought it was quite high, and I prefer a low action, but its no big deal to change it with the tools you get with it. As i said, the finish is excellent, so no need to go into details here. The wood quality is very good. I bought this in America- Rumour has it that Fender keep all the better finished guitars for the American market- and, living in England, i think it's true. I have played one of these guitars in a shop where i live and they look cheap and poorly made, so i bought this one from the famous Mannys in New York.

Ok, the bad part now. It keeps giving me electric shocks! Although only static shocks they are sometimes painfull! My local guitar technician told me that it happens to some strats and there's nothing you can do about it. The charge builds up in the scratchplate or on you and the guitar earths it to you. I think. But fear not if you've just been totally put off buying one- the solution is to go bearfoot. Effectivly, you are then always earthed so charge can't build up. At a recent gig everyone thought it was somekind of crazy rock n' roll thing, but i did take a backup guitar to this gig.

Never dealt with them- and can't. I bought it in America and live in England, remember. Ive heard that Fender couldn't give a damn mind, and the terms and conditions of the 'limited lifetime warranty' are very harsh ('have you played this guitar? VOID' kind of stuff)

Playing for 2 years. I also own an Epiphone G400 Vintage and Squire strat (what a differance to the real thing!) If it was stolen, i would certainly buy another, although maybe i'd opt for the Floyd Rose locking trem version. I wish i had played it for longer though (i was in a rush for i flight so it was 15 mins testing!) The only bad things really are the tremolo (goes out of tune if you so much as blow on it) and the shocking. Some will hate the 21 frets, but if your a good enough guitarist you'll find ways round it.

1998 MIM Standard Strat with a few modifications. I bought it new, about 6 years ago. I replaced the original ceramic pups with Vintage Vibes, GraphTech saddles and the Callaham Mexican upgrade. The original Olympic white has aged to a very nice cream colour. My cat loves sleeping on the gig bag.

I'm an at-home player with a jazz/blues kind of style. I run the guitar through a small Traynor tube amp with some JJ Eurotubes. Basically, it'll produce just about any sound I want.

The guitar was more or less fine when I bought it 6 years ago although I always had a bit of trouble (dead spots, buzzes) on the B, around frets 5 to 9. I recently had a fret job which has pretty much eliminated these problems. With the various upgrades, I think this guitar really plays well. I've tried almost everything from a Squire Strat to an E Johnson in the store and I'm hard pressed to find any reason to replace this guitar. I find the switches just a little lightweight and one of these days I'll probably get around to replacing the tuners with locking or vintage.

Virtually indestructible.

Never dealt with the manufacturer.

I'm an example of how little progress one can make in 40 years of playing. I also own a Korean Epi jazzbox plus three trombones. If stolen, I'd probably by a Tele simply for curiosity sake. The pups are great (handwound by P Biltof of Vintage Vibe) as is the Callaham gear (esp. the denser, heavier trem block). I think with a bit of finishing by a good tech, and some upgrades, the Standard MIM Strat can be improved to play nearly as well as any other Fender model. I might like to upgrade some switches and jack plate as well as the tuners in the near future. I like making these small mods as they have improved the guitar but, more to the point, personalized it.

This is my first electric guitar, so I am reviewing it from the perspective of a newbie. I played a bit of acoustic ("played" is a silly looking fabric with lots of wild lines and colors) maybe 25 years ago, but did not retain much of any of it. Please, pardon my grammar which is very bad and not well punctuated correctly.
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FEATURES

After going through all the specific feature considerations recommended by Harmony Central, most of it reads Greek to me, but of what I yet understand?

The guitar has, and i quote:

3 Standard Single-Coil Strat? Pickups (Ceramic Magnets)

And I really could not tell you what that means, other than when I flip the 5 position switch, it changes the sound in many unique and interesting ways, and can be flipped on the fly if you happen to accidently nail it when strumming. It has no Tremolo built into it, which means I am having to learn to "shake it" by way of my own finger work.

It has 21 frets and a rosewood fingerboard. I was informed that rosewood has a softer and less abrasive touch than maple. But I suspect I would have to play for years before knowing the difference, if at all, though it does look nice. It has 2 tone controls and a volume control. I found the tone controls to be very subtle, and they have not generated enough tonal distinction to really register on my aural radar, and are a bit moot anyway after running them through my amp modeler (Line 6 PODxt), which i purchased along with my Strat. I suppose when playing it clean through a very expensive amp, the distinction of tone adjustment would be more present. But my very small Marshall MG is not so picky, pardon the pun. Feature wise, you get what you pay for, i guess. A 10 for excellent versatility.

SOUND

How to sound like you are sitting on the banks of the Mississippi for less than $400 (and a gas powered amplifier). This is where a lesser priced guitar actually works in your favor.

Classic twangy character abounds, and there is clearly that back home guitar spirit that comes through your lesser scientific measuring senses. This really IS your father's guitar. My own youthful imagination may have altered my more reasonable faculties here, but that is what it is all about.

One strum says "welcome to the club." I suspect an enormously skilled player who enjoys many very expensive guitars could strap this on and sound more rugged and bluesy than he might otherwise sound on a more elite instrument. "It ain't a beginners guitar, it is a standard strat! Is that the sound you want?"

Apparently the old road dogs can tell the difference between an American assembled and a Mexican assemble guitar. Mine is assembled in Mexico, but I would never have known or cared about that unless I had been told this. I am aware that in time I can upgrade the electronics, and move the over all sound up the ladder of quality. The only truly experienced sounding guitar criticism i could make would be that I immediately desired a longer sustain sound from the Strat, but what do I expect for the $315 I paid for it brand new?

That considered, the Standard Strat is an excellent foundation upon which to eventually build a guitar you can live with for years. I am also aware that some of the finest music ever recorded was put together using some very primitive and budged minded instruments. So, it is less about the pristine $2000 sustain and balance, than it is about learning to work the instrument for what it is.

Some folks have complained that you cannot easily get a screaming Nirvana style distortion out of the Standard Strat. I do not know if this is true, but if it is and you most desire to have that kind of sound, maybe this is not the instrument for you, but you would have to consult persons who are more experienced than me to confirm this.

I don't know how to rate this on a 1 to 10 basis... Should I give it a 4 because it does not sound like a 3 grand Custom-Ax-O-Bravado? I plead ratios! Price considered, i have to give it a 10. Which means, "Sounds Great" according to the Harmony Central meter. Yep, sounds great!

ACTION,FIT, FINISH

Feels very taunt and spirited to my inexperienced fingers.

The fit and finish speak better to the genuine talent of the Mexican fender factory workers, than the price of this guitar. It all seems quite nicely assemble and the paint is very clean and everything seems bolted down with authority.

Again, you would have to be very familiar with much more exclusive instruments to complain in any way about the quality of the construction and the finish. Though, i might add, it does seems to keep in tune for ages. And the people who sold me the guitar set it up quite nicely at the store. Way good at this cheap - 10.

RELIABILITY, DURABILITY

Feels like you could park a car on it, but parking a truck on it may require retuning.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Don't yet know. But there seem to be a million friendly Strat Heads up and ready to help out with any Strat specific issue. Pretty cool thing...

Been playing about 2 weeks. Newbie is newbie.

OVERALL RATING

I have read many of the reviews here and the many very experienced players who really enjoy this instrument played a big part in my purchase. And to those old dogs, I appreciate with muchness. I have never so much as held some $2000 dollar weapon in my hands, so I am not saddled with the frustration of having to compare my first guitar with something that sounds like 6 stringed caviar. If you do not plan on spending more than 20 grand for your new sport compact, best not test drive a Ferrari. And this sort of limits my review, but probably in a good way. Besides, i hate caviar.

I had been informed were i to purchase my first guitar, that i not spend more than 100 or 300 dollars for it. The implication clearly being that not much is lost if one fails in his or her own ambitions to learn to play. This would seem sound advice, pardon the pun, but if you are comfortable in learning new instruments and might have tried a guitar out before and are confident that you WILL come to some level of guitar player ability or competency, I would personally recommend you not shy away from a guitar like the Fender Standard Strat. To my newbie ears and newbie fingers, the Standard Strat feels like walking into guitar history and becoming parts of that grand tradition.

$315 (new) for what is essentially the guitar equivalent of a Mexico assembled Harley Sportster?

Harmony Central defines a "10" as a "Fantastic Value." I think that is pretty much what the Standard Fender Stratocaster is and represents, to apply a bit of understatement.

"It ain't a beginners guitar, it is a standard strat! Is that the sound you want?"

I bought my Standard Strat in 1997 new. All the standard Fender features, 3 single coils, vintage tremola, 21 frets, etc. I love the maple neck on this....it has a very smooth fret board. No case was included with the guitar.

For the price, this guitar is hard to beat. The best starter guitar out there. It has a definite Fender tone and decent playability. You can definitely play all styles from Blues to metal. A good package. Now, I do not mean to say this guitar is even close to an American Fender or a Gibson les Paul...it is not. But as a starter its great and and it does sound good.

I play hard rock through metal - Deep Purple to Van Halen to GNR

For the price...a very pleasant suprise. The materials are not expensive but they are not cheap quality either. This guitar looks good, the finish is good, the fret board is very good...the knobs and tremola are very entry leval but have not failed. I also own a Blackmore Strat which was much more expensive and it could not take the beating this guitar can. So for the price....no complaints. Again, can't be compared to more expensive American built Fenders, Gibsons, Music Man, etc....but for the low proce it is very good.

No issues at all after 8 years. I gave this guitar to my son who is learning the guitar and this baby is as good as new.

For a $300 brand name guitar this thing is great. The best entry leval guitar out there. I played this through my amps: a Fender Stage 25 watt amp, a Line 6 AX2, and a Marshall half stack. It sounds very good...more than what you'd expect. I own a Gibson Les Paul Standard DC, a Custom Carvin 127, and a Peavey EVH Wolfgang....and they of course blow this entry Fender away. But, keep in mind the cost and this guitar is great. I've been playing 10 years and have played lead guitar in a working band. I have never used this on stage but I would not feel uncomfortable if I did. I own Fender Ritchie Blackmore LE Strat that sounds better but can't take the beating this thing can. So bottom line, as an entry level guitar that you can use live this Fender is a great buy....but, don't think it will stand-up to a Gibson les Paul, a Music Man, a EVH Wolfie oran American made Strat.

Made 2001 in mexico. 21 frets. fender call the colour of mine blue agave, i'd call it light blue powder finish. all the standard stuff, three single coils, vintage tremolo bridge, ceramic magnets, five way selector switch etc. nothing to get too excited about. strap locks would have been nice but for the money i suppose i cant complain.
the guy at the shop threw in a strap and a stand which was nice.

sound is very bright, glassy i suppose you call it. unfortunately there is no tone control for the bridge pickup, so there is nothing you can do about that. all the same, the pickups give great definition to each note played, not at all muddy. it sounds fantastic overdriven for that status quo sound, but not what your going to play metal on. two of the positions on the selector are hum cancelling which works great, but i find that as long as your not standing right in front of your computer moniter its not that noisy anyway.

this guitar feels fantastic to play. its my favorite thing about the whole guitar. the neck is basically the same as the neck on an american strat, minus the biconcave truss rod. it is soooo smooth to play. setup was good when i got it, but i set it up myself to take 10-46 instead of the standard 9-42 guage strings. well made guitar, played it loads and the frets havent worn down much and the hardware is nice and shiny. onlt minus is the saddles wear quite quickly. if is wasnt for this id give it a 10

it has yet to give up on me. giged with it a couple of times with no problems at all. i have already mentioned the wear on the saddles

never had to deal with fender

been playing four or so years now. own an epiphone les paul standard plus, a zoom 606II pedal, often used as an on the go tuner, and a boss ds1 distortion(go buy one, its great), all played through a fender stage 100. also have a cheap acoustic.
if this guitar were stolen i would probably buy a fender tele instead, not because this isnt a great guitar, but i like that tele twang. love the overdriven rock n roll sound it makes, and the clear notes, but wish it had less treble. also love the neck

This is a standard stratocaster made in Mexico with the typical three single coil pickups with a black finish.

I have been playing for about five years and am mostly into blues styles. I use a Boss ds-1 distortion pedal plugged into a 25 watt practice amp with reverb. I strive for a Clapton like tone, meaning clean distortion. This guitar is a little noisy when switched to the bridge pickup. It produces the classic strat tones and has a lot of the "quack" sound that is so typical of the strat. The guitar is not very bright sounding and the pickups are a little muddy on all settings. I do not feel as if this is a very good choice as a rythm guiter because it seems to lack punch. On the other hand it makes a pretty good lead guitar because of the wide range of tones it can produce. Honestly if I were going to play this guitar on stage I would probably experiment with some better pickups to see if it would brighten up a little bit.

This guitar had no flaws in fit or finish and was set up perfectly for me right out of the box. Intonation was right on. There was no fret buzz anywhere. The action was just right.

I would see no problem with this guitar as far as reliabilty is concerned. The hardware is high quality and seems durable. I would play this guitar without any qualms and not worry about it falling apart or letting me down in any way.

Never had a problem

I have been playing for five years. I own a tele and an Ibanez Artcore. Have previously owned Hamer and a Les Paul, Yamaha acoustic and various amps. If this guitar was lost I probably would not by another although this has more to do with my evolving playing style than it has to do with the guitar itself. I love the nice action on this guitar but dislike its somewhat flat sound.I really did not compare this with other guitars because I wanted a fender strat and did not want spend the money on an american version.

2003 Hecho En Mexico! It's the standard 21-fret, 3 single-coil Strat fare. Ceramic pickups that sound decent but a bit bright. 3-tone sunburst. Nice profile neck (C modern shape). Ping standard tuners. 6-screw vintage type tremolo bridge. The body is alder, the neck maple with a really light, almost reddish brown rosewood fretboard that looks killer with a mint green pickguard.

I replaced the stock ceramic pups with Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials - they sing.

This guitar is perfectly suitable for blues, blues-rock and country types - which is good, because that's what I play. So far, it's quiet, but then I don't typically have a problem with hum here anyways - perhaps because I live in an apartment and can't really crank it. Oh well. I play it through a guitar modelling processor into an RMS 400D run clean. With the Texas Specials, this thing rocks. The sound is twangy, quacky and bright, but not icepicky. Just right.

Sustains for a century, and plays like buttah. It's pretty slinky, even for the vintage size frets. The setup was totally off when I got it, although it was used. It looked like a 5-year-old broke into Daddy's tool chest and started cranking whatever screw they could find. I did a setup on it after changing the pickguard and pickups, and now it's very sweet. I love the neck profile.

The fretboard is groovy. The frets are filed nicely and there's nothing sharp at all.

Oh, I believe it would do great in a live setting. It's a quality piece of equipment. The finish is polyurethane - hard plastic. It'll outlive me. Although I'd have no problem saying it's a very dependable guitar, gigging without a backup would be like driving a car with no spare. What happens if a tire blows out? What happens if a string breaks?

Never needed to.

I've been playing for about 6 months now. It's a great hobby, and I encourage everyone to try guitar at least once throughout their lives. I also have a Squier Deluxe Strat FMT with Lace Hot Golds.

I do wish it came with 22 frets, but I can always bend up.

My Strat is a 2000 Mexico-built model. 21 frets, 3 single-coil pickups w/ 5-way selector, (I think they switched to Alder in 2000 but it may be poplar), maple neck, rosewood fretboard, purplish-blue finish, tremolo system.

I run the Strat to a Boss GT-3 and either into a blackfaced 1970 Twin or a 1964 bassman head through the Twin speakers (Jensen Special Design reissues). More than anything, tone is what matters for me so to that end here is the most important point: No 2 guitars are quite alike. Having had a 1962 sunburst Strat for 16 years, I new what I wanted out of another Strat. So, I spent all day at the largest music store in Charlotte (Reliable Music - now defunct) trying out only Stratocasters with the only criteria being getting the one with the best tone. I was prepared to spend what it took to get a good instrument, expecting it would be American made. I literally tried every single Strat, but here's the kicker - I did not plug them into an amp - yet! After I tried every one in the store, this purple, Mex Strat is what i eneded up with (not my favorite color). Then and only then did it get an audition through an amp. At the time I thought the pickups were not that great, but hey, I had a great sounding piece of wood! I see a lot of reviews where folks bad mouth the stock pickups so here's my 2 cents: Make sure the pickups are the culprit before you shell out for some new ones. I wrongly assumed my Strat would benefit from a pickup refit so I tried Kinman pickups for 2 years (see my review, even though I have a slightly different opinion now) and then tried Fralin blues pickups for a few months. Now, I am back on the stock Mex pickups. For the variety of music I play, these work better than the 300$ customs! To be fair, the Fralin neck pickup had a hair more character and the stock bridge pup could use a little more mids, but for me they work well enough. I was very surprised when I put the original pickups back in the guitar and got this reaction. Maybe it is because they seem to have a little more output than a vintage pickup. My amp seems to respond better to this higher output. My point is, don't assume anything about where a guitar is made, the pickups, etc., you have to try it out! If the wood sounds good, you can always change the electronics or other parts to suit your needs.

I don't remember how this thing came setup. I always do my own setups. I find that most new guitars straight from the music store are not setup that well.

This is my main guitar and it is totally reliable with a very tough polyester finish. It still looks new, even though I haul it around only in a gig bag. To complete the review, the parts on this guitar are what you would expect for an inexpensive instrument, no frills but they do the job. It stays in tune (you have to have it set up correctly - thats the trick, expecially with the tremolo versions). The pots are getting a little scatchy after 5 years. This is normal for any guitar.

Never called customer support

I have been playing for 40 years, much of it professionally. I have owned old strats, Les Pauls and SG's. Besides the Strat, I currently own a Schecter PT Elite and a Martin D-35. I am over the vintage guitar hype (although I do miss my '62 Strat sometimes, but not enough to spend 16 grand for one). Their are some very fine instruments being made today. The technology just gets better and there is something out there for everyone. This guitar was very well made and well worth the price paid. I would buy another if I needed one. If the color was right and it still sounded the way it does, it would get a 10!

2005 Mexican Standard Stratocaster
21 Frets
Alder Body
Maple Neck and Fretboard
Tremolo Bridge
Non Locking Fender Machine Heads
Jumbo Frets, 25 1/4 Scale Length
... pretty standard

It sounds like a Strat, no other way to put it. With the stock pickups it sounds a little thin, and slightly bright, but for an entery level Strat, it does all you can ask for. I play through a variety of setups including a Line 6 POD, a 1974 Peavey Deuce 212 Combo, and various PA's and the sound remains fairly consistant. You can't get any good distorted sounds with it for chunky rythem riffs, but it handles the bright lead just fine. It sounds like a Strat, so dont expect anything more.

Other than having fret burrs that can get really annoying, i have no complaints with the action, fit and finnish. Everything played the way it was supposed to straight out of the box. I had tightened the Tremolo Springs slightly, but that was all personal preferance.

I havent had it for all too long, but it seems like it is too much of a "Toy". This guitar is strictly for home usage. When it comes to gigging, I can depend on my Les Paul, and PRS 24 Custom.

It comes with a lifetime LIMITED warrenty, which probaly isnt worth the paper its written on, but luckily enough ive never had to deal with Fender.

Ive been playing guitar for nearly 10 years. Over this time I have played and owned a variety of instruments. I wouldnt say there is anything spectaculary about the Mexican Standard Strat except for the price. If it were lost or stolen, I doubt i would buy another one. When i was looking for guitars, i compared it to the Highway 1 Strat, but i chose the Standard because it was 300 Dollars cheaper. Looking back on it i should have ponied up the dough for the Highway 1.

Not sure of the year it was made, but a very nice MIM Strat. Didn't think any Stratocaster made outside of America would sound decent after oning, playing and listening to a couple of those '80's made god awful pieces of flotsam, but I like this, have recorded with it, performed with it. Mine is a five way switch, swapped out the pup's for Seymour Duncan Texas Hots. Standard bridge that seems t be defeloping some burrs as it is consistently breaking strings on me, but I seem to have that issue with most guitars. Not oveloaed with features, kind of the basic five way switching, three pickups, so give this this only a 7.

I play mostly oldies, country, and classic rock, strats are made for that sort of thing. Wouldn't buy a start to play metal, this guitar is no exception, however you can rock out with this thing, Hendrix used one> I am using it with a Tech 21 Sansamp and Carvin power amp, but am ordering a Hot Rod Deluxe. You really have to like the sound of single coils, but I love the sound of this and starts in general.

No problem with this at all , guitar plays like it was made for me, hate to sound like a goofball, but guitars are like puppies, you can tell you found the one you want as soon as you pick it up, this was hte case with mine. Played it next to a deluxe american strat and wondered why someone would pay that much more for one that doesn't seem to sound a whole lot better. This guitar has got to be on eof the all time winners of the "most bang for the buck" award. Plays like a dream, won't break your back or your bank account like , i.e. a Les Paiul Custom.

HAsn't been an issue so far, but the bridge saddles seem to be wearing down and developinng burrs, and the tuners seem to be developing a slight catch to them. Only issue I have.

Never used 'em.

Been playing 30 years, long enough to know good from bad. This is very nice.

I'm not sure the year it was made. I'm guessing between 00-05. 22 frets. Solid top. It is just your average mex. strat.

It suits my music style(everything from lynrd skynrd to cky to nirvana). Im using it through a crush 30r ss amp, not the best but plan on getting some thing better soon. I have fender vintage noiseless pickups in it. Without the new pickups i would rate the guitar about a 7 with the noiseless pick ups i would rate it an 8. But sense the review is on the stock guitar it gets a 7. The stock pickups just dont have enough emph! to them. I cant explain it. It is a good first guitar though.

Everything that was supposed to work when you first get it worked. Nothing misaligned or loose or anything like that. The string choice was poor on there part, but that's a wholenother issue. The action is descent, maybe a little above average.

It is very solid. I bang it around all the time(on accident of course) and it still sounds the same and nothing on it has broken. But i havent really had it that long to know how it will last.

The people i got the guitar from were really nice and helpful. Now the person that i got the pickups from was a real jerk. Never going back there again. But the issue is on the guitar not the pickups.

Ive been playing guitar for about 6 years. I have owned a few guitars and played many more. I would have to say that overall this guitar is versitile. It is descent but i still think you get what you pay for. But if you want a really nice strat i would suggest a suhr or a zion, but those are way more expensive. It's fun to play and I'll probably invest more in it and see how good it can sound.

This was a recent special production run of the Standard Strat model made at Fender's Ensenada, Mexico factory. Features include
? BODY: Alder
? Top: Flame Maple (it's killer)
? NECK: Maple, Modern "C" Shape
? MACHINE HEADS: Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
? FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, 9.5" Radius (241 mm)
? NO. OF FRETS: 21 Vintage Style Frets
? PICKUPS: 2 Tex-Mex? Calibrated, Overwound, Single-Coil Strat Pickups (Neck and Middle), 1 Tex-Mex ?Hot Bridge? Single-Coil Strat Pickup (Bridge)
? BRIDGE: Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo

Controls, chrome hardware and a white pickguard are what you would expect to find on a Made in Mexico Strat.

The flame maple top is stunning and with the brown sunburst finish (darkened body edges) and vintage look tinted neck wood with dark rosewood fretboard it looks like something that belongs on the cover of vintage guitar magazine. They nailed a perfect look with the finish. I decided to put this in with MIM Standard reviews after debate. I know there is a Tex-Mex Strat and a Standard Strat without the upgraded pickups. This guitar has a maple cap on alder which neither of the other two versions have. A very nice padded Fender gig bag was included as well as the nicely done owners manual. If pictures were allowed in the reviews this model would win a beauty contest against most Strats out there both Mexican and USA. Keep the locking nuts, coil tap switches and other gizmos for other guitars. The basic Strat is workhorse that has made it's place in music history. Nothing fancy in the hardware department which is fine with me.

Compared to my American is has a bit more warmth and bite. Sounds like a Strat should. Strats are like paint. You start with clean white and add tint to suit your taste. Too many guitars are dark and poor sounding out of the box. It's hard to reverse the sound and try to clean up something that's had too much color added. I do rock, blues and some country. It will provide the spectrum of colors I need as my mood and style change.

I looked it over hard. If this one is typical of MIM Strats lately I would suggest you only but the American version for investment purposes of some sort. The workmanship is excellent. So much so I'm stunned at this price and I've had lot of six strings pass through my hands in twenty plus years of playing. It puts my American Strat to shame in the finish department. Frets, paint application, fretboard edges... they did it right. Fit of parts is very good. Action is up to the player's preference and with a few tweaks this thing now begs to be played. I was expecting a nice player but nothing great when I ordered it. The QA department at the Ensenada, Mexico plant were doing their job when this thing was built.

It will be around longer than I will. Strat replacement and upgrade parts can be had everywhere. Reliable or Durable is a non-issue here.

Buy from a trusted dealer. They will always be your best support no matter what brand of music equipment you purchase. Other than that I will say Fender's website is among the best out there. You can find lessons, artist biographies and alot more than just product pushing pictures.

Last new guitar I bought was a Washburn Force 3 in the early eighties. It was junk but I was fairly new to playing and didn't know much then. Always bought used through the years after that. More for the money that way. The price on this for what you get told me it was time to get the wallet out. Even at new pricing I would consider this one of my best buys. That Made in Mexico sticker on the headstock is going to shock alot of people around town. This guitar is that good. Thanks Fender Mexico and Harmony Central for giving space to real users to post real reviews not driven by the advertising dollar you see in magazines.

98 fender standard stratocaster made in mexico. Usual strat features like volume, 2 tone controls, 5 way selector, S/S/S pickups. My came in the black finish with maple fretboard ala clapton blackie. The standard trem block was crap so i changed it to a callaham mexican upgrade.. heaps better, better tone and sustain. One thing i must note though was that the neck is fantastic, much better feel than my american standard strat, but than, i reckon i did get one of the better mexican strats around. Pretty lucky as i heard some were pretty crap.

basic strat tones, full fat sounding neck pu, twangy bridge with the usual strat quacks at the 2 and 4 positions. I play rock, blues and jazz with the odd smattering of british indie rock, hopefully i can get something going on there. I run the guitar through a dunlop 535q wah - visual sound jekyll & hyde - eh memory man deluxe - fender champ. Pickups buzz but they are hot, and a little too bright for my taste. Gonna shield the guitar and dump in a set of fralins and see how it goes, also gonna route tone know 2 to the bridge pickup instead. Well, versatile yes, but the pickups dont really cut it.

My mex strat was in really good nick when i got it, action was not bad and fittings was good. One thing though was a poorly filed nut, otherwise, i was impressed with the quality of fitment. But hey, any new guitar no matter how expensive or cheap needs to be set up to suit the player. No physical flaws to speak of. very happy with the factory setup. A couple of mods should make this guitar a killer.

Good to go as a number 1, should last tons of abuse.

Never tried.. though fender should suck pretty bad at this..

Been playing for close to 12 years, wasted the past 3 years not playing and just picking up the pieces now. I have an american standard strat (92), les paul standard (89) and hopefully, a nice MIJ sunburst JV strat (83) very soon. I love beating the hell out of strats.. they are fantastic guitars if you get a good one. My amstad is alright but i am really lusting for a nice jap strat. This mexican one should be fantastic once i mod it a little. Its a nice base for a project and honestly, it feels more right playing this one than either of my other guitars, the cheapness and great playability of this guitar rocks. I picked up an mex strat in a store here in melbourne and it was pretty lame, crap neck, bad feel. The quality control for the mex strats is all over the place and really, it would be better if you tried them out before purchase. I just got lucky coz mine was a gorgeous black finish and i just bid without trying, and did i mention it has a fantastic neck. Pretty good to go with any strat once you dump in some choice parts. Very good value.