Fender VG Stratocaster

Bought on a whim' from a guy on e-bay who imported it and then did'nt want it. Blizzard-pearl finish ltd.(much nicer than standard) all the listed prev. features,nice case. Will change the cheapo-trem before useing for a GFS-solid block replacement one (they rock).Also locking heads at some point. Black-marks to F' for not fitting T-O-Range bits as standard at the sale price.

Sound is not bad, will improve with new bits, don't rate the acoustic sim's or the H/b's a patch on my Variax custom.At least you can customise these on the p.c. unlike the Vg. It is quite light and nice to play.I may re-wire it and fit a kill-switch for the batt. circuit,also put in a dc-socket to power it from a transformer to save changing batt's.Even though I have yet to play on a gold-disc (silver only so far)I can do my own guitar building.And my dad could not even spell violin let alone make one.

Apart from the mentioned cheapy bits, the guitar is a Honey'.Well built
and very pretty.

It will last until I tire of it, then will go.

no idea.

Got it new and cheap so a welcome addition to my collection, It's a strat nuff said

It obvious it has heaps of features! that why it sells.mine was made in 2006 according to the neck, and i got it in April 2007 , i had mine pre ordered so was one of the first one to get it, mine is the black -rosewood fretboard model .its basically feels like a std us strat +all the extras...

I am pretty much a newcomer to guitar but i have had say 50 strats,20 les pauls,heaps of rickenbackers ettc and this guitar just sounds sweet on my mesa boogie mark 1c reissue or my subway rocked or even my pro junior!i do like all the modes the humbucker mode lacks credibility to me.and in the Acoustic mode the five ways switch changes the acoustic sound as opposed to pick up position in other tuning modes.

my black VG had a bump on the bottom from the factory,the rosewood fretboard shrunk and left a step mark on both sides, the action is perfect!on the 3 colour sunburst the back is BLACK not the same colour as the front.!the black is simple , unlike new strats the fretboard isnt polished,the neck finish isnt that great and i also like it tinted.

basically there isnt any reason why it shouldnt last as a normal strat, but i have opened the back for good measure and there is an electronic unit that looks like a hard drive with wires coming out of it everywhere.if the electronic were to fail i bet you it would be super cheap and easy to fix??????Battery life sux hard.The hardware is somewhat different then on the new 2008 strats.the saddles differ and the original moulded case just really wasnt good enough , the new case are really nice and offer more room.The little spring under the whammy bar was lost on its first outing!!

I bought mine in the usa and brought it back to Australia so no warranty whatsoever here!here they sell for 4000 and i paid 1500.00
I did send an email to Fender who replied promptly to let me know that warranty did not cover the fretboard shrinkage as it made of organic matter.perhaps driying fretboard a little more or matching wood with same humidity contents would help?? the service person also told me that it was an easy fix..perhaps in America but in australia home of the dodgy who can you trust??

i have been playing for 2 years it al started when a friend asked me to Sell a guitar on ebay for him then my interest grew and i bought lots of them to try em out and resell them. currently i have 1 blizzard pearl strat,one les paul std 60 neck,1 gibson reverse vee,1 jaguar bass a vg strat black rosewood a rickenbacker 650 c,a ricky 4003 jetglo etc etc.....one of my friend is a pro player and tells me to sell my VG as they are starting to drop in price -I wont cause its easy and i love it.

I had it for about 7 months and we all know the features although I didn't know about the different acoustic models. Pretty cool. It has a ton of features but not too many to be hard to use

I can understand the people who don't like for 2 reasons: Most of them are audiophiles and 2- the amp and volume make a huge difference. For example, I didn't think much of the modeled Strat but I was always playing at home at low volumes. One day I decided to test it out and cranked it with my DOD distortion and was very impressed. The Humbucker was even more awesome with great sustain. The 12 string will fool anyone at a club as will the regular acoustic. With a little experimenting with [pick up selection, tone and the different modes) you can get some incredible sound. I daresay, this guitar will give you some sweet tones that you could never get with another guitar if you spend a little time playing with it. I had to give it a 9 to be perfectly honest because nothing can sound like an acoustic guitar or a tele unless it's actually one of those. But if you can't afford 3 or 4 guitars this is the only "one guitar" set up to own.

Had to have it professionally set up. Action is great. One small issue I have is placement of the volume knob. For some reason I tend to hit it and lower the volume without realizing it. That may just be me. The volume pot is a little noisy but once I clean it or have the solder touched up it will be fine. I did notice if I rest my hand on the bridge I can get it out of tune. It raises the tuning by about 1/10 of a cent. Other than that it a Strat. How can you go wrong?

It's a Strat. Volume pot issue is prolly cuz it was a floor demo at G.C. Buy some strap locks but other than that I would trust it to be my only piece at a gig. Consider getting an extra battery pack, and rechargeable batteries, for a quick battery change at a gig. The blue light blinks well in advance of the batteries going dead so you should never have them die during a song. Even if they do it still plays as an American Strat. Ebay has tons of USB chargers for around $20 and you can get 12 2700mAh batteries for $10. That's all you need to always have fresh batteries at a very low cost.

Great. I have emailed them a few times and ALWAYS got a personal response and they emailed me stuff right away (Manual was missing when I bought it) The one time I called, the guy spent 20 minutes talking with me about different stuff. Great support!!!

Are all of the sounds 100% perfect? No. Did you really expect they could be? Fender does not put out crap products and takes a lot of pride in their expensive guitars. I believe the Fender and Roland guys did everything they could to get everything as close as possible. If you HAVE to have 100% telecaster sound then you have to buy a Tele. If you need 90% tele sound this has it and the same for every other sound. Eb would have been nice and I have no idea what to do with baritone but this is an awesome unit. Anyone who complains that it doesn't sound EXACTLY like a humbucker is missing the point of this guitar (and prolly doesn't like strats anyway). If you want a fun, versatile guitar that will have people asking you how you played a song like that without switching guitars this is the one. For most guitarists this will be their favorite guitar and they will find it indispensable when they gig. GC has a 60 day return policy so, buy it, play with it for a while, and 9 out of 10 people will have it for the rest of their lives. I Can not see playing clubs and other small gigs without it.

OK, the VG Stratocaster, y'all know what it's got and have a pretty good idea of how it performs if you've read the other reviews.

Ive had mine since early February and have spent may hours playing it and exploring the sounds and capabilities this thing has.

This is my opinion on what the VG Stratocaster is like

It's a plain bog standard American Stratocaster with a rather clever piece of electronic gadgetry on board. This takes the form of the Roland pickup mounted between the bridge and the bridge pickup.

In all there are four knobs on the VG. Volume and Tone that control, well, the volume and tone on all the Strats' single coil p'ups, of course there the 5 way selector switch too. Then there's the two little knobs called Mode (M) and Tuning (T). Mode gives you all the modelled Fender guitar sounds. Tuning gives you the various tuning options there.

There have been some reviews here expressing serious issues with the power the VG electronics suck from batteries. Let me just say that if you are seriously looking at getting one of these then I would advise that you look at the user manual from from fender.com and give it a read.

The manual tells you what batteries are reccommended (4 rechargable AA 2600-or 2700mAh Ni-MH for up to 10.5 hrs of battery life) I bought 8 2700's for mine and they do give you about that amount of time. Yes you may need to buy a charger and yes you may need a set of at least 8 batteries but it is worth it and these things arent that expensive.

Sound is ok - The VG's p'ups are american standard p'ups in an american standard strat. They aint that different to my 10 yr old US Strat.

I thought that the modelled guitar sound from the Roland pickup were a bit laclustre.

Turn the little Mode knob to S (Strat) and you have a modelled Strat, well in fact to my ear you don't.

Turn the Mode knob to T (Telecaster) and you get something like a Telecaster but not quite like the Telecaster I already have.

Then you go can go into H (Humbucker) that's ok but a little muddy in sound, But I reckon that could be because I have my amps to cater for SC P'ups.

Then we arrive at A (Acoustic). well, all I can say is I dont use it a lot. The tone knob though, does something interesting here as it acts as a reverb control but only when it's switched to Acoustic Mode. The 5 way selector switch switches through 5 acoustic models from the resonator and four other acoustics which have not been specified by Fender in the manual...........?? Why?

The T (tuning) knob is handy, although it does have a couple of hopelessly useless tuning options and I agree with some of the other reviews here that have asked why no open E, A and D? Open G and dropped D are handy but I dont really know about the "DADGAD" and Baritone settings and so far have not found any cause to use them.

The 12 String setting is handy but then again it's a modelled 12 string effect and will never ever be perfect as will none of the other modelled effects

I had a look at the manual after the initial dissapointment but then I read what Fender had to say for themselves in that they say these modelled sounds are a compromise due to the enormous amount of variants out there and so many specific guitars would be impossible to replicate and put into one.

I think that what Fender have done here is not replicate their history of guitar sounds and squeezed them into a little piece of electronic wizardry but instead they have captured the essence of what Fender guitars are and the essence of their sound. This kind of made me understand how they approached this VG idea and it made sense to me, whether it does to you or not I can't say but please bear that in mind when looking at one of these.

I play this through a Korg PX4 or a POD X3 Live and a Marshall MG15MSII Microstack. I havent taken it gigging as I dont do gigs anymore but the guitar sounds just like it should through this set up. My 10yr old Strat sounds not a lot different through the same set up.

I actually bought mine unseen and untested, thankfully I have no issues with it. It's a rather fetching three tone sunburst and is doen immaculately as is the finish on the neck. It's smooth and the hand glides up and down it like a dream! the frets though are a little rough on the edges and I dont think that it has been set up particularly well. Probably might be the factory set up still but I will have it set up properly in the coming future. It plays well enough for me and so Im happy with it.

I think that this thing would be pretty good live, especially when you can switch between the tunings and stuff. That is until the batteries drain. You defintely need to carry a back up. Having said that this is basically a Strat and should take a lot of punishment. But my concern would be that in a gigging enviornment how long would the electronics last????

Never had to get them out of bed!

So, Ive been playing for almost 30 years. Im still not nearly as good as I should be but I know a good guitar when I see one.

I have an American Standard Strat (1997) - A Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster and two Strat copies. A Marshall MG15MSII Microstack, Korg PX4 Pandora and a Line 6 POd X3 Live

I can see how the VG would come in handy for some who play live and in the studio too. For me it is a piece of kit that I thought would just be nice to have so I bought one (Lucky me!) I could have had a PRS instead but I went for the VG. But now I have the VG I would miss it if it wasn't here anymore

I think that Fender has done a very difiicult thing quite well and the VG should be used as a foundation for building something much better. A stepping stone for improvement and more features. I think that there will always be a novelty value to this guitar and the die hard strat fan will probably look upon it as such.

Obviously the Roland Unit is the main addition to the Strat. And it does make the guitar the best around. I tried Line 6 (I own the PODxt as well) variax...hated it, almost put me off forever to use modulated guitar sounds. Own an expensive Roland Keyboard (over GBP 2000)with all kind of guitar sounds, too fake...so I was more than impressed with the VG.

The guitar plays great, I love the sound (Normal) compared to my Japan and Mexican Strat, this is ten times better. I'm very happy with the modulated humbuckers (Humb), as finally AC/DC sounds as it should be (without too much hassle on the POD). Also the difference between Normal/Modulated Strat is sufficient to have an entire different sound arsenal. The telecastor is also great. Didn't experiment with the acoustic part, as I own a great accoustic guitar, that's unbeatable...even by the VG.

I normally set-up the guitars myself, but the VG I got was already near perfect, when I have the time I will fine tune it further to my likings. The manual doesn't describe the acoustic guitars that are supposed to be modulated...so -2 points here.

Any Fender is reliable...American, Mexican or Japanese...doesn't matter. Sofar my experience goes!

Never needed them

Best electric guitar in my possession. Eh...maybe not entirely true, the Gibson Marauder is a beast and outstanding guitar as well. Ok, shared 1st place.

Bought new in December 2007. You probably already know the features and the reason you're here is to find an opinion or two to help you decide if you want one of these. That's what I did. The difference here is that this is not opinion but the facts. Single coil pickups are noisy(fact). Before I picked up the Vg I had Lace Sensors installed knowing that even if the modeled sounds were unuseable I would still have a usable strat. This is a sunburst that is lightweight with the typical strat appointments. Molded hard case included.

In it's "normal" mode the Lace pickups(blue-silver-red) provide their sound which is warmer than traditional single coils with NO NOISE. I play weekend gigs, mostly 60's 70's rock. Various solid state amps. Regarding the modeled sounds, I find myself going to the Tele middle setting frequently, that is one sound you cannot get on the traditional strat no matter how it's wired. Switching to the humbucker sound provides a typical fatter sound especially the bridge pickup setting. I use the acoustic sounds minimally including the 12 string which is passable. I do not use any dropped tunings.

Everything was as it should be. Again, I had different pickups installed b4 I picked it up and the local dealer did a good job.
This is one of the prettier finishes if that matters.

I did put on straplocks as I do on all guitars. The hardware appears to be typical Fender and I have never had any issues with hardware, pickups etc. on any of the previous Fenders I've owned over the last 25 years. This guitar has been used on gigs for 2 months now and stays in tune although I do not use the whammy bar.
Based on what I've read here, I am the exception to the rule and typically do not take a backup unless it's a "big" job. I have enough junk to carry as it is. And if you don't break strings, there's no need.

I emailed Fender with a question about the VG and received a prompt response. Over the years, they've always answered my questions in a timely fashion. Having a local dealer is an advantage for adjustments or other issues.

I've been playing weekend gigs for 35 years and have always wanted one guitar that would provide all the top sounds. Contrary to other opinions here, it is not necessary to have an actual Les Paul(I do) or a Telecaster(I do) for the "feel". There is no more comfortable guitar to play than a Strat and if it can mimic most of the sounds you want, great. While the batteries do not last 10-14 hours, do what they recommend and buy the NiMH rechargeables. If you have the money and want one, buy it. 70% chance I'd buy one again. Lastly, while the modeled guitars don't exactly sound like the originals; it's close.....

So many features - all of which have already been listed. I like that Fender put thesse on a good ol' American Strat. That's a good start and an excellent, versitle platform for the varioius models. I could nit-pick that there is no oped E or no open D, but I only have to select DADGAD and drop the G down i step to F# and - viola, openD! Not all the models are exact (the resonator does not sound exactly like a real Dobro), but they are all close enough to get great enjoyment. Now will someone tell me what to to with Baratone?

The normal Strat sound and Tele sounds are what you'd expect - great! - and on the same guitar! As I said, the rest are close enough. You'll have knoledgeable listeners wondering how you brought so many guitars with you and all look alike! Hint, crank up your amp and back down the volume knob on the guitar to get the full modeling effects.

I bought a slightly used Sunburst on ebay for $1,350, it looks brand new and I think a Sunburst Strat is a lovely thing! Cloise your eyes and just think "guitar" - bet it's a Strat! Everything fits just fine, no flaws.

Except for battery life, I forsee no problems. I made to 60 years old (could have won a lot of money on that bet) and I expect it will see me out.

I've owned several Fenders in my life and never had to contact them!

I have been playing for 45 years and love this new technology. Wouldn't hesitate to get another if this were stolen. I'm too old to track down the bastard and hang him from the B string!

It's all been said before and I haven't found any new ones. It has a neck tilt thingy on the plate at the back of the bolt on kneck which I don't plan on using anytime soon and no one else has mentioned. It was a bit lighter than I anticipated but not as light as my balsa wood BC Rich I bought in Bali. It's not as heavy as my Tokai either so its better for long gigs.

I agree with most of what has been said about the tunings. E flat would be neat. I use drop D a lot more now and open G certainly. In the past I just couldn't be bothered or I'd leave an old guitar in one of those tunings. I just wish someone would tell me what to do with the B baritone tuning though. (Learn Dave Matthews songs?). You can get some weird sounds with this if you crank up the distortion and the guy in the store didi some neat stuff with it.

I like it - a lot. I'm not a pro and I'm probably not (yet) even a gifted amateur but I know what I like. It has the variety and sweetness of tones that I like. OK some of the combinations are a bit iffy. For example - the neck pick up with the modelled acoustic. However, I started to revive some old bluesmen stuff I hadn't played for years and I was impressed with my output. I'd never even heard a resonator guitar before so I've added that to my bag of tricks.

The humbucker seems extra loud during bedroom practice but might kick some ass in a band situation. It certainly grabs folks attention when I switch from the acoustic intro of "Feel Like Making Love" to the heavy bit and the solo for example.

I'm sure a lot has to do with the amp you play through. I play through a Line6 so I've got so many variables in the mix already. Anyway I've no complaints and if you're doing a lot of covers you'd be hard pressed not to find a sound you need.

Seems fine. Setup was good. Intonation was accurate

Seems OK. I can certainly depend on it. Battery life is an issue as some of the other blokes say, but I have several sets of NiMH re-chargeables and a spare set always ready so I've never experienced sudden death during a gig. Even if there is a problem there is always the normal strat tone to fall back on

Hoep I never need to.

I bought it in Savannah, Georgia and hauled it half way round the world on 3 flights to the Middle East. It has been through several time zones and climate changes and it arrived fresher than I did. Basically I love it. I'd always wanted a Strat as I usually play a Tokai Love Rock (which I also love BTW. If I want ballsy I play the latter if I want nice to almost-but-not-quite raunchy I play the strat. I'm an old dog who likes to learn lots of new tricks so I am very content with my gear at the mo.

Everyone knows it's features.

Saw the demo vid, played one at the music store, liked it well enough to buy, but after a week I returned it. For me, it???s just a novelty guitar for sitting around @ home playing. There is a tiny bit of absolute silence when switching between active settings; cannot tolerate this. A slight electric pop sound also occurs. The active strat sound sux (imo). Sounds like the tone knob turned down, or rather like a slightly compressed (fake) sound. Switching back & forth between non-active strat & active strat while sustaining any cord reveals this. Since one of the active guitar modes are required to use the multi-tuning/12 string mode knob, it???s downhill from there if you want a real strat sound too

The Tele sound is much more accurate than the humbucking, which only slightly leans towards a humbucker. Roland should???ve taken notes on how PRS effectively does Fender/Gibson sounds w/o a battery. Also, the non-active strat sound from the pickups aren???t as ???strat sounding??? as other regular strats I???ve played.

40 yrs experience with many electric guitars & much equipment.

The neck is ok, but feels inferior to other American strats, & with less sustain too. My feeling is that Fender???s most expensive factory strat should not be inferior (neck, bridge, nut, tuners,pickups) in any way to their less expensive strats. It appears they shaved off some quality to help compensate for the Roland cost, & it shows. It???s not a bad neck, mind you, just not as good as say the American Standard or Deluxe models.

They advertise battery life to be 8-10 hours, but from the store they lasted only 3-4, as with Duracell rechargables too. So no, I???m not about to wear out the input jack unplugging it every time I put it down (just imagine over the years how many times you???d be doing this than w/o the battery), let alone the hassle. And the fiber optic strength blue light battery indicator is just plain hokey.

Nope, yesterday I brought home an American Deluxe Ash Strat, & it far exceeds the VG in every ???non-active??? way; Many differences too (Locking tuners, better neck, better sustain, push in tremolo bar,better pickups, & strap locks), so for me the VG Strat stands for Very Gone Strat, which it has done???

You have read the general set up by other reviews. Mine was the tobacco sunburst finsih with the maple neck.

There are some major issues with the battery life of this guitar.

Buyer beware !

Plese continue this review by reading the "Reliability/Durability" section. I feel this is very important matter for any potential VG Strat. buyer.

Generally a nice sound out of all the effets and the Strat. pickups. No complaints with the overall sound of each of the Roland effects.

However,I feel that the dropped D tuning could be eliminated as that can be done on stage in seconds, as well as the "dadgad" tuning. This was of no use.

I suggest the following options for the next generation of this guitar: {open, G, D, A, E and C} This would be a much better choice for the general guitar user in a "bar band" situation - mainly for slide use, cover tunes and originals.

No problems, playable right out of the box. Well done Fender.

Now, this is where the problems start.

Battery life is very short ! Once the guitar cable is plugged into the guitar the battery is being used This is a majaor issue.

Fender must develop a way to turn off the battery power while still pugged in with the guitar cable; this feature will allow you to use the standard strat pickups while still being plugged into the amp.

I played out "live" with brand new top of the line Duracell batteries on several ocassions and the bateries went low/dead after only a couple of hours of normal use.

This issue was enough to return the guitar.

Buyers beware ! Bring many spare batteries and be prepared to switch them between sets each night.

Do not use cheaper batteries - they will only last an hour or so - you must use the top of the line batteries to get any kind of use out of this guitar.

I have written Fender with my personal issues re: this Strat. I will be interested to see whether or not they take my advice into consideration in the future models of the guitar.

The VG strat was a good guitar, but with the above issues, it was enough for me to return it.

I rarely complain about instruments but this "battery life" issue and the lack of open tunning choices was enough to return the guitar.