Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster

Oversized headstock, Dimarzio HS3 and YJM pickups, maple neck (scalloped), vintage trem, 3-way switch, etc....

Well, i play blues/rock like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gary Moore, Richie Blackmore, John Norum, Albert King, etc.. I'm using this guitar with a Peavey 5150, a Rocktron Intellifex and a Marshall 1960A Cab. When i first played on this strat i was really shocked about the fact how clean this guitar is. (The pickups have an output of only 90 mV) I like it the "Blackmore-way" : Play VERY LOAD but with almost no distortion. You have to create the distortion with the volume! It's hard to believe but my setting on my Peavey are: Pre-gain (normal gain channel): 4 , Bass:10 , Middle: 7 , Treble: 6. This gives you great tone! I don't like high gain settings because you have no defenition in your sound! When i play Jazz chords with some distortion they stay very clearly and don't sound muddy or something I really like the scalloped neck on this strat, it gives you total control with bending! For strings i use 011-054 and with a very high action, VERY high!! You can't get a good tone with low action no matter what you do!! The fret's are also brilliant! The biggest there are. With these frets you can give the best and most wide vibrato's! The sound of this guiter is best compared to that of Richie Blackmore. It contains the famous Fender tone's and is really a solo guitar!! When you play higher up the neck it cuts really through!! IT sounds great, very thick and very hard!!! It sounds even fatter than my 40th anniversary LEs Paul!! Can you believe it??

The finish is great, especially the cellulose finish on the neck!! It's the nicest neck i've ever seen!!! The action was shit and the snares too! i think it was 008-042 or something! I hate thin strings and low action! The guitar was in good shape, even after a long trip over the ocean. It's build very solid. I give it a 9 even even though the snares and action were SHIT but that's my personal taste so i ignore it.

Very reliable. Never had any problems with it. The brass nut is really great! I've never had a guitar that could stay in tune so well, even when i abuse it with my trem-bar!!

Never have dealt with them, thank god.

I've been playing for 4 years now and i've had lots of guitars but this one is definatly the one i keep forever!! It has the most beautiful colour there is and the neck is awesome!! I play different styles of music and this strat doesn't cover all of them but that's okay!! It's great for Blues and rock but not for Stevie's blues.....

Year and Make: 1991 Japanese made YJM strat. Body: Standard Fender Stratocaster body Controls: Two tone, One Volume Pickups: SSS Make and model of Pickups: I dunno, Generic Fender Japan Single coils, from what Ive read. They seem to lack that horrible twang most standard strat pickups have. This is very good thing. Active/Passive: Passive Electronics Body and Neck woods: Basswood (yes, crapwood) body, unfigured maple neck Finish: I think it's either artic white, or olympic white. Etiher way, it's just a stock Fender color Bridge: Synchrionized tremolo (I think....it's a 6 point trem. I have really no idea if Fender really makes any adjustments between their myriad 6 point trems. I think some are chrome coated, some are stainless. I can't tell) Tuners: standard, non-locking Neck features: 21 frets (Medium....I don;t think they're medium-jumbo. I can't quite tell without a Fender frame of reference). Scalloped neck, with the nicest Fender finish I've played (sad statement, since this guitar was supposed to be a 'sub-US quality' model.

I mostly play melodic death metal and shred. I haven't been playing guitar for that long, although I've been involved with music forever. I play through a Digitech 20101 Ltd, so the sound is rather biased.....My other guitars are Ibanez's, and this guitar sounds as good, if not better than them (actual guitar tone...not pickup tone). This guitar is ideal for neck-pickup lead playing, and makes sweeps and arpeggios sound a hell of a lot tighter, due to the clarity of the contact between strings and frets, without a fretboard in the way. The pickups aren't all that special, and I think I'll eventually put an HS-3, or an actual full-size humbucker in the bridge position....but the pickups are adequate, and sound as good, if not better thatn stock strat pickups. The guitar is not noisy at all, and due to its basswood body, produces a richer, less twangy sound than other body types. This I think is complemented by the maple neck, and the fiinish on that neck (I can't get over the nice Fender neck thing...). The sound thus, isn't *bright*, but smooth, I guess.....bright isn't always a good thing. I loie everythig about the sound of this guitar, except the weakness of the single coil bridge pickup.

I bought the guitar used, so it we set up like shit. I set it up really nicely, with a hybrid set of Ernie Ball strings...and now I can barely pu the thing down. Contrary to Yngwie's statement that the action really needs to be high on a scalloped instrument, I have the actiuon pretty low (similar to an Ibanez), and the things doesn't fret out. As of now, I am yet to find any flaws at all with this guitar.

So far, the guitar seems really reliable. I'm not one to beat the shit out of my instruments while playing them, so I can't really answer this question. The neck, which is the most important element of this instrument seems really solid, and trustworthy. The only seeming flaw, is that the finish is a little softer because of the basswood body. It dings easier......

Not yet. Fender is hazy about their warranties......not only did I not buy it from an authorized Fender dealer (thus nulling the warranty, I think), but it's a '91.....

This guitar absolutely rules! I normally hate Fenders (I know, blasphemy), but there's something about *this* particular guitar that does not fit the standard Fender mold. First of all, the finish on the 21-fret maple neck is not the dark yellow plastic-y finish put on most of the newer Fenders I've played. The Japanese version of this guitar seems to have a nicer, smoother finish on the neck, making the neck actually fell wonderful.....my biggest complaints about Fender instruments.. As I said, I've only been playing for 2 years, but I major in Music here at Penn State, and I've been playing percussion, and piano for 12, and 8 years respectively. I have not one bad thing to say about this guitar....granted, a US-made model would have been more nice (only so I can say I have a US YJM Fender), but this guitar suits every one of my needs. I *will* say However, that a long time ago, I played a Japanese YJM strat, and the thing felt like a plastic toy....the neck felt bad, the guitar didn;t resonate, and the frets seemed messed up (new). I was pretty wary of purchasing this guitar until I played it, so I can;t make statements on this model of guitars as a whole.....

This Beauty was made in USA. It has 21 scaloped frets. One volume and two tone. Pickups are great, one DiMarzio HS-3 (bridge) two DiMarzio YJM (middle and neck). Body wood is Alder and Neck is Maple with maple fingerboard. Bridge is fender vintage. Tuners are vintage schaller/fender "F". Accessories was tweed case, strap, cable and polishing cloth.

This instrument suites me fine. The pickups are great, but you need to boost the signal with Overdrive/boost pedal. Scalloped fingerboard is exelent. I get better grip from strings and the sustain is good. I have Boss GE-7 or DOD 250 re-issue as a boost before amp. Thats about the effects I use. Pickups are extremely silent (because they are stacked). Sound is full (much better than "normal" strat), and still retain the clarity. Sound is not "hot", but the sound is much better than Humbuckers (that is just my opinion). The sound is better than hoped for, so im very happy about my strat.

Bacause I live in Europe, the guitar had long way here so I had to tune the truss-rod. But other than that the action was great. Pickups were just fine only little adjustment. The paint finnish was fantastic. I haven't seen any flaws.

Come on this is fender you can't break this. Hardware is great and finnish is solid. I replaced the strap buttons with DiMarzio strap lock. I won't gig without backup

I haven't dealed with them, but from other products of Fender wich I had the support is Good

I have played 7 years. I own Marhall amp and marshall speakers. This is my dream guitar period. I love everything in this guitar.

Since 1990 I have been playing a 1989 Yngwie Malmsteen model Signature Stratocaster. I bought the guitar new in 1990 from Rainbow Music in New York via mail order. Mine is the U.S.A. built version of the guitar and features a 4 piece, you read right ! 4 piece solid body comprised of alder wood and painted in a candy apple color that has a very dark maroon look to it. The tremolo is an American Standard non locking type. The neck is the best part of this guitar. It features 21 medium frets over a 25.5 scale length with a fairly fat feel, a thin satin finish over for the most part straight grained maple wood, Dimarzio non locking vintage style tuners as stock equipment, and my favorite possible guitar neck innovation of all time, SCALLOPES.
The guitar has the standard for a strat 3 pickup 3 knob passive electronics and pickup configuration with 5 way pickup selector. The middle pickup is a American Standard single coil, the pickups in the front and rear look exactly like any standard single coils, but are in fact Dimarzio HS3 verticle stacked humbuckers. Case and strap were also included in the purchase price of $925.

For the high energy rock music that I play this guitar is perfect. I play the guitar through a Zoom 3030 effects processor and 2 Boss MG 10 practice amplifiers for practice jams. When I record I use a Soldano Hot Rod 50 Tube Amplifier running through a Marshall 4-12 Lead Stereo Cabinet and a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal.
The guitar has no hum and is for the most part silent regarding noise when I use the front or back pickup positions, the tone having a very sweet harmonic click to the notes that is not too bass heavy but still very full and buttery with a bright but not screechy top end, this making soloing with an overdrive tone a true delight. The clean sounds the guitar can produce are much like any other stratocaster, and the guitar can produce all the sounds needed for jazz, blues, country etc... with ease. I have no dislikes regarding the sound of this guitar, and its completely stock too !

The overall consruction of this guitar is very good, with all aspects of the neck shape, finish, tuner fit, scallopes carving, and fretwire fit and finish to be Grade A outstanding. The bodys upper and lower bouts, or cutaway horns, are kind of thick, which I find unattractive, but are carved and shaped very smooth and consistent, as is the rest of the body. I believe the finish on the body is too thick, cutting down on resonanse properties, possibley by design to reduce over resonant induced muddyness on some notes. I can not argue with the tonal results, first rate, period.
The wood on the body is of good quality, with the routes for the hardware to be straight and true. The neck fit into the body pocket is very tight, with only a very slight gap at the back of the neck pocket on the top of the body, tighter than most strats I have seen, but not perfect. The strings align over the neck almost perfect, with the tuners, nut, string trees, pickgaurd, tremolo and strap buttons alighnment and fit and function first rate. Even the dots on the neck are straight, as is the steel neck clamp on the back. The action as I received the instrument had been adjusted by the store, so I do not know how it came from the factory. Rainbow did a decent setup on my guitar, with the action set to a medium height, and the intonation being fine. All hardware on this guitar is first rate.

With its strong high quality woods, beefy, well fitting tight construction and top flight hardware, this pup is a hoss deluxe, capable of taking anything you throw at it, or throw it at. Just ask Yngwie.

It has never needed any repairs of any kind, so I have never had to deal with them.

Yes, I would buy it again if I could find one, they are sometimes hard to locate. This guitar has a magical vibe that belies its (just a stratocater with a scalloped neck) configuration. The scalloped neck is my favorite aspect of the guitar giving a ( walking on a tight rope feeling ) to lead playing, especialy bending, I love it. I have been playing for 19 years and I have had several, including 11 stratocasters, of every type of good guitar made, and this one is my overall favorite. Hard to put it into words why.

1989, MIJ Maple neck with 'Micro-tilt', maple scalloped fingerboard, Gotoh tuners. Three piece Basswood body, with the Fender Japans version of 'Sonic Blue' finish on it (it looked a lot like the Fender USAs 'Surf Green'). Three single coil Fender PUs, standard volume, tone, tone config with a 5 way switch.

The PUs were really noisy. It did the basic 'Strat' type of sound tho, and was versatile. It sounded good though a tube amp.

The action was low, and the frets were fairly chewed up when I bought it... it always had some string buzz, but it was playable. It seemed to be well constructed, the finish still looked great. The scalloped neck made it really easy to bend strings, but also made it really possible to go out of tune when chording. The bridge was pretty rusted, and some of the the saddles were stripped when I bought it.

The Poly finish was immaculate after almost 10 years, it was a very solid guitar. It was pretty light. Never used it to play out, I sold it after about 2 months.

No idea.

Playing over 20 years. I sold this not too long after my Carvin TL60 arrived.... I originally got this Strat because I thought the scalloped neck would help me develop my speed for lead playing, but the neck on the Carvin just beat it hands down for that. It was a decent guitar, whoever bought it probably got a bargain.