Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster

2005 Vintage White with Rosewood Fretboard, purchased Online from Musician's Friend. The standard spec's are as follows:
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Model Name Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster
(Polyurethane Finish)
Body Alder
Neck Maple, Modern ?C? Shape,
(Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer Finish)
Fingerboard Scalloped Rosewood (p/n 010-7100)
9.5? Radius (241 mm)
No. of Frets 21 Dunlop? 6000 Super-Jumbo Frets
Pickups 2 Dimarzio? YJM Pickups (Neck & Middle),
1 Dimarzio? HS-3 Stack (Bridge)
Controls Master Volume,
Tone 1. No-Load Tone Control (Neck Pickup),
Tone 2. No-Load Tone Control (Bridge and Middle Pickups)
Pickup
Switching
3-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Middle Pickup
Position 3. Neck Pickup
Bridge American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo
Machine Heads Fender/Schaller Vintage ?F? Style Tuning Machines
Hardware Chrome
Pickguard 3-Ply Mint Green
Scale Length 25.5? (648 mm)
Width at Nut Brass Nut, 1.650? (42 mm)
Unique Features Special '60's Shape Neck With Large Late '60s Styled Headstock,
Brass Nut,
Scalloped Fingerboard,
With Dunlop 6000 Jumbo Fretwire,
Aged Pickup Covers,
Aged Plastic Parts
Strings Fender Super Bullet 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003
Accessories Vintage Tweed Case, Strap, Cable, Meguiar?s Mist and Wipe Kit
Case Vintage Tweed Case
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I will give this category a Nine (9), because although I understand Fender wanting to keep the "Vintage" vibe by using the Schaller "F"-style tuners, I would have preferred Schaller trim-lock locking tuners. Nevertheless, the vintage F-style tuners do the job, and the guitar stays in tune, no problems!

Of course, the single biggest feature of this guitar, that sets it apart from almost every other production guitar model on this planet is the beautiful, scalloped fretboard. My guitar arrived with a FLAWLESS neck...PERFECT scalloping and incredible dressed and finished Super Jumbo (Dunlop #6000) Frets.

Another unique feature is the excellent Dimarzio YJM pickups, as well as the Brass Nut.

I am giving this category a perfect ten (10). Obviously, this category is purely subjective, and what may sound incredible to one person may be just the opposite to another. For me, the low output YJM and HS-3 Dimarzio Pickups provide a singing, violin-esque harmonic tonal quality...which is PERFECTLY complemented by adding a clean boost pedal prior to your amps pre-amp. I am using a Digitech "Bad Monkey" pedal...and the tone of this guitar is simply sublime.

Furthermore, the scalloped neck gives you unparalleled command of vibrato technique...which further adds to the violin-like timbre.

Finally, the light fretting hand "touch" that is required with the scalloped fretboard improves the accuracy of your attack and improves the expressiveness of your playing.

The Fit and Finish of my guitar, right out of the beautiful hardshell case was perfect. I was very concerned about this, as this is the first guitar I ever ordered online, sight unseen (and unplayed). With Every other guitar I have owned, I had a chance for hands-on demonstration and determination if I liked how it played. I have heard that Fender Quality Control can be hit or miss. In my case, it was a 'hit'. The Neck joint is perfect, with zero gaps (unlike prior reviews...see below). The Quality of the neck itself (scalloping and fretwork) is simply wonderful. This guitar met and exceeded my expectations in terms of build quality. I would have given this catergory a perfect ten...however, since "action" is included in this category, I have to dock it a point. Nothing major...I did have to ever so slightly tighten the truss-rod by a hair, and I did lower the action a bit on the saddles. I did the set-up myself, and it now plays "like butter".
The finish is also flawless. However, bear in mind that the "Vintage White" on the Yngwie Malmsteen signature Strat is more of a light bananna creme (yellow) color...it certainly isn't white. Looks fantastic, in any case. I knew beforehand that the color was more yellow than white, so I was not dissapointed or surprised. However, if you are expecting pure white...it is not even close. In fact, I am not sure why they even use the word "white" in the description. Again, I think light bananna is the perfect explanation for the color of the finish.

This guitar looks and feels to be built like a tank. Everything about it screams quality, and (at least my example) attention to detail in construction, fit and finish.

Never had to deal with Fender.

I have been playing heavily for three (3) weeks now with this new guitar, and have fully adapted to the scalloped neck. I am playing more accurately, with significantly relaxed finger tension. The scalloped fretboard really lends itself to quick, fluid alternate picked runs and legato technique. The greatest revelation is how much easier it is to execute accurate sweep arpeggios. On my other Fender American Strat (with regular neck), this was always something I was fighting.

I really lucked out in receiving a perfect specimen of the Fender YJM Strat. As other's here have posted, Fender's quality control can be hit or miss.

This is not a cheap guitar, but fortunately I got every pennies worth. Againe, the neck is perfect, with low action and no fret buzz anywhere. Needless to say, due to the scallops, string bending is pure bliss.

Quite frankly...I don't know why scalloped necks aren't more popular, especially with the blues-oriented, Classic Rock artists (e.g. David Gilmour, Eric Clapton, Santana, etc.). It is NOT just for shredding.

The only artists I am familiar with who have always used a scalloped neck are John McClaughlin, Richie Blackmore, and of course, Yngwie Malmsteen. I'm sure there must be others, however.

Also, as I had previously mentioned...the special DiMarzio YJM and HS-3 pups provide killer tone. As they are low output, you just need to boost the signal prior to your amp with a nice OD pedal. I have been using the new Digitech Bad Monkey, which I am very happy with.

USA YJM Strat. Regardless of what others say, I love the USA strats and I am a Fender guy. I think all the features have been already mentioned. The most noticably would be the scalloped fretboard.
Includes case, cloth, strap, wrench and some other junk.

The reason I bought it was for the fretboard. 10+

I must say I love the sound of Stratocasters'. Any single coil maybe, but I play only Strats with single coils. If Dimebag (RIP) and James' guitars are like a growl when they play them, a Strat is like a primal scream. Mouth wide open, veins bulging. I love that sound.
This guitar sounds uniquely good in that the YJM middle and neck pick-ups vary in treble quite a bit from the HS-3 in the bridge. That means by use of the 3-way switch and volume control, you can get quite a wide array of sounds without changing channels. I personally like the sound of a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Solo better than the HS-3, but if I can afford another YJM Strat (used hopefully) I will relplace that, and only that....unless of course I become a multi-platinum selling artist and then get my own signature series. I guess I better start saving.

Bottom line(s);
Sounds great and allows my sound to come out. It will sound like YJM if you like, but you will never get his tone. I prefer to be my own tone junkie. I honestly think this is a perfect guitar.

I must admit, I was breathless when I opened the case the first time. Not only from anticipation but from just the whole package. I found no flaws at all. Action was high, I fixed that. Neck joint a little sloppy, somewhat annoying, everything else perfect. No cosmetic flaws at all. Quality through and through. I am in mass production engineering here in the US and I am impressed that Fender has been so thorough. Atleast with mine.
I will have to take points off for that neck joint. I know I said somewhat annoying, I mean it affects me not at all, but with all the CNC machinery out there, they should have better control over this. Or at least make modifications for their US models...3 points off because it is reletively an easy fix...heck, I'll do it for them.

I have played this guitar literally every day for over a year. I am 'insane' when it comes to my guitars. They are all cleaned after playing, but still this one has held up at least as good as the rest. I would gig without a back-up.
My only concern is the brass nut. Both 'E' slots are cut to what I would think to be too shallow. While my fingers have left the fretboard on the hi E, the string itself has never come out of the nut. Still when I look, it concerns me. But no harm no foul. 10

n/a, haven't delat with them

I have to tell you, I have been playing for over 27 years. I have had quite a huge amount of different gear in that time. Here is some advice for some of you possibly just starting out or willing to listen. You can't buy tone. It doesn't matter if it costs 1,000 or 100 bucks, if you like it and it sounds good, buy it. It doesn't matter what your best friend or the idiot your buying it from says. Your best friend wants you to look cool, and the guy selling it probably works on comission. Trust me, play your guitar well and all else will follow. If YOU like it buy it. That is what I do. Don't waste allot of years and cash, like I did, chasing that elusive tone by listening to others' advice. I wasted thousands and thousands of dollars over the years. It all boils down to this, when I bought this guitar, I had 9 others. Now I have 4 total; 2 Charvels and 2 Strats, the YJM and a '73. To be honest, I don't even need all 4. I keep the Charvels because I love 'em, period. I would love to get another and swap out the HS-3 for a Virtual Vintage Solo, other than that, I couldn't be happier. I have even learned to live with the pinheads that think I want to be YJM because I bought his guitar. Same idiots that thought I wanted to be EVH when I bought a Wolfgang. Needless to say, I still have this YJM Strat ( though not the Wolfgang). This guitar would be the absolute last piece of equipment that I would ever choose to sell, or part with.
I wish that Fender offered a strat similar (fretboard) to this one, less the YJM name on it, to avoid pinhead conversations, but otherwise I really couldn't be happier. The quality is second to none. The string control is such you will not want to go back to a 'flat board'. Overall I couldn't be happier. Well, maybe if I could buy one for $800 without YJM's name on it....but like I said, I could wait until I am a multi platinum selling artist and get my own signature series.. I best start saving...until then 10 + 10

1998 USA made Candy-Apple Red BODY Alder


NECK Maple, Modern ?C? Shape,
(Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer Finish)


MACHINE HEADS Fender/Schaller Vintage ?F? Style Tuning Machines


FINGERBOARD Scalloped Rosewood (p/n 010-7100) 9.5? Radius (241 mm)


NO. OF FRETS 21 Dunlop? 6000 Super-Jumbo Frets


PICKUPS 2 Dimarzio? HS-3 Pickups (Neck & Middle),
1 Dimarzio? YJM Stack (Bridge)


CONTROLS Master Volume,
Tone 1. No-Load Tone Control (Neck Pickup),
Tone 2. No-Load Tone Control (Bridge and Middle Pickups)


BRIDGE American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo


PICKUP SWITCHING 3-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Middle Pickup
Position 3. Neck Pickup


HARDWARE Chrome


STRINGS Fender Super Bullet 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003


CASE Vintage Tweed Case


PICKGUARD 3-Ply Mint Green


SCALE LENGTH 25.5? (648 mm)


UNIQUE FEATURES Special '60's Shape Neck With Large Late '60s Styled Headstock,
Brass Nut,
Scalloped Fingerboard,
With Dunlop 6000 Jumbo Fretwire,
Aged Pickup Covers,
Aged Plastic Parts
WIDTH AT NUT Brass Nut, 1.650? (42 mm)


ACCESSORIES Vintage Tweed Case, Strap, Cable, Meguiar?s Mist and Wipe Kit

This thing sounds and plays amazing !! Before this I had always used my beloved 1962 Gibson 345 Stereo for eveything......I had tries loads of Fenders and not liked any of them ! I bought this one from a guy in Germany via the ubiquitous Ebay at a very good price. I really wanted a white one witht the maple neck, and got one later, but when I did an A/B test, this rosewood one won hands down. It was way heavier than the white one for some reason.....who knows ?? Anyway, I use it for Hendrix, blues and Pink Floyd by way of Be Bop Deluxe and it does everything absolutely wonderfully. At present I use Maxima Gold 9's on it. I only had one gripe with it.....the 3-way selector......so I had it swapped for a 5-way. Those "in-between" sounds would make Hendrix drool.......why doesn't Yngwie like them ???
I have a friend who has used it for country music on a few gigs, and he is now looking for one.
I play mine into a Boss GT-6 which then goes straight into the PA. This set-up allows me to get really loud and clean with no unwanted feedback etc., but you learn how to generate it when you need it ! No hum of course from these superb pick-ups.

The quality of the fit and finish is great........much better than your average Strat. !! Tuners work great, but mine rarely needs tuning......seems to play straight out of that wonderful Custom Tweed case every time......
The tremolo is awesome....I can get the strings slack and when the bar is released it pops straight back into tune. I must admit I do not use the trem tooo much.

I use this at home and on gigs and so far nothing has broken or fallen off ! The lacquer seems particularly durable and does not show any of my minor dings etc.

I am looking for another one like mine....I have already sold my white one !
My favourite feature is Fender toughness !! After my 345, which I watched all night in case it fell off the stand and the neck broke !!

BODY Alder

NECK Maple, Modern ?C? Shape,
(Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer Finish)

MACHINE HEADS Fender/Schaller Vintage ?F? Style Tuning Machines

FINGERBOARD Scalloped Rosewood (p/n 010-7100) or
Scalloped Maple (p/n 010-7102), 9.5? Radius (241 mm)

NO. OF FRETS 21 Dunlop? 6000 Super-Jumbo Frets

PICKUPS 2 Dimarzio? YJM Pickups (Neck & Middle),
1 Dimarzio? HS-3 Stack (Bridge)

CONTROLS Master Volume,
Tone 1. No-Load Tone Control (Neck Pickup),
Tone 2. No-Load Tone Control (Bridge and Middle Pickups)

BRIDGE American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo

PICKUP SWITCHING 3-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Middle Pickup
Position 3. Neck Pickup

HARDWARE Chrome

STRINGS Fender Super Bullet 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003

CASE Vintage Tweed Case

PICKGUARD 3-Ply Mint Green

SCALE LENGTH 25.5? (648 mm)

UNIQUE FEATURES Special '60's Shape Neck With Large Late '60s Styled Headstock,
Brass Nut,
Scalloped Fingerboard,
With Dunlop 6000 Jumbo Fretwire,
Aged Pickup Covers,
Aged Plastic Parts

WIDTH AT NUT Brass Nut, 1.650? (42 mm)

ACCESSORIES Vintage Tweed Case, Strap, Cable, Meguiar?s Mist and Wipe Kit

INTRODUCED 1/1998

I play mostly neoclassic stuff like malmsteen.The pick up sound awsome.The bridge is fucking agressive with lots of bite. The neck is probably the best neck sound I've heard for rock, blue and neo-classic. The guitar is very clean. I have a mesa boogie triple rec and I plug it in with a YJM308 preamp overdrive and I get malmsteen sound.The guitar is not just to get the malmsteen sound, it gets all the sounds a strat has plus the malmsteen one. The trem is way better than a floyd to me.

Was I fucking impress went I took the thing out of the box and it was almost perfectly Tune to E flat. The pick up are awsome.

You can defenitly count on that guitar but live you better have a backup because you never know went tou break a string.

Never had to deal with the company, everything was so fine.

The only guitar that could be better would be a fucking espensive vintage strat. If it was stolen I would buy another one for shure.

The model under review is a 2004, Candy Apple Red maple-neck Yngwie Strat. It has the stock features - brass nut, scalloped freboard, YJM DiMarzio pickups, etc. I'm giving it a rating of 9 instead of 10 because there are only 3 tonal variations instead of the usual 5 (or 8 in the case of the S1-switching models). But I guess no one is really going to mind because few people are going to use this guitar for jazz or country music.

The bridge pickup is probably the star performer here, producing the thick, raunchy humbucking-type tone that rock/blues players might crave. It's a nasty sound, first-rate for biting lead runs. The neck setting is good as well, a deeper but slightly thinner tone probably better suited to rhythm playing. Others in this forum recommend using an overdrive pedal of sorts and I'm sure that can only enhance the already-rich sound.

The guitar was bought from Wildwood Music in Colorado. It's the second time I've dealt with them and I have to say they provide excellent service. They changed the strings to the gauge I prefer (9.5-44 instead of the stock 9-42), checked everything before shipping. I opened the case, plugged in and played straight off without even having to re-tune! The finish is flawless - no complaints. The brass nut will require maintenance though - I've seen one tarnish badly in my local guitar store.

I really can't venture an opinion here because I've only had it for a short while, but I honestly can't see much problem with longevity. I always believe if you look after something, it will look after you, so as long as you treat the guitar right, it'll last for as long as you want.

Never dealt with Fender direct.

I've been playing almost 10 years and own the following Strats - Ritchie Blackmore (Japan), 1997 Collectors' Edition, Eric Clapton, American Standard HSS and 1954 Custom Shop (blonde). I also own a Gibson Les Paul Supreme, Standard, Custom, 1968 Figured Top Custom and 1954 Black Beauty reissue. The Yngwie's outstanding feature is its playability - since I'm used to a scalloped fretboard having used the Blackmore for about 5 years, I found no problems at all adapting. The scalloping is deeper than the Blackmore but the feel is better. String bending is a cinch and provided you have a reasonably light touch, zipping around the fretboard will be very easy on this Strat. A word of warning - if you're used to a light gauge, you might find that the high E string slips off the fretboard when you try to play fast. I think this guitar's idea string gauge is 10-46, or at the very least, 9.5-44 (D'Addario). Because of this, I'm giving a 9 rating for this category. If however, you're comfortable with a heavier gauge, then the rating would be 10. If it were lost, I'd replace it for sure, maybe with an Alpine white version. Overall, I'd rate ease of playing as the best feature, followed by the tone and looks. Tonally, it doesn't have the power of the active Clapton or the LP Standard but then again, I don't have an overdrive pedal (yet).

you should already know the features...

THis guitar sounds just like you expect..if you overdrive it and run it through a Marshall you will get Yngwie's sound..I run mine through my Boogie Nomad 45 and love it. I would describe it as a 'greasy' sound.

I must admit, I had purchased expensive guitars before so my expectations were high when I was opening this one. Still, I was taken back by just how great this guitar looks. Almost all things were flawless. Finish perfect. Relief just right. I did lower the action but I do that on all my guitars. One point of disapointment was that the back plastic cover over the tremolo springs was not screwed in all the way. Upon further investigation, the holes were never drilled deep enough. That surprised me as I would think Fender's QA would have caught that. Other than that the guitar is damn near perfect . I have read others complaining about the neck joint. It isn't perfect, but I would not complain about it. Actuall I would not have even noticed it had I not read others comments. Being a Manufacturing Engineer during the day, it is hard to impress me with a good finished product. This guitar impressed me.

This thing feels like it is built like a tank. Let's be honest, how long has the Strat been around? I think that speaks for itself. I would depend on it without a back up, no question.

Fortunately haven't needed them. Was able to register online. A plus.

I love this guitar. Without question. The scallopped fretboard really gives you string control like now other. I though my Parker was the best in this catagory, but I enjoy bending even more now.

Spezels would be nice..

This is a review for a brand-new 2004 American YM Signature Stratocaster. This is NOT the first Yngwie signature I have owned, nor is it the first scalloped neck guitar I have owned. I have played scalloped neck guitars exclusively from 1987 to 2000.

I wanted to avoid the "Christmas rush review" syndrom by giving a review the day I got it (which I hate in reviews). But I have played scalloped guitar for over 15 years, and owned the 1989 version of this guitar prior to this one to know I got a great guitar and six more months of playing wont change that.

This is a STOCK model. It has Schaller vintage 'F' machines, oversized headstock, brass nut, 3-position switch (not the 5 like the older model), scalloped maple neck with Dunlop 6000 jumbo fret wire, vintage white body, two YJM single coils and a single DiMarzio HM3 in the bridge section. The bridge is the 6-screw vintage type, and it has all aged plastic parts, light mint green pickboard. It came with a tweed hardshell case, Fender strap, manual and a nice guitar chord. The finish is excellent: its that heavy-duty looking American standard laquer (nitrocellulose?) and looks like it is built to play for years.

I would have given a '9' ('10' is impossible), but the lack of at least the latest American standard tuners dropped it to an '8'. I do like Klusons and the Vintage 'F', but it would have been nicer if it had the new Fender locking type. Also bigger strap buttons so the cheap strap they give doesnt drop your new $1300.00 guitar.

The new Vintage 'F' tuners (like the new standard Fender Klusons) work if the player knows to tune upto the notes and work out front/backlash by stretching the strings and repeat tunings until it has stabilized. But, the newest American standard tunes (sealed Schaller) are far superior, and the locking version tops them. Too bad Yngwie has more style than desire to keep a guitar in tune.

I was actually pleasantly suprised by the sound and tone. It mad all of the classic American strat sounds, and the rear stacked humbucking pickup allowed for some shredder tone.

I have played many types of strats: real vintage types, loads of 70s models, the newest 50th Anv model, and the Mexi strat line (which are also great). The hottest one of them all was a black Fender standard fat strat HSS with a Floyd. That was one of the heaviest guitars I have owned with its humbucker from hell.

I could best say that the sound of the single coil YJMs are not hot, but VERY toney. They are more than a 50s Alnico type, but less than what you would expect in a Texas Special. The rear pickup is not excessively hot either. The Mexi Fat Strat HSS I had was MUCH hotter, and the sound with the rear pick up would not sound 'stratty'.

The rear pickup on this guitar keeps the stratty sound. From what I can tell its a shade more boose over a 50s Alnico type with the quiet of humbucking.

I guess I would expect that the pickups are more geared for tone rather than output, as Yngwie is quoted as yammering about how the pickup must be a PURE pickup and not just for hot sound.

The scalloped neck also affects tone, as you are not deadening the string into wood. The tone is brighter, and the steel on steel contact makes for some great vibrato and sustain (listen up Santanna).

Dont buy this guitar for a replacement to a Randy Rhodes Jackson modified with a battery operated pre-amp. This one makes improved strat sounds. I know of a guy in the Chicago area that has three of them and uses them for blues and alternative music (not metal of thrash). I bought it to play Robert Cray light to Pantera heavy and it does so well accross the board (it is like any other improved American standard).

I got this brand-new from the factory. It was factory set like any other factory American standard (they vary). It required some minor modifications to play great and stay in tune GREAT. Remember this is a 70s strat with better picks and scalloped neck.

This is not a shredder guitar. I know that sounds like total BS, but if you want one of these to play true shreadder music, get a Jackson or a Via/Satrianni Ibenez. Pick up a nice setup American Standard sometime: the scalloping helps, but you can get faster on an Ibenez or Jackson (but then you get lack of tone).

Remember that Yngwie uses high action, 008-49s, 1.5mm picks, and has long lanky fingers: he does not play a Strat because its the fastest thing to play on. He would still shread on a Hondo connected to the cheap transistor amp you get with them in the $100.00 beginner guitar packages.

How was the quality: well, I got to admit the $1300.00 made me expect a Christmas wrapped Les Paul Custom delivered by Pam Anderson (ala natural of course). The reality set in that this is an American standard Stratocaster (and not a Martin guitar). This guitar was in par with any of the other strats I have owned, saw, or played (quality-wise). All Strats are maintenance traps, and require TLC to make them play flawless. Once stabilized, one can see whay since 1954 little has changed.

The weight was nice, and it feels like I am playing a guitar and not a light Squier. I have to admit it feels nice to play, and anyone who uses strats know you can play 100 of them and find 20 you hate, 60 you can play on pretty well, and the remaining 20 you absolutely jam on. They vary that much.

So what about the scallop neck you may ask:

The scalloping helps to make the note transition more fluid with less effort to do smooth runs from the 1st to 6th string. One benefit that you get is that you ALWAYS hit that bend no matter where it is at (you can even bend and control 1st and 2nd fret bends on the high E or B!).

Scalloping makes linear line runs much easier, but it is true that you must get used to the feel. The first thing people that picked up my scalloped guitars is that after a couple minutes of playing, their fingers hurt, as the fingertips support the string at all times (not like wood necks).

I find that people either love or HATE scallop neck guitars. Even myself going 15 years on a scallop neck only: a Rosewood neck and no scalloping was a nice change on my next main guitar.

My current and only guitar is the '04 YM Signature series, and I dont feel that I am at a disadvantage to play blues, rock, metal, chainsaw sounds out of this guitar.

If it played more like a Jackson, I would have given it a '9'.

While I have not owned it for years, I can tell it is like any other 70s American Standard, except with all new everything. I would trust it as my primary guitar.

Unknown:

As I said, this is not a metal head shredder guitar (you need a Jackson for that). This is a suped up and improved 70s model with the scalloped neck and brass nut. This guitar does the blues/rock/classic rock and metal thing just fine. I could get an off-the-rack American standard with Texas specials and do about the same thing, but this one is designed around being fast and toney for a strat (and not being the ultimate shredder guitar).

Note that I wrote this for the NEW YM Signature series, and not the older model designed after a 50s style. The new one is in par with what he actually uses (Mine looke exactly like the one on his PLAY LOUD #1 video cover). The older one I had was a strange animal: 2-point pivot tremolo w/heavy saddles, Kluson tunes, 5 position switch, sonic blue. I did not like it, and the location of the truss adjustment (pickguard) pissed me off.

If you are going to get one, dont get the old model: get what he actually uses, as this is a jam-a-tronic 70s strat (dont let the Yngwie stigma scare you). This is a nice Fender custom shop guitar to own, and was the second signature series offered by Fender (Eric Clapton was first).

I would have given a 9 for better shredder action and better tuners, but what do I want out of an factory custom American Standard Strat for 1300.00?

Here we go again. Reviewing a 2004 Fender Yngwie Malmsteen signature stratocaster. This is a U.S.A model incorporating all the standard stratocaster features such as; 21 frets on a 25.5 scale, alder wood for the body in sonic blue color, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, 1 volume & 2 tone controls, 3 way pickup selector, standard strat tremolo mounted to the body via 6 screws. Tuners are vintage type non locking Schaller's.

To turn the guitar into an Yngwie Malmsteen model the instrument was fitted with a full length medium scalloped rosewood fingerboard, 2 Dimarzio YJM's, and 1 HS3 vertically stacked passive humbucking pickups in a standard strat configuration. These pickups appear as single coils but are humbucking and so they do not hum. YJM pickups are basically HS3's with a vintage magnet stagger. Strats have a alot of usable non-gimmic features, and the Yngwie signature model takes it up a couple notches.

Guitar included strap, polishing cloth, amp cord, manual, etc.

Normally, guitars such as this suit my high energy rock style. And I have played a 1989 version of this guitar since 1990. However, I have been having a problem with Fender as of late, and so this guitar was not played at all. In fact, the instrument was never taken out of its case. For this reason I cannot comment on any aspect of its sound.

This is the second one of these guitars I have owned in the last several months. I have been forced to return them because they have been made so poorly that I am not willing to keep them. The first 2004 that I purchased had a gap in the neck pocket where the neck mounts into the body that was so large, this because the neck was mounted to the body at such an angle, that the strings were so out of alignment that you could not really play it without the first string falling off the edge of the neck. For various reasons this could not be corrected by adjusting the neck in its neck pocket. So back it went.

On this second 2004 model, Fender gave it their all for that 2 or 3 minutes that they made the guitar, but just could come up with anything better than shifting the gap from the top, or left neck pocket extreme edge as you face the guitar as it sets vertically, to the bottom, or right neck pocket extreme edge as you face the guitar as it sets vertically. So, they basically moved the gap where the neck mounts into the body from one side of the neck pocket to the other.

Though they were not able to construct the instrument competently, they did go all out and try and make it right in the end. Fender did something I have never seen on a factory Fender or any other bolt on type guitar, they filled the gaps between the sides of the neck pocket portions of the body with a gray tinged clearish epoxy or silicone filler!!!! Way to go guys! Set the computer to cut the neck pocket routes too wide for the neck, then slap some silly putty in there to 'make it right.' But hey, the string alignment was much better!

I had noticed that the tremolo was mounted perfect on the first 2004 I received, so you can guess that the route for the tremolo on this second instrument was cut too far from the pickgaurd edge, which produced a large gap between the pickgaurd and the tremolo. This nonsense, which might have thrown the scale length off, but probably could have been compensated for with extreme forward adjustment of the bridge saddles, especially for the money I paid for this guitar I was not going to tolerate this inferior construction. As you might have guessed by now, back it went.

Customer support, as intended in this survey, does not apply. Both 2004 models were assessed as being defective, due to sloppy, profit rather competent oriented quality control, and as such, I dealt with the retailer regarding rectification, they in turn dealt with Fender.

I have been playing since the late 70's, and I have owned numerous Fender Strats, Teles, Gibson Les Pauls, original Dean Z's, Jackson Soloists, San Dimas Charvel, good amps, etc, so I know what good guitar gear is, and how a Fender strat should be made.

I love the scalloped necks on the Yngwie Malmsteen signature models, that's why I play them. I would buy it again, but not by mail order. Fenders quality control is so poor at this point, that unless I can find one hanging in a store that is made properly, I cannot buy any more of this model. I wish the recent model of this guitar had a better fit & finish so I could actually feel good about owning one. Having to wait 5 or 6 weeks on guitars made this bad is unacceptable.

I am going to buy an Epiphone Elite Les Pail Standard plus instead because of Fenders inability to make the modern version of this guitar properly at this point, at least in my experience.

I can supply pictures of these guitars on request.

Mine was made in USA , I got it in 1996. 21 frets , scallop neck , maple neck/fretboard , alder body. It has 2 tone & 1 volume control.
Dimarzio HS-3 pickups in neck & bridge position with a standard single coil in middle .The colour is candy apple red , nice colour!
Exactly the same type Yngwie uses in his Live In Leningrad & REH instructional video.Comes with a hard case with a fender cable , strap , handbook polish cloth & tremolo bar.

At first wasn't use to it ( low output pickups ) but after using it all these years , it's now my main guitar ! I retired my Ibanez RG 550 just last year due to cracks in the neck .The YJM strat is not for plugging in directly to a small practise amp , you need a overdrive/distortion pedal to enhance the output . I played instrumental rock , blues & metal and trying to write my own material . I have two Marshall amps , a VS15R in a room and a AVT 20
in the living room. I used the YJM strat through various effects either a ZOOM GM 200 , a Digitech Genesis 1 or Yamaha DG stomp.The YJM strat sounds best in Marshall amp settings for both the GM 200 & Genesis 1 as well as Fender & Vox amp simulation. The sound through the DG stomp is awesome as well ! The pickups are not noisy as they are stacked single coils, can't play thrash ? Believe me, I have try using a Zoom Tri-metal through the Marshall AVT 20 & wow it can sound heavy as well ! The distortion is clean & clear , not muddy at all . If you listen to Yngwie albums , he can sound real heavy when playing riffs . The Man still has the best tones in the shred kingdom ! The pickups sound pretty balance , though its more on the treble side , there is enough bass & mids to go by .

The guitar came in good condition , I don't need to adjust anything.

I have never played live before , but it will last as long as you don't set it on fire or smash it to pieces ! I made a mistake of leaving it in the hard case for four years as I was feeling cold towards playing and having lack of inspiration and upon picking it up in 2001 , I was shock to see the rust on my strings & hardware !
I just had it rusted part changed . The guitar is rather solid and will stood the test of time . Now its my baby & I am giving it some TLC .

I have been playing since 1990 but stopped between 1997 to 2001 due to lack of inspiration .It's now my main guitar and yes ! I just got another candy apple red YJM strat from a second hand store ! I am now probably the only guy in my country that has 2 candy apple red late 50's headstock Yngwie Malmsteen signature strat ! Why ? because people I know prefer the new one ;the vintage white / cream colour with YJM & HS-3 pickups and late 60's/70's headstock that Yngwie is currently using .I would love to buy the new one but for the price of it , 1 new one = two of my candy apple red YJM strat ! In fact I traded my new Samick Fastback 2 as a down payment for the second strat ( like trading a first hand car for a second hand Ferrari !)
If my guitars were stolen , I would hunt down the guy & sue him for a sum to buy a dozen of these ! In my opinion , the YJM signature strat is the most unique & probably the best Fender strat ever made. Why ? because of its scallop neck . If you look at other signature Strat , don't they look like the standard Fender strat except for the colour , pickups , hardware & signature ? Yeah Ritchie Blackmore's strat also has a scallop neck but the YJM strat looks better ! The scallop neck feels good to play especially for vibrato & bends but once you got used to it , you should be able to play fast or shred easily.I have another guitar which sounds & feels good also ; a Killer Pirates ( hardly can find in the West )which I used it once in a while but for now the YJM strat is my main guitar of choice

just a fender YJM, check it at fender.com

the sound of this guitar is awsome, its smooth, clean, bright and the dimarzios are great, but it this guitar alone its far away from the yngwie malmsteen sound, you will need to load this whith lots of pedals

the guitar came with very hard strings and the bridge was to high, almost like a floyd rose,both are things that i hate, so back in home i went to the guitar shoop for a calibration, after that, it never needed any tipe of service

i think this guitar will live longer than me, but i could really use a backup, because the tunning isnt very durable.....after all, its a strat right????

i live in argentina, so for me it was hell to but this guitar, they even sent a guy form fender to the airport with my guitar in a conection flight to buenos aires.
they were great, i rate it with 10, but i give it a 20

this is a great guitar, but if you are looking for the yngwie malmsteen sound and you dont want to spend more money, then i suggest you buy another guitar, or change the pickups for a louder ones

Reveiwing a 2004 Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Straocaster. Basically a standard strat modeled after an early 70's type in sonic blue color with a scalloped rosewood fingerboard and dimazio pickups (YJM's front & middle, and HS3 at the bridge)in all three positions. All the standard stratocaster features that are well known. Stock strats have alot non gimic features, and the scalloped fingerboard pushes it up a notch or two.

I only played it for 20 seconds, so there is not much to go on regarding its tonality.

This is where this poor thing imploded. The neck, which was decent, was mounted onto the body in a neck pocket that was cut too wide for it which caused a large gap to be present between the side of the neck and the neck pocket edge. This gap would be on the left side of the neck pocket as you face the guitar. Neck could not be shifted in the neck pocket for various reasons, and because of this, the strings were out of alignment with the first string practically hanging off the neck to the extent that I could not play lead on it without it falling off the neck. The Yngwie Malmsteen signature decal was also crooked, making an otherwise neat strat headstock look like it was made by drunks. Other aspects of construction were not top notch, but passable.

I bought the guitar from Musicians Friend, and they gave me no grief when I complained about the instruments construction, even paying for return shipping of the guitar back to them.

I have been playing at the guitar since 1977, and have played a 1989 version of one these Malmsteen signature models since 1990. That instrument has none of the construction issues that this 2004 model has. I love the scalloped necks on these guitars, so, yes, I would replace it if something happened to it, like, oh, lets, say, Fender slipped into 3rd world mode during the 90 seconds they made this axe, forcing me to re-order, hopefully for the last time, as it took 5 weeks to get this one, and it will end up taking 5 or 6 more to get its replacement.

You've probably read all the other reviews its all the same, 3way pickup selector, dimarzio- hs3 + 2 yjm pickups ,maple neck vintage white. 1 string tree, brass nut + the "scalloped" neck 21 frets.

The sound of the guitar at the beginning was pretty weak, without an overdrive pedal your not going to get a good distortion like yngwie has, it will just do for blues or similar music if you dont get one, trust me. But i ofcourse knew this and bought a DOD yjm 308 overdrive and now its suddenly the coolest sound ever! It's perfect for shredding and every form of metal/rock/hardrock music. The Yjm-pickups are great because they give a perfectly balanced tone, not dark creamy and muddy like a super-highpower humbucker, and not noisy and so-bright-the-windows-break like an old crappy singlecoil.
The sound of the Yjm pickups is more balanced, sort of like a mix between humbucker and singlecoil sound :) hard to describe really, listen to Yngwie Malmsteens song called Icarus Dream Suite Op 4.. There you can hear both the distorted sound when he plays chords and the soloing sound. or Rising Force for the Chugga-chugga sound =D

The best part of the sound is the sound you get when you solo, thats where this guitar really stands out, check out the songs i mentioned and you'll notice. It is absolutely NOT noisy at all, its quiet when you want it to be =) .

I play mostly metall, shred, and neoclassical/classical stuff, some blues and rock/hardrock and the guitar is great for all of this, but as i said earlier if you buy this guitar you WILL need a good overdrive orelse it just won't sound good at all, except clean tone ofcourse. I play it through my DOD yjm 308 overdrive into my Peavey Supreme transtube, the sound is awesome specially the solo sound!

The big dislike about the sound is that its not great from the beginning, the pickups are too weak and need a boost..But i'll still give it a good rating because when you get the right overdrive and amp this guitar RULES!

The stringaction was great from the beginning, low but not too low and thats how i like it.

Another thing about the guitar is that the top E and A strings (the darksounding ones..my english sucks) was "ringing" a bit when i played them open, the guitarshop where i bought it has promised to fix it. And another annoying thing i noticed is on the smallest E-string at the 15 fret and up to the 21fret the strings also sort of "ring" a bit , the tone is not as clear as it should be, i really hope the shop where i bought it can fix that.

The scallops is where my main issue is with this guitar, i bought it becuase i love yngwies music and because i totally love the feel of the scalloped neck, it gives you more control of the strings, it's easier to bend and playing just goes easier on the fingers (for me).
When i went back to my old guitar it felt like crap and i couldnt believe it was so hard to bend specially on the high strings 12fret and above. So the feeling of the "scalloped" neck is just wonderful.

Well the scallops on my guitar were actually pretty horrible, it's more like it's flattend, or filed down as someone else said in another review.
It's definately NOT the fine round shape that i saw on Yngwies guitar in a video once or on pictures of "the duck".. Well since it's flattend it still plays like a scallop, the feeling is absolutely great, but it doesn't look as cool as yngwies scallops. Wich gives it a BIG minus in this section. I paid 17000kr for the guitar it was new (it's like maybe somewhere around 1400-1500$ dollars).. So i paid more than most of the people here and my scallops looked bad. That pisses me of a little bit =)

The finish on the guitar looks good, but the neck isn't perfectly fitted into the body of the guitar wich again gives it a big minus, i mean i don't notice any differance when i play or anything but for this ammount of cash i want a PERFECT guitar, god i hope someone from fender reads this and makes it better for future customers!

Well, most of the flaws can be fixed except for the scallop problem and the neck-body connection. So the guitar had some flaws from the factory, some could be fixed some not, and that just sucks, i want better scallops!!! =(

It will and has withstood live playing, it all worked really well.
The hardware looks like it will outlive me, enough said.
The strap buttons are really solid.
Yes i can depend on it, it's aboslutely no problem in this division, i have used it on a gig wihtout a backup, but i guess if i get rich someday i'll buy anotherone incase of string-breakage, wich actually is very rare on this guitar, i've hade mine for like 4-5 months and no string break yet, and i shred ALOT =) play it everyday ..

customer support was actually pretty crappy, first of all i tell the store where i bought it that there was some minor flwas on it (the "ringing" on the strings) and i asked them if they could fix it, they said i had to pay more.. i was like "#&?%%?(?#%!! i already payed 17000kr for the damn thing and it wasn't working properly, well anyway i still had to buy an amp and they promised to fix it since i bought the amp from them. But the repair-guy wasn't in that day i had to come another day, well it's been 2 months i haven't gone yet, but those arses better fix my guitar =P ....

Well enough about the store, i dislike Fender aslo, I know many of you are going to disagree with me now but i wanted 24 frets instead of the standard 21 on the guitar (i knew this would raise the price a little, but damn!) and fender told me that it would have to go through the customshop and cost me 30000kr extra.. I paid 17000kr for 21 frets and they want 30000kr extra for 3 shitty frets?.. If i added the money together i'd have like 17+30 = 47000kr... for that ammount of cash i would have got almost 3 yjm signature guitars or 63frets....
Thats why i hate fender! Don't get me wrong i love the guitar, my precious :P but i don't like the company at all.. They suck hope they get better at stuff in the future!

I've been playing for about four years now, my first guitar was a crappy Fender Squire wich i bought just to se if i'd stick with the guitarplaying. Well i did and i knew what sound i wanted, and it was this guitar. Amazing for shredding and soloplaying.
I wish i had known more about the scalloped neck on this guitar, they feel absolutely great, i love scallops! But they look horrible, just filed down. Yngwie should be pissed of at fender for this!

If it was stolen or lost i would get a job and save money and go buy the same guitar but with better scallops and more frets, it only has 21, for me 24 would be better. Wich fender probably would charge me millions of dollars for, since they overprice everything.. those b#%#%#...
Haha, the scallops is the thing i love and hate mostly on this guitar, they feel so great, but look so horrible!

The sound is great and it's just an amazing instrument, but let me repeat for the millionth time:
* You NEED and overdrive for this guitar and with it its gonna rule!!
* The scalloped neck feels VERY good, it's easier to bend, easier to play and you get more control over the strings. But they look filed down, not filed round nicely as in the pictures!

Features:the scalloped neck is one of the bets features on this guitar <althouth some whiney old farts,particually every1 on here who keeps whining about the giutar and the scallpoed neck...>.
It also has Yngwie J. Malmsteen p/u's in it which kick ass on every other single coil on the market even still 2day.rosewood fretboard,mines got the well youve read ever1 elses havent you?!well if you do't know what it has by now... ... ... duhhhhhhhhhh

this guitar is like any other for versatility im only 15 but im the western region guitarmageddon champion.you play any style on almost any guitar.and I could obliterate any of you fools on here in my sleep.so anyway,this guitar is espesially good for people who play shred like Mr.Malmsteen i do anyway but some people whine about the pickups in these but i think they kick ass as far p/us go some are suited for certain styles like on my rhoads professional they are super super hot and dont even get a clean tone by the my amps that i ususally shred through are an A.R.T dst 830 rules breaker witch versatile as well as my line 6 flextone2 i use the more my dad uses the art more than methough.

the action on mine was so killer when i bought it new it had real nice vol.+tone pots also but im a major shred head so use low-ass action my dad was a gradute top o'the class in the guitar instute of technology in hollywood Ca so he knows his shit y'know

its like all strats desinged by leo fender a true american geneius but once i tried to spin it behind my back like yngwie and it went through the wall and had only a few dings and scratches not bad deep1's either so it's a killer axe through n' through man.

who the he;ll knows i've never had to deal with any guitar/amp company in my life neuther has my dad

i've been playin fer a 2 and a half years but im the giutarmageddon west region champs so go figure <guitrmageddons every march at guitar center everywhere:)>

Guitar was made in USA. 21 SCALLOPED frets!!! BEAUTIFUL job on the scalloped frets! Easy to bend strings and plays FAST!!! Large headstock! Vintage color knobs and pickguard. Came with 3 way and 5 way pickup switching. Looks like a brass nut.

This guitar sounds smooth... great for lead tones! This guitar is very versatile. Can play blues, fusion, jazz, whatevers. Pickups are quiet, no noise. I play through a Fender "Evil" Twin and this guitar sounds so warm when played clean.

I bought this guitar used so i dont know about factory settings. Action on mine is great because i have a guy who sets it up for me. I adjust the pickups myself and they sound great. Finish is NICE! No flaws on my guitar. Beautiful guitar!

it fell off my wall and onto a rug and has not a scratch on it. VERY durable and reliable!!!

I have no idea. Never used it.

I've been playing for 8 years now and i've been searching for this guitar used for a while now and finally got my hands on one and i will never let it go. My favorite out of the bunch. Love it more than my Ibanez Jem 7vwh (Vai model)! I play it mainly through a Fender Twin, Line 6 pod, a variety of pedals. If it were stolen or lost, i'd steal it back or steal another one and risk going to jail or just buy another one. I love everything about this beauty... tone, feel, finish, scalloped fret board, sexy curves. What i hate? What i hate is that people think the scalloped frets are supposedly harder to play or take time to get used to but i think they are easier to play and have a great feel. If you are reading this... GO GET ONE OF THESE!!!! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!! Unless you dont make love to your guitar when u play it.

This is a brand new USA model YJM. The main feature is the scalloped fretboard. This is what sold me on this guitar. At first, I thought it might be a gimmick, because no-one else has that kind I wasn't too sure how I would like it. After playing, I started wondering why no-one else has it. It gives the guitar so mouch more feel, because each fret is distinct. Going back to a normal fretboard, it feels like it has no life. If you want features, buy the variax, because other than the fretboard, there arent too many other features.

I love the sound of this guitar. I play it through a line 6 spider, and it's so clear, I love it.

The factory set-up was terrible, and luckily I had a 30 day warranty to get any repairs necessary. Where the neck and the body are connected isn't very pretty. Close inspection shows a few flaws. I was surprised at all this after having paid such a high premium for a custom shop!

This guitar seems very reliable. I have no clue why they give you "vintage" hardware. It's a stupid concept, what do they think will happen if they give us new hardware, it'll get newer? The strap buttons are tiny, and I'm thinking of getting the strap lock ones.

Fender support is terrible. Look at what they did to Jackson. It takes half an hour of needling through their website to find customer support. Go to any website, and you will find a "contact us" link, Fender doesn't have one, which pissed me off.

I love the guitar, mainly because of the fretboard, but I think once the idea catches on, this guitar will not last the test of time. Other companys hopefully will add this unique feature to their guitars. (scallops)

1998 Made in USA
Di-marzio p/u
Alder Body
Rosewood neck
Scalloped neck
Brass nut
3 way selector switch
Large headstock

I play it using my Carvin Legacy (Steve Vai Signature) combo amp (all valves) and I have a zoom hyper lead HL-01. It really sounds great for progressive & hard rock - especially the neck pickup (di-marzio YJM) sounds almost like a violin when soloing. The pickups are not noisey but they are of a very low output (90mv)- so for solos you need an extra boost stompbox. I have been trying to get this sound for ages - I also have a Kramer Focus 3000 (Made in Japan - Alder body) which I have experimented a lot with different pickups (I just installed an EMG 81 with tons of output) but when I play with my band it just cannot cut through the mix like the YJM Strat. It however did not sound good with a Johnson JT-50 combo so I guess if you intend to buy one of these make sure that you have a good valve amp. I tried loads of different amps until I settled for the Legacy which, in my opinion, is the best sounding amp ever.

It was not set up properly from the factory. It had some fret buzz especially when bending but I had it set properly and now it is great. The action is quite high but I like it that way.
The scalloped neck is why I bought this guitar in the first place - you really get a good grip on the notes and it is great for vibrato/bending. I actually wanted to buy the Blackmore Custom Shop USA Stratocaster but it was not avalable locally and it is much more expensive.

Rock solid

The shop where I bought it from is very helpfull

I have been playing guitar for 24 years. If it were stolen (how could you loose a guitar?) I will consider buying the Blackmore Strat from the Fender custom shop- if I have enough money. Otherwise I will be glad to purchase another one. If I find a used one with maple fingerboard at a decent price I will also go for it ( anyone wants to sell his/hers please contact me)

the YJM strat is a vintage looking fender strat. 21 frets, vintage bridge, tuners... the neck is very round, making for the scalloped neck. Dimarzio HS-3 on the neck, and YJM on the bridge. average strat features...and the fretboard is scalloped of course... enough features for most occasions. gorgeous guitar...

This guitar is for shred definitely. can be used for any style actually, but the scalloped neck might feel weird for some guitar players. Its harder to play van halen, steve vai or paul gilbert on the guitar coz their guitars are not scalloped. the pickups are very good though. very clear sounding. no noise... its a very musical sounding guitar.the bends are sweet. nothing surprising about that!...

great playability off the rack... it was cool... action and everything was low and just perfect...

I've been playing for 10 years and have alot of experience with guitars. i know a good guitar the first few minutes i pick it up. Its a great guitar. a true musical insturment.

Features are vintage strat with DiMarzio HS3 bridge and YJM in the mid and neck (stacked single coils designed in the early 80's that only sound good overdriven). It has a scalloped neck and HUGE frets.

How do you rate a Strat for features? Its the best electric guitar ever made and also one of the simplest in terms of functionality. I'll give it six as it doesn't have "tons of features".

Overdriven through vintage Marshalls and the DOD preamp it sounds like Yngwie f**king Malmsteen! Like his tone? No - then don't buy his guitar. I obviously think its great which is why I bought this sucker.

Clean it sounds thin, strangled, unexpressive, choked, oddly synthetic and pretty much useless. That's why Chris Kinman is a millionnaire. This guitar is very much a one trick poney, but then YJM plays his clean stuff on acoustics/classicals so it isn't designed for the purpose.

The scalloped neck is fantastic especially with those enormous frets. You really get to grips with the string and have more overall tonal control. Its more easy to play out of tune though so it takes some getting used to and the absence of a 22nd fret is a pain in the ass.

Yngwie plays really light strings (8 - 48) with a relatively high action and that is the best way to go to duplicate his sound. That and practise every hour of every day for the rest of your life!

It'll outlive anyone reading this unless I choose to have it cremated along with my decomposing corpse.

Fender will put you in touch with your dealer. How's the shop where you bought it?

This is a great guitar for duplicating the YJM overdriven sound (listen to Black Star on Rising Force and decide if you like it). The pickups are not good for clean stuff as their noiseless design is about 20 years out of date and has been bettered by Kinman. The reason YJM uses these pickups is because they were the best solution to getting a single coil lead sound with NO HUM back when he started out. When you can play as well as him (which none of US can) noone will notice that your tone is always the same.

The neck is wonderful for some, horrible for others. You could indeed buy it just for the neck and swap out the electronics but then why not just order a scalloped neck on its own? Try it out for yourself and see what you think.

Stock, its really only good for one sound.

2001 usa. 21 frets. alder body. sonic blue. dimarzio pickups tbx tone control aged parts, scalloped neck, large headstock.

I think it's funny and ironic to play a yngvie malsteen guitar. If you take this guitar seriously please disregard my review. He's so dark and serious, yet his guitar is so girly and pretty. He must really be sensitive and kind on the inside if he plays a baby blue guitar!

HARSH THIN. I had never even heard yngvie's music before i bought this. I bought this guitar for the neck, so i could bend chords. at three bones i thought it was a steal for the neck alone. I play mainly rythme and arpegiated parts. the stock pickups only work for THAT single note lead sound. Oh, you can move the knobs and flip the three way switch but that all yer' gonna get. I put '57 reissue pickups in it still doesn't sound great. I can't figure it out. It's still a little thin. Maybe the alder is to dense, or the missing neck wood robs some tone, I dunno.

awsome finish. i love the way this guitar looks.

very durable!

lot o' plonkers an' this ain't the best but it aint the worst. It really can make you sound like yngvie malmsteen, but why, lord why would you want to?

Coolest Guitar I have ever played. I will never go back to a non-scalloped neck. Yngwie is a dork, but he sure does know how to design a guitar!! (I love him, but he does get old after a while)

Mine is the "duck" Replica so to speak...

Through my friend (Bob Trostle's) 16w SOLDANO with only a compressor; The sound is truly stunning!(neck pickup)

This guitar is the ultimate blues machine....with the clean tone, this thing rules the world.
Too bad there are so many close minded dorks out there who wont give it a chance.

Factory action is medium high...get it set up, and rock on...

It is a tank...enought said.

Hopefully this will not be concern

I am going to buy another one, just to install a DP-100 into it.

Read this as the gosphell, you can not go wrong.

2002 USA Malmsteen Strat,21 dunlap 6000 super jumbo frets, alder body/hard rock maple neck and fretboard, vol. tone. tone. conrols, 3 dimarzio stackded (humbucker) single coils (YJM, YJM, HS-3),off white/cream paint, vintage strat tremelo, fender vintage tuners, tweed case , brass nut, AND A SCALLOPED NECK!!!

My favorite guitar players are Micheal Angelo, Steve Morse, Greg Howe, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Vinnie Moore, so I play mostly fusion and progressive metal. From the Dixie Dregs to Dream Theater. For that I only nedd a fast, clear and distinct sounding guitar, and this does it. I play a fender vibrolux reverb combo and a mesa boogie mark II head through carvin legacy cabs. The guitar sounds great. The notes ring through true and clear, almost like emg's. I was extremely surprised with how smooth it sounds. The bridge pickup is bright and relatively hot, great for distortion, while the neck pickup is smooth and violin like--great for blues and jazz, and of course neo-classical shred. Believe it or not it is a very versitile guitar, though much of this versitility comes from your amp and your effects. The middle pickup is worthless. (I guess thats why Yngwie's disconnects it on all of his custom strats.) The best part about this guitar is that it sounds so good. A total surprise to me since yngwie has the worst tone in shred metal today.

Heres where I get critical. It seems that no-one can make good guitars anymore unless they are hand-made, and fender is the worst out there. Fender doesn't give a damn if there guitars play good anymore. I guess they figure only terrible guitarists buy them now-a-days. The fret work on this guitar was terrible. The frets were simply flattened by a file and not re-rounded, leveled or polished at all. I got this guitar brand new, still wrapped in plastic so I guess that's how all fender's come now.)It may be the worst fret-work ever. The action was unplayably high when I got it, which I suspected, but when I lowered it, it buzzed like mad and even had dead frets. I had to take it to guitar center and have it fretleveled and professionally set up (straighten the neck out, lock down the trem, intonate it properly, etc.) It still buzzes a little, but the action is at least decent now. The pickups were adjusted fine. The finish is also second rate for a $1400 guitar. In the light you can see thick spots, and thin lines in the paint. It's not too apparent but it is still there. This top-of-the-line USA strat looks like it was made in mexico, and at first played like it was too. After about $120 of repairs, a set of 9.5 D'Addario strings, and a little action tweaking, I got this thing playing pretty damn good. Don't expect it to play well out of the box though, believe me.

This is a USA strat with the best components and the biggest fretwire you can get. You couln't hurt this guitar with a hammer, it would just make it look cooler, more like "the Duck" (Malmsteen's favorite guitar). This guitar will last a long time, unless the frets wear out, which in case you will have to buy a new neck. No-one will refret a scalloped guitar. Don't worry though. Warmoth makes way better scalloped necks that be put on if your frets wear out.

Haven't called to complain about the frets and action. I don't think talking to fender will ever get you anywhere, so I will never try to get in touch with them.

I have been playing for 8 years, and i practice all of the time. My other guitars include a customized 1973 Fender tele with a warmoth scalloped neck and dimazio pick-ups, a Vinnie Moore model Ibanez, and a Suhr carved top standard. My amps are Fender and Mesa Boogie, with mesa and rocktron effects processors. If it were lost or stolen I would definitely not but another. The thing is way too overpriced. I could get a used Suhr or Tom Anderson off E-Bay in at guitarcenter for almost the same price--a way better guitar. But it is cool as shit. I mean it looks like Yngwie's guitars and he is the freaking man. I love it when people ask me what guitars I play and I always say a strat, but then I smirk a little knowing they probably have no idea how cool of a strat it is. I bought this guitar because my favorite/main guitar is a scalloped tele, and I needed a back up guitar with a scalloped neck. Buying this guitar was much easier than ordering parts form Warmoth and then having someone put it together. My advice for someone thinking about buying this guitar is save your money. Buy a John Suhr or a Zion, or even a music man. That way you will know the frets are leveled, polished and smooth, that the action is low as it can possiply be, and that the guitar will be flawless. For those who love Yngwie or scalloped necked guitars and don't mind the price tag, then buy it. With a fret level and a set-up the guitar will be pretty decent, and will look cooler than any fender in the world.

First off everyone should know that I'm reviewing the YJM on a tough scale, with 5 being an average every day sort of attribute (not crappy; a 1 would be crappy). Too many reviews slam a product, and then give it a 6 or 7, leaving little room to really praise or criticize something. Second, I'm VERY critical, and am judging the quality of the YJM relative to the best of the best guitars I've had the pleasure of playing. I expect alot of things from a guitar in this price range, many of which most people seem to either be oblivious to or have low standards for.

Anyway.............I think it's a year 2000 USA YJM, and you probably know the story on how the guitar is equipped. The options are it's vintage white with a maple fretboard. This is the current USA model, with large headstock, vintage style bridge, etc. It came with a tweed case with pink interior.

I didn't buy the YJM because Yngwie's my hero (he's not, although I do like his music) or anythng like that. I was after the neck, and I also have always loved a really clear yet heavy tone, and that's what this guitar was supposed to be all about. I do like Yngwie's tone, but I don't play anythng like him, or try to.

I love the scalloped neck and large frets, it's a blast. I never had any trouble at all adjusting to the scalloping, and I love being able to get that incredible grip on the strings for bending and vibrato. The neck down towards the lower frets is kind of fat for my taste, definately fatter than most "shred" necks, but not too clubby. I totally wish they made this neck with 22 frets though; I use the 22nd fret quite often and not having it really is an inconvenience. All in all I always looks forward to playing this neck.

The vintage style tuners are ok, but that's all. They're not as smooth as they could be (like Schallers or Grovers), and they don't have tension adjustment. Fender could have made vintage looking tuners with the guts of better quality; this isn't a budget guitar after all. But they do hold tuning, no problem.

The bridge is great, simple yet effective, as are the pots and switches. Nice and smooth and quiet. I happen to love the fact that the pickup selector is only 3 position rather than 5; it's easier to flick around with more confidence and in the off occasion when I need that out of phase sound it's easy enough to balance the switch in the in between position.

The YJM and HS3 pickups are definately low output, which is not by accident. I already happened to like low output pickups (they avoid the fizzy buzzy symdrom), but even I was surprised how low they really were. I don't know how loud real vintage Strat pickups are, but I have a guitar with Duncan Vintage Staggered pickups and even those are a bit slightly louder than the ones in the YJM. That's fine with me, but I can totally see the average metal head plugging the YJM straight into his familar amp settings and absolutely hating the guitar because there's not the volume he's used to. It's all about knowing the philosphy of these pickups, and they're not for everyone. I'll say more about the sound later, but for now I'll just say the pickups are great. I could probably live without the staggered magnets though.

Having 3 pickups gives alot of options, but I find I use either the bridge or the neck by itself 95% of the time. The tones I like live there, and I've not need to go much further.

I'd give it a 10 if it had 22 frets and state of the art tuners. As it is, an 8, which like I said above is actually very good.

I play mostly rock, some blues on occasion, not much new metal. I'll normally run the YJM into an Ibanez Tube King overdrive (on a low OD setting), and/or a DOD Bi-FET preamp for a clean boost, and then into either an old Carvin X100B (these things just plain smoke), Marshall SLP reissue, Marhshall JCM800, or a Lee Jackson XLA500. Always into a 4x12 cabinet. With the Marshalls, I use a Hotplate. Unlike my other guitar which all have humbuckers, I leave either the overdrive or preamp boost pedal on all the time with the YJM; it needs that kick into the front of the amp.
To cut to the chase, the YJM sounds fantastic. I wanted a tone that you could use alot of distortion with and still maintain clarity. I hate that fizzy buzzy stuff that happens so often when you start using distortion, especially on the neck pickup. With the YJM I can jam my signal through an overdrive pedal and into a loud amp, it it really does the trick. You won't find the thunk thunka metal tones so much in there, but that's perfect for me; I like a nice even EQ curve. The bridge pickup has a nice succinct tone and attack, harmonics and sustain aplenty. The neck pickup is an absolute joy with it's clarity and smoothness. I'm serious, the sound this thing is off the scale on sheer pleasure to the ear. Even with the amp smoking with overdrive you can use it on any string on any fret, and it never gets mushy or fuzzy. Just perfect.

Also, the pickups are perfectly balanced in terms of volume. I switch between pickups all the time when soloing, and there's no volume change between them, just tone. Again, perfect.

Oh yeah, and equally important is that even with heavy overdrive the pickups are as quiet as it gets. I'm always skeptical of marketing jargin, but these things truly have the vintage single coil tone without any hum. I would have bet there was a trade off there, but not that I can hear.

The bluesy tone is great as well, no problem, as is the clean tone. Kind of goes without saying when using a single coil format.

Oddly enough, unplugged the guitar doesn't have the acoustic "zing" I expected. It's sounds pretty round to me. Maybe that's by design in order to get the high end from getting excessive when plugged in. Just a curiosity more than anything else.

In the beginning I spent quite a bit of time experimenting with this guitar to find the recipe, but once I stumbled across it everything came into focus. I wasn't used to using such a front end clean boost so it was a mental adjustment. Again, I can totally see the average metal head trying to use this guitar just like he uses his Invader equipped guitar through his Duel Rectifier, and playing Godsmack tunes and thinking this guitar sounds whimpy


Obviosly I'm totally impressed by the sound if this guitar, they hit the bullseye. I love it. It's the kind of thing where you just go to play for a few minutes, and find it hard to put it down 2 hours later. that's what it's all about. I'd love to know if that same overall tone could be had with a little more output, but I can't ding them on that point.

Here's where the real tough comparison starts; I have an '86 Jackson and an EBMM Axis that are just unbelievable in terms of workmanship (to the point where I can't even find a single flaw).

The YJM came set up pretty well from the factory, and very evenly. The truss rod, bridge, and pickups were right on, although the nut was a little high for my tatstes (but at least it was even, and it was nicely rounded where it should be). It's a preferance thing. The frets were dressed great with no rough edges, but Fender slopes the edges a little too much, to the point where they waste alot of fretboard width; I like more room before you go sliding off the edge of the fretboard. I got used to it though.

The finsh was great except for a spot behind the bridge where there was a ridge of some sort, about 2 inches long. Not a huge deal, but not perfect.

The biggest flaw I found was in the neck pocket; that's where most factories will show their attention to detail or not. Either the body or the neck isn't completely flat where they connect, because you can see there's a very slight gap there. It's looks to be that the body has a bit of finish build up in the cavity thats make it ever so un-flat. ALso, the sides of the neck pocket don't meet perfectly 100% or the way around the pocket. It's close but not perfect. It doesn't effect stablility or anything. I bet most people would pass it off as expected, but to me that's part of Fender's job.

By contrast, both my Jackson and Axis are perfect in the neck joint, and in the finishing department. The necks mate perfectly with the body, 100%. I don't even know how you get that accurate in routing, but they did. Fender didn't.

Fender did do a good job scalloping the neck; it's just beautiful.

All in all the overall workmanship is better than average, but Fender still has something to be desrired in their quaility control. They say their artist series such as the YJM gets more attention than their standard instruments, which shows in the action setup and all. But they're still no contest for the companies that are truly more dedicated to musicians and workmanship. I'm not sure you can expect much more from such a "corporate" entity.

So all in all it's definately done pretty well, but not the best I've seen by any strech. One thing I will say is it is a striking guitar to look at; at gigs people are always asking about it. Whenever I end up taking the guitar in for a refret some day, I'll probably have that un-flat neck joint area fixed.

I gig with this guitar all the time, so no problem there. I see no reason why it wouldn't be durable 30 years from now. I even use the stock strap buttons with no problems ever.

I'd never own a guitar that I felt would break down on a gig, and this is no exception. Aside from strings, there shouldn't be much to go wrong.

I'll give it a 10 just because it's not like there's any unproven technology here.

I have no opinion here. I have a hunch that if I needed some real customer support that I'd quickly see that "corporate" attitude come out, but I could be wrong.

I've been playing for lets see...........over 20 years. My current other guitars are an '86 custom Jackson (Sam Dimas), an EBMM Axis, a Gibson V, a Gibson L6S, and a custom strat copy. I've played just about everything over the years.

I've really come to love the YJM strat, and I'm not even a Fender guy. It's not for everyone, but I'm really into what this guitar is all about. It's looks great, sounds great, and just makes me look forward to getting home to play, and I frequently find myself playing better than I thought I would. That pretty much says it all.

I don't expect and wouldn't want all my guitar to do the same thing. The YJM certainly occupies it's own place, and for what it's supposed to do it's the bomb. I like it so much that I'm not all that bothered by it's something to be desired fit and finish.

I'd by it again, definately. Shoot, I'd buy another tomorrow if they offered a 22 fret neck!

Got the 1996 one, it's got :

-21 Fender medium/big (really feels big, but many people say it's medium) frets
-Scalloped fretboard
- Two Dimarzio HS3's (bridge and neck) and one stock pickup in the middle
- Maple neck
- Yellow/Cream body with white naturally aged (bought this one very very used)
-Brass nut
-Synchronized Tremolo

-The rest is fender regular stock stuff...

This guitar fucking KICKS ASS ! It has THE tone... I plug it into my Laney LC30 Mark II all tube combo loaded with some EL84's.

Just turn the volume near two, adjust the amp a little and Yngwie's Trademark sound starts to appear :).When the tubes get hot, you know you've nailed it.

The scalloped neck is really good, it adds very much to hammer ons, pull offs, two handed tapping, etc... arpeggios get easy and when you get used to it, you can apply much more feeling to your playing. Very nice...

People not used with playing fast in low gain situations WON'T get anywhere playing this guitar like Yngwie at first. But when you get used to the HS3's feel (they're stacked wingle coils that produce the original fender sound, but with more bass and overall response. the sound has more balls than the traditional fender ones...) you'll achieve any sound you want. I plug mine directly into the amp with the gain on 6. Can play anything from the maestro :)

This guitar stays UNBELIEAVABLY in tune ! It never get's out of tune ! No matter what I do when I'm playing. Very nice !

This guitar fucking rocks ! Can give you any metal sound you want.

I also play a lot of SRV and other blues stuff on it, and it's very nice !

everything was made to sound and look perfect here.. this guitar has a totally amazing building.... nothing to complain

Very reliable.... very solid.. with new (1day old) strings I would use it with no back up. One year with it... the only checkup it needed was to adjust the truss rod in order to use 009 strings

This guitar is simply the best I've ever played with. Very nice tones, very cool lead tones. It's my dream guitar and I like to play it for 4-5 hours without stop :)

2002 US made Yngwie signature model. Straight outta Fender. No changes from what is described on their website. Vintage with Maple board. Came with Tweed case, cord, etc..

Set up was great other than the high e string needed to be raised a little bit. I lowered the middle p/u for picking and the trem was set floating perfectly.

Like other reviewers I would think this guitar is solid for many hours with no maintenance issues. Very solid and dependable. No backup? Are you kidding?

n/a

I gave up on Fender years ago and this model has renewed my love of real strats. The scalloped fretboard only seemed to take time to adjust to for appregiated chord progressions. As far as doing runs and scales, you can haul ass. Neck p/u is great to solo with - you don't want to stop. If you're used to a humbucking p/u this will require time to adjust to or you can add more gain from your amp.

New 2002 US-made YJM Strat. This one's the vintage white with maple neck (because any other just wouldn't be Yngwie).

Check Fender.com for specs, or read the other reviews. The only error in some reviews is in the location of the pickups. The YJM's are in the neck and middle, while the HS-3 is in the bridge. And I think someone says the fretwire is Dunlop 6100, when in fact it's 6000 (extra super behemoth size).

The guitar comes with a nice tweed case, lame Fender strap, Fender guitar cable, Fender polishing cloth, and tools. Dealer threw in a couple sets of strings. The guitar comes from the factory with Fender Super Bullets (9-42).

Oh, and let's not forget the mint green pickguard (not sure how I feel about that, yet) and the AGED PLASTIC PARTS. Yeah, because you know, what you need are parts that are ALREADY old! I know, I know...it's modeled after vintage strats.

Headstock is the large CBS style, bearing Yngwie's $500 signature stamp.

I'm giving it a 9 because the only way it would get a 10 is if the guitar included Yngwie.

I play hard rock/metal (and sadly, nu-metal with the band I'm in), and obviously a Strat is NOT a metal guitar, at least not straight into an amp. For recording purposes, I use it for leads, because the lead sound this thing produces just plain rules.

My setup is whichever guitar I'm using into a DOD YJM-308 overdrive (which I don't use unless I'm playing the YJM strat), into a Peavey Triple XXX head with a Boss RV-3 Reverb/Delay unit in the effects loop, into a Marshall 1960 cabinet.

Unlike other Strats, this guitar is not noisy at all (unless the OD pedal is on, of course). The brass nut definitely adds to the sound when playing chords, in particular. The guitar sounds VERY nice, even without the overdrive pedal. If you want Yngwie's sound, this guitar will bring you closer to it.

The scalloped fretboard takes some getting used to, but once you do get the hang of it, it feels great. Switching back to a guitar without scallops feels very odd after playing the YJM for a while.

I don't know how well the guitar was set up by Fender, as the dealer set it up for me the way I asked them to, prior to shipping it to me. Everything arrived very well set-up, and I have no complaints.

As for fit and finish, this guitar looks absolutely incredible. I spend a long time inspecting guitars before I buy them and after I bring them home, and I can't find a flaw. For this kind of money, there better not be any!

As Yngwie says, this guitar is a workhorse. It is, under all the modifications, a Fender Strat, after all. Though I am not a big fan of Fender Strats, they are quality instruments, and should withstand normal use (don't set it on fire, idiot!) I tend to leave it in its case, and only open it to gaze lovingly at it, however.

I am kind of disappointed that the strap buttons are standard, but I'll most likely end up putting Strap-Loks on.

Once again, DON'T GIG WITHOUT A BACKUP!

Haven't dealt with Fender.

It has a limited lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for 15 years and have owned alot of gear. Though I have three other guitars, my favorite and most-used guitar is a Schecter C1-Plus. That guitar was made for shred, dammit!

I've had my heart set on a YJM Strat for a LONG time, so there was nothing to compare it to...just a matter of when I bought one.

If it were stolen, well...that would suck. Would I buy it again? Uh, YEAH!

The best thing about this guitar is just the overall sound of it. If you like Yngwie's lead sound, this nails it. I was never big on his rhythm sound, but as I said before, Strats are NOT metal guitars.

Obviously, this guitar is way overpriced, but it's a signature model, so that's to be expected. For someone who worships the Yng like I do, that's not an issue anyway.

If you're into Yngwie, this is a guitar for you. If you're not, you're probably better off with something else.

It'd get a 10 if the bridge pickup had more balls.