Fender Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Stratocaster

I own a 2002 USA model, bought used in 2006. Its notable features are the brass nut, scalloped neck, DiMarzio pickups (YJM in the neck and middle and HS3 in the bridge), 3 way switch (neck, middle and bridge only), and tone control that disconnects when it's all the way up at 10. My YJM has a beautiful Sonic Blue finish which looks great against the aged/mint green pickguard and controls. It's faithful in all its replications of Malmsteen's specs, except the scallops aren't as deep.

I've used this guitar for three years now to play different styles of music in various recording and live situations. I've heard it through everything from 5 watt tube amps and digital recorders to 100 watt Marshall and Mesa stacks.

Pros: The neck DiMarzio YJM pickup is incredibly warm and handles lots of overdrive and distortion very well, unlike most single coils. It becomes very focused, full bodied, sweet and singing without any rough edges. During fast runs, each note remains fat yet articulate.
But the real thing people want to know is - does it sound like Yngwie? Yes, with the right overdrive you can get very close (you'll never be there 100% since you don't have his exact vintage Marshalls, DOD boosts, recording studio and fingers). This neck pickup tone (and the scalloped neck) is usually only what most shredders are after in this guitar in terms of sound. So in this area, it delivers exactly what an Yngwie fan is seeking.

Cons: The DiMarzio YJM however, does not have the best open, chimey, bouncey sparkling single coil sound that Strats are famous for. It's still there somewhere if you set the amp to be slightly dirty and bright, and play Hendrixy rhythms or blues licks, but this is not where the guitar shines (and is not what it's purpose is anyway). Also, the bridge DiMarzio HS3 retains the piercing quality that Strats are notorious for! It's not the most pleasing lead tone. Malmsteen himself uses the bridge pickup mostly for very clear power chords and riffs instead of leads. A knowledgeable guitarist will know how to tweak their amps and play accordingly to still make this guitar fit most things except the most extreme metal. Versatility is mostly in the player!

Bought used (4 years old), this guitar needed to get a full setup, refret, nut raised, and output jack tightened. Once all these issues were taken care of, I soon came to realize that this was the best feeling strat I'd ever played. I've compared it to most, if not all of Fender's other strats and there is definitely a special mojo going on with the YJM.. After three years of playing this, I am noticing that the G string in particular is a lot buzzier than the rest.. I can't nail it down to a fret or string height problem - I suspect it has to do with the nut slot being too low for the G.. I might replace the nut soon.

Do not fear the scalloped neck! It took no time for me to get used to it. After a couple of days I had already adapted and by comparison, non scalloped necks felt like a hindrance. With scallops, there is no resistance of wood on your fingers, so bends become extremely easy and smooth. Playing fast also gets easier - Malmsteen refutes this I know, but personally I find that playing a note requires less effort on a scalloped neck, since I don't have to press down as much. As a result, my touch has become extremely light and more comfortably flies across the neck.

The tremolo is a vintage non locking design that I like to keep floating like Malmsteen. If you don't know how to work and maintain a vintage trem, you will go out of tune very easily. There is a secret to staying in tune.. Notice in interviews that Yngwie purposely avoids giving a straight answer on how he keeps his tremolos in tune LOL.. Billy Sheehan also said that when he was in Talas opening for Yngwie, he noticed that Yngwie could pickup any vintage strat and do *things to it* and suddenly their tremolos would be in tune. The information is out there and it took me a lot of research to find it myself. I wish you good luck on your search for this answer! :D

The finish has started to chip and crack, but it adds character! It does look like a great vintage strat.. I have no worries at all about the hardware and my YJM has taken quite a beating since I've owned it. It's proven to be very reliable and not something that needs a lot of high maintenance (except the tremolo *hint*). The strap buttons did get loose after a few months after I made the purchase, but that was fixed easily by super glue. No string breakage so far (knock on wood!).. in general you should be playing with a light touch anyway on a scalloped neck and also if you are a shredder.

Yngwie fans will find their idols tone in this guitar and will have the joy of experiencing the unique feel of a scalloped neck, and also gain the bragging rights to a beautiful signature instrument. It delivers 100% on what it was made for. So for the fan in me, it is a pleasure to own this guitar.

For the all around versatile and demanding musician in me however, it is not enough, since it can't adequately convey vintage strat tones and I don't find the bridge pickup tone to be very useable for leads. I find that both these missing qualities are essential for other styles. I've used some EQing and effects to makeup for that, which in the end gives very passable results, but obviously other guitars can cover other styles much better than the YJM. There is still a need for Strats, LPs, 335s and Teles!

Not sure what year, probably 04? I have the sonic blue with maple fretboard. Other than that the features have been stated many times below. I will say the brass nut is really cool, and reminds me of the old Charvel Stats. VERY COOL!!!!!

The sound is a little tame for my taste since I prefer harder rock and metal. It does have a thick chime too it, and I can see why so many people give it a high rating. You really can dial in Yngwie's signature cleaned up tones, especially when you use the DOD Yngwie OD pedal. I actually love the look and feel of this guitar. The neck is a bit fatter than my Fender Am Std Strat, and fits my hands really good. I wish it was a little hotter, but it's an Yngwie model so it was correctly done to match what he prefers. I'll still give it an 8 because it does match the Yngwie sound so well.

I'm gonna say that I also have a problem w/ the high E Sting not wanting to stay on the fretboard. I don't think it makes the guitar unplayable, but it is a nuisance. I'm still not gonna dog this guitar, because in my hands it feels like butter!!!!

Seems to be holding up fine. With a strat you almost want it to look a bit worn.

I've never needed customer support from Fender.

Very cool guitar overall. I own many guitars including signature models from Lynch, Mustaine, Hammett, Vandenberg, and Vinnie Vincent. I play mostly metal, so single coils aren't normally my thing. With this guitar I dont' care. It plays so well and feels so good that I look past the single coils and target a tone more suitable for this guitar.

The pickups in this guitar are amazing. My main strat has EMG's and they pale in comparison.

I'm a long time blues player who ventures into the metal relm. This guitar covers your bases and then some. A friend of mine invited me over to check out his guitars and failed to mention he had a malmsteen in the back of his closet-o-guitars... He was hard pressed to get it out of my hands once I plugged it in. My rig is a rivera S-120 with matching 2x12 cab and a mesa boogie preamp and it just screamed but instantly quieted without hum. my lead style is a bit "gilmourish" with slow refined bends but high speed "malmsteen-esque" bursts of speed and this guitar did it all.

With the right amp settings you can get some get metal tones but half of that is purely in handling the guitar right...

The owner had the guitar setup where it was effortly playable so I can't say much in this respect.

I own a David gilmour replica stratocaster and a scalloped Strat thats setup similar but nothing beats the real deal. I just can't bring myself to get one until my playing gets up to par with even 5% of what this guitar is capable of. As for the scallops, I use my "clone" for all styles so as long as you've got the intonation nd everything and have a nice light touch you can play chords as well as dizzying leads...

New 2008 Malmsteen Strat, Sonic Blue, Rosewood board. This model has the machine screws in the neck, deeper scallops, and the bullet truss rod. Neck feels like a comfortable medium shape. Poly finish on body, nitro finish on the neck. Other features have been previously discussed. I love the features, no other instrument combines all of the elements this guitar has.

First of all, this is my fourth Malmsteen strat, and this one really resonates better than the previous versions. The vibration through the neck and body are very pronounced and the guitar has superb sustain, even for a strat. I don't know if this is due to the new machine screw neck mounting process, or just good construction, but this guitar is better than Malmsteen models I have owned in the past.

Pickups are dead quiet, even through high-gain distortion pedals and amps (Mesa Boogie amps, MI Audio and Fulltone pedals). I love the YJM and HS3 pickups and will install them in any strats I may purchase in the future. The sound is very warm, full, and balanced (even on the bridge pickup, which I use regularly). Not your typical vintage strat sound, which is exactly what I wanted. Pickups are smooth and handle lots of gain VERY well. As others have mentioned, the pickups are low output, but do not let this scare you. I have been playing Les Pauls for the last five years, and the switch to the Malmsteen strat has been liberating. Notes are very articulate and warm. If you like touch and nuance in your playing, this guitar will provide it. If you want tons of saturated gain look elsewhere. If you have good technique this guitar will show it off for you.

I play blues, rock, and 80's metal. I have been playing now for 13 years. I am a fan of Yngwie and love his tone, which is one reason I selected this guitar. This guitar covers all the styles I need to cover. This guitar is very versatile in my opinion. I have no trouble going from SRV to Hendrix to 80's metal. Try that with a Les Paul. If you are looking for the vintage "sparkly" strat chime this will not do it, and you may be better suited to a vintage reissue. If you like the basic vibe of the strat and want some more warmth you should check this out.

This guitar has some very minor finish flaws, nothing major. Guitar was set up for me, I don't know what the factory set-up was like. Scalloped neck is flawless and plays like a dream all the way up the fretboard. Pickups adjusted perfectly, and balanced well. Brass nut cut perfectly. Only real issue is a slight gap on one side of the neck pocket. However, this guitar sustains better than any strat I have ever owned, so the gap cannot be harming the guitar in any way. Not perfect, but close. Overall, a very stunning vintage-looking instrument.

Nitro finish will wear on the back of the neck (but it is supposed to). Otherwise this guitar is very solid and well made. No strat has ever let me down.

I have owned many Fender guitars over the years and feel the Malmsteen strats are the best if you are after versatility and something unique. I now wonder why I ever purchased Les Pauls. I am currently saving for my next Malmsteen strat, which will be Candy Apple Red with a Rosewood board. My goal is to have at least one of each color. The Malmsteen strat will handle a variety of styles and looks like something Jimi Hendrix would have used. I have owned guitars by Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, Guild, Gretsch and Heritage. The Malmsteen strat is my favorite, and has many unique features that add up to a great instrument.

I have bought 3 Yngwie Malmsteen Signature guitars this year alone.The first I bought in April 2007. Red/Rosewood neck.I felt action was high and compromised TONE & OVERALL FEEL in all aspects.However the Yngwie model is absolutely excellent quality!!!!Neck is very addicting.Great for ligattos ,arrpeggios ,pulloffs, and other virtuoso techniques.Great for person with large hands and great for always nailing bends , slides pulloffs and best of all BELIEVE THIS PHENOMEN you can get really technical runs smooth quickly because just barely hiting string /fret will sound out.Brass nut...Ooh La La SUSTAIN from the underworld.3 way switch great.Best tuning keys Ever .rate 10 However scallop depth varies from guitar to guitar.I bought two on the same day less than 120 days after I bought my first.Maple/White and Red/Rosewood.Beautiful difference first did not have as deep scallops and no bullet trussrod.Great guitar construction ....However if you don't play at super volume or lack gain on amp a person will not realize the beauty of the Dimarzio pickups .I can suggest to Fender that they should offer the option for coilsplit and Hot/Highout put humbucker for bridge I KNOW they would increase Sales and interest in the Guitar.Especially having to shell out 1399.00.Most customers hate the underpowered pickups and will not spend the money to convert even if their Hero is shredding a scallop necks would I buy another scallop.......What !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very dissappointing for the lamen or amatuer.The concepts works !!Maintain clear and strat belltone even at ear bleeding levels.However most people don't know this and this is a big turnoff since no option to customize or upgrade.Guitar great quality no option is lame!!!!!!!!!!!

Goes without being said....A no brainer..In my opinion having been playing strats for 25 years they are as good as it gets .Kick ass workmanship truely will in the future be known to be CLASSIC and especially 100% Fender elite quality.Good quality on Yngwie Malmsteen model...FOR SURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best features of this amazing guitar are its vintage feel and association with Yngwie. Mine is a vintage white (cream) new 2007 model which has deeper scallops, white pickguard, bullet truss rod and the standard collection of dimarzio YJM and H3 stacked pickups.

I dont think you really need to be into Yngwie to appreciate this guitar as its features and fender legacy make it a great all round strat guitar.

Also it comes with a beautiful vintage tweed case.

I play all sorts of styles and the only thing this beaut can't do is excessive rythym chugga chug metallica style rock... like other strats its a more expressive weapon suitable for leads, dirty rythym or twangy clean tones. Im using it with a Bray modded Marshall plexi and it absolutely rips! The pickups are fairly low output but super quiet and depending on the setup is fliud and soulful. Being a maple neck model it leans towards a bright tone but I usually tilt back the tone knobs ever so slightly anyway with my strats. My amp is voiced to a darker tone and so this guitar os no problem. I can't really play a lot of malmsteen stuff but Its a super fast and toneful beast. The more I play it the more I like the pickups and the sustain is awesome. I dont dislike anything about this guitar at all...plus its based of a 72 strat and Im a child of 1972!

The guitar was setup way too low in action on the high strings so they had to be adjusted but I left the bottom strings at a fairly low action. Plays superb. The neck is super fast if you are comfortable with scalloped necks and I have no problems in chording or it going out of tune. Ive always loved fenders ability to stay in tune. The neck is divine with maple swirls in all the right places...nice chunks of wood went into making this thing.

Its a fender...Im sure most things will last or can be easily replaced. Ive never had any issues with fender. My other USA strat has a loose pickup selector but its no biggie. Its a shame this guitar doesn't come preinstalled with a dimarzio clip strap.

Never dealt with fender sorry

playing 20 years and own about 15 other guitars, of which one other is a USA sunburst fender. They are both different but Im finding myself playing this baby a lot. Actually I had always anted one and went and scalloped a squire at one stage but it was useless in comparison to this beast. I end up playing a lot of blues and jazz on this thing...its got a very sweet tone and playability to it and I adore the scalloped fretboard...you can miss notes with your right hand and your left hand will still sing them out...I dont know how to describe it but its very fluid and your fingers float over it. I have nimble fingers and dont ever use heavy guage strings...I like 009's and tune down half a step... this things squeals with the vibrato you can get. I really can't say anything bad about it. If you love strats definately worth a look no matter your style of playing. Shame its so expensive..but hey that just makes me treasure it even more.

Same features as the rest. Got it online at AMS. Best online site, in my opinion. This is the new 'upgraded' version also. White pickguard, machine screw neck mount... It is a Strat, and personally, I think it is the perfect Strat. That being said, it is my 3rd YJM. I had an '89 (red w/rosewood). Gave that away, spread the shred I guess you can say. I had an '03 (white/maple) which was a perfect 10 in every category. But drastic times call for drastic
measures and I had to sell it. Now I have an '07. This one is the Sonic Blue with Rosewood . If the '03 was a 10, then this one would be an 8. I am going to knock points off of the features part because my neck tone pot is not a no-load. It never clicks at 10. I have yet to pull the guard off and see if I can get a part number. It is either the wrong pot or it is not working properly. Although it functions well as a tone control. Other than that, had every other
feature that was listed, so can't complain. How could you possibly look at, pay for and bring home a Strat, a Signature Strat no less, buy it and then be dissapointed with it's features. Why would you buy it in the first place? Kinda like dating and then marrying someone you can't stand. If this guitar had the correct tone pot, it would get a 10 for having everthing that Fender said it would have when I went to buy it. I will say that this guitar feels much different than the '03, but I can't put my finger on just what exactly. Not better or worse, just different.
Feels more like the '89. Love the neck.

You guessed it, I have to give this a 10. Obvioulsy I love these Strats. I think they have a near perfect sound. You're not going to fool anyone into thinking you have AY Custom Shops', but the Dimarzios are perfectly silent and you can cover just about anything with them, though for any real heavy stuff you will need a traditional humbucker. I may drop a Virtual Vintage in the
middle and add a 5-way switch. Something I wanted to do to my last YJM but never got around to it. The Virtual Vintage bridge for the middle was recommended by DiMarzio, to add a little sparkle. I have a Boogie, but I have more fun using my Line 6. Between this guitar's
versatility and the Line 6 I can pretty much cover what ever it is I want. I write my own stuff now. I guess, like all other music in the US anyway, would be progressive blues, but I still indulge myself in previous pleasures. Ranging from Rainbow to Gary Moore and AC/DC to
Allan Holdsworth or Muddy Waters to Metallica. I will say that while this guitar seems much lighter than the '03, it resonates much more acoustically. I can really feel it in my chest when sitting. And my collar bone when standing. While the neck pick up sounds different because of the tone pot, I will not take off points because I have not decided if I will have it corrected. It gives it a different kind of sound , like your average tone knob and never really sounds like it is out of the circuit. They say we admire people for their qualities but we love them for their faults. I would have to agree that is true about guitars also...I am much more comfortable with
this guitar than I was with the '03. I was always worried about damaging the '03. This one is already somewhat less than perfect from the start. Similar to me, so we make a good pair.

I'll not count action. I set up my own guitars. If I can make it perfect to my taste with adjustments without the need for a 'pro' setup( fret level, nut cutting, etc..), then I am happy.
With this guitar, I can do that 99.999% The G string saddle intonation screw seems to be kinda screwy. Yes, that's the technical term I'm going with. I am a machinist and can fix it.
Seems to be cross threaded. But adjusting that saddle sucked. I wanted to get DeTemple replacement saddles anyway, but still, I would think someone should have noticed. Everything else, less the neck pocket of course, is as good or better as I could have expected. I will say that the fret work on this guitar really out-shined the others. No comparison really. On par with my Parker NiteFly M. Except for one scratch on the 21st fret of the high E that I can feel during vibratos, all others are mirror smooth. Everything tight, and well aligned. Bridge was set to float. Also, the nut was cut absolutely perfectly. Best of the 3 also. I personally don't care for the white pickguard and the mint pickups and knobs, but my name isn't on the headstock.
Easy enough to fix also. -1 for the 'screwy' saddle screw.

Should end up in my grand kids basement someday. That is if I ever have grand kids. With 2 daughters in College, probably sooner rather than later. I have never had problems with any strat, ever. Nothing major anyway. Could probably defend myself with it during a break in and then play it for the police. I am sure that the guitar is more worried about my durability than I am about its'.

Well, here we go.. I have been buying Fender stuff since, well since it was really Fender's stuff. The first time that I ever even thought about contacting them was for the tone pot on this guitar. I wasn't sure if a no-load can actually function without the 'click'. I e-mailed them at 3pm. I got an answer 24 hours later. Actually 24 hours, 3 minutes later. I received an e-mail, from an actual person, with an actual returnable e-mail address at 3:03pm the next day. The
e-mail thanked me for my support and interest in Fender products, addressed my question exactly, told me that if it didn't click, than it was not a no-load, and that if I thought it needed to be serviced, kindly added the generic Fender Service Center link in the e-mail. I couldn't have been happier. I mean it sucks that the guitar isn't perfect, but the response and CS, at least for me, was very impressive. Fender is huge and has dealers all over the world for a reason. If you drive a Chevy and tried to get ahold of General Motors in Detroit because your turn signal isn't working, you think you could?

I have been addicted to the electric guitar and it's tone since 1975. My father received a copy of Robin Trower's For Earth Below by mistake from one of those record clubs, and he gave me the cassette. At the time I was already taking accordian lessons. Yeah, I know. I started guitar in '76. I still love Trower and his tone, but it was Holdsworth that had the biggest influence on me. A quote from each sums up my overall perspective which really has taken 30+ years for me to realize.
Trower " The Stratocaster is the perfect guitar".
Holdsworth " You only need 2 sounds really. A clean and a distorted."

I am kinda bummed about the screwy screw and the tone pot, but other than that this is a really nice guitar. I have only 'not' played for the first 13 years of my life and I am looking at 50 too soon now, and have gone through all the same stages as everyone else. I currently have 10 guitars, 3 amps, 3 modelers and boxes of pedals. Guitars are both US and import, amps are both SS and Tube and modelers are Digitech and Line 6. I started at a time when you
needed to save your money for months just to add one effect, like a flanger. Now, for a few hundred dollars, you can have practically every amp and effect ever made digitally modeled and at your disposal. Don't get me wrong, I love the smell of tubes as much, if not more than the next guy. But I personally don't believe that you need tubes to get tone. I was reading an interview with a relatively famous guitar tech and they questioned him about what the public
would think was the most surprising bit of info to find out. He said that some guitarists, even those that are endorsees, have a wall of ( fill in any famous tube amp mfg) but actually use ss and/or modeled sound live and the 'wall' is just for show. I believe that Frank Gamable said about tube amps, "that it is like buying a steam powered laptop." I realize that it is mostly a matter of taste. I have had Steinbergers and Parkers and could never really appreciate the non-organic neck. And that is where your tone is hiding. At the junction between you and the guitar. I would love to have Vai, Eddie or Satch's rig in my house at my disposal. But that ain't gonna happen. Nor would it be needed or practical. I would still sound like me, just much louder. They could come and play through my gear and would still sound like them, incredible.
I can express myself with my Strat and my Line 6 gear. They say that you know when you have a good tone when the guitar seems to play itself. I can get that with my gear. That is what this is about after all. Expression and release. Of course, 30+ years in machine shops and in front of loud guitar amps and drummers may have rendered me unable to pass judgement on true tone. That's fine, cause now I get to be 'giddy kind of happy' with my new POD X3 and can retire my PODxt Live. I don't play anything like Mr. Malmsteen. I do appreciate his talent and the fact that he shares his insight into guitar tone and building with Fender so that they can then sell it to me. I realize that both Fender and Mr. Malmsteen are making some cash off of this guitar and I will gladly pay it. They both have earned and deserve it. That being said, the first thing I am going to do is remove Mr. Malmsteen's name from the headstock of MY guitar. This guitar is mine now, both spiritually and legally. The
money that I gladly paid to Fender and Mr. Malmsteen is money that I earned and I deserved. If Mr. Malmsteen would like his name back on the headstock of my guitar, he can stop by my house with a pen and his checkbook whenever he likes and I will gladly sell him some advertising space.

Had this thing for 5 years so thought it was about time.
It's a 2000 USA model in Vintage White with maple fretboard.
2x HS3 1xYJM pickups.
It has everything I expected - it's a signature model, you know what to expect !

I'm not that great at recreating other people's sounds but with this guitar it seems to happen without too much effort.
Not that it's a one trick pony - you can coax Hendrix or Gilmour tones out of it without too much effort.
It does clean stuff well too.

Arrived fairly well set up, action a little high but I got used to it rather than adjusting it, after all it's a scalloped neck and the action doesn't need to be that low.
Had to adjust the pickups a little for optimum response.
Top E falls off the neck a lot - it's a Strat.

Ashamed to say, have never gigged it - it's just too bloody valuable.
I leave that to my Ibanez RG and Epiphone Les Paul.
It has,however had some fairly rough treatment at home and come away unscathed, bar a few minor scratches.
Would I gig it ?
If I could afford to have someone guard it all night .

Have friends at Fender so is not an issue.

Been playing for over 30 years.
Other gear includes Ibanez RG, Epiphone guitars and basses, Tokai Strat,
Squier Strat, Fender Precision, Gibson, Marshall and Ashdown amps.
Have to give this guitar a 10 - I knew what I was getting when I bought it and it has delivered - after 5 years it looks even better than when I bought it - the maple neck has got darker with time and now has a gorgeous orange/honey hue.

This review is for the upgraded (late 2006) model with a deeper-scalloped fingerboard, White/Black/White pickguard, bullet truss rod nut and machine-screw neck mounting. The new signature guitar (Candy Apple red guitar with a Maple board) has been modified to be more like Yngwie's favourite vintage strats. If you are already used to playing a scalloped fingerboard you will probably love this guitar. However it is not for everyone since there is now zero contact with the wood. I agree with other reviewers that scallops don't lend you speed but do offer more control.
Besides the new features the guitar is more or less standard vintage strat but with DiMarzio pickups, super jumbo frets, brass nut and the scalloped fingerboard.

What can I say - A perfect 10!
Yngwie found out already in the early 80s that no other guitar+pickup combination will produce such a perfectly clean sound with high definition. The clean sound is very characteristic of the HS3 and YJM pickups, which helps to preserve the clarity of the original signal when played through a very clean and high-end tube amplifier like the Marshall 1987x.

I my opinion, the Malmsteen strat is the ultimate stratocaster and the best sounding guitars ever built. When the signal is boosted using a DOD250 or YJM308(+Boss-NS2) you get access to a wide range of sounds from perfectly clean to bluesy to a screaming overdrive.
However, it is NOT a guitar for heavily distorted metal. It is a very clean strat and a dream for blues and (neo)classical music.

I also read A.H.'s previous review and felt horrible for him. It is not too uncommon for the neck to shift in the neck pocket during shipping. The high E string could then end up on the edge of the neck. My recommendation to everyone is to take new the guitar to a professional luthier and to let him set up the guitar. Even if the guitar is set-up at the factory the nut often needs a fix and you also need to either fix the tremolo or set it to floating depending on your personal preferences. After that the guitar should play like a dream. My upgraded late 2006 model was already perfectly set up upon arrival but I have also seen several 2007 YJM's with several flaws. I wonder if Fender recently changed staff?

It seems to me as if the late 2006 models with new upgrades are indeed of much better quality and better set-up at the factory. I also had my huitar shipped to me and it arrived with the The guitar had been set up by the store I ordered it from before shipping so I was very concerned. The new one also had a pretty good size neck pocket gap. My first one was great. I brought the guitar to my repair guy who is approved by Fender for warranty work. After looking the giutar over he told me not to worry. He stood the gutar up on the end of the body and pushed on the neck. The neck made a popping sound. After that he tightened the neck plate screws. The high E string was no longer on the edge of the board. I was told by my repair guy that I was also told that it is not uncommon for this to happen. The The scallops are a little deeper than on my Blue/Maple board one. I am writting this review partially in hopes that A.H will read this and have similar success. I have prayed that he will. Both guitars are absolute beauties. The new guitar also had a buzz on the 11th fret because of a loose fret when it arrived. Still I have to give it a Rating of 10 because the problems were easily fixed, and it plays better than anything else.

With proper care these guitars should last a lifetime.

Fender Scandinavia have been very helpful answering all my questions. I received detailed information about the guitar set-up at the factory, Yngwie Malmsteens personal DiMarzio pickup settings and the neck pocket issue etc. They even recommended professional luthiers in the area etc. However, Fender's Customer Service in U.S had much longer response times and did not even seem to know all the details about their Fender artist models?

I have been playing Fender stratocasters for a long time. Indeed, the Malmsteen artist signature model is by far the best one I have ever played. The guitar encourages a VERY light touch and if pressed too hard one could easily push the strings sharp.

It has that great crystal clear violin tone when played through a very clean and high-end tube amplifier like the Marshall 1987x. Cheaper solid state amps do not work well with this guitar. The Malmsteen artist signature stratocasters are not cheap, but they are worth every penny. It is simply the best stratocaster model available!

The guitar is basically a vintage strat with a scalloped neck. This is my second Malmsteen strat. I reveiwed my first one here back in August 2006. I pray A.H. will read this review, and that it would be helpful in getting his guitar working properly.

I loved my first one so much that I desperately wanted to get another. My new one is Candy Apple red with a Rosewood board. Both guitars are the best sounding guitars that I have ever played. I have been playing since I was 15, and I am know 44. I my opinion, the Malmsteen strat is the ultimate Blues guitar. There is nothing like it. The HS3 and YJM pick ups are low out put which helps to preserve the clarity of the original signal. If you really want it to scream you will need to boost the signal sent to the amp by using an overdrive pedal. I use a DOD YJM 308 overdrive. Plugging into a Marshall or a Mesa with the gain cranked will really make it scream and squeal. I play at my church, which is a Calvary Chapel in the San Diego area. The music we play ranges from Hymns to almost Heavy Metal at times. My Malmsteen strats are the only electric guitars that use, or want to use.

Before writting this I read A.H.'s previous review and felt horrible for him. I also had my huitar shipped to me and it arrived with the high E string on the edge of the neck. The guitar had been set up by the store I ordered it from before shipping so I was very concerned. The new one also had a pretty good size neck pocket gap. My first one was great. I brought the guitar to my repair guy who is approved by Fender for warranty work. After looking the giutar over he told me not to worry. He stood the gutar up on the end of the body and pushed on the neck. The neck made a popping sound. After that he tightened the neck plate screws. The high E string was no longer on the edge of the board. I was told by my repair guy that the neck had shifted in the neck pocket during shipping. I was also told that it is not uncommon for this to happen. The guitar has since been set up again and it plays like a dream. The scallops are a little deeper than on my Blue/Maple board one. I am writting this review partially in hopes that A.H will read this and have similar success. I have prayed that he will. Both guitars are absolute beauties. The new guitar also had a buzz on the 11th fret because of a loose fret when it arrived. Still I have to give it a Rating of 10 because the problems were easily fixed, and it plays better than anything else.

With proper care these guitars should last a lifetime.

They have been helpful answering my questions. The tweed case for my new guitar, which is actually a brand new 2004 model, had a red interior. My 2005's case has a gold interior and so do the other Malmsteens that I have seen on EBAY. After several calls to Fender, I finaly informed by Fender's Customer Service that the artist models normaly ship with the gold interior, but Fender only states that the guitar comes with a tweed case. Fender will ship it with whatever tweed case the have on hand.

I thank my Lord Jesus for the blessing these guitars are to me. I plan to use them to worship Him in song for the rest of my life. The Malmsteen strats are not cheap, but they are worth every penny. I have owned a 1982 Fender strat, a Jackson Soloist Custom, 1984 San Dimas Charvel, Lynch ESP/LTD (with Floyd Rose and Duncan/Lynch P.U.) and plenty of other guitars as well. The Malmsteen strat blows the doors off everything else I have ever played. Do not be affraid of the scalloped neck. After a couple of weeks you will not want to play anything else. A set of 10's feels more like 9's because I can get a better grip on the strings for bends. Bends and vibrato are frictionless and easily controled for much subtle nuances. Yngwie used 10's earlier in his career as well. He still uses heavy low strings, but now has an .008 for his high E. I can live with having only 21 frets. Yngwie seems to get by. The notes are still there, you just have to bend to them.

For what I play (Rock/Blues) this thing absolutely rocks. The new deeper scalloped neck is truly one of the world's wonders. I bought mine from ebay. Also the new bullet truss rodd is very cool as is the machine screw neck mounting. Somehow it adds a little sustain and embelishes the overall tone. Paint job was just perfect. The tweed case is also a nice touch for what essentially is a vintage guitar. In comparison to some other guitars, the features on this may be spartan - but thats fine by me - its the sound that counts. It gets an 8 for the scalloped neck. Otherwise in terms of features the score would have been lower.

It really doesnt get any better for my musical taste. I mean does this thing scream or what. Its throaty and soulful in a way my jackson and prs are not. They really sound soulless in comparison. There is just something raw and mean about the JYM ! Elecrtronics are great (silent switching) and the pickups are just marvelous - you really can dial in the Malmsteen sound at the turn of a knob - although it is recommended to use a DOD YJM308 pverdrive pedal. Preferably the ones modded by analag man. (www.analogman.com - they do a truly wonderful version of the original "grey" 250's that Malmsteen prefers and uses himself).

Now - this is my 2nd 07' YJM I have purchased in a month. I had to sell the 1st at a significant loss. When I received the first one, the brass nut was cut totally wrong (how could this get threw QC ???), the nech was not flush in the necj joint and as if that was not enough, the high e string just didnt want to stay on the fretboard. No matter how I played or what I did. It came to a point where I was thinking more about the string than playing freely - not fun. Even my local luthier called it "unplayable". Since I purchased the guitar on ebay from the states and shipped it to London, I lost my warranty. To cut a long story short, I sold it at a significant loss. However, I ordered another one. I hate to say this but it really is an unbelievable piece of equipment - the sound just makes you wanna close your eyes and play until someone rips you away from it..... I finally received my second one last week. I can't describe how let down I feel. On this one, its the low e string that doesn't want to stay on the fretboard. The nut was fine on this one. However, that served me no purpose as it is once again, effectively unplayable. Which is such a pitty. I really feel as though Fender has broken my heart two times ina row. Unfortunately there is no money back guarantee from the store I bought it and Fender does not see the issue as being covered by the warranty. Which angers me because I am now stuck with a guitar that is not playable. You would think that a company like Fender would understand the emotions involved when a musician purchases an instrument. I feel let down by them after these two consecutive negative experiences. I definately think there must be some kind of quality control issue at fender since the introduction of these new 07 models. One thing to keep in mind is that on a Vintage Fender Bridge, the string spacing is much wider than on other makes (Gibson,prs,jackson - I own one of each)and hence the positioning of the bridge on the body really requires a close attention to detail. It is because of this that there is really zero margin for error when mounting the bridge on the body. If its off by even 1mm off the center of the body, you will either have a high e or low e string falling off the neck when played normally. I thought it may have been my playing that was inducing the problem but I tried an 06' model and that was perfectly set up. I played freely without any issues. It is clear that on both my YJMs the bridge may not have been perfectly routed. I cant believe this has happened to me twice in a row.

No opinion. Its unplayable and I have not owned it long enough to give any proper insight.

My rating says it all. I save up, I buy one, Its messed up, I take another leap of faith, and then II am told I am on my own. I could have had a master builder from the custom shop build me one by now. What a money pitt.

I have been playing for 20+ years. I own a 1987 San Dimas SL1, a 10 Top Custom 24 PRS, a 2004 American Strat (HS3 Pickups) and now an unplayable JYM. It really is a pitty that I have been so unlucky with this purchase. Despite not knowing what to do about the JYM now, I still have to be honest and say that none of my other guitars compare tonally to the YJM - everything else (apart from my American Strat) just sounds thin in comparison. So because of my problems with both YJM's I am giving a rating of 1.

2000 YJM fender custom shop USA, vintage trem vintage white(basically a soft yellow) All the rest has already been posted.

This suits my musical style perfectly. I am blues guitarist primiarily and also like to play a lot of nineties alternative and this YJM covers it all well. Very quiet, I own several Strats and this one has a really unique tone. It has a really rich sound when clean, very accurate. No dislikes yet and I do not think I will have any.

I bought this instrument second hand from Music go round in MN, came pretty well set up but I had it adjusted to my specs. Its a 2000 model, flawlesss and effortless to play they should make more of these Strats scalloped. And there is the catch...this is DEFINITELY not a guitar for everyone. It is not the Holy Grail and shit, just a unique take on a vintage Strat design with what I think has the greatest tone I have found yet in an electric guitar.

Its a 2000 model with a few dents and it still has a nice straight neck and all the componenets are well made and fit extremely well. Unlike other people here I would use this guitar without a back-up.

Never dealt with them

I have been playing since 1990. Ive gone through a shitload of strats and various other types but I have to give it to the YJM for sheer tone. Maybe its a one trick pony, but for a blues guitarist I would say this is the diggity and you will definitely bust a fat NUT all over yourself and anyone in proximity when you first play this biatch. Its that good, no shit.

The most unique feature is the scalloped neck. It is just a great old Strat even though it is a new guitar. It's main feature would be the incredible tone and playabilty.

This is the best guitar that I have ever played. I have been playing for 25 years and this beats everything. The guitar is everythingthing a great strat should be. I play guitar at my church which is a Calvary Chapel in the San Diego area. Our music can range from hymms to almost heavy metal at times. The guitar always sounds great. I would recommend the purchase of a DOD YJM 308 overdrive, or a Tube Screamer to realize the guitars full sonic potential. I have a 308 and it is pretty much always on. I can get a great Little Wing tone using my Marshalls clean channel with 308 engaged. This setting works well even on the softest songs though I do back down the guitars volume to between 5 and 7. Switching to the lead channel gives you Hendrix,Jeff Beck, Full on metal and of course Yngwie on a silver platter. This thing is the ultimate blues guitar. Another guitar player a church has a custom strat with EMG David Gilmour pick ups, but he sounds just like Gilmour when he plays my Malmteen strat.

The scalloped neck is amazing and also the best friend any blues guitarist could ever have. The Scalloped neck will take string bending and vibrato, key elements of blues playing to another level of expressiveness and control. This guitar is great for sloppy blues or precission Yngwie type runs. The scallops due facillitae a lighter touch which makes playing easier. I believe that any player would get used to the scallops in no time. I thank the Lord Jesus Christ that I have been blessed to own this guitar now for eight months. I got used to the scallops right away and now it just feels natural, and so much better than any other guitar. I have cought my self thinking " is thing still scalloped " because you don't even notice a different kind of feel any longer. It just feels great in my hands. I read another guys review of the Yngwie strat and he said that it played like baby oil and felt like a third arm. That pretty much nails it. My guitar is Sonic blue with a maple fret board and eveyone comments on what a beautiful guitar it is. Even people who don't play. All the Malmsteens that I have played have been stunning to look at. I would love to have a couple more, but I need to be greatful for the the amazing one that I have. Thank God.

You will need to lube the brass nut with GraphitALL or something else. The guitar is built like a tank and always stays in tune as long as you are not doing a lot of divebombs with the bar. The tuning holds up well even after extreme bends and moderate bar useage. When I play at church I don't even bring a back up.

I dont't know. I have not had a problem with the guitar.

By the grace of GOD I got this for 1300.00 out the door at Guitar Center since someone else had ordered it and their deal fell through. I realize that not all the work is done by hand, but this is a custom shop shop Strat that will beat any guitar on the planet as far as I am concerned. I would not even trade it for Yngwie's 1970 "The Duck" Strat. Not a chance. Most mail order places list it for 1399.99. The guitar is by no means cheap, but it is quite a bargin considering the guitar that you get for that price. I would like to get a Mesa Stiletto Ace 2/12 combo someday, Lord willing. That would truely be a rig to last a lifetime.

Candy-Apple Red,Maple scalloped fretboard,(21 frets),Alder body,brass nut, DiMarzio HS-3 & YJM pups, old-style tremelo bridge & tuners, mint color pickuard and cream controls.Three-position switch,tweed case.

I play Hard Rock,Metal,Acid Jazz. Plugged through a Mesa-Boogie MKIII Blue Stripe.Effects are: Teese Wah>Mojo Vibe>Tech 21 XXXl (or Tube Screamer)>Distortian Box>Dan-Echo

The HS-3 & YJM Pups are voiced like single coils, but without the buzz and the piercing high-end you can get through a hi-gain amp.
Great articulation for lead. Conclusion: these are toneful pups that sound great through a hi-gain amp.

Interestingly, the tone reminds me of Robin Trower.(Lots of nice mids rather than Texas jangle and glass.)

The scalloped neck isn't that difficult to get used to; more like playing a guitar with Jumbo frets.Plus it allows you to do some wild runs and bending.

3-position switch - great:less chance of knocking it out, and I mainly use the neck & bridge pups anyway.

This one is Candy-Apple Red with a maple fretboard. It looks like a 65-70's Strat from a distance.The tweed case is a nice touch, along with strap,cord,polish, and tools.

It stays in tune even with the old-style tremelo bridge.The point being that Strats with this type of bridge WILL stay in tune if you set them up properly.
Unless you really want to go nuts that is.

Received it with the high E falling off the fretboard! But after many years of dealing with Strat quirks,I know the necks are prone to shift in the pocket.This is a very common problem, and not a set-up issue.
Two minutes with a screwdriver and a yank,and viola'! Perfect;no worries,mate.
Note: Ritchie Blackmore used to glue his Strat necks in to prevent this common problem.

Everything else is perfect; no flaws.

Indeed;good Strats are built like tanks and the quality on this Axe is first rate.

Will replace the strap buttons with straplocks.

I ALWAYS have a back-up.

Fender has a "limited life-time warranty." But there's not much that can go wrong with these beasts unless you got a one out of a thousand lemon.

But you have to know about all the Strat quiks: neck shifting in pocket,pups too close to strings(so-called: "Strat-itis"),properly set up tremelo,etc.

I've been playing over 30 years and own a ton of gear.
I like this Strat a lot; it's rather like a jalopy with a hot-rod under the hood.
It's a good,solid,Strat with some modern upgrades for high-gain playing.

MAin features...

Scalloped fretboard, modern "C" neck profile, Vintage White in color, clear coated neck, waxed fretboard, brass nut, aged plastic parts, mint three ply pick guard, origional sycronized tremolo ( three springs ), single ply white trem cover, Maple neck, Rosewood fretboard, Alder body, Domarzio Pick Ups ( 2 of which are signature YJM , jumbo frets, dot inlays, large Fender headstock, YJM signature on headstock, vintage tuners ( covered ) Double cut away bolt on neck.

First off I just purchased a Fender Yngwie J. Malmsteen Stratocaster model 2006. I ordered it from the Fender Custom Shop thru Guitar Works In Calgary.
Maple Neck, Rosewood Fretboard, Alder body.
It suits my musical style just fine... bles Rock, Classic Rock, Classic Metal, Fusion. I use it thru a variety of amps that it compliments very well... Koch Multitone 100, Soldano Hot Rod 50, Marshall Jcm 800, Randal RG80. Effects are DOD YJM308 Overdrive, Visual Sound H2O, Roland C.O.S.M.
This is my second YJM strat my last was a 95 all maple and it was cool but I ended up selling it. This time I changed things up with the woods and voala... excellent tone. Nice full round not too bright exceptional really. I got lucky cuz I've played a tone of strats hanging on the walls of many guitar shops and owned by several players over the past 20 plus years and this one is absolutly the "one" that come along every now and then that sounds better than the rest... BEAUTIFUL. No lie everyone at the shop agrees... this strat has AWSOME TONE.
Not much noise except from the middle single coil whis is the only single coil in the guitar and it is not that bad at all. Dimarzio has done a great job on the Pick Ups and the circuitry is done well also.

Sounds from this guitar are cool jazz/fusion, sprakle clean, chimey clean, glassy clean with a perfect top end,warm clean, awsome barely breaking up tones that are never brittle, gritty blues, smooth strat cluck, classic crunch, exceptional neck PU tones for smooth fluid metal lead... excellent bridge PU tones for searing metal leads, classic american and brit rock tones abound.

Thanks to the Excellent three way toggle the five way cheats are easily had... so as for variety this guitar has got a lot going... add to that the no load tone controls and you have a lot of variables for pro quality tone at your disposal.

Absolulty no dislikes in the TONE category as I said this is an exceptional strat for tone... I am exceedinly pleased.

The action was a little high for me but was to the YJM strat spec as was the PU's... I needed to adjust them to my taste but they were to the YJM strat spec. Neck had good relief about .70mm at the 9th fret.
As for the other construction aspects... neck joint, fret install and dress, clear coat, paint, decals, trm unit, tuners fretboard, pick guard, wiring, routing... Everything and I mean EVERYTHING was perfect except for the nut. It had a poor cut and need to be recut... a quick fix easily done by the shops luthier. That was dissapointing for me however because as I said EVERYTHING was perfect... how could Fender miss such a poorly cut nut... the open low E, B, and High E strings all had nut BUZZ. Man that was a BAD ONE but easily fixed because it was also way to high ( distance from the frets to the nut ). Once that was repaired everything is perfect.
I checked the intonation and it was out on the high E string only but the guitar was in tune when I pulled it out of the Shipping Box.

The scallops are a different profile than the last YJM I had. The 95 had a semetrical half circle whereas the 2006 has a semetrical flat bottomed scallop. I like it way more because it still feels great at the playing surface ( fingertips )... it is everything a scalloped fretboard should be that way. Plus it has a profile that is smoother on the side of the had where the plam meets the edge of the fretboard... it feels more traditional, less obstruction for hand movement. AWSOME scallop design... I was pleasantly surprised.

The trem was set to spec... I changed it to my preferance.

A nut this poorly done gets Fender a 7 in this category.

Strats are classic tough guys... this guitar will serve well in the trenches.
I change all my strap buttons out to Schaller Strap Locks... thats a personal choice. The buttons on this guitar however will do the job but strap locks are far more reliable.
This is a well made professional guitar ofcoarse I could depend on it but a back up is allways the smart choice.

From Fender... I got a call back when I called about the absolutly deplorable nut job... they let the Gutar Shop handle it ofcoarse...
good idea. They were friendly and very helpful and reasuring.
Yes all the work on the nut was under warranty... no problems there.
Lifetime warranty.
A ten for the business I've had so far... but ya never know what the future holds.

I've been playing 20 plus years this is an exceptional Fender Product made very well with excellent detail and scrutiny of woods for tonal characteristics.
I own several other guitars and this one ranks in the top three for quality made guitars.
If it were stolen I'd "CRY" cuz not many strat sound this good... yeah I'd replace it.
I love the tone, the scallop profile the hardware, the finish, the wood, the large Fender headstock, the playability, etc...

I hate that such a terrible nut got thru the Fender QC... that looks bad on Fender in my opinion... but it is a small gripe that was easily fixed.

Yes I compared it to about 30 other strats. Not one sounded as good and the neck wood grain cosmetically is among the best of the best.

This one is a keeper and overal I had a greta experience with the Fender Custon Shop.

Made in USA (so they say), 21 frets (i would like it to have 22), volume, tone, tone, 3 way. Alder body, maple/rosewood neck (scalloped).

I love Yngwies tone and this guitar sounds really good. Im using it with line 6 pod. Or peavey amp with Ibanez 808 or dod 308 overdrive. Great pups..litle noise. Its a joke to cal this a signature model..Yngwie does not use middle pup or tone controls, So why have it on a signature guitar?? I would like to see a jem with stuff that Vai doesent use..

Factory set up was ok.

Dont know..

The tuners are not first class, so i might change them. Why not have locking tuners? Not a big fan of the vintage trem system, but it works. Having said that, its a first class strat! But, if i could have a signature guitar made by Fender, i would definitely ask for better tuners, and better trem system. and the jack output on the side.

OH god! I like my first Malmsteen strat so much I ordered a second. Wish I hadnt. Number 2 is HORRID! Fender shows a complete lack of quality control on this guitar. Its been sent back for refund.

THe nitro on the neck was gooped on. Big globs on the nut and frets. THe frets had not been crowned. They were flat as an old Les Paul. THe scallops were terrible. Hardly scalloped at all. I could feel lots of wood under my fingers. Since all the cost of this guitar is in the neck I am disgusted with what some lazy slob at Fender calls craftsmanship and even more disgusted that it got thru quality control. Thats what Fender thinks of me and my money I guess.

I give it a 1 because its biggest feature, the neck, was a complete mess.

Not only that but it was strung with 2 high E strings. Yup the B string was a .009 Hello? Quality control?

Terrible guitar that so disappointed me. Korea and China has better workmanship on their $200 models.

It sounds OK. Unfortunately the neck is scalloped about as much ans rubbing accross the board with a plastic spoon. THe acoustic tone was OK but rife with noise from teh flat topped frets. Frets were also very uneven. Judging from the gooped laquer all over the frets they did a quick plane and no dressing what so ever. Didnt even clean the laquer of the frets. Just terrible telltale signs that this guitar was pushed thru with no effort or attention. Lots of dead spots and buzz.

Once agan I will mention the B string was a .009

How does someone not notice that at Fender? I noticed in a second. Scallops were so slight that they might as well have not bothered. You could hear my finger rubbing against the nitro when I bent notes unplugged. Obviously the whole point is that finger does not make contact with wood. Just terrible scalloping that was uneven to boot.

Terrible finish on neck. Big goops of laquer everywhere. Fret ends were completely sealed off in thick yellow laquer. The brass nut was completely engulfed in laquer. Just a disgusting display of terrible finish work. Laquer way to thick and all over everything with no effor made to clean up. Frets were uneven when sighting down neck and were not crowned. Tops were totally flat. Looks like they just did a quick plane of the frets as the flat tops were the only part of the frets not completely covered in laquer.

Body was OK except for a rough hump in the contour top back. Final sanding would have taken this out. Pickgaurd was a mess. Half the pickguard screws were screwed in thru the pickguard - yep right into the plaatic and now embedded. Not only that but at an angle! Yes indeed most of the pickguard screws looded like they had been installed by a hand held drill at an angle. The pickguard was ruined because of the screws sunken right into the material. The heads were indeed under the plastic. Terrible workmanship not even chine would accept on a $99 guitar.

Terrible quality. I sent it back. Last Fender I'll ever buy.

I did call Fender. They said since they make them by hand quality varies. uh ... first of all thats a lie. Only details are done by hand the rest is all CNC machines. Also, 4 inspectors signed off on the tags.

Their suggestion was return to vendor and buy another one. Gee thanks. No concern showed whatsoever nor surprise at my comments.

I've been playing for 20 years and hav eowned many great guitars. I have another Malmsteen strat which was very good and rated below. This second one was the worst guitar I have ever had the displeasure of paying over $1000 for.

Japanese made in early 90s-late 80s, 21 fret, maple neck bla bla bla

Sounds like a bat out of hell!!

Always dependable

100% on all catergories!

This baby is like a third arm for me and plays like baby oil:P

definately withstand gigs and its built like a tank!!

If you are thinking of getting one, just do it!!Its the best thing i ever bought

2005 USA model, maple fretboard. The guitar has 21 frets, 22 is more what I'm used to. The guitar has a three way switch instead of five. The pick ups are stacked humbuckers. I've read in an interview that the YJM's and the HS-3's are the same pick-up except for the hieghts of the pole pieces. The trem is the six point vintage style. The tuners are non-locking but feel tight. The fret wire is jumbo. The scallop job on my particular guitar is a medium depth, not quite down to the side dots. The nut is brass. I don't know how to rate for feature content, I think that a trem guitar could use the staggered locking tuners from the deluxe model. Also this year has the Delta tone circuit like some of the other strats.

I play heavy rock/metal. This guitar has low output pickups that need a boost for my style. I use a Marshall DSL201. With my Les Paul (burstbuckers) the amp positively screams needing no signal boosting. Even the clean channel will break up to a nice AC/DC crunch. This strat gets AC/DC on the amps drive channel and won't break up the clean channel at all. As a matter of fact I can run the amp full out and still clean it up well with the guitar's volume knob. I use a BOSS GT-6 multi effect to boost the signal. I also have a DOD distortion pedal that works great. The sound is bright and strat-like despite the pickups being humbuckers. Playing clean I think it sounds very nice, reminds me of Pink Floyd. Add a distortion pedal and a full-tilt Marshall and this guitar sounds very much like Malmsteen's. I guess I was a little surprised but his tone is there. I get excellent results using the GT-6 to model his effects chain. Tube screamer full up into a Plexi model (input 1) add delay, reverb and chorus to taste and you pretty much nail his tone. A real pedal in front of the amp sounds even better. The guitar is quiet enough although with this much gain you may want a noise suppressor. Distorted chords are not as detailed as I would like and the tone is a bit brittle while playing the bridge pick up on the first few frets. Sounds best while shredding. I find the mid pickup works great for rhythm work, a good balanced tone.

I have to say, maybe I don't know any better but I was impressed when I took delivery. I mail ordered from a popular internet company and it was drop-shipped to me house directly from Fender. The guitar arrived set up and nearly in tune with good action that hasn't changed over time. I am surprised because my $2000 Gibson need a $100 set up including a fret level and polish. The Gibby plays mint now with incredibly low action but for what it costs it should have arrived that way. The Fender does not have a low action but plays comfortably right out of the box. I found nothing to dislike concerning the neck pocket. The candy-apple red color is stunning and flawless. The neck has some light flame in it and the frets were polished well. All the controls have a quality feel and the pick up switching is silent.

This guitar is finished in poly and will look good for a long time. The only aspect that needs attention is tuning stability. The nut and tuning tree need lubrication. The tuning was stable when I first got the instrument but as these parts wore in the strings started sticking in the grooves. Not an uncommon problem with any guitar.

All I can say is that the life-time warranty excludes anything that isn't wood and the wood parts (both of them) are not warranted against abuse such as "sudden" changes in humidity/temperature. It doesn't sound like you will enjoy much in the way of coverage. I never had to deal with them.

I've been playing 15 years mostly Les Pauls and Marshalls. This is my first Fender. It is a breath of fresh air. I really like the sound and I like playing the scalloped board. I had no trouble playing the neck and bends are super easy to execute. I agree with Yngwie that scallops don't lend you speed but do offer more control. This fingerboard is 9.5' radius and 25.5" scale length. The 12" radius and 24.75" scale of my Gibson along with its lower action and thinner neck makes the Les Paul a faster playing guitar. Still, I like the absence of the wood under my fingers and I had no problems regarding pulling the strings sharp. Indeed, the guitar encourages a light touch and can be played for hours without fatigue. I'm not a strat guy but this guitar is a nice contrast to a Paul and is a nice change of pace. It plays easily, is lightweight, and has that great violin tone that Malmsteen is famous for. An excellent buy.

2005 YJM strat made in USA. Red with Rosewood board.

I wanted a vintage white one but Fender was completely sold out. I ordered my second choise sight unseen. Its been a pleasant surprize.

I'm not a fender fan and the regular line isnt great in my opinion but they must put more into the signature editions because this is one great strat. Its solid and sounds good acoustically. Neck is very solid. The scallops are way more then I expected. This thing is scalloped almost completely thru the fret board. I hear they vary. It was weird at first but now I like it. For lead work it rocks but I must admit I'm still sloppy with chords. I have to adjust my playing to the scallops.

If you are searchng for a vintage strat then I wouldnt waste money and time. Buy this strat. If you dont like the scallops then just buy the body and pickups from Ebay. THey do show up. Maybe I just got a good one but the guitar has excellent tone.

Some people may feel like a dork with yngwies name on the guitar, me included. He is a cheeseball to some and lets face it; You step out with an Yngwie guitar people are going to expect some Yngwie playing and well ... unless you are Yngwie that aint gonna happen. Some people can memorize the notes but I've never heard anyone else nail his playing. However, yngwie has great tone and that can be nailed with this strat. Basically this is build just like an early 70's strat right down to the low output pickups.

If you are an Yngwie fan you will love it. If you are a vintage strat fan you will love it. If you want to play mettalica or Numetal you will likely hate it.

The best thing about it is you cant find but try to play Yngwie on it. Personally I will never be able to play like Yngwie but trying teaches me new tricks I can apply to my mortal level playing.

Low output pickups mean pure tone. You must put an OD box in front of your tube amp to get the great tone. Direct into my Marshall sound very Jimi Hendrix. With the OD its Yngwie. Back off the volume its clean. Works like it should!

Action is a little high at the nut. Quite a bit of neck relief. Overall the actio on these is high. I dont know why. None of it bothers me though except for the nut. Thats a little too high.

Rest of the build is good. The "candy" red is a little burgundy.

Seems solid to new to tell. Didnt stay in tune at first. I had to oil up all contacts and work the trem for awhile to get any stability.

Dealt with before with a Tele. Was good.

Fantastic Strat. Worth the price. Ended my thirst for a vintage model. Much better sound and feel then the regular American Strats I've played in the last decade.

2004 Model - the stats have been well-covered here already. I think Yngvie is a great player, but I don't play anything like him or in that style. I bought the guitar for the scalloped neck. I play "wierd, noisy" rock. These guitars are really hard to find in stores, so I ordered 2 of them online (1 maple and 1 rosewood fingerboard) and kept the better of the 2. The guitar I sent back had fairly flat fret tops - it looked like the frets were milled to compensate for a non-perfect neck.

I wouldn't mind having 22 frets.

Out of the box, this guitar would NOT stay in tune. It was actually the WORST of all the guitars I've ever owned. I had a very skilled guitar tech friend of mine replace the brass nut and tuners (Sperzel) and things improved quite a bit. The 3 way pickup selector was also replaced.

The nitro finish on the neck looks good and feels great.

The guitar is pretty heavy for a Strat...

I really wish more manufacturers made guitars with fully scalloped necks!

The guitar sustains nicely, and sounds fairly loud unplugged.

I like the neck and middle pickups but the bridge is too bright for me. You can roll off the treble, but it just doesn't sound right. I did buy a DOD 250 pedal that I will modify to the 'gray' specs. We'll see what happens with that. If that doesn't work I'll replace the bridge pickup - probably a Bartolini ZBSC-75(?)...

I play a Tech 21 amp with a bunch of pedals and get a really good sound.

The action was a bit high but not too bad out of the box.

The neck was straight and looked great. A bit of flame in the maple too.

There were 2 sets of pick guard holes in the body! (lame...)

As I mentioned above, the guitar was really really bad about staying in tune. A few bends and that was it.

I think the guitar will last forever.

I bought the guitar from Musicians Friend, and had a problem with the CASE. One of the latches was damaged after a flight. The latches are very difficult to find, and I ended up just bending the latch back to where it worked OK.

Been playing 15 years. Owned a bunch of guitars. This one is definitely special, although I had to do a number of things to get it to play correctly. It looks fabulous.

I paid $950 shipped for it!!!

It is a 2000 model Americian Strat.
Same specs as listed above.

This guitar is awesome. I Love it more and more everytime I play it!!!! Its perfect!!! Im a gain freak!!! And this guitar has really really low output pickups!!! And the tone is so exceptional that it more than makes up for the lack of output. The scallops are so nice! The give it a great feel for bends and shit.

The action really has to be high. Low isnt possible. Not to worry though!!! I use 8s just like YJM and with high action its really plays as good as any other really high end guitar. (JEM, Ernie Ball, Jackson Etc).

The tuners are awesome. I do like them! They stay in tune very well!!!! I wouldnt gig without a backup as I use 8s on it and if Im really drunk I might break a string so Id prob bring a few others.

I aint got a clue!

Ive been playing for 13 years.
I have a Ernie Ball John Petrucci Music Man with piezo and a Custom shop Carvin Dc200 and an Ibanez RG550 with a Fernandes sustainer system.
I use ENGL amps as well as Crate and Line6 and Avatar cabs.

The features are that what Yngwie wanted. If I wanted something more, I would have looked at a different guitar. I don't understand how someone could be 'disapointed' when buying a signature model. I think you would know exactly what you are getting...

N/A

I have had this guitar now for almost 2 years. I do have another review in here somewhere, but I thought that I would give it a somewhat long-term review since I literally play it every day. Every single day this guitar has been played by me for the last 2 years. This thing sounds even better now. Maybe I've gotten better, but I doubt it. I no longer am going through my Boogie, but a Line6 PODxt Live. Truly amazing. I can get any sound I want from this guitar, some of that has to do with the Line6, yes. But allot has to do with how comfortable I have become playing this guitar. I can go from biting mad to violin type crying with a flick of the 3 way. I have sold all but my '73 Strat and a Charvel Standard. I had 12 guitars at one point. I even sold my Parker. I truly feel I have no need for any other guitars. The only reason that the '73 and Charvel are still around is sentimental reasons. Besides, the '73 is so horrific looking I don't think anyone would want it. The Charvel and I have been through allot together, yet I no longer play it. I feel to much dragging when having to touch the fretboard on that tiny neck. Besides, the Charvel sounds dark to me now.. I am thinking of buying a new guitar. Another YJM Stratocaster! Maybe keep one tuned and strobed at E, the other E flat. Maybe be daring and drop a Virtual Vintage Solo in the bridge...I'm thinking red with rosewood, as this one is vintage white and maple...now to convince the wife..

I know a 10 is impossible, but this guitar and I have bonded...you will probably be seeing more 10s...

I had made adjustments on this guitar for probably the first couple months that I had it. I was able to get the action to about 3/32". Incredibly lower than Yngwie's 6mm. I am not a big fan of the glossy neck finish, but I must admit, the neck reacts much less to temperature changes with this finish. This guitar stays on a guitar stand most of the time, since I play it every day. Other guitars that I have owned with the 'satin' finsh would usually need a tuning if even the ceiling fan was turned on... not this one. I tune it when I change the strings. Not that I am lazy, but it stays in tune as good as my Parker did... Since I have gone through about 50 sets of strings, It gets tuned about every 2 weeks or so.
This thing still looks and sounds great. Everything still tight and no electronic noises at all... more than I can say for the Charvel. Changing the 3 way changes only your sound. No noise at all from the switching. Now that the action is so low I love it even more. No buzzing at all....sometimes a high bend will kind of fart out, but I've never heard a buzz from the strings.

I really wouldn't change anything now that this guitar has started down the road of getting broken in.... any other piece of gear I have would be sold before this, and all other gear absolutly must compliment this guitar. No questions...

yep, 10...FABULOUS

I depend on this thing every day. I've taken it out to play or record with others and it has been bumped, banged and twisted. I couldn't be happier. It definitely will withstand live playing. The only problem that I have had with it was that the holes that hold the cover to the tremolo springs were not drilled deep enough. No biggie since the cover came off and has never been back on again. but still, drill hole depth should be a no brainer for Fender....

N/A

You know I hate people who gush wonderful thing about their gear. I have never done that. I can give you all the good and bad points of all the gear that I have ever owned. Nothing is perfect. Including me or this guitar. But I must admit, after 2 years, this guitar and I seem to be made for each other. Together we are pefect. I am not a pefect player, and this guitar has its short-comings, but together we are perfect. I have been playing 27 years and have never felt so comfortable with any peice of gear, guitar or not, in my life. Just picking it up makes me feel at home. I have owned guitars valued from $199. to $1800. and this one is the one I remember and would never go without, unless it was life or death.
I would now have to agree with Robin Trower that ' the strat is the perfect guitar'. I don't know about all Stats, but this one is for me...

UPDATE!!

After a couple more weeks with my YJM Strat I decided to write a follow up on how the guitar is handling. Focusing on the sound department.

My acutual review should be the one directly below this Update.

as stated below in my past review i wished this guitar featured a five way switch, mainly out of frustration knowing that there are better sounds that can be acheived with the instrument.

the yjm pickups are amazing. at first i disagreed with dimarzio's claims regarding the yjm, being pickup their take on a vintage strat pickup. i stand corrected..., the pickup is very dynamic, articulate, while retaining a lot of vibe and chime.

the hs-3 is sadly another story. it's bright, and there is nothing wrong with that...however one leads me to question whether that particular tonal characteristic comes from the pickup or more so the bridge position it is in. hs-3 is very thin, as far as output goes it is the same 93k as the yjm, however due to the thin sound, it leads you to believe that it is lower output. since the YJM strat is pickup routes are for three single coils, i am considering putting another YJM in the bridge position along with a 5 way switch. 500k pots are also being considered.

it is so difficult to judge the features of any "signature" guitar. the guitar is met to the specifications of "insert endorser"...so obviously the features department is a tricky place to critique, but i will do my best.

what you see first off is a reissue of a late 60's cbs era fender stratocaster....up close, you will notice that it is customized from the top down and from the guts out.

alder body, dimarzio yjms in the neck and mid, dimarzio hs3 in the bridge, schaller f tuners, vintage six pole bridge, aged (parchment?) parts, mint green pickguard, a lovely vintage white (custard) paint job...and oh...how can i forget, the insanely deep scalloped rosewood fretboard sitting on top of a nitro-cellulouse finished maple c-shape based neck, brass nut, adorned with HUGE dunlop 6000 frets.

sounds pretty nice right?! well for yngwie it might be...for me...let me critque it.

first off...i am by no means an yngwie fan, i think he is a pompous and arrogant guitarist who lathers himself in babyoil. when i walked into my neighborhood guitar star....the color caught my eye, i've been looking for quite sometime for a vintage white american strat(avoiding mailorder and ebay)....and voila there it was...i refused to look at it as a malmsteen strat...and proceeded to play it. 45 minutes later...i left with it under my arm...thinking to myself "damn it.....freakin yngwie...but the guitar is so very nice".

first of all....despite fender's attempt to maintain a vintage feel...i really dislike the three way switching, schaller f tuners, and the six pole vintage bridge. simply on personal preference...i know the current components can take some abuse...but there is better out there. i wished this guitar featured some nice locking sperzels, two point pivot bridge, and 5 way switching. but then again this is "malmsteen's" strat....yeah.....

the brass nut is nice...once again, i see more purpose with an lsr roller nut, however...the brass also adds a unique "brilliance" especially to the neck pick up sounds.

i do love the scalloped neck....i don't think it is a "godsend" like others may describe...but it's like "silk"....very VERY akward and sloppy at first...you really have to play light...pressing to hard can result in altered pitch and un-intentional bends.

the neck can really be held..and you really have sense of control...can really dig in and express yourself...a wonderful feature. once again...not a "godsend"...but a very nice change of pace.

i play blues jazz fusion with some touches of satriani and mascis. the dimarzios handle well when fed with LOADS of distortion. these pickups...no matter what dimarzio says...will not sound like a vintage strat. i believe part of the magic of the vintage strat sound was the infamous 60 cycle hum. nevertheless for "stock" pickups you can't do much better...it has a wonderful sweet tone on the neck pickup and the bridge pickup is very expressive and well balanced.

i play the malmsteen through a reverend hellhound 40/60...and here is my pedal string.

reverend hellhound(40/60) - visual sound h20 - keeley modified boss ultra ds-1 - visual sound jekyll (boosting the ds-1) - visual sound hyde - keeley modified boss phat bd-2 (boosting the hyde).

i know....first thing people want to do is sweep, trill, a scale run with the bridge pickup...but man people, the neck pickup is really a star performer...it's almost flute like...and all i have to say is wow....the guitar really sings.

i own a 1994 40th anniversary fender stratocaster, a coil tapped sh-1 in the neck and a wire tapped sh-6 in the bridge...in competition with my custom strat...the malmsteen loses in versatility...but is much more expressive..due to the low output pickups, it really allows much more of my amp's natural gain in...as opposed to pushing it with my custom strat with two high output pickups. apples and oranges....really.

i've owned several strats...and for some odd reason fender can't make a tight fitting neck pocket if their life depended on it. i have accepted that fact...it's as much of a fender trademark like their contoured back....another advancement by fender...A PIECE OF CRAP NECK POCKET!! it doesn't effect anything...but for such an expensive guitar...you would think the QC would be a touch better.

aside from that...the guitar required very little adjustment.

it's a strat....what more can i say...

hahahahhahaha

i've been playing for about 12 years now...and though i like my custom strat much better...this one is a nice change of pace. very expressive, almost piano like in tonal character. aside from the notorius fender neck pocket flaws....it truly is a wonderful guitar...even though it is endorsed by a pompous baby oil lathered malmsteen....

2005 Vintage White with Rosewood Fretboard, purchased Online from Musician's Friend. The standard spec's are as follows:
****************************************
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
*************************************
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.