Need your opinions on Strats

Why do Fender have to have so many different strats!!I think its about time they got a design department or at least gave each model a proper name.
Or could it just be that they know that people are willing to pay twice the price because it says "made in the U.S.A" on the back.
If it was really that much cheaper to produce guitars in Mexico any company would move all its production there and make more profit!

Bish

Get the American Strat. It is a better guitar. I own an American Strat and have played Mexican Strats quite a few times. I can feel the difference easily. I am not putting the Mexican Strats down at all, they are very nice and sound great too.

But the American Strat is even better.

I dunno, my Dad always taught me to buy the best I could afford. He said you will be happier with it. And I have found that to be true.

The American series has better tuners, pickups, bridge, saddles, etc... They are just higher grade and thus more expensive. But these guitars last. They stay in tune. You won't get a scratchy pot after one year. My Strat is a '91 and there is not the least amount of scratchiness in the volume or tone pots or the pickup switch. It stays in tune great. This is what you are paying for.

Just my 2 cents and your grand. :D

Da@n Wes and I let you play my MIM Strat too!! If I knew you were gonna hate on it, I wouldn't have let you play it....J/K

Thank you, Wes. I was hoping you'd show up.

I went back to the store tonight after work. They pushed me out at closing time. I had originally gone in at lunch time and picked up the Lite Ash version they had. I comes with S Duncans and the same beautiful neck my tele does. (Same model...Lite Ash) I didn't like the neck...LOL. I don't notice on the tele what I don't like. Other than headstock they looked the same. I'm a dork.... :D

Needless to say I didn't like it. It did sound good though. So I called the store and asked if I could come up and get an American. You guys think you live close, they said they close in 10 minutes. I got out of my truck as they were locking the front door. I found the salesman and he said just go get the one you want... :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: I asked for a cart. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :roll:

I wanted a maple neck as this is truly my focus as well as good sounding pickups. (anyone follow where this is going? :cry: )

So as they turned the lights back ON in the guitar room, I walked back to the darkest corner (of course) and proceeded to pull down the American...maple neck....DELUXE...muahaahaahahahahahahahahha :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :D :D :D

I have been playing it for almost 3 hours non-stop. I had to stop from fatigue and soreness setting in. Of course most of that was to get my part for SmokinDog's On line Jam. ... OKAY FINE, ALL OF IT....

But you know what? Out of all the guitars I own...this Deluxe was the only one that it really sounded good with and I actually finally got the part played without too much ugly. I love this guiter. PLUS if you're ready for this...the price they put on the loaner tag was $50 less than MF....Is there GASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGASGAS a message here?

The way this one sings is better than anything I've got yet. Dollars buys quality that's for sure. Now I really have to search deep down to see where I'm at. Do the two down from this have the same pickups? They have the S-1 system and I love the tones of this particular pickup arrangement. WOWWEEE!

This has locking tuners, a heavily designed bridge setup and sweet feel. The tuners are very solid. NOW I get the hardware side of things. These really dial right up the note and stay there. I've not had to retune it yet. WOW.

I'm still comtemplating the HardTail, too. I'm not comfortable with tremelos staying in tune very long. Am I wrong here? I don't want to have to monkey with the guitar after I buy it due to it weirding out from any bridge issue. I like my Schecter and LP with solid tails. I'm not a trem guy anyhow. I just want the same tones that I'm hearing with the DELUXE. I'll research that further....BBL!!!!!

8) You've also helped me make up my mind, now I just have to save up.
Have fun, glad you took Wes's advice and went for quality. :D :D
8)

I love my Am. Deluxe..........

The only thing you will need to fix is the back plate. When I went to re-string for the first time, the strings would not fit through the back plate..... so all I did was bore the hole out more to figure in the "float factor" and I had to tighten the tension springs as well to bring the bridge back to "level". Really not a big deal, but something to be aware of.

I love my strat! I really don't use the S-1 much. I thought I would, but I don't. :?

Mike

Chris (Cnev)

I loved your guitar. Beautiful color and great tone too. And man, didn't it sound nice through your HRD with it cranked on the clean channel with the attenuator? Well, I thought it was awesome.

I am not putting the MIMs down. They are great. But if you can afford the extra, the Americans are more durable. And if you are a serious guitar player who plays everyday, you want that durability. That is the difference to me. But the MIMs are plenty nice.

Bish, don't worry about the bridge. If it is set up properly, it will be fine. The secret is to always use the same gauge strings.

Now, with any floating bridge you break a string, the whole guitar goes out of tune. But that is infrequent. Just unscrew the whammy bar and save it. Who knows, you might even start using it.

Floating bridges aren't all that difficult. It just has to float even when the guitar is in tune.

You could also put a little spacer under the bridge and then tighten the springs underneath. Now you will have a solid tail. You could use a small spacer that couldn't even be seen. You just have to make sure the bridge is parallel to the body.

Glad to hear, i think you've made the right choice also.
like i said before, i'm happy with mine.
btw if you are uneasy with the tremolo, this is a common alteration. made famous by EC.
http://www.guitarrepairshop.com/repairtremeloblock.html

Are you playing yours, TL, in your avatar?

Well , congrats bish.That's a grand display of superior GAS since jan 2005 :lol:

And now , we want the pics...bring em fast !

Are you playing yours, TL, in your avatar?

not actually playing it, but that is my strat .

Are you playing yours, TL, in your avatar?

not actually playing it, but that is my strat .

Yeah , that's a better version of fake guitaring :lol:

Sorta goes way beyond "air guitar" :wink: eh, TL?

As far as pix, I'm borrowing the Amber version with the Maple neck.

I'll have to order the one I want. I'm going for the Chrome Silver with the Maple neck.

I haven't actually purchased it yet. I'm having those last minute GAS releasing moments which has slowed the urgency.

I still have the guitar at home and have 2 more days to GAS over it before it goes back and I either buy or fly.

I never had a problem shelling out a grand or two for drums but to do this for one guitar is a new sensation for me. I mean with drums you get a bunch of them for the money. Guitar....you get ... ONE and maybe a case... :D

So, we shall see what the day brings. I just got to work. If I'm bored I'll probably order it today. If not, it'll be tomorrow....LOL.

And believe me, I'll have pictures once it's at home. You can count on it. :wink:

Again I have to say thanks to all who contributed. And since all did such a wonderful job of helping me pick one out, could you send some cash to help sponsor it? Probably if the ones who posted send me a $100 for each post, it'll make it much less painful for me. I also promise you can play it next time we hook up....guaranteed. Send cash. Checks are messy. Thanks!!!

Bish,

Congrads on the new geetar you will definitely enjoy it.

Wes,

I was only busting you I feel the exact same way. I didn't get an American strat for a couple reasons, 1 - I didn't think my skill level warranted a guitar that cost that much and 2- I don't gig so my guitars get very little wear as a matter of fact the newer Jackson guitar that I have which was alittle more expensive than the MIM strat I hardly ever play. I realized over the last week or so I don't like the frets on the Jackson and I need to get them sanded or something they are much to high and they kind of stick out on the sides if that makes sense. In any event they bother me when I play it.

Thanks, cnev. I'm really more like you when I comes to guitar and music. I'm not out making money playing guitar or planning to anytime soon. I don't put my guitars through a large regime of playing. I will play one of them every night for 4+ hours but that's about the extent other than my church gigs now. Not much wear and tear there either.

So bottom line is if you don't want a real nice and expensive guitar, DO NOT PUT ONE IN YOUR HANDS. It's worse than addictive drugs...or better. :D It really metamorphisises you when you do.

I'm not sure what it is but when I play the strat I want to jump up and RocknRoll. (I envision myself jumping around like OWA might.) :twisted: I'd turn right around and strap on the Schecter and I start looking for the prim and proper playing modes. It's almost spooky.

I spoke to the guy at the local shop today and he is going to look into the availability of color scheme I want and let me know this afternoon. Just a heads up for everyone. He told me that the new models are coming out which might mean higher prices or different models or styles. So I might be getting something way different depending on availability and such.

Well if he can't get it, I know MF has it so no biggy either way. Just a waiting game now.