This is a great all round work horse Strat. Bought mine ( fiesta red, maple fingerboard) in 2002 and I've gigged with it heavily ever since. Feels great, due to 'rolled off' fretboard and overall sound, tuning stability, playing action is all good. (Can't understand one of the comments below. I've set mine up and the action is superb - all the way up the board).
I use 010s and these give a good tight action.
One criticism is that the top E loses a bit of 'meatiness' in the sound from round about 8th, 9th fret - i.e. becomes a bit 'thin' sounding, but it's not that bad.
Definately recommend this as a good pro level Strat for around £800 and would seriously think about one of these before shelling out a coupla grand on a custom shop model.
This was my first US Strat, a 2002 American Series. The mics sound great, and the neck feel and grip is just lovely, with a hand-rolled finish. I have som trouble getting the action as low as I would like without fret-buzz, but I guess this is common with strats. I use 1.5mm to 2.0mm (measured from top of 17th. fret), with minimal buzz, which I guess is not that bad with .009-.042 strings.
This is my second Fender Stratocaster, my first one was made in Japan in 1991 and it kicked this ones a## quality and soundwise.
Dont get me wrong, this is a really good guitar, i love it to death but it doesnt sound nearly as good as i expected given that this is a us built Fender, not some mexican or japanese import, i really expected an american Fender to sound and feel a lot better than this one does seeing as it was a lot more expensive than its imported brothers.
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American Series Stratocaster
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robbyritz
22 weeks ago.
User rating 4 of 5