MusicRadar

Simple and incredibly classy

1 of 3 » View in gallery

• Related News
• Review

Fender has got its manufacturing quality down to a fine art these days and so it's no surprise to find flawless construction, perfect fit and finish of all components, and a general feeling that care has gone into every last detail on this guitar. Lovers of class will enjoy the Custom Deluxe's lightly-figured maple neck, the aforementioned dark 'board with 'clay'-style dot markers and the modern script headstock logo. When a guitar looks this good you just want to pick it up and play.

Nicely weighted and balanced, the Strat is still the most comfortable guitar of all to play, whether sitting down or on a strap. And those updates do make all the difference from a player's point of view. Taking a 1965 neck as inspiration the Custom Deluxe's is a slim 'C'-section that feels like you've known it all your life.

The extra fret (vintage-spec Fenders only have 21) adds a top D to your repertoire, while bending a tone at the very top of the neck pushes this up to the double-octave E – so you can now give those Gibson players a run for their money!

We say it so often, but taller frets and a flatter 'board make such a difference to everyday techniques such as bending and vibrato. Actually you don't even think about elements like these because they affect your playing in such a subtle way – in fact you only notice it when you go back to the old style necks and frets, which then feel slightly archaic.

Sounds

If you think a Strat is a Strat is a Strat, then you'd be wrong. All eras show subtle differences in tone and many players associate the plummiest, woodiest sounds with late sixties and early seventies Strats – think of Chic's Nile Rodgers, or Hendrix's later live tone.

With that in mind Fender has fitted Custom '69 pickups in neck and middle position (the middle one reverse-wound for hum-free tones in positions two and four), and a Texas Special at the bridge. This is perhaps a surprising combination, as Texas Specials are regarded in some quarters as harsh, some might say raspy sounding.

In this setting though it sounds wonderful, with bags of definition but seemingly none of the 'broken glass' rawness that we don't particularly like here. Clean it's sharp and focused, while piling on some gain retains all the shape of the note for very accurate sounds that sit in any mix – or nicely above it if you want.

Flick to the neck and it's pure, sweet and bell-like – instant Little Wing. Again the sound is so defined, although this time ringing with warmth and clarity – and it's such a great tone that you hardly need any overdrive to make the notes sing out. Even with a dash of gain, the clarity and sparkle remains; in fact it's all but impossible to get a bad tone.

The middle position is the same but just more 'clanky' – sort of 'Hank Marvin plays Hey Joe'. It's the Strat tone people never think about using, but it will cope with more or less anything you throw at it – rhythm or lead, country, pop or blues. This pickup and the bridge also benefit from the no-load tone control, which means you can fatten things up nicely or tame the top-end for some very big sounds indeed.

Settings two and four are very sweet and vocal sounding, again full of definition for all those funky rhythm licks, soulful blues lines or Knopfler-style country leads.

Another great Fender then – what a surprise! It's become something of a ritual of late – Fender brings out some new guitars and we rave about them. But it's not hollow praise. And this is definitely not 'just another Strat.'

Easy as it might be to deride Fender for milking the life out of a relatively small range of designs, the fact that they manage to constantly come up with something so worthwhile with just a tweak here and there is pretty amazing.

Yes, it's quite expensive, but it's a brilliant guitar in its own right. The modern twists on traditional themes bring a half-century-old design right up to date and the pickup choices are simply inspired.