player opinions

Fender American Standard Strat

Fender American Standard Strat

  1. Name: Ben Sobkowiak

  2. Model Year: 1996

  3. Price Paid: £500

  4. Performance

  5. Very easily to play. I just take it off the stand and it’s ready. The Sperzel locking machine heads help a lot. Sounds exactly like any Strat I’ve ever heard on the TV.

  6. Performance Rating: 10

  7. Sound Quality

  8. Great distortion when only bridge pickup is used and good clean, although Marshall amps are not renowned for their clean channels. A bit of fuzz when I play it in my room but that’s because I stand right next to the amp!

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 9

  10. Construction

  11. Looks great. Matching headstock and pearl pickguard. Only problem is a slight tap damages it so it picks up cracks easily.

  12. Construction Rating: 8

  1. Name: Nick Noble

  2. Band: Until Tomorrow

  3. Price Paid: Traded Mexican Strat, Marshall VS65R, and a Fender Frontman w/reverb

  4. Performance

  5. Show me a guitar you think is more durable than a Fender and I’ll break it for you. My strat is durable and consistent, but heed my warning: BEWARE OF BAR! Never touch it and expect it to stay in tune. The best way to easily address this problem is to put in some graphite saddles, and set the bridge so that it is just above resting on the body. This way when you let go of the bar, the bridge will go back to somewhere near the same place it was before. Strats were never known for having low actions, either. Aside from these two things, a strat is a marvelous guitar.

  6. Performance Rating: 8

  7. Sound Quality

  8. When you step up from a Mexican to an American strat, you step up in every detail. Alder wood, rather than poplar, is much more conducive to good tone. The pickups sound much better as well. The neck pickup on the clean channel (specially through my fender DeVille) makes each note sound like a bell. The bridge pickup with some mid-weight distortion gives you that raw, SRV edge. The in-between pickup positions force you to play at least a few riffs from “Sultans Of Swing.” Remember, a Strat is no Gibson! Do not expect good heavy distortion or sustain. The sound of a Strat is as beautiful as Grace Kelly. If you play blues or classic rock, why don’t you have one already?

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  10. Construction

  11. Have you heard that 45 year old Strats are going for $15,000 and more? Yeah, enough said.

  12. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Carlos San Antonio

  2. Band: The Captain’s Blues

  3. Price Paid: $1100 (Canadian)

  4. Performance

  5. The American Standard Fender Stratocaster is quite simply put an amazing guitar. It’s worth every penny that I paid for it and it won’t depreciate on you. Playing it is a dream and it fits a wide variety of sounds. I use it mainly for blues soloing and lead bits and it is the Only guitar that I’ll use a wah-wah pedal with. It maybe isn’t as flashy as the Gibson Les Paul let’s say, but the Stratocaster really delivers.

  6. Performance Rating: 10

  7. Sound Quality

  8. I have a Fender Princeton Chorus amp the guitar sounds wonderful on it. The whammy bar is definitely one of the better ones out there and the pickups are unbelievable. The sound is very clear and dynamic.

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  10. Construction

  11. I’ve owned my Strat for 3 years now and I haven’t noticed a scratch. The frets are very smooth and the guitar is generally very well put together (unlike some of its Mexican counterparts.) Living and gigging in the Montreal area unfortunately exposes my guitar to some extreme temperatures but I have yet to notice any warping of any kind.

  12. Construction Rating: 10

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  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 9.4
  3. Sound Quality: 9.6
  4. Construction: 9.2
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Company
  9. Fender

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