player opinions

Fender Big Apple Strat

Fender Big Apple Strat

  1. Name: G. Ross

  2. Model Year: 1997

  3. Price Paid: $750

  4. Performance

  5. This is the best electric guitar I have ever owned. Mine has a maple neck which plays like butter. My fingers dance with joy on this marvel that Ii only received one week ago today. Purchased used (though she only had 5 hours of playing time on her prior to my acquisition) on eBay.

  6. Performance Rating: 9

  7. Sound Quality

  8. The tone is astounding, and the effects are very versatile. This is an excellent instrument! And to qualify my opinion, I have been playing guitar for about 40 years.

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 9

  10. Construction

  11. My Big Apple is solid, stands on its own, and there are no complaints at all.

  12. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Tony Dehner

  2. Price Paid: $600 + my old Washburn

  3. Performance

  4. First of all, let me explain that I used to own a Washburn with a Floyd Rose that I was happy with for a few years, and I was not a big fan of Fenders in general — I thought they were overpriced and overrated. Several months ago, I got tired of the Floyd Rose on my guitar, and I set about looking for a new guitar with a more user-friendly bridge. This is when I happened upon the Big Apple. Not only was it an incredible bargain (after my trade-in, I paid about half of list price), it has the fastest and easiest-playing neck I have ever encountered. It is comfortable for playing solos with a lot of bent notes as well as jazz chords and power chords. I really haven’t found anything you can’t play on it. And, much to my delight, it stays in tune just as well as my Washburn with the big, clumsy Floyd Rose. I really couldn’t be happier.

  5. Performance Rating: 10

  6. Sound Quality

  7. This guitar has two Seymour Duncan humbuckers - a ‘59 neck and a Pearly Gates Plus bridge. The switch, however, is a standard Fender 5-way switch that splits the coils in certain settings, therefore giving you five totally different sounds: 1) Neck humbucker — As fat and warm as they come. Good for getting those Santana and Cream-era Clapton sounds. 2) Neck single-coil — Altough not as authentic as an actual single-coil pickup in the neck, like on a standard Strat, it works well enough for getting SRV and Hendrix tones. 3) Both humbuckers — A nice, big, clean tone. Good for jazz. 4) Both inside coils — Limited applications, but I could see it being a good choice for rhythm. 5) Bridge pickup — At high enough volumes, this thing overdrives by itself. Overall, with this guitar, you have to sacrifice a little bit of authenticity for versatility, which it has to spare. I’m giving it a 8, but it’s probably closer to a 9.

  8. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  9. Construction

  10. Fenders tend to vary in construction quality — even two of the same model may play very differently as a result of construction. This particular model has no such problems — its construction is flawless. As I noted before, it stays in tune well. The only problem I have had is that the plastic knob on the pickup switch came off, but this is a problem wasily fixed with glue. Not much else to say here — the moral of the story is, if you’re looking at Fenders, check the construction carefully.

  11. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Myles Long

  2. Model Year: 1997

  3. Price Paid: $650

  4. Performance

  5. Playability of this guitar is excellent. Very fast action,very comfortable to play. The only flack is the volume knob too close to the bridge pick-up, so I had it moved.

  6. Performance Rating: 8

  7. Sound Quality

  8. Sound quality is decent. Bridge pick-up (Duncun Pearly Gates Plus HB) is very bright. Duncun ‘59 in the neck is great, very smooth. I was thinking about swithing the pick-ups with each other to fatten up the bridge sound. 5 way selector switch gives most of the single/double coil sounds you need.

  9. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  10. Construction

  11. Alder body, maple/rosewood neck. Construction seems solid but the neck doesn’t seem to want to stay with the program. I’ve had it in for 3 set-ups in the last 3 months. Could be the climate here in the pacific NW — very humid.

  12. Construction Rating: 8

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  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 9
  3. Sound Quality: 8.4
  4. Construction: 9.2
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Company
  9. Fender

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