Ever get to pick out your own Christmas present?
Written: Nov 01 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great price, versatile as can be
Cons: Three single coils? Better do something about that.
The Bottom Line: Fantastic, versatile guitar for an amazing price. You might have to put a humbucking pickup in it, though.
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| HawgWyld's Full Review: Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat Fmt Electric Guit... |
I am one lucky man. Why? I was fortunate enough to pick out one of my Christmas presents this year. That's right. My wife turned me loose, so I picked up one of these here Fender Deluxe Super Strats. Lucky, lucky day! The only bad thing is that I'm not supposed to touch it until Christmas (that rule's been violated as recently as five minutes ago, however -- Wife needs to find a new hiding spot).
Now, before I get to the merits of this guitar, let me mention the one major flaw. Stratocasters, traditionally, come with three, single-coil pickups, and this one is no exception. This thing has three "super strat" single coils, and that's great if you want to play blues, funk, country, rockabilly or about anything else that doesn't require heavy distortion. If you try to run heavy distortion with those little single-coils pickups, just get ready for a nasty, thin sound and a lot of buzz.
Folks in the know will tell you that you need a dual-coil, humbucking pickup for distortion. Typically, those things are twice as wide as a single-coil pickup, meaning you'd have to carve a nice little hole in that beautiful Fender to make room for a humbucker.
Ah, but fear not! There is a solution! You can get some darn good humbuckers for a Strat that are the same size as a single coil! I picked out one from DiMarzio, had it installed in the bridge position on the Super Strat, and life is good.
Having said that, this is an incredible guitar for the money. I got a honey blonde Strat complete with gold-colored hardware, maple neck and fretboard and the aforementioned pickup upgrade for around $650. That's not bad for a good guitar, and this guitar is a great one.
The thing that's so great about Strats is absolute versatility. I'm hear to tell you, this one is even more versatile than most. Why? You've got the five-way pickup switch that does the traditional thing:
Pos. 1 - Bridge pickup
Pos. 2 - Bridge & middle pickup
Pos. 3 - Middle pickup
Pos. 4 - Middle & neck pickup
Pos. 5 - Neck pickup
While that's pretty normal, what's completely abnormal is a button between the two tone knobs that activates the bridge pickup when the switch is in position 4 or 5. That means, when you put the selector in the fourth position and then activate the bridge pickup, you can have all three pickups running on this thing at one. You want some fat tones? This thing will just make you weep when it's running three-wide (there's some NASCAR talk for the fans).
Now, I realize that the custom humbucker I had tossed in this thing adds to the fat sound of the aforementioned configuration. However, that little bridge activation button adds to the versatility of a guitar that was wildly flexible anyway.
In fact, it's hard to find something this guitar won't handle. Bang those nasty punk chords out of this one or go all the way to honky-tonk tunes or warm jazz. This little sucker will handle it just fine. Naturally, you can go all the way from a paper-thin, clean tone to some fairly thick sounds that aren't as dark and rich as what you'll get from a Gibson Les Paul, but what else would you expect? The Les Paul is all decked out with high-output humbuckers, and this one comes with three single-coils. Even with my humbucker, I don't get that deep, rich sound that a Les Paul delivers, but I didn't have to sell my first-born child to buy this guitar, either.
The wood on this is ash, which is light and allows for some respectable tone. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Fender guitars.
As for playability, the guitar feels great, too. You've got the traditional fender neck here that's varnished and smooth as glass. The frets feel big and sturdy and help guide you up and down the neck when you're trying not to look at the fretboard and the weight is what you'd expect from a Strat -- solid enough, but it's not so heavy that you'll break your back if you're standing up and have it on a strap for an hour or two.
And, speaking of standing on a stage, I wouldn't feel bad at all about showing up in public with this guitar. It just looks damn cool and that classic Fender name and style gives you some credibility. I haven't been on a stage with a guitar for over a decade now, but this guitar has that "look" I sought out back when I was in a band (ah, the good ol' days).
And, heck, this'll sound great anywhere. Play it in your living room or in front of all your fans at a gig somewhere. Drag it in the recording studio. This instrument is good enough to handle it all.
As for what amps to play through, go tube all the way if you can. This guitar has a great vintage sound that just loves a good tube amp such as the Fender Twin Reverb, but I did try it out on one of those snazzy new modeling amps I'm thinking about buying (and, no, I didn't try it out on that damn Crate modeling amp -- take my advice and never trust anything made by Crate). The thing sounded great through both the Peavey Transformer and the Line 6 Spider 212 amps, but those things are so layered in effects that just about anything would sound great through them. So, there you go.
Now, some people swear that Fender stuff that isn't made in the U.S.A. is just junk. I disagree with that, and believe this little "made in Mexico" Strat sounds great, is priced right, looks great and feels pretty sturdy.
In short, if you want a great guitar at a bargain-basement price, go take a look at one of these. Consider putting that humbucker in the bridge position, though.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
HawgWyld
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 - Top 200 |
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Member: Ethan C. Nobles
Location: Benton, Ark.
Reviews written: 1433
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About Me:
The oxen are slow, but the earth is patient.
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