I'm a novice at guitar, just started taking lessons again this year, after not having played since I was a teenager. A lot of changes have come to guitars since I was a teen. Some remain the same. Gibson and Fender are still the two big names in guitars. Some are quite different. Electronics can give you sounds only dreamed of. With that in mind, Fenders newest Stratocaster, the VG looks like a Strat, it feels like a Strat, and it even plays like a Strat!

But it also plays like a Tele, and a Strat with a humbucker, and an acoustic, oh wait, did I say an acoustic, I meant five different acoustics. How does the VG do this? At the turn of a couple knobs!

At home each week, along with my regular chord practicing, I learn songs by tab as best I can. I like Neil Young, so I am always playing out of a Neil Young anthology. Like a Hurricane is in regular tuning, but songs like Cinammon Girl are in drop D tuning (well actually double drop D). To play this, I have to sit with my tuner and tune the E strings to D. As a beginner this is no quick task. I suspect even for professionals it is easier to have another guitar on deck already in drop D. Half step tuning is another project that may take a seasoned guitar player not long at all, but it takes me a while. On the new VG, standard tuning, open G tuning, D modal, baritone and 12 string is the turn of a second knob.

Well each week for the past three weeks, while my son is in his lesson, and I am waiting for mine, I have eagerly taken the new Stratocaster VG off the wall at Crossroads Music where my son and I both take lessons. I sit and practice my songs on it and have been happily playing with all the features. I would love to tell you I own it, but I do not, it costs 1,600.00 and I really don't have that available to spend. However, I have had a blast playing with Fenders new very practical Stratocaster VG guitar and wanted to share my thoughts on it from a beginners point of view.

The Look and Feel

This really does look and feel just like a traditional Fender Stratocaster. In fact if anything, it seems a tad bit lighter, and it has a cutaway in the rear for comfortable playing. It has an Alder body, the model I have been playing is Black with white pickguard, I don't know what other colors this guitar comes in. To look at it, it LOOKS like a standard Strat. 3 single coil pickups, but what's that inconspicious bar near the bridge pick up? It is the Roland pickup that is at the heart of the electronics inside. It is the same color as the pickguard, so unless you are looking, you barely notice that it is there.

The standard switch is there for Bridge, Mid and Neck pickup (and combos thereof). Two of the three knobs are there for tone and volume, but instead of the third knob, there are two small knobs. One knob switches tuning and the other guitar sounds.

The neck feels the same, the headstock looks the same, the action is nice and low just like on the other Strats. The body has a nice smooth finish that you would expect from an American made Stratocaster. There is also an attachment for a tremolo bar. All the Roland electronics that work there magic are built inside of the body.

Tune on the Fly!

I had fun with this, I did. I could practice my songs with this with NO TUNING! (well aside from making sure the guitar was in tune). I wanted to play Like a Hurricane or Iron Man or the few songs I know some chords to, standard tuning. Play a bit of Cinammon Girl, drop D! (I would note that this only truly works if you don't strum to the bottom E, because this song is actually Double Drop D, and That tuning is not offered here). I also liked the sound offered by using the 12 string and baritone tuning. Bartitone just sounds like instant bass, while 12 string gives you an instant fuller sound. I would note that you need the amp turned up a bit so that the actual strings don't interfere. For all the noodling I did with the VG, I used a Fender Supersonic Amplifier. Sometimes I had it set to a clean tone, sometimes in overdrive. (For Neils acoustic stuff, I liked the clean tones, for his rock stuff and some fun riffs by the Scorpions, Black Sabbath and Metallica, overdrive was selected). In Drop D, if the amp was on very low, you can hear the real E string sound even though a D is coming from the Supersonic! Once the amp is turned on past 2, this isn't apparent at all. I didn't play with Open G or D modal tuning. In fact, I don't even know what D modal tuning is.

Want a Different Guitar?

Since the Strat runs on batteries (2 AAs) there is a standard no electronics switch on the guitar knob. This allows your Strat to sound, well like a standard 3 single coil Fender Stratocaster! Batteries dead? No problem, in this setting your Fender sounds normal. Next is the modeling knob, which allows you to flick thru all those settings on the tuning knob without the bother of actually retuning. I find the strat sound a tad thin, so I really enjoyed the Telecaster setting. I've owned my Fender Telecaster for a good four months now, and I have really come to appreciate its tone and full sound. Guess what? This strat on the Tele setting sounds JUST LIKE MY TELE! I couldn't hear the difference between my Tele and the VG in tele setting. There is a definite noticable difference between the Strat sound and the Tele sound. For me, the Strat has a slightly thin sound, while my Telecaster just sounds fuller, a bit raw. One thing I have NOT figured out is what the "extra" switch settings do. After all, my Telecaster only has a bridge and neck pickup. I can't answer that, but I can tell you that it just has fuller Telecaster sound.

Do you like the Fender SSH? (single coil single coil humbucker) Another setting emulates a Fender with a humbucker to give you a fat strat sound. Again the difference was readily apparent to my novice ears.

Here's the real kicker, the last setting is acoustic, and this one I know what the pickup switch does. It makes the guitar sound like FIVE different acoustic guitars. I regret that I do not have the background or the experience to tell you what 5, but I can tell you I played around with this for quite a while just playing Helpless I like this song, because as a beginner, its just A, D and G again and again. Since Neil usually plays this song on an acoustic, it was great to play it on a Strat with that nice Strat action and get an acoustic sound. My fingers can't quite match chords on an acoustic, especially bar chords, but I can do pretty well on a guitar with a nice low action, like the Fender Stratocaster VG. Well I put that switch into all five positions, and it sounded like five different guitars, some fatter and fuller, some with a country like almost metallic sound. I believe one of the sounds is what is referred to as a Resonator guitar.

Summary

I'm no musician, but it doesn't take much for me to see the value of having a guitar that you can retune on the fly or make sound like 3 different electric guitars and 5 different acoustic guitars. No more having a guitar standing by in Drop D or open G, no more needing your favorite Strat and your favorite Tele with you, this one guitar can handle it all. There is nothing gimmicky here either, just practical. You want echo effects, reverb, overdrive, you still have to go through your amp and pedals for those effects. The effects here all seem to be practical and make a lot of sense. As a beginner I'd love to have this guitar just for the convenience of not retuning my guitar for every song that required a different tuning. I also like the idea of being able of going from Strat to Tele to Fat Strat to acoustic. Yes, I can play my sons Stratocaster, but he often takes it to his Mom's during the week. We only own one acoustic, and it is a smaller Fender Parlor. My fingers can't form bar chords on it like they can on an electric. The VG gives a guitar player 5 instant easy to play acoustic guitars.

If I had the money right now for a second guitar, I would gladly pick up this VG. When I first got my Tele, I also had eyed a Fender SSH with SR1 switching, but this VG takes the cake for versitality. I give the VG five stars.

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Fender Standard Stratocaster
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Recommended: Yes