A “cool sports car” of a Strat
This is a beautiful guitar to play. I’ve never really taken much notice of Fender’s Deluxe models because the premium features were nothing that really interested me all that much, but I can see the appeal after having played one now.
My buddy asked me to give his American Deluxe Strat a cleanup and setup. Also one of the pot shafts had partially broken, which I fixed so that the knob would stay on.
Changing strings is a joy with the locking tuners, not to mention lightning quick, the two-point floating bridge provides better tuning stability and the N3 noiseless pickups deliver a crisp, refined tone that is familiar, whilst having a voice of their own.
Seeing as this is a modern Strat I don’t think it should be judged on how it compares to a more traditional/vintage spec’d model. It’s not supposed to compete with those. It’s supposed to be a Strat that’s capable of dealing with the demands of the more modern/contemporary player.
Purist players will most likely prefer the old-school vintage specs of the reissues, but for a busy, working session player this guitar is a good choice. The variety of tones goes beyond all the traditional Strat offerings and only adds to the versatility that a Strat already provides. This guitar will cover you for almost any style of music.
The most impressive thing about this particular Strat in my experience is the feel of the neck and the workmanship that has gone into it, especially the fret work. These frets are so precisely leveled that the action on this guitar is ridiculously low without any buzzing or rattling at all. I checked the neck relief and technically it looked/felt that there was not enough of it. However, seeing as my buddy likes the action as it is and the fact that there were no issues, I left the truss rod adjustment alone.
I’m very impressed with the playability of this guitar. It’s things like this that really highlight what it is that makes a USA Fender so much more expensive than an import model. I imagine that there is a lot more time and therefore money spend on making sure that neck is perfect.
In summary, I find the Fender American Deluxe Strat to be the GTi version. It’s like the sport model that’s had some extra tuning done under the hood.
I like it!
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