Fender American Professional II Stratocaster - 3 Color Sunburst with Rosewood Fingerboard Review

Best Strat I've owned to date.

sounds great plays great. pickups nice and quiet, no ground loop hum at all (I live in an old tenement with dirty electricity) The last strat I had, a nice guitar I found after a while to be a bit to "vintage" for me as far as the pickups go. this strat has more modern features, which includes a truss rod adjustment at the headstock and not at the bottom of the neck which had to… read more be unscrewed to access. the push-push tone knob is a great feature for beefing up the bridge pickup signal. And the tremolo floated with 9's stays in tune quite well although I don't do dive bombing. The neck was a little sticky at first but now has broken in nicely, nice and smooth. Was a little apprehensive at first primarily because of the price, it's the most I ever spent on a guitar, and the fact that I'm not a pro made the expense hard to justify at first but in the end, I decided to go for it and the six easy payment plans made it easier to afford. In all no regrets, love the ax.

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HELL OF AN AXE!!

This strat sounds gorgeous and looks gorgeous! What can I say? The guys at sweetwater had this thing set-up right out of the box. I had to put some Ernie ball 10s on her and now she's perfect. This guitar has loads of tonal options with the push-push tone circuit. I also prefer a wider and thicker neck, as opposed to the thinner and narrow strat necks of old. Fender is doing some… read more nice stuff, can't miss out on it! With low interest free payments, you can afford one of these no problem. Might as well get the real McCoy!

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Strats are nice guitars - but can they hang with the competition in this price range?

I have a weird relationship with Stratocasters. Most everyone has played one at some point in their career, and so many of the greats have played one: Vaughn, Mayer, Hendrix, Clapton, Townsend, The Beatles, Fruschiante, Gilmore, Garcia, the list goes on and on. Countless non-virtuoso players have also used it to great effect as a rhythm guitar or a texture instrument. I just… read more never really bonded with my Stratocasters. My first electric guitar was a real POS strat knock off. Almost put me off Strats for life. It was that bad. The first fender Strat I ever had was a Mexican 2000 model. They were great affordable guitars. Poplar body, maple neck, sealed turners. Compared to what they cost now - they were super cheap. The guy at the store saw me eying up a sunburst one. I told him I couldn't afford it. He asked what I had. I told him what I had. Somehow I walked out with the guitar and a SKB case for way less than the guitar went for on MF. The salesman later was fired. I miss that guy. I liked it well enough, but never really got that feel like 'this is my forever, desert island guitar.' 6 years later I was gifted a 1995 USA sunburst model with a rosewood fretboard at absolutely no cost to me. Looking to pay it forward - I gave my MIM strat to an old friend from high school who was a super talented musician who was a little bit of a late bloomer in that he was struggling financially to get through college a few years all of our friends had graduated. I just found the USA strand a little vanilla and uninspiring. It just didn't do it for me. I later swapped the pickups for a Tex-Mex set, which I guess some would say is a step down from the USA stock pickups. I also had them rip out whatever the stupid treble bleed circuit was and wire it to vintage spec. I did feel the new pickups gave it a little more 'shimmer, chime, and grind.' I still wasn't crazy for it. I played it sometimes and ran it through various stomp boxes. The amps I played both Strats through were a 97 Peavey Bandit 112, Peavey Classic 30, and later the USA strat through a first edition Fender Blues Jr. I briefly was gifted a 2002 Mexican Strat which I also never really dug. I got it set up for 1/2 step down tuning for my sub-par Hendrix and Stevie renditions. After a little bit it went into the case and then was just hung up on the wall for decoration. Eventually the person who gave it to me had a nephew who needed an electric guitar, so I gave it back and it went to him. I don't miss it, but the nephew loves it. Although I never really dug the USA strat, after I got the new pickups I took it to a guitar lesson, and my teacher just had to play it. He loved it. So I guess it all comes down to personal preference. I plan on getting the vintage style tuners put on it (purely for looks) and keeping it forever regardless of my lack of affection for it. It was a gift, and it is special to me. Also, peoples tastes change. I play guitars I shelved years ago due to lack of interest - and now I think 'this is great, why did I ever pack this away?' Also, it is one of my few American made guitars and a heritage quality heirloom instrument. Sometimes I think about adding Seymour Duncan Little 59 Humbuckers and seeing what happens. But I won't do anything to it like have new pickup routes or add switches. But here is the real sticky issue - Fenders were designed to be the affordable every man's electric guitar - especially when compared to the 'Three Gs: Gibson, Guild, and Gretsch.' The Mexican Strats are now close to 3 times the price for a Mexican 'a player's series' model. And the new version of the USA standard strat is almost double what it used to cost in the late 90's and early 2000's. This is way more than the rate of inflation. At the current price the USA line is way less than a Gibson or Gretsch standard model, and Guild Electric are no longer made in the USA, so I guess it is still comparatively affordable - but The USA guitars are putting themselves out of the reach of average blue collar and working class people. More and more guitars are only within the reach of doctors, lawyers, and accountants. It just sucks. At the same time there are so many great alternatives for an S Style guitar. There are great values at all price points from the Slick Brand guitars for almost nothing, to foreign made G&Ls, Reverends, and Yamahas that have great quality at much more accessible price points. So I would say this - if you love the strat thing and a USA Stratocaster is your aspirational guitar and prized possession; then shop around and get one. If not - play the field and get something pretty comparable for a lot less money.

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Sweetwater changed my mind!

I bought one of these Strats about a week ago. Some back story...I own the first American pro Strat and absolutely love it! I did however put some Texas specials in the first one due to the style of music I play. I then decided I wanted to get this new American pro 2 to use as a less hairy guitar for my collection. So fast forward...I order the first guitar which is this burst.… read more I get it overnighted and I open it. The guitar is beautiful! I then immediately begin a setup on it. I usually "deck" my Strats so that the tremolo can only be used in a downward motion toward the strings. So I do the same to this Strat...I deck the bridge plate flush with the body...It was then that I notice the pivot bolts are different sizes (miss casting). I go ahead and pull the bridge plate off only to find discrepancies on the bass side under the pivot point making it impossible to sit flush on the body. I then notice some discrepancy in the neck finish...It was some sawdust that had been trapped under the finish. At this point I was extremely disappointed in Fender and their QC department. The quality of this Strat was that of a Mexican made Strat at half the price. Obviously I made Sweetwater aware of these issues and I sent the guitar back. I was overnighted a replacement. Joe Stilwell from Sweetwater guitar tech support went ABOVE AND BEYOND and had the new replacement guitar gone through with a fine tooth comb and even went as far as having the guitar PLEK'D for me at no additional cost. I received the new guitar yesterday. I did a full setup and inspection and this new Strat is PERFECT in every way. THANK YOU JOE STILWELL! it's folks like Joe that make repeat customers. This is the kind of thing that sets Sweetwater apart from the rest! Any other company would have taken the loss and customer...not Sweetwater! They stepped up through and through! I went ahead and removed the Fender V-MODII pickups from this Strat as I don't like these pickups at all! I replaced them with the Fender V-MOD1 pups from my old American PRO 1 Strat. These V-MOD 1 pups are absolutely wonderful...sadly Tim Shaw should have left the pups alone...it's possible to work yourself out of a good tone and that what happened in my opinion with these V-ModII pups. I also went ahead and installed an Emerson Custom wiring harness as I don't like the "push-push" and super switch stuff. This Strat now holds its own with the best! Thank you Sweetwater!!!!!

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They are killer

I was skeptical about some of the features, but man the pickups are incredible and the neck is absolutely amazing. I've played a lot of strats and own a couple others, but this new generation is definitely adding something extra. These aren't just another strat, they feel and sound nearly custom shop level. Fender always delivers, but now they are delivering next level. Couldn't… read more be happier.

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