Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar Olympic White

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

Like another reviewer mentioned quite accurately, we go back to the strat. My original search was for an American made - white with rosewood. Though I'm in my early 50's I still get like a kid filled with excitement to take home a new guitar while at the store. But these days it's not as easy as it once was when guitar choices were more limited and all were available for you to try, feel and decide. So in my quest I traveled to music stores up and down the east coast of my state trying to find an Amer Standard, white with rosewood and no one had one in the store. I wound up buying a Clapton Artist series, maple neck of course, spending 1500 instead of the 1200 I set out to spend. After a day or two at home I realized it was not the guitar for me. I returned it for an SRV which had the rosewood and i was looking for that kind of sound. Though I really I didn't want sunburst at all. Again, after a few days brought it back and was disappointed that no white strats were available to try out. Finally I gave in to the guy at the store, who, as they all say, can order one for you. Because i already spent over 1500' I noticed this guitar online for the same price as the SRV and ordered it. It got to the store in less than 2 days and when it arrived it looked, felt and sounded great! The neck is definitely big ("thick C"). i compared it to the American Standard with rosewood - on the amp that gave the best sound with it, a Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12'. The feel of the American Standard felt "smaller" in every way, weight, feel, and most importantly, tone. The fat 50 pups in my opinion are not as nice in clarity and tone as this guitar. I believe these vintage pick ups, combined with the quality,and solid wood of the neck and body on this guitar give it an overall incredible tone. It was an easy choice at that point. Great tone and feel on this high quality guitar. If its tone you're looking for you WILL find it in this strat. Also, I agree with others who say this is a far better choice that the SRV......for an SRV sound, and the quality is better all around. This Vintage Hot Rod 62 is what makes Fender Stratocaster a great guitar.

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

Well in my pursuit over the past 12 years I've tried to find THE perfect Stratocaster. I've owned many strats. And also made countless "partscasters" to try and make a strat to my specs. In the end I never liked them because they weren't just a straight up Fender Stratocaster. I've always been a huge fan on the 60's era Strats (who isn't?) but I never wanted to buy the reissues because of the small radius necks and frets. I found the American Vintage Hot Rod series and was hooked! Trouble is the price is way to high for any regular player. Also where I live no guitar stores carry them, so that left me to ordering one online. After reading all the reviews I could find on the net I decided to buy this guitar blindly without playing it which typically is a big mistake when buying a guitar. I didn't have the cash so I sold all of my strats and my 1967 Bassman to get the cash and then placed my order. When it got here and I opened the case I was speechless! This is THE nicest guitar I have ever seen! Blows any of the custom shops out of the water. The case is beautiful and the nitro finish is amazing! Then I played it and was sold! It plays so smoothly and has great tone! Also the neck is super fat which is awesome. I've played the SRV, John Mayer and other signature strats; don't spend your money on them BUY THIS GUITAR! The set up was perfect from the factory. It was shipped across the United States and arrived at my house in tune! Take it from me. If you're super cautious about buying an instrument you can't play first don't be with the Hot Rod '62 and if you're short on the cash save up because this beauty is worth every penny!

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

I bought the American Vintage '62 Hot Rod Stratocaster locally, and it is a fantastic instrument! However, mine had a bridge problem directly from the factory... Which should be unheard of in this price range. When I removed the silver sticker that Fender uses to cover the hole in the bridge for the tremomo bar, I knew immediately knew that something was wrong. I proceeded to try screwing in the tremolo bar but it wouldn't thread because the bridge block had been machined wrong and was almost half covering the hole. Luckily Fender is very good to deal with, and their customer service is great. They sent a replacement bridge without batting an eye..
Aside from the bridge problem, the overall quality is great! The 57/62 pickups are very well balanced, and are probably the best set of single coil pickups that I have found (very balanced, and thick!). The Nitro finish is beautiful, helps the wood to breathe more than a modern poly finish, and will gracefully age over the years.
I believe that this model could be more affordable, though you do pay for the subtle differences.

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

It is often said that, no matter where your musical prejudices lie, every guitarist returns to a stratocaster at some point. I say "return" because almost every electric guitar seems to owe a great deal to this ubiquitous guitar. I fought this notion for a long time. I deluded myself into thinking that I was a telecaster fan--i bought an Epiphone Dot, claiming that strats (and Fenders generally) were too trite and overused and there was never any justification in spending so much on a guitar just because it was assembled in America. I fiddled with knobs and pedals and expensive (and often borrowed) amps. I realized ultimately that the sound I was always striving towards was the "2" and "4" positions of a 5-way single-coil stratocaster switch. It seems an odd contradiction, but the everyday, ordinary Strat is both generic and UNIQUE. Generic in the sense that every one of our seminal guitar heros have played one and unique in the sense that they seem to have done so because its sound is so incredibly specific. To my way of thinking you can more easily recognize a Strat in a recording than any other guitar. If I sound like a purist (or a bit of a pretentious boob) you are not mistaken. But this is a REAL vintage '62 Strat with modern appointments WITHOUT sacrificing the 5-way switch. Early Strat players wedged a matchbook or something into the original 3-way switch to get those "2" and "4" position sounds that are so distinctive. This guitar does that and more with the completely hum-free 2 and 4 positions (reverse wind/polarity). It's unfortunate that Fender seems to have discontinued the beautiful Sherwood Green version and here only provides white and sunburst, but if I've touched on any of your guitar sensibilities I assure you that this is your guitar.

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

Bought it, played it, didn't care for it. Took it back and got the standard 62 ARVI. I own a real 61strat, and the standard (7.25 radius) 62 reissue is an exact duplicate! My reissue actually sounds a little more clear, but I immagine the pickups on my 61 have lost some of their zing after all these years.I've never had any problem fretting out on deep bends with the 7.25 radius (nor did any of ourguitar heros who made millions of records) before us! The 57/62 pickups sound IDENTICAL to the 61.Not so with the Hot Rod. I found the Hot Rod to be overly basey, and agree with the other reviewer that said it would have been a better SRV guitar.

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

The 62 hot rod is pretty much made the way they were in 62. the 62 reissue does not have the nitro finish so the hot rod is going to ware out and sound just like the old ones.its basicly a relic before it gets the relic treatment. That being they are the truest as if you were buying one in 62. Mine is 3tone sunburst but be carefull I looked at and played alot of these sometimes they are booked matched very poorly and you can see were they matched they up through the finish and it looks really bad. but the feel, tone, and playibility of this guitar cannot be denied I have a 2002 american deluxe strat and the 62 hot rod blows it away! this is what a srv strat should have been! Nuff said...

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

This is buy far the best strat i have ever played. I saw it an a store and decided that this was what i wanted to save for instantly. i Just knew it was for me. It looks the part, feels the part, plays the part, and even smells the part. I set this up with 11's and med-high action and it just sings. The resonance is like nothing i have ever experienced before. When you play it on you lap your own body vibrates with the guitar. The pickup are voiced perfectly. It has lower output single coil like the real vintage strats which give you those big clear soaring highs, but with such a resonate body, you get the big warm mids and lows. Fender can still make well priced and exceptionally well built guitars. I cant say the same with new G*&$@n! I was looking into a Custom shop NOS '62 but the have the original vintage narrow frets and a slightly smaller neck. They also did not have the mint green guard and just didn't seem right. For me this was perfect.

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

This is the sweetest strat I have ever owned/played in my 35 years of guitardom, (I have had my share). The finish is fantastic, the whole guitar resonates like nothing I have ever seen before. The vintage pickups crank out PURE ROCK AND ROLL, COUNTRY, JAZZ, AND THE DIRTIEST OF BLUES. Mine was set up pefectly out of the case, the intonation was "dead on" and the darn thing was even in tune!

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

I absolutely love this guitar. I was suspicious of it at first because I am not into vintage gear. I tried it at my local music store and fell in love with it. I've played it every gig since I bought it. It sounds great through my Traynor 100w combo

Comments about Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar:

Just got this cool axe the other day and no regrets here! My favorite part is the way that they wired the pickups, which is exactly the same way that Eric Johnson does his! All fender pickups should be set up the way that this guitar is. It has Old School looks, and the fact the it looks Vintage makes people take a second glance every time! If your looking for that Classic Rock/Blues/Country sound than this is the guitar for you. Not recomended for Hard/Metal sounding music. Fender put alot of time into making this awesome axe! So get yours today :)