Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar 

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

The Fender Blacktop Strat is easily one of the finest Strats I have ever played. Shortly after the Blacktop Series was introduced, my brother got one in sonic blue and that finish is absolutely gorgeous. The mint green pickguard gives it a unique color combination as well. Anyway, this particular model has a polished fretboard and neck which, in my opinion, makes it seem as if it's a far more expensive Strat than it is. It also feels nicer than an unpolished fretboard and neck as I've played on plenty of other Strats and Teles alike. Not only does this Strat look great, but it sounds great too.

Despite the humbuckers in this Strat, it still sounds like a Strat. You can simply take it to new heights. You can easily go from playing blues to country to metal. Tone wise, there's something for everyone in this Strat.

In case you're stuck between the Blacktop Strat and the Blacktop Tele, I thought I'd add that the Tele version is great as well. However, the Blacktop Strat is more versatile than its Tele counterpart. Both look, feel and sound great but, to me, the Blacktop Strat is the better of the two.

Anyway, the Blacktop Strat is a wonderful instrument at a great price. I highly recommend this one.

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

Just received the guitar but already love the feel and sound...very excited to get some playing time!

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

The frets need filing on the ends.This can be expensive. The body holes fo r the claw screws were not drilled deep enpough to stop
the strings from going flat when you bend the g string a whole step.
Program will not allow my post because it says I need to fill all required fields. I have.

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

I love playing this guitar. I own a sonic blue with a maple fretboard and after some minor set up and larger strings(.10) it has been a real pleasure. I've always loved strats but with this I get the punch of a humbucker along with some single coil options making it very versatile. I personally am not going to change the pickups, I think they sound great has they are; powerful on distortion and I love the cleans especially when doing jazzy work. I would definitley buy another one no doubt.

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

This is a fantastic buy, and for the money you can't go wrong. A little more money in upgrades makes this superior to many MIA strats in my opinion. I've added an LSR roller nut, middle pickup, and an active midboost control which can be swept for different frequencies (like a wah, very Zappa esque). But the same stock sounds are all still there, and they're the ones I use most often. Coil tapping the neck pickup is one of the best tones I know. A previous review described the pickups as muddy, but if you have a good amp and know how to set an EQ, then you'll hear their true character- WARM. Rolling off the tone is very responsive and the entire range of the volume and tone pots are usable. If you're having trouble hearing the changes with a distortion or dirty amp, try using it clean and you'll hear the subtleties (too much clipping removes these dynamics in many cases). For either a modding platform, or for a great basic jam guitar, if you don't get a lemon you'll be happy!

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

A lot of the reviews of this guitar are a little off in my opinion.
First this is a great guitar good finish quality craftsmanship.
Has a great crunchy tone at the bridge that overdrives beautifully. Coil splitting actually sounds good and is useful. Wonderfully versatile guitar you play anything from blues to metallica on this thing. It's also way better looking in person. Perfect glossy finish nice aged color to the pick guard. Just nice all around. Humbuckers are actually quality pick-ups.

Now for the bad. This guitar requires some setup. It came from the factory with action set higher that 50 dollar pawn shop acoustic. Fixed that by adjusting the truss rod and the bridge. VINTAGE TREMOLO=POOP TREMOLO. I am not a big trem fan so i ordered a tremo-no with the guitar. Thank god I did because the guitar was barely playable with the factory trem. Wouldn't stay in tune chords sounded like poop. Don't even bother trying to bend. Oh and it didn't come with bullet strings. Come on fender stop cutting corners?????

Basically unless you just like being out of tune and sounding like a complete tard. You NEED to hard tail the trem on this guitar. I don't know why they don't just sell a hard tail version. Oh wait they do a Tele. Not to mention doing it the right way(with a tremo-no) adds a ton of sustain.

All that being said. The guitar is well worth the asking price. Just needs a little setup.

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

nothing bad to say about this guitar. great buy for the money.
bought the sonic blue model with maple neck and i like the look and also was very pleased with the sound on all five switch positions. very versital guitar.
much better quality than i expected from a MIM guitar. i did'nt kow what to expect for this guitar but wanted to take the chance. i have owned many guitars from gibson, ibanez, taylor, and others.
Over the years i have become a strat guy. they are just more comfortable to paly for me personally.
I have always wanted fenderr to make a double humbucker guitar. I currently have a artist series blackie, and american Hss strat. This guitars quality matches the HSS strat.
Great value for the guitar that you get. no comparison to the others for similar or even higher price.

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

Would recommend this to everyone.
This guitar is by far the best I've had. It plays like a dream. Sound is exceptional. I would recommend it to anyone.
Good quality, well built guitar. Pickups sound great
A lot of guitar for the price!

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

Great guitar! Disappointed in the packing though! I am a frequent customer of MF and this is the first time I have a complaint about the attention to detail with MF. The box the guitar was packed in was not bubble protected and was sliding around inside the second shipping box. Fortunately after a through inspection I did not find any damage to the guitar.
Excellent value for the buck!
Rosewood insert on back of neck was not sanded properly and protrudes slightly at the third fret. Maple neck has slight blemish near the nut. Would have returned this guitar but the neck feels fantastic and the guitar setup right out of the box was perfect! This guitar does out go out of tune!
Best guitar for the money I have played. The maple neck is fast and feels great! The Alnico's sound full and warm but are crunchy when pushed. Its nice to play a strat without the annoying hum from single coils. Love the guitar!!

Comments about Fender Blacktop Stratocaster HH with Maple Fretboard Electric Guitar:

Been playing over 40 years bla bla bla, own lots of boutique guitars, yada yada. THIS item is the BEST working-musician guitar I've owned. GREAT versatility. Looks like a nicely done franken-caster. Feels right in the hand. Sounds great. AND, you don't really have to worry much about a guitar for this price. If it gets dented or stolen, not that painful a thing to deal with, ya know?
Everything you need is here. Nice single coil tones for chord work, or for lead (especially country twang leads). Great (truly) humbucker tone for the leads or driven fat tones. The TREM works, really well. Gorgeous finish and details.

Pickups are a work of genius. The neck pickup, for example is fantastic, fat yet articulate and full of harmonic overtones. On a 10 volume, it kicks. As you know when you turn the volume down a bit on humbuckers you tend to lost the high end, the clarity. Which is sorta true here as well, BUT when you go all the way down to 2 or 3 on the guitar volume the sparkle magically comes back, for really NICE spanky clean tones with sparkling attack. That alone is awesome. But the split coil tones are also totally useable, and even excellent in their own right.

PRS and others have tried and not done as well at the coil splitting thing. This baby gets it RIGHT. For live playing (which I do often, professionally) the single coil tones offered hwere are great for chord work. Each of the 5 pickup settings here is VERY nice in its own right, and you will love this guitar for its tone if for nothing else.
Zero defects. Nice fretwork.
Eleven actually.