Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster Electric Guitar  

I reviewed this guitar earlier and was kind of brutal on it. I would like to amend my review by saying that the guitar has some wonderful features. The one I got must have been made on Friday and they were in a hurry to hit the cantina, or, they were still hungover from the weekend on Monday. What ever, the deficiencies that I discovered really saddened me and as a result I did ask to return the guitar. I ask for an exchange as hopefully I will get a great guitar. I am willing to give Fender the benefit of the doubt and give it another shot. I will review again only after a rigorous inspection of the neck and set up.  This guitar should be worth the $650 we have to pay for it. Mine was not, but Musician's Friend does their utmost to ensure their customers are satisfied. I have no reservations about buying guitars from them as long as they keep up their great customer service.

I knocked off points for features as the so called "noiseless" pickups still emit a slight buzz.  It's not too bad until you begin stomping pedals and adding gain,  Then it gets a little annoying.  I will have to isolate the cavities and pick guard with copper foil and re ground the system. but that should have been taken care of at the factory.  Also, the extra switch does little to enhance the sound when engaged. It is barely noticeable.  I bought this thinking this would be useful however, I don't think I'll be using it.

Although the guitar finish itself is beautiful ( 3 tone sunburst) there were some quality control issues with this guitar.  first of all, I notice the screws hold the vintage tremolo were halfway out of the wood allowing the tremolo to float extremely high.  the neck has a slight forward bow to it. I am going to have to take this to a luthier to get a professional setup done to get this totally playable.  Also, I'm not too crazy about the 12" radius fret board.  they should have used the 9.5" radius fret board, but, that's a personal preference.

I rated this low because of the quality control issues.  the pickups do not sound as good as what I saw on the youtube videos which is why I bought the guitar.  I may have gotten the lemon out of the batch, however, I am keeping it and getting the work mentioned above done to it because of the extremely good "bones" of the guitar, an ash body, rose wood neck (I can get used to it) noiseless pickups( when isolated) and getting the tremolo set up right. I would like to see a little better quality control from the plant if they're going to produce guitars of this price range. I think they are basically good guitars but need a little more "TLC" before leaving the plant for the warehouse and eventually the stores.

This guitar lacks the quality value of some of Fender's better models. Although they have incorporated an ash body, noiseless pickups, vintage tuners and tremolo, the guitar just doesn't live up to it's hype. small defects such as poorly set tremolo screws, and a bowed neck are defects that should have definitely been caught by quality control. body and fretboard are nice and smooth, painting of the body was exceptionally good, the actual scheme of paint and the tortoise shell pick guiard makes this guitar look classic, however, the defects make it fall short.

Overall, I bought this guitar because of it's looks and based on fender's reputation for quality instruments, however, I should have probably saved my money and bought an american standard strat.  I have an American standard telecaster and It was awesome right out of the box. still playing it with no additional setup needed.  Fender needs to review it's mexico plant and get it's quality control up to speed if it's going to charge this kind of money for it's products.

I would try this guitar out, if you can find one in a store, before buying as it may be as good as advertised. Mine wasn't, but I can make it better, someone with less skills, may not be able to. I'll make this into a great guitar, however, I wish Fender would do it first.

Noiseless Pickup System and 7 Way Selector Options is grate Comes with quality padded Gig Bag

Good finish, but hardware appears thinly plated

The neck adds value to this instrument

I love this guitar. It sounds amazing through my Mustang II, and everything just feels like a much more expensive guitar. I would sincerely recommend this

On recieving this guitar, my ritual is to replace the strings, check the neck and action. It did need some adjustment, which I don't mind doing, I love that part of the guitar almost as much as I love playing it!

I have many strats, anywhere's from 1957 to new. My favorite would be my 1993 deluxe plus and as you can imagine this MIM deluxe player is no match, but it's not to be over looked! Four days after I received it I was out giging with it. It plays extremely nice and sounds good for the money!

I rate it 10, because it really is an amazing product! I bought it as used, but it came with everything a new Fender would come with. I had to take the protective shield off of the pickguard and back plate. It must have been a restock, because this guitar id brand new. I have a knack for going over a guitar well and finding flaws. the only thing I could find was one screw hole under the back plate was over sized and they put a piece of dalrod in so that the screw would hold. This guitar was listed used and in mint condition...And It Is!

You can't go wrong with this guitar! Noiseless vintage pickups, gold hardware, great feel and an even greater deal!