Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Blackie)

The purchase of this Stratocaster was an extremely proud moment. It was also kinda funny how it happened, and I am not sure if anyone knows this story.

It was during one of those sale events held by a large guitar store in PJ. I had walked in to the store to pick up a set of Seymour Duncan Alnico II pickups to be fitted into my white Epiphone Les Paul. I went in and purchased the pickups, and was served by a nice sales dude (who still works there and is an awesome person), who went through the motions with me and basically rang up my pickup sale. In my haste of purchasing the Alnico II pickup, I had failed to notice that the pickup I purchased was for the neck instead of the bridge! I did not realise this mistake until I reached home that night, had contacted the gentleman who helps to set up my guitars, and realised that I bought the wrong one!

So being absolutely disappointed, I headed back to the store the next day, and looked for the same sales dude. I told him my predicament, and he more than happily walked over to where the SD pickups were to seek out the bridge version of the Alnico II. After 5 minutes of search, he comes back to deliver the bad news to me that they are out of stock of the bridge ones, and I am free to choose any other pickup of equal value or to get store credit. Seeing that I was not swung by any other pickup at that point to fit into my Les Paul (I wanted the Slash tone), I decided against getting any other pickup and opted for store credit. So the nice sales dude basically rung it up and scribbled on my receipt that I now had RM380 of store credit to use in this store.

So being disappointed, I decided to walk around the store to take a look at the guitars. I had not realised that the store was on sale - and back then in the big guitar store, when guitars were on sale, accessories usually were not. So I walked around and hit the Fender section, and I tend to "shut off" sometimes at this section simply because I always feel I am unable to afford anything in that section. As I continued walking, all of a suddenly a huge 20% discount sign caught my eye, and there sitting on the stand was a Black Fender American Standard Stratocaster. After quick mental math, I decided to try it out, and immediately fell in love with it. I was a fan of the black version as one of my all time favourite guitarist, David Gilmour, uses a black Strat. Let's not forget that Eric Clapton uses a black one too. So to quote my guitar bro, I finally had my own Blackie! And it came with this awesome fitted Fender case too!

I basically swapped my store credit and added on the extras and walked home a proud owner of an American Fender Strat!

Quick Facts:

Neck Material: Maple
Neck Profile: C Shape
Fingerboard: Maple (22 Frets)
Body: Alder
Neck Pickup: Am Standard Single Coil
Mid Pickup: Am Standard Single Coil
Bridge Pickup: Am Standard Single Coil

Make: Made in USA

Fender American Standard Stratocaster (Black) Review

So what else can I say about a Fender Stratocaster which has not been said already? I am guessing that's why it took me this long to actually want to write a review on it. I think I was far more interested in the history of its acquisition than an actual review. So I'm going to try to be succinct;

Glassy tone? Check
Comfortable neck? Check
Stratified Single Coil Tone? Check
Killer Blues Tone? Check
Able to play David Gilmour tunes? Check

Really, there's not much more to go on about it. Crystal clean tone, perfect mids, excellent highs. Plays very comfortably, although I am not the best "strat" player around. I used this guitar for some of my gigs which required a nice single coil tone. The output is great, matches up with the drums and bass very well, and cuts through when required. Can't complain much about this gutiar at all. If I were to gripe, is trying to understand why the hell my pickguard is yellowing - but I am guessing that's probably the "made in china" part of the guitar! Am thinking of swapping it for a black one, so that I truly have a David Gilmour looking guitar.

So, sorry folks. Not much of a review here, but more a posting about having a Fender American Standard Stratocaster. The short version? Everyone should own one. Every serious guitarist should own one. It's a terrifically versatile guitar, and can fit almost any genre. If you want to play some metal on it, just hook up a Metalzone of Full Bore on it, and you're ready to go. I know I did, and I was able to cover a ton of different tunes. Just be aware of the limitations of a single coil. It's not Fender's fault, but really yours if you think you can perform Black Metal on it.

Overall Rating: 9