• New Strat is a winner

  
  As reviewed by Hans Hansen on 5/7/2012

  All of the improvements of the past 2 years are in this model with the addition of the Fat 50's pickups. These pups sound great, basically classic, with slightly higher output without sounding hot. The neck will appeal to most players as most measurements are a compromise, IE nut width, neck and fingerboard radii. The rosewood is good and dark - reminiscent of Brazilian stock. The paint and finishing are almost flawless. A nice well built case and some candy make this a good value overall. I have the Jade pearl metallic which would be at home on some custom cars. The appearance changes with the light, going from green with a hint of metallic to silver with a hint of green. I picked mine up at a GC showroom.

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• A disaster

  
  As reviewed by Jeff Lucas on 12/7/2012

  Where do I begin? It's like the early years of CBS owned Fender. Lets start with the good. The color and the finish were awesome as well as the pickups, really great sound. Now the bad. Just about everything about the frets were poorly done. Sharp edges were the most problematic, but sharp burrs along the fret were also an issue. The neck was mounted slightly crooked. The nut was a complete disaster, the worst of it was the strings popped out and bend towards the tuners, which made it impossible to set up without some work at my local GC. The bridge was also slightly crooked like the neck. I have never had a guitar require so much work just to be have way playable. The volume knob was loose and the pick guard had a nasty vibration.Very disappointed and I had to return it. I have had several problems with guitars out of the box but none as bad as this. Prices keep going up and quality is going down and not just Fender but all the gang. Time to shape up money is to hard to come by to accept what's being put out to us the public. Very disapointed.

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• Noisy pups and dead fretboard.

  
  As reviewed by David DiOrio on 9/10/2012

  I purchased a 2012 American Standard Strat Rosewood tri color sunburst on 8/26/2012. The shipping was quick through my GC and I had it by the following friday. I inspected it and it looks great. The color blending on the burst is great and it has a nice feel in the hands. The features are basic switches and the tuning machines are subpar; Cheap looking plastichrome. I prefer the look and feel of the older metal kidney keys on the early 70's models. The polished headstock looks like it has a clear plastic cover on it that I do not like. The frets are nice but the fretboard is to flat, should have a little more radius to it. The pups are the fat fifties and the 2nd and 4th positions are quiet and have a nice bell like sound with beef to them. I cannot use the 1st, 3rd, and 5th positions as they buzz ferociously and it will not stop, so 3 out of the 5 selections are unusable. I did get a decent price on it though, brand new with case. I have always wanted a Strat as I have a Gibson LP and wanted an extra sound but I would probably not buy this guitar again. The buzzing is annoying, the fretboard is dead, and the overall feel is as if they are duplicating some other guitars. To do it again I would try the HSS model and have N3's for the singles.

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