• wel-built time machine

  
  As reviewed by PPGuitarist on 8/6/2007

  I bought this guitar a few months back. immediately i fell in love with it because of the finish. olympic white, with a maple neck. sounds awesome, and it stays in tune perfectly. my only complaint is that the frets are too small, but then i realized that it was just true to the strats of the 70's. bending the strings is hard because of that, but it still has a great feel for when you crave playing classic rock. definitely worth the price. i play in a metal/hardcore band, but this guitar really takes me back to my roots.

  28 of 28 people found this review helpful.
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• I own it and love it.

  
  As reviewed by That Guy in the Valley. on 5/9/2007

  I purchased mine Jan-14th-2007 and since then I can not put her down. The feel, the tones and the way it never goes out of tune. Fender did a great job on this baby. Got mine in Olympic white with a maple neck, classic. If you love to play 60's-70's rock and everything after this is the one! Limitless fun.

  27 of 27 people found this review helpful.
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• How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the 70's Strat RI

  
  As reviewed by The Public Image on 7/8/2009

  I acquired my 70's Strat RI (Olympic white with rosewood fretboard) used in a trade for a CIJ Jaguar. The Jag was a nice instrument, and I loved the shape of the neck; however, my main guitar is an 01 USA Telecaster, and the short scale and shrill pickup configuration sent me looking elsewhere after 2 years. While I honestly preferred the Jag's vibrato system to that of the Strat, I knew this guitar was going to be right for me the instant I touched it. I've harbored a prejudice against Fender's MIM products for years now because they always seemed to be subpar products with cheap parts, but this instrument has made me realize that either I was dead wrong, or the Mexican plant has really stepped up their game lately. The feel of the U-shaped neck is silky-smooth, despite the fact that the previous owner didn't take very good care of the instrument. (I would, however, recommend putting a little oil on the string trees and using some sort of lubricant on the nut.) I've heard complaints about the CBS-era 3-bolt necks being less than sturdy, but I've had absolutely none of the reported intonation issues after working with a tech to set the guitar up properly. The bent-steel saddles give the guitar an unusual amount of sustain, making it easy to induce and control feedback. I'm VERY pleased with the versatile tones I can get from the stock pickups. The neck pu'p is thick and bassy, the middle combinations are classic "quacky" sounds, and the one by the bridge conjures that classic Fender spank. The bridge pickup is actually my favorite, as it really shines with an overdriven tube amp and a delay pedal! I very rarely use any other setting. My rig at this point consists of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe 1x12 combo and several effects pedals (including a TS9 overdrive, a Line 6 Echo Park, a Boss DD-3 delay, and an MXR MicroAmp boost). The 70's Strat RI was a perfect addition to my setup, and sadly, my USA-made Tele has started gathering a little dust.

  5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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