Fender JV Modified '50s Stratocaster HSS Maple Fingerboard Electric Guitar 2-Color Sunburst

This guitar has nice tone very nice for blues

I wanted to love this guitar, but I spent about 3 hours studying it, something was different. I closely inspected the humbucker positioning and found the issue by overlaying a standard Fender HSS pickguard over this guitar. This guitar has a custom pickguard as the bucker sits about 1/4 inch closer to the bridge. The tone I was getting with the coil split confirmed my suspicion. With the coils split, the screw side is the only active coil, and being even closer to the bridge than a standard HSS, there really isn't enough string energy on the high E and B to allow proper volume. You have to play with the poles, and pickup height to dial it in, but even with that, the tone is weak and thin. I had to look under the pickguard to see if there were any options to perhaps swap the pickguard, but unfortunately the route goes right up to the neck side of the humbucker.

This guitar was hanging on a wall at my local Guitar Center. I went in there looking to find "the one" to get me back into playing after taking some time away from music. I tested out an American Vintage II Strat and American Professional II Strat while in the store, and neither left me feeling like they were an inspiration. I have an American Performer Strat at home that I actually bought over the original American Professional line because I preferred the Yosemite pickup sound over the lackluster pickups in that initial run of the Pro. After putting those two down and spotting this one up top on the wall, I asked them to bring it down for me to test out. As soon as I felt that neck hit my palm I knew this was "the one". The weightlessness was unbelievable. I never held a solid body guitar this light in my life. It doesn't feel light in a cheap way, but light in a designed and clever way. The strings were ringing throughout the body. Basswood is an extremely versatile tonewood when used correctly, and this feels right at home with this guitar. The Neck fit into the body cavity so tightly I don't think you could slip a piece of paper between them. I have heard a lot over the years about Japanese Fenders, especially FujiGen built ones, but I never expected them to feel so good in your hands. Fit and finish is better than my American Performer Strat and American Professional II Tele, and I promise that I am not just saying that. The build quality is exceptional. The pick ups are not quite as nice as the Yosemite Pickups in my Performer, but I feel that this is because they are decidedly old-school and don't quite have that compressed sound you can get out of modern pickups. The neck and middle sound tasteful and delicate. The humbucker is well balanced, and you can definitely dial in some serious growl. Splitting the humbucker gives a very smooth-spanky sound that is not out of place for lead work. Upon taking this beauty home, I have grown to enjoy the sound of the pickups quite a lot more coming out of my Vox, and have dialed in on the sound I was looking for. This guitar inspires me to play it. Plain and simple. I think it would do the same for other folks as well. If you are in the market for an exceptionally built Strat with vintage style neck and pickups, I can't think of a single reason not to recommend this.

I bought this from GC after visiting several locations to try nothing but Strats. I mainly play Teles and other 2 pickup Fenders but do have 2 vintage MIJ Strats I could compare this one to. First off, basswood is a neutral "tonewood" if you believe in magic outside of science. It's also light, and this Strat weighs a fraction of my main guitar, which is a vintage Jaguar. If you're on stage for hours, you'll appreciate this the most. Second, the soft v neck is noticeable but in a good way for most C shape neck players. You may need a minute to get used to it but after that it opens up some hand positions that are slightly more difficult with a C shape. Third, the fit/finish on mine was 100% perfect, better than my AmProII Jazzmaster that was $500 more. The vibrato stayed in tune out of the box, set up was perfect. FujiGen made these for Fender, they are also widely considered the best mass scale guitar manufacturers on the planet for a reason. Lastly, the pickups, while subjective, I think on this model are great for the price. We're they handwound by Seymour with his old turntable? No, they were not. Are they well balanced when using the push-pull feature? Yes, they are. The neck pickup in particular I've grown fond of but the humbucker is great for tonal variety without having to change guitars on stage. Play one and compare it to the AmProII or even the AmVintageII Strats. I think you'll see what I mean.

I recently played a few of these and the first one I tried sounded plastic and dull so I figured it was just a bad set up, but no... all these Fender Basswood bodied guitars sound bad. The sad thing is, is that they look just wWONDERFUL! However, when you play them with or without an amp (I play a lot without in front of the T.V. to get my daily practice in whilst I relax) they just sound dull and lifeless like a toy plastic guitar. Beware the Basswood guitars as this wood is super cheap to buy and many of the large companies (you know who you are) would have you believe that it wood is just as good as alder (if not better). That is just marketing hype.

I am just amazed at the quality and craftsmenship of the japanese builders. This guitar plays great out of the box. Very well set up and no issues with fret buzzing or any dead frets. The pickups ARE PHENOMENAL. Each and every pickup sounds great and the ability to change from humbucker to single coil is great. Great hendrix / srv tones from this guitar!!!