A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Silence Kid

Silence Kid

New member
As seen and ignored on Craigslist. What it is (so you can go back to pretending not to know) is an American Select Mahogany. The greatest portion of it is in common with an Am Deluxe, but with uhh Mahogany, (non)-matching headstock, and non-noiseless pickups.

Some disassembly required. Well, was required ;) Spent about two hours disassembling/scrubbing/tweaking it, and another hour or so playing it.

Bottom line, it's not perfect and still needs a few things, but it's pretty damn good. Do have a bit to say, but here are some pics; please interject as required:

IMG_7940.jpg


IMG_7929.jpg


IMG_7958.jpg


IMG_7936.jpg
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Silence Kid said:
non-noiseless pickups.
Click to expand...

Be grateful.

Just about every noiseless Fender pickup design has sounded wrong to some degree. The N4s are an improvement on the N3s. I have been told that the Samarium Cobalt pickups were decent but have never tried them myself. The ones I did like were the Super 55 Split Coil set but these would have benefitted from a hotter bridge position pickup.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Funkfingers said:
Be grateful.

Just about every noiseless Fender pickup design has sounded wrong to some degree. The N4s are an improvement on the N3s. I have been told that the Samarium Cobalt pickups were decent but have never tried them myself. The ones I did like were the Super 55 Split Coil set but these would have benefitted from a hotter bridge position pickup.
Click to expand...

Tex Mex pickups; expected not to like, but... Somehow they're very smooth, mahogany does that? Who knows. Jazzy even, but still with Strat chime/cluck. I even use the middle pickup at all, which is rare.

Oh yeah, the humbucker somehow sounds way too good split (and the wiring is modified so the S1 only controls this... Still debating going back to stock.)

My quest for a Deluxe sprung from a friend's late eighties Plus which I once borrowed long term; Wilkinson nut, trem stop adjustor thingy, Lace Sensor pickups, just a cushy guitar. Well... I didn't so much care for the Sensors, but figured nowadays I might appreciate them more with fuzz. Was glad to find this, basically the important parts of the Plus but with more standard pickups :) Although... I still sort of want to experiment with Sensors.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Sweet looking guitar. You know, i was considering getting a budget consciously priced american strat because i'm curious to experiment with dif single coil combination options that are avail after market but i have put that project on the backburner. It ultimately came down to the fact that a nitrocellulose finish is not something i'm willing to go without at this point (at least at a high price) and all of the guitars with the type of finish i want come stock with high quality pickups i'm looking to replace anyway. I haven't looked too hard, there may be a make of guitar that meets my specs without having to shell out the extra bucks to end up getting pickups that i want to replace anyway. I'm just saying, if i got a such a good deal on a strat, i wouldn't necessarily feel put off if it doesn't have your ideal pickups. I'd probably try to look at it optomistically that at least you didn't have to pay extra for pickups you may not ultimately end up keeping anyway.
 
Last edited:
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

What I like about this guitar is that even though it isn't nitro, it's a very thin, light finish (look at the chips; it's just a glaze on the surface.) It doesn't have the same 'cold,' 'plastic' CIJ/MIJ feel of poly. But I totally hear you. I actually don't like wear, but nitro always has a 'warm' feeling, makes the instrument feel more real.

Gotcha on the pickups too, I planned on wanting to replace these (they're Mexican in a Corona guitar, principle thing,) don't know at this point if I will or not. To a degree I wanted a pickup testbed, but now I may need to get a genuine cheap guitar in addition to what I've already got, which is already a too-great amount to the point that I have a room I can't walk through because I trip over guitars in cases/racks etc.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Congrats on the New Old Guitar Day man, I myself prefer pristine guitars (I baby mine) but I can certainly appreciate a player's axe and I do love me some Mahogany on a Strat-style guit.

Enjoy her in good health and if you like her the way she is, just buy a 2nd pickguard (+ MAYBE output jack) and start modding that and then install it on whichever Strat you wanna test it on, leaving the stock one untouched.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

The thing is definitely awesome looking. Don't get me wrong, i didn't mention the whole nitrocellulose thing to mean i'd snub this guitar in any way. I promise, i wouldn't. It'd def cool as is. I was just talking about my personal dilemma. I want to get an axe nitrocellulose finished, and the ones i found that come with that option standardly have expensive pickups that i don't necessrrally want for my next "project" :)
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

+1 on creating your own ideal scratchplate, pickups and controls assembly.

I have a Warmoth bitsa La Cabronista Telecaster that has a mahogany body. This goes extremely well with the TV Jones Classic Plus souped-up Filter'Tron style pickup. TVJs might suit your Fender too.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Nitro
Click to expand...

Haha... No worries, I'm definitely a nitro snob, I grit my teeth when playing some guitars, wishing they were nitro... lol.

Anyway, a few other takeaways about the guitar:

-Played like crap when I first picked it up, but acoustically loud so figured it could do well and be worth tweaking; the frets are basically un-used. It plays, well, amazing. Cannot put this guitar away, it's in my lap running through Garageband right now at 1:30 AM.

-The two point trem/LSR/Grover locker combo? Impressive; I've got it floating and fluttering. Stable as hell. Feels like a Cadillac bending, with the trem or the old fashioned 'manual' way

-Tightest neck pocket I've ever experienced short of a US G&L owned by my dad, which is tight enough not to fall out if the screws are taken out. No cracks either somehow (in my guitar or my dad's neck pocket!)

-Previous owner seemed to be a stand-up guy; wonder if I should believe the story about how it was relic’d by a Fender employee he was acquainted with, and was brought back to the factory for it. In any case, there is diligence displayed in each screw having been rusted, most chrome bits put through a rock polisher or something, etc. It’s an odd look for a modern-isa Fender. Not a fan, but not bothered, and I guess I'm less paranoid about it

-Two volumes, one that acts only on the bridge? Might pass on that option and re-wire.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Always loved those, they're made to be played so battle scars wouldn't bother me in the slightest! You don't see many over here at least, so congrats.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Nice! I think for a little bit they were putting A2Ps in the mahogany Strat? Enjoy your tonal quest!


From a Deluxe Plus owner, Roller nut is nice, make sure to keep it clean and slightly lubricated for long life. :)
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Thanks for all the comments! Do sort of want to give a Blue/Silver/Red Sensor set a shot ;)

Routing is HSH; just ordered a new tone knob to slap on it if I ever decide to remove the VVT wiring. Humbucker is supposed to be a Diamondback? "Low" output for a humbucker, balances well. Singles are def. plastic bobbin non-Duncans; again, they sound good so not a huge issue.

A few more thoughts... Is it ever a good idea to "float" the two point bridge parallel to the body, rather than keep the front flush/rear lifted up (as I have it?) I'd need to seriously use the microtilt; microtilt is totally not part of the setup at present.

Considering things in aggregate... I never owned a Corona Fender of my own (the Strat Plus I was borrowing is the closest I came.) I now have Japan, Mexico, Fullerton (CBS) and Corona guitars (not to mention Squiers.) Probably obvious that Corona would have the better quality among these; this one took some work to get running due to some of the mentioned weirdness, but it's nice to have a guitar you don't have to put work into just to "fix" things from the factory (Japan, Squier) and doesn't have weird little quality niggles/missing bits of wood etc. (Mexico, CBS.) I should have stepped up years ago :) (Still, my MIJ is the guitar that just blows me away most often and still surprises me when I play it... Because I put a TON of money into it and it's been with me for years, so it's comfortable. This one is close to that too.)
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

I had a bandmate with that same guitar. That thing rocked!
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Nice! The Tex-Mex pick ups are actually really nice. The bridge was always too weak in my opinion, but you won't have an issue like that with that 'bucker!

One recommendation, if you end up leaving the Tex-Mex in, try doing the Jimmie Vaughan wiring and bypass the tone knob for the middle pickup.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Also, if you want to remove any rust from the screws, I've had good luck with spraying some contact cleaner on the heads and wiping it of a few seconds later.
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

Too bad you were late for the Fender Strat contest, would have gotten my vote for sure, do enter it next year should it still be around ;)

Now, to answer the original question from the other thread, the way I see it, relic-ing is the same as intentionally worsening the way a guitar looks like. It is NEVER desirable in my eyes since it is missing the "has been loved and played for decades" element, like Rory's Strat or our own WahWah's "Old Dear". THAT is what makes it desirable, not the look in and of itself.

I recently acquired a late 90s ESP that was relic-ed the right way, played a whole darn lot for the last 20-ish years, and seeing it hadn't been done by myself, it still bothered me to the extend that it now is at my favorite tech where he assesses how much it's gonna cost to bring her back to pristine. His initial guess is it'll be around 150-200 euro. OUCH!

Point is, I would never relic a guitar and if I were to get one that way, I'd certainly deduct from the asking price the above amount for the work it'd take to return it to pristine, not the other way around.

But for 500 USD, yeah, the deducting had already been made and then some, in my mind it's a no-brainer and the best part, you can either dish out the money to return her to pristine and still be ahead money-wise or keep her as-is and have her be a player's axe, not worrying about bumping her around but just enjoying her to the fullest extent.

In a word: SCORE!
 
Re: A $500 American Select (Deluxe) Strat Looks Like...

You can have my nitro....I like the smell and such...but not much else....
I like the feel of a well played instrument, I do not baby any of mine....they get dinged, punched, scratched, dropped....well the only guitar I do look after is my acoustic(more due to the more fragile nature of it)...the electric ones...heh use them!
Nice strat...
Nothing wrong with noiseless pickups if they are made by people who know what they are doing...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top