Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

RGN

RGN

New member
I hadn't bought a new guitar since 2005. That was my beloved Tom Anderson Pro Am T with a Floyd. Before that I had bought an ESP Custom Shop and a GMW. Nothing by Fender or Gibson had really appealed too much to me. Yesterday, I rolled into Guitar Center to return a book I bought for my daughter. I decided to mess around with a couple Strats and kill some time. After playing 3 or 4 I finally got to an American Deluxe Strat and wow. This guitar was solid. I went into the "high-end" room and plugged into a used Fender amp and the sound was inspiring. I bought the guitar after haggling a bit and went home with it. The only decision was rosewood or maple neck- I went rosewood for a change. These guitars seem like a bargain. They play every bit as well as some of the $3000-4000 Custom Shop Strats and the American Deluxe comes with the same Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups that come on the $2600 CS Strat Pro and the $$$$ Strat Pro Relics. I will review the pick-ups later after I log some time in the studio with them but lets just say they don't suck! The tremolo bar is nice. I set mine up slightly floating and it can go sharp and flat and pretty much stays in tune. I was playing "Where were you" last night... much easier with a Fender bridge than a Floyd.

It played AWESOME with the stock 10s but last night I threw on some 9-42s and tuned to Eb. I still need to tweak the truss rod and set the intonation again. I am pumped to see such a quality product coming from Fender. I was by NO MEANS a Fender fan before this.... my last '80 or '81 strat was a true POS and I hated it. Also, it comes with strap locks and a strap?? Never seen that before. it comes with the nicest case I own and a cord?!? Overall, I am actually thrilled about this purchase. Nice job Fender. Keep rocking my SD Forum brothers.... I am not around much anymore. Between 2 kiddos and a crazy schedule I am lucky to find time to jump on here once or twice a month.

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Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

RGN, it's the american deluxes that I maintain a belief that they're actually CS-quality bodies and necks that weren't let into "the promised land" due to some hairbrained reason. Example, i have a flamed neck on my mahogany AmDlx, that b/c the right side's flame isn't as strong as the left side's flame, prob. relegated it to the production line. However, she's an awesome player and has given me more sustain than any other guitar I've owned, Gibson, Fender, etc.

Another AmDlx fan, you're not alone :D

Jason
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

Sweet guitar. There was an American Deluxe in white at the Fort Worth GC haunting me for the longest time but somebody finally did buy it, and it wasn't me. I agree about the SCN pickups. They don't suck. I have them in my American Standard now and believe that was the best move. They sound great in that guitar. There's loads of quack in the 2 and 4 positions, I can use more drive due to them being noiseless, and I love that they are noiseless. Not a vintage single-coil sound, but a more modern sound and that is fine with me.

hermetico, the Strat Deluxe is not out of production..... http://www.fender.com/products/sear...e=Stratocaster%AE&prod_series=American+Deluxe
 
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Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

i like Strats... and i'm more of a Modern Strat guy at heart... i have a few Vintage reissues types... one being a Custom Shop 66... and as much as i love Vintage style strats a lot of the time i find myself saying... "god i wish this had higher output pickups"... or "lower noise PUs", or sometimes i prefer the smoother modern 2-post trems with the more narrow string spread...

i like old and new designs... but when i'm playing hard rock a modern strat works best for me... i could see rockin an American Deluxe..
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

hermetico said:
Strat deluxes are (were!, because they are now out of production) what an strato always wanted to be, IMO.

The only part you cannot like is the set of pickups but, this always has solution.

Fretboard: wider than usual
Nut: LRS, adds sustain
Bridge: Deluxe massive bridge with pop up arm, a nice improvement.
Keys: Staggered locking keys that, with the bridge, allow the guitar to remain in tune, after any diving. The staggered keys make not necessary to use string trees.
Neck tenon: has a cutted shape that allows you to better gain the lowest frest, without any effort.
Finishing: remembers me the work of Fujijen factory (Ibanez Prestige). Flawless.
Action: the lowest of any other strat I played.

I was very happy swapping my old 1991 american strato with my american deluxe. Never disapointed (well, I hate the most of color combinations they choosed for this amazing axe). Now I am swapping pickups and thinking on some weird wiring, while retaining the stock one, with SSS pickups.
Click to expand...

Hermetico, Fender still has the AmDlx listed on its USA site. but yea, the AmDx's are INCREDIBLE. I have a mahogany one, it's incredible.
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

Guys.... I switched from 10s to 9s and my truss rod needs adjustment. Do I need to loosen it or tighten it? I also need to lower the bridge just a bit.

Guitar still rules. I really like the pick-ups. Silence is golden! :firing:
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

according to dan erlewine's book: for more relief, you loosen (counterclockwise) ... but not too much! ... you'll get lowest action with least relief

is it buzzing?
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

Just a bit of buzz.... nothing horrible. I wanted to set it "settle" over night before I tried to adjust it.
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

Yeah, adjust it counterclockwise 1/4 turn at a time. Let it sit with the 9's, then adjust it 1/4 turn if necessary. Let it sit. If it's too much relief, tighten it up half of what you loosened it. Fender has a cool setup guide on their site that talks about relief and the recommended amount. Don't lower the bridge too much or it'll interfere with the pivoting on the posts by hitting the body. Adjust in small intervals.
 
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Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

RGN said:
Just a bit of buzz.... nothing horrible. I wanted to set it "settle" over night before I tried to adjust it.
Click to expand...

If you went to a lighter gauge string and dropped the tuning then you will now have less relief than you started with (less tension now).

It's hard to say why it buzzes. Could be an unlevel fret on the low end, or the action or the trussrod.

Need more info

Did it buzz with the 10s and standard tuning?
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

shredhed said:
If you went to a lighter gauge string and dropped the tuning then you will now have less relief than you started with (less tension now).

It's hard to say why it buzzes. Could be an unlevel fret on the low end, or the action or the trussrod.

Need more info

Did it buzz with the 10s and standard tuning?
Click to expand...

Well, if you went from 10's to 9's, then the truss rod is still at the tension for 10's which means its tighter than it needs to be with 9's, which would mean you have more tension and need to loosen it...

It makes sense because there's not enough relief (i.e. the neck is too flat)
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

jimijames said:
Well, if you went from 10's to 9's, then the truss rod is still at the tension for 10's which means its tighter than it needs to be with 9's, which would mean you have more tension and need to loosen it...

It makes sense because there's not enough relief (i.e. the neck is too flat)
Click to expand...

+1 that's how it's work for me (but opposite) going from 10's to 11's on my Strat.
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

hermetico said:
Strat deluxes are (were!, because they are now out of production) what an strato always wanted to be, IMO.

The only part you cannot like is the set of pickups but, this always has solution.

Fretboard: wider than usual
Nut: LRS, adds sustain
Bridge: Deluxe massive bridge with pop up arm, a nice improvement.
Keys: Staggered locking keys that, with the bridge, allow the guitar to remain in tune, after any diving. The staggered keys make not necessary to use string trees.
Neck tenon: has a cutted shape that allows you to better gain the lowest frest, without any effort.
Finishing: remembers me the work of Fujijen factory (Ibanez Prestige). Flawless.
Action: the lowest of any other strat I played.

I was very happy swapping my old 1991 american strato with my american deluxe. Never disapointed (well, I hate the most of color combinations they choosed for this amazing axe). Now I am swapping pickups and thinking on some weird wiring, while retaining the stock one, with SSS pickups.
Click to expand...

So, are they re-tooling the Deluxe? It never was changed when the American Standards came out in '08. Sure hope so...seriously great guitars!
 
Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

Here is a cool pic I took of my new baby... this was taken with the new Canon 1D Mark IV and a Canon 24-70 lens.

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Re: Fender American Deluxe Strat..... WOW (pics)

That's a really nice guitar! They're actually not too pricey on ebay either.
 
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