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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

The only reason I call it near perfect is simply for petty reasons. I prefer a my guitars on the heavier side and this guitar doesn't weigh very much. But that's just me. The dark knight is beautiful and the pictures do not do this guitar justice. The V Mod 2 pups sound beautiful and ring clear while keeping the Strat sound and they are also quiet when ran though distortion. As far as how it feels and plays, both are top notch. The guitar just sits right and the neck is really smooth. So much so that I'm thinking of trading in a few guitars I don't play for another Pro 2, the black one. I love the fact that it comes with a quality hardshell case. This guitar is something Fender should be very proud of. The only downside for my is that is that it is a bit lighter than my other American Stratocasters. But as I said, that's just personal preference, one very easily overlooked when I play it, and I have played it daily since I bought it

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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.

My guitar arrived a day early and I was blown away by the set up and it felt so comfortable right out of the box! I would recommend zZounds for future purchases! Guitar had flawless finish and the only thing I had to do was break in the strings. Five stars folks!

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I've had other Statrocasters in my past (American Professional, Standard, and Perfomer), and I got it say that Fender perfect it this version. The neck is by far very easy to handle, and very smooth. I feel like it has the perfect grip to the point that it feels like it was made especially for my hand. Very comfortable when gripping, and not a constant strain on the wrist. The fretboard? Love it. With those previous versions that I owned, it always felt that my fingers took a while to adapt because they were always hurting. However, this version has been very soothing to my fingers, to the point that it’s been very pleasant to practice for long periods of time, whereas as in the past, I dreaded the experience because my fingers were very sore during or after practice. The sound? Come on, it’s a Stratocaster. It sounds amazing, and this version is just superb. The weight? Not heavy at all (the Standard was heavier). Also, the attention to detail? The paint and finish looks much better in person, and the pictures do no justice to her beauty. It looks beautiful, and you’ll instantly fall in love with it. I must say that my other versions that I owned compare to this one were OK (the first American professional comes close to 2nd place), but I am in love with this guitar, and I can’t recommend it enough to anyone that’s new to guitar playing or long-time players. For me, it’s the perfect guitar, and I’m sure it’ll be perfect for anyone considering this stunning beast.

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I had forgotten how the Fender neck fits my hand like a glove and this guitar certainly does that. Also, it is exceptionally gorgeous in the Dark Night color, and needing a guitar that is lighter than my Gibson Les Paul Classic after having a 2nd back surgery, this Strat definitely fits the bill (I don't know the exact weight of the Les Paul or Strat (I think the listed weights include the hard shell cases) but the Strat is significantly lighter. On the down side, I was disappointed to find that the strat comes with the "plastic" molded case and did not include a strap (not even a nylon seat belt strap) while in contrast the Les Paul came with a traditional Gibson case and premium leather strap. Moreover, the Les Paul was set up near perfectly out of the box while the Stratocaster needs a set up to get the strings evenly distributed above the neck for the entire length of the fretboard. Finally, the American Owner's manual is mostly in Espanol (which I do NOT speak nor read) and especially pertinent is the section describing the installation and use of the tremolo arm is entirely in espanol; which, after popping the tremolo arm in (wit with a LOT of force) will NOT come out : I ended up having to turn to YouTube to discover this is a common issue with the Fender tremolo arms. Overall I am VERY pleased with the purchase but I cannot help noting that Fender could have done better : better case (unless you don't mind plastic) a strap could have been included, the set up could be MUCH better, and the owner's manual certainly SHOULD be in (or at VERY least contain both) ENGLISH for an AMERICAN edition of guitar. Aside from these issues the guitar feels, plays, and sounds FANTASTIC.Bob H.

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So this guitar is the best sounding guitar I've ever had at first. Everyone compliments the tone. After waiting since October for the order I picked the black color so zzounds would ship it since it was in stock. Came in janurary. Guitar plays better and sounds better than my McCarty 594 and is super comfortable to play. Qith that being said though What is terrible is quality control and support for 2 reasons. 1. zZounds didn't bother to check everything was there and the whammy bar was actually the entirely wrong type. The rep on the phone admitted the person who checked it before sending probably looked over the guitar but did not check the pocket in the case. 2nd issue. This is a new guitar. 3 days ago I hear an overtly loud overtone on the g string ringing over everything. I take it to a Luthier to look at and he tells me there was a filling put in the nut because whether the manufacturer or the company that sold noticed an issue in the cut of the nut they filled it and the filing came out. Needless to say in order to fix this the nut had to have work done and the g string is raised ever so slightly higher than the other strings now to stop the overtone. Although it sounds great again i need to adjust now to the string being higher and Frankly im pretty upset. I have spent well over 4 grand with zZounds in the last year alone. Long time customer. Got no support from them with the whammy bar and instead told me to speak to fender about sending one. Also this issue with the nut and a bad filling being put in is unacceptable regardless of if it was fender or zZounds who did this, im disappointed and feel wronged either way, because even if fender is suddenly losing its quality in craftsmanship zZounds should have noticed this issue instead of sending this out with clearly no inspection actually being done. May start using a different company for instruments at this post as I have found the customer service on the last couple of calls with them to be incredibly unhelpful

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Purchased the Fender American Stratocaster professional 2 in Dark Midnight over 2 months ago, and have had time to properly evaluate it. First off the upside, I LOVE, the color and the finish is flawless, I'm grateful to see Fender doing something other than traditional colors. Have owned several Fenders over my 50 years of playing, and the Maple Fretboard is one of the best I have ever played, comparable to my $2,500 Les Paul Classic in playability. The pickups sound great, as expected, and love the push-push pot too. The guitar plays like a dream overall and I have no MAJOR complaints, especially in comparison to more expensive guitars like the Gibson Les Paul. NOW the down side : would have liked a choice in hard shell cases (wanted a traditional case) and while the all plastic case they provide is great for a travelling or touring musician, I am not one and would have preferred a case suitable for MY needs. I would have also liked to see Fender roll the fretboard edges for that broken in feel; moreover, when I popped in the tremolo arm I found I could not extract it, so I looked to the instructions that came with the guitar and find they're NOT offered in ENGLISH (TOTALLY unacceptable for "American made" Fender) & would have liked a tremolo with a hex nut to secure it instead of the current pop in system, which after Googling I find is a common system problem. Additionally, the tremolo arm knob simply fell off after a.couple of days (NOT due to my efforts, I left the arm inserted when I couldn't easily extract the arm and still cannot place the guitar in the case because of the arm being stuck in the guitar) and find it wasn't threaded to accept the threads on the metal tremolo arm ? I secured the knob with plumber's tape wrapped around it to keep the knob on. While these are MINOR issues, it just isn't what I expected from a $1,650 NEW American made Fender & I'm NOT impressed (they didn't provide much case candy either : no wrench or strap as Gibson provides, just an allen wrench, case keys, and a useless instruction manual in EVERY language EXCEPT English & their online instructions do NOT cover extracting the tremolo arm). Despite these issues, I WOULD buy another Fender, and find The American Stratocaster professional 2 sounds and plays as well as Gibsons (and I was pushed toward the Fender, by Gibson, whom after spending $2,500 on their Les Paul Classic in 2022 a year later devalued it by offering it for $2,199 in 2023

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I had to send it back because the electronics didn’t work after I waited months for it to come off of backorder.

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