I've been playing for 44 years. I play a couple of gigs a month although I'm not a pro

I play blues,blues rock,hard rock,and classic rock but mostly blues.

The sound and tone is the best part of this guitar. It has that clear defined strat tone, especially clean. This thing just sings and the tone is clear and shimmery. The guitar sounds AMAZING with a fuzz pedal but it kinda garbles in certain pickup positions with high gain. You just gotta find the right set ups for the sound you want but this guitar will do it all.

Everything you could ask for in a strat plus the awesome Texas special pickups. Like I said the pickups were the strongest point of the guitar. The neck is the exact specs I like, not too fat/thin and the fretboard isn't too flat. The fit and finsh of the body were beatiful, except for a gouge in one of the frets and a tiny crack near the neck in the body. It looks like it was dropped before I got it but that's not the guitar's fault and zzounds is taking care of it with their amazing customer service.

Easy, easy, easy, to get great tone from. Guitar came actually very well set up and I just had to tweak a couple things to get it playing how I like it. Action is low with little to no fret buzz and like I said the fretboard and neck are very playable.

I dinged it here because this guitar does have one problem... the tuners. They aren't the greatest. The guitar comes out of tune way easier than any of my other guitars. I will rememdy this with some better tuners, easy fix. Also reccomend a tiny bit of baby powder in the string slots on the nut as the strings will stick in the nut sometimes and then shift when you are playing. Already said the body is absolutely stunning and of very high quality. All other hardware except the tuners is top notch. Nothing loose or rattling. Very solid.

This is the best strat for the money, hands down. It blows away the standard mim strat with its tone and looks, and it blows away the player's deluxe strat with its pickups (obviously) and its neck specs. If you are looking for an awesome, versatile strat, you can't go wrong with this one.

Zzounds has awesome customer support and they are taking care of my damaged guitar in a very timely fashion. Haven't had to deal with Fender's support.

Active Musician

Blues, Funk, Pop

great sound for blues, rock n roll and hard rock. great sounds for red hot chili peppers, eric clapton. alice cooper, aerosmith smashing pumpkins, dire straites, virtually any artist whos guitarist does not play a les paul or sg

upgraded special texas pichups, these are 10 times better than standard pickups fenders come with, so much more tone and your able to recognise each pick up setting unlike some guitars. ply brown pic guard looks awsome and the neck is a REALLY nice shape, not too fat, not too thin. whammey bar is able to bend up and down unlike my old guitar which could only bend down due to bad designing. tone wheels make a large difference in the sound for maximum variation of tone. only bad thing is it only has 21 fretes but all fenders seem to from what ive seen. maybe its to make way for the exact position desired for the neck pickup

great sounds easily produced and desired sound easily acheived

the finish is awsome, mine artic white and it looks great next to the brown shell pickguard and that looks great surrounding the white pickups. the reason i rated this section 9 is because i prefere a rosewood neck to a maple neck, but it still looks lovely anyway its just my personal preference

bit expensive but id do it all again

more like 11 out of 10. they dropped the price by £50, lowered the string ( for my personal preference), replaced the strings, gave me a free set of strings for my les paul, and chucked in a free whammey bar. as spinal tap's guitarist nigal would say, "these go to eleven".

say a guy on youtube playin it, played it myself i store, read that it was a hit, and i just had to have it

almost 3 year hobbyist, play for hours most days

80s metal, alternative rock, guns n roses , chili peppers, eric clapton

Texas Special pickups (NOT Tex-Mex p/u's! People tend to get these confused. Tex-mex's are standard issue Mexican made alnico pickups. Texas Specials are Custom Shop designed and USA manufactured) are overwound Alnico 5's. These guys make their home in the midrange of Strat pickups, sacrificing some vintage "sweetness" and chime for a throatier, gutsier sound. They'll hit the front of your amp a little harder than regular strat p/u's causing slightly more breakup at lower volumes. You still get the familiar strat quack in positions 2 and 4 on the p/u selector, it's just a darker, warmer quack. For what it's worth the bridge is less shrill than most standard strat pickups. Even though these p/u's were designed for the SRV signature strat I find them less SRV-ish than the Custom Shop '69 pickups, at least through my rig. I'd say they're more "Buddy Guy-ish".

The pickups and the neck are what do it for me with this guitar. Those Texas Special's are legendary among folks who like their strats to roar. The 21 fret "C" shaped maple neck with a 9.5" fingerboard radius is nicely finished in satin urethane and just feels so soft and playable. Standard sealed die cast tuners hold tuning as well as can be expected with a 6 point vintage style tremolo (these are notorius for throwing EVERYTHING out of tune with mild to moderate use, so be forewarned now...dive bombers should look elsewhere!)

Well, it's a strat. It's like chess. So simple yet it could take you some time to find YOUR sound because of all the tones contained therein. It's not without good reason that strats are known for their versatility.

Mexican Fender quality at it's best. No reason to complain here. The Deluxe series is a tangible upgrade from the Mexico standard line...and nowadays the Meicao Standard line is pretty darn good.

The Fender Deluxe series gives the working musician some great options at a very friendly price. $600 for a well made guitar with Custom Shop pickups ain't too shabby.

Fender help is pretty good. Called them several times over the years and never had any problems getting through to a real human being.

Looks sharp with the brown tortoise pickguard, tinted maple neck and Arctic White body.

hobbyist, been in the music retail business a number of years

blues and metal

Sounds great. i liked the pickups better than the standard mex and american pickups

Strat knobs -what i expected but great. tried the highway one but i didnt like the jumbo frets or the bridge tone knob, and it was more expensive. I also like the older style headstock

low e string was real close to the edge of the fretboard when I got it while high e had too much room. easy fix but they should have caught it. other than that it plays real nice. no dead spots or sharp frets. paint wasn't the best i've seen

haven't played any american strats that are worth twice the price of the roadhouse

zzounds support is great, would buy from them again, but i havent needed fender support

i have the white one. looks awesome with the pickguard and tinted neck. i wish it had a tortoise trem cover though

musician

funk rock blues

Sound quality is almost superb, I have no complaints about the Tex Mexs, I just had to add some copper insulation and she was good to go.

The tremolo saddle springs were a bit too loose causing the bridge to buckle after you use the arm. This was easily fixed by tightening the spring screws.

I love the tinted maple, its the standard strat neck which plays like butter of course, the guitar itself was not playable out right out of bag but I have yet to order one off the web that actually is..

Everything seems to be up to par with my american players deluxe except the tuners and the nut. I absolutely hate plastic nuts, to my surprise there is no fret buzz so I guess its staying.. The turners on the other hand had to go, these new easy turners suck, their older ones look better (no big screw in the middle) and stay in tune just as well. Otherwise, the looks of this guitar negates the little expected adjustments that I had to make.

I'd give it a 10 but it needs gold hardware and better tuners, but its still a great deal, especially with the pay as you play plan.

No service needed.

Again, it'd be a 10 but it lacks the gold hardware and it should also have the 5 way button that the deluxe players strat has..

hobbyist

classic rock, improv.

Excellent resonant body, Texas Special pickups are hot and filled with treble. The bridge pickup can be a little thin on its own compared to the neck and middle pickups. Great sustain for a Strat, and a very versatile tone, from funk and jazz to blues and rock.

It's a Strat. It's got Strat features. Alder body and tinted maple neck seem of high quality. Bridge hardware, tuners, etc. feel a little cheap and priced to scale. Custom Shop Texas Special pickups are a great piece of kit.

Excellent playability, I've set it up with .11-.49 strings in standard tuning, and simply one of the best playing Strats I've owned (and I've owned several). Only real complaint playability-wise is the saddle adjustment screws.

Very good finish on neck and body. Hardware is cheap, saddle adjustment screws protrude from the saddles and are very uncomfortable - I had to take a Dremel to them to smooth those out and lower the height. Factory setup was thoroughly mediocre, but it's a mass produced guitar - you're not getting an individual setup there. Body is resonant and has a good weight to it.

In the $500-$700 range, there are plenty of solid body guitars - this one may seem expensive for a MIM Strat with normal hardware, but the great neck profile + finish, and excellent CS Texas Special pickups make up for that. Good value.

Have dealt with Fender a few times, they've always been responsive - were quick to send me out replacement parts for an LSR nut on an old Strat Plus with no charge! Not even shipping!

Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous looking, classic instrument. The white finish, tinted maple neck, and shell pickguard combine to make a superbly beautiful, non-ostentatious guitar.

16+ years playing, commercial music producer

electronic, jazz, rock, metal, blues, funk, soundtrack, anything that pays