Review and pic
And now, the review!
2006 Fender Standard Stratocaster HSS
General Overview
The guitar arrived securely boxed in a single layer cardboard box, inside a Fender gigbag. The guitar itself was wrapped inside the gigbag with a foam sheet to protect from damage. In the outer pocket was a wrapped package containing two allen wrenches, a Fender Stratocaster manual (for care and upkeep), and the bar for the vibrato. There was no room for the guitar to move, and it would have taken a pretty good impact to damage the finish on this Strat.
Fit and Finish
The first adjective that comes to mind about this guitar is "solid." The neck is bolted tightly to the body, and sits well in the pocket. The pickguard is on securely, and nothing attached to it moves unless you want it to. All of the knobs and the pickup selector switch work well and aren't scratchy. The tuners seem securely fastened and are stable. In fact, all I had to do after receiving the guitar to play it was tune the high E. Everything else stayed in position as it was set up at the Fender, Mexico factory. The vibrato unit is chromed, and there are no obvious signs of defect or flaws in the finish. The jack and strap buttons are securely fastened.
The 3TS finish is absolutely gorgeous. The amber portion of the burst is a little more opaque than I thought it would be, and hides the grain of the veneer underneath (Fender puts a veneer on the MIM 3TS models to hide glue seams from the body). The red band of the burst actually came out more in the pic. It's more subtle and blended in person. The clear coating on top was perfectly applied, with no bubbles or waves in the finish. Great job, Fender!
The neck, a modern "C" shape, is coated in a satin polyester finish. I like it. The finish on the neck is comfortable for me and looks to be durable. Aesthetically, though, this guitar is dying for a glossy finished neck. There is some of this finish on the frets, causing them to feel slightly "scratchy" when I play, but I expect it will be worn off soon! The frets are medium jumbo, and are of a nice size. I like 'em. The frets are well installed and are trimmed well to the sides of the neck. The frets are not polished, but I can take care of that. The nut appears to be plastic, but it's cut well. As soon as it wears out, it'll be replaced with something more durable. Is a bone nut that much more expensive? Graphite? I guess, with this being the base model that Fender has to cut a corner or two somewhere. A minor gripe, to say the least.
The supplied gigbag is cheap, but it does have some padding and will serve it's purpose. I'm not going on any tours soon, and it'll handle the ride to my buddy's house no problem.
I have not taken off the back plate to check out the upgraded steel block on the trem yet.
Playability
This is where it
really gets subjective. Let's start out with the neck. The back contour is great for my hand, and I don't get the hand cramps that I get with my Ibanez or ESP when chording. I read the manual and checked out the guitar again, and it looks like all I'm gonna need to do is lower the string height and adjust the truss rod a tiny amount to get the action dialed in. As it stands right now the action feels "good," but I figure it'll be "great" after the guitar is all dialed in. I also plan on lowering the trem to be flush with the body, for a little more tuning stability.
Acoustically, the Strat has a great, bright tone, and is surprisingly loud unamped. Sustain on fretted notes and open strings is good, and lasts a while.
I plugged into my Crate solid state amp, without effects, on the clean channel. The humbucker in the bridge surprised me. I know it's not gonna sound like a Strat single coil in this position, but it was reasonably bright and articulate. My guess is that this pup doesn't have that high of an output. Used in conjunction with the middle pup, the sound was muddy. The middle pup was lowered almost all the way to the pickguard, so I'll raise it and see what happens. Position #3 sounded fine. The middle and neck pup together sounded decent together, and I think that'll improve once I adjust the middle pup. The neck pup was what I was looking for all along! Sweet, glassy, bell-like Stratty goodness. I can't wait to use this pup on a solo or two. Very nice.
Distorted, without effects, gave me the same impressions as playing on the clean channel. This is where the 'bucker comes into it's own, however. It sounded very good to my ears. The neck pup responded well to the distorted setting and that tubey sound thickened up nicely, creating a tone that I'll use often, especially on more dramatic solos where a fluid tone is important. Nice. I also plan on buying an prewired SSS pickguard from GFS to try out later.
Overall, this Strat is a well made, quality instrument that all but the snootiest of guitar snobs would be proud to own. It does what is supposed to do, looks great, and the details are well executed. The upgrades are worth more than the $30.00 increase over the 2005 model.
All went well with shipping, and no dings or dents. The guitar needs a good setup, and I'll get 'er done in the next couple of days.
