Fender Stratocasters in general

Introduction I own a Fender Stratocaster 1962 reissue guitar that I purchased way back in 1989. This guitar was manufactured in Japan at some point during 1988. This guitar is something that I am pretty fond of, what with it being my first “proper” guitar, and at the time taking me the best part of a year to save up for! I purchased this guitar from Peter Cook’s music shop in London and paid the sum of £299. Try buying a guitar made in Japan for that sort of money these days and you will struggle! Most low to medium price guitars are now made in India, China or Taiwan. It seems quite ironic to me that Japan has ...  Read the complete review

This guitar is simply incredible! It has not got its reputation for no reason and many famous guitar players such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly, John Mayer, Bob Dylan and Robert Cray all have one. Without going into a detailed account they were first produced in the 1950s and were designed by the renound Leo Fender. I originally had a Westfield stratocaster as a begginer and then upgraded to a Mexican stratocaster. Needless to say I noticed a big improvement in general. I then a year ago bought an American stratocaster and noticed a similar improvement. I have always felt a loyalty to Fender and their stratocaster models because they have served me so well in the ...  Read the complete review

Guitars a little like fine wine...it all depends on the year. Recent Gibsons for example are slightly lesser quality wood and tend to have very glossy finishes. I'm so relieved that Fender arn't going through a patch like this though. My Stratocaster is an American Standard, made in the USA and a 2008 model. Its in a cream finish with a solid 1 piece maple neck and set up with Fender Silver Bullet strings. It also came in a Fender hard flight case. I picked mine up, brand new at "The Guitar Centre" in Orlando, FL. for the princley sum of $900. Which at the time was £450. I can firstly say then - what an absolute ...  Read the complete review

My mother has not only a great singing voice a piano technique(classical)but a degree as well.So you'd think I'd be musical from birth but I didn't much like classical,hated her country & western stuff -singing cowboys!!!really? - so it never struck me till age 14 when I heard AC/DC for the first time and that was that.Still it took me till about 18-19 to pickup the guitar. When my folks asked me ,approaching christmas '93 what I wanted I told them to get me a good electric with a tremelo because I was in a Kirk Hammett phase and my Les Paul copy couldn't dive bomb.Little did I know how well they'd do..... She's ...  Read the complete review

When I was trying to choose my first guitar, my task was made somewhat easier in that my flat mate owned the model of guitar I was most seriously considering: a Fender MIM (made in Mexico) Stratocaster, officially known by Fender as the Standard Stratocaster. I realise this category is Fender Stratocasters in General, and in this review I am going to concentrate on the Standard Strat, as I have not played with the more expensive American Series Strats, and the only other type of Strat I have used was a Squier and since they are not made by Fender I don't feel that it is particularly relevant, however having been in the situation of buying my first guitar I ...  Read the complete review