The Deluxe Players Stratocaster is a revised version of the former Super Strat. Upgraded with American-made Vintage Noiseless pickups, this guitar not only sounds great but with a 12" neck radius and medium jumbo frets it's a workhorse of a guitar.
Featured review by:
StratsDONTsuck, on august 10, 2005 6 of 6 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: musiciansfriend.com
Features: The Deluxe Player Strat is an updated version of Fender's Super Strat. I believe this guitar was manufactured in Mexico in the year 2004 (if not, that's when this model started being produced). This guitar is a common Stratocaster, plain and simple, but it has just been upgraded with some top-of the line Fender enhancements. First, the usual: 21-frets, 5-way selector, two tone knobs, one volume, Vintage tuners, synchronized tremolo, strings! I am almost positive the body is made of ash, though I have never found a website that fully elaborates on this. The neck is available in two choices: maple and rosewood. Personally I chose the Maple because I felt it looked best with my finish (3-tone sunburst) and it would produce a beautiful sound.
The neck is a 12" radius C-shaped neck and is very comfortable and easy to play. All 21 frets are very easily accessible and are good sized. This guitar has medium-jumbo sized frets. This guitar being a Stratocaster I'm just going to tell you now, it has a Strat body style. This guitar is available in 4 different finishes: transparent sapphire blue, transparent red, honey blonde, and 3-tone sunburst. The transparent finishes are beautiful if I do say so myself but the sunburst blew me away. I had seen pictures of it, but when my guitar actually arrived I was amazed. Out of all of them, honey blonde seemed least spectacular though it is still nice. It was just too much of a natural color for me. Be warned though, this guitar does not come with your Standard Strat pickguard, it comes with a 3-ply brown Tortoise Shell pickguard. It still looks good, but you will have to base the finish off of how you think it looks with the brown.
Now, the best part of this guitar, the pickups. This guitar comes from Fender's Mexico factory equipped with 3-single coil Vintage noiseless pickups. These are among the greatest pickups ever designed, but I'll go into that later. This guitar also comes with a Fender gig bag. Not that special, but it works. This guitar includes a push-button Switch in between the tone knobs. In addition to the 5-way this button is used to adjust your sound. This button activates the bridge pickup when it can't normally be selected due to the 5-way being in a certain position. This allows you to use all three pickups at once. It's like a cheaper S-1. This guitar comes with Fender Super Bullet Strings. Use .09 gauge to take full advantage of the very low action. To take a normal Mexican Strat and upgrade it with this stuff you would be paying way more than you would for this bargain. // 10
Sound: Wow, that's all I can say. The noiseless pickups deliver a wonderful single coil sound. Truly amazing. Imagine taking single coils off of a guitar and eliminating that annoying hum. Imagine taking those twangy, glass-cutting humbuckers and adding some bottom end and reducing some of the treble so the sound is well balanced and buttery. That is exactly what these pickups do. This clean sound is sooooo amazing I could listen to it all day. The standard tone knobs also allow you to tweak the neck and middle pickups for a bit more control over your sound. The bridge pickup clean sounds exactly like a normal humbucker clean. I guarantee, this thing kills when clean. When Distorted this guitar wails with the best of them. Very sensitive though. Good for tapping, handles songs like "Crazy Train" pretty well. With the wrong amount of gain/contour though even light contact with the strings will make annoying squeals. Other than that, I have no complaints with the distortion. These pickups are basically humbuckers, so they get no fuzz, but they still can mimic the Hendrix sound if you have the right equipment. I can also do some pretty good Maiden, Ozzy, Metallica, and Zepellin with the right settings. I play all types of music except hip-hop and rap because you really don't have much to work with in those categories.
I bought the Strat instead of something with EMG's because I would need single coils instead of Humbuckers to play Jazz band. So at first I was skeptical about this guitar's sound because I wanted High output pickups for a metal band but humbuckers don't sound too great with Jazz. Unless it's Seymour Duncan's Jazz Humbucker. These thoughts were instantly gone once I heard this plugged in. I was amazed at what this thing could do for my playing! These single- coils sound great with any type of music I throw at it, though I haven't played any "Slayer" yet. I mainly play modern rock/blues/jazz/grunge/and classic rock and these pickups will perform all of them and this guitar will definitely come through in the sound department, clean or distorted. If you don't buy this guitar, and you do have poor stock single-coils replace them with one of these. It's the best move you will ever make. Until Fender releases Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups to everyone that doesn't have a $1200 Strat these are the best single coils you can buy aftermarket (I'm not including single coil slot humbuckers in that statement, because I don't have enough experience with them). Lace Sensors do have a great single coil clean sound, but distorted they are not this good. But then again, sound is a matter of opinion, so see for yourself go play around with some. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: Everything in this guitar was perfect. The only complaint I have is some buzzing in the lower strings. But, once you play enough, the strings will break themselves in and the buzz goes away. The pickups were the perfect height. The strings came in tune. Everything was well lubes and easy to use. The finish is beautiful and so far seems very difficult to damage (haven't tried too much). This guitar is perfectly set up from the factory I have nothing but good things to say to Fender about this wonderful guitar. It isn't much of a problem but I will warn you anyway, the 15th fret and higher isnt quite as smoothed down, but it isn't a problem at all. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is great, It will last, period. High Fender quality. Reasonable price for a guitar this nice. Everything is solid. It is dependable, but come on! If you can have a backup, why wouldn't you carry one? There is always the possibility of bad things happening. I'm giving it a 5 just because I haven't had any problems with it. This is well made. // 10
Impression: I play all muusic, this guitar fits me perfectly, end of story. If you are buying this guitar, ask how long it will take. I waited a month on backorder before mine shipped, but it was well worth it anyway. If it were stolen, I would hunt the thief down, shake his hand, and congratualte him for being able to hear how wonderful this guitar is. Then, I would steal my guitar back. Otherwise, I would definitely buy it again, I love it. I love the noiseless pickups. I am ot fond of the brown pickguard. I thought the Pickup push button toggle was a good idea, but it doesn't do that much for you. I compared this to a Jackson DXMG dinky, a couple of Ibanez's, a Standard Strat, an Epiphone G-400, and a couple semi-hollow bodies. Above all of them, I love this. At first I bought it for Jazz band, but now I feel I bought it for myself. // 10
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on june 06, 2007 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 599
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: My guitar is a 60th anniversary year deluxe players Strat as indicated by the Diamond sybol on the back of the headstock. The guitar is made in mexico, but do not under any circumstances let this effect your dececion on this guitar. It plays and feels like an American Strat in my opinion. The body of the guitar is made of Ash and the neck is a "c" shaped maple. The fingerboard on mine is rosewood. There are 21 medium jumbo frets. There are 3 "noiseless" pickups on the guitar along with a button just below your tone adjustment knobs to automatically activate the bridge pickup. it's pretty muc hstandard the rest of the way as to what you are used to with strats. 1 volume knob, 2 tone knobs, and your 5 way selector (which there are more combos with the button so actually 7.) My guitar came with a nicely padded gigbag which is fine if you aren't planning on doing heavy giging becasue the bag is very padded. I really don't have any complaints with the features in this guitar. // 10
Sound: First off, let me say that I have an Epiphone elitist les paul, and this guitar is the perfect compliment to it. You can get great clean tones from the guitar to some slightly crunchy tones from the bridge pickup just undre an amp with no extreme settings, just plainly set up. It sounds great with a moderate level of distortion, but I wouldn't reccomend any massive distortion or metal with this guitar. that's why I have my les paul. Blues sound great with the guitar as well. With the toggle Switch set to the neck or neck/middle postition and the button for the bridge pickup activated, you can get some unique sounds from it you couldn't without the button. it's a great guitar for hendrix, clapton, RHCP, and even some Muse stuff sounds nice with the right amo settings. I am playing this through a Fender Cyber Deluxe too, which is a decent amp, but a tube amp would amplify this great guitar even more. Not much problems at all with the sound, just a stray tone you can't seem to get here and there. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: I got this guitar and couldn't wait to get home and play it. It was set up nicely at the guitar center. I didn't have to adjust the action or anything when I got home. Everything was set. They even polished it and gave it the full Dunlop care package system, so it felt even better to play. The guitar is beautiful as well. The blue with the brown celluloid pcikguard is one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen. There were no dents, scratches, or any other flaws that I have seen in the month I have had this guitar. // 10
Reliability & Durability: The guitar seems very durable. I plan on getting in a band soon and playing with this guitar and my les paul. It seems very well build. The strap buttons stay in nicely and with a good strap and some locks, this thing should never have to worry you aboout falling off. If I were doing a gig with just blues/lighter rock, I would only need to take this guitar. It seems reliable enough to get me through whatever playing I need. // 9
Impression: This guitar is a perfect fit for me. If lost, I would replace this in a heartbeat. It plays almost exactly like an american, if not better than some, for about 400 dollars less than one. I reccomend if looking in to a Strat, play this guitar before buying an american or anything more expensive. This is a work of art and craftsmanship which is an achievement from the Fender corporation. // 10
Reviewed by:
dudeman_andy, on january 21, 2008 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: Professional Music Technology
Features: This beautiful guitar has 21 medium-jumbo frets. The body is Ash and the necks come in either maple of rosewood. I chose the maple neck and the tranparent honey blonde finish. The neck is 12" 25.5 scale which is a really smooth neck to play on, perfect for blues and complex chords. It's a basic Strat with with upgrades. Obviously it has the 5 way pickup Switch and 2 tone 1 volume control as all strats do. The pickups are top of the line Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups with a SSS configuration. The bridge is a Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo which allows you to both bend the pitch down or up without the need of locking tuners, it isnt as extreme as a Floyd Rose but for what's it's designed for you wouldn't want one on this guitar. The tuners are very much like bass guitar tuners, they are Reliance Vintage Style Tuning Machines which need the string to be put into the top of the tuner, then bent round and wound on. This is fiddily at first but it really does hold the strings well, I've had this guitar for a while now and I rarely have to tune it and I haven't had a single string breakage (touch wood). It came with a free set of strings of my choice as the stock strings had been on for a year, so I naturally chose Elixirs. By far the best feature of this guitar is the push button located next to the tone controls. With the push of a button the bridge pickup is activated, so this allows the neck and bridge pickup to be switched on giving the sound much to that of a Telecaster or all 3 pickups to be switched on giving a very twangy/funky sound. This guitar comes with amazing features for the price. // 8
Sound: This guitar is incredibly versatile and can play pretty much everything I want and more. I play all sorts, stuff like Jeff Buckley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Satriani and the occasional heavier songs from Rage Against The Machine, Guns n Roses, Velvet Revolver etc it suits all of this perfectly and I can always get the exact tone I want just by using the tone controls and pickups, with the magical button of course. I play through a Vox AD50-VT 212 and it sounds absolutely amazing through it. You can get a really rich warm tone on the neck pickup, a bright sound on the middle pickup and a really funky tone on the brudge pickup. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The action was really high when I first got it but it took only 10 minutes to sort that and the intonation out. The pickups were setup fine and there wasn't a single flaw anywhere on the guitar. The factory strings also needed changing but it had been on the wall of PMT for at least a year, so it's only expected. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This guitar is percect for gigs, I could easily be used without a back up. The hardware is all very well made and can withstand all kinds of punishment, I don't know about the strap buttons because I put strap lock seals on the top of my strap the moment I got it home. It is very reliable, I've never had any problems. // 9
Impression: This guitar is perfect for every type of music, you can do anything with it. I've been playing for about 3 years and this was my step up from a Squier and what a step up! It's amazing and I would recomend it to anyone looking for a Strat who doesn't have £1000. If anyone stole this I'd find them, congratulate them for good taste and then steal it back. I love the fact you can get any sound out of it and all the amazing features it has for it's price is amazing. // 9
Reviewed by:
Dr.Jazz, on june 25, 2007 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 764.94
Purchased from: Sound Control
Features: I bought this guitar Brand New, was made in 2007 and it's from Mexico. 21 fret 12" radius neck with medium jumbo frets, Solid Ash body and I went with the Rosewood fretbaord as it looks great with my chosen finish, which is the Sapphire blue, Your Standard Strt shape with small Strat headstock and Vintage Tuners, Syncro Trem, Vintage Noiseless picks, 5 way selecter Switch, a Series paralell button, and your Standard tone and volume. I got a free Deluxe gig bag with it. // 10
Sound: I play mostly Blue and Jazz but I do dable in other forms and it covers everything I need, I play it through a Fender Blues Deluxe valve amp which gives it a nice warm tone. The Vintage Noiseless Pickups are amazing as they cut out all the mains hum like a humbucker but give you that nice bright tone of a single coil. I would say it would be all right for nearly all styles of music, I would recomend it for serious metal heads but it would get you by. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The Guitar was partly set up, the whammy bar action was all ready set up but the neck relief was next to nothing. Pickups were adjusted to Fender standards but I moved them to my own personel setting, Apart from that every else was good, finish was perfect and the gold plating on the hardware looks good quailty aswell. // 8
Reliability & Durability: I would be happy to use this guitar in a Live situation with a backup and the hardware looks like it will last as long as the rest of it. I would think I should be using this guitar for a long time. I can see it lasting a long time without any need for replacement parts. // 10
Impression: As I said I paly mostly blues and Jazz and it fits nicely. I have been playing for about 2-3 years and I started of with a Squier Strat which was ok but it's nothing compared to this. I was going to buy the Gibson ES-137 Classic before this but it was discontinued, so I had to seek other options and when I saw this I fell in love with it from the word go. If it were Lost or stolen I would definatly replace it with another one. I love the pickups the most as they are an amazing combo. // 10
Reviewed by:
El Toro, on july 29, 2006 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 599.99
Purchased from: Guitar Center
Features: This guitar is a great guitar in my opinion. This guitar was made in Mexico, in 2006, I believe, as it has a little coin on the bag confirming it was made on Fender's 60th Anniversary. The neck of this guitar, come in two woods, rosewood and maple. I chose the maple, and it sounds beatufil. The neck has 21 frets, all are really accesicable, and they are medium Jumbo frets. It has a 12" radius. The body wood is Ash, which does make the guitar heavier then say an Ibanez, but who cares? It gives a really bright sound. The bridge is a Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo, which sounds great. It uses Vintage Fender Noiseless pickups, all three of which are single coil. It comes with a volume knob and two tone knobs, along with a 5-way pickup switch, and an extra button which gives you two extra pick up choices. It also comes with a Fender gig bag. The hardware of this guitar is all gold plated which gives it a very deluxe feeling. // 9
Sound: I play more blues or soft rock, then I would metal, and I must say that this guitar is perfect for playing that style. Stratocastor, as we all know, are endorsed by Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix etc. and the guitar can replicate their sounds really well. I am using a really cheap amp, and it still sounds good. The guitar is the loudest one in the world, unless you put the amp up on full belt. It does, however have a warm, bright sound, thanks to the ash body. This guitar is fully confined to blues though, it can replicate the sunds of other genres such as hard rock, and at a pushmetal, but it is best suited to the sounds of those Who endorse it. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: This guitar was very well put together, and fells great. I found no flaws with it at all. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This guitar feels very durable. I would be willing to play it live without a back up. I think it will last me for years to come. It could fall on the floor and still keep going on and on, of course I don't recommend dropping it to test this. // 9
Impression: This guitar is beautiful in all possible ways, sound and aesthetics. It matches my style, soft rock, blues, and the likes, perfectly. I don't really see any flaws with it, it is by far my favourite guitar of all the ones I have played, bar maybe American Strats, but if yo can afford them you wouldn't be looking at this review would you. I would defitenly be willing to get this again if it was stolen, I don't think I would chose anything else. Thanls for reading the review, I hope it informed you somewhat. // 9
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on may 22, 2006 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 995.4
Purchased from: Halmen musik
Features: The price I paid for this was much because its from sweden and all is very expensive here. It started being produced 2004 in mexico. It has 21 frets, medium jumbo frets. I think the body is Asj but I'm not sure. It has 6 screw golden Fender treomolo system. It comes with the standard 5-way selector, 1 volume knob and 2 tone knobs. It has some upgraded stuff like the pickups are american made noiseless pickups. // 10
Sound: It suits my music style very well, I play blues bluesrock rock classic rock. I'm running it through my Vox AD30VT wich is also a very nice amp. It is very quiet, even at my 30 Watters full sound (loud enough to blast my ears) it doesn't hum at all. The sound is very stratty, not to bright just the right medium. It's a very versatile guitar and I'm sure you could use it for just about anything. But if you are a shredder I think maybe a Jackson guitar or something like that would suit you better. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: I'm not sure how the guitar was set up in the factory, because I bought it at a local shop and it was specially set up for me. The pickups were adjusted verygood. The guitar had no flaws whatsoever, but the pickup selector was tiny bit loose, so all I had to do was to screw the screws a 180 degress and it was as good as new. // 10
Reliability & Durability: My guitar had very nice wood, the guys Who sold it to me said it was the best wood of Fender they had ever seen. The hardware seems to last and the strapbuttons are as solid as they get. I can definatley depend on this and would gig withouth a backup, and I have gigged with it withouth a backup. The finish is not thin and doesn't wear off easy. // 10
Impression: I play rock classic rock bluesrock and blues and ut suits me perfect. If it was stolen id find the guy kill HIM take back my guitar, but if it was lost I couldnt afford a new one, but if I could I would buy a new one yes. I love everything about it, and its so sexy with its 3 tone sunburst and rosewood dfretboard. I compared it to the Fender mexio classic '50s, '60s and '70s Strat and it blew them out of the window. I also compared it to the Jimmie Vaughan signature Strat which was also great, and the Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster, wich I didn't like very much. It has prettey much all I could want. All my 10's are belong to this! // 10
BackDoorMan1991
: I have had this guitar for three months and i love it. It is definatly an upgrade from a squire. It has a nice rich bluesy sound, but it is capable of playing metal and hard rock.
The thing can take quite a beating also. i bring it to my band practices and my gigs. It can take in weather and even a few beatings.
This guitar is perfect for anyone looking for a new guitar. POSTED: 06/04/2006 - 09:31 pm / quote|
Punk_Ninja
: I want one of these badly as a clean tone guitar, gold hardware doesnt look cheap on this! POSTED: 07/29/2006 - 04:11 pm / quote|
hawk5211
: wow do i want this guitar, it all sounds so good. Will it work for sounds like Joe satriani and Steve vai? Or is it more confined to blues? W/e doesnt really matter because i play mostly blues ie SRV, Clapton JIMI.... but still like to play some satch somtimes.... POSTED: 10/18/2006 - 07:04 pm / quote|
hawk5211
: lol picking between the blue transparent and the red transparent wont be easy POSTED: 10/18/2006 - 07:05 pm / quote|
demez
: ive had this guitar for about a month and i cant be bothered writing a review so il just say, great for blues, really good for SRV/clapton/hendrix/direstraits but doesnt perform too well with too heavy stuff. best clean sound ive heard out of any guitar POSTED: 12/14/2006 - 07:55 am / quote|
6DgOfInTb
: I love this guitar. After a long wait (15 years old, no job. Money doesnt come fast.), I'll finally be picking this up on saturday. I honestly cant wait any longer. I play a wide variety of music, so i decided that a Strat is a must. This compares well to even American strats in my opinion. I'll give a proper review after having it a couple days. POSTED: 03/06/2007 - 05:20 pm / quote|
americnidiot
: i just got this guitar today, and it complements my les paul perfectly for my musi styles.... a great all around guitar comparable to the american standard series stratocaster POSTED: 04/22/2007 - 08:04 pm / quote|
mike_thai
: this is an amazing guitar to have for every music style except for really heavy stuff. the pickups aren't hot at all, and i'll have to argue that they don't replicate a les paul humbucker very well. great guitar overall though. POSTED: 05/10/2007 - 05:46 pm / quote|
ArcherTheVMan
: i'm sorry, but i own an american deluxe stratocaster which is too equipped with vintage noiseless pickups, and they DO NOT SOUND LIKE HUMBUCKERS -they sound like an awesome set of slightly-warmer-than-norm
al single coils only without the hum. POSTED: 06/25/2007 - 02:02 pm / quote|
ArcherTheVMan
: and for anyone with vintage noiseless pickups- if you wish to push the versatility of your guitar further have it fitted with the Fender Eric Clapton Mid Boost Circuit: it gives a 25 decibal mid boost which can be used for a lead boost, to make the pickups sound like humbuckers, to thicken the tone etc. POSTED: 06/25/2007 - 02:07 pm / quote|
E V H 5150
: Hey, StratsDONTSuck, who ever said strats did? I agree, they don't. I think they're great guitars.
If I got one of these, I'd definitely go blue. I think the gold hardware accents it perfectly, and has the perfect balance of sound and cosmetics for this price range. But realistically, I don't think I'd get one anytime soon, because I'm gonna fix up my Squier, and I was thinking of putting in some SCN pickups from Fender. POSTED: 06/25/2007 - 06:18 pm / quote|
Kirenjob
: i dont like the look of that particular strat(colours) but i reckon that Strats are a pretty good overall guitar.. I would consider buying one to pick up now and then.. POSTED: 06/26/2007 - 05:25 am / quote|
dsubstanceuk
: Didn't SRV have a guitar like this? POSTED: 08/29/2007 - 02:19 pm / quote|
CapnCrunch5697
: Does anyone have a decent picture of the 3 Tone Sunburst they could possibly post - http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=728818 - It looks so cool, I just want to be sure what Im spending £500 on. Thanks! POSTED: 12/05/2007 - 12:26 pm / quote|
lol picking between the blue transparent and the red transparent wont be easy
Seriosly! this guitar is beutiful in both!
If you're thinking about getting an American Strat, skip it and by both red and blue players that way you don't have to chose! POSTED: 08/05/2008 - 10:11 pm / quote|
duhdewd
: I was just totally blown away by a honey blond version of this guitar at my local store. I was looking for something to get single coil tones with and this one blew the competition out of the water tone wise. I already have a PRS (untappable pickups) and a Hamer (untappable pickups) to get all the heavy humbucker stuff taken care of. This guitar really shines through a low output (5-15w) class A tube amp (Epiphone Valve JR, Peavy JSX Mini Colossal, Bad Cat Mini Cat, or Mesa Boogie Lone Star Special), something you can get good power tube overdrive out of. Despite being called "Vintage" the noiseless pickups are pretty modern sounding (extremely clean and articulate) and they are higher output than a true vintage voiced pickup would be. For roughly 600.00 this Strat can't be beat. FYI: I A/B'd this guitar against a G&L SL-500 (pickups too-hot), Valley Arts Tele (flashy high-end guitar with truely vintage voiced pickups), and a PRS Johnny Highland (Awesome guitar but the bridge pickup is humbucker only). POSTED: 08/27/2008 - 05:45 pm / quote|
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