Been There Done That! Really?

The 50th Anniversary American Fender Stratocaster

“Been There, Done That! Are you sure?”

Literally taking 50 years in the making, Fender introduces the 50th Anniversary line of Stratocaster guitars for the year 2004. There are 3, 50th Strat models. The Limited edition 1954 50th Replica, the 50th 2004 American Standard but this review with deal specifically with the 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster.
(* Note * Since e-pinions is so slow with adding new listings & categories for new products, I’ve had to post this review here. It’s pretty close!)

A Little History

In the 1940's, a young “no-name” California inventor/engineer named Leo Fender hand made some custom guitars and amplifiers in his radio shop. Trying to improve on the older style Hollow-body guitars that needed amplified to be heard in Jazz bands and more modern music of the day. This soon led to Leo creating the world's very first instrument amplifiers with built-in tone controls. But even more importantly than that was Leo's vision to build and design better/new kind guitar. With his immense knowledge of the existing technology of that day he did! In 1951, he introduced the Broadcaster guitar, the prototype solid-body guitar that would later become the legendary Telecaster®. The Telecaster® was the very first solid-body electric “Spanish-style” guitar ever to go into mass commercial production. Soon to follow the Telecaster was the ground breaking Precision Bass® guitar in 1951, and the Stratocaster® in 1954. From 1954 – 2004 the Fender Stratocaster has helped shaped the worlds musical history on all kinds of music! Everything from Jazz, Blues, Country to even hard core Metal, the Stat has “been there, Done that!”

But……….the 50th Anniversary Deluxe Stratocaster adds some new twists that covers new ground. Is it possible to improve on a 50-year-old workhorse classic? Yes, and Fender did!

The Spec’s
*The Body is made from select Alder, and comes with a beautiful 2-tone classic tobacco, high-gloss finish.
*The neck is a Maple, “Modern C” shape design with a Satin Polyurethane finish. The “C” shape gives it a nice “worn-in” feel and the Satin Maple neck feel much nicer than most “High-Gloss” Maple necks that I’ve played before. I’ve always played Rose wood necks due to the standard maple necks usually feel to slick to me. Especially when I start sweating on them. Once that happens my hands just slip and slide around too much. But this new Satin neck feels great and not too slick!
*The Frets are a 22 medium Jumbo.
*The Hardware is all Gold plated and the tuners are made from Schaller and are locking tuning machines.

The Twists
The coolest of the new features are the newly designed pickups with S-1 switching. The pickups are Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Strat pickups. Are they noise less? To the best I can tell yes. They do seem quieter than normal American Standard pickups, but then again I’ve never had and problems with my 1988 American Standard Strat with its stock pickups. Which for that time were supposed to be quieter than older Strats from the 50 & 60’s. So anyway you get the standard 5 way switching like usual. With all the classic Fender Strat tone as you would expect but here’s the Kwel twist………the S-1 switching provides another 5, very Kwel tones you never had before on a Strat!

Hey What’s That Button Do?
Hey go ahead, push it in! The inner button on the volume knob activates the S-1 switching. This now changes the standard pickup wiring combination to a special combination of parallel & series selections with special capacitors added. Here’s the list of what you get!
S-1 Switch Up:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Parallel
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup in Parallel
Position 5. Neck Pickup

*S-1 Switch Down:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 2. Bridge Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup in Series with Special Capacitor (No Tone Control)
Position 4. Neck Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup

How’s the new S-1 switching sound?
I personally love the new combinations. My favorite would be the Bridge setting with the S-1 switching set to in. This yields a fatter humbucker type tone. Which sounds great for heavier rock or lead work. I especially like it for the lead work, cause often with my Standard Strat the “Standard” bridge setting it too trebly or bright sounding and I often have to jack around with the tone controls to warm it up. With the S-1 switch just leave the tone where you have it, and push the S-1 switch and wa-la…..instant beef! The other settings are great sounding too. It’s really hard to describe them but they are all useable and have a fatter/fuller sound than the standard Strat tones but yet they still retain that glassy Fender Strat tone without sounding muddy.

Any Complaints?
I really don’t have any problems with the quality, construction, feel, playability or sound of this Strat. It’s one beautiful instrument. But I do have a little gripe. This version is the Deluxe and trimmed out in Gold, has S-1 switching…..even comes with gold plated strap locks and a black leather strap. Heck even the case is a nice special tweed 50th case with plush felt fabric lining. But they put a 1-plie thick, cheap looking pick-guard on this thing. What’s up with that? I think it looks bad! I would change it out to a nice pearloid 3-plie but the original one has a gold Fender 50th Anniversary stamped logo on it. I guess they thought that would make up for the cheap looking pick-guard. So wanting to keep it all-original I’ll leave it for now.

Who Should Buy This Guitar?
If you’re a Strat lover like I am, your gonna want this guitar! Especially the deluxe version with the S-1 switching. Will it replace your favorite Strat you already have? Well I suppose it depends on you and what you have. I have been playing Fender Strats for over 20 years and have a 1988 American Standard Strat that has been my “work horse” guitar for 10 years now, so for me no. I can’t part without that guitar…..something about the way it feels and sounds to me. But this new 50th Deluxe sure gives me a lot more options to work with than my Standard Strat. Also, these 50th Strats will become collector models due to Fender is only offering them this year and then that’s it!

Who else should want one? If you don’t have a Strat, but have always wanted a Strat, then I highly recommend you look at this guitar! It plays & looks like a classic but has all the extra perks that 50 years of making guitars should have.

In Closing
I thought I’d address some confusion regarding the 50th Anniversary Strats. Fender Musical Instruments was founded in 1946. In 1996 they celebrated their 50th Anniversary as a company. In that same year they issued a limited run of Strat’s, Telecaster’s and Precisian P Basses all with a 50th Anniversary logo. Most those guitars were made in Japan & Mexico. Keep in mind, if you see those guitars around they are a different breed than the 50th Anniversary Fender Strats that are out this year (2004). These are 100% made in America, at the Fender plant and are Limited to production for the year 2004 which celebrates 50 years of the Fender American Stratocaster Guitar!

Happy Birthday to my favorite guitar called
the Stratocaster!

Thanks for reading
Mark Darnell