Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Hi all, I am looking into buying my first proper high-spec guitar and i am checking out strats. In particular the Std american HSS and the DLX american HSS. Apart from 1.Abalone dot inlays vs plain ones2.Noiseless single coils vs normal single coils3.Pop in tremolo arm4.LSR nut5.Slight cutaway in the neck/body joint6.Locking machineheads The woods and the overall quality of body/neck/frets etc are the same? Please dont give me arguements like "it is a deluxe so it must be better woods etc". What i DONT like is the LSR nut... i dont know but i dont trust it theoritically in comparison with a good traditional nut. Basically 3 SD pickups and locking tuners = price differential between DLX and STD. And another option is to go for DLX MIA SSS that has normal nut and change pickguard to go HSS and buy a JB HB for the bridge. Looking forward to your thoughts. Yannis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sambora#2 Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 I have the deluxe Strat SSS, and having had the opportunity to test an American Series Strat along side, I can categorically say that there is very little difference in actual feel when playing. Yes you have the locking tuners, and they are the best addition you can make to a guitar IMHO. Maybe the wood is better, maybe not, but who cares once it's painted Black??? Personally, I should have bought the American Series (not the deluxe) as the pickups (Fender Noiseless Vintage) are too thin sounding. I am gonna put a SD Hot rails in the bridge, and SD Cool rails in the middle and neck position (completely different I know). I know this sounds like a cop out, but play both if you can and judge what feelss best to you. You can always change the pups later if they don't do it for you, but definitely consider the locking tuners. They save you no end of hassle when tuning and restringing. Laters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fishfartz Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 i think you HAVE to play a handful of them to find the better one. you can take 10 of the same guitar (lets say deluxe) - maybe they even came from the same factory on the same day. you will notice one may sound a little thicker/better, one may be more resonant, one may look slightly better in the finish, one may have been finisahed very sloppy, etc. thats why its important to just play as many as you can and pick the best. i usually hit all the local/semi-local stores and spend a few days playing everything in sight! ill always pay a little more to handpick my strat from a local store - because of the differences even with the same model of fender strats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SMC Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 The problem with fender (and many other manufactures), is that their guitars are not consistent. Im not even talking about quality like fretwork and good finishing, im talking about producing an instrument that feels and sounds great to play.Ive tried standards that where better than deluxes, and vica versa...hell ive tried some mexi fenders that felt better to me than some of the usa ones hanging beside it!! IMO, the deluxe series, unless you want cosmetics, isnt worth the extra cash. Unless you like the noiseless fender pickups you are going to change the pickups anyways, and if you find a standard that sounds good, and feels good, you are set! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Thanks guys... So i should aim at a good HSS std MIA, the question now is... 3 color sburst in Alder or Sienna sburst with Ash body? Any ideas? PS. How does a G&L Legacy HB compare to a std MIA strat? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fyngercuffs Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Another thing you might want to consider is, that with the Deluxe versions, they now come with the new facy switching system - the S1 system (you know, the one with that button hidden in the top of the volume knob). I think the pickups were also changed to a NEW noiseless version designed by Bill Lawrence. If it were me, I would probably just save and find a H-S-S Deluxe that sounded right. That is, if the new pickups sound any good at all (sorry, I haven't heard them). One thing I hate about the MIA trems are that they screw into trem base rahter than pop-in. I have yet to find one that did not have slop in the arm. My wife bought me a chrome blue MIA strat as a wedding present and sure enough, it had slop. I replaced the trem with a Hipshot version. Problem solved, but keep in mind the pop-in arms on the Deluxe versions have no slop in the trem arm (none that I found, at least). Tom.FC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbelt1 Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 I bought an MIA HSS Strat (butterscotch blonde) earlier this year and love it. I found very little difference between the American Series and the American Deluxe (not enough to justify the price difference). I am very happy with it and find the S1 switching to be quite useful. ~Blackbelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members destroyed Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 Hi all,I am looking into buying my first proper high-spec guitar and i am checking out strats. In particular the Std american HSS and the DLX american HSS.Apart from 1.Abalone dot inlays vs plain ones2.Noiseless single coils vs normal single coils3.Pop in tremolo arm4.LSR nut5.Slight cutaway in the neck/body joint6.Locking machineheadsThe woods and the overall quality of body/neck/frets etc are the same? Please dont give me arguements like "it is a deluxe so it must be better woods etc".What i DONT like is the LSR nut... i dont know but i dont trust it theoritically in comparison with a good traditional nut.Basically 3 SD pickups and locking tuners = price differential between DLX and STD.And another option is to go for DLX MIA SSS that has normal nut and change pickguard to go HSS and buy a JB HB for the bridge.Looking forward to your thoughts.Yannis I bought the deluxe in candy tangerine back in january and i couldn't be happier about it. the s-1 switch opens a lot of tonal doors, the pick ups sound nice clean and distorted. the thing stays in tune no matter what with the locking tuners. I would recomment this one for the extra $50 it costs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fyngercuffs Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by Blackbelt1 I bought an MIA HSS Strat (butterscotch blonde) earlier this year and love it. I found very little difference between the American Series and the American Deluxe (not enough to justify the price difference). I am very happy with it and find the S1 switching to be quite useful. ~Blackbelt Now I'm bummed. I thought the S-1 switching system ONLY came on the Deluxe versions. I have a MIA S-S-S version but it doesnt have the S-1 (wish it did). Oh well, my wife bought it for me, what can you expect..... Tom.FC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Thanks for the replies Some info... The S1 is available to ALL Standard MIA HSS strats, whereas in the DLX series it is available to both SSS and HSS. STD SSS dont have S1. For the price differential between the DLX and the STD, i can easily buy Sperzel locking tuners and SD bridge humbucker. My main concern is the overal quality and not aesthetics... ie, neck, frets, body nut etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 I actually just bought a American Deluxe Ash Strat in tobacco burst. Personally, I didn't care for the MIA Standards at all. The pickups were too thin, the bodies were to light (mine is ash, though), the rosewood fretboards seemed different (it could have been the specific guitars that they had), etc. I think the Deluxes also have better finishes (the Standards are just blah to me). The ash Deluxes have BEAUTIFUL grain. I think the SCN pickups and S-1 switching make the whole shebang worth it. With the S-1 switching turned almost gives you a humbucker sound in the 1, 3, 5 positions...not quite...you can still tell they are single coils, but they approach the sound.But then you get the locking tuners, polished/shiney hardware (rather than matte), abalone inlays, silver Fender logo, contoured neck joint (which is actually very cool), etc. Do the Standards have Bi-flex truss rods? You really have to check out the SCN pickups though. I don't mind single coil hum, but these are damn cool...and sort of eerie. I can have my amp cranked and then kick on an overdrive...and the pickups are dead quiet. No noise whatsoever. The humbucker guitars that I've had have been noisier. The pickups sound very good as well. I recommend you try out the SSS Deluxes. You might find what you need with the S-1 switching. If you don't want the LSR roller nut, I'd really suggest that you get the SSS vs HSS. I'm not positive, but I think that the nut slot is modified differently for a LSR making it difficult (and expensive) to install a traditional nut.You could always put the whole Deluxe pre-wired pickguard on eBay if you get a SSS. They sell for quite well as they are fairly rare on eBay. Here's a question for owners of Deluxes with SCN pickups: If you pinch the string between your fingers on your picking hand and pluck it up, does the note sound like it's quivering? I didn't notice it in the store, but I noticed it last night. I tend to do that a lot when playing and am curious if it's the pickups or the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 If i buy a DLX ash (tobacco is my fav color in general), and if i change the bridge pu to a humbucker (JB) , will it sound as good as a factory set HSS one? Or is it better to buy HSS from factory and not make a DLX SSS into an HSS? THe routing of the SSS ash DLX , can it accomodate a bridge humbucker? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 Thanks for the repliesSome info...The S1 is available to ALL Standard MIA HSS strats, whereas in the DLX series it is available to both SSS and HSS. STD SSS dont have S1.For the price differential between the DLX and the STD, i can easily buy Sperzel locking tuners and SD bridge humbucker.My main concern is the overal quality and not aesthetics... ie, neck, frets, body nut etc... In general, I don't think the overall quality of the two models are different except the differences in design between the two. There are more differences besides for aesthetics and locking tuners though (contoured neck joint and pop-in trem arm, which are bigger improvements than you make at first think). Just go and play a bunch. There is some variation between guitars, but Fender has been very consistent as of late. I also think that the finishes are much better on the Deluxes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 If i buy a DLX ash (tobacco is my fav color in general), and if i change the bridge pu to a humbucker (JB) , will it sound as good as a factory set HSS one? Or is it better to buy HSS from factory and not make a DLX SSS into an HSS? THe routing of the SSS ash DLX , can it accomodate a bridge humbucker? I'm not sure what the wiring looks like. At www.mrgearhead.com you can find diagrams. The stock humbucker in the Deluxes is the same one that they use in ALL Fender guitars with humbuckers; so it is not special for this guitar. Therefore, it wouldn't be any different that swapping the humbucker in any other Fender Strat. I think the concensus on the Fender humbuckers are that they aren't terribly good. So even if you got a MIA Standard, you'd probably be changing it anyway. You could always sell the stock pickguard and single coil to cut down on the cost of the SD pickup and new pickguard. The SCN pickups sell pretty well on eBay, so you could probably come pretty close with selling the stock pickup and buying the SD. I believe that MIA Standards and Deluxes have HSH routing under the pickguard, but I'm not positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by AtomHeartMother In general, I don't think the overall quality of the two models are different except the differences in design between the two. There are more differences besides for aesthetics and locking tuners though (contoured neck joint and pop-in trem arm, which are bigger improvements than you make at first think). Just go and play a bunch. There is some variation between guitars, but Fender has been very consistent as of late. I also think that the finishes are much better on the Deluxes. thanks for the reply man. As for the HSS vs SSS, if i buy a TBurst SSS ash deluxe, and get an HSS pickguard and a SD JB bridge bucker... will that fit perfect as it was in a factory specced HSS? ie conversion SSS to HSS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AtomHeartMother Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 thanks for the reply man.As for the HSS vs SSS, if i buy a TBurst SSS ash deluxe, and get an HSS pickguard and a SD JB bridge bucker... will that fit perfect as it was in a factory specced HSS? ie conversion SSS to HSS... You might have to have some new holes drilled depending on what pickguard you get. If you get a Fender one, it should line up correctly. But it's common to have to drill new holes. If you don't want to do it yourself, any tech would probably do it for maybe $10-15 (I think they charged me $12 once). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Blackbelt1 Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 As for the HSS vs SSS, if i buy a TBurst SSS ash deluxe, and get an HSS pickguard and a SD JB bridge bucker... will that fit perfect as it was in a factory specced HSS? ie conversion SSS to HSS... Depends on the routing underneath the pickguard. Personally I wouldn't do it, it will kill the appreciable value of your new guitar. If you buy an MIA Strat, you should keep it stock. If you want to mod your guitar you may as well by a MIM Strat and mod away. ~Blackbelt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 4, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by Blackbelt1 Depends on the routing underneath the pickguard.Personally I wouldn't do it, it will kill the appreciable value of your new guitar. If you buy an MIA Strat, you should keep it stock. If you want to mod your guitar you may as well by a MIM Strat and mod away.~Blackbelt Cheers man for the reply. but, i dont plan to resell, and if i resell in the future i ll keep all the stock parts etc to be refitted prior to sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ECFan Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Originally posted by math2014 thanks for the reply man.As for the HSS vs SSS, if i buy a TBurst SSS ash deluxe, and get an HSS pickguard and a SD JB bridge bucker... will that fit perfect as it was in a factory specced HSS? ie conversion SSS to HSS... I'm almost positive all the Deluxe bodies are routed HSH, regardless of the pickup configuration they come with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Fyngercuffs Posted June 4, 2005 Members Share Posted June 4, 2005 Yep, I am almost positive that all MIA Fender Strats come with the H-S-H routing (although it might not apply to the vintage series). Remember, you can always get a SD Lil'59er or JBjr for the bridge position. You wouldnt need a new pickguard then. I have a Lil'59er in a strat that I have disassembled at this time, but I LOVE that pickup. Good PAF sound but still has a teensy weensy little bit of a strat pickup sound to it. Don't assume that it sounds like a P90 either, it has a legit 'bucker sound. Tom.FC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members math2014 Posted June 5, 2005 Author Members Share Posted June 5, 2005 Cheers i ll look into that as well to put a lil JB... Whats the verdict on the LSR vs traditional nut? yay or nay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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