This guitar is a great option for anyone looking to step up to a professional grade guitar or add another weapon to their arsenal. I purchased mine one year ago, stepping up from a spalted-top Korean Tele, and the already superior playability has actually improved from being broken in every day and a quality set up. The neck is what sells this guitar. Absolutely flawless. The action can be set super low without too much buzz and some of my shredder friends even favor it over their Ibanez's as far as playability goes. I bought my strat with a maple fretboard because of the funky/twangy tones it puts out as opposed to the more mellow tones of a rosewood fretboard. The maple fretboard has sort of a glossy feel that allows the player to slide between frets with utmost comfort. The ONE thing I do NOT like about this guitar is the SCN pickups. In my opinion they are pretty weak. However they really are noiseless. I play my strat thru a Fender Hotrod Tube Amp and an original TS808 Tubescreamer, and I can set the gain and volume all the way up and the guitar stays quiet. But even though they sound alright, they DO NOT get the snarl or bite that I want. This guitar sounds good playing jazz and soft blues tunes, but if you want that screaming Stevie Ray hot blues tone, you need to switch out the pickups to some SD1's or something similar.

To give a proper review on this instrument, you must know about it in the 1st place. Secondly, you need to know how to play and lastly have the hours in on this instrument to give a worthwhile review.

This guitar was designed around 3 major things. *Intonation *Samarium Cobalt Pickups *V-Neck

Everyone knows that a strat is not a High gain instrument but is more designed for tone & playability. There is nowhere to hide on a fender guitar. Anyone can plug in a jackson, crank up the gain, and play power chords and make it sound decent. The Cobalt pickups sound excellent with 10 different pickup combinations including the s1 switching. Very versatile. If you know anything about guitars you can achieve just about any tone with this guitar.

The intonation on this thing is amazing. Its ability to constantly stay in tune is what makes this a "deluxe" high quality instrument.

The V neck is very smooth. I have owned a few different v necks and this one has a bit more of a round feel to it. Makes it very natural and easy to play.

Personally I am not impressed with the price but if money is no issue, this is a strat worth investigating.

In response to Robert from Houston..who gave a so so review..first off you gotta really know how to play if your going to own a strat. Not a strum around turn up the volume push a pedal wanna be guitar player who probably attends all the jams because your not good enough to play in a band. listen to people like Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton and you will see why these pros play strats. There is no other instrument that will obtain the kind of tones one can get from a true stratocaster. It does take time if you really want to play.

2009 Fender American Deluxe strat v neck, alder body. Part number #010-1302-767 in honey blonde. The overall fit and finish is very nice, the strings have been replaced with Elixr 9-42's, action is very low and no truss rod adjustment was needed.5 way selector switch with S-1 switch, giving the guitar 10 different voices. Gun oil tint neck with very nice v shape, low gloss finish on the neck. This guitar is a knock out in the Honey Blonde trans nitro finish with copper pick guard. I would buy this again.

Great guitar. I've had mine for about 3 years and I love it. Not much to say really. The pups aren't the highest output. If you're a shredder you'll probably want to look elsewhere. But it does have that tell-tale Strat sound in spades for sure. If you want crazy output you'll probably want buckers or active pickups anyway. That's not what a REAL Strat is for anyway.

In addition to the S-1 switching, noiseless pups and cosmetic features which are WELL worth the money over the American Standard the piece de resistance on this guitar is that BEAUTIFUL neck. It's a VERY satisfying V-shape; a nice soft V, not too extreme. I think it's the perfect compromise between having enough girth to dig into chords and bends and being fast enough for speedier licks and solos. The finish on this neck is absolutely BUTTER too. It takes a little time to break in the finish from thorough playing, but once you get through that you'll have a truly exquisite neck you'll really appreciate.

Not sure what more to say. It does everything a Strat should do and it's made with an attention to detail that rivals some much more expensive guitars from other manufacturers. I'm GLAD I got mine a few years back when they were cheaper. BUT if mine were to get irreparably damaged or stolen I would buy another one even at the current higher price.