I purchased online without ever playing YM Fender, just to add to my Signature Series Strat collection and that is would be different - love that antique White look personally with Rosewood neck. The first 5-minutes of playing, I though...Low volume output and weird to play on scallop neck..love the color..., but I think I' sell this guitar, which I never do. Came from work, and gave more adequate time - maybe 30-45 minutes and now I'm used to scallops and plug into a more overdriven amp then my Blues JR Tweed that I only used a Fulltone Overdrive pedal and now the beast has come alive and it's a keeper. What I still don't like that much is the pickups playing an ultra clean tube sound. If you're looking to play SLIGHTLY overdriven music, I have other models like Eric Johnson, John Mayer, EC, Jeff Beck, etc that are better.

I heard about this guitar from one of my friends. He told me the guitar was a good guitar but not for my style of playing (metal, hardcore, ect.) but I picked up this guitar and was stunned with the playability. It was simply amazing it has so much gain and the way the scalloped neck felt was amazing. It pretty much made the guitar. I love this guitar and hope to get one because I absolutly love the way this plays and sounds. I LOVE YNGWIE J. MALMSTEEN!!!!

I am so impressed with the way this plays it's not even funny. No, I had never played a 'scalloped' neck before, but I took a chance. And I'm glad I did. Keep in mind you will need to take this guitar to have it set up right(lower the action, adjust intonation, all that good stuff). Now, with the guitar set to my likings, it's just amazing. This guitar is really fun to play; It has increased my practice time three fold on inspiration alone; This is a quality, well made Fender, and for the price it's just insane not to pick one up. The neck is comfortable and playable everywhere. There is no 'one part' of the guitar that doesn't play as good as the others; All your classic/neo-classical rock/metal tones can be obtained here; It's maybe not the best for thrash, but works fine for anything else. I guess the bottom line is it's a really well made guitar that is a joy to play. If you have ever been on the fence about a scalloped neck, this would be a great opportunity. I can't imagine you would regret it...

I got this guitar about a year a go and its the best, I have 7 electrics and still this is the best. The scallop frets make it easyer to bend not for speed. If you get this guitar i would up a Dimarzio Super Distortion in for the bridge pick up, I did that and it sounds so much better.

Received my YJM last week. I wanted to get a good feel of this guitar before writing a review. I purchased the Vintage White/Maple Fretboard model. It is a stunning guitar! I had reviewed all of the guitar's features, i.e.-- scalloped neck, vintage trem, 21 frets, alder body, stacked singles in the bridge position.

I must be honest and state that I did a foolish thing when I purchased this guitar. I had never played a scalloped neck before -- ever! But I did a LOT of research and read a lot of previous reviews. I was concerned that I did not have that 'light touch' I had read was absolutely needed in order to keep the guitar from going out of tune when chording (or so the theory goes).

Well, I can prayerfully give thanks that this guitar was everything I hoped it would be. I HAD ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEMS AT ALL WITH THE SCALLOPED NECK! It was so comfortable to play. The guitar tends to bring out more creativity as I play. I think the warnings about aquiring a light-touch are apropo IF, that is, one has a tendency to play serious thrash or brutal guitar playing, and have never developed a proper technique to begin with.

If you are like me, and are seriously looking to invest in this instrument, do not let the scalloped neck scare you away! I have never been more pleased with the feel, the playability, the tone, and the look of any guitar -- until now.

I'm not a shredder at all. I can do a 'few' legato-type runs, but my style is more reminiscent of a staccato-styled player (ala Billy Gibbons). This guitar covers ALL the bases tonally. I love the YJM and HS3 pickups. The the bridge pickups are stacked, they are still voiced and appear as single-coils. To my knowledge, they are not stacked humbuckers, but stacked single-coils. The fact that they are stacked gives the guitar much more bite tonally and cancels out all typical Strat hum.

But make no mistake, this is a Strat through and through. The neck pup is to die for (Think Hendrix, or even certain Malmsteen settings). The thing plays like butter. I rarely use the middle pup, but do not agree with Malmsteen himself that it is useless. Its good, too.

Featuring a 70s-styled headstock & Schaller tuners, you simply cannot go wrong with this versatile, gorgeous guitar. Kudos to Malmsteen . For blues-rock guitarists, there simply is nothing I can fathom better!