Fender Deluxe Powerhouse Strat

What can I say about Fender Stratocaster that hasn't been said on countless recordings and pretty much every single musical stage in the world. This has to be the most iconic instrument that is ever existed. There has been some modifications in new features added to this guitar over the years but the basic tone shape and feel of the guitar as remain the same. It's one of those instruments that is just a classic guitar that is extremely versatile with little to no compromise. I love the sound of this instrument especially in the neck pick up that pretty much any way I can play this guitar I'm very happy.


UTILIZATION

Model Name: Deluxe Players Strat®
Model Number: 013-3000-(Color #) and 013-3002-(Color #)
Series: Deluxe Series
Colors: (300) 3-Color Sunburst, (327) Saphire Blue Transparent, (338) Crimson Red Transparent, (367) Honey Blonde, (Polyester Finish)
Body: Ash
Neck: Maple, Modern “C” Shape, (Satin Urethane Finish)
Fingerboard: Rosewood (p/n 013-3000) or Maple (p/n 013-3002), 12” Radius (305 mm)
No. of Frets: 21 Medium Jumbo Frets
Pickups: 3 Vintage Noiseless™ Strat Pickups
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Middle Pickup)
Pickup Switching: 5-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickups (Plus Bridge Pickup When Push/Push Switch Is Activated)
Position 5. Neck Pickup (Plus Bridge Pickup When Push/Push Switch Is Activated)
1-Push-Button On/Off Switch: Activates Bridge Pickup in Positions 4 and 5 of Blade Switch
Bridge: Gold-Plated Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
Machine Heads: Gold-Plated Fender®/Reliance Vintage Style Tuning Machines
Hardware: Gold-Plated
Pickguard: 4-Ply Brown Shell
Scale Length: 25.5” (648 mm)
Width at Nut: 1-11/16” (43 mm)
Unique Features: Gold Plated Hardware
Strings: Fender® Super Bullets® 3250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-3250-003
Accessories: Deluxe Gig Bag


SOUNDS

No matter what amplifier or gear set up you use with these guitars they sound amazing. I really like a good Fender Stratocaster guitar with a solid Marshall plexi with four inputs and with a nice floor by 12 speaker cabinet. Use this guitar and amp set up with a good OD pedal maybe some delay sounds good boost pedal such as an Ibanez or a boss distortion pedal and you're good to get some great hard rock iand metal type tones. Pretty much any settings guitar and it's really good shine. Whether that be with the nice clean fender amplifier or Vox amplifier with a clean sound this guitar is really good to give you a solid tone.

OVERALL OPINION

These guitars are built in America and they aren't that expensive compared lot of other guitars out there today. You can find these guitars for right around $1000 or so. That's not a bad price for good American-built instrument I recommend this guitar to every guitar player out there because it's one of those instruments has to be played by everyone. They sound great for recording and especially on stage.

For anybody who has ever played a Clapton strat, you'll know the main feature that this guitar boasts. It has a special midboost feature, and that's probably its biggest selling point. I find it strange that the MIM line will have something like this, but the MIA line doesn't seem to have anything comparable. The guitar features an alder body, a one-piece maple neck with a skunk stripe down the back, 21 medium frets, dot inlays, a vintage style tremolo, three single coil pickups, a midboost feature, one volume, two tones and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar had a nut that needed to be reshaped. One good way of checking if you need to redo the nut is if you're having tuning stability issues after you've already stretched the strings. When you tune up, you'll sometimes hear this slight "ping" noise. That's the sound of your string catching on the nut. After about 15 minutes with some nut files, I was able to get this to where it needed to be. A little bit of nut lubricant also helps. There are some liquid based ones that work great, but graphite works nicely in a pinch. The fretwork is decent on this, but there were a few low frets that prevented me from getting the action I truly wanted.

SOUNDS

The guitar's single coils are decent in terms of overall tone, but they're far from mind blowing. If you've ever played a MIM strat, you'll know how they sound. To be honest, I'm not even that big of a fan of the MIA pickups, either. I find they tend to be a bit too bland most of the time, so I usually replace them right away with something from Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio or the such. The coolest feature about this guitar is the extra mid boost that you have. It really gives this guitar some extra versatility. With this particular guitar, I found myself leaving it on more than off, but I've played guitars where it sounds better off, so you'll have to experiment.

OVERALL OPINION

The mid boost is the main reason to buy this guitar. If that's not something you need, then I'd recommend buying a used MIA model if you can spring the cash. They're a little more consistent, and I find them to sound a bit better most of the time. However, these are still very good models, and I doubt you'd be truly disappointed.

The Powerhouse strats are Made in Mexico strats that features a pretty cool midboost features. I believe this is the same (or similar to) as the one on the Eric Clapton strat, but I'm not entirely sure. The guitar features an alder body, a maple neck with a stunk stripe on the back, 21 frets with dot inlays, vintage tremolo, three single coils, one volume, two tones, a special mid boost and a five way switch.

UTILIZATION

The guitar had some fretwork issues, and I tend to find these with the Mexican strats. They're not bad, but I've seen better. The frets were not leveled enough, they weren't crowned enough, and they weren't polished enough. The polishing is easy to fix, but the rest would be about $150 from a good tech to correct, and then you'd lose a few thousands off of the fret height. The radius on this is your standard radius, and I'm not a huge fan. The 9.5'' just doesn't really jive with my playing style. The nut on this wasn't badly cut, but I'm not entirely sure it's the best sounding nut. That said, for what you're getting (price wise), it's quite a decent guitar, and there aren't many better options when it comes to strats.

SOUNDS

The guitar's stock pickups were pretty weak. The bridge pickup wasn't the most defined sounding pickup in the world. It had some output, but it didn't have nearly enough for what I was looking for. You could get a cool rock tone, but it was still pretty bright sounding overall. The in between postions were great for that funky and clean tone. I really like these positions quite a bit, and some people who have strats seem to be in these positions all the time. I never use the middle pickup alone, so no comment there. The neck pickup seemed to lack output, and it didn't have the clarity I was looking for. It got a decent clean tone, but that's about it. The midboost on this thing was real cool, however. It added some versatility that the other strats didn't have.

OVERALL OPINION

I actually prefer the midboost on this thing to the normal push button thing on the SCN American strats that you see today. While I'm not a fan of the vintage tremolo, the 9.5'' radius and the lack of a 22nd fret, it's still a pretty cool guitar, and there aren't many other strats out there that have this kind of versatility. One thing I would recommend would be to do a pickup swap as that would really bring a new dimension of tone to this guitar.