The first thing that came out!

OMG OMG OMG OMG.

We are family.

I’ve wanted an American made Fender Stratocaster since the late 90’s but I’ve never been able to commit to buying one until today. Yesterday I was in touch with a Melbourne based custom guitar builder about building my dream Strat. His quote came in at around $1700-2000+ which I think is reasonable, and something I’d still really love to design and own one day, but it’s still no Fender. I was eyeing a few second hand Strats on eBay but they’re all interstate, and the risk that comes with a $2K eBay purchase kinda freaks me out. Last night I made a reddit post on the /guitar subreddit that went off, and I had a fair few people reply with words of encouragement to go and buy that US Strat I’ve been dreaming of owning for so long.

I found a lefty Fender American Pro II Strat in ‘Dark Night’ for $2,639 at Manny’s in Brisbane, seriously an awesome Batman inspired blueburst blue to black colourway. Sky Music in Melbourne has a sale on the American Pro II Strat at $2,349 (but they didn’t have the Dark Night colourway in stock) and Manny’s were happy to price match so I pounced!

The Fender American Pro II Strat will have a fatter neck than the neck on my Korean made Squier which I’m a little nervous about. I also can’t say that the Dark Night colourway is my dream colourway but hey it’s pretty badass! I would also have preferred a simple maple fretboard over the fancier rosewood fretboard on this guitar and maybe the version with the humbucker in the bridge would have been a more versatile choice, but hey, being a lefty means I always have less choices!

Either way. I’m both exhausted, excited and relieved! Definitely the most expensive guitar I’ve ever bought. I can’t wait until it arrives!

Specifications
Model: American Professional II Stratocaster, Rosewood Fingerboard, Dark Night
Country Of Origin: US
Body: Alder
Body Finish: Gloss Urethane
Neck Material: Maple
Neck Finish: “Super-Natural” Satin Urethane Finish
Neck Shape: Deep “C”
Fingerboard Radius: 9.5″
Number of Frets: 22
Frets Size: Narrow Tall
String Nut: Bone
Nut Width: 42.8mm
Bridge Pickup: V-Mod II Single-Coil Strat
Middle Pickup: V-Mod II Single-Coil Strat
Neck Pickup: V-Mod II Single-Coil Strat
Bridge: 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo, Bent Steel Saddles, Pop-In Tremolo Arm and
Cold-Rolled Steel Block
Tuning Machines: Fender Standard Cast/Sealed Staggered

Just a quick little video to compare the tonal differences between the Artist STHL which has ceramic pickups (a humbucker in the bridge) vs my 1997 Korean made Fender Squier which has Alnico Pickups (single coil in the bridge).

Volume and tone pots on both guitars are all the way up. Same tuning and 8 gauge strings on both guitars. Exact same clean and slightly dirty settings on my Boss Katana for both guitars, absolutely no post editing.

There are a lot of variables in this video (different pickup heights, different guitars) but yes the vague point of the video was for me to figure out which sounds I liked better (on review I like the Squier neck pickup for clean and a bit of dirty and Artist bridge humbucker for a lot of dirty) so my next potential move might be to look for a single coil humbucker like a Seymour Duncan hot rail, Little ’59 or JB Jr. for the bridge of my Squier and an alnico pickup for the neck of my Artist STHL.

Before and after.

I had to drill new holes to get it to fit but it’s come out looking so great!