Fender American Professional II Stratocaster - Black with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

So at first I have this guitar a 2 star review and I don't know what I was thinking. I guess it just took some time but after a 4 month break of not playing this guitar and using only my other fender ultra strat with noiseless pickups I decided to come back to this American professional 2 and give it a fair shot. This AM pro 2 is a fantastic guitar that did in fact come with good fretwork, perfectly setup, and with a beautiful neck color that was yellow enough for my liking. The Vmod 2 pickups sound full and fantastic with clean and deliver that David Gilmore tone when used with overdrive distortion! In fact I like this guitar and it's pickups so much that I have not been playing the American ultra, frankly since it's noiseless pickups do not handle hard rock overdrive at all and for what I have been playing lately the American pro 2 has been perfect for that hard rock strat tone and the neck with rolled finger board is absolutely perfect.

October 13th 2023 is when I received my new Strat. Mind you this is my 4th....I have sold all the previous ones due to tuning issues. This time I asked Josh Kantner my rep to have it professionally blocked for stability. I talked to the set up department and they advised me I had several options...one included just a simple block of hard wood, screw the springs down or try some spring stabilizers. I opted for the Floyd Rose Trem- Endus. Man what a difference! I can bend strings without all other five going along with it. Great guitar otherwise...yes the best Strat yet.

American Pro II, that's it for me. After 37 years of playing professionally off and on, and after owning many different brands, I consider it to be the very best guitar I've ever owned. Keeper for life. It just feels perfect. Sounds fantastic. Worth more to me than the current asking price.

While I still love my LTD M-1000HT and my Reverend Sensei RA, and they have their roles, it's this Fender American Pro II that reigns supreme for me.

Did I upgrade anything? Yes, bought the locking tuners right here from Sweetwater. They dropped right into this American Pro II and I found their price to be very reasonable. Compare the price of new Fender locking tuners with some from say PRS.

The only other slight modification was swapping out the string tree for a Tusq.

Both of those minor upgrades are typical and not expensive. The tuning stability is top notch. I keep my tremolo flat against the body, only using it for the occasional surf dive. Stays in tune like a champ, rarely needing a little adjustment.

I highly recommend a "test drive" if you ever get a chance.

Looks feels and plays like a good strat. Set up was a little off as it always is with fender. A few minutes of tinkering to set it up to my taste was all it took to get it going. The neck and frets are very nice smooth and playable. The push/push tone pot doesn't do much for me so I just run it like an ordinary strat and it gets the job done well

Quite simply the best Strat I have ever played. The set up was flawless, finish is fantastic and tones galore. A special thanks to my sales rep Tommy McLaughlin for all his help. Buy one these now, you won't regret it.

I had a 2022 Player Series Strat that I upgraded with Fat 50's pickups and a Deluxe Trem assembly and I even got my luthier to level out the frets and do a completely set up. Well..straight from the factory this American Professional II is better it the way it feels, looks and sounds. I love how you can blend the neck pickup with the bridge pick up with the push of the bottom tone knob. I've never seen that feature on a strat. If you're looking for a great strat this is it. I can't image how much better the ultras are compared to this. Thanks Danny from sweetwater!

Always wanted a Strat. This is a beauty.

A great Strat from Fender and Sweetwater. Out of the case, there were no QC issues and I liked the relatively low action of the set up. I've owned an American Professional I and a MIM Strat, which I also bought from Sweetwater and they were very nice guitars, but I prefer the V-Mod II single-coil pickups over the previous professional pickups and the satin neck. I play mostly 60's, 70's and 80's, classic rock and this guitar covers all my playing needs. In my opinion, the narrow tall frets are great for lead guitar work. I want to thank my sales engineer, Nick Church, for getting me a great deal. Thank you Sweetwater.

I wanted to reward myself with another guitar. Was not sure what to get ... another acoustic, a hollow body or semi hollow body ... ended up with another Stratocaster, the Fender American Professional II. My other Strat is an 88 Strat Plus in Lipstick Red. Beautiful guitar with amazing tone. This new Strat compares very well.

The American Professional II sounds like a very crisp Strat. While it has the stereotypical (great) Strat tone (played through a Marshal Class 5 and a Roland Blues Cube Hot 30), the pickup switching is pretty unique in that you can throw the neck pickup on with the middle and bridge giving this Strat a lot of tonal versatility. What really makes this guitar so exceptional is the neck. Fender calls it a "Deep C" which I think is rather misleading. When I first read this description, I thought it would close to the telephone pole I have on a '05 Deluxe Ash Tele (which weighs over 10 pounds). Not even close. This guitar's neck melts into my left hand and is very comfortable to play.

Great tone ... an amazing neck ... this is a great guitar.

That said ... I need to say that what made my experience with Sweetwater so exceptional was working with Adam Trudel. Adam was able to make buying a guitar for a guy like me who has a lot of guitars a truly wonderful experience. Adam didn't "work me" or "sell me" a guitar ... he collaborated with me to put the right guitar in my hands.

And thanks to Sweetwater for sending me such a beautiful guitar. I received in on Friday and waited 25 hours (an hour more than expected because I was at my grandson's basketball game) ... just had to retune and plug in for beautiful tone. Very impressed with my experience with Sweetwater!

There's really not much to be said. This is a classic solid body guitar. Top notch in every way. Came in a super case well packed and well set up. I lowered the bridge saddle just a tad, not because it really needed it, but because I can't leave well enough alone. As always, Sweetwater excels!

I've been considering pulling the trigger on ordering a Fender Custom Shop Master Built Stratocaster. When I realized two thirds of the features I wanted already existed in the American Professional II Strat, well, for the price difference buying the black APII was a no-brainer. The deep C neck with rolled fingerboard edges and that barely there satin finish makes this Strat play like nothing before it. It's the best "standard" Strat Fender has ever produced playability wise, and sounds exactly as you'd expect a traditional Strat to. The only thing that would have made the APII 100% perfect would have been factory locking tuners, but that's easily changed on my end. Grab an APII before it's succeeded by something potentially overthought for the sake of change, causing the mark to be missed.

Absolutely love this Stratocaster! Neck is butter, pick ups a great and I love the new neck heal. Fender knocked it out of the park with this series. It's a guitar you never want to put down. Thanks to Sweetwater's set up it was ready to play right out of the case. Shout out to my sales engineer Josh Trumm for his excellent service!!

Great Strat! - I needed a no frills single coil Strat for a project, and needed to get quality without a massive price tag.
This guitar plays great. Swapped out the white pick guard for a black and it's very Gilmour now.
I had gotten away from production fender guitars based on playability but I got the Sweetwater Plek service prior to shipping and it was spot on perfect out of the box.
I appreciate Dustin at Sweetwater for helping with this order.

Guitar blast
Crazy sound is worth every $
Thank you so much for the very good service of SWEETWOTER and especially Jordan Clohessy just amazing service
This is one of the best shopping

Just got this strat , it's the 3rd in my collection I've purchased over the years and man this guitar is amazing,it's honestly one of the most comfortable necks you'll ever grab hold of , sounds amazing very versatile guitar can cover music from all over the spectrum without any issues from super clean cleans to soaring leads and metal she'll have you covered, you'll be flying all over this silky smooth neck with the greatest of comfort , I would buy a dozen more if my wallet and wife would let me , check it out if your in the market for a new super bada$$ guitar that you'll own and will never let you down for a lifetime , I purchased the black with white pick guard, but switched the pick guard out to look like one of my idols "David Gilmour" strats and everyone mentions it's beauty as soon as I open the case , I would definitely recommend this guitar a million times over , kudos to fender, and thanx to Sweetwater for just being Sweetwater always superb customer service , and the payment plans help me and a Lotta other inspiring musicians own on a lot of equipment that We all own , happy pickin people's

Received new Fender Pro II last week FedEx from Sweetwater, Guitar was well packed and a lot of suggestions from Eric Mathews (Sales Engineer), helping me with the decision! Ask for Guitar set up and was perfect for me! Have played for week, neck,frets are so comfortable I can't wait to pick it up again! Second Guitar purchase for me from Eric & Sweetwater, would recommend!

Thanks!
Danny Ryan

sounds dull and lacks sustain, fretwork was average. Just didn't bond with it