Fender American Ultra Stratocaster - Ultraburst with Maple Fingerboard Reviews
Introducing the Fender American Ultra Stratocaster: Fender's high-performance iteration of the modern Stratocaster. It offers several upgrades over traditional designs, including Fender's latest Ultra Noiseless Vintage Strat pickups, a 10"–14" compound radius fingerboard on an effortless Modern "D" neck, and S-1 switching to roll in fat neck tones on pickup positions 1 and 2. Even if you're a traditionally bent player, don't be dismayed: the American Ultra Stratocaster is a Strat through and through. Its lightweight body is built from traditional Strat tonewoods (alder or ash, dependent on color) and outfitted with a flawless gloss poly finish and coordinating pickguard. Sealed locking tuners and a 2-point Deluxe Synchronised Trem with pop-in arm equip today's players for classic Strat colorization with demanding modern intonation. One feature all our reviewers were quick to note is the tapered low-profile neck heel, which gives you access to fret positions you'd never dare into on your vintage Strat. The whole instrument has been thought out and designed in painstaking detail, all the way down to the embossed Fender headstock logo and extra comfortable trem arm.
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Highest Rated Reviews
The only Strat I need
I absolutely love this instrument. The tonal options, the smooth and fast neck, the classic color scheme - it's a joy to play every time I pick it up. The push feature gives this guitar a tone I've never heard from my lower tier Strat that this one's replacing. It's a blast to get creative with. I've been playing this guitar for a year and it made dust gather on my other guitars. The neck is seriously the most comfortable neck I've encountered, that satin finish is nice and the compound radius makes fretboard runs an absolute joy. There's something about the classic sunburst, lightly aged pick guard, and maple neck that's beautiful in its simplicity. I know this will age very nicely as I play it over the years. As always buying from Sweetwater was ezpz, the guitar played perfectly right out of the box. Shout out to my man John Beasely for the smoothest of transactions and making sure everything's working out well.
My two cents
I hate this particular Starburst color just so much it was almost a dealbreaker. For context I should add that I already had an amazing ES335, a great American Professional Tele, and several really nice PRS's. Any rate, I started playing it right out of the box through a MesaBoogie Mark V 90W combo with a Boss GX-100 mulieffects pedal and - well, the sound was just unbelievable. It was "Professional-guitarists-record-Grammy-winning-album-and-everyone-wants-to-know-what-studio-tricks-they-used-to-get-that-amazing-tone" level good. And it played better than it sounded. I had inadvertently wandered into the land of Awesome. I could go into some technical detail but I think Ive made my point. Hats off to Zack Davidson for keeping me on course despite several panicked vacillations (throwing down 2K+ for an instrument you've never held is a little nerve racking i find). But his recommendations were spot on.
Still not crazy about the color tho...
Amazing Axe Right Out of the Box...
Unable to cite any flaws.
The neck is extremely comfortable, exactly as advertised. Far easier to play in the uppermost frets, since it has a cutaway on the neck and body to allow you an easy reach. I think the frets are fine, and am not sure it would have been worth paying for the stainless frets on the ultra luxe.
It came set up perfectly, with perfect intonation and action. By way of a comparison, IMO it plays as well as a factory-plekked Les Paul. It ought to, since they are in the same price arena and there is a lot more adjustment in a strat, what with the bolt-on, tiltable neck. But I would not pay extra to get it plekked since I did not do so and ended up with what may be my best-playing guitar (with the other two having been plekked.)
It is a beautiful sunburst.
It quacks like it should through my tube amplifier with zero effect pedals, which is a worry since they call the pickups "single coil" but in reality they are noise-cancelling stacks, and therefore humbuckers made to (hopefully) sound like single coils. It is probably not as "quacky" as a strat with legit single coils, but I can sit 3' from my 90 watt amplifier and play as loud as I want with zero feedback. If you do not think it has enough quack, of course, you can always install single coil pickups and still retain all of the other nice features of this special guitar.
Fender stratocaster
Awesome guitar,was delivered in perfect condition.sweetwater is the best
Beautiful guitar
Just received this one today from SweetWater. This thing is stunning! Ive never had a new Strat before but own a couple Fenders from the 70's. Cant wait to plug in and hear how clean this is. Guitar arrived in a bullet proof packaging,UPS couldn't destroy Sweetwaters packaging! Andy Scheer was my sales engineer and did a fantastic job getting me squared away with this and some other stuff. Very knowledgeable guy and great to deal with. Thanks again Andy, cant wait to call you for something else soon.
Ultra Burst Strat
I have to start out by saying I'm no pro when it comes to playing guitar, but I don't mind spending the money on a guitar that will last a lifetime. This guitar is one that will be passed down for generations! I own two other high end guitars, Gibson LP and a PRS CE 24, but this one is hard to put down. The neck feel is very similar to my PRS, but the PRS has 24 frets and the fretboard seems to go on forever. The spacing on the Strat on the higher frets is more to my liking, and the neck joint is like not even there when playing in that register. Finish on the guitar is flawless. The tones from this guitar are too many to mention, but typical for a Strat I would guess.
I cannot thank Dave Hoffman enough for all the work and advice he has given me on all my Sweetwater purchases! Sometimes its like he's reading my mind.
Thanks to all those who work at Sweetwater, you are in a league of your own!
Best Non Custom Shop Strat Ever
Purchased the Red Flame, this guitar is unbelievable. While not a custom shop guitar; it was the custom shop guys who made this guitar and it shows. The neck is wonderful and with the additional cutaway its just easy access any fret or string. The S1 switch pushed in is my fav quack tone, just amazing. Fender out did themselves w this guitar, while pricey its worth every penny in my opinion.
American Ultra Strat
Love the satin finish on neck for playability. Neck shape is comfortable. This strat looks and sounds great!
Classic style with modern features
This guitar is incredible. Pictures don't do it justice, it's absolutely beautiful. The pickups sound great, the locking tuners make changing strings a breeze, the carve below the top of the neck allows easy, comfortable access to all 22 frets. The S1 switch allows me to play with the neck and bridge pickups, giving it a very Tele like sound; the guitar is very versatile as far as the sounds you can get. The pickups are fuller and less "quacky" than the Lace Sensors on my '86, but again they sound great. But the biggest thing is the neck; once I adjusted to the width and radius I find this guitar to be extremely playable and the neck to very fast for a Strat. This guitar is light, gorgeous, easy to play, and sounds great, I highly recommend it.
