Fender American Elite Stratocaster Ebony Fretboard Olympic Pearl

Welcome to the latest addition to the Fender USA line…the American Elite Stratocaster. Replacing the amazing American Deluxe line the Elite brings back a bunch of features we all know and love as well as some new ones. This is the most innovative Stratocaster that they have made since they first introduced the model in 1954.

The Body

Not too much has actually changed with the body. The curves are slightly more exaggerated and the comfort cuts are a bit deeper.  Apart from that this is still the same Alder body that has been used on strats for years.

The Neck

Fender have made a lot of changes here. The most visible one is that they have moved the truss rod adjustment to the bottom of the neck. Previously it was at the headstock and was a real pain to adjust once strung. With this new position at the body however you can easily set up the neck absolutely anywhere.

It does not end there however is they have also constructed a new compound shape neck to match the compound radius fingerboard. Now the neck carves from their Modern 'C' shape to a very modern 'D' carve so you get great control over both ends of the neck. This matches up perfectly with their compound radius fretboard that goes between a vintage 9.5" radius and the low end to a shredtastic 14" at the high end.

The idea here is that these changes will make it easier to play solid rhythms and insane leads on the same guitar. There's not much you can't do with this guitar out of the box.

Fresh New Hardware

The tremolo and tuners are close to what we had before with the American Deluxe but with minor changes. The rest of the hardware including the pickups and truss rod are fresh and new for the American Elite line.

Fender's N3 pickups were extremely popular. The ability to give you an authentic single coil sound without any extra noise was a huge plus for those playing live or in the studio. Sadly it did come at the expense of some high end as they didn't quite have the same feel or response as other single coils.

Generation 4 of the Noiseless pickups  fixes all of the complaints pushed at the N3 and delivers the authentic single coil tone everyone was hunting for.  Best of all it does that without losing the noiseless nature of the sound. No annoying coil hum or whine just the sound of some great pickups running through your dream rig.

Specifications

• Series:  American Elite
• Body Material:  Alder
• Body Finish:  Gloss Polyurethane
• Neck:  Maple, Compound Back Shape, Modern "C" to "D"
• Neck Finish:  Satin Urethane with Gloss Urethane Headstock Face
• Frets:  22, Medium Jumbo
• Tuning Machines:  Deluxe Cast/Sealed Locking (All Short Posts)
• Scale Length:  25.5" (648 mm)
• Bridge:  2-Point Deluxe Synchronized Tremolo with Pop-In Arm
• Pickguard:  3-Ply Mint Green, except 4-Ply Tortoiseshell on (723)
• Pickup Switching:  5-Position Blade:  Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and
• Middle Pickup, Position 3. Middle Pickup, Position 4. Middle and
• Neck Pickup, Position 5. Neck Pickup
• Control Knobs:  Aged White Soft Touch Knobs
• Hardware Finish:  Chrome
• Strings:  Fender USA, NPS, (.009-.042 Gauges)
• Case/Gig Bag:  New Elite Molded Case
• Fingerboard:  Ebony  9.5"-14" Compound Radius (241 mm-355.6 mm)
• Nut (Material/Width):  Synthetic Bone, 1.685" (42.8 mm)
• Position Inlays:  Large Black Pearloid Dots (Maple), Large White Pearloid Dots (Ebony)
• Pickups:  New 4th Generation Noiseless (Bridge, middle, neck)
• Controls:  Master Volume (with S-1 switch), Tone 1 (Neck Pickup), Tone 2 (Middle and Bridge Pickups; No-Load Tone control)