Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster - A strat with both barrels loaded.

An overview 

I've not always been a strat guy. I owned one of the Deluxe series guitars a few years back, and found it good at one thing, sounding like a strat. And oh my word was it good at that, but should you want to add a bit more depth to your sound, you needed to change your guitar. I eventually bought a PRS Custom 24, which would give a good approximation of both a Strat and a Les Paul, as well as possessing a unique tone of its own. Then Fender gave the Strat a new trick...  
So what's new? 

The main thing is the S-1 switching. Now this has a complicated explanation, but effectively it gives you 5 extra sounds. Imagine a Strat with humbuckers, without it actually having humbuckers.   The pickups are 3 Samarian Cobalt Noiseless single coils, which were not on the previous model, which used regular noiseless pickups. The SCN pickups seem to have a little more punch than the older models, but otherwise don't seem a whole lot different, without a direct comparison being available. 

Build and Playability 

There shouldn't be any surprises here for anyone who's played an American Strat before. Build quality is excellent, and the fit and finish of everything has been very well done. The Deluxe model is fitted with the abalone inlays, which I love the look of. The fit compares very well with the bird inlays on my PRS. 

The Fender locking tuners work very well, although I would say the tuning stability is not quite as good as the PRS. That the PRS costs twice as much as the Strat should not be an issue, this is a £900 guitar, and for that amount of money I think anyone can expect steady tuning use after use. 

The same goes for the set up out of the box. I did have to adjust the intonation to get it just right. It was close enough that a beginner or a keen amateur might well not have noticed, but why a beginner would be spending £900 on a guitar is beyond me. 

The medium jumbo frets feel very nice, and lend themselves quite well to a fairly aggressive style of playing, although obviously within reason. This is not a guitar for heavy metal fans. Fans of SRV or anyone else with a quite punchy approach to playing the blues or rock guitar will find the frets quite amenable to big bends and quick soloing. 

Sounds 

Right out of the box, it sounds like a Strat. Now there's a surprise. Playing through a Marshall AVT275 it can sound like any number of famous Strat players. Whether you want Chili Peppers tones, Pearl Jam, Clapton, they're here. 

Now for that S-1 thingy...press the top of the volume control to engage it, and bang! Instantly punchier, much more of a humbucker sound. It will never, ever sound like a Les Paul. The alder body is simply too light and too different in tonality to get close. However, for those of you who have wished for a little more variety from your Strat, this is it. 
Without going into complicated details, a Strat will normally pair its pickups in parallel, giving those beautiful, unique tones that we all love and recognise. The S-1 switch pairs pickups in series, effectively wiring them up as a humbucker. Fenders website gives details on the various wiring possibilities, and also something about the 'specials capacitor' that also comes into play with the S-1 switch. I recommend you check it out, the diagram is much more helpful than any written explanation could ever be. All I can spell out in writing is that the S-1 switch is A Good Thing. 
I also got the chance to play my guitar on a Mesa Boogie Lonestar Special. With Class A valve power behind the guitar, it simply sounds sublime. If you are lucky enough to be able to afford an amp like this, it sounds far better with a guitar running single coils than with humbuckers. Just thought it worth mentioning... 

To Sum Up... 

Fender have pulled a blinder with this one. My previous Deluxe barely got a look in once the PRS had been purchased. Now, I find myself picking up the pair of them equally, and switching between them to see how things would sound with the S-1 switch engaged. It has added a new dimension to my sound. 

If you are a gigging musician, give this guitar a look. With some clever set up, it might be the difference between taking one guitar or three to a gig. It can be that versatile.