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Post subject: Deluxe Players Strat changes over time, need help!
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 11:17 am
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Hello all. I posted this in the Strat forum, but did not get the information I was searching for. I thought perhaps some people who browse this forum, and not the Strat one, might be able to help.

"New to Fenders and was hoping to pick up a Deluxe Players Strat as a main practice axe.

I had heard that it was best to buy a Mexican made Fender that was made during or after 2006, due to standard hardware upgrades. Is there any truth to this?

Does this have any bearing on the "Deluxe Players," or have these particular models been unchanged since introduction? If there have been changes, where can I find a list of them (or maybe somebody here would be nice enough to help list them)? The Fender site, apart from this section, seems pretty worthless for trying to research past models and history of specific year-to-year changes.

I hope the expertise here can clear this up for me!

Thank you,
Chris"

Original post: http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... 5f03dc1855

Sorry if reposting is frowned upon, but I just can't seem to find a good history of this particular model.


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 11:50 am
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I don't know that there is a history of any particular Mexican model..

I have a 2007, as far as I can tell (MZ7 serial), and it's an excellent guitar. I put it head-to-head with a Highway One, and this was undeniably better.


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Post subject: Re: Deluxe Players Strat changes over time, need help!
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:19 pm
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Christopher512 wrote:
Sorry if reposting is frowned upon, but I just can't seem to find a good history of this particular model.


Hi Christopher. I'm sure this kind of repost is not frowned upon, but I'm afraid it is going to be sheer pot luck whether someone who knows the answer comes across this thread or not.

As it happens, I saw your original thread and did a bit of searching to try and find an answer, but couldn't come up with anything useful. A lot of knowledgeable and helpful people here: their non-appearance on your thread suggests they similarly drew a blank.

I think that has to do with the particular model you are talking about, to an extent. Those sort of models fill a somewhat niche position in the catalog: someone who wants one is unlikely to buy a second and third version of the same guitar.

So unlike the more mainstream models, such as the various Standards, most of us won't have longitudinal experience of the model as it develops over the years. But maybe you'll get lucky - I hope so!

As to the history aspect of this website: it is a known feature that past versions of the catalog are currently not researchable here. Presumably the pages relating to those instruments still exist on a hard drive somewhere, at any rate back to the beginning of Fender.com. So it should eventually be feasable to arrange them into an archive section of the site.

I suspect time and resources are the issue on that one. Here on the Forum we sometimes get a glimpse into the hectic daily life of Brad (our moderator and IT Supremo). I don't think that gentleman is sitting around playing wastepaper basket ball and wondering what to do with his time...!

Hopefully an archive might happen sometime - but we'd better be patient!

Good luck - C


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:20 pm
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Ceri, thank you for the thoughtful reply; twas more than I anticipated.

I suspected that the history of particular MIM models, especially "niche" (as you say) models, would be somewhat obscure--at least for the general public. Your point about the owners typically not repurchasing the same model, though, had not crossed my mind. This would definitely contribute to a lack of data.

I was merely hoping that someone here had access to a resource with documented changes throughout the years for particular models. It would appear that no such resource exists. This seems to be quite a failing on Fender's part. You would expect them to at least be more transparent about the evolution of their products, so that customers could be more informed about buying used instruments. This does, after all, contribute significantly to their reputation and is a very large part of instrument culture.
At the end of the day, Fender exists solely to make a profit by as wide of a margin as possible and they spend their marketing resources on promoting new items rather than the old. It is understandable that they would not throw more resources towards a publicly accessible archival project.


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:16 pm
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Christopher512 wrote:
Ceri, thank you for the thoughtful reply; twas more than I anticipated.


Pleasure: sorry it wasn't more helpful.

Frankly, for you this lack of information is a nuisance - or an opportunity. If you can find stuff out then you yourself become the resource. There's people here that are particularly hot on certain instruments and have accumulated lots of information about them. For example, when folks ask questions about the Eric Clapton Strat and its variations over the years often as not we tell them, "Forum member ZZDoc will be along to answer you shortly..." :)

So keep an eye out for earlier years' models of the Deluxe Player on Ebay and then ask the sellers intelligent questions about them. Seek out old issues of Fender's Frontline catalog and see what you can glean. Whenever someone here mentions they have the guitar pounce on them and pump them for details.

And soon we'll be saying, "Deluxe Players' Strat? You need to ask Christopher512..."

That's how reputations are made! Geeky, ain't it? :lol:

Good to have you around - C


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 5:11 pm
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I have a 2006 Fender catalog, I think. I know I did, but I'm not sure if I still do.

If I find it, I'll gladly send you some information.


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:28 pm
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Hi Christopher. First of all, welcome to the Fender Forums!

Ceri's point about the lack of information on older models is well taken (Gibson has an archive . . . just sayin'). I have resorted to grabbing the spec sheets on Fender's product pages when changes or upgrades are announced and storing them. Unfortunately, I have them only for the Highway 1 Strats and the American Series/Standard Strats. I do have the back catalogs, though, so I'll take a crack at it.

The Deluxe Player's Strat, introduced in Jan 2004, is an upgrade from the Super Strat, the biggest change being the pickups -- The Super Fat single-coils were replaced by Vintage Noiseless pickups. The 2004 Frontline was probably printed before Jan '04 because the Super Strat is still in it and there is no mention of the Dlx Players Strat.

The Dlx Players Strat first appears in the 2005 Frontline. Unfortunately, this issue is the first without the spec pages. The description states that the guitar has Super Fat pickups, but I believe this to be an editorial error since the reason for changing the guitar's name was the change in the pickups and the picture clearly shows the guitar with Vintage Noiseless p/u's.

The 2006 Frontline describes the guitar in much the same way as the old Super Strat was described: tinted neck, 12" radius, 5-way std switch plus mini-switch for 7 p/u combinations, brown shell pickguard, gold-plated vintage hardware, but with the Vintage Noiseless p/u's. The catalog descriptions in the '06 and '08 Frontlines are identical.

Since the current online spec sheet states the introduction date as 1/2004, usually I would take that to mean there has been no significant change to the design or features, but that isn't a hard and fast rule. MIM Standards with upgrades got a new intro date, but when the Hwy1 got the Greasebucket tone circuit in '05, the intro date remained 7/2002.

Finally, you mentioned "standard hardware upgrades". Did you mean hardware upgrades to the Standard MIM Strat? If so, the Deluxe Series of guitars is already a step up from the Std MIM. I suspect there is little if any difference in the original and current models.

Members - Any comments, additions, corrections, revisions are welcome.


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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:42 pm
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Christopher512...Welcome to the Forum, hope you are able to find the info you are looking for. In my opinion a MIM Strat is a good guitar no matter the year it was made.

Ceri...The posts that you provide are always good reading. I really enjoy your comments and the inofrmation you provide.

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2007 Fender Highway 1
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2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 10:25 pm
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Thank you both for the welcomes! :)

Steve, the information you have provided seems sound enough to presume that there have been no noteworthy changes from 2004 onward. I think the date for the spec sheet is probably the most telling information we may possibly ascertain from this investigation, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I think my original question has been satisfied. Thank you to everybody who read the post and contributed!


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Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:07 am
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I'm glad I could help.


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