Though I have repeatedly told myself No More Strats, I have gone and done it again! I recently purchased a used Fender FSR Tele that was supposed to have Texas Special pickups and a few other features, but once I got it home and tried it out (and pulled the pickguard) I decided that what it actually had in it for pickups was Nothing Specials. I took the Tele back to GC and said, yes, I will accept a store credit.

So with my $350 store credit, $100 in gig money and my debit card in hand, I started wandering around with little hope of seeing another guitar to satisfy my severe G.A.S. Then I saw it hanging there. Not used, but brand new (save for the paws of young wannabes) and marked WAY DOWN from where it had once been priced.



Wow! A Fender Special Edition Strat in trans-amber over solid swamp ash, loaded with vintage Noiseless pickups at the neck and middle and a Fender zebra humbucker at the bridge. Vintage tuners, rosewood fretboard, four-ply tortoise pickguard, aged knobs and pickup covers... the only downside was that the truss rod is only accessible at the butt of the neck - what?



And, oh yes, it has the 9V battery powered Mid-Boost feature controlled with the second Tone knob. You can overdrive the guitar (especially the humbucker, of course) just by turning that knob, something I have never experienced before in a Fender guitar.

I had seen and played this guitar a number of times before as it has been hanging in this GC since sometime in 2011. Back when it was new to the store it was priced at $799, pretty high for a MIM Strat, even one as nice and full-featured as this one. When I saw it the day I bought it I noticed that it had been marked down a while back to $649 (which I had missed), but when I picked it up for the last time it was Instant Rebated down to $499! Schweet!

I brought it home. The only thing I am going to change is to find a tortoise (or maybe black to match the battery cover) trem cover for the back of the guitar - that white is too bright.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Really ''schweet'' , Dennis ! Congrats with the fine instrument ! I would definitely have done the same . Mr. G.A.S.- man

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A-man

Nice... Happy new guitar day,,,

Dennis, congratulations, beautiful Stratocaster!

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Thanks, guys! This Strat is very different from all of the others I own - it's the only Strat I own in a trans-finish, for one thing - and the only Strat I own with vintage Noiseless pickups. I am liking it a great deal, which is good since it might have to be my Christmas guitar this year.



You can just make out the Noiseless on the neck and middle pickups. There's nothing on the humbucker - I guess it's noiseless since it is a humbucker.



This is also the only Strat I own that doesn't have the walnut truss rod plug on the headstock. It's a pain to have to loosen the strings and pop the neck to adjust it, but I guess that's just another reason that it's special. I did have to do all of that to do my own setup on the guitar, but hopefully it'll stay put.



It's too bad that Special Edition is just a sticker on the back of the headstock - I'll have to be careful with it.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Fisherman would call that a keeper!

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Gary

Nice guitar at a great price.

I definitely agree that the white trem cover is too bright; tortoise would be much better.

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'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

Nice score, Dennis!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Nice Find...

Looks Great !!

Enjoy !!

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele

Roger that!! I'm sure that my good friend Mike would agree when say that 'the thing was talking to you from the wall.' Many of us have been there. It's a siren's song that even the great Ulysses himself could not resist. Though I myself am hard put to find the need to acquire anything new at the moment, it's always the song I listen for when I'm browsing. We know you'll do right by it.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Hey! That's just like my guitar! I bought it's twin on Black Friday and it too called to me from across the room. It immediately reminded me of Bruce Hornsby's guitarist's strat from the late 80's-early 90's (now with Bonnie Raitt). It looked just like that. I know, it's weird to have a flash back from that long ago, but check this out at 2:24 and 3:25. Looks like the same body from way back when, but different neck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1NAGhiVqdg
https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/661656290/gm.jpg

Anyway, I haven't had an electric guitar since I lost them all due to a plane crashing into my house (yep, really happened). I still don't have an amp because I stupidly sold a mid-70's Marshall 2x12 50 watt combo which did survive the house fire. My fingers are crossed regarding the Noiseless pickups, I'm concerned I'll have to change them out since they've gotten mixed reviews. We'll see. In the mean time, I'm digging the vibe, and the translucent finish. Must be a trend. All my bases are translucent over ash too.

Enjoy, and let us all know how this works out for you.

Beautiful guitar. Love the wood and finish.

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I have some Fender gear.
(Telecaster, Jaguar, Villager 12 String. Mustang l, Bronco, SCX2, Rumble 350, HRDIII, Rumble 2x8 Neo Cab)
http://www.reverbnation.com/modwiz

Congrats!!

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

CRGM...Nice score! And I wouln't worry about having to adjust at the bottom of the neck, I have 5 Strats and only one, my EC Strat adjusts at the top and once I set them up, I don't find I have to do any adjustments, they all seem to settle in pretty good, of course i am assuming you don't switch between string gauges often.

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Shame on you Dennis...You're going to have to add on to the house or make the closet bigger downstairs... Congrats