Go with the deluxe the locking tuners and scn pickups are enogh to choose so. But it matters if your willing to mod a good strat. Because you find cheap strats and mod them to sound like a million bucks! If your willing to upgrade then check out the agile st 802mn 3ts. Otherwise the deluxe is a great guitar!!!

Have to agree as I own a MIA ash Deluxe myself!!

If I were going to pay at least a grand for a guitar, then I'd pay the extra two or three hundred bucks and go for the American Deluxe. The better quality of the bridge, the stronger magnets in the SCN pickups, and the S-1 Switching System, I think, justify the additional coin.

If you were to swap out pickups of the guitar, I would go for the Standard. The main difference is the pickups and the s-1 switch. If you like the pickups and the the other features that the deluxe has and the standard doesn't go for the deluxe!

All right after a little more research and a trip to my local guitar shop (Todd's Guitars Etc. in Longmont, CO> Go Todd!) I have decided to go with the Deluxe standard.

The only thing I don't like are the frets and the switch position. I have larger fingers and the fret bars feel very small to me after my SG, so I am wondering if I should have some Dunlop Fat frets put on the neck. Has anyone done this same type of changeout? Has anyone experienced the same type of problem?

The other thing is that the switch seems kind of in the way for my playing style, although this is probably something I just need to practice with.

Any thoughts or responses are appreciated. Thanks for everyones help!

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Further Up! Further In!

Wow, I never hear about my hometown. I grew up on Vivian street in Longmont! I was Senior Class President in '88 at Longmont Senior High (Go Trojans!). I think I knew Todd, too. He's had or managed a music shop since I was in junior high, if I'm thinking of the right dude.

As far as the argument goes, the deluxe looks like it offers more flexibility in terms of sound. I checked out the technical specs on the website and it looked pretty cool.

Small World, Mr. Bennett. I remember you well. feel free to PM me so we don't tie up the message board. I would love to hear what you are up to now.

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Further Up! Further In!

kaptinmarko and the others, sorry for tying up the message board, but as a rookie on the board, I get the message "pm has been disabled on this site," and I fear it is probably a setting I haven't found yet.

my email is jobe6970@gmail.com. Shoot me a message.

I'm not that technical when it comes to guitars, but basically the S1 switch modifies the connections of the pickups, so that you get a broader range of sounds. So instead of 5 sounds from the 3 pickups, you get 8 or 9 (the first position, from the bridge pickup only, isn't modified).

[quote="mbernhardtI'm not that technical when it comes to guitars, but basically the S1 switch modifies the connections of the pickups, so that you get a broader range of sounds. So instead of 5 sounds from the 3 pickups, you get 8 or 9 (the first position, from the bridge pickup only, isn't modified).[/quote]

Does the S1 Switch have a coil tap then? I didn't think there were any humbuckers on and American Deluxe. The way I understand it is that you can have the option of neck pu, neck and mid pu, mid pu, mid and bridge pu and bridge pu depending on switch position. Is this right or am I thinking of an older switch?

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Further Up! Further In!

Does the S1 Switch have a coil tap then? I didn't think there were any humbuckers on and American Deluxe. The way I understand it is that you can have the option of neck pu, neck and mid pu, mid pu, mid and bridge pu and bridge pu depending on switch position. Is this right or am I thinking of an older switch?[/quote]

No, that's the pickup switch. The S1 changes the configuration from series to parallel, or maybe it's the other way around. And I think it adds a capacitor into the mix. So basically it alters the sound of the various pickup switch positions. The S1 is a pushbutton hidden in the cap of the volume control where you'd NEVER find it if you didn't know it was there. The guy who sold me his guitar didn't even know he had one.

And yes, the Deluxe can come with Humbuckers- mine has a pair of them at the bridge position. It's less common but it's available.

On my american standard, I have always played 12s and I raised the neck pu much closer to the 6th string in order to get that ultimate fat sound I so love, as close to SRV as possible. Anyone have any further suggestions or have I missed the boat entirely?

I think in another post someone mentioned David Gilmour as #3 in their pick...I was thinking that Pete Townsend was completely overlooked. I then realized it was a list that included only strat players, not the greatest ever.

Im making the same decision now, could make the purchase tomorrow. After playing many standards and deluxes im leaning towards the deluxe cause i really love the neck on them. those scns are pretty cool too because you can get a strat sound and to me a kind of mellower i guess sound. Thats just me

Not to mention Jerry Garcia, plus he played a Strat during some of his best years.

Hey! Another Colorado guy! I'm down the highway from you in Westminster.

I own an American Deluxe, by the way, and I love it! My two pennies.

Good luck! And post pics after the purchase.

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::Jim::
www.jimstigall.com
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2004 Fender Squire Strat Aged White
2007 Fender Deluxe Ash Stratocaster Cherry Burst
2009 Fender Telecaster Surf Green
2006 Fender Hot Rod Blues Jr.