First time poster here although I've owned a 1980 hardtail Strat for about 20 years so I'm not new to the brand! Recently got a craving to see if there were USA Strats with factory original Floyd Rose trems on them. It wasn't easy but came across the Fender Floyd Rose Classic series from 1992-2002 give or take. This beauty from 2002 in Vintage White showed up at my door last week and wow, these are great. Solid build quality, great looks, versatility, sound and fun factor. I don't know what else I could ask for in a guitar. There is a definite beauty in simplicity thing going on here, I am a very happy camper.

Nice guitar, welcome to the forum. I have a Charvel with a floyd on it but my strat is a vintage standard fender tremelo. I had a hard time getting used to the floyd, but that was me. Good luck with it and post some replies aftyer you've played it a while and got the feeling down for it.
filerj

The Floyds can be a nuisance, especually during string changes but I enjoy having them when they work well and hold their tuning. I've been playing the Strat for a week now, it's a definite keeper. With the humbucker in there I can play my AC/DC or Metallica but switch to the neck and turn on the blues, Pink Floyd or whatever. All of my other guitars are very flashy looking, with flowers, flames, pointy edges and stuff. I needed something more traditional looking but with the same capabilities and this is just what the doctor ordered.

Hello Tonelover,

Firstly welcome to this forum.

Congrats on that new Floyd equipped axe.
Excellent condition {I want one like that}.
And thanks for the great photos.
Best of luck with it.

Cheers.

Again, welcome to the forum. I simply cannot say it enough, that color combination is my favorite. Perfect in every way. Just last night I was tooling around with with the one I own (Black) and it made me chuckle a bit. It's one solid workhorse and she sings. The vibe I get from yours is she's not leaving your clutches anytime soon.

That's one beautiful guitar Tonelover!

Hey, thanks for the welcome. I am also somewhat of a condition junkie and this thing is in virtually mint condition, just one pencil point indentation near the input jack. It's a great player but I really love the looks of it too. While I might be impulsive at times I don't have a short attention span, when I find something I really gel with it stays with me for a very long time and I think this is one of those. I usually know right out of the box if I connect with something, if not it gets sold immediately.

Here is my '79 hardtail I've had for a long time. I said '80 in my original post but I was mistaken. I can never remember without looking. I know it isn't the most desirable year but this guitar has been an amazingly dependable workhorse. Has been dropped on concrete floors by drunk girls at parties, stolen and recovered, all sorts of stuff. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking. The road worn look is completely original, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hello Tonelover,

That ones a great working mans guitar.
a nice survivor. I got a lester that has
few love taps going on, still a beauty.

Cheers.

okay, I can understand why someone might want a strat with a floyd rose trem (for 'deeper' dives and stuff) but why would anyone prefer a hardtail or a flush bridge? Isn't that just taking away a very useful option?!

Beautiful Guitar! I had an American Deluxe in that Vintage white (butter yellow) color and loved it. I bought a 92 American Classic Floyd Rose Strat and made an orphan of the AM Deluxe. Great score on a not easy to find guitar.
Here is a link to my 92
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii119/ccemsa17/Floyd%20Rose%20Strat/

I noticed yours had the DZ2 prefixed serial for a deluxe edition 2002. Mine has an FN2 prefix which is supposed to be "For export" and a 1992 year. Also surprised to see the kluson style tuning machines on yours. Somehow thought they would be modern style.

Again beautiful guitar, and make sure to wipe your others down well. The will probably be put away for awhile!
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As far as the SN and tuner differences, I did not notice those differences but I might have a possible answer. The run dates of these is not exactly clear to me, but when they started in 1992 they were called Floyd Rose Classics. Then around the late 1990's or 2000 or so they changed the model name to Strat Special, or Floyd Rose Special, or something like that. It had the word Special in it, that much I know. Perhaps there was a dividing line there where they made a few changes.

I also have a 1992 Sunburst that I bought a few weeks ago and liked it so much that I bought the 2002 one shown here. It's out for a pickup change but when it's back I'll compare the tuners and SN. I bet they are exactly the same as yours, which is beautiful by the way. I love maple fretboards. They are a little more "snappy" in my opinion.

The reason many of us prefer hardtails is because we don't use the vibrato. We just block them off anyways, and a hardtail adds more wood to the body and tuning stability.

And that FR is like my enemy guitar, all my least favourite components, white finish, Floyd Rose and vintage tuners, lol. Happy for you though, it's what you wanted. Congratulations.

The sunburst hardtail looks phenomenal also.

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tonelover,

Welcome to the Forum. Nice looking guitars. In the beginning of my musical journey (almost 20 years ago) all I bought were guitars with Floyd Rose Tremolos. I recently bought 2 guitars with the Vintage Fender 6 point tremolo. I have to admit I like the simplicity of the 6 point tremolo.

With that being said, I love your newest aquisition. I am looking at buying one of two different guitars for my next guitar purchace. But first I am looking for a good Fender tube amp.

1. Fender Stratocaster with the Floyd Rose
2. Fender Telecaster '72 deluxe.

I still have not decided which it will be, that will be done on the day I go into the shop.

Enjoy your new purchace.


RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Thanks for the info, but a floating bridge just makes more sense to me.
This is one of the reasons why I'm not a fan of Gibson, alot of their most famous models like the Les Paul, SG etc have a hardtail. I want to try to find a Les Paul with a Bigsby tremolo just to see how that would work out.
Sorry for mentioning the "competetor" brand on a Fender forum. lol

If anyone is interested Musicians Friend had a Call in special on the Mexican made Floyd strat.(today only)

For a lot of players the vintage tremelo is just something they put up with because it is so difficult to find a hardtail Strat. You would be amazed at how many Strat players put in 5 springs to eliminate the tremelo problems(tuning instability, string breakage leads to out of tune etc.). Clapton blocks all of his tremelos and doesn't use them, but prefers the sound of the trem guitar over a hardtail as he thinks it lends a better sound to the guitar. I personally have several of my Strats set up with the trem plate flush to the body, and the trem arm never comes out of the case. I also have a couple Strats that the trem is in full use. That is one of the nice things about owning several instruments. I use the vintage trem more like a Bigsby, to add subtle vibrato. If I want to go wild on the whammy, I will use my Ibanez RG with a locking Floyd Rose tremelo. Different strokes....