Longtime lurker, recent register-er, 1st poster.

I had been looking for something American-wise to replace an older MIM Standard. Unfortunately, I saw this one at the local shop. It was over my budget, but it whispered for me. That night, it yelled. Next day I went back and bought it.

Sorry fells, the best looking, best sounding Ash Deluxe is no longer on the market.

Welcome to the forum,I can see why you couldn't pass by that Strat,it's just plain beautiful and with an ash body will certainly sound great.I had an ash bodied 78 Strat and it sustained like a Steinway concert grand.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the selling point of Ash over Alder?

I know that Alder is "brighter" than mahogany, and that basswood is "in between" the 2.

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Electric Guitar #1: Fender American Select Mahogany Stratocaster HSS
Electric Guitar #2: Agile Al-3110 Les Paul
Acoustic: Fender CD200SCE Dreadnought Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Amp: Line 6 Spider III 75 75W 1x12 Combo Amp
Piano: Yamaha M450

Welcome, and thanks for the pics of your new Strat. Absolutely beautiful
guitar!!!

Nice! I really like that grain pattern. I have the same Ash / Sienna Burst. I changed the pickguard and accessories on it though. Reminds me of mine before the cosmetic changes. Welcome aboard (officially). Keep on posting!

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-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

ooooo purty, I'm getting an deluxe ash tele soon (blonde) an I can't wait!

Talk about a getting a bad case of GAS. That thing is beautiful.

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My Rig: Guitar into Pedals then into Amps and out into Speakers.

I have one just like her and they are just beautiful guitars.

Mostly it is the atrractiveness of the grain pattern. Ash is a very pretty wood.

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

How do you like the compound radius neck and the new pickups?

What an excellent specimen of burst, that guitar belongs in an art museum. Wish it was still on the market . Oh well, guess I'll have to fall back on the best looking and sounding ash vintage reissues. ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

What he said ^^ Please enlighten us!

And congrats on your wonderful new purchase!

Thanks for the compliments, it *is* a beauty.

Regarding the neck and pickups, both are great.

The compound neck was kinda alarming to me at first. Like pinky going all the way across to the E around the 4th fret. Since it's a bit flatter, I find that I'm not having to push as far as an "normal" radiused neck. But I think it took all of an hour or so to adapt (quite easily), and it seems much more natural to me now.

The pickups are truly noiseless, though I haven't fully explored the S-1 options yet (different parallel vs. series combos, plus the capacitor). I run through a CE-2 into a Blues Jr., and it's near silent. The mid strings seem to be sound a little fuller than what I'm used to, but the standard neck/mid P/U combo has a *very* nice mid tone warmth. The bridge P/U is still more harsh than I'd prefer, but the MIM that this replaced was an HSS, so I don't know how objective I can be.

Like I mentioned earlier, it was more than I originally set out to spend, but truly have never been happier with a guitar purchase.

Awesome, thanks for letting us know. I had already contemplated going by my local GC to try one out. Now I'm definitely going. I might just have to spend my tax return before I actually get it...

Definitely give it a shot. Hope I'm not encouraging GAS, but...

Funny thing is, I didn't like this particular grain on 1st look. But dang, the grain grew on me overnight. Kinda like me - goofy looking on 1st look, but I can grow on the the chickies...