Hello Everyone!

Just wondering if I could get some of your thoughts on the Kenny Wayne Signature Series.

I played one a couple weeks ago and am really in love with it. I had to sell some other stuff to afford it and am picking it up tomorrow. Do you all have any thoughts on it? Have you played it? Let me know what you think.

Once I get it home, I will review it in detail... but here are my first impressions.

1. It caught my eye. I am buying the black one with the grey stripes. Saw it from across the store and liked the look.

2. Mexican Construction. The Mexico factory is producing better and better stuff. The quality feels great.

3. Lots of hot-rodded (USA type) features. Graphtec saddles. Bigger, but not too big neck. Jumbo frets. Killer custom pickups. In fact, I've heard that all of the hardware is quality USA type stuff, assembled in Mexico.

4. The pickups scream with a Texas style blues sound.

5. I don't know what is going on with the trem block, but the sustain is better than any Mexico strat I have heard.

I played it through a Fender, a Mesa and an Egnater that happened to be sitting next to each other in the store, and noticed that the guitar carries its own tone.

Personally, I think I am going to be loving these Jumbo frets too. Bends were effortless and smooth, even with the crappy Bullets that were on the guitar.

I pick it up tomorrow and will immediately put some Elixir strings on and set it up. I am taking it to the cabin with my family for the Mem Day weekend. Can't wait!

For the money there ok. Ive only ever tried one it sounded good but didn,t want to say in tune very well but im sure was that guitar. Overall seemed like a good guitar.

I had the same experience. I was testing a pile of amps out, and grabbed the first Strat I could find. I mucked about with it for upwards of forty minutes, trying to achieve some semblance of tuning stability. I failed.

Of course you can't base decisions on one severely limited experience, but I feel duty-bound to say that I was highly unimpressed with the instrument.

So I picked it up and I couldn't be happier with it. Guitar Center sold it to me for $569 with a Nice Fender Gig Bag.

I set it up and put some new strings on it and I can't believe the tones I am getting!

It is so smooth sounding and just whines out the blues like no other Fender I have ever played.

The neck is beefier, but completely comfortable. I love the satin finish on the back of the neck, so much better than the poly mexican ones.

I've played tons of Mexi Strats and a few American strats, and this is by far my favorite strat to play that I have ever played on. I would recommend it to anyone who loves blues.

Congrats on the new guitar. I've also been impressed by the quality of the MiM's as of late. Considering my skill level, they're all I need. I also noticed an article in a recent guitar mag showing Aerosmith's Brad Whitford playing a MiM strat on the Hendrix tribute tour. I wouldn't worry about the neck. I bought a CP 60s a few months back - it has a 12" radius neck. You get used to it. Enjoy your new purchase.

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'10 Gibson LP Studio Faded
'09 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
'08 Fender Classic Player 60s Stratocaster
'07 Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster
'05 Breedlove AC 25 SR Plus

Congrats on the guitar, but we need a picture please.

If I'd known or saw a KWS strat, I would of purchased it instead of my Roadhouse. Lessoned learned, but I believe the KWS is one of the best signature models made despite being mexican. As far a MIM quality, I can agree, its much better then any other "imported" guitar out there. A lot more care and consideration has been taken place with the MIM Deluxe and Signature guitars, really close to on par with American Standard, but well above Highway 1 and American Special.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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I'm not sure that I know how to insert an image, but here is my current set-up.

The Blackheart is a Handsome Devil
The other strat is a Mexican 2008 with a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck pickup in the bridge that I relic'd a bit. Boss BD-2, Ibanez Tubescreamer and a Korg Pitchblack tuner.

Alright, a little sad update on my Kenny Wayne Strat

I restrung it with my favorite gauge strings which are on the light side, and we had a huge problem.

I had noticed before how close the high e string was to the edge of the frets, but now, with a lighter gauge string, you can easily slide the string right off of the edge of the frets. I am doing this easily and even when I guard against it, I still do it a few times in a song. Just a little vibrato and the string is off the edge.

I contacted Fender Support and took it into two licensed fender support stores and they both told me that the graphtech saddles in the guitar are the American size, but the neck width is Mexican size which is slightly smaller.

Fender support told me that I could tweak the neck, but it was clear that this "tweak" would move the problem to the low e- string. When I took it in to one Fender guy who had never played around with one, he was shocked that Fender would do this.

So, in order to have the Kenny Wayne guitar as it was advertised, I'd have to switch to some Graph tec saddles that are fit for a Mexi Strat. This would cost $60ish for parts along with another new set of strings, plus whatever labor the guy would charge, and Fender won't pay for it. They say that tweaking the neck a little bit to the side would be fine, however they would not pay for this either.

Because I was frustrated, I decided to take the guitar back and use the credit to buy a brand new Sunburst Mexi Standard Strat, a black pickguard, and new strings along with the Fender G-Dec 3 Fifteen for about the same amount of money. I am currently hand relic-ing the strat and it looks awesome.

I would now say... don't buy a KWS Strat without buying a set of Mexican sized string saddles.

Still, the KWS neck and pickups are top notch, the design and Fender Customer Support were lacking however.

I played the KWS when I was looking into updating my strat and I absolutely loved it. The thick neck and jumbo frets felt awesome, and the pickups made it a blues machine. I also played some texas specials that day but I found that they didn't sound remarkably different from the MIM stock pups. I picked the KWS pups over the Specials and bought a set off ebay. Only complaint is that the white covers from my old pups didnt quite fit onto the KWS pickups, but I'm going to try a little filing next time I change strings.

While I didn't buy the KWS strat, I'm definitely incorporating some of it into my customized MIM standard. The pups are already swapped out, and now that I've played a thicker neck with a wide radius I know I find it much more comfortable and will be buying a thicker neck with jumbo frets from warmoth, though it will differ from KWS in that it will be maple and V-neck. It's a very good guitar and it definitely has a lot to offer.

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

I looked at the Warmoth necks. I wish I had a bit more money. I would get a 12 inch radius with jumbo frets anyday. I feel like a huge percentage of fender players would choose this neck if they had a good 30 minutes with one.

I priced it out a few weeks ago at Warmoth and it was like $300-ish.

I'll be going for the 10-16 compound because it's much cheaper than a straight radius, but still a good bit flatter than the 9.5 standard neck.

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[08 MIM Standard Arctic White] > [Danelectro Fish n Chips EQ > Radial Texas Bones OD > Tonerider British Distortion > Electroharmonix Russian Big Muff Pi > Vox V847 Wah] > FM65R

You have described everything that made that guitar different from most of the other MIM strats out there. Besides Road Worn, its the most expensive MIM strat Fender sells. All because of the special fat neck with 12" radius, custom voiced single coils, graphtech saddles. Not to mention finishes. The white one has a cross that was designed by his wife. The black with stripes is from his love of muscle cars. Its probably the best made Strat, American or otherwise for less then $1,000. Fantastic guitar!

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Thats a real bummer. At least you could of sold the parts you took off on Ebay for a little relief of the cost of replacing them. Saddles are easy to install and setup. You didn't need a tech to do that...

_________________
"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


facebook.com/313DBC

This feller does an excellent review if I may shamelessly plug his website. His review of the blues junior sounds amazing as well.

http://www.steviesnacks.com/gear-videos/fender-kenny-wayne-shepherd-strat-demo.html

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-Kc
"Payin' dues."