I was shopping for a used Les Paul this weekend when I spied a Strat Ultra? I have hate for rosewood fret boards lately so I clicked the ad just out of curiosity... ebony fret board Strat oh man instant GAS. Did some research on these Strat Ultras, nice collection of features. I pulled the trigger and she is on my guitar stand!

The s/n says 1997 but the neck and body are dated May 1998. Its in great shape, one owner never left his house. He said he has about 50 hours play on it. There's some nice streaks in the ebony, looks like they didn't dye it black. Fret board and neck are smooth as silk. No chips, dings, or scratches.

Pups are blue, gold, red/red. About half the lettering is worn off the gold pup. Came with the wrench, whamy bar, strap locks, original hs tweed case. No case candy though.

My goodness, that is the most beautiful ultra I have seen in a while!! I do like the look of the later ones when they were using curled maple laminate! Very nice there sir, congratulations!!

Im sure even user Xhefri will be envious

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Yeah nice guitar. I always liked the blue and red finishes on the Ultras.

You sure it's not a Silver pick up though? Instead of Gold. Think it came with Silver stock.

Xhefri is the man on these; however I believe most Ultras had a Gold Lace in the middle and only occasionally had Silvers (the Strat Plus Deluxe had the Silver in the middle) - more like an assembler just grabbed a Silver instead of a Gold when wiring up the pickguard than any kind of a production run change.

May 1998 - by that point I thought these had been replaced by the American Deluxe series (along with the Strat Plus and Strat Plus Deluxe). Of course with Fender as soon as you belive something is the absolute truth a guitar comes along to prove you wrong. I suspect that Fender was using up the remaining Strat Ultra parts in their "work in progress" inventory - that is why a 1998 guitar has a 1997 serial number.

Now that is a Ultra instrument if I've ever seen one. That is a classy looking strat mate. Congrats on your purchase!

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

Wow! That is a stunning specimen right there! A very cool looking Ultra.

Congrats!

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Niiiiice!!
good score

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You won't hurt its feelings boy, play it like you stole it!
ASPCA We Are Their Voice !
Speaking up for those that can't speak for theirself.....
Proud member of the ASPCA "Guardian Angel" program.

that is one beautiful strat! i love that finish, i think i know what my next gear purchase is going to be

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Gear:

Heavily Modified Olympic White 2007 MIM Strat (my baby!!)
Fender Showmaster 2003
Bugera V55 HD
Peavey XXX Cab
Vox Satchurator
Ibanez TS-9
Dunlop Crybaby
DeltaLab Digital Delay

Oooh! Where's my maners.

Welcome to the forum Coolidge!

I'd love to see some more pics of your Ultra. Tis a very pretty strat!

Enjoy!

Andy

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Pending Greatness

welcome to the club http://fender.com/community/forums/view ... hp?t=26284

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People say I'm a nice guy, I can't figure why

Real nice example Coolidge. Welcome to the forum.

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Thanks for the welcome guys. Aspiring Musician the poor guy who sold her to me literally hugged the guitar case just before I left with it, I sensed hard financial times forced the sale. I paid $1,100 US dollars, would have like to have gotten it for $900 but would have paid $1,200 so I'm happy with the price.

Congratulations what a beautiful guitar. Enjoy!
Kenny V