That's a beauty Joa! Great color! Nice sneaker too.

I like the Specials because of the 6-point trem. I like the vintage look of the 6-point, and think Leo designed it that way, so that's what I want on my Strat! I also like the huge frets, and huge headstock of the Special. I really couldn't care less about the tilt neck adjustment, the dual action truss rod, or the two point trem. So, Standards are not for me!

Take a Special, add a Callaham trem block (or entire trem), and I bet you have a killer retro Strat.

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'10 American Special Strat
'02 Les Paul R8
'08 Charvel US San Dimas
'85 Jackson Soloist

Splawn Quick Rod

IMHO I do think the trem block on the American Special is an issue. It is huge and mine sustains for a long time if I need it to. Upgrade it if you must. My upgrades were all for personal reasons, not for inferior parts. The American Special is a very well made Stratocaster/Series. Not a fan of the Atomic humbucker though. Mine is SSS.

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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

+1. The blocks on the Highways/Specials are STEEL and very nice indeed. But I do feel better when holding the Standard neck profile.

This is why I love Fender, so many options out there. There is a guitar for any Stratocaster lover.

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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

Yup! So many ways to mod, customize and mess with makes the Strat fun!

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'10 American Special Strat
'02 Les Paul R8
'08 Charvel US San Dimas
'85 Jackson Soloist

Splawn Quick Rod

i just purchase a NOG 2005 what would have been called an American Standard for an excellent price because it had been hanging around the shop too long. I could have bought a new American Special for a bit more, but I figure that the one I bought was originally more expensive and you get what you pay for.

Question#1- Why does the Special cost less than the Standard when the standard has the better pickups? There must be some qualitative difference.

Question #2- I'd really like to know what specific model I bought. It is unsual due to a rather questionable color, I beleive is called Caramel, with black pickgard, knobs and PU covers. I think the color contribute to this guitar hanging in the shop for six years. I can't find an '05 catalog or Manual, but I think this guitar may be ash, since you can see the grain through the finish. The Black certainly sets it apart from other Strats. The serial # is Z5150360, if this could help.

I'd appreciate anyone's help determining what I have here.

Thanks,

alfonse

Sounds like a Butterscotch Blonde, I bought an '05 HSS back then. Here is a pic the day I got it. If you have the SSS model then it's basically the American Standard. Mine has Tex Mex single coils and Diamond humbucker and the body is alder.

Thanks Joec.

It is exactly the same except no humbucker at the bridge. so that answers the what is it part of my post.

I just put Med gauge Infield strings on it and they are the best strings I've ever used, but there must have been light guage Bullets on them because the new strings lifted the bridge bottom way up. So, I tightened up the claw screwa at the top of the spring attachments and brought the brige heel down to about an 1/8th." I then tightened up he two bolts at the outside top of the bridge. It lowered the action a tad too much - not bad. I plan to adjust the string saddles upwards to get the action up a little more. That seemed to be instructions given by Fender when changing guages. Does this sound right? I don't want to put too much pressure on the tremolo springs and I had to move it up a bit to get the bridge down to a reasonable place.

Thanks,

Sounds right. They ship with .09's. I changed mine to .10's and like the action a little lower and the trem flat to the body so I added another spring. good luck...butter scotch is a classic Fender color which you see a lot more on the Telecaster.