Thanks for the welcome.

Yes I am very happy and honestly surprised how well this guitar turned out. The guitar was built to replace my 2004 MIM Strat which I just out grew in the end.
Also I was looking for something a bit different and fun from my Custom Shop 2010 Strat NOS '63 in Olympic White with Rosewood neck.

Tossed up whether to go with a Eric Johnson neck 12" radius or the 2010 Deluxe Soft V neck but the compound radius 9.5-12" settled it for me in the end. I am just loving the soft V neck, as it particularly assists in nailing big 5-6 fret chord stretches and just feels fantastic in general. Its amazing how much difference a little extra leverage can make.

I was worried the two models would not fit together that well, but took the risk. The neck joint is very tight and everything just lined up perfectly. So thanks go to the Corona production line, the manufacturing tolerances must be very good in general for this to happen. The deluxe Soft V neck also has a predrilled hole for standard body or deluxe body configurations.

The only cosmetic thing I dislike a lot on the new deluxe necks are the black and white pearloid dots on the fretboard. I prefer the MOP abalone fret markers, they feel much better.

I'm very sick seeing Fender standardizing (cheapening) the whole USA Deluxe line by deleting a host of high-end features which were a "must" on the series since its inception in 1998.

For example, the new Deluxe basses had lose their 22nd fret, the fretless and southpaw Jazzes, as well as the 5-string Precision were dropped. Also, the new HSS Stratocaster models lack off a locking bridge option, colour and wood choices are very limited.

I know that cheapening a high-end series such as the American Deluxe is primarily intended to cut production costs and save money in order to prevent a possible bankruptcy.

I've been the owner of a brand new American Deluxe for 3 days now and i'm really pleased with my choice to go 'deluxe'.

I narrowed my choice down to the American Standard, American Deluxe and Clapton Strat. I played a few standards and wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. They are very good instruments but I just didn't click with them. As soon as I tried the Deluxe series out I was much more impressed. Personally I prefer having the noisless N3 pickups and the S1 system gives a wide range of tonal options. The little touches like the fancy logo on the headstock, the contoured heel, the locking tuners (these make changing strings so much faster for a klutz like me!) and the abalone fret markers just made it feel classy. For the extra £175 over the Standard I feel all these 'extras' are superb value. I felt the Clapton Strat couldn't get near the Deluxe in terms of choice of sounds and wasn't even that impressed with the V neck, can't win 'em all!!

Plus I love the Olympic Pearl colour that comes on the Deluxe!!

I have both an American standard and an American deluxe. I believe whichever one you choose you will be satisfied. They are both amazing guitars and well worth it!