Hey. I Just bought an American Deluxe Strat in Olympic White with maple fretboard. I love it to the death. lol

Though i was looking over the build today and i noticed that some of the build quailty of the strat (compared to my les paul) is no where near as good. For instace the neck pocket, i can see the under coat coming out from the side of the neck, and its looks a bit ordinary. Another this is i noticed theres alot of paint behind the nut, like the gloss paint. I know im comparing $2200 to $6500. But still, isnt the american deluxe the top of the range in fender usa? without going custom shop?

Has anyone else had got this? or is it just me being picky.......

Hmm - I haven't looked at the American Deluxes that closely so I'm not sure just how many have that issue.

I wouldn't necessarily consider them the top of the Fender USA range; I might be out of step by considering the American Vintage and the USA Artist Signatures as slightly above the American Deluxes.

Gibson is notorious for having little niggles as well - binding issues even on things like '59 Reissue LPs, etc. I've always been lucky enough to get Gibsons without issues, but I've seen photos of improperly cut inlays and lots of reports of people replacing the nuts before they even bring them home.

I'm not sure where you're located, but here in the USA the only Gibsons that hit those high prices are the Historics. You should compare a Gibson Historic to a Fender Custom Shop.

Sir Stevo,

I think you've been unlucky. without wanting to sound smug my Deluxe is free from any of the flaws you mention. Mind you, that's because I went into the shop and made sure I was happy with how the guitar sounded, played and looked.

Not sure if you bought yours unseen or not but I wanted to make sure that when I handed over all the cash I was 100% happy with my purchase. Perhaps you could take it back to the shop and discuss the matter with them as a first step?

John C, I probably agree with you by putting the American Vintage series ahead of the Deluxe in terms of top of the (non custom) fender line but I'd disagree about the artist series. Personally I feel a large premium of the cost and kudos of the Artist series is based on having a little transfer with someones autograph on it and a few specific tweaks to said guitar (I say this as a man who initially went to try the Clapton & Mayer strats before choosing the Deluxe!). Then again, I might be a tiny bit biased!!!

yeah it might should have been cleaned up a bit better but remember, your comparing a guitar to a guitar that 3X the cost. um....toyota corolla to a 6 series BMW kind of thing.
(though i will take the toyota any day over the BMW)

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I guess I was thinking mostly of the Johnson Strat when I put the Artist Series up with the AV series; in hindsight most of the Artist Series are more in line with the Am Dlx series.

Yer thats true. My Les Paul is a crowd above it. And i did try one at the store and love it, but it was in sunburst, so i ordered the white one... with out seeing it. I wont do that again. lol