I found my guitar about a week ago in the Matthews, NC Guitar Center. After checking all of the Music stores in 3 cities and playing every single strat available (seemed like),this past Saturday I bought an American Select (Mahogany body) in translucent crimson, HSS configuration (with S1 switch), C-shaped maple neck with rosewood fretboard, black pick guard, buttons, etc, headstock painted black to match the pick guard,and a roller nut. It just has that "special" feel to it and it plays like butter! Thanks Fender for building such a great instrument!

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2011 American Special HSS Strat
2002 Deluxe Double Fat Strat
2010 Standard Tele
Hot Rod Deluxe (with Euro Tubes)
Breedlove AC25/CM Plus

Out of all the guitars I auditioned, that was my favorite. I didn't want another wine color guitar though. I brought my friend into GC last weekend to have him play it. It still felt special for some reason. How do you like the Tex-Mex pickups? Congratulations!

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'10 American Deluxe HSS Sunset Metallic
'10 JA-90 Thinline Telecaster
'15 Music Man JP-15 Blueberry Burst
'07 Les Paul Standard Faded LCPG #82
'14 Carvin ST300
'12 Carvin CS424S
'66 Guild Starfire IV w/Bigsby
'14 Warmouth Partscaster Daphne Blue

I've tried a number of bucker equipped Strats over the years. I always seem to prefer the stock Fender humbuckers at the bridge. Most of my traditional go-to buckers don't seem to sound right in the Strat. Pearly Gates, Super Distortion, etc. They all seem to overpower the definitive Strat tone but the stock Fender buckers (DH-1 - I think?) aren't as hot and you can still hear the guitar. I love both of my HSS Strats and my advise is don't mess with the bucker. You can swap out the Samarium Cobalts in the mid and neck if you like. There are LOTS of better pups out there for noiseless singles.

My 2 cents.

I'd love to say "Congrats on the new gear!!" but we have a rule around here. It goes something like this:

No pix? Then it didn't happen.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Yeah, I'm not sure why but I can't get pics to upload, so tonight when I get home, I'll post a link to my Facebook page (it has all my guitars on it).

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2011 American Special HSS Strat
2002 Deluxe Double Fat Strat
2010 Standard Tele
Hot Rod Deluxe (with Euro Tubes)
Breedlove AC25/CM Plus

I think they may have changed the pickups at some point. I know that the Lone Star's Pearly Gates Plus actually wasn't as gainy as the DH-1 Atomic humbucker, and then sometime in the mid '00s it changed to the Diamondback humbucker, which is another gainy bugger. Would be worth checking out which guitars got what- the Diamondback could have been an 'American Deluxe HSS only' application... who knows?

And I agree. Pics or it never happened.

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'01 American Deluxe HSS Strat.
'87 Japan HSS Strat.
'11 Custom Shop FMT HSS Strat.

"Without music, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines and dates by which bills must be paid."

congrats on the new axe. right now im using stock standard ceramic singles and a duncan SH-11 custom custom. the stock humbucker was too bright for my taste. the sh-11 has a nice round/warm sound without overpowering the singlecoils, yet it's still hot enough for metal if necessary.

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10 LTD M-350NT (duncan custom4/jazz2)
99 LTD m-100 (duncan distortion/gibson 496R)
71 les paul deluxe gold top(mojo)
peavey vypyr 100, 85 red-knob, bad monkey, peavey iphone amp kit

Finally got the pics up...(sorry for the crappy quality), So it DID happen! I have played this guitar on two gigs this last week, and I honestly can't find anything I would want to change about it...I love it.

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2011 American Special HSS Strat
2002 Deluxe Double Fat Strat
2010 Standard Tele
Hot Rod Deluxe (with Euro Tubes)
Breedlove AC25/CM Plus

My other guitars: Nothing real fancy, but they keep me happy.
left to right-
My 2002 Mexican Deluxe HH (Seymour Duncan '59 at the neck, H5 at the bridge. I call this my Frankenstrat since nothing except the wood and the tuners are original.

My Brawley A324 Threat Hardtail - all original and a great player.

My 2010 Standard Tele

My Breedlove acoustic/electric - The only other acoustic guitar I'd rather play is a Gibson J200.

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2011 American Special HSS Strat
2002 Deluxe Double Fat Strat
2010 Standard Tele
Hot Rod Deluxe (with Euro Tubes)
Breedlove AC25/CM Plus

L.A.

Love the Strat. That is a real looker. I'm also a huge fan of that Breedlove !

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"I like the way he puts Yngwie J. Malmsteen on his album covers. You know,....so you don't confuse him with all the other Yngwie Malmsteens in the business"


2008 Fender MIM Stratocaster
2010 Epiphone Masterbilt
2009 Fender Super Champ XD

I have a Fender American Select Mahogany HSS Strat too, and I like it alot. Great looks and locking tuners too. I am thinking about changing the pickups someday, but not a priority, since it does sound pretty good. If I did change, I would go with Seymour Duncans (Pearly Gates Humbucker/SSL-1 single coil/SSL-1 Single coil). I put these in a Squier Strat and they blow away the Tex-Mex/Diamondback combo.

I also love my Breedlove acoustic/electric and the only other acoustic I lust for is a Gibson Hummingbird. I just can't justify the cost since I mostly play electric.

My new "baby" is an awesome Gibson Les Paul R7 VOS Gold Top. I'm mostly a Strat/Tele player, but this one could convert me. Just when I thought my collection was finished!

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’04 Fender Custom Shop ’56 Stratocaster Relic RI 50th Anniv. Aztec Gold
'10 Fender American Select Mahogany HSS Strat
'07 Fender Custom Shop Vintage Heavy Relic HB Telecaster
'03 Gibson ES-345 RI
’08 Gibson Les Paul R-7 Historic Series 1957 RI VOS Gold Top
Schecter California Custom Hellcat
’10 Squier Classic Vibe 60’s Stratocaster (Fender CS ’69 /Candy Apple Red)
’10 Squier Telecaster w/Bigsby (Fender CS Texas Specials/Candy Apple Red)
’09 Squier Stratocaster HSS Standard (Pearly Gates HB/SSL-1/SSL-1/Silver Sparkle)
’02 Squier Bullet HHH (S. Duncan: Little ‘59/Duckbucker/JB Jr. /LockingTuners)
’10 Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar HH (Fiesta Red)
Breedlove AD25/SR Plus Acoustic

Yamaha S90XS Keyboard