Hello all,

New guy here. Just got my Fender American Deluxe Fat Strat in what I believe is White Blonde but the finish seems transparent or very thin as the grain is visible beneath. I have dated the guitar to 2000 according to the serial number DZ0069841. I believe this one has the Vintage Noiseless pickups, but I have no idea what the Humbucker is, the service manual lists a "Hot Rod", which I believe is different to the DH-1. The guitar has a standard non-contoured heel and locking tuners which are surely not sperzels (must be Schallers). Any info regarding the body wood and humbucker in this guitar would be much appreciated

I was also thinking of modding it to suit my tastes, if anybody has any experience with these guitars in particular, I would appreciate if you would chime in. I'd like the guitar to do everything from sparkly cleans to modern high gain metal, some replacement humbucker advice would be awesome. Also could I install something like S-1 switching? Do any other parts need an upgrade in your opinion? Thank you!

do you have pictures? it would help in the identification process.

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I could make some Gimme a sec.

And here is my sorry attempts at taking guitar photos...

There is one that's exactly like yours on ebay right now. They did a little relicing on it though. They are calling the color a transparent blonde. I'm not sure if that's correct or not. Hop over and take a look at their description.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2000-Fender-Ame ... 35b5051026

Yep that's it!, thanks for the heads up, but their description sadly doesn't answer either of my questions, body wood or humbucker type

If it's white blonde the body is ash. I have no idea what the pickups or wiring is, and if that one was mine I'd get the same pickguard in SSS configuration and put some BareKnuckles or Lollars in it.

Ok, looked again and it says you want to play metal. Well, you could still get by without that ugly HB if you put a set of the DiMarzio Injectors in. So that's my final answer.

I kinda like a humbucker strat, I'm not that big on looks but I agree it doesn't really look right with a bucker.

Yeah I thought it was ash. The guitar sounds fairly nice on the clean and crunch channels of my JVM in all positions, but that humbucker is mud city on high gain, even with a tube screamer kicking the tubes...and on the other modes it doesn't do much good either. I have another strat-type guitar by a competing manufacturer with an SSS configuration. I just wanted a Strat that I can use to write stuff while I sit infront of the computer, and I do write a fair bit of Metal, but not only Metal. Wasn't sure if it's the wood or the pickup but I definitely never saw any Metal oriented guitar made of ash.

To tell the truth I had a MIM HSS which I loved a lot but pawned off when the going got rough. And it did everything even with the nasty stock pickups, and I'm kinda disappointed with this one in a way, thought a deluxe would be above and beyond in every way, but I didn't research the guitar much before I bought it. It is a nice axe no doubt but I'm worried it will not do what I want.

Get a regular bridge pickup and switch to a mint green pick guard.

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1984 Squier Contemporary Stratocaster
1986 Peavey Envoy 110
1967 Kingston Acoustic

Single coil yes, but not a mint pickguard. Brown 4 ply Tortise instead of red.

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"Epitaph on a blues musician’s tombstone: “I didn’t wake up this morning”" Davy Knowles


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Seriously dude, the injectors are supposed to be great for high picking speeds. I believe they are Paul Gilbert signature models. You can also buy them in a prewired configuration on either a black or white pickguard.