Hi all,
Just purchased a Fender American Special HSS. (black)... Was wondering if anyone also had one, their experience, likes, dislikes, etc. The search engine brings up anything with 'American' in it... I'm new here & really don't care to go through over 300 pages of threads... So if anyone can point me in the right direction, it would be much appreciated...

Thanks

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Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded.
Jimi Hendrix

Welcome to the American Special club!
My A.S. is the polar opposite....Olympic White!
They are great guitars....they look great and are comfortable as heck to play!
Let's not kid ourselves....these are essentially Highway Ones with a glossy finish!!

Much like the Highways that I own....I HATED the stock pickups, tuners, and saddles.
I changed them all....and now this guitar is amazing!! (just my personal "thing")
It NEEDED noiseless single coils and a waaaay better humbucker.

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

Hi & thanks for answering. I'm hoping for delivery today from the Fed Ex Santa. Sounds like you did your own custom shop on yours. Cool... I'm still learning to play, so whatever comes out is fine with me until I get more experience. First thing I thought of also was replacing the single coils with noiseless. But that's down the road...

Your white A.S. is very cool. But when I saw the black on black, it simply grabbed me & wouldn't get out of my head... I have a Yamaha acous/elect, & an Agile Gibson style, so this will be my first Fender... I started late in life. I'm 61, but right now feel like I'm 10...

Hope to be posting my own pic later. If they don't make it today, I'll have to wait until Monday... Which humbuker did you use?... Thanks again for answering.

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Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded.
Jimi Hendrix

Hey...you're NEVER too old to Rock-n-Roll!! You have just discovered a wood and steel 'fountain of youth' in your instrument of choice!!
A GUITAR has a funny way of doing that!

My humbucker of choice for this is a DiMarzio 36th Anniv. P.A.F.
It is a vintage output pickup....not entirely too hot.
Sounds AMAZING!!

My noiseless single coil choice was DiMarzio also.
The new INJECTOR sits in the neck and an AREA 67 sits in the middle.
Their AREA series of noiseless Stratocaster pickups in general, are simply awesome!

I play out quite a bit at dives with questionable power sources and noiseless was a must!

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

I LOVE my HSS American Special. Mine is sunburst and it sounds and feels amazing. I love the Texas specials in the neck and middle, and the atomic humbucker is perfect for me. I have loved Seymour Duncan JB and Pearly Gates humbuckers, but I like the Atomic more. It is slightly less harsh on the trebles at higher volumes and just feels more full to me.

I really can't say enough about what a great value I feel that I got on this guitar. With a guitar center coupon, I paid $600+ tax for it new.

I didn't love the big headstock at first look, but it adds a little mass and since sometimes I leverage the weight of the guitar when I do vibrato on a bend; I feel that with the jumbo frets and the bigger headstock it actually helps me have a cleaner and warmer vibrato.

Congrats on your HSS Special! I hope you are as happy with it as I am with mine.

I have played a few HSS models int he store and owned a SSS model for a year. I love the American Specials. I am not a fan of the Atomic Humbucker; however, other are. I prefer the 3 Texas Special pickups of the SSS model. I do not like those Ping tuners that are on them. I replaced them with Fender/Schaller locking tuners, but that is a personal modification I do on most of my Stratocasters.

Mine was a very fine guitar; however, I traded it and a Blacktop Strat in on an American Standard.

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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

I have the 3 color burst HSS and it is sweet! It's the only guitar I have that still remains stock, except the springs.

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— did that sound like something?

Well, Santa did arrive today. (disguised in a Fed Ex truck)... Gotta say, I am more than happy right now. Been downstairs playing, feeling, all that good stuff when ya get something new... It fits so nice & feels so good against me. (I think I'm gushing)... Had a bit of a problem at first with the cable connect. Went in & out several times, then settled down. At first I thought it was the tuner. A new Korg. But did the same with my other tuner. Changed cables, then amps. Thought maybe I'd gotten a bad one.

Then spent a couple hours just trying everything. Those single coils sure can be noisy. Just had to play with settings on the guitar & amp. Using a Mustang II downstairs. A VHT Special 6 Ultra upstairs... Anyway, bedded her down for the night. (I purchased a Fender hard case also, not much for gig bags with a cat that climbs on everything).

Tomorrow I'll check it again. Hate the way they covered the pick guard. Got pieces of plastic sticking out from under some of the screws. That's for tomorrow also... Since I can only play sitting & confined to bed a lot, I want to bring the Fender upstairs & take the LP down. (me & the stairs don't like each other much, so I sorta have to do things in steps)

I know many don't like black guitars, but I love 'em... Funny, but with the heat on, static electricity, & the plastic off, I think every bit of dust just flew at us. But some polish took care of that. Gonna take some pics tomorrow. I really appreciate ya all replying. Right now I'm in bed, gonna have a beer, meds, & relax. Although I really want to back downstairs & play with her some more... Ya all have a good night, & thanks again. Much appreciated.

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Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded.
Jimi Hendrix

WHY1Strat why is it that every time someone even mentions a Fender American Special you're on there saying it's essentially a Highway One strat with a glossy finish? Just get over it already will ya ~ I mean you're starting to sound like a broken record.

Anyway...

I have 2 American SPECIALS and one of them is the Black HSS which I love. It's a beautiful work of art and feels so comfortable playing. I'm not a huge fan of jumbo frets but I'm begining to warm to them at this stage. I also have a two tone sunburt 3 single coil setup and tend to play this one a little more.

The only downside to the guitar is that it can scratch very easily so you need to watch the belt buckle with that kind of finish, but other than that I love them. Congrats on the purchase of your American SPECIAL Stratocaster.

WHY1Strat....huh...
Well excuuuuuussse me, my dislexic critic!!!!
I apologise if my razor sharp, keen sense of the painfully OBVIOUS offends you!
I , for one, am not blinded by brand loyalty.........I call it like it is!
Seriously,....if you can't play nice in the sandbox sonny-boy.........then GO HOME!!

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

Here are mine and I like it more than all other strats!

Now, now, children. Play nice... I had to return my black American Special HSS, because after trying different amps, cables, etc., it still would cut out on me about 50% of the time. Rather disappointing after paying $700 for a guitar. An American made Fender, which perhaps isn’t much for others, but one I had to not only save for, but had to sell some items to purchase... So now I have an American Special HSS Sunburst & love it...

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Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded.
Jimi Hendrix

Felix

I definitely have to disagree with your post. Your input jack troubles are definitely a bummer and could be a quality control problem. I have personally only had that jack problem on guitars that I bought used or off the demo floor.

I personally think that Fender is one of the most consumer oriented companies that I have ever dealt with. Though they could easily only focus on the higher price point products that they offer, they keep prices low and constantly offer quality products aimed at the lower price points. (Blues Jr. Super Champ XD, and the GDEC and Mustang Line, as well as the Champ 600) All of these amps out perform anything in their price class for all of my needs.

Compare that to Gibson or PRS or Mesa Boogie.

With Guitar Center Coupons, I bought an American Special HSS and a Blues Jr III for just over $1000. And it blows my mind. If I wanted similar products from Gibson and Boogie, I would have to pay at least 2-3x that.

A couple of months ago, while I was at Guitar Center goofing off, I played a Squier Classic Vibe 60's and was blown away. I plugged into a Super Champ XD and paid just over $500 for a clearance Super Champ and a CV 60's. I got this combo home, played it for a friend and he told me it is one of the best tones he has ever heard.

I was talking to an older guitar player a few years ago who told me that he bought a new Strat in the early 70's and it cost him the equivalent of a few months salary, but today he can buy a new American strat for a fraction of what he makes per month.

Heck, for the cost of a dust cover for a Mustang II, you could probably purchase a new Mustang I. Ha ha.

Anyway, I'm not saying that Fender is perfect, but they certainly get the benefit of the doubt from me. The quality of the products that I own, strikes me as an incredible value when I compare to other companies and even to Fender's past.

I had my Deluxe Reverb handbuilt from the original design instead of buying a DRRI because of the crappy PCB board Fender uses...

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


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For the money the Classic Vibe Tele Deluxe and the Superchamp XD are two pieces of gear I'd gig with. Both great sounding products from Fender. The SCXD is still a PCB amp, but since I bought my used for $150, its a chance worth taking...

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


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