I don't have any guitar buddies to share my story with , so I'm gonna tell it here. I figure if you don't care you can just scroll down the the pics.

So, here's my story. Everytime I get to a town with a guitar store I go in and have a look just to see what they have. About 2 months ago I decided that I would like to have another strat preferably amerian made. I just couldn't found one that I felt was that different/better than my mexican made strat to justify a new acquisition. I tried everything I could get my hands on, Am standards, Am specials, road worns, a clapton, a corgan, a highway one, a blacktop and a couple pawnshop models but none of them were right for me. I even tried other models including the mustang pawnshop, gibson LPs, SGs, epiphone DOTs, wildcats etc.

So I learned which features I like and the ones that don't really appeal to me. I like the modern C shape neck, the 25.5" scale, a floating tremolo, staggered tuners and I really like the Olympic white finish. In general I don't like relic or sunburst finishes, hardtails and V shape necks. I had saved up about $1800 so I planned to go online and order a Jeff Beck in Olympic white. I figured that if I didn't like the neck on it, I would return it and get Am deluxe in Pearl white instead but I've never bought a guitar online so I wasn't too excited about this plan.

Ok, I'm getting to the point...I promise. There is one more town about an hour and a half away with a music store that carries Fender. This is a fairly small town and I have only been to it a couple times in the last 10 years, but before I order online I decided to see what they have. This turned out the be the best idea I've had in a long time. This little store had a new american deluxe SSS in tungsten, and a HSS one in natural. While I was trying these two out the owner brought over a used deluxe he got in trade just the day before. It was an '09 Ash Deluxe in Tobacco burst with SCN pickup and I fell for it right away. You can hardly call it used the plastic was still on the pickguard and trem cover and all the hangtags etc were in the case. Well so much for my preconceived preferences and planning, in the end the guitar choose me.

Finally the pics

_________________
'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

I wouldn't call your story boring. Rather, it shares a logical, practical approach to a major purchase. Above all, it paid off big time. Cong rats and lots of luck with it for many years to come!

_________________
You dig?

_________________
Everything belongs to JESUS!

1998 Fender Deluxe Super Strat
2008 PRS SE Singlecut

Marshall MgHD100FX single
Line6 Spider ll
Crate Kx 15


Digitech GNX1
Boss DS-1 pedal

I'm glad someone could appreciate my story. My wife is a great gal and listened very patiently to my story but she doesn't play and has no idea why an S1 switch or contoured heel is cool so when I finished excitedly telling her my story she replied, "that's nice, glad you like it".

_________________
'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

Sounds exactly like my wife. The only difference is, I wouldn't have gotten that far through my story when she would have replied same as your's did.

_________________
You dig?

that's actually a great story.

My wife is the same with the exception that she does notice the difference between the sound of different guitars when they are A/B'd with each other. She's actually helped me pick a few of them out.

When I got my Gretsch Electromatic 5120, she gravitated towards an orange model because she liked the appearance, but as I proceeded to go through EVERY hollow and semi-hollow body in the shop that was in the same price range (about 20 different guitars priced from $700 to $1500) she began to notice that nothing compared to the sound of the first guitar the salesman handed me...a black Gretsch.

When I had played every other guitar except for the "pretty orange one" as she called it, I A/B'd the 2 5120's. That Black Gretsch came home with me for $1000 after taxes. Even though she'd pushed for that orange one, as soon as she heard it compared to the black one, she changed her tune. I figured if she heard the difference and came to the same conclusion I did without knowing what sound I was after, it really was the best guitar in the shop.

I went through the same process when I got my Strat. The day I bought it, I already had it narrowed down to 3 models when I walked in the store. Since 2 of the 3 were not in stock (and I only buy out of what's in stock, no online purchases or special orders - if I can't try, I don't buy); it was narrowed down to an Am Dlx by default.

Tried about 7 different but supposedly identical examples and walked out with what to me was the best sounding of the bunch. I notice lots of guys like strats that are twangy sounding, but I went for the one with the fullest fattest tone I've ever heard from an SSS strat. It also turns out to be the heaviest strat I've ever owned. It's almost as heavy as my Les Paul. We were out of town and my wife was not feeling well, so instead of coming in while I went through all the guitars, she layed down in the back seat of the car.

I had it narrowed down to 3 then brought her in to get an opinion from someone other than the sales staff (besides, she was buying it as a gift for me). Without knowing what guitar I was leaning towards, she listened and told me what one she liked the sound of best. It also turned out to be the one I found least visually appealing, but couldn't deny it's sound. It had the warmest tone of all the strats I tried and she confirmed it for me. That Sunet Metallic finish didn't do much for me at first, but it grew on me. Nobody in my home town has that finish and since I swapped the aged white plastic for white and a pearloid pickguard it looks fantastic now.

She still has no clue about the S1 switch and just says "that's nice" when I talk about tones I stumble across when fooling with it; but at least she can pick out which guitar has the warmest tone when called on to do so.

I have the exact same guitar as yours briese. Same color, same everything including the deluxe reverb amp which i bought brand new same time i bought the guitar. Anyways, I went into the store looking to buy a american 70's reissue ash body strat but, they had none so, the salesman showed me the deluxes they had in ash. I tried them all and, fell in love with the tobacco sunburst one. My wife was with me and i asked her which color did she like the most. (secretly, i really was hoping she would pick the tobacco sunburst one) And, sho-nuff she said that the tobacco sunburst was her favorite.. I absolutly looove this guitar !! (b.t.w., Ever notice that how the brown shade on the guitar shows up red in pictures taken with flash on? lol..) mine too.....Enjoy your new guitar.

_________________
2009 american deluxe ash stratocaster

2009 epiphone es-335 dot.
2009 65 drri amp
2009 fender vibro champ-xD amp.
2009 takamine g-4400 acoustic/electric guitar

1980 fender harvard reverb 1 amp

Cool story.
Even cooler guitar !

Now, go enjoy her !

_________________
"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

Great story, not boring at all.
Btw I love that finish, and the deluxe has a great feel and
tone to it.
Wives are like that for the most part. My wife doesn't really
like blues, rather does not appreciate it. She's likes when
I play rock stuff like acdc or Metallica.
Metallica is cool to play, but IMHO nothing soothes the soul
like playing some slow blues or even rock blues.
Congrats on your strat

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Yup, I know the feeling. The last time I actually planned and researched a guitar purchase and then stuck with my plan was when I bought a hollow-body to play jazz on in college. Other than that it's usually a spontaneous thing. You never know what's going to catch your eye. Really cool guitar man; looks like you made out well!

Thanks everybody.

Guitar_Fiend, my wife is pretty supportive but I doubt she would have waited in the car when she was sick. That is pretty amazing. I like to take my wife along when I'm looking at acoustic guitars she has a great ear for them.

The finish is very beautiful but the feel of this guitar is just incredible and what really sold me on it. Especially the neck, up until now I didn't really understand what people meant by a "fast neck", well now that I have one I understand.

Looking back at my own posts I realize that this mirrors my search for a mate. I dated lots of different kinds of girls and had an unofficial list of qualities that I thought I wanted. My wife found me about the time I had just about given up, and she is also much better than what I thought I deserved.

_________________
'09 Am Deluxe Ash Strat
'09 Mex Standard Strat
'10 Mex Standard Tele
Champ 600
Blues jr.
'65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue

love the story it kind of proves that guitars pick you as much as you pick them. Sorry if thats corny

She's a beauty!

Best of luck with it.

_________________
-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Normally she wouldn't do that either, but these were special circumstances. We were 1000+ miles from home, 2 hours from my mother's home, and we were only there for a coule of days. We modified our plans by skipping a few shops I wanted to visit on the way to the place I bought my strat, which happened to have 2 other music stores across the street. I went to as many of the ones I skipped on another day. We also put off her shopping and made it the focus of our only other day to shop on our trip. It all worked out fine.

This was not boring, it was just logical!

Nothing beats personal testing!

I'm about to be fed up with online deals without testing!
I've sent back 5 guitars in the past 3 months because they were either in worse shape than discribed or they were damaged (i.e. 2 x truss rod nut on 2 MiMs).

I also resold 3 guitars in the same period of time because they didn't sound or didn't play nicely (1x MiM, 1x MiJ, 1x MiA).

I only kept 3 during the past 12 months (US Buddy Guy Sig, JEM 77 BFP and an RG350MYE, with one being modded afterwards (my Ibanez RG)

CONGRATS for having your dream axe find you!!!!

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!