2007 Fender American Standard Ash HSS Strat.

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http://www.youtube.com/user/stchrismusic

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Gary

Very very nice strat, man.

The American Standards were introduced in 2008.

A 2007 HSS does normally have stainless steel block saddles, an all-satin neck and an S1 switch.

Your guitar is a 2008 model.

If this is an NGD thread, excellent find my friend. If this is a for sale thread, they are not allowed on this forum.

To jnastyNE, yes , I couldn't find a "for sale" section on the forum, is there one? I'll place it there instead.

To chromeface, then how do you explain this "2007" serial # on the guitar:

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Than you fender0426!

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Ask John C.

Andrew - chromeface is correct that you have a 2008 American Standard HSS Strat - and a very nice one at that.

Now about the serial numbers - there are 2 things going on here:

1. Fender never changes serial numbers over on Janaury 2nd (or whatever the first business day of the new year is); there is always a "run-out" while they use up the existing serial numbers.

2. The 2008 American Standard was a very important new model for Fender. The guitar made it's debut at the January 2008 NAMM show. However, Fender wanted to have stock on hand to fulfill the orders they took for the guitars at the show so they completed the first production runs in late 2007. Fender has been doing this for a while; I had a 2004 American Deluxe V-neck Strat that had a 2003 serial number - same deal. They also did the same thing with the 2010 American Deluxes - the first ones had 2009 serial numbers.

If you take your guitar apart you will likely find dates on the body and neck from late 2007. However, since this updated guitar was not available for purchase until January 2008 it would properly be called a 2008 American Standard (or if you prefer at least call it a 2008-spec American Standard).

A bit of history - Fender's USA-built "workhorse" line was called "American Standard" from 1987 (technically late 1986) through about July 2000. Then they were the "American Series" when they had a major update in July 2000 through the end of 2007. Then came the "new" American Standards in January 2008; they just had an update now for 2012 with new pickups and colors (and the Tele got a back contour).

Did you just buy that from a guy in Alabama ?

No, bought it from Guitar Center.

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Thank you John C, interesting.

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The HSS got 2 Fat 50s unfortunately the humbucker remains stock. I hoped Fender exchanging the Diamondback for a SD Pearly Gates Plus to match these fat-sounding vintage singles.

@John C

It's the first time I see a contoured back on an American Standard Tele.

Everyone can easily put binding on the top and swap the CS pickups for a set of VNs (either in the form of a 2-pickup config or an early Nashville layout with a 2-way mini toggle) to make the guitar resembling like a 1st generation USA Deluxe - minus the chrome foil spaghetti logo and paua MOP fingerboard markers.

Removing the black dots and the headstock sticker takes a waste of time and only an expert luthier can do that job.

The best solution is to ask Warmoth to make a replacement neck with the chrome foil decals and abalone dots.

Thx Chromeface, still a bit confused...thought I had two TexMex's and a Diamondback in this guitar no?

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You're correct about the TexMex, these pickups were an OEM since 2008. Fender recently replaced the TexMex with Fat 50s but kept the Diamondback stock.

The Fat 50s sound much better coupled to the Pearly Gates Plus.