1987 American Standard Stratocaster Although production began in 1986, the American Standard Stratocaster was formally introduced at the Winter NAMM Show in January of 1987. This was certainly influenced by the 1981/82 "Dan Smith Strat", and Dan Smith was most likely behind the 1987 American Standard concept, its final engineering design is credited to Fender R&D's Geroge Blanda, who was hired by Fender in 1985 to institute a "Custom Shop", but became a leading force in Fender's R&D department.

It features 22 frets, a 9.5 fingerboard radius, "swimming pool route" to accommodate after-market modifications (in place of the usual three pickup routes), and a re-designed bridge/tremolo unit.

Thank you for this. I can tell you that the 'aftermarket modification' I made to my '97 AmStd was the installation of an EMG Gilmour pre-wired pickguard. What I wanted to do in the trem cavity was to rout it like the Clapton to carry the 9V battery. Unfortunately, the nature of the control cavity and pickup routing precluded my doing this because routing the lower wall of the trem cavity would have opened up into the 'swimming pool' and drained all the water out. My solution was to remove the center spring and seat the battery there. In that I wood blocked the trem and decked the bridge on that guitar, it didn't much matter. In this case, the pool rout was not a plus.

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