Hi Guys,
My local guitar shop has an American Deluxe FSR Strat in ice blue metallic. As near as I can tell, it's identical to a regular 2012 American Deluxe Strat but costs a good bit more. Could someone please enlighten me as to what is special about a FSR Strat?

Thanks in advance.

In most cases the finish and limted number of guitars made in that fnish makes the guitar an FSR model. Some large companies can have a run of guitars made to their specs. Reports i have read say this is now 100 pieces but used to be 250.

The ice blue metallic finish with a silver anodized pickguard was a limited run with i believe only 20 pieces came over to the UK not sure how many were made worldwide.

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ukraider
"money cant buy you love but it can buy guitars!!!!!!"

That's a wide and varied question...

Sometimes there are distinct differences in materials and/or hardware from the other Guitars in the same series. Other times, it's just the Color and/or Finish.

Try sending the serial # to Fender Consumer Affairs along with your questions to see what distinguishes this particular guitar. (Response time is usually 2 days)

According to Fender, my Strat is an FSR American Vintage Limited Edition '57 Stratocaster.

What makes it an FSR (Factory Special Run) is the Color - Candy Apple Red - The 'normal' Am. Vntg. line did not originally offer CAR.

What makes it a Limited Edition is that it has a Thin Nitro Finish - like the Eric Johnson model I was also looking at, supposedly limited to 46 guitars.

I suspect that the desirability of the 'Thin' Nitro Finish is that it will age sooner.

I bought it for 4 reasons... but none of the ones above.

I bought it because:

It felt and sounded the best of the dozen or so Strats I'd inspected at 3 different stores, incl. the Eric Johnson (though not by much).

It has distinguishably better Quality - it is tight - the Neck fitment and such showed much finer tolerances than the standard American Strats in the store.

The store was willing to deal much more on it - below minimum deal price and also they threw in an Orange Practice Amp and an Epiphone Accoustic for basically nothing ($50).

Finally, but least of all, it has a Neckplate which says: Limited Edition - perhaps my Widow or my decendents will realize a greater resale value because of this (that is if I don't get buried with it !! )

Straight up though, I have to say that it wouldn't have been worth the $300 premium they wanted for it over a 'normal' American Vintage to me.

What made me buy it was this guitar's individual characteristics, quality and the store's willingness to deal. Even then, it almost came down to a Coin Toss between it and the Eric Johnson ($150 more). But, two months later, I know I made the right choice.

Hope this helps...

cheers!

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'11 FSR Am. Vtg. Ltd. Ed. CAR '57 Stratocaster (SN# LE02639)
'14 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster
'12 Telebration Empress Telecaster
'99 Deluxe Nashville Telecaster
'12 FSR Telecaster HH
'10 Heritage H-535
'99 Martin DC-1E
'13 Lanikai Tenor Ukulele