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Post subject: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:28 pm
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In my little town I found a Fender Standard Strat SSS (Mexican) in white with a maple neck that I really liked. A few weeks later I went 30 minutes down the road to a bigger shop and found an American Special SSS in Surf Green (the SSS have a maple neck). After playing the American Special I felt that the neck played much better then the Fender Standard. It seemed that it was thinner and that the fret board was more flat so I could play leads much more easily. I was convinced the radius was different between the two guitars. When I looked up the specs here on the website however I found that the necks on both guitars are almost exactly the same except for the Fret size (American Special has Jumbo, Standard has medium jumbo) and the nut width. The American Special has a bigger nut width. Both have "modern-C" necks with the same 9.5" radius. My question is why did they feel so different? Could Nut width and fret size make them seem that different? Is it possible for necks to have the same radius' and modern-c shapes and still feel different in how thin and flat the neck and fretboard feel? Or are these differences just in my head? Thanks for reading, this was a really long post.
P.S. The American Special is seriously one of my favorite guitars I've ever played. I realize that the pick-ups are very different between the two.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:48 pm
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call32 wrote:
My question is why did they feel so different? Could Nut width and fret size make them seem that different? Is it possible for necks to have the same radius' and modern-c shapes and still feel different in how thin and flat the neck and fretboard feel? Or are these differences just in my head? Thanks for reading, this was a really long post.
P.S. The American Special is seriously one of my favorite guitars I've ever played. I realize that the pick-ups are very different between the two.


There are a few things that could affect the feel of two different guitars with similar necks including.............your mind. Not saying you're crazy or anything like that, but the psyche is not to be underestimated and when dealing with musical instruments, there are many subjective factors to consider. Otherwise, the overall set up of each guitar including string gauge would likely make a difference.


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2013 8:16 pm
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It was the jumbo frets that are actually more like Charvel frets. They give your fingers more air and less wood or get your fingers up off the fretboard a little more.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:06 am
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Interesting, as my friend has an American Standard and I have an American Special, both purchased around the same time, which after playing both, he said the same thing. That is, that the neck on my Am Spcl felt thinner/smaller than his, which he preferred. Of course, I could have been influenced by his observation, but also had the same opinion. Likewise, unable to find any dimensional or other specific characteristics that accounted for this, other than that noted by the OP.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:26 am
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They're both set up with the same string guage which are 09s , so it was the fret size which probably made the difference. Jumbo frets will make the neck much faster to play and will allow for more bending when playing leads .


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:19 pm
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Quote:
call32 wrote: My question is why did they feel so different? Could Nut width and fret size make them seem that different?


Yes, nut width, fret size, string size and set up all factor into the feel of a neck. By the way, the American Special has Fender Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. I have am Am. Spec. in surf green. It is a very good Strat.

Talk to you later,
Norm


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2013 4:24 pm
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Quote:
Lenny1716 wrote: Interesting, as my friend has an American Standard and I have an American Special, both purchased around the same time, which after playing both, he said the same thing. That is, that the neck on my Am Spcl felt thinner/smaller than his,


Interesting indeed. I had a different impression of the Am Std and the Am Spec. I have a 1996 and a 2003 Am Std Stratocaster. I also have a 2013 Am. Spec. Stratocaster. The necks on my Am. Std. feel thinner to my hands. I have done the set ups on all 3 guitars and have the same strings on all 3. Also, I prefer the rolled fretboard edges of the Am. Std. That is a nice comfort touch to those necks. I found the neck on the Am. Spec. to be quite similar to the necks on my Fender Standard MIM Strats.

Talk to you later,
Norm


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 1:23 pm
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For some of us nut width makes a huge difference (I'm assuming from your comments that these guitars have different nut widths).

For the people for which nut width makes no difference to them... one or two of them on various forums will say that we are imagining it when we post that, "I need a 42mm nut width because 43mm/1 11/16 is too big for my hands".

Hopefully that is not the case on this forum! :)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 2:01 pm
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StratMatt777 wrote:
For some of us nut width makes a huge difference (I'm assuming from your comments that these guitars have different nut widths).



In the specs listed on Fender's web site, the American Standard is shown as having a 1.685 " (42.8 mm) nut. The American Special is shown as having a 1.6875 " (42.8 mm) nut. If that is correct (no misprint in the size), then there is a 0.06 mm difference. That probably is not enough to make a significantly different feel to the neck.

Later,
Norm


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 6:35 pm
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They are both listed with a "Modern C" neck profile, which really has nothing to do with fretboard radius, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Modern C on the American Special lineup is slightly different than the Modern C on the Standard (MIM) lineup. One way to test this theory would be to play multiple guitars of the same model back-to-back-to-back etc... then do the same thing with the next model to look for variances between the two lineups but consistency within the same model. If that makes sense.

Interestingly, I believe the American Special necks are initially milled in Mexico, so my whole theory could be hogwash. :)


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 7:39 pm
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normj wrote:
StratMatt777 wrote:
For some of us nut width makes a huge difference (I'm assuming from your comments that these guitars have different nut widths).



In the specs listed on Fender's web site, the American Standard is shown as having a 1.685 " (42.8 mm) nut. The American Special is shown as having a 1.6875 " (42.8 mm) nut. If that is correct (no misprint in the size), then there is a 0.06 mm difference. That probably is not enough to make a significantly different feel to the neck.

Later,
Norm


Yeah- nobody would notice that!

I mentioned that I was ASSuming the nut widths were different... but they are not different.
So my little vent about people giving me a hard time about pickiness about nut widths (in another topic and on other forums) did not apply to this conversation!


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Post subject: Re: Fender Standard vs. American Special
Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2013 5:59 am
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call32 wrote:
In my little town I found a Fender Standard Strat SSS (Mexican) in white with a maple neck that I really liked. A few weeks later I went 30 minutes down the road to a bigger shop and found an American Special SSS in Surf Green (the SSS have a maple neck). After playing the American Special I felt that the neck played much better then the Fender Standard. It seemed that it was thinner and that the fret board was more flat so I could play leads much more easily. I was convinced the radius was different between the two guitars. When I looked up the specs here on the website however I found that the necks on both guitars are almost exactly the same except for the Fret size (American Special has Jumbo, Standard has medium jumbo) and the nut width. The American Special has a bigger nut width. Both have "modern-C" necks with the same 9.5" radius. My question is why did they feel so different? Could Nut width and fret size make them seem that different? Is it possible for necks to have the same radius' and modern-c shapes and still feel different in how thin and flat the neck and fretboard feel? Or are these differences just in my head? Thanks for reading, this was a really long post.
P.S. The American Special is seriously one of my favorite guitars I've ever played. I realize that the pick-ups are very different between the two.


I wouldnt take a free Mexican Strat but I would and do buy American Strats. That said the American Special HSS is next for me. I will add locking tuners and a Super Vee Blade Runner tremolo. They need to put Original Floyd Roses on the HSS model as an option.

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