In this video, Sam takes a look at the differences between the new Fender American Performer Strat and the model it's replacing in the range, the American Special. Check out the new model here: [ Ссылка ]

The Stratocaster is arguably the most iconic electric guitar ever made, and it’s design has remained pretty much the same for well over half a century. That doesn’t stop Fender wanting to freshen up their ranges every few years though, and that’s exactly what they’re doing with the American Performer series, which is replacing the now discontinued American Special range.

Just like the American Specials, the Performers are genuine, USA made guitars, coming out of Fender’s facility in Corona, California, and they’ve been designed to be the most affordable American made Strats, sitting below the American Professional series in the range. As with the previous Special series, Fender have kept manufacturing costs down by utilising slightly lower grade hardware than that found on the American Professional and Elite Series, more economic finishing methods such as the Satin Urethane necks, a reduced range of colour options, and of course, the guitars come supplied with a gigbag as opposed to a hard case…but all of that means that you’re getting a genuine USA made Strat for under a grand.

So let’s take a look at the differences between the old American Special Strat and the new Performer series guitars. As you’d expect, both share traditional Stratocaster specs, they feature Alder bodies with 4-bolt Maple necks and either a Rosewood or Maple fingerboard depending on the finish that you go for. They’ve got a standard 25.5” scale length, Fender’s modern C neck profile with a lovely smooth Satin finish, and a 9.5” fingerboard radius with 22 jumbo frets, so in terms of feel, nothing much has really changed. Up on the headstock there’s been a couple of little tweaks, the Performer series now features a silver, 70’s style Fender logo, and there’s set of Fender Classic Gear, vintage style slotted tuners, as opposed to the sealed tuners that were found on the American Specials, but down at the bridge, nothing’s changed, they’re still fitted with the classic 6-saddle vintage style synchronised tremolo.

To offer a bit more choice, the American Performer range is available in a wider range of new colours, there’s Arctic White or Honeyburst with a Rosewood fingerboard and Satin Lake Placid Blue or Penny, which is a kind of coppery, champagne gold colour with Maple fretboards.

The biggest changes however come to the electronics. Whereas the American Special guitars were fitted with Texas Special pickups, the Performer Strat features Fender’s new Yosemite single coils to deliver those classic Strat tones. As you’d expect on a Strat, they run through a 5 way selector switch, with volume and two tone controls, and just like on the American Specials they feature Fenders Grease Bucket circuit on the bridge pickup tone pot, allowing you to cut the treble without losing any gain or muddying your tone. The big new feature to the electronics though is the addition of a push pull pot, which allows you to activate the neck pickup, regardless of where the selector switch is. This means that you can access tones that usually aren’t available on traditional Strat switching such as the neck and bridge pickups combined, or all pickups on at the same time, so tonally, they’re much more versatile.

Take a quick look and listen with PMTVUK and try one out at your local Professional Music Technology...

Subscribe: [ Ссылка ]

Find us on social media:
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]
[ Ссылка ]

свернуть