My 2004 Fender Lite Ash Stratocaster

Yes, I finally got my dream guitar! After playing this guitar once a year ago, then a lot recently in a music store. I mainly wanted it for the neck, the comfort and feel of it. Also, it has my favorite brand of pickups in it (but pickups I wasn't accustomed to). The black version is so beautiful and will do good in church without attracting too much attention (i.e. it's not shiny, not red, etc). This site is just a quick one-off, but there will be sound clips coming soon, as well as other recommendations! As usual, click the icon below to see the full (BIG!) version!

Sound clips!

I now have sound clips available of this guitar! They were recorded thanks to my friend and his Boss Micro BR.

23 March 2007

I decided to actually comment about this guitar. Yeah, it's been a while coming. This guitar is awesome for almost everything I've had to do. Sure, it won't rip your face off when playing metal, but it's got an excellent clean tone that works well with almost every effect you can use. It's definitely my main guitar.
Recommended upgrades would be locking tuners, a graphite or Earvana string nut, Graphtech saddles, and Schaller strap locks.

2 April 2007

    I decided to comment about the build quality and other things today. First, if the guitar was introduced in 2004 according to Fender (i.e. built that year), it's been 3 years and the electronics and tuners on thie guitar are still working great!
    I read comments online that a Stratocaster won't sustain very well. As of writing this, in my experience, a Fender Stratocaster with a floating bridge will have good sustain if set up properly. If you lower the action and make it a shred guitar, it won't have as good a sustain as if you set it up per Fender's instructions. Setting it up exactly like the Fender Owner's Manual says, the saddles are a bit high, or look like they are, but the guitar sustains well and isn't too difficult to play. However, if you're looking to buy a guitar on sustain qualities alone, you should buy a guitar that's massive, with a set neck and fixed bridge.
    As for the vibrato arm, definitely use Fender's official part, or an exact replica. Theirs is of much a higher quality than the generic replacement arms.
    Fender is very helpful, as I did research and found a set of stock Showmaster Blackout locking tuners for my Lite Ash Strat using their help line. I'll definitely swap over to their locking tuners, as this will help tuning stability during heavy vibrato-tail usage.

24 December 2013

I have decided to sell this guitar. Here are some pictures of the guitar, and some sound clips. Click on the pictures for the full size (warning: some of these are 6MB in size). All sound clips through a 1972 Fender Twin Reverb with all EQs and volumes at 5, equipped with two Celestion Classic Lead 12" speakers, recorded with a Boss BR-80.

Clip 1: neck pickup, clean.
Clip 2: middle pickup, clean, through 1972 Fender Twin Reverb, all EQ at 5, all volumes at 5.
Clip 3: bridge pickup, clean.
Clip 4: neck pickup through Boss OD-3, all controls at 12 o'clock.
Clip 5: bridge pickup through Boss OD-3, all controls at 12 o'clock.

Credits