On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the legendary Stratocaster, Fender presents itself at NAMM 2014 with several new features.
To this day, Fender has maintained a very classic line in its catalog, continuing to re-propose a well-tested formula without any noteworthy innovations. This year, however, presents itself with a truly singular and original peculiarity: with the Fender Deluxe Strat Plus, not to be confused with the Fender Strat Plus Deluxe Some years 90 ' (now simply called the American Deluxe Series), the company lays the foundation for what could be the future of its instruments. The guitar, made in versions single coil or HSS, has all the features of an American Deluxe: noiseless pick-up, compound radius neck (with a radius of curvature that gradually flattens from the nut towards the body), self-locking tuners, American standard upgraded bridge. Absolute innovation is the possibility of making instant mods on the circuitry without using a welding machine. How? Let's go into detail.
Pickup
After removing the pickguard with just the use of a screwdriver, it takes just a few seconds to replace the pick-ups that on this model are connected to the circuitry by means of pins, allowing practical modification without a welding machine. As anticipated, the Deluxe Strat Plus is equipped with noiseless PUs, but Fender is committed to coming out as soon as possible with a whole series of Strat Plus version pickups with connectors.
Wiring
The substantial difference of this guitar, as well as more interesting news, is found on the back of the body: a mysterious and unusual plastic door. In it there is a slot for a metallic card called by Fender personality card, analogue and passive technology (therefore no digital emulation and totally battery free). Each card contains a chip for instant re-wiring, which will assign different functions to the three knobs. Together with the Deluxe Strat Plus in the case we will find three cards: the Standard, with the usual volume and tone controls, the Blender, which allows you to combine and mix PUs in a different way, and the Cutter, which transforms the tone controls in two. very powerful and very reactive high-pass and low-pass filters with which we will be able to obtain from dark sounds, perfect for jazz, up to a pure crystalline sound of funk rhythms. Each card is equipped with a four-switch chip with which we can further customize the modification. The Cutter card, for example, hides one of the most common mods for Strato in a switch: the treble bleed mod, a modification that allows you to use the volume knob without changing the tone (in standard setting the volume pot, if not pushed to maximum, it tends to lose high frequencies). Other cards will be available for purchase in the future and each will emulate a famous mod.
The "solderless" PU gearbox is very useful when you are on the road and something goes wrong with our pick-ups before a live, while the personality cards allow you to get completely different sounds in a studio session where we don't want to carry with us more than a guitar.
This novelty opens the doors of the world of mods to all non-electronic guitarists, transforming the already versatile Stratocaster into an instrument with unlimited sounds. The new Fender Deluxe Strat Plus will be on sale from April at a price that is around $2000, while the 60th Anniversary will be available as early as next month.
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USEFUL NEWS:
Producer:Fender
Model: Fender Deluxe Strat Plus
Website:fender.com
Italian distributor: M. Casale Bauer
Price: Around $ 2000
