The highly popular American Deluxe lineup from the house of Fender has now evolved into a new and improved range called the Elite that perfectly embodies the style and power of premium guitar brands. With an eclectic assortment of four world-class pieces namely the thin line Tele, the HSS Shawbucker Strat, the Tele and the Strat, the Fender Elite range incorporates cutting edge innovation in both design and engineering in its latest offering.
Overall, this is one of just some of the best electric guitars that you can currently find around.
Design and Build Quality
With several major upgrades and tweaks, the Elite range guitars feature a fresh design with innovative structural details including a new headstock logo, modified heel geometry, advanced truss rod adjustment (wheel style), a redesigned neck and control knobs made of soft touch rubber…all in an array of bold and vibrant shades.
Along with the standard compound radius fingerboard including the jumbo frets available on its predecessors, the Stratocaster features heavy contouring especially on its rig cage on the back. Although the color of structural wood is largely dependent on the selected shade, the manufacturer offers a choice between maple and rosewood boards for you to choose from.
Fender American Elite Stratocaster Hardware
Moving over to the hardware, the Elite Stratocaster retains a major chunk of the accessories of the previous editions including the incredible twin post vibrato, the chrome plated sealed real lock tuners, the pop in arm and the six block saddles. Among the new additions, we witness a reshaped bone nut and a redesigned string tree for increasing the back angle. The fourth generation Noiseless control pickups along with the regular S1 switching produce thunderous reverberating sounds even at maximum volumes.
Thanks to its gorgeous light blue color in metallic finish with sunburst edges in a darker version of the same shade, and the vintage appeal of the mint colored scratch plate laminate, the Fender American Elite Stratocaster offers a perfect combination for electrifying stage performances.
How it sounds
The one aspect that makes the Fender American Elite Stratocaster an absolute winner is the incredible sound quality and power that the instrument produces. The new and improved truss rod adjuster makes your guitar playing sessions amazingly stress free for your neck. While the Tone control 1 looks after the neck pickup, the No-Load Tone 2 takes care of the bridge and middle pickups. With a higher treble-to-bass stagger, the Elite Stratocaster offers brighter and crisper tonality of the sounds it produces. The Elite also features more refined and sophisticated sound quality at a standard setup of 0.009s than a couple of its close competitors.
While you can enjoy a refreshing jazz gig by selecting the S1 neck position, the middle and neck position on your Fender American Elite Stratocaster is unbelievably great for producing deep and thunderous notes of rock rhythm. Unlike most other traditional single coils in the market, the Noiseless pickups on the Elite Stratocaster are substantially quieter in comparison. So, whether you are working your way on your laptop or performing in close proximity to your Amp on a stage, there will be no hum pickup at all.
Should You Buy It?
While Fender is known for providing a wide selection of choices ranging from the classic vintage to the chic contemporary, its Elite range includes pieces designed in sync with the latter design concept. Packed with a number of upgrades for enhanced comfort and sound quality, the Elite range aims at providing the best in class performance in the market. The duality of the S1 switching adds that extra spunk to your guitar sounds, while retaining the resonating gravity of the low notes.
Although, the Fender American Elite Stratocaster might appear a bit on the loftier side at first, its unrivaled sound quality and range completely outdoes its weight. Starting at around $1,800, the Fender American Elite Stratocaster brings to you the sublime experience of music and lets you relish the subtle nuances of your favorite pieces without causing you any undue strain or stress. Similar to the other Fender’s in the past, the Fender american Elite Stratocaster truly lives up to its brand name and reputation and can be touted as arguably the best and most powerful performer among its rival contemporaries in the given price range.
The Fender American Elite Stratocasters comes in 3-Color Sunburst, Aged Cherry Burst, Autumn Blaze Metallic, Mystic Black, Olympic Pearl, Sky Burst Metallic and Tobacco Sunburst. As mentioned, it starts at around $1,800 and is available through select retailers including Amazon. Alternatively, you can buy direct from the company here.
