Fender Road Worn Strats

[basile865]

Played a handful of fender's new road worn strats. Theyre MIM, and about $1000.

The bodies on these guitar's looked incredible I have to say. They even had belt buckle rash, dings and nicks, and the clear was worn until non glossy. The pickguard aging was a bit more obviously aged with its paint, but looked cool still. The tint on the necks were a bit orangey but looked alright. They even sand the finish down on the back of the neck. Theres still an obvious coating on it, more like a non gloss satin. Even the bare wood on the body has that on it I think.

Playability: had to search through a few before I found one that I liked. They all had a bit higher action than I like. Fret work was OK as far as dressing the ends, although I could get them all to fret out on a big bend. Only thing I mainly didn't like on these guitar's besides that was the pickups. I'm not too hard to please when it comes to pickups generally speaking, but these had too much high end detail. According to the guys at GC theyre tex-mex pickups. They'd be the first to go if I ever bought one.

Overall theyre a fun guitar, didnt blow me away and I doubt I'd buy one but, you could probably put a little money into it and get a nice axe that you didn't have to worry too much about. They look great in person, but just need a few tweaks.

All strats benefit from that but, these IMO, need it from the get go. Otherwise check 'em out!

[NY Chief]

Just played one a few at NAMM. Not too bad.