Price Paid:
I paid$499 at Guitar Center and I have been unable to find a lower price anywhere.$499 is pretty good for a Fender guitar. The Fat Strat I bought is not American made though. For an American Strat you can expect to pay at least twice as much, but it’s worth it.
Features:
The Standard Fat Strat comes in 6 different colors: Black, Sage Green Metallic, Blue Agrave, Brown Sunburst, Midnight Wine, and Artic White. These are all nice colors, but mine is Sage Green Metallic and it’s absolutely beautiful. The body is alder so the guitar isn’t too heavy so you won’t hurt your shoulder if you play standing up. The neck is maple and is in the modern Fender’C’ Shape so it is very comfortable. It also has a rosewood fretboard and 21 medium frets, which are good for fast lead playing as well as rhythm. The Fat Strat comes equipped with 3 pickups. A humbucker at the bridge position and 2 standard single-coil strat pickups, one in the middle and one at the neck. There are three controls on the guitar, one master volume knob, a tone knob for the neck pickup, and a tone knob for the middle pickup and middle/bridge combination. Pickup switching on this guitar is unique because of the pickup configuration:
Position 1: Full Bridge Humbucker
Position 2: Front Coil of Bridge Pickup and Middle Pickup Position 3: Middle Pickup
Position 4: Middle and Neck Pickups
Position 5: Neck Pickup
All the hardware on the guitar is chrome and the control knobs, pickups, and fretboard are white.
Sound:
I play this guitar through a Crate MX65 and it sounds great. Of course the amp has a lot to do with the sound you get, but so does the guitar(and the guitarist). The humbucking pickup in this guitar gives you that sharp biting Fender tone that is great for screaming solos and the single-coils give you a nice, warm tone that is good for rhythm playing. I never get tired of the tone I get from this guitar. It has amazing tone and sustain, which is what should be expected from a quality guitar like a Fender.
Action, Feel:
When I first picked the Fender Fat Strat up in the store and started playing on it I knew it was the guitar for me. The action was just right and the neck was comfortable and easy to move around on. The Fender Standard Fat Strat comes strung with Fender Super Bullet 3250L Nickel Plated Steel strings. These strings are very nice because they last a long time compared to most other guitar strings(a few months at least) and they stay in tune well also, even after heavy playing and string bending.
Reliability:
So far this guitar has been very reliable. Nothing has gone wrong with it at all, I haven’t even broken a string yet. Since it’s a Fender you can be sure that it will last at least one lifetime if you treat it right.
Warranty:
The Fender Standard Fat Strat comes with a lifetime warranty, like all other Fender products.
Overall, the Fender Standard Fat Strat is a great guitar that I would recommend to anyone who is serious about playing the guitar, but doesn’t want to spend$1000+ for an American Strat or a Gibson Les Paul.