FENDER AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL II STRATOCASTER HSS

review
FENDER AMERICAN PRO II TELECASTER & STRATOCASTER HSS
80
GUITARIST DECEMBER 2020
3. All the new American
Pro II models use a
push-push switch on
the tone controls to
introduce more sounds.
On this Tele we get both
pickups in series
4. The V-Mod II single coil
pickups use different
magnets on the treble
and bass side with a
vintage/modern stagger
3
standard radius and narrow/tall frets there’s
little change over the previous models.
However, that increased fingerboard edge
rolling is welcome and the radiusing seems
slightly more on the maple fingerboard face
of the Strat than the separate rosewood
fingerboard of the Tele. Is this ‘Super-
Natural’ finish to the neck back a game-
changer or even noticeably different from
the original American Professional? No, but
it does feel super smooth – this is good craft.
As is the setup, which pairs 0.009s with
string heights on both treble and bass sides
at the 12th fret of a shade over 1.5mm.
First impressions of the Strat played clean
is that there’s plenty of breathy crispness.
There’s no doubt what you’re listening
to, but we’re reaching for the tones to pull
them back whereas our reference Strats
remain fully open. Not for the first time
both tones here act like a ‘decade’ control:
fully open there’s that almost post-EQ zing;
backed off we get to more of those classic
‘analogue’ sounds. As you’d expect, there’s
no shortage of fast attack and the voice is
pretty vibrant.
The push-push switch voices the screw
coil of the bridge humbucker, which
matches the response from the single coils
rather well. In full ’bucker mode it’s well
balanced and certainly not over thick, a
welcome gear change with a little more
power. Again, pulling back the tone here
smooths out the quite strident attack and
while the treble bleed circuits really keep
things pristine, as you pull the volume back,
many of us like that softening of a non-
treble bleed. Like so many guitars, the key
here is to use those tone controls.
Keeping things pretty clean, the Tele
works its magic, more strident and steely.
The neck pickup is far from rounded or
muted, though; it really isn’t a million
miles away from the Strat’s neck in terms
of voicing just with a subtler smoother
attack. The highs do seem a little more
rounded here and there’s no shortage of
midrange bite, which really pushes the
Tele-ness to the fore on the bridge pickup.
Played clean, there’s
plenty of breathy
crispness… The more
we played this Strat,
the more we liked it
With a major range like this, you’d
expect a broad colour choice, and
combined with the two body woods –
roasted pine and alder – plus maple or
rosewood fingerboards, the actual choice
becomes quite staggering. There are
15 Stratocasters, 10 Stratocaster HSS
models, 11 Teles, five Jazzmasters and six
Tele Deluxe models!
So, the three-single-coil Stratocaster
with a roasted pine body is available in its
natural finish, called Roasted Pine (with
both maple and rosewood fingerboard
options), and Sienna Sunburst (maple
only). All the other colours are over an
alder body: Mercury with rosewood-only
fingerboard, and Miami Blue and Black
with maple only. The remaining colours
– Miami Blue, Dark Night, Olympic White
and Mystic Surf Green – are all available
with both fingerboard woods.
Our Stratocaster HSS is slightly
more limited: the roasted pine body is
only available with a maple fingerboard
in Roasted Pine and Sienna Sunburst.
The alder body models come in 3-Color
Sunburst and Olympic White with both
fingerboard options; Mercury, Miami Blue
and Dark Night are only available with
rosewood; and Mystic Surf Green is only
offered with a maple ’board.
There are three Telecasters with a
roasted pine body – Roasted Pine, Sienna
Sunburst and Butterscotch Blonde – all
with a maple-only ’boards. The alder-
bodied models, like our Mercury, and
Mystic Surf Green, Dark Night and
Olympic White come with rosewood
’boards only; 3-Color Sunburst comes
with both fingerboard options and, finally,
Black is only available with maple.
COLOURS &
WOODS
4
GIT466.rev_fender.indd 80 29/10/2020 12:20