The news is out and the New American Stratocaster is available now from Fender. The original rock and roll king has been revamped with some modern twists. For several years now I have again picked up playing the guitar. This time with an amplifier ha ha!. When I was younger I player around with a classical Guild Mark IV guitar and became pretty good with it. I played some art shows and Tea parties and other really cool gigs with my classical collection of music. My first love in music is classical guitar but the electric jazz blues thing has always intrigued me. When I picked up another guitar a couple of years ago it was a 1982 Gibson 335 which I purchased used from a starving studio musician for a song – this guitar now is worth a bucket full of money. The Gibson 335 guitar is a classic and I will never part with it. To hear this guitar in action just listen to Larry Carlton’s jazz recodings.

Since then I have added several other guitars, all electric guitars and all Fenders. Currently I have two Fender Telecasters; a Highway one which is heavily modified and an American Vintage 52; two Stratocasters including the new American Standard job and an older American Stratocaster. Both of these Strats are nice instruments but the New American Standard does play a little bit better with a sweeter tone. The Fender Stratocaster is a semi mass produced instrument with variability from piece to piece. I picked up the New American Standard from Wildwood Guitar off the Internet. The people at Wildwood are very knowledgeable about these guitars and I trust their judgment. Just take a look at there huge selection of guitars and you too will be impressed with the selection that they have. Purchasing a musical instrument without playing it is a first for me and this time I was not disappointed.

The changes that have been made to the New American Standard Stratocaster over the previous incarnation of this icon of Rock guitars has subtle changes that only a guitar player could appreciate. The new version of this classic does incorperate some nice features and as a package is perfect. All in all I really like the new Stratocaster guitar and now is the main instrument that I reach for when playing. This is a very versitle guitar and capable of many types of musical styles. For me I play essentially clean without pedles for a jazzy tone. The New American Stratocaster fills my needs perfectly being a very musical instrument, easy to play and it gives me the tone that I am looking for right out of the box. At least this one that was selected for me by the people at Wildwood is a great example of a sweet sounding Strat.

Some time I will discuss electric amplifiers in more detail but for now I have been playing the Roland Jazz Chorus 120 solid state amp and a rebuild Fender reissue 64 Deluxe Reverb Amp which was modified by Torres Engineering up in San Mateo.