One of the most useful features found on the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster are the locking strap buttons. If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of your guitar falling off it’s strap and crashing to the floor then you already know the value of a locking guitar strap system. My beutiful Jeff Beck Custom Stratocaster has a nasty piece of body rash on it from falling off it’s strap and landing on the cast iron base of my microphone stand. I learned a valuable lesson that day and immediately purchased a set of locking strap buttons for my Strat.
The American Deluxe Stratocaster comes standard with Fender strap locks and buttons. These fine strap locks are made by Schaller and are very easy to install on any guitar strap you would like to use with your Stratocaster. You simply insert the strap lock through the holes on your guitar strap, put the washer on the strap lock and tighten down the nut to secure the strap lock to your guitar strap. The lock clicks into place on the strap lock button which is already installed on your Fender Stratocaster. It just doesn’t get any easier to install and use a strap locking system.
The Fender strap locks are very secure and I’ve never had a guitar fall off of the strap since I’ve been using them. I have them installed on all of my guitars and have even installed the Fender Strap Locks on my Gibson Les Paul guitars. It makes it easy to switch guitars onstage when all the guitars have the same locking strap buttons on them. I do recommend checking the nut for tightness every other gig or so. They do sometimes loosen up and you’ll also want to check the strap button on the guitar itself to make sure it’s not coming unscrewed either. I add a little Big Bends Nut Sauce to the buttons to make sure the strap lock moves smoothly when the guitar is hanging from the strap.
You can play with confidence and swing your guitar around onstage knowing that it will be held securely by your Fender Strap Locks!
One of the biggest improvements on the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is the versatile S-1TMSwitching System. For years Strat players have been looking for additional sounds out of the 3-pickup configuration featured on the Stratocaster. The search began with the very first production of the Fender Stratocaster and players discovered that they could turn on the bridge-and-middle pickup or the middle-and-neck pickup by placing the original 3-way selector switch in-between the pickup selector settings. This gave players not only two new sounds but also two hum-cancelling settings for their Stratocaster.
Fender responded by creating the 5-way blade style pickup selector switch with a permanent 2 and 4 position for using the bridge/middle or middle/neck pickup settings. The search for pickup selection options didn’t end there. Many players wired in additional switches to have access to other pickup combinations such as bridge/neck or bridge/middle/neck pickup settings. These wiring’s can get very complex especially with the addition of noiseless pickups and their additional wire leads. Players had asked Fender for years to create a production model that included these pickup wiring’s but it was always too costly for Fender to produce.
Fender finally responded to Stratocaster player’s wishes with the introduction of the S-1 switching system in 2004. With a simple press of a button the S-1 switch gives you five additional pickup settings with the standard 5-way blade switch. It’s a very simple and elegant switching design on the surface of the guitar with no change made to the Stratocaster’s overall cosmetics.
The wiring itself is very complex although the S1 switch makes wiring the guitar much easier than installing a rotary switch or multiple push-pull switches. The wires from the pickups only have to route to the S-1 switch at the volume knob and to the 5-position blade selector. The S-1 switching system increases production costs but the additional pickup selections really make it worth the cost. If you would like to take a look at the wiring in the 2010 series American Deluxe Stratocaster you can check out this pdf of the wiring diagram. Fender American Deluxe SSS S-1 Switch N3 Pickups Wiring Diagram (2010).
As you can see from the wiring diagram Fender has included what they call a “special” capacitor into the American Deluxe Stratocaster’s wiring. Fender’s reason for including this capacitor is to give the guitar a more radical change in sound in some positions on the pickup selector. With the S-1 switch used in tandem with the 5-position blade switch you now have pickups wired in series, paralell, paralell and series simultaneously as well as being able to have all pickups turned on at the same time.
So what pickup combinations are available on guitars equipped with the S-1 switch? On the 2004-2009 series Fender Deluxe Stratocaster the pickup switching works as follows:
5-Position Blade and 2-Position Push/Push S-1TM:
S-1 Switch Up (off):
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Parallel
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup in Parallel
Position 5. Neck Pickup
S-1 Switch Down:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 2. Bridge Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 3. Bridge/Middle/Neck Pickups with Neck and Bridge Pickups in Parallel and in Series with Middle pickup
Position 4. Neck Pickup in Parallel with Special Capacitor and in Series with Middle Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup in Series with Middle Pickup
S-1 Switch Up (Off):
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Parallel
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup in Parallel
Position 5. Neck Pickup
S-1 Switch Down (On):
Position 1. Bridge, Middle and Neck Pickups in Series
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Series
Position 3. Middle and Neck Pickup in Series
Position 4. Bridge and Neck Pickup Out-Of-Phase, and in Series with Special Tone Capacitor
Position 5. Bridge and Middle Pickup in Series and Out-Of-Phase, and in Parallel with Neck Pickup
I’ve found some excellent sounds with the new pickup combinations on both of these guitars. The S-1 Switching System opens up a new dimension in available sounds for your Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. If you are looking to upgrade your own strat with an S-1 switch then check out the listings below.
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster Contoured Beveled Neck Heel
One of the legendary changes that Leo Fender made to the Fender Stratocaster is the addition of body contouring. Body contouring is that nice scooped out section of the guitars body that fits against your hip or ribs. Having body contouring makes the Stratocaster hang comfortably against your body and eliminates the sharp edges found on such guitars as the Les Paul. It makes the Stratocaster a much more comfortable instrument to play.
The latest series of the American Deluxe Stratocaster features a new area of body contouring where the new compound radius neck joins to the body of the guitar. This part of the guitar is called the heel and it’s a block of wood that is used to help hold the bolts in place that attach the neck to the body of the guitar. The heel on older Strats has been a sharp edged square of wood. Well not on the new American Deluxe Series Stratocaster. They feature a new beveled neck heel instead of the sharp edges that were used on previous Strats.
The beveled or contoured neck heel has the lower corner of the wood block shaved down and rounded to perfectly fit your hand. The metal mounting plate that holds the screws to the body is also rounded to fit the neck heel. This new neck heel literally sits perfectly in the palm of your hand when you slide your hand on top of it to reach the upper fret ranges. I’ve never played on a guitar that has such an easy playing neck heel area. Some glued-in neck guitars such as the ES-335 have a nice smooth rounded neck heel and although the new strats aren’t quite that streamlined they are more streamlined than ever before.
The new contoured heel on the American Series Stratocaster is an excellent improvement that you never knew you needed until you’ve played it. Every time I play in those upper fret ranges I appreciate how smooth and efficient the new beveled neck heel is. It’s another improvement that you have to take into consideration when making your purchase of a brand new Fender American Stratocaster.
Jeff Beck Receives Grammy Award at 53rd Annual Grammy's
One of our very favorite Stratocaster players Jeff Beck was nominated for several awards at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards held on February 13, 2011. Jeff was nominated for a lot of different awards. In fact I was surprised at the number of nominations Jeff got this year. I guess that’s why he made the trip to the Grammy Awards show and it was good to see him. It’s too bad they didn’t have him perform this year since he had such a great release with his album Emotion & Commotion.
Here’s a list of the nominations that Jeff Beck received at this years Grammy Awards:
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals – “Imagine” with Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare from The Imagine Project
Best Pop Instrumental Performance – “Nessun Dorma” from Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion
Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals – “I Put A Spell On You” Jeff Beck & Joss Stone from Emotion & Commotion
Best Rock Instrumental Performance – “Hammerhead” from Jeff Beck – Emotion & Commotion
Best Rock Album – Emotion & Commotion
Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists – “Imagine” from The Imagine Project
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical – Emotion & Commotion with Steve Lipson, engineer
As you can see, that’s quite a list! The best nomination of course was for Best Rock Album which would represent a huge win because of the genre’s huge audience. So how did Jeff do? Well let me tell you, Jeff Beck got himself some shiny new Grammy Awards to take home with him this year.
Here is a list of wins for Jeff Beck at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards:
Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals – “Imagine” with Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare from The Imagine Project
Best Rock Instrumental Performance – “Hammerhead” Jeff Beck from Emotion & Commotion
So there you have it, Jeff brought home 3 brand new Grammy Awards to go with his collection of Grammy’s. The great thing for us as Stratocaster players is the fact that Jeff has given the world some more excellent playing using the Fender Stratocaster as his main instrument. I just wish he would have won Best Rock Album but the Grammy’s of course get these things wrong a lot of the time.
For your pleasure, here’s a video of Jeff Beck performing the Best Rock Instrumental Performance award winning song “Hammerhead” live at the Grammy Museum. Jeff Beck – Hammerhead – Live At The Grammy Museum 2010
Fender Staggered Locking Tuners On The American Deluxe Stratocaster
The other day on Deluxe Guitar I wrote a post about the synchronized 2-point tremolo found on the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. The synchronized 2-point tremolo is only half the equation when it comes to keeping your Stratocaster in tune. That’s why Fender staggered locking tuners come as standard equipment on the American Deluxe Stratocaster. They are not found from the factory on the American Standard Stratocaster but they can be purchased and installed as an aftermarket add-on.
First of all, if you’re not familiar with how locking tuning machines work let me explain. With a locking tuner you simply slide the string through a hole in the middle of the tuning post and pull the string as tight as you can with your hand. Then you turn a locking knob on the bottom of the tuner to clamp the string in place in the hole. After that you simply tune the string up to pitch and clip off the extra bit of string length. You are usually in tune within a half a turn of the locking tuner!
I absolutely love the locking tuners on my American Deluxe Strat for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason of course is the fact that they help keep the guitar in tune so well. They accomplish this by eliminating string slippage on the tuning post of the tuner. You never have to wind the string over itself with locking tuners and having no wraps on the tuning post eliminates snagging which can lead to tuning problems.
The thing I love the most about my locking tuners is the speed at which I can change the strings. If you’ve ever had a Floyd Rose locking bridge and nut system then you know what a pain in the ass it is to have to get out the wrenches, clip strings, tune, clamp, un-clamp, re-tune, clamp and eventually get your Floyd Rose in tune after severly crushing your strings at the nut. With the Fender locking tuners and the 2-point synchronized tremolo you simply pull the string through the bridge, across the nut, through the locking tuner, clamp the string, tune and clip. I can literally have my strings changed and tuned in 5 minutes. The convenience is simply unbelievable compared to conventional tuners or locking nut systems.
Another thing that’s nicely designed on the Fender locking tuners is the stagger of the tuning posts. As the posts get nearer the neck they are shorter and closer to the headstock. This gives you a better angle for the string pull across the nut. By having a staggered design to the tuning posts Fender has been able to eliminate one of the string trees on the headstock of the Stratocaster. This also gives you better tuning stability.
I do have one tip when stringing your locking tuners. I like to have no windings at all touching the string post of my locking tuners. So I actually press down on the tremolo arm when I’m pulling the strings tight through the locking tuners. Then when I let up on the tremolo arm the string is almost in tune and I only have to turn the tuner 1/4 turn to be in tune. This makes it so the strings never wind around the post. They only touch the edge of the hole where the string inserts into the locking portion of the tuner. This has given me excellent tuning stability and once the strings are played on for about 30 minutes they hardly ever go back out of tune. I do use a some Big Bends Nut Sauce to lube the friction points at the bridge, nut and across the string tree and it really makes my tuning stable.
Fender Schaller Locking TunersBrushed-finish Fender Schaller Locking Tuners provide solid tuning stability by clamping the cut end of the string with a hand-tightened lock screw. There’s no play in the string and you tune normally. A great way around locking nut systems that don’t allow tuning on the fly. Highest quality manufacture, Schaller Locking Tuners are the same tuners used on Fender American Deluxe Series guitars.
One question I get asked all the time at Deluxe Guitar concerns the different neck profiles found on the American Deluxe Stratocaster guitar. Fender is currently offering two production neck profiles. They are the “C” shaped neck profile and the “V” shaped neck profile. What’s the difference between the C-neck profile and the V-neck profile? Well it’s as simple as looking at the letters “C” and “V” because the back of the neck where your hand rests is shaped exactly like one of those two letters.
It’s important to note that the fretboard itself is the same compound radius on both the V-neck and the C-neck profiles. The picture to the right at the top of this post shows the two different neck profiles currently in use on the Fender Stratocaster. The picture below shows some of the commonly used neck profiles on modern electric guitars. Fender’s V-neck profile is a soft “V” neck profile:
Common Neck Shape Profiles
As you can see, the difference is quite obvious when looking at the necks side-by-side. Why are there two different neck shapes being used on the Fender Stratocaster? It all comes down to personal player preference and a bit of Stratocaster history.
When the Strat was introduced the neck was a V-shape and was later changed to a C-shape because of player feedback to Fender asking for a more comfortable neck shape. That change alone created a lot of different opinions about neck shape for the Stratocaster. I’m sure you’ve heard people say “Nothing plays like those old 50′s Fender Stratocasters!” Part of the reason for the difference in playability is the fact that that 50′s Strats had a V-shape neck.
So which neck is better, the V-neck or the C-neck? Well that’s completely a matter of personal opinion and you’ll get different answers from different guitarists. Some find the C-shape much more comfortable than the V-shape and vice versa. I can tell you from personal experience the differences I’ve noticed in how the necks feel. I have both a V-neck American Deluxe Stratocaster and a C-Neck American Deluxe Stratocaster.
The C-neck leaves a small pocket of space between the palm of my hand and the guitar neck when I’m playing. The neck seems to contact my hand more at the bottom joint of my thumb and the bottom joint of my first finger. I am able to flatten my hand against the back of the C-neck and get a little better reach while fretting. I feel like the neck is less present in my hand with the C-neck allowing my fingers to more freely dance around the fretboard.
In contrast, the V-neck makes more contact with the palm of my hand while I’m playing. It does shorten my reach just a bit on the fret side. The V-neck also gives me a bit more neck to brace my thumb against while I’m playing bar chords. I feel like the V-neck gives me a greater connection to the neck and the guitar. I like feeling a chunk of wood in my hand while I play. I do feel like the V-neck is more cumbersome while playing fast phrases.
I can honestly say that the difference in feel between the C-neck and the V-neck is very minor to me. I’m able to easily switch between the two guitars without taking hardly any notice at all of the neck shape. If I was looking to buy a new Stratocaster, the shape of the current V-neck and C-neck Strats is so subtly different that having one neck or the other on my Strat would not be a deal breaker when purchasing.
In my opinion the color of the guitar is more important to my purchasing decision than the shape of neck with how subtly different the two necks are. Which brings me to the fact that there are different color options available on the V-neck American Deluxe Stratocaster as opposed to the C-neck American Deluxe Stratocaster. The only neck option available on a Candy Apple Red or solid Black American Deluxe Stratocaster is the V-neck. So if your heart is set on either a red or black American Deluxe Stratocaster then you’re going to be playing on a V-neck. Still, that’s not a bad thing at all because both neck shapes are excellent!
Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster 2-point Tremolo
The Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster and the American Standard Stratocaster both feature a 2-point synchronized tremolo bridge. This is an upgrade from the 6-point vintage style tremolo used on the Standard Stratocaster and the American Vintage Stratocaster. Fender has been using the 2-point synchronized tremolo since 1986. It is similar in design to the Floyd Rose 2-point locking tremolo although it doesn’t lock the strings like the Floyd Rose. There are some big advantages in using the deluxe 2-point synchronized tremolo over the vintage style tremolo or even the Floyd Rose locking tremolo.
The biggest advantage of the 2-point synchronized tremolo is tuning stability. It’s obvious that the fewer friction points you have on your floating bridge the better it will stay in tune. So removing 4 of the mounting points present in the vintage style tremolo reduces the number of friction points by that same amount. Floyd Rose developed the 2-point tremolo for the very simple reason of increasing tuning stability. Fender, taking a cue from the Floyd Rose, uses a knife-edge design for the two pivot points that rock on the two studs mounted into the body. I always lube these two pivot points with a shot of Big Bends Nut Sauce to reduce the friction even farther and it makes the pivots silky smooth.
Another big advantage of the deluxe 2-point tremolo versus the vintage style tremolo is the solid steel string block saddles that the strings rest on. I much prefer them to the bent steel saddles present on the vintage tremolo unit. I like the solid block saddles because of their more massive feel which I believe gives the string better sustain.
Speaking of sustain, the deluxe 2-point tremolo also features a solid block of metal to increase the sustain of the strings. It also helps to counterbalance the pull of the strings against the pull of the tremolo springs. The 2010 American Deluxe Stratocaster features a pop-in tremolo arm that mounts in this tremolo block. There are adjustment screws on the tremolo block that adjust how easy or hard to make the tremolo arm pop-in as well as how easy or hard it is to swing the tremolo arm out of the way.
As for the Fender Deluxe 2-point tremolo’s advantage over the Floyd Rose locking tremolo. I personally don’t like to have to clip my strings and bother with locking them in place every time I change the strings on my guitar which is what I have to do on my Floyd Rose equipped guitars. The Fender deluxe 2-point tremolo has a string-through design that lets you simply pull your string through the tremolo block and up over the bridge saddles when stringing the guitar. It makes the process a lot easier and a lot faster. Tuning stability isn’t quite as good as the Floyd Rose locking trem but it is plenty stable for every type of tremolo style except dive bombing.
As I mentioned before I use Big Bends Nut Sauce on the pivot points. I also use the lube on all the bridge saddles as well as the slots in the nut that the string slide through. Finally I put a little nut sauce on the string tree and my American Deluxe Stratocaster stays perfectly in tune even with the occasional dive-bomb on the tremolo. I’ve been very happy with Fender’s deluxe 2-point tremolo system over the years and I highly recommend it.
I’ve had a lot of inquiries into the new Fender Noiseless N3 Pickups here at deluxe guitar. My new 2010 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster has them installed as standard equipment. I also own a 1996 Strat Plus with Lace Sensor pickups, a 2002 American Deluxe Stratocaster with Vintage Noiseless pickups and a 2004 American Deluxe Ash Strat with Samarium Cobalt noiseless pickups. So I’ll be using those guitars as a basis for comparison to the N3 noiseless pickups on my 2010 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster.
First of all let me tell you a little about the design of the new N3 Noiseless pickups. According to Fender’s promotional material the N3 Noiseless pickup has an improved stacked-coil design and are specially tailored for each Stratocaster pickup position. It also represents a return to the warmth and clarity of Alnico magnets. Also the type of alnico magnets used is tailored to each specific pickup position. The bridge pickup uses Alnico V for power and warmth as well as the signature snap and spank of the classic Stratocaster bridge pickup. The middle N3 pickup uses Alnico II to give the pickup it’s signature sweetness and sparkle. The neck pickup uses Alnico III to give it it’s fullness without undue magnetic string pull.
The previous paragraph is all taken from Fender’s own promotional material so let me tell you what I hear when I play these pickups. First of all, the bridge pickup which Fender states uses the Alnico V magnet. To me it sounds very much like a classic Fender single coil Stratocaster bridge pickup. It has spank, it has twang and it has absolutely no dreaded 60-cycle hum. It is wired to the no-load tone control so you can cut the tone control out of the signal path and wire the bridge pickup directly to the output jack. Of all my Strats this pickup is the most alive sounding pickup I have. It is much livelier than the Samarium Cobalt noiseless pickups and very much more responsive to my picking attack. It picks up more nuances of my hand and pick sliding on the strings as well. It also seems to have a lot more output power than the Vintage Noiseless pickups. It is also the first noiseless pickup I own that can pick up the 3rd fret harmonic as well as I like and I have a suspicion that Jeff Beck may have been using this pickup for a while before they were placed in the American Deluxe line up. This is a very powerful bridge pickup and perfectly noiseless. It’s very close to an original single coil bridge pickup but it does have more of a growl to it.
The middle pickup definitely has the classic Fender Stratocaster middle pickup chime. I use it more than I have ever used a middle pickup on any of my other guitars. I think the best way to describe it is that the middle pickup is balanced with the neck and bridge pickups. There isn’t a big drop-off in volume and attack when switching from the bridge pickup to the middle pickup and there isn’t a huge loss of warmth when switching from the neck pickup to the middle pickup. The middle pickup is just perfectly balanced tonally between the bridge and the neck pickups.
The neck pickup is close to perfection! It is warm, slightly rubbery sounding with a sweet muted attack. I’m sure a lot of this sound comes from where the pickup is placed under the strings as well as the scale length of the Fender Stratocaster. But the pickup captures that true, classic neck pickup sound of the Fender Stratocaster. Again, like the bridge pickup, there is a slight growl to the sound that isn’t found on a classic single coil pickup. It doesn’t bother me and I prefer the slight extra power that the pickup seems to give me. If you’re looking for the true, classic single-coil neck pickup sound the N3 Noiseless is not an exact replica but it is extremely close to it. Of course, it’s completely hum free which is what I love about these noiseless pickups. Again, it’s perfectly balanced with the middle and bridge pickups and still has it’s own signature sound.
In summary, the new Fender Noiseless N3 Pickups are a wonderful addition to Fender’s pickup offerings. I absolutely love them because they are noise free and very powerful. The sound isn’t as dark as the Samarium Cobalt pickups, they are much more powerful than the Vintage Noiseless pickups and they are much warmer and more true to the classic Fender sound than my Lace Sensor pickups. If you’re looking for a Stratocaster that has an excellent set of factory installed pickups then look no further than the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster with the new Noiseless N3 Pickups.
2010 Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster - Wine Transparent
There have been a lot of reports that Fender has been very slow shipping certain color options of the new 2010 American Deluxe Stratocaster. I know some people have been waiting for 6 months or more for their guitars. These are standard color options that are listed on the Fender website yet they have been out of stock for months. I have checked with the online retailers such as Music123 and Musician’s Friend and they’ve informed me that Fender is trying to fill orders as quickly as possible. Music123 told me that they can ship any color option that you want between now and the 2nd week of November. Please remember that they are still at the mercy of Fender.
I am currently recommending that you buy your Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster at Music123. The reason being that they require no money down, you will not be charged until your guitar ships and you can request a refund at any time if you get tired of waiting for your new guitar. I have used Music123 many times in the past and they have always been excellent to work with. They have the best customer service I have ever found from an online music equipment retailer.
Simply follow the links below to order your new Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster from Music123.
One of the biggest improvements on the 2010 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is the new compound radius neck. Both the American Deluxe Stratocaster and American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster feature the compound radius neck which comes in both maple fretboard or rosewood fretboard.
So what is a compound radius fretboard or fingerboard? The first thing you have to understand is radius. If you look at the neck of your guitar, you’ll see a curve or a hump in the middle of the fretboard. This is the radius and it is there to make playing chords easier on the guitar neck. Most Fender necks have a single radius of between 7.25″ and 12″ with the higher number meaning a flatter radius.
So why would you want a flatter radius? Having a flatter radius makes string bending much easier and allows for longer bends without the notes fretting out. This makes the guitar easier to solo on. A flatter radius also allows for a lower action on the strings. Having a a more rounded radius makes the guitar easier to play bar chords on and fits the natural curve of your finger.
A standard guitar neck will have one continuous radius from the nut to the end of the neck which works well enough but isn’t the best solution. The new Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster has the best solution when it comes to getting easy chording as well as easy soloing. The compound radius neck has multiple radius measurements along the length of the neck. The neck is more rounded at the nut and flattens out as you get to the higher frets.
The American Deluxe Stratocaster compound radius neck measures 9.5″ at the nut, 12″ at the 12th fret, and 14″ at the 15th fret. This makes for a very smooth playing neck and allows for very comfortable string bending without fading notes associated with fretting out.
The compound radius neck is more complicated to manufacture but the reward in ease of playing and sound quality during string bending is well worth it. The fact that Fender has incorporated 3 radius zones instead of the usual 2 is just an excellent decision as well. If you are looking to upgrade to an easy-playing compound radius neck, then the 2010 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is the guitar for you!
