The legendary Fender Stratocaster, the guitar invented way back in the early 50's by Leo Fender that went on to change the world with Rock and Roll.

The modern version, still made to a price point for us poor people, is, famously, made in Mexico. And this is quite something, not having the expense of US made instruments, but not having come from the Far East just makes owning this guitar more special.

So, what do you get in a Mexican made guitar for this sort of money? You should be very interested in finding out!

Fenders headstocks are very recognisable, in fact they're copyrighted, and on this Mexican Standard Strat is relatively small. The front has Fenders spaghetti logo and STRATOCASTER in block letters in black, and 'original contour body', referring to the shape of the guitar.

The front of the headstock is finished in a natural gloss, the back is finished in satin, and has the guitars serial number, and a row of 6 in line tuners. Square blocky die-cast Chrome affairs, with the Fender lodo engraved on the back, they work excellently.

The back of the neck has a satin finish, in a light coloured Maple with a beautiful grain and a thin line of Rosewood, the 'Skunk Stripe', where the truss rod has been inserted during manufacture.

The fingerboard on this model is Maple, a gloss finish, with 21 Medium Jumbo frets and black dot position markers. The neck is a 'modern' C shape, giving a very comfortable handful, great for people with all different hand sizes. Fender necks can sometimes be a handful, but this one is particularly playable.

The neck is bolted to the Alder body, joining at the 17th fret on the bass side and 20th on the treble side. The instantly recognisable body shape has deep cutaways on both sides of the neck joint so upper fret access is very easy.

The back of the neck joint has a plain Chrome neck plate with 4 bolts holding everything together. The body of this model in finished in gloss Black.

These Fender guitars are brilliantly set up from the Mexican factory, with an action of about 2mm at the 12th fret and a tremolo system that floats 3mm or so above the body. A bit of fret buzz is common on Fender guitars, a part of the character.

The back of the body is curvy, all the edges are beveled and we have a deep bit of chamfering on the upper bout giving a lovely comfortable playing position against your chest - the 'original contour body'.

The back also has a white, plastic, square access plate giving access to the back of the tremolo bridge, should you need to make any adjustments to suit your playing style.

The front has a large white 3 ply scratchplate, again, very recognisable, extending underneath the strings and across most of the lower bout. This plate also has the 3 single coil pickups and all of the controls attached to it.

So, what are the controls? The top knob is the master volume, the middle knob is the tone for the pickup nearest the neck, the bottom knob is the tone control for the middle pickup. The bridge pickup has no tone control. The we have the 5 way selector switch, allowing a broad range of tonal variety from this uber versatile guitar.

The neck pickup, position 1, is fairly warm and mellow, good for metal, country and pop rhythm work, the middle position, 3, is brighter, good for most rhythm work and also lead guitar. The bridge position, 5, is extremely bright, that famous Strat sound of course, made famous by countless players over the last 60 years or so, excellent for lead work in almost any genre.

Underneath the bridge pickup is that other recognisable Stratocaster thing, the Vintage Tremolo bridge and arm, sometimes called a trem bar, or whammy bar, or arm, it has a few different names.

What does it do, well listen to an old rock 'n' roll record from the 50's or 60's and you'll almost certainly hear it being used to slacken or stretch the strings, giving a slightly wacky sound!

There is not a genre of music that Strats haven't been used on, so it's not aimed at anyone in particular. Heavy metal and rock, country, jazz, blues, pop, rock 'n' roll, anything you want to play can be played with the Fender Stratocaster.

So, in all, a very, very playable guitar, and extremely popular, you just can't go wrong, everything feels so right, it's comfortable, versatile, light, easy to play, beautiful to look at, instantly recognisable, great value for money and you want one.

• Country of Origin - Mexico
• Body - Alder
• Neck - Maple Modern C shape, bolt on, 648mm scale
• Fingerboard - Maple, gloss finish, dot inlays, 9.5" radius, 21 Medium Jumbo Frets
• Hardware - Chrome
• Tuners - Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
• Bridge - Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
• Pickups - 3*Standard SingleCoil Strat Pickups (Ceramic Magnets)
• Controls - 1*volume, 2*tone, 5way selector

In Stock
All products on our website are in stock unless shown as 'Call 08452222603 To Order', this means we can deliver your order to you very quickly, subject to payment authorisation. The next dispatch date is shown against each product, and below is an indication of when you can expect your purchase.

All Guitars are Checked Before Dispatch
All Guitars go through our 12 point checking procedure to make sure that it passes our standards before shipping. This helps ensure your guitar will reach you in perfect condition. All guitars are checked against our 12 point check list and once passed, have a Guitarbitz quality control sticker attached. In addition to this we want to ensure that no harm can come to your guitar on the journey between us and you and so we have a rigorous packing procedure involving multiple protective layers. If you notice that this packaging is damaged when delivered by our courier, it is important to check the goods and if damaged, refuse the delivery and call us immediately. For your peace of mind, we have outlined the 12 point check below to show how we are passionate about your instrument.

1) Finish checked for imperfections or damage	2) Strings tuned up and tested for tone and playability	3) Neck checked for bending or humps
4)  Truss rod adjusted for correct positioning	5) Frets examined for playability	6) Bridge checked for position and hold on strings
7) Strap buttons tested for secure fitting	8) Neck joint examined	9) Machine heads turned and tested for secure grip on strings
10) Nut tested for secure fitting and correct string height	11) Switches, volume and tone controls tested for faulty connections	12) Pickups checked for responsiveness

For more details on our checking and packing procedure, please see our 12 Point Check and Packing Procedures page.

When You Will Receive your Order

Guitar accessories - strings, straps, stands, tuners and other small items
• Orders weighing less than 2kg are posted via First Class Royal Mail on the dispatch date shown.
• Orders weighing less than 2kg with a value over £30 will be sent First Class Royal Mail Recorded Delivery on the dispatch date shown.
• We cannot guarantee a delivery date for these orders, but First Class post usually takes 1-2 days.

Guitars, Amplifiers and larger items
• Orders weighing over 2kg are sent via our next working day courier service.

Interlink Express Courier Delivery
The Home Delivery Service You Have Been Waiting For. Interlink Express will provide you with a one hour delivery window so you don’t have to wait in all day for your parcel.

When Interlink Express deliver:
• You are given a one hour delivery window
• You are notified of this by email on the morning of delivery
• If not convenient you can use the email to change the delivery date

International Deliveries
We can deliver to the following European countries,
• Zone 1 - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Spain - £15 (including TAX) per order.
• Zone 2 - Finland, Portugal and Sweden - £25 (including TAX) per order.
• Zone 3 - Switzerland and Norway - £50 (excluding TAX) per order.
Please note that we can only deliver international orders to the billing address of the credit card used. These orders typically take 3-5 working days to be delivered, you can still track your orders via the Internet in the same way.