

This S-type is built with a similar set of three woods to a vintage S-type, with an alder body, maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard. – Aged finish could be a turn-off to some Price: £1,859 / $1,899.99 Build: Solid alder body, bolt-on maple neck 10-14” compound radius 22-fret rosewood fingerboard Hardware: 2-Point Deluxe Synchronized Tremolo vibrato bridge with pop-in arm, short-post locking tuners Electronics: Ultra Double Tap humbucker (bridge), 2x Ultra Noiseless Hot Strat pickups (neck and middle), master volume w/ S-1 switch, neck/middle tone, bridge tone, 5-way blade pickup selector switch Scale Length: 25.5”/648mm Macmull Diamond Superlight S-Classic Operating in humbucker mode, it offers more than enough girth for crunchy heavy tones.


When you split the bridge humbucker, a small boost is applied to the single-coil sound, meaning less of a drastic volume drop and a punchier, more ‘true’ SSS strat sound. The instrument’s famed versatility is expanded upon by the inclusion of a humbucker with an above-average coil-split.
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Rather than resting on their laurels, however, this latest update to the Strat brings new ideas to the table. – Not for those looking for vintage specsįender’s latest American-made flagship line of instruments, The American Ultra series, are the most premium Fenders you can get outside of the Custom Shop.

While not a hard-and-fast rule, a flatter radius will be slightly more conducive to big bends, while a more rounded radius makes open chords easier to fret. More modern guitars often have slimmer necks with either a flatter 9.5-inch radius or a compound radius that further flattens the high frets. Neck profile and fretboard radius is something else that can be defined by the classic-shred-modern spectrum – ‘50s specs dictate a chunkier neck with a rather rounded 7.25-inch fretboard radius. There’s also the common inclusion of a humbucker in the bridge position for some extra tonal versatility or even aggression, or a complete disregard for tradition with two humbuckers. There’s a variety of pickup configurations common to the world of S-types, the classic being three single-coils for a spanky, percussive sound. An S-type finished in tobacco sunburst with an aged pickguard probably isn’t going to have super-high-output pickups or a dive-bomb capable tremolo. It’s a broad generalisation, but it does give an idea of the guitar’s aims. The multi-dimensional universe of S-types can be crudely compressed down to a spectrum – with traditional 1950s styling at one end, ‘80s shred silliness in the middle and modern stylings at the other end. So let’s give some of the best takes on the S-style a shakedown. And while Fender’s original is still going strong in a variety of forms, the S-type shape has grown beyond its original wheelhouse to encapsulate an even wider range of guitar ideas. Alongside the Les Paul, it’s one of the shapes that immediately evokes the instrument. The Stratocaster, first introduced in 1954, has become one of the blueprints in the world of electric guitars.
