GEAR SPOTLIGHT
FENDER
AMERICAN
PROFESSIONAL
STRATOCASTER
REVIEW BY YOEL KREISLER
STREET PRICE $1499.00
With every single minute
change in the design of
the Stratocaster, there are
players who will love the new
version or hate it. With such
a legendary guitar, there are
many purists (myself included)
who have an idea of what the
perfect Strat is in their heads. I
personally enjoy the ‘50s style
Strats with the skinny frets,
soft-“V” neck, and 7.25-inch
radius, while I know many
others who prefer the medium
jumbo, 9.5-inch radius and
C-profile neck of the more
modern Strats. For the longest
time, the American Standard
series (which is now being
replaced by the Professional
Series) catered more towards
the modern crowd. With the
54
GEAR SPOTLIGHT //
American Professional, Fender
has tried to synthesize some
unique, vintage “flavored”
design choices with the classic
modern Fender specs. The
new colors, as well as the new
spec offerings piqued my own
personal interest, coming from
playing a vintage-style Strat
almost exclusively for the past
few years. Let’s dive in and see
what this new Strat can really
do.
Fender clearly made some
critical design choices here
to sway those who were on
the fence with the American
Standard series. One of those
design choices is the use of
“narrow tall” frets as oppose
to the medium jumbos used
on American Standards for
Fender American Professional Stratocaster
years. These frets are closer
to the medium jumbo then
their vintage “skinny” relatives,
and feel a little different from
both of those. They are a little
rounder feeling in the fingers
than the flatter medium
jumbos, but not as skinny as
the vintage Fender frets. Think
of a medium jumbo but just
puffed up, with a smidge taken
off the sides. Whether you’re
coming from vintage-style frets
or medium jumbos, you should
have no problem acclimating
to these, which was a brilliant
move by Fender to sway both
camps of Strat lovers into the
American Professional camp.
The rest of the neck is
beautifully finished in a satin
urethane, which is the halfway