I just got mine a little over a week ago, an 'Ultraburst' finish with rosewood fretboard. It may very well have been the only Fender American Ultra Stratocaster HSS (or Fender American Ultra, period!) to have arrived in all of Canada this year, or at least during the past few months from Fender! Believe me, I've been checking everywhere in just about every store here online almost daily! Luckily, my persistence paid off, as I caught a 'new arrival' just a day after it arrived at a local 'Long & McQuade' store, here in Toronto, and ordered it quick! It was the only one to arrive in any store! In fact, two or three months ago, I talked with Nathan Jones of Fender in Scottsdale, and they only had about 50 pre-ordered Ultras waiting to be shipped, but not until there were enough to 'fill a container' (tractor trailer?) to go somewhere, then be distributed. A lot of people are ordering guitars during the pandemic and it's hard to keep up! Anyway, mine is a 2021 model and has 'Fender 75' on the back of the headstock. Took about a week to tame it (adjust the truss rod to my liking, lower the saddles a little, etc.) but now the thing is incredible!! I also changed the strings to Ernie Ball, as they bend even easier. Now I can't take my hands off the damned thing!
Great review, and great playing! But I do not get the 60 cycle hum from my HSS Ultra Strat, at all. I play through a ton of pedals into a variety of tube combo amps. No hum...high gain hiss sometimes, but no hum.
I did. I had the video up for a while but decided to delete it since I had made a few mistakes in there. The cobra with the HSS pickups and rosewood fingerboard, has a darker tone than the texas tea with the SSS pickups and maple fingerboard.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear thanks! I thought you tested both hss models . :) I'm about to change the pickguard of my Texas tea hss to se If i can get a brighter tone.
I'd like it if you did a comparison between the HSS and SSS single coils. I have the SSS and have heard the HSS single coils are hotter but I've never seen a direct comparison. I think it'd be an interesting comparison and nobody else has done it yet. I'm with you on the 60 cycle hum, it's just annoying no matter how "vintage" it is :)
Yep, completely agree, the HSS configuration the the best one and that s switch should have added the neck pickup to the humbucker, and coil tap with neck. The hum on the rear coil split should have been made noiseless because that is why we all spent that money to get an Ultra To further it, the SSS is nice cause it adds the neck to the rear pickup on the strat that I tend to never use cause it sounds like poo and wish it were a humbucker
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear I have heard that, in the old days, if Fender would mess up a maple neck, they'd just fit it with a rosewood fingerboard instead, which is why you sometimes get skunk stripes on vintage guitars that have rosewood fingerboards
It's most likely just for manufacturing efficiency. It's alot easier to make both the same way and then add the rosewood board after the fact. I have the SSS in Arctic Pearl and rosewood board and I likes me skunk stripe :)
Is the pickguard,the pickups covers and the trem back plate white or are they like a cream color? The pics I've seen look cream,but in this vid,they look white
So I have watched your videos on both of the American Ultra Strats and am curious how you like them compared to your American Elite Strat? I just got a 2019 Elite hss Ebony after watching your review. Do you still have that one or was it traded for one of these?
I'd taken it down because I'd been wrong about the 2 guitars having the same single coil pickups. They do not. The SSS has vintage noiseless and the HSS has HOT noiseless pickups. Therefore, the tone differences is not just the fretboard wood, but also the different pickups. That video was a misrepresentation of that. Lesson learned? Do my research BEFORE making a video!!! Whoops...
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Thanks for comment! I have hss ultra but I am considering whether to change hss to sss or not. Can I ask if I also have 62 reissue strat(which has bright sound), do you think I feel satisfied when I change hss to sss ultra? I think PU of hss is warm and I love its sound when I play solo. However, sometimes it's not that clear when playing chords and it gets way darker when recording. So, I really wonder what sss ultra is better than hss and vice versa.
Great video, love this guitar. Am torn between this exact model and the Mercury pro ii version. This is a better guitar but prefer the look of the other one. argh!
It is stunning 🤩. I'm thinking about buy a Texas Tea one. But after watch your video about something wrong with your Ultra Strat..Man i scared. One day If I buy one, hope the same thing doesn't happen to me. Do you think it was about the music market or something different? Sorry for this English, i did my best! And hope you're happy with your new Ultra Strat! 🙂
Can you tell me a little about how you have the trem setup on this strat? Is it floating or flush to the body? Your vibrato with it seems very effortless
I had it set to float. I like to raise my bridge posts up and almost completely lower my E string saddles. Then, I radius the A,D,G and B string saddles to the fret board radius. I set my action using the posts. I usually get about a whole step pitch raise on my G string with the bar. That's my preference with setting up a trem.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear I just got mine recently, and I was surprised that I could bend the arm pretty far without it going out of tune! Even when I pushed it to the hilt for awhile (to test it) it was still fairly in tune! I could never do that with my other Strat, and I hate fussing with locking Floyd Rose, Kahler, etc., so that's a relief!
It's not recessed. But if you bottom out the saddle's (with a proper radius, of course...) you can raise the bridge off the body enough to be able to do the flutters.
Did you keep the Ultra pickups in this hss or change em up? Awesome vid. Awesome playing. You just convinced me to get an Ultra hss to go along with my Cobalt blue sss.
Thanks for the demo - seems to be a nice guitar! Do you have the real product name or code or link to your "sweet little flowery levi strap"? :) I searched internet but could not find it.
Hi Chris! I commented on the video you had comparing your two Ultras, but I guess you took that video down... I just ordered the HSS version, but now that I hear the SSS version, I feel like I might like that one better because of the ability to activate the neck and bridge positions simultaneously - and it seems to be brighter. Which Ultra do you think sounds the best?
I prefer my SSS Texas Tea. The S1 "neck on" option is Very useful. And, I prefer the brighter tone. I took the comparison video down, because I learned that the single coil pickups are not the same between the models.
Your videos are awesome, you made me buy an Ultra Strat Texas Tea SSS brand new for 1500, and I love it ! I have 2 questions for you : - do you have neck pocket crack issues on your strats ? (I just saw one appear on my Strat Ultra) - do you have witness marks on the body ? (Texas Tea and Cobra Blue) I read it was a very common problem, maybe you have feedback one these points. Thanks a lot Chris, U rocks 🤘🏻
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Thanks for your answer ! It's cool if you don't have pocket cracks :) "Witness marks" are lines on the body finish, you can have a look there : ruclips.net/video/BUpALBXj6oo/видео.html
@@Tic45544 @Tic45544 I have an artic Pearl ultra HSS and I noticed a line like that down the back centre of mine, looks dead in the middle and barely noticeable unless in a certain light
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Could listen to this playing every day. I just might. It’s soooo good. Thanks for uploading.
Tasteful playing, great demo.
Great video,I am getting the Texas Tea for Christmas.
I just got mine a little over a week ago, an 'Ultraburst' finish with rosewood fretboard. It may very well have been the only Fender American Ultra Stratocaster HSS (or Fender American Ultra, period!) to have arrived in all of Canada this year, or at least during the past few months from Fender! Believe me, I've been checking everywhere in just about every store here online almost daily! Luckily, my persistence paid off, as I caught a 'new arrival' just a day after it arrived at a local 'Long & McQuade' store, here in Toronto, and ordered it quick! It was the only one to arrive in any store! In fact, two or three months ago, I talked with Nathan Jones of Fender in Scottsdale, and they only had about 50 pre-ordered Ultras waiting to be shipped, but not until there were enough to 'fill a container' (tractor trailer?) to go somewhere, then be distributed. A lot of people are ordering guitars during the pandemic and it's hard to keep up! Anyway, mine is a 2021 model and has 'Fender 75' on the back of the headstock. Took about a week to tame it (adjust the truss rod to my liking, lower the saddles a little, etc.) but now the thing is incredible!! I also changed the strings to Ernie Ball, as they bend even easier. Now I can't take my hands off the damned thing!
Loved the review. Specially the High Gain bit. Always wanted to know how this guitar would behave playing high gain stuff.
Finally someone demos a Strat without just doing blues licks
Great review, and great playing! But I do not get the 60 cycle hum from my HSS Ultra Strat, at all. I play through a ton of pedals into a variety of tube combo amps. No hum...high gain hiss sometimes, but no hum.
Have you done this comparative video between the ultras strats ?
I did. I had the video up for a while but decided to delete it since I had made a few mistakes in there.
The cobra with the HSS pickups and rosewood fingerboard, has a darker tone than the texas tea with the SSS pickups and maple fingerboard.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear thanks! I thought you tested both hss models . :) I'm about to change the pickguard of my Texas tea hss to se If i can get a brighter tone.
That pinched harmonic on the third fret, low E string at 10:10 did it for me. Awesome! And yes, at 10:32, it does CHUG!
That blue is stunning.
Your videos are AWESOME!!!
I'd like it if you did a comparison between the HSS and SSS single coils. I have the SSS and have heard the HSS single coils are hotter but I've never seen a direct comparison. I think it'd be an interesting comparison and nobody else has done it yet. I'm with you on the 60 cycle hum, it's just annoying no matter how "vintage" it is :)
the problem is they don't know the neck pickup +bridge pickup as single coils together when Ibanez did that and my luthier 10 year ago
Chris- is there 60 cycle cycle hum in the 2nd position with Humbucker split + middle pickup??? Tks!
Yep, completely agree, the HSS configuration the the best one and that s switch should have added the neck pickup to the humbucker, and coil tap with neck. The hum on the rear coil split should have been made noiseless because that is why we all spent that money to get an Ultra
To further it, the SSS is nice cause it adds the neck to the rear pickup on the strat that I tend to never use cause it sounds like poo and wish it were a humbucker
Thanks for the review, and Go Pats!
Is the neck wider? I’ve seen one review that this person said the neck is wider and compound radius D shape neck
Hmm, why does it have a skunk stripe if it has a rosewood fingerboard?
That is a great question...
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear I have heard that, in the old days, if Fender would mess up a maple neck, they'd just fit it with a rosewood fingerboard instead, which is why you sometimes get skunk stripes on vintage guitars that have rosewood fingerboards
It's most likely just for manufacturing efficiency. It's alot easier to make both the same way and then add the rosewood board after the fact. I have the SSS in Arctic Pearl and rosewood board and I likes me skunk stripe :)
Is the pickguard,the pickups covers and the trem back plate white or are they like a cream color? The pics I've seen look cream,but in this vid,they look white
So I have watched your videos on both of the American Ultra Strats and am curious how you like them compared to your American Elite Strat? I just got a 2019 Elite hss Ebony after watching your review. Do you still have that one or was it traded for one of these?
Why has the comparison video gone? I liked it.
I'd taken it down because I'd been wrong about the 2 guitars having the same single coil pickups. They do not. The SSS has vintage noiseless and the HSS has HOT noiseless pickups. Therefore, the tone differences is not just the fretboard wood, but also the different pickups. That video was a misrepresentation of that. Lesson learned? Do my research BEFORE making a video!!! Whoops...
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Thanks for comment! I have hss ultra but I am considering whether to change hss to sss or not. Can I ask if I also have 62 reissue strat(which has bright sound), do you think I feel satisfied when I change hss to sss ultra? I think PU of hss is warm and I love its sound when I play solo. However, sometimes it's not that clear when playing chords and it gets way darker when recording. So, I really wonder what sss ultra is better than hss and vice versa.
been using 10's on my strats.going back to 9's.what are u using..i love strats...
D'Addario NYXL's 9-42
lighter strings are less bassy, will tighten the sound
Great video, love this guitar. Am torn between this exact model and the Mercury pro ii version. This is a better guitar but prefer the look of the other one. argh!
It is stunning 🤩. I'm thinking about buy a Texas Tea one. But after watch your video about something wrong with your Ultra Strat..Man i scared. One day If I buy one, hope the same thing doesn't happen to me. Do you think it was about the music market or something different?
Sorry for this English, i did my best! And hope you're happy with your new Ultra Strat! 🙂
Can you tell me a little about how you have the trem setup on this strat? Is it floating or flush to the body? Your vibrato with it seems very effortless
I had it set to float. I like to raise my bridge posts up and almost completely lower my E string saddles. Then, I radius the A,D,G and B string saddles to the fret board radius. I set my action using the posts. I usually get about a whole step pitch raise on my G string with the bar. That's my preference with setting up a trem.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear I just got mine recently, and I was surprised that I could bend the arm pretty far without it going out of tune! Even when I pushed it to the hilt for awhile (to test it) it was still fairly in tune! I could never do that with my other Strat, and I hate fussing with locking Floyd Rose, Kahler, etc., so that's a relief!
Is the bridge trem has flutters effects? Is it recess?
It's not recessed. But if you bottom out the saddle's (with a proper radius, of course...) you can raise the bridge off the body enough to be able to do the flutters.
Did you keep the Ultra pickups in this hss or change em up? Awesome vid. Awesome playing. You just convinced me to get an Ultra hss to go along with my Cobalt blue sss.
kept stock.
Thanks for the demo - seems to be a nice guitar! Do you have the real product name or code or link to your "sweet little flowery levi strap"? :) I searched internet but could not find it.
Right here: www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MPD2038--levys-mpd2-polyester-guitar-strap-design-038
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Great thanks!
Hi Chris! I commented on the video you had comparing your two Ultras, but I guess you took that video down... I just ordered the HSS version, but now that I hear the SSS version, I feel like I might like that one better because of the ability to activate the neck and bridge positions simultaneously - and it seems to be brighter. Which Ultra do you think sounds the best?
I prefer my SSS Texas Tea. The S1 "neck on" option is Very useful. And, I prefer the brighter tone. I took the comparison video down, because I learned that the single coil pickups are not the same between the models.
Did it look purplish in real life?
no.
Hi Chris, Great demo and excellent sound and playing. What gauge strings are you using on this guitar and what brand?
D'Addario NYXL, 009 - 042's.
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Thank you, much appreciated.👍👍👍
What amp are you using?
I'm playing through my computer, using the "Plini" Plugin from Neural DSP.
Your videos are awesome, you made me buy an Ultra Strat Texas Tea SSS brand new for 1500, and I love it !
I have 2 questions for you :
- do you have neck pocket crack issues on your strats ? (I just saw one appear on my Strat Ultra)
- do you have witness marks on the body ? (Texas Tea and Cobra Blue)
I read it was a very common problem, maybe you have feedback one these points.
Thanks a lot Chris, U rocks 🤘🏻
No pocket cracks on any of my strats. I've had them on some old Ibanez guitars,but not my Strats or Tele.
Not sure what you mean by "witness marks"?
@@ChrisTompkins-Music-And-Gear Thanks for your answer ! It's cool if you don't have pocket cracks :)
"Witness marks" are lines on the body finish, you can have a look there : ruclips.net/video/BUpALBXj6oo/видео.html
@@Tic45544 @Tic45544 I have an artic Pearl ultra HSS and I noticed a line like that down the back centre of mine, looks dead in the middle and barely noticeable unless in a certain light
@@jameswis1234 Yes, apparently it is very common on painted Strats, we don't have to worry about it :)
Pats!!
Hm.. sounds really bright from here.