This is exactly what a good guitar review should be like. Well done. Far better than those cheesy 2 minute songs where it's really difficult to get a handle on what's going on.
I bought one of these a couple months back , I regretted it for a good week after purchase but I was blind to how amazing this thing actually is , I can get all the tones I want from this
This the best done review I have seen for the HSS and/or Elite Strats. He does an excellent job of a/bing every possibility and comparing the humbucker to the single coil in the bridge position was helpful. I've been intrigued by the HSS but in this review I liked the single coil bridge pickup better. He sure showed how these noise canceling single coils are worth the price of upgrading. Great job.
Really good review of a really good Strat... When I first heard the Shawbucker it didn't take very long before I had one, and I've had no reason to regret that buy. Together with the SCs it a very flexible guitar than can do most styles in a whim.
Every time Mick brings his own Strat in for comparison, I can never help feeling it sounds so much better than the guitar it's going up against. It may be a bit noisy, but the thing sounds superb. And looks great too.
Egregious - also, I have these noiseless in one of my strats - they are best described as somewhat lacking. These pickups "die out" in about 2 seconds, lack sustain; don't have "it." Sorry fender. Not great pickups. I don't have the shawbucker. No comment on that. You can hear exactly what I'm talking about at 3:27 - 3:47. When he plays the vintage strat first. You hear the chime and tone follow through on the vintage. Then he plays the noiseless - it almost sounds like he is palm muting a little bit. Not good. Makes it difficult for me to love my elite. PS - this is not a setup issue or an output difference between the pickup types. This IS the noiseless single problem.
That was the best guitar review ever. Loved the comparison, peddles and the whammy. You showed the best and comprehensive combinations. Personally I would like to try one because of the possibilities you demonstrated. brilliant and thank you Mick
Old review now, but still a great one. Well done, Mick. I have a 2016 Elite HSS, and while I like tone of a single coil Strat better in general, I bought the Elite because I've downsized my electric guitar collection to one and wanted something more versatile than just a SSS Strat, or a Les Paul for that matter. I also really appreciate the N4 pickups in my Elite, for their, um, noiselessness :-) and they sound great. The playability of the Elite is first class and the huge variety in sound options is excellent. It's a great guitar with a whole lot to love about it, and I do.
Great review .. Lovely sounding guitar for the modern player or somebody who wants a none traditional stat ..Sounds great with the distortion sounds ..One time strats had to be vintage but not anymore.. Love the modern USA Standers now ..
I've got one, it's great, love her long time. Very versatile and lovely to play and hear and feel. With 4 springs the trem stays in tune reasonably well, with only 3 was not really staying in tune that well. Mine is a 2015 American Professional model with an ash body, however, so same same but different. With it I also have a Fender Vibroverb re-issue that has been somewhat rodded. Sounds amazing that amp, even with electric kazoo, anything, just kicking it sounds wild.
Man I'm starting to realise that a vintage sounding humbucker in a strat is one of my favourite tones you can get. Its really does Mary a strat and les paul sound nicely. For live situations I think humbucker in strat is a very good option as it's full and thick however still has the classic strat presence coming through.
Really impressive guitar by Fender. Liked it more than the other two apart from the 'combined' middle+neck and middle+bridge, where I liked the vintage Strat more.
great demo. just bought this guitar yesterday and agree with most comments. the n3's are duller or fatter sounding, but with gain they are better over all.
Good night, I like both the Stratos Deluxe and the Elites. to several cool points on them: the tuners with locks, the neck with compound radius, the strings can be lower and improves the bends. they are lighter and the key of the caps has several tones.and when we play with distortion or fuzz it doesn't have the background hiss.
I have same stratocaster but the standard version , same colour and same pickup "shawbucker but whit the custom shop 50s neck e middle" love how it sound
The s1 switching is [13:07] hard to get ones head around but I don't care because it sounds so good - with S1 "engaged" and middle selected.... go try one!
Very groovy! You present just as if you were an experienced guitarist. What I would love is if someone like yourself would split the coils on the Shawby and let us hear that, and its combinations with the other pickups. The reason for this is that my main love is for the Strat bridge pickup played clean, but I also want to be able to go dirty Humby once in a while, all at the flick of a switch. Shawbies are £150 a piece in the UK without discount, so it is an expensive experiment in the case where the setup fails to sound good...
This video further accentuates what I thought when I first played those noiseless p/u's; they're flat sounding without much life or clarity. That h/b sounds great though.
Such a helpful review! Was able to hear the different tones with the quick changes between modes. Tons of options in the black strat, but the light-blue strat wins!!! Love hum-buckers, but a strat does not need one, apparently. What pickups are in that blue strat? Thanks!
Great demo, as usual! Also, the tone control is "no load" so the bridge at full volume w/tone on 10 is the same as using the blower switch. These guitars play themselves. hahaha you can sit back and watch! hahahahaha
Had one of these a couple of weeks. Wonderful neck and what with the contoured heel joint (which should be standard on ALL models) it basically played itself. …That said, it was just uninspiring in general unfortunately. Pickups were weak, thin and barely interacted with playing, pedals and any amp overtones. All sounds good on the spec sheet, but just not in practice. Like every ones said with that beautiful blue one here, I kept my old mexican Strat in preference as (shock horror…) it actually SOUNDED and interacted just like the design we all love is supposed to. They've discontinued the deluxe now so I'm told, its become easier to see why now. That said, I'd like to see the Shawbucker in a tele, or such, as an HH set up with a heavier more resonant wood as it has some potential not fully discovered in its current offerings.
I have a 2010 deluxe and came to the same conclusion. The N3 pickups work, but I couldn't get any 'real' or enjoyable Strat tones, unlike using DiMarzio Area pickups, for example. (I guess that's why they're up to the fifth generation now on the new Ultra.) The Shawbucker itself seems quite good, but I haven't played one in person.
I thought that the middle & neck pickups on the 62 reissue sounded much better than the noiseless. For me, the noiseless are completely lacking in character and sound sterile by comparison. On a HSS strat like this I'd rather have regular single coils with a reverse wound reverse polarity (RWRP) middle pickup. This means that only the neck position and middle position should encounter any noise, which can actually be remedied by wiring the volume controls (if you have 2 of them) independently like I did with my P90 Les Paul. With that guitar the neck P90 is RWRP and with the independent volume wiring I can just leave the switch in the middle position, which is essentially noiseless, and choose the pickup I want with the volume knobs. Normally volume controls are wired dependently and when 1 of them gets to 0 the sound cuts out, which doesn't happen when independent volume wiring so it should be possible to do the same wiring on a strat. There'd be no need to buy noiseless pickups then, especially on an HSS strat. 👍
I do own standard shawbucker strat. The tone of the shawbucker its absolutely fantastic fell in love immediately There's one down side of it tho. Shawbucker cannot handle a good distortion. Talking about massive microphonic feedback. Add Cry baby on the top of that good gig volume on the amp and the squeal is unbearable. I've tried noise gates etc. Nothing helped and I did have to wax pot mine. The tone didn't get affected at all and the microphonic feedback is forever gone. Keeping Shawbucker unpotted doesn't make this pickup versatile at all. I really don't know how they tested it.
Not much at all. Get some paraffin wax which cost pennies in the supermarket or any shop with candles. You’ll find a lot of RUclips videos step by step how to do it.
Hi HELP needed, I have one of these, but hate the staggered SC N3's and wanted to put these in www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/hot-strat does the middle pick up need to be RWRP?? Also would 500K pots alter anything? Thanks to anyone who can assist
Wow, that's pretty accurate, compared to what I came up with in the store. I don't understand what Fender is thinking with these noiseless pickups and Shawbuckers. If you want a Strat, get a real Strat. This is like, here's a kind of a copy of a Strat with a weak Humbucker, for a lot of money.
The frets are of very poor quality, the sound is not good compared to my godin LG three times cheaper, the sustain is zero compared to guitars four times cheaper from Yamaha, in short I will not buy Fender anymore! !!!
The reissue had a lot more tone but if the hss deluxe is new and has not been played as much as the reissue of course it will crap. New guitars sound terrible, they have to be broken in and the wood grains opened up to resonate.
This is exactly what a good guitar review should be like. Well done. Far better than those cheesy 2 minute songs where it's really difficult to get a handle on what's going on.
AWESOME review. The A B test where you played the same lick on each guitar at the start makes it much easier to differentiate the tones. Thanks
Excellent demonstration. Really clear definition, along with great playing.
One of the best guitar demos I have seen for ages. Really helpful to hearth comparisons with the other guitars. And lovely playing.
I bought one of these a couple months back , I regretted it for a good week after purchase but I was blind to how amazing this thing actually is , I can get all the tones I want from this
Thanks great video. When I up grade my pick ups in Fender Player I may go for the Shawbucker pre wired set. Sound great! Love pedal show.
This the best done review I have seen for the HSS and/or Elite Strats. He does an excellent job of a/bing every possibility and comparing the humbucker to the single coil in the bridge position was helpful. I've been intrigued by the HSS but in this review I liked the single coil bridge pickup better. He sure showed how these noise canceling single coils are worth the price of upgrading. Great job.
Really good review of a really good Strat... When I first heard the Shawbucker it didn't take very long before I had one, and I've had no reason to regret that buy. Together with the SCs it a very flexible guitar than can do most styles in a whim.
Every time Mick brings his own Strat in for comparison, I can never help feeling it sounds so much better than the guitar it's going up against.
It may be a bit noisy, but the thing sounds superb. And looks great too.
Just how I feel about it.
+Egregious I was about to post the same exact thing...only thing I would add is that I love the blues blood Mick has running through his veins...
Egregious - also, I have these noiseless in one of my strats - they are best described as somewhat lacking. These pickups "die out" in about 2 seconds, lack sustain; don't have "it." Sorry fender. Not great pickups. I don't have the shawbucker. No comment on that. You can hear exactly what I'm talking about at 3:27 - 3:47. When he plays the vintage strat first. You hear the chime and tone follow through on the vintage. Then he plays the noiseless - it almost sounds like he is palm muting a little bit. Not good. Makes it difficult for me to love my elite.
PS - this is not a setup issue or an output difference between the pickup types. This IS the noiseless single problem.
The vintage model sounds richer and much more thrilling. The Deluxe sounds kind of "dead" in comparison.
Egregious same feelings.
That was the best guitar review ever. Loved the comparison, peddles and the whammy. You showed the best and comprehensive combinations. Personally I would like to try one because of the possibilities you demonstrated. brilliant and thank you Mick
Best review I have ever seen by far! Very thorough and easy to follow. Great job! Thank you!!
Excellent Detailed review!, with full explanation of all selections including the 'Straight Through' selected ShawBucker, Nice!
Old review now, but still a great one. Well done, Mick. I have a 2016 Elite HSS, and while I like tone of a single coil Strat better in general, I bought the Elite because I've downsized my electric guitar collection to one and wanted something more versatile than just a SSS Strat, or a Les Paul for that matter. I also really appreciate the N4 pickups in my Elite, for their, um, noiselessness :-) and they sound great. The playability of the Elite is first class and the huge variety in sound options is excellent. It's a great guitar with a whole lot to love about it, and I do.
Great review .. Lovely sounding guitar for the modern player or somebody who wants a none traditional stat ..Sounds great with the distortion sounds ..One time strats had to be vintage but not anymore.. Love the modern USA Standers now ..
Really useful demo and A/B testing for what is likely to be a hefty purchase for most people :)
Wow! That's a really big win for the 62! I'm a bit of a shredder but I still love the single coil in the bridge on that 62.
I've got one, it's great, love her long time. Very versatile and lovely to play and hear and feel. With 4 springs the trem stays in tune reasonably well, with only 3 was not really staying in tune that well. Mine is a 2015 American Professional model with an ash body, however, so same same but different. With it I also have a Fender Vibroverb re-issue that has been somewhat rodded. Sounds amazing that amp, even with electric kazoo, anything, just kicking it sounds wild.
Man I'm starting to realise that a vintage sounding humbucker in a strat is one of my favourite tones you can get. Its really does Mary a strat and les paul sound nicely. For live situations I think humbucker in strat is a very good option as it's full and thick however still has the classic strat presence coming through.
Gorgeous instrument and sound
Would love to have one of them
Now that is a quality demo.
Great review. One of the best I've seen.
Man great thank you for your time great review
man, that middle pickup with overdrive really sings, huh? I love it
That blue Strat sounds so much nicer... Amazing tone
man, great review, awesome sound quality....great riffs!! thank you my friend, I enjoyed this. Cheers
Really impressive guitar by Fender. Liked it more than the other two apart from the 'combined' middle+neck and middle+bridge, where I liked the vintage Strat more.
The blue guitar sounds way better - but I love that humbucker option. The only real option is to own both Strats!
Thumbs up to fender on this one, first humbucker loaded strat that I like.
great demo. just bought this guitar yesterday and agree with most comments. the n3's are duller or fatter sounding, but with gain they are better over all.
Love that DGT
Good night, I like both the Stratos Deluxe and the Elites. to several cool points on them: the tuners with locks, the neck with compound radius, the strings can be lower and improves the bends. they are lighter and the key of the caps has several tones.and when we play with distortion or fuzz it doesn't have the background hiss.
I have same stratocaster but the standard version , same colour and same pickup "shawbucker but whit the custom shop 50s neck e middle" love how it sound
I feel like those metal roller nuts really change the sound/tone too
makes it sound a lot more telecastery
The s1 switching is [13:07] hard to get ones head around but I don't care because it sounds so good - with S1 "engaged" and middle selected.... go try one!
Very groovy! You present just as if you were an experienced guitarist. What I would love is if someone like yourself would split the coils on the Shawby and let us hear that, and its combinations with the other pickups. The reason for this is that my main love is for the Strat bridge pickup played clean, but I also want to be able to go dirty Humby once in a while, all at the flick of a switch. Shawbies are £150 a piece in the UK without discount, so it is an expensive experiment in the case where the setup fails to sound good...
Nice demo! It would be nice to be able to coil split the bridge humbucker sometimes.
something about a black strat with a white pickguard...i just love it...same with black tele and white guard
62 reissue killer!
This video further accentuates what I thought when I first played those noiseless p/u's; they're flat sounding without much life or clarity. That h/b sounds great though.
solid review my friend.
What a wonderful sound. I would have one tomorrow but they don't make it in lefty
Strange, the Shawbuckers almost make a Strat sound kind of like an SG. This helped me make a pretty big decision, thanks for posting.
Very nice demo. Thanks :-)
wowww...the 62 sounds amazing !
but for live gigging i go for the noisless... i hate the hum !.. thnxx😊
Hi Mick, love the Tim Shaw but where di you get your scratch plate for your blue stat? looks amazing
Great demo!
Great Demo...thanks a lot! I think I will get me the new Elite!
Hello, may i know thats the model of Fender the green one? And whats the pick up model thank you sir 🙏
Amazing review!
Such a helpful review! Was able to hear the different tones with the quick changes between modes. Tons of options in the black strat, but the light-blue strat wins!!! Love hum-buckers, but a strat does not need one, apparently. What pickups are in that blue strat? Thanks!
Very good review
Great demo, as usual! Also, the tone control is "no load" so the bridge at full volume w/tone on 10 is the same as using the blower switch. These guitars play themselves. hahaha you can sit back and watch! hahahahaha
Nice Playing Brother...... Very Nice
very good!! thank you Amazing!
Mick's strat sounded nicer clean but the HSS sounded nicer with gain to me.
Even on the single coils that is.
Had one of these a couple of weeks. Wonderful neck and what with the contoured heel joint (which should be standard on ALL models) it basically played itself.
…That said, it was just uninspiring in general unfortunately. Pickups were weak, thin and barely interacted with playing, pedals and any amp overtones. All sounds good on the spec sheet, but just not in practice.
Like every ones said with that beautiful blue one here, I kept my old mexican Strat in preference as (shock horror…) it actually SOUNDED and interacted just like the design we all love is supposed to. They've discontinued the deluxe now so I'm told, its become easier to see why now.
That said, I'd like to see the Shawbucker in a tele, or such, as an HH set up with a heavier more resonant wood as it has some potential not fully discovered in its current offerings.
I have a 2010 deluxe and came to the same conclusion. The N3 pickups work, but I couldn't get any 'real' or enjoyable Strat tones, unlike using DiMarzio Area pickups, for example. (I guess that's why they're up to the fifth generation now on the new Ultra.) The Shawbucker itself seems quite good, but I haven't played one in person.
Great Review
Thanks!
Youre Strat is the crispiest, creamiest thing. So much punch too.
The 62 reissue looks and sounds fantastic! Im unsure of the color, is it Daphne Blue, surf green or seafoam green?
Seafoam
I’m pretty shure of that it’s sonic blue.
Loved the nonsense at the end there
Does it have a 500K pot?
Hi! The shawbucker is also "noiseless"? On your demo you always turn the volume out or maintain your hands on the strings...
Solrac K all humbuckers are "noiseless"
I thought that the middle & neck pickups on the 62 reissue sounded much better than the noiseless. For me, the noiseless are completely lacking in character and sound sterile by comparison. On a HSS strat like this I'd rather have regular single coils with a reverse wound reverse polarity (RWRP) middle pickup. This means that only the neck position and middle position should encounter any noise, which can actually be remedied by wiring the volume controls (if you have 2 of them) independently like I did with my P90 Les Paul.
With that guitar the neck P90 is RWRP and with the independent volume wiring I can just leave the switch in the middle position, which is essentially noiseless, and choose the pickup I want with the volume knobs. Normally volume controls are wired dependently and when 1 of them gets to 0 the sound cuts out, which doesn't happen when independent volume wiring so it should be possible to do the same wiring on a strat. There'd be no need to buy noiseless pickups then, especially on an HSS strat. 👍
Does anyone out there think that the single coil in bridge position sounds better than the humbucker?
The chain has already a lot of bass, so yeah, I think it made it brought definition to the overall sound.
The sonic blue sounds incredible..but its m ohh red money..of course
Noiseless pickups lose every time, but the pafs are gorgeous but overall it's a stunning Guitar full of modern twitches.
Great sounds deluxe and vintage! Which amp?
Hi, great review, what model is eqactly the second guitar? abut 4.10 min
Does anyone know which strat model Mick's (the blue one) is? And/or what pickups are in it? I feel like this is one of the nicest strats I've heard.
+Dan W As far as I know it's an early 2000's '62 RI with a set of Duncan Texas Antiquities in it.
I do own standard shawbucker strat. The tone of the shawbucker its absolutely fantastic fell in love immediately There's one down side of it tho. Shawbucker cannot handle a good distortion. Talking about massive microphonic feedback. Add Cry baby on the top of that good gig volume on the amp and the squeal is unbearable. I've tried noise gates etc. Nothing helped and I did have to wax pot mine. The tone didn't get affected at all and the microphonic feedback is forever gone. Keeping Shawbucker unpotted doesn't make this pickup versatile at all. I really don't know how they tested it.
Grzegorz Lobejko how much does it cost to get that done?
Not much at all. Get some paraffin wax which cost pennies in the supermarket or any shop with candles. You’ll find a lot of RUclips videos step by step how to do it.
Great!!! Thanks!
The strat has to be the best sounding guitar in the world
Hi HELP needed, I have one of these, but hate the staggered SC N3's and wanted to put these in www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/hot-strat does the middle pick up need to be RWRP?? Also would 500K pots alter anything? Thanks to anyone who can assist
Damn that DGT bridge is creamier than the strat bridge
tube screamer with the ep boost in humbucker sounds kinda van halen ish
though it's a shawbucker. is sounds sort of muddy the single coil strat has a brighter sound
what strings?
All the way the blue one
how much is it ?
The HSS sounds, in comparison with the blue, somewhat dull and flat. Straight single coils have that bite and "magical" spark.
Stupid
l think the same
@@deusherbert-noel2424
UR
I don’t care for that bridge is it original to the guitar or replacement? Something just looks off.great sounding guitar though.
62RI sounds so much better clean.
It is like a Swiss army knife but all the tools work.
Played one. Didn't much care for it. For some reason it just sounded a little muddy to me.
Came for the American Deluxe but left with the 62 reissue.
The '62 reissue has more quack and bell like tone. I would say noiseless for live shows.
Nice demo.. thanks much...
What is the model of guitar blue?
American Vintage 62 Strat, IIRC
would like ebony on the finger board instead of rosewood..
Wow, that's pretty accurate, compared to what I came up with in the store. I don't understand what Fender is thinking with these noiseless pickups and Shawbuckers. If you want a Strat, get a real Strat. This is like, here's a kind of a copy of a Strat with a weak Humbucker, for a lot of money.
The vintage guitar sounds better, but when u go to heavy distortion the humbucker sounds fatter and better for heavy rock music....
Van halen put a humbucker in the bridge to have that thicker and warm sound....
omega seamaster
Too complicated?
The 62RI sounds much better.
Great review... but please, stop doing that mouth noises
But wait... there's more! (Aussies will get it )
The frets are of very poor quality, the sound is not good compared to my godin LG three times cheaper, the sustain is zero compared to guitars four times cheaper from Yamaha, in short I will not buy Fender anymore! !!!
The reissue had a lot more tone but if the hss deluxe is new and has not been played as much as the reissue of course it will crap. New guitars sound terrible, they have to be broken in and the wood grains opened up to resonate.
Great videos but I wish he'd look at the camera. It just ain't cool anymore to look off to the side.
Noiseless pickups are dull