Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster 3-Color Sunburst

I still love this guitar, it has great tone, and the Fender designed bevels in the body make any Strat much more comfortable than many guitars out there. Included with that advantage is a lighter weight than a Gibson Les Paul. I used to use the heavy strings like SRV, but age, stiffness and less frequent guitar playing pushed me to go to lighter gauges. Still, you can't beat the Texas Special pickups tone with heavier strings, but it still sounds great with lighter gauges. I still want to play it, but for the reasons stated have been playing bass instead as it is easier on the hands. That's not the guitar's fault. I own a Mexican made Strat with an HSS pickup arrangement that I like for different reasons, but although it's action is lower, it doesn't have that SRV ... MoreI still love this guitar, it has great tone, and the Fender designed bevels in the body make any Strat much more comfortable than many guitars out there. Included with that advantage is a lighter weight than a Gibson Les Paul. I used to use the heavy strings like SRV, but age, stiffness and less frequent guitar playing pushed me to go to lighter gauges. Still, you can't beat the Texas Special pickups tone with heavier strings, but it still sounds great with lighter gauges. I still want to play it, but for the reasons stated have been playing bass instead as it is easier on the hands. That's not the guitar's fault. I own a Mexican made Strat with an HSS pickup arrangement that I like for different reasons, but although it's action is lower, it doesn't have that SRV tone, Of course, it was much less expensive too. I only play with a band once weekly, so the durability isn't in question, although my SRV strat has held up just fine. As for the vintage style string tuners, they aren't too much of a challenge once you know how to do a string change. There is a good video on YouTube if you search out "How to Restring Fender Vintage Tuners". It's not rocket science, but a few details help a lot. Another slight annoyance is the truss rod adjustment. It's done vintage style also, so you have to remove the neck to get to it, a very inconvenient situation. However, if you get the guitar set up done by a good guitar tech, you shouldn't have to deal with it once it's set to your liking. I really want to play this guitar more even after all these years. I'm looking to learn fingerstyle picking. I just love finding a video or concert on Sattelite TV and playing along. To me, Strats are king.

Absolutely beautiful guitar and looked flawless.... but center pickup was not working and the selector switch was very loose. I just had to send it back. Musicians Friend support was awesome and understanding why I wanted to just send it back. I wish this had worked out as I had gotten a great deal on this.

I lucked into mine, was actually looking for a Jimmy Vaughan Strat when this beauty fell into my lap. Technically mine is a partscaster (a 97 body with an 01 neck) though I can't imagine that makes any difference. The neck is fantastic, I have medium to small hands and my thumb gets over just fine. Very fast and comfortable. I love the large frets, the flat radius, the pao ferro, it's all just perfect together. To my ear, this guitar has the best tone and sustain of any Strat I've ever played. The fit and finish is custom shop worthy, definitely a cut above your run of the mill American standard. The Texas specials are great but I threw in some muy grandes from rio vista and couldn't be happier (they're very similar to the ts' just wound a bit hotter). I also ... MoreI lucked into mine, was actually looking for a Jimmy Vaughan Strat when this beauty fell into my lap. Technically mine is a partscaster (a 97 body with an 01 neck) though I can't imagine that makes any difference. The neck is fantastic, I have medium to small hands and my thumb gets over just fine. Very fast and comfortable. I love the large frets, the flat radius, the pao ferro, it's all just perfect together. To my ear, this guitar has the best tone and sustain of any Strat I've ever played. The fit and finish is custom shop worthy, definitely a cut above your run of the mill American standard. The Texas specials are great but I threw in some muy grandes from rio vista and couldn't be happier (they're very similar to the ts' just wound a bit hotter). I also swapped out all the white plastic for black and ditched the garish srv pickgaurd for a regular black 3 ply but to each his own. The only thing I'm not too crazy about is the trem bar, for me its right where my palm wants to rest but I can live with it. My next and last Fender will be a custom shop piece exactly like this one except with a righty tremelo and a custom paint job. Buy it now...