Open Box Fender American Vintage II 1961 Stratocaster Electric Guitar Level 2 3-Color Sunburst 197881293758

Very cool guitar. The paint finish is awesome and has a great smell to it! The neck feels great and the pick ups sound awesome. Only Con: was that after playing it the first time it left black residue on my fingers. Went away after a couple of play throughs. #sweepstakes

My first real strat was a 1989 Fender American Standard and I have had many variations throughout the years. The Fender American Vintage ii in Fiesta Red is the best one for the money by far. The shape of the neck with the rosewood slab feels perfect. The smell of the nitro and the color is amazing. Action is perfect out of the box. Tuners are superb and I have even left it floating as it stays in tune better than some of my locking tuner guitars. Then there are the pickups. These pickups make this guitar and I believe help contribute to the "mojo". Articulate, dynamic, spanky, yet thick and rounded tone (what a 60s strat should sound like). Clean or dirty they shine. And thank you Fender for wiring the tone knob to the bridge pickup. It adds so much more flavor. The case is great too. Old school. I've heard these models vary in quality, so try one in person. But every one I have heard played on YouTube is phenomenal as well. Try one.

Feels like you expect and want a raw strat to feel. However, fret rattle galore. Great tone, though.

So for the guitar itself it's a great instrument. The frets are nice, the pickups are decent and the neck is amazing. Honestly the only thing I would change is the pickups just because they kinda sound like a stereotypical 60s reissue. Besides that, this guitar is nearly identical to a nos vintage strat. Best guitar I've ever had/ played. One extreme flaw here isn't the guitar itself, but the quality control. The QC on American fenders lately is absolutely horrible and I've had to send a total of 3 of these back for ridiculous and unacceptable problems. First one I got had signs of buckle rash on the back of the guitar, with an output jack ding on the bottom of the guitar. Second one had a crack in the paint coming from the right side of the Pickguard next to the selector switch and a cracked Pickguard going from the neck pickup screw towards the heel of the neck. Third one had a really messed up nut and the saddle screws were stripped from the factory. Now for your information all of these guitars were sealed and not shipped from a store, this was directly from the warehouse. Absolutely insane. However when I did get this last one, my god this guitar is the best dang guitar I've ever played. Really wish I didn't have to go though all of these other ones just to get a good one but it is what it is. Fender had great customer service about it though and took time to make sure they helped me out. Really wish their QC was as good as their customer support. In all, guitar - 5 stars Quality control - 2 stars

I'm I blues player and the guitar produces great vintage tone. You will not be disappointed with this guitar.

Feels, looks and sounds amazing!!