usa select

[jclogston]

Hi -

Has anyone tried these yet?
What's the verdict and how do they compare with the USA/MIJ/MIM production models?

Thanks

Jeff

[shreddermon]

Haven't seen one in person yet.

Nothing wrong with either, but I'd be curious to know if these are being built in the J/C custom shop (like Jackson USA Selects) or on the Fender line (like the prior Charvel USA Pro Mods).

The bullet truss rod is an odd choice, not sure why they went with that. It's not "Charvel", unless you're talking about a Jake. Not a deal breaker by any means, just an odd spec. And they look cool - especially like the purple - but I'm not a fan of the satin finished bodies. I know that's in vogue now, but I'm old school. Poly looks and wears better, IMHO. And, in 5 years, we may be looking at satin finished bodies like "satin chrome" hardware from the 90s. LOL. Hopefully some poly colors will be added later.

[Rich#6]

This will be interesting to see Fender has discontinued the American Standards. I heard something about going more custom shop, so we will probably hear it talked up but it will end up being like the usa promods.

[jclogston]

Yeah I'm just debating whether on getting the USA select or just look for an old USA promod.

[shreddermon]

Huh? Last I checked, Fender was still making the American Standard series.

[Rich#6]

A few weeks ago a local store had them on sale and one of the guys there that I always deal with told me they were discontinuing them.
Here's an article

http://blog.reddogmusic.co.uk/2016/10/14/the-fender-american-standard-is-discontinued-long-live-the-american-standard/

[shreddermon]

Interesting. They'll probably do a minor revamp, and just call it something different. LOL

[jclogston]

So has anyone picked one up recently? I haven't seen any YouTube videos on them except for the ones Charvel puts out.

[Mfranzdorf]

So has anyone picked one up recently? I haven't seen any YouTube videos on them except for the ones Charvel puts out.

Real world reviews seem hard to come by. I'm sure they are great, but I'd like to see some reviews out there. I bought a new So Cal earlier this week and might have left with a USA select instead if they would had had one in the store to try.

[Black Shadow]

Sounds like a stretch to me. Especially considering how good the MIJ models especially are, I couldn't justify paying 2X or 3X street price of those for a new version of basically the same thing.

[algeriet]

To me these models didn't have a lot going for that would sway me away from an Adrian Smith or a Jake E Lee, honestly. The bullet truss rod, like mentioned earlier, is odd but fine. The control layout isn't really appealing to me either and neither are the satin finishes.