Fender "Ash Strat" = Ass Strat

[Nuclear Vampire]

Holy crap what a hunk of shit. I am stunned.

They had these on sale at Long And McQuade for $439, and I was there to buy a new axe, so I tried it out... omg what a piece of garbage!

The frets were sticking out all over the place, poking my hands as I ran down the neck. Worst ever. The pickguard wasn't even cut nicely, it was all hacked like some grade 7 shops project. The bridge looked shittier than the original one from my old Hondo. The Squiers for $100 were better built! I know it's no USA built, but come on! Fender should be ashamed to even put their name on this POS. You can see it at the bottom of the ad here: http://www.longandmcquade.com/pdf/boxing%20day06.pdf

Anyone else have the misfortune of handling one of these disasters?

[danastas]

Check out this thread: http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/show...ghlight=fender

This is what I wrote on the Korean Teles:

My Fender Lite Ash arrived. A real piece of crud. I'm amazed they allow incompetents to have at it on a beautiful piece of birdseye maple. The neck was bowed severely. Normally, I'd say it has to do with the weather, but then I considered that wood stiffens in the cold, against the bow.

The real problem was the fretwork. Metal actually jutting out A LOT from the board. Uneven frets. Really poor craftsmanship. If this is Korea work, I'm not going to try one again. The Fender MIMs are much higher quality.

Can't judge by one guitar though but I'm sending this back for a refund and not trying another unless I can get my hands on it.

[Nuclear Vampire]

Totally! That's exactly how it was. The neck looked nice, the birdseye was very pronounced, but those fucking frets!

I hope you can get some satisfaction out of this deal. The MIM ones I played today were excellent, but I snagged a DK2, so...

[AdRock]

I had a Fat Strat Texas Special that had an Ash body with the translucent White finish. Had 2 Texas Special singles and a Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker in it. That things played like a dream and sounded great. It was a USA strat though.

[Big D]

Yep, some of their low end stuff blows.

I have purchased a couple American Deluxe Tele's and Strats lately though and they all kick ass. Awesome quality for the price ($1200-1300).