I have the exact one, and he isn't kidding. It is impossible to photograph accurately. The color has way more green in person. It's gorgeous.

Henning: *makes a completely valid point about the neck before testing it out, realizing he is wrong and admitting it mid-review* Me: *instant subscribe*

I love Henning's reviews!! No BS, he just tells it like it is, with complete transparency!! Love his reviews!! I get the best idea of what the product is, short of holding and playing it myself!! Well Done!!

It doesn’t have stainless steel frets, It doesn’t have vintage style tuner or locking, But the color will never fade and it sounds like a proper Stratocaster. THE COLOR IS JUST AMAZING. ORDERED

@soofitnsexy

3 жыл бұрын

lol well the price is right!!

That was one of the rare 40 minute KZread videos i sticked through until the end and thoroughly enjoyed! Excellent presentation, very honest, humorous and professional at the same time. P.S. I just ordered Am Pro 2 strat in the same colour, but with rosewood fingerboard, i should get it at the end of the week. Can't wait!

I just bought the same guitar in that color. Porsche fans will recognize the color: Miami Blue. I agree. You can’t capture it with a camera. But it is beautiful! Love this guitar. This is my first electric guitar and I am loving the playability of this guitar.

Three years later, and the last word I needed to pull the trigger on mine in Dark Night with rosewood fretboard. When I received the Strat, it was pretty clear to me that Fender is serious about upping their game.

I bought the Miami Blue Pro II with the Rosewood fretboard and love this guitar. Pictures don't do it justice but Henning's playing does!

Man... I love it when you shred and step it up on the intros lately. Great playing and tones as per usual👍🤘🎸

Miami Blue and mystic surf green are the 2 nicest finishes even in the ultra line. You get narrow tall frets just like the fender custom shops and they actually work extremely well, and the deep c neck is the most comfortable neck I've held so far. I'd totally buy an ultra, but I'm still waiting for a finish and neck that makes sense to trade it. I think it's one of the best guitars fender has made, I have 6 strats and 2 tele's

Got this guitar used the other day. Love it. The colors even growing on me.

Mine arrived the other day, except I went for the rosewood fretboard. I love it. the neck is like butter, you notice the rolled edges immediately. the sound is awesome. The last 2 position with the Push/push knocked it out of the park for me. I would call them new sounds if it wasn't so "Straty" Oh, and I love the drop in whammy bar, and not the screw in. I have to say that Professional II is worth every penny, and what a (like you said) a working mans guitar. It is so comfortable. Loved your review, very informative, and it helped me to decide on the buy.

@danabiondo9243

2 жыл бұрын

Agreed! Yes !

All of the opaque finishes are alder bodies, and all of the translucent finishes are the roasted pine. Great review as always. So few people are willing give criticisms in a review. It makes a lot of reviews feel more like advertisements. Your honesty is appreciated.

OMG. What a nice dream pad. I ordered the Mystic Green with rosewood FB. Can’t wait. Thanks for the great entertainment .

These really are amazing strats! The pickups are really good, and that color is amazing in person!!!

You are one serious cool dude and what a room!. Ordered mine this evening and am school boy excited .

On the neck joint. I'm with you on ones I build now I always do at least that little shaping. It makes a huge difference I feel on the top access

Hey Henning, greetings from NY! Great intro playing my man. Thanks for the review, much appreciated! :-)

the different spacing is for cost saving reasons imo, it's easier to have one mold for bobbins and it also makes it so you can stick bridge pickup in the neck and vice versa without problems

Awesome dude! I’m actually on the toilet! Subscribed! The best review so far!

Finally someone actually pointed it out with the shave away at the cut of the horn!! I thought I was trippin cause no oone plays like an 80s rockstar to get that high access

Earned a sub. Loved the in depth. Not enough CCs are doing this! Keep it up!

I just picked up the same American Pro ii, you are right, the color really has to be seen in person. At first it wasn’t my first choice but then it just kept growing on me. Great part of this in depth video is when you were plugged up to the Orange, probably the only video on youtube that dives into that level of distortion and shred out of this Strat, wouldn’t be my first guitar I grab for this style of playing, but it handled it way better then expected. Fender has a real winner here. Vintage is cool, but so is something that can do a little bit of everything.

Ultra vs pro II comparison would be interesting. That push push to add in something close to gilmours wiring is pretty alright. And one last one remark. If you are super strict about keeping your thumb on the back I feel the little rounding makes a difference. Not sure shaving off does too much, but just taking of the corner is quite a bit. (But on the pro that might be borderline) I suppose the little scoop on the horn does something for some people. I mean you can get into a position where you touch it, the majority doesn't go up there, but I suppose there isn't any harm in it.

@frankiec2765

3 жыл бұрын

Id like too see that comparison.

@thejaysatspindrift

4 ай бұрын

PRO 2 for me, Ultra noiseless pups… no thanks

Dude, just bend the trem arm in a vice to the right height. I did it with a Floyd Rose trem arm and 2 Supervee strat trem arms and 1 supervee maverick tele trem arm. Easy fix👍🎸

Kinman pickups have different pole piece spacing, depending on if the pickup is b m or n, besides being just awesome. Great review as ever, really nice guitar.

Funny, I made an instant connection with the Pro I series, luckily I just grabbed my dream guitar in December, glad I did because now you can't get that sweet Antique Olive finish anymore.

@crimsondragonfly5127

3 жыл бұрын

The noiseless pickups are a totally different sound. I would play them both for a while if you are choosing between the two.

I bought a Professional I strat yesterday, the orange colour, love it. Had to sell three of my guitars including my beloved G&L Tribute Legacy strat😢. I will try and see if Henning has done a review on the pro I. His reviews are gold.

I think staggered tuners in general means just multiple heights. The hipshot, Gotoh, and I think Ratio staggered tuners are 3 different heights. I can’t 100% confirm the ratio staggering pattern since I used the EBMM set which are non-staggered but the stratosphere claims 3 heights. I have gotoh and hipshot staggered tuners so I can confirm those.

Outstanding review, mine is being shipped do to it being sold out everywhere. Subbed, thanks!

This is a fantastic review, Henning. I must say that that Hampstead amp sounds incredible. The new amp wall looks cool. Is there going to be a video explaining the changes to the studio and how it helps for your videos?

what an incredibly entertaining and gripping reviewwww subbed!!

Tried this one in a shop back to back with a pristine used pro 1. I put the old one down after about thirty seconds and went back to the new one. It is just better. The colour is a bonus. Maybe this will be the Strat I keep long term (attempt number eight...)

Another fantastic and thorough review. I admit to wanting one. The colour and the neck are the main reasons. Tone is very nice and fun. That twang. It’s a good price really. It’s fun looking. Still maintain the tone is in the fingers. But this guitar I think inspires you to play a certain way? The sustain sounds very very lovely, but I think that’s your playing dude. If you ever want to play for a shadows tribute band - who wouldn’t! - this is the machine; So is the trem being too high a one off mistake? As it’s a bit ridiculous. The neck plate - thumb cutter? Never ever used a strat to do anything other than Gilmouresque vibrato. I’d likely take out the trem arm and forget it exists. The neck looks pretty amazing. Why of why can they move the tone control a little. It’s awesome when you are playing live and inadvertently turn the tone off. Keep them coming. I’d love to hear this compared to a Gilmour strat. With a Pepsi challenge.

I have 2 model 1 Am Pro Strats. I like them the way they are! The only change I made was put Dimarzio DP218 Distortion S pickups in the bridge position, and changed the 250K volume pots to 500K volume pots, and absolutely love the sound of them both!! I kept the original pickups because 1 of them my grandson will inherit which is the Fender Limited Edition American Professional aged natural finish Strat. He might decide to put the original pickup back in it.

I have a 79 strat hardtail and a 2001 American (Standard) my dad has one of the 83s that only existed that year with the weird trem,, I appreciate the effort of their improvements over the years I kinda just see them as differences,,my favorite is my 3bolt heavy ash huge neck 79, but the American series is a great and coming up as my favorite. I wish they would just market different options instead of saying better every year.

@RackhirTheRed

3 жыл бұрын

My '79 is also my favorite Strat out of several much more expensive ones. It's not the easiest to play, there's nothing fancy about it and it's been beat up a bit from gigging but when I want That Tone it's the one I grab.

Hi Henning. your right about the pole piece spacing . A lot of companies don't care especially the big prestigious ones as they are making big bucks by using standard format bridge spaced pickups. No extra cost. John.

@therainman7777

Жыл бұрын

Did you just sign your name on a KZread comment? It’s not that serious buddy.

Love the colour of that and the sound from the pups. And your presentation is as always enjoyable.

@soofitnsexy

3 жыл бұрын

did you like the sound of the guitar???

@briandevitt6903

3 жыл бұрын

@@soofitnsexy yes indeed.

@soofitnsexy

3 жыл бұрын

@@briandevitt6903 im shopping for a strat...did you get this one??

@briandevitt6903

3 жыл бұрын

@@soofitnsexy No. Would not spend that kind on money on a guitar withoutttrying it in person first.

@soofitnsexy

3 жыл бұрын

@@briandevitt6903 i bought 2 guitars around 4 thousand each just by making a phone call...hey If they give you 7 days or more to return...then Im fine!! I always order expensive guitars over the phone here in the US

The polepiece thing is kind of why blade pickups existed because you can bend a strat off the polepieces easily, that said Fender was always about being cheap and efficient so no way was Leo going to taper pickups for position. Part of the sound really, I can see a modern strat based guitar alleviating that but for the main Fender workhorse strat they wouldn't want to take away too much that makes it a traditional strat. Love the colours on these they are so gorgeous, so happy metallics and sparkles are back in.

Always thought the Miami Blue was very nice color, but when recently I realized the true color was a blue with greenish tone, wow, the color started to grow on me until I couldn't resist and ordered one. Especially when looked for Porsche in Maimi Blue, what an amazing color! Got the same in video, with maple fretboard. It might be my favorite color combination ever. Still haven't received it, and know all the things I see online is not the same as real, but already have a good idea how it must look and really excited for it to arrive. Will see! Should arrive by the end of April now.

Great review. I've got Fenders with & without locking tuners, locking ones make string changes faster but I can't tell any difference in tuning stability (maybe pro's would). Was that a micro tilt thing at the bottom of the neck plate?

Nice demo jam in the middle of the video. Great articulation brought the tones right out of that rig.

I just bought one in the dark night sss. I love it!!

@deanball5065

2 ай бұрын

Mine is Dark knight and I put SD hotrails in it it’s a fire breathing dragon!

Hi Henning, not sure if you have done sound test on the hss variant, but for you and those planning on testing or getting one i just recieved this from fender today regarding the switching controls of the HSS also note that they dont have a instrument service diagram yet?..not sure why not available. The SSS is switched differently i believe-- Hello, I'm sorry that service manual is not available at the moment. The switch functions are as follows: 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup Position Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup Position Position 3. Middle Pickup Position Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup Position Position 5. Neck Pickup Push-Push Tone Controls Activate Double Tap™ Function when engaged it splits the V-Mod II Double Tap Humbucker in to a single coil.

"Some of you are more concerned about specs than how the dam thing sounds. I'm bitching about the things you would bitch about, when in reality the thing sounds awesome" best quote of the video and me to a T 🤣

I agree with it needing 10 ga. strings. I haven't pulled the plastic off it yet. Had it a year now. I wonder if keeping the plastic and sticker on it will be worth more in the years after I'm gone

Great review mate .how do you find hanging guitars from the wall have you had any issues with temperature affecting tuning or neck shape .like the studio minted

Man I love your videos! Enjoying your sarcasm, with German accent especially, even though I am Ukrainian (well, ex Soviet) living in Australia for the last 30 years. Much appreciate your channel! Nice playing by the way!

Excellent. i love Marshall but Orange sounds GREAT. i might buy an AM Pro II Strat. Thanks

Always the most interesting, fun to watch, and just cool reviews to watch!!!! Love you bro!

Nut, tuners, switching options, nbd. Pick up changes come and go (though I have the Professional p/u's on my 2004 standard, love em'). The heel contour is something that they should do on all strats including the mexis. They designed an ergonomically appealing guitar in idk, 1954, maybe they should complete the design now and make it standard.

I do partly agree with you about the trem block, thing, but as long as the trem block it self is m ade from quality material ie steel in this case, it doesn't need t0o be thick if it's uber strong therefore saving added weight. maybe?.

Just been watching Andertons, they reviewed the same guitar :-) very nice it as well

A very good, and honest review. You earned my subscribe.

Besides the fantastic reviews, I come back to stare at the incredible studio.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR APPROACH!!!! Keep giving us the real deal!!!

That shirt is out of this world.

It sounds great to me, coming from an acoustic guitar player. It’s on my wishlist now! 🤪

Iron gear pickups (great value) do 52mm spacing on bridge and middle and 50mm on neck for exactly reason you say. But traditional Fender pickups were all same spacing. Would be a nice update though. Gibson have different spacing in sone of theirs. Definitely those on my LP Custom are diff spacing

Wonderful review as always @EytschPi42, I very much like the subjective AND objective (as well as YT sound allows). Demo idea for you? Demo an obsolete (hehe) AM Pro with maple neck against a 2nd one with full rosewood neck? Disregard to whatever degree you like, the 'tonewood' discourse, but just try the two together in comparison. I have one of each and I'll tell you there IS a significant tonal difference, but we can chalk it up to anything anyone likes. It's just...there....and evident. Up for it sometime? Test any two in a store first, as I still do every chance I get for the fun, even with two at home. But test it yourself ahead of time, THEN I think you'll be up for it! Thank you again, love from Texas and LOVE the demos!

@2550marshall

3 жыл бұрын

I have both as well, an Am Pro maple neck and a Mod Shop rosewood neck and there is a big difference in tone.

outstanding review! thank you so much!

You are right about pickups pole spacing, I mean Squier Bullet series starts had pickup poles following string spacing. Why they wouldn't do same for the guitar that is top of the line is beyond me.

I like that there’s no slop in the trem arm collet. About time. Best Fender strat trem in recent years.

Le James LaBrie... ☺️. Unmistakable... Sound good! New studio looks good 👀. That Morgan always gets me... ❤️

Wonderful mix of humour and commonsense - love it

I think the taper tremolo block allows for more room to dive bomb. Just a thought, so it has more room to move maybe?

I'm with you. I don't see what the benefit of the carve is.I think there was more value in the Elite wwhich I own. I just picked up the white Pro II, because I think it has the true strat tone and it is awesome. The blue is great, but I already have a blue one and always wanted white.

What a beautiful intro song.

Just got the Sienna Burst Pro II SSS yesterday. Damn.... I actually prefer it to my Ultra. The Roasted Pine body is absolutely amazing! I find it resonates more than the Alder. Took a minute to get used to the narrow tall frets as opposed to the medium jumbos on the Ultra, not to mention the 9.5" radius versus the Ultra's 10-14" compound, but that was no big deal. Honestly speaking, I prefer the V Mods in my Pro II to the Gen 5 Noiseless in my Ultra. My man in the video is on point about trying to capture Fender colors in pictures and videos. My Ultra is an HSS Texas Tea, which looks like a simple black strat in most pics....it's not. Like the Mocha Burst and I believe the Dark Night, the Texas Tea has a mild glitter in the paint. When the light hits it, it's phenomenal!

Normaly you have 52 and 50mm pickups, so there should be a difference when done right. ...learned that the hard way when I changed pickup covers on my Variax...

@PooNinja

3 жыл бұрын

Wherieaxe?

Yes the pole spacing irritates me as well. Same on my american pro Strat and others. You probably did not notice before. It would have been nice to have a nitro lacquer and locking tuner, but the more rolled edges are probably better.

I don't know if the guitar is better , but that Robin egg blue color is fantastic !

Thank you bro, im going to buy one tomorrow and I will be subscribing dude. 🙂

Guy, you're a boss. Way fucking better than 1000% other reviewers.

Pine will almost complete substitute ash in all Fender guitars and basses with clear (natural) coating. Ash wood in the US is becoming rare because the emerald ash borer (Asiatischer Eschenprachtkäfer) is destroying vast amounts of ash trees in the USA and Canada.

@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342

3 жыл бұрын

Glad I already got two ash strats. One of em is roasted swamp ash lol.

@GetawaysandGuitars

3 жыл бұрын

Glad I have a lovely Ash Sienna burst Strat!

Not a traditional pickup tone but that bold blue color is so mesmerizing. Mystic seafoam too

Butter....I understand what playability means with this guitar.......it takes less effort to get the music out of it....love it.....got it with rosewood in HSS.

Looks and sounds great + as a lefty we finally have some interesting colours. Now I've just got to wait for the leftys to come in stock somewhere...

@rtxf

3 жыл бұрын

exactly!! europe too??

@rtxf

3 жыл бұрын

my #1 is the original olympic white that came out in 17, I think it might be time to get a backup strat which has a bit more modern features. right now my backup guitar is a player tele which I love, but it's not a strat. I play differently on strats.

@robhirschfeld9888

3 жыл бұрын

@@rtxf I have a 07 Strat deluxe thats my main guitar and a 64 Tele reissue; both sound great. Used to be a Les Paul guy but single coil guitars suit my playing more these days. My next guitar is between a pro 2 and original 60s...🤔 I'm leaning towards the original 60s as my deluxe has more modern sound/features. If you find a second hand deluxe around give it a try.

@guitarprepnplus1

3 жыл бұрын

Just ordered a lefty dark night from Sweetwater getting it Thurs. 🎸👍

@rtxf

3 жыл бұрын

@@robhirschfeld9888 missed this comment, but I totally will try out any decent strat I’ll come across as they’re quite rare in the netherlands haha

I think the new PU's might sound "better" only in conjunction with a distorted amp. The classic start cleans are actually missing body and do sound a bit soulless. Playing with overladen reverb didn't help to gauge the pure sound of the guitar. Anyways, a well done instrument demonstration as usual. Thanks !

Honest ,Excellent review. thank you. Now, should I buy one ?!!?!?!? YOLO

Well, here in my country I can get an America Ultra Texas tea for the same price as this... what to choose??

I already loved the picture and if you did anything was you made me want it more!

Did I miss the shot of the moded heel ? I have a Tele w the more radical mod and it's a god send. I m always hurting my hand moving up to the high notes too quickly on my normal Fenders. . .

On Jazz Basses the neck pickup is smaller than the bridge pickup, to make sure the strings go over the pole pieces. For some reason, this is not the case in Strats.

How much could they possibly save on the 2-height tuners instead of 6 different heights? If you're making tens of thousands of guitars: a lot, right?

That's one of the best clean sounds I've ever heard come off your fingers and it sounds like your kind of whining about the guitar but the guitar and whining it sounds fantastic

Do you think gold hardware and pearl tuner buttons would give this thing a higher end look?

I love how Fender paid you but there's no BS Best reviewer on YT

@EytschPi42

Жыл бұрын

thanks! The viewers always come first.

Prince played with it pointed straight out during is massive solo runs.... he would go back and forth along with many others. Its call a Pro series, so not surprising they built in some of those types of specs.

SWEET! Though I'd kinda expect locking tuners/roller string trees/straplocks?/etc. at this price point .. :/ (loving THIS color/maple neck).

@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. If you want one I'd suggest waiting for a price drop or getting it used in near mint condish.

Great video! Thank you for sharing!!....Feel like I need a "newer" fender :-)

Awesome review and yes I have that the tremolo arm is too high. Disappointed

The guitar sounds great honestly and I got to give fender credit for the colours they have started doing the past few years some of them are lovely. However at this price no locking tuners and no hardtail options? It doesnt bother me personally but the fact that other brands have locking tuners at this price does make fender seem a little more cheepish and a lot of players like myself dont use trem systems so would be a awesome option. I also hope fender have the courage to keep that carve at the heel joint, I think its a great idea and does make playing a little easier higher up the frets

@leesmith2826

11 ай бұрын

Doesn’t need locking tuners. Mine is perfect action and will not go out of tune as hard as I try.

Do you run modulation/delay/reverb effects through the loop in the switcher or is everything in front? Wondering how you keep the effects on the desk in the chain when switching amps.

I guess the trem block is not huge to not increase the weight. Most of the alder ones on sweetwater are already more than 8 lbs.

Henning had fun to play! :-)

Like the lighter Daphne blue and the Sonic Blue - but this blue is nice. Waiting for the Black one to come around.. CM

If they narrowed the neck pickup then it’d mean they have to spend money and have two different size bobbins vs buying a million on one size

The Ultra has a reputation of staying in tune that is attributed to locking tuning machines. Will the Professional II be subject to constant tuning because of the absence of locking tuners?

When will they make a narrower string spaced neck pickup?? The E strings just totally miss their respective pole pieces, especially when bending.