Fender American Std Stratocaster HSS

Among the new American Standard Stratocaster guitars, the HSS model is definitely the hot rod of the bunch, with more output and warmth from its Tex Mex™ single-coil pickups and Diamondback™ humbucking pickup. The S-1 switch is removed to keep it simple, but don’t worry—we kept key features such as the hand-rolled fingerboard edges and staggered tuning machines, and we added several new features, including:

• A new bridge with improved bent-steel saddles and a copper-infused high-mass block for increased resonance and sustain.
• A new neck treatment—tinted for a richer presentation, with the maple or rosewood fingerboard buffed to a high gloss. The back of the neck still has that silky satin finish.
• A thinner finish undercoat that lets the body breathe and improves resonance.
• A new Fender-exclusive SKB molded case.