Selecting the right Fender Electric Guitar depends on the type of sound you want to produce, but also how you want to be able to use it in the long-term. The guitars come in multiple styles and woods that mimic the original guitars introduced back in the 1950s and 1960s.
Each type of guitar offers the player a difference in sound depending on the wood used to make the guitar to the placement of the strings across the bridge. The right type of Fender Electric Guitars will help you produce the deep rich tones or sleek riffs you need for your brand of music. There are things you should look for before making your final choice.
What to look for when purchasing Fender Electric Guitars
Fender electric guitar owners cross the world of music through some of the most well-known musicians that have ever held a guitar. There are some things that their guitars have in common that you should look for when making your own choices in the guitar. There are variations, but selecting the right guitar for the sound you want can make the difference in the music you produce.
Why the Stratocaster?
The Stratocaster guitar is the guitar of some of the best guitar players ever. The Stratocaster has a 3-pickup array and a 5-way switch that provide a wide variety of sound for any player. The guitar will sing a bright merry sound or produce a moody twang for the most mellow and intense sound.
The Stratocaster has a comfortable feel for any hand that is smooth to touch. The body and neck have the unique style that angle around your hand that is easy to play. There are also enough colors and variations to match almost any sound preference or desired appearance.
Features of Stratocaster Fender Guitars
The most common features of the Fender guitar can be a variety of the following.
- The body is Ash or Alder, which produces a deep resonance of sound.
- The neck and the fingerboards are rosewood or maple wood.
- The volume control has 2-tone knobs that set the treble and signal output frequencies.
- The guitar has 3 single-coils with allowing for a 5-way blade that switches configuration between the Bridge, middle, and neck.
- The neck is bolt-on for easy removal for repairs and replacement.
- The best finish for a Fender guitar is the nitrocellulose lacquer finish. A Polyester urethane finish is common, as well.
- The guitar has a tremolo bar that helps synchronize the sound.
- The shape of the guitar would be the Class "C" shape or "V" shape in the neck.
- The most common scale length of the guitar will be around 25 1/2 –inches
- The most common fretboard radius will be between 7/14-inches or 9 1/2 –inches. The more classic size is 7/14-inches.
What Woods Produce What Tones?
The type of wood used to construct the guitar will change the sound tremendously. The sound will vary if the body and neck of the guitar are different, as well as the entire guitar being one type of wood.
Agathis
The tone produced with an Agathis guitar produces a lower tone in the midrange guitars. They resonate like a mahogany or Alder guitar that is good for beginning guitarists.
MAHOGANY
Mahogany produces a very even sounding wave that produces a full and warm sound. The offer lower register of sound produced that offers the guitarists emphasis and a rolling sound that creates a snapping sound.
Brasswood
Brasswood is a very soft wood that absorbs vibrations. The absorption produces sustained tones that help the guitarist produces complex or fast tones that produce wide ranges of resonance.
MAPLE
Maples wood produces Crisp and bright tones. The sounds are clear and vibrant with every note.
Alder or Ash
There is little difference between the two different types of wood. They both produce even balanced sounds that are rich in harmony and extend sustained sounds. The wood is also extremely attractive to see with a glossy appearance that makes the guitar elegant.
Fretted or Fretless
The standard guitar has a fretted neck. The frets are steel that helps create scales that sing with every half-step. The notes are easier to find, which is good for new guitarists. Fretless guitars do not have steel frets; the wood is smooth, which many guitarists look to, to produce warm tones and sounds.
Fretless guitars are for the more experienced guitar players where the guitarist knows exactly where to place each finger for the right sound.
What is the best way to use a Fender Guitar?
Choosing to buy a Fender requires an understanding of musical tastes and styles. Fenders produce deep rich sounds that rich and almost like a bell in quality. The tones more often fit country, blues, pop, and funk music because of the longer scale length of around 25.5-inches. The shorter radius offers a more comfortable grip for those people with shorter and smaller hands.
The single-coil pickups produce a lot of treble for tones that resonate. A good example of this is when Jimi Hendrix played all of his music and the Star-Spangled Banner with each note lingering and reverberating around as he played.
What are the Top Electric Guitars?
#1
The Fender Classic Series '50s Stratocaster, Maple Fretboard, has four different colors to choose from, including sunburst, Daphne Blue, Surf Green, and Fiesta Red. The Fender is a vintage guitar with a single-coil neck with bridge pickups wired to the middle with a 5-ways switch that produces pure, unaltered tones.
The guitar is a 1950's era with a maple fretboard that has a 7.25-inch radius. The fender is 1-ply with a soft v-neck shape that looks like the classic guitars in all their glories. The guitar has special features to make the appearance of the guitar like those of the past with aged plastic knobs and a switch tip.
The guitar has staggered alnico magnet pole pieces that deliver a rich and vibrant sound right out of the era of classic cars and diners. The guitar weighs 10-pounds and has a poly-vinyl finish to help the guitar from damage and give it a glossy appearance. The guitar comes with its gig bag for traveling and protection.
4.9 of 5 Stars
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#2
The Fender Offset Series Mustang MN Faded Mocha FSR Limited Edition guitar is a pure classic guitar. The body of the guitar is pure Alder with a neck of Maple curved gracefully into the "C" shape 24-inches long. The fingerboard is also maple with 22-frets.
The Fender guitar has a mustang single-coil neck. The neck is balanced by the bridge of the guitar, which holds a 6-string saddle with a strat hardtail body. The tuning has a standard sealed cast with a bent steel saddle. The guitar matches the 1964 model down to a wave of music it can purely produce.
The guitar has a sleek finish that shows off the wood brain beneath the shine. The guitar arrives ready to play with protective packaging keeping it secure.
4 of 5 Stars
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#3
The Fender Jeff Beck Stratocaster Electric Guitar comes in two different colors, including Olympic white and surf green. The colors match the Rosewood fingerboard, and the vintage tweed case and strap the guitar comes with match the guitar.
The Fender guitar has a dual-coil ceramic neck that produces a clear, rich sound that is noiseless except for the notes produced. The middle and bridge amplify the sounds to produce a pure and wide sound. Every sound matches the tones of a classic guitar.
The guitar is narrow with a "C" shape that is smooth and supple with a maple neck that allows you to slide seamlessly up and down the cords. The cable comes with the guitar with a very signature sound that resonates with the British Invasion of the 1960s.
The headstock and the nuts are part of the basic construction of the guitar that produces no dragging when you play. The nut and the spheres slide with the nuts without friction. The sound quality sounds like the stratus, with a ceramic pickup, which makes no ugly tones.
The guitar is a solid 21 pounds, so every tone resonates in the body with a subtle humming with every pick of the cords. The guitar has a tremolo system that is stainless steel with a sleek floating bridge that slides smoothly.
5 of 5 Stars
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#4
The Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster is a six-string piece of art. The guitar has a sleek, thick oval body with a long slender neck. The guitar comes with a 12-inch freeboard and string-bend that produces wide and classic tones. The guitar produces a full range of sounds that match the sleek and glossy finish.
The Fender has an Alder body with the oval neck of the 1960s. The guitar has a single-coil pickup, including gold-plated hardware, as well as left-handed tremolo units for a unique and direct sound. The sound produced is terrific for the jazz player as well as the American rocker.
The guitar delivers what it produces in terms of tone and fit. The guitar has a 12-inch radius neck that makes the guitar comfortable to hold as well as play. The pickups have the classic Strat tone that resonates throughout the guitar and into the open air.
The finish brings out the shine of the wood and the color pulling free from the wood. The neck is slightly larger than the average guitar neck, which makes it a perfect guitar for a larger hand. The guitar has Dunlop 6105 Narrow Jumbo frets, and an SRV signature feel.
5 of 5 Stars
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#5
The Fender American Elite Stratocaster HSS Shawbucker comes in Olympic pearl and the 3-color Sunburst with a choice of maple or rosewood for the body of the guitar. The guitar is a 4th generation Stratocaster. The updates to the body and neck help produce a hum-free sound.
The guitar has a noiseless single-coil pickup, and when paired with the Shawbucker Bridge, the notes produce powerful resonance. The bridge is an open-coil, which helps produce a quality sound through the newly designed neck. The contours of the neck are a smooth reduced curve.
The guitar tunes easily with short posts that are soft to the touch and strong enough to grip the wood that allows for tuning to be simple. The strings have angle directs up the neck to increase stability and sound quality. The guitar description includes a mixed sound that is modern and traditional.
5 of 5 Stars
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#6
Cherry Burst, and Tobacco Sunburst. The colors emphasize the fourth-generation maple or rosewood body with the compound guitar neck.
The guitar is hum-free and produces crystal clear tones with the noiseless single-coil Stratocaster pickups. The guitar comes with an S-1 switch on the volume control. The guitar has the proper angle for the strings that are in short locking posts that make tuning the guitar ease and quick.
The Fender Elite Guitar weights a little over 17 pounds, including the 22 frets of medium-jumbo nickel. It also comes with an ABS molded case to help protect it and a TSA lock with an unlimited lifetime warranty.
5 of 5 Stars
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#7
The Fender American Original 60s Jaguar has five beautiful colors to choose from, including 3-Color Sunburst, Surf Green, Candy Apple Red, Sunburst, and Apple Red. The body is a solid Alder wood with a single-coil pickup. The guitar also has a maple neck and a rosewood Fretboard.
The guitar has 2 single-coil picks, and the guitar has a vibrato tailpiece. The appearance and tone are similar to the 1963 Jaguar design it follows. It has a beautiful sound that mirrors the vintage guitars of the past.
The design of the guitar is all rounded angles with and comfortable feel in your hand in the traditional "C" shape. The guitar has a nitrocellulose finish with 9 1/2 –inch radius fingerboard. Every piece will give you the pure vintage body and sound.
The 24-inch scale neck has a laminate rosewood fretboard that has a period-correct wax finish. The tuners are vintage-style in appearance, and the bridge is a floating tremolo bridge that has a button lock. The guitar is a right-handed guitar.
5 of 5 Stars
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#8
The Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster is an elegant and smooth guitar that comes in three different colors, including 2-tone sunburst, back, and white-blond. The guitar has the vintage "V" shaped 12-inch neck that lends a more traditional feel to the guitar. The guitar is United States manufacturing.
The vintage guitar has a modern 12-inch freeboard that is flat with medium jumbo frets. The guitar also comes with a vintage tremolo that is silver-painted. The tremolo cover has five covers to help protect it. The guitar has a master volume and bridge tone control for pure sound production and clarity.
The Fender guitar has casual detailing and a quartersawn maple neck that has custom-voiced pickups that have a thick glossy finish that produces a shiny designed catch and through the light. The style is close to the 1957 styled body. The guitar only weighs a little over 11 pounds to make the guitar easy for younger and new guitarists to get the feeling for the instrument.
The guitar comes with a hard-shell case that has a cable and strap. The guitar also comes with an "Ash Tray" bridge cover to help protect the guitar. The guitar also has a plug.
5 of 5 Stars
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#9
The Fender Rarities Flame Ash Top Stratocaster comes in a plasma red burst color. The body of the guitar is a beautiful Alder wood with a neck of maple. The guitar has the 1960's traditional "C: with a 9 1/2-inch radius maple fingerboard.
The Fender guitar has a balance of bright and warm in the glossy red finish with a bird's eye neck that has a nitrocellulose lacquer finish. The finish is silky, which pulls out the Alder grain wood. The design of the guitar helps the guitarist use a 5-way blade to find every cord and everything in between.
The rare Fender has a quilted top with bone nut pegs and a 6-saddle tremolo that helps sustain the sounds produced. The guitar is a right-handed guitar with an unusually narrow neck. The neck of the guitar is only 21-inches. The guitar has master volume and two-tone control. The pickguard is a glossy black, which matches the plasma red color coating.
5 of 5 Stars
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Conclusion
A quality Fender guitar has a top-quality wood for the body and the neck. The guitars most often have a body of Alder molded into a "C or V" shape that is sharp and defined by the neck, which is either a maple or mahogany wood. Of all the guitars listed above, selecting the best of them all depends on the type of music one wants to produce and the type of sound they want.
Our Favourite Fender Electric Guitar is the Fender Classic Series '50s Stratocaster. It has everything you want in a Fender guitar such as a maple freeboard with a single-coil neck and bridge picks in the 5-way switch. The guitar also has the more classic "V" shape, which takes the guitarists back to the 1950s when the design was introduced.
