Les début des années 90 sont marqués par :
- Une couche de finition très épaisse en polyester
- Un placage avant arrière pour cacher les collages et faire un finition très uniforme
- Une pénurie d'aulne due a des restrictions écologiques jusqu'en 1994. les guitares sont faites en poplar (peuplier) à la place de l'aulne.
Sinon ça va. C'est pas cher en occase et disons que ça vaut son prix. Mon humble avis est que si on veut une american series, il faut mieux taper dans le plus recent possible. La qualité croit de série en série. La dernière est meilleur que les précédentes etc..
J'en ai une de 2004/2005. Donc série 2000' pré relooking de 2008. Elle est bien mais sans plus. Elle s'améliore bien avec le temps oubien c'est moi qui joue mieux peut être. Pas de quoi casser grand chose pour un smic tout de même en neuf à l'époque.
Source : The Stratocaster Chronicles avec des interview des boss même de chez Fender, donc données officielles.
Since 1956, most Strats had been made of alder, except for the ash-body transparent finishes?
Dan Smith: "For a while, the environmentalists didn't want us cutting alder. There was an endangered species controversy, with some logging restrictions up in Oregon, so we had to use poplar. Leo had used it on many guitars "� Musicmasters and others "� and we later used it for the Bullet guitars. It's a good wood. We used it on some American Standards in the early '90s. From the beginning, poplar was spec'd to be used on the American Standard as a substitute."
George Blanda: "All the Strat bodies were alder up until about 1990. When it got so hard to get alder, we were faced with either using poplar or not making guitars. There's a misconception that poplar is not a good tone wood. Actually, it's fine. James Burton actually specified it for his signature Tele in the late '80s, after trying a lot of different bodies. We never regarded poplar as a second-rate wood, but a lot of people preferred alder so when the restrictions eased, we were able to go back to alder in '93 or '94."[/quote]
Some of the guitars had a separate wood veneer on the top and back?
George Blanda: "Remember that in the '80s, those hard, bright, shiny finishes were a big thing. For the solid colors, we went with the veneers because they held those finishes well. Our marketing people perceived this as the way to go. Dealers had been returning some of the previous guitars because mineral deposits sometimes caused the finish to sink into the grain a little bit. The veneering helped solve that problem."
Dan Smith: "Those deposits make hard lines in the wood called aggregate rays, particularly with alder. When the wood dries, it moves around, but the hard mineral deposits don't move, so that can make little raised lines. Dealers complained, because other guitars had thick finishes that hid everything and looked like a piece of plastic. If dealers keep sending them back, we don't have any choice. We change it, using what least affects the sound of the instrument. At first, the American Standard finishes were all urethane "� undercoats, color coats and top coats. We went to a polyester undercoat for a while to address the aggregate rays and the complaints about shrinking grain. We continued to use urethane for the top coats, and either urethane or lacquer for the color coat, depending on the color. We then went to the veneer, which we felt was less intrusive and did a better job of covering the grain-shrink problem."
George Blanda: "We had done a veneered maple top on the Strat Ultra, so we knew how to do it. We kept the veneers after we went back to alder, for appearance's sake, so for a while there it was alder on alder."
Dan Smith: "When we eliminated the veneer, we went back to the same type of polyester undercoat we use on the vintage series. We also added a 22nd fret on a fretboard extension "� we didn't have to change the neck pocket or move the pickups. I'm not sure what people do up there, but for guys who wanted the extra fret, it's on there."
George Blanda: "That was Marketing's wish; it just seemed what the market wanted at the time. We also put in a reverse-polarity pickup in the middle, which makes it hum-canceling in the 2 and 4 'in between' positions. We still do it on the American Series, and pretty much across the board except for the vintage."