2025 Fender Standard Strat – Review & Demo
*Had to remove the Jam due to Copyright* – *To be clear, the saddles are not stainless, but a coated metal that is very hard and wear resistant*
Let’s look at the Fender 2025 Standard strat & hear it through the Blues Jr amp. This is not a sponsored video. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for watching. Stay safe.
#Strat #Fender #Guitar
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Originally posted by UCJAyaKX__uyCpsn5gTkg9Lg at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nTlwZ6MS3A
junk
This controversy strikes me as much ado about nothing.
Except that I have a Indonesia made Squier VM 70's Strat thats fantastic. So Indonesia can make fabulous guitars BUT I got my Squier for $200 and Fender wants $900 for these standards . Not sure im willing to pony up the extra cash tbh.
Cheers
People bought into the Silver Sky se as well.
Poplar and pricey for being Indonesian.
Now people dont want to be seen with them.
They have delayed buyers remorse.
Now PRS is becoming a meme much like Marshall and BC Rich and Peavey.
There are US made Fenders wth Poplar bodies out there.
The Squier Classic Vibes have bone nuts, alnico pickups, and are made from heavier wood. They also cost $179 LESS.
This so-called "Standard" is nowhere nearly as well-built. You're paying for the Fender logo on a shitty guitar.
Fender has also seen production in China and Korea. Moving some to Indonesia is nothing weird.
I just picked one up. Feels great and sounds great. This “ controversy “ is much ado about nothing. It does help Fender though.
I wouldn't buy one. In fact I won't buy any new fenders anymore. I've been screwed too many times by this scam company. You're better off buying all aftermarket parts and putting one together yourself. There are better made guitars for less money too.
Taylor uses micarta on some of their saddles.
Hi Ben – Does the neck feel satin? Which is what I'm looking for, you mentioned not a poly neck.
lol… if they said it was an alder body, no one would know the difference
While specs may not be the entire picture on a guitar, I think it's where Fender is missing the boat here… Is this a "Bad" guitar? No. I'm sure overall, it's fine. Squier's have always been "ok" guitars at the least. And that's what this is, an Indo version of the old Mexican MiM strat made in a Squier facility with a Fender logo pasted on it. Will it be alright? Yeah, I have little doubt.
But it WILL NOT be $500 – 600 "good"… Let's all be honest here, guitar building has gotten way cheaper for way better products over the last couple years. Brands like Bullfighter, Leo Jaymz and Firefly (out of China) all make decent guitars for less than $300. Bullfighter and Firefly both have strats for less than $300 USD that blow Fender's away.
Just today, I finished the setup of my new Firefly Rosewood Strat. Locking Tuners, Rolled Neck, Polished Stainless ball-end frets (very well done. Med. or Med. Jumbo frets, I can't tell), AlnicoV Pickups and it came from the factory SET UP NICELY. FOR $310 shipped to my door.
I own two real Fenders strats. This Firefly strat has convinced me to never buy a guitar from Fender again. Pickups, or amps? Sure. But guitars? Not until Fender wakes up and realizes the world is leaving them behind…
Fender; “We waited years before returning to NAMM for something special, a sub grade guitar that we intend to compete against our better quality upper Squier line, but we are going to screw you over on the price. Thanks for holding. Goodbye.”
I miss the days when you could get an MIM Standard Strat with an actual rosewood fretboard and a poplar or alder body on the burst finish. It was an amazing value at $279. I bought several and still have them. Before i modded all of them they were excellent guitars. After i modded them i would put tjem up against even the USA made Fenders. I have a Jimmy Vaughn Strat with hot Tecas pickups that slays. I wish we had those back as a Standard series.
You've highlighted the key point on these: try one for yourself before forming an opinion. I was very vocally against these until I played one also.
After playing one of each, I think they're great guitars with wonderful necks that are maybe overpriced by 15% or so.
For the same money you could get a korean made AIO/Wolf with a free set up of your choice and buttery smooth frets. Fender jumped the shark with this piece of crap.
I wish Fender would have just put some of their cheapest pickups, like the deluxe drive or Tex-Mex in these. Would have knocked it out of the park with that
Unless you really need a $600 Fender logo on the headstock, get the Classic Vibe.
(Sure, it's not a sponsored video Ben, but obviously you are looking to have a good future relationship with Fender, so it's understandable you won't piss on their new guitar)
That is an upgraded Squier guitar. Not made by Fender. In my opinion it’s a cheap move by Fender
Fair enough review, IMO. Elsewhere, I've seen these getting slammed for the price (mainly). I do think the hardware looks like a solid effort and the electrics are a definite notch up v the CV (maybe not the switch on the T version???). It's inclusion is filling a narrow gap and in time sales will happen, but it's not way off in price or or out of box playability. Sure there is stiff competition and my 50th anniversary Standard MX in candy says I doubt I will bother………………….Time will tell but I suspect I will chug along OK.
I'm saving the by the guitar I'm like a month away and I'm drooling looking what kind of your guitar I'm buying the official blackguard to replace the white pickguard I have a standard when they used to I have a Squier standard that came out about 10 years ago and it's black and it's got a mirror Picard painted headstock in locking tuners which I'm putting on my new Fender Stratocaster as well The Squire standard that I have also has a compound radius neck which I had never had before on any guitar I absolutely love it
Sounds good. I need to travel a bit to go to a good dealer – I will give them ago. I have a bunch of squires which are great. One affinity semi hollow tele is quite special. I had to change stock pups to Yosemite’s. Sounds great and I eft all the wiring alone.
At least it’s not Basswood, which is about the softest and ding prone wood. Poplar is okay and is what my old Mexican Standard was made of and is what the SE Silver Skys are made of. The big complaint that Phil McKnight and others have noticed is that these are three and four piece bodies that are not well matched. Given the cost of poplar, surely Fender could have done better at least using fewer pieces or doing a better job matching pieces on any of the translucent finishes. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt since these are the first batches and Cort is still figuring things out, but the Fender QC guys in the factory should be a little stricter with their standards because first impressions count and most reviewers have been unimpressed. It’s one thing if no one knows any better but consumers know what to expect based on the great stuff coming out of the same factory from PRS, G&L, Yamaha, and others.
yeah man, poplar bodys are light and sound fine ,but,fender should be true to what they was,and quit making this cheap stuff ,for the price a harley B. or sire ,or many others are pro compaired to these fenders.Bring back the American standard and build them just like they did from 1996 to 2008 ,and do it for 800.00 thats what I have and would never trade them.
Fender likes to sell genuine fender parts. Are there any genuine fender parts on these Indonesian fender guitars? Just because they slap a fender logo on the headstock, doesn't mean its genuine. My fear is they are using squier parts with a fender logo. And selling it for fender prices.
I looks just like the old fender standard. I had a 50th anniversary just like this one. Same color, pups, tremolo.
Sounds like a strat to me????????
That finish looks great, those pickups sound like mud.
My modern Teli is made in China and I love it. Oh and Cort (Indonesia) makes a lot of good guitars for other well known brands. Their doing the QC per contract and Fender happily checks their work too, (far fewer samples checked by them than if checking their own work), and the same back charging to Cort for the very few slip throughs to end purchasers that are defective.
My modern Teli is made in China and I love it. Oh and Cort (Indonesia) makes a lot of good guitars for other well known brands. Their doing the QC per contract and Fender happily checks their work too, (far fewer samples checked by them than if checking their own work), and the same back charging to Cort for the very few slip throughs to end purchasers that are defective.
I like Squier for mods anyway. But their nut width just doesn’t feel nearly as good to me as the 1.6875 width on this guitar. So of all the things I’d like to change on a variety of guitars, the Standard has all the things that are hard to change in the format I like. 2PT, 1.6875 nut width, and well shielded inside. Everything else is stuff I’m already going to change anyway. So great neck, good trem, and that mod I really can’t do, F logo on front with the serial number on back. This thing ticks it for me.
I have many Squier CV’s they’re great guitars. I gave a lot of affordable guitars.
I have the Eart ST from Amazon & it’s fantastic for the price.
I would get two Jet, or Donner guitars for the price of this. Nice guitar though.
The Classic Vibe would probably suit me fine as I play a Tele 90% of the time but I'd be willing to pay extra for the Candy Cola. That color is ????????????
Yessss Man, excellent demo, beautiful guitar, great tone!
Just another Squier with a Fender badge made in Indonesia with cheap parts.
I’m starting to get tired of Fender ripping people off now.
I just buy used Fender USA, at least they’re professional instruments which hold their value. This is junk for €500 compared to the competitors.
I wish fender would start adding option for SS frets. If they did that and tusq nut, on an indonesian line and called it their mod line or super strat line id imagine they would take some Harley Benton sales. Maybe ….lol. Awesome review bro. Getting situated in the cabin.
Tone wood cannot be verified Scientifically. The poplar issue isn’t in function it’s perception and Fender marketing should know this.
Two simple things would make it more appealing, stain the neck it’s to pale and $500 price point vs $600.
Thanks For Sharing ????????????????✌️
PMT music sell a 100 pound strat and Tele I have the Tele it plays better then my fender mex telecaster unreal for a 100????
My opinion : it is Best ergonomic neck of fender
Poplar disaster.
My hot take is that people get overly focused on specs, when that is just a small part of the overall guitar. What's more important is the skill of the builders and the time taken to finish and inspect, that's what separates a good instrument from a so-so or bad one. I just have a Squier Affinity which I picked up pretty cheap knowing that it would need work, and I can easily see where the QC group didn't do a good job. There's a huge knot in the fretboard (pau ferro) at the 8th fret, the 2 pivot trem posts would pull themselves out when I changed strings, the neck angle wasn't set well, the tuners would slip. All of those things (except the knot in the fretboard) I fixed, along with replacing the pickups and converting to a 6 screw bridge with a beefy brass block. And now it works well enough for me, but I still wouldn't call it a good guitar.
edit – also, for those of you hung up on the ceramic pickups, Fender used to spec ceramics in the MIM strat back in the mid 2000's. I used to have an '05 MIM Strat that had ceramics. also, the fret-work was horrible on that one. This seems like it's a much better instrument than that old MIM Standard.
You seem to think that this new series is a well made instrument, if Fender has the QC group doing their thing, then this new line will be worth it. If not, then it won't.
If you can play as well as you and have as much fun sailing over the frets – then any guitar is probably good
I have several guitars made in Indonesia and they make great guitars. Love the colour of this one but I don't think I like the sound of the pick ups. The neck looks like it would be good. Thanks for the review !
It is a PCB switch, CV has a mechanical switch. I really wish they hadn’t done that.
as a hobbyist luthier for $600 i can build a really nice bog standard S or T style guitar. if i had to guess, at scale they should be able to build those for under $200 a unit in Indonesia including labor. i think $399-499 would be fair, you are paying a 200 dollar up charge for the name on the headstock
I bet this will be the only year they release these. Like everyone is saying, this is a Squier with Fender on the headstock. Fender Chibsoned themselves!???? How ridiculous is that? Plus, the Classic Vibe Squier blows these away!