First of all, when I opened up the box my '51 was shipped in and saw the gig bag that comes with it all I could do was smile. It's nice!

And then I opened up the "bag", and that smile got even bigger!! This is a sweet looking guitar!!! But of course at first glance many guitars seem that way. So I looked it over real good, And it still looked sweet! The finish is just as you see on the website, but better. The way the grain of the wood just comes through the finish is pretty damned cool looking! But again looks can be deceiving.

So now it's time to play!!!! So I checked the action for buzzes and found that two saddles needed raised a tiny bit, After making the adjustments I plugged in. And I'm like, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!!! No it doesn't have any tone control, but I didn't want any. I wanted a guitar that just was full on all the time, and that's what I got! I have an American Standard Strat with factory pick-ups and I love it! But I wanted something a little hotter. Meaning in the pick-ups. And let me tell you the pick-ups In my "Blonde '51" are just that! They give me a tone that screams MORE POWER!

I have to admit that the pick-up switch is kind of hard to use. But I'm sure with practice I'll get past that. This guitar isn't for everyone. But if you want something with a little kick without having to spend big bucks or modify the axe you already love for what it is, this for you!

allgeminiman owns this item

So I'll keep it short and sweet. The playability, quality, weight and balance of this guitar are superb. Of my three Strats, this one has the most punch and is ideal for rock and blues rock. That's because the pickups Fender has loaded into this Strat are their hottest and deliver the highest gain to really help your tube amp cross the line and break to a smooth natural distortion. What is mind blowing is how closely the pups are matched in output when switching between humbucker and single coil. If I were to recommend one improvement to Fender, that would be to replace the rotary pickup selector with a three way toggle switch and put a tone pot in its place. I don't need the tone pot per se, but I have found that rotating that knob takes a second longer than I'd like or want, I always start cranking it the wrong way, so it's not intuitively obvious when you need it to be. Also, I strongly recommend offering the black pickguard on the black guitar and the white on the blonde one. I bought mine from a dealer that did just that and my black one has a black pickguard and pups. I get tons of compliments on the guitar's appearance (as well as tone and playability). Bottom line... Great job Fender! I love Stratocasters and was looking for one with a little more punch to compliment and differentiate from the others that give me the traditionally, glassy and spanky tone. This Pawnshop 51 Strat just flat out rocks!

omanduley owns this item