Review Demo - Fender American Standard Stratocaster HSS Shawbucker

[@charlieindotnet]

I Just brought the guitar!!!!, 15 years of Dream come true to own a Fender American Standard.

[@joelbyrne]

John's demos, interviews and explanations are my favourite of all premier guitar's guy's... He's a cool guy

[@Vomor]

That intro! That's just phenomenally awesome. Thanks john!

[@ThePorkChopExpress86]

The Shawbucker Strats are my favorite of the various iterations of HSS guitars Fender has offered over the years. Nice playing on the review. Thanks.

[@davide724]

ThePorkChopExpress86 Jack Burton agrees...;)

[@egelu3]

I do own standard shawbucker strat. The tone of the shawbucker its absolutely fantastic fell in love immediately There's one down side of it tho. Shawbucker cannot handle a good distortion. Talking about massive microphonic feedback. Add Cry baby on the top of that good gig volume on the amp and the squeal is unbearable. I've tried noise gates etc. Nothing helped and I did have to wax pot mine. The tone didn't get affected at all and the microphonic feedback is forever gone. Keeping Shawbucker unpotted doesn't make this pickup versatile at all. I really don't know how they tested it.

[@RobMichael]

I saw this guitar at the NAMM show: Fender had both _Strats and Teles!_ ...like nothing ever seen before...

[@LRS905]

Rob Michael :-)

[@gabrielremolina2827]

Hey! Cadillac Three, you most definitely got great taste in country!

[@jeffallan3761]

That's a big jump, actually when he switched to the bucker. A 500K does add output to the bucker. I didn't like this setup as much. For me, staying with a 250K vol. works best for HSS, and actually balances better, the way Fender did it on the Lone Starts and US Floyds. The key is to use a lower output bucker and no tone load on it, so the 250K won't get too dark.. Fenders are naturally brighter due to long scale and brighter tone woods. a 500K pot can be thin/bright on a 25.5" scale. Remember Gibsons use darker tone woods, shorter scale which adds compression and midrange. I don't follow any rules, that certain pickups need certain pots. just use ears for best sound.

[@AviMus82]

Jeff Nickoloff that’s exactly what I did. I put a pearly gates humbucker in mine, but kept the 250k pots. It sounds sweet!

[@ForViewingOnly]

Great review John, even though you can't 'observe' a sound :-)

[@plindsey3]

At 3:37 you say the guitar has an ash body. The Fender website says only the Sienna Burst guitar is ash, the solid color ones are all alder.

[@jorgiewtf]

I just bought it today and your video makes Kenny Wayne Sheppard’s review of this strat look amateur! Amazing job and btw, I think the middle pick-up may actually be my favorite!

[@reggiehobbs8800]

GREAT PLAYING

[@MikelGermaine]

Great Demo....WoW

[@sinnertrain7405]

I just bought one of these and the microphonic humbucker aspect worries me. My primary gigging and recording guitars are American Deluxe HSS Strats with the DH-1 humbucker. I sure hope the Shawbucker isn't too different from the DH-1, otherwise I wouldn't be able to play it at higher volumes with a band. The guitar sounds amazing at low volumes. I didn't know about the microphonic humbucker thing until after I bought it. I didn't take it to band practice today because it needs a setup (which I'll get too).

[@libertylizard_]

Bin the shitbucker and anything Shaw makes and replace ALL of his coils on literally EVERY guitar. Only way to get a decent sound.

[@Polarisfff]

Excellent player and guitar. Own one and it is my best sounding guitar...

[@joseruiz844]

I notice a big difference in volume between bridge and neck pickups...

[@themudman5654]

Stratocaster HSS my favorite

[@traynorv]

i've got one for sale mine also has s-1 switch

[@middle_pickup]

OBSERVE!

[@keithsa41]

John with all due respect the whole point of putting a humbucker in a strat is for the fat tone. A real hot humbucker preferable an alinico one lets you expand into heavier sounds for rock, metal, classic rock, punk, jazzy, pop, etc.. Just need to enable tone control which i hope fender did rather that relying on the middle tone knob instead of the bridge tone knob.. I hope at least fender allowed that otherwise it is a simple mod to do..

[@theexpert8163]

IN A FENDER AMERICAN STANDARD STRATOCASTER HSS FROM 2003 THRU 2008 , IS THE HSS A SHAWBUCKER OR A REGULAR HUMBUCKER MADE FOR STRATS ? REASON I'M ASKING IS , WHENEVER I SEE A VIDEO BY JOHN , I KNOW I'LL RECEIVE ALL THE RIGHT ANSWERS TO MY QUESTIONS , ALSO WHO PLAYS BETTER THAN JOHN , AND I'M CURRENTLY LOOKING AT A 2003/2008 FENDER AMERICAN STANDARD HSS STRATOCASTER AND NEED THIS INFO B 4 I BRING HER HOME WITH DADDY !!!! THANKS JOHN I'LL B WAITING .

[@Ponskippa]

Can it chug

[@SuperGTRman]

SOUNDS MUCH BETTER WITHOUT ALL THAT DISTORTION!!.....

[@theultimaterockr]

Very nice

[@xDooksx]

Observe!

[@fbicia5474]

My friend just died today and I inherited his Shawbucker in Arctic White. Awesome machine, but I'm a B. C. Rich/Gibson/Jackson/Kramer kinda guy. anybody got a Rich Bich "Bich's Back" Body art series that you would trade ? (Mims, Florida) Comes with case. in BEAUTIFUL, barely played. MSRP s $999. Whatchagot ?

[@RedRebel8]

You forgot to put the spring into the whammy bar.

[@magic2506]

I hate the muddy sound at the start, not enough clarity.

[@geraldmcgee614]

Wh always start out with Distortion????.....

[@bryangrocke9476]

I have hss , sounds like snot,

[@albertfebry]

I don't like the bridge sound !! It's sounds horrible

[@jgl2222]

albert febry It's the way they recorded it or had the amp set. Check out other reviews.

[@gingerleyham]

+albert febry Sounds like too much bass on the amp rather than the pickup itself

[@libertylizard_]

Yes the low power Shitbucker is 'stratty' but thats not why ANYONE uses a HSS pickup config. You want punch, high gain and versatility to kick up into heavier genres. Otherwise you'd just make do with SSS. The shitbucker can't manage any of that. It's low output, useless with any form of gain, squeals like blue murder because its not potted and is a literal pathetic joke of a sound next to a Sh-4 or something with actual grunt. If you want 'strat' even 'strat with a little punch' just use fat 50's and S/S/S. Tim Shaw is a joke.

[@anthonydavella8350]

I like my PG+ in mine, I have another with a custom. Next will be the demon

[@libertylizard_]

Ah you can't really go wrong with pearly. I don't actually mind the single coils shaw has put out but the bucker really is a washout on anything out of the softer side of music which is a shame. I don't recall my old 2009 HSS having anywhere near the lack of power. Never mind, I play PRS now like every other musician I seem to bump into.. which is a bit annoying haha. Anyways. Each to his own.

[@nazmoking3171]

That bridge pickup sounds very muddy with any distortion applied - not my cup of tea!

[@trentf4891]

Sounds terrible in the bridge but if fender freaks wanna claim it's the amp settings then they can extend that excuse to other super strats they claim has bad tone.

[@komjong]

Too much yappin and not enough pickin ... strummin n slappin.

[@bbnatedogg]

Why did these idiots keep the string tree? And those saddles are garbage. They really screwed the pooch going back to those.

[@geraldmcgee614]

DISTORTION SUCKS!!

[@Thomasdgolden]

Very, very rarely do I chime in on anything. BUT I have to this time. This whole video smells so rancid of being “paid off” Not potted so you don’t have the wax gooing up the works. Come on man. Talk about drinking the Kool aid. I love Fender and I love Gibson. I just think the whole reworking an existing product after years of saying how important microphonics are NOT, now they make your guitar sound “more better”. Feh. Now it “really” sounds like a Strat. I’m not drinking the Kool aid. Sounds like a page of advertisement. John, the prose, ain’t speaking clear enough. It’s a humbucker, but not a humbucker.?