[Jericho]

Hey guys. There are so many kinds of Fender Strats out there. There’s the Standard Strat, the American Standard Strat, the American Vintage Strat, the American Deluxe Strat, and the Deluxe Strat. I’m sure there are others.

So how could I physically tell the difference between all those different models?

If see a guitarist playing a Fender Strat on stage or in a music video, how can I determine exactly what model it is? What features should I pick out in order to distinguish one Strat model from another? What features are dead giveaways? What aspects on the body and headstock should I look for?

I’ve studied the Fender Stratocaster website, but those Strat models all look the same to me. And each series has the ubiquitous black body/white plate selection.

http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?section=guitars&cat=stratocaster&subcat=americandeluxe
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?section=guitars&cat=stratocaster&subcat=americanstandard
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?section=guitars&cat=stratocaster&subcat=americanvintage
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?section=guitars&cat=stratocaster&subcat=deluxe
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?section=guitars&cat=stratocaster&subcat=standard

Can any of you guys help?

 

[Jericho]

Can anyone help?

 

[jschmidt]

There are differences, but not exclusively in: Country it's made, hardware (tuning machines, bridge saddles, vibrato arms), pup's (though hard to visualize this), and paint schemes. Of course you would still have to be familiar with the catalogue to sort out what goes with what.