- Fender American Deluxe Series
The Fender American Deluxe Series is a line of high-end electric guitars and basses introduced by Fender in
1998 and upgraded in2004 .The American Deluxe line replaced the Plus Series models of
1987 .The entire range came with a variety of high-end options such as solid tonewood bodies made from select
alder or premium ash, polished chrome or gold-plated hardware, aged plastic parts, Noiseless pickups, abalone dot position fingerboard inlays, 22-fret maple necks featuringrosewood ,maple orebony fretboards, quilted or flamed maple tops, rolled fingerboard edges, S-1 switching, highly detailed nut and fret work, a bound top with contoured back onTelecaster s and a 2-point locking synchronized tremolo bridge with LSR roller nut and locking tuners on certain models.American Deluxe
bass guitar s (introduced in1995 ) came in 4-string, fretless, 5-string and left-handed versions and feature 18V-powered 3-band active electronics (including a special-designhumbucker on thePrecision Bass models) as well as a strings-through/top-load bridge with stainless brass saddles, Hipshot UltraLite tuning machines, an asymmetrical 5-bolt neck plate with a contoured heel for easier access to the higher registers and a Posiflex graphite-reinforced 22-fret maple neck withrosewood ,maple orpao ferro fingerboard.Jazz Bass es usually feature chrome hardware, a traditional control plate with classic black bakelite knobs and a stylish 9-hole pickguard; however, Fender produced luxurious models without pickguard and control plate featuring flamed or quilted maple tops (FMT/QMT), gold hardware and bound necks with white pearloid rectangular block-shaped position markers from2003 to2007 .Early examples carried aftermarket features such as 4-bolt neck fixing, 5-in-line headstocks, black or white dot markers,
Schaller die-cast tuners, 9V power supply and special-design stacked Jazz Bass pickups with single pole-pieces.Vintage Noiseless pickups and abalone inlaid fingerboards were added in1998 ; 5-bolt neck fixing, 4+1 tuners, 18V power supply and Schaller Lite Bass tuning machines followed 4 years later.American Deluxe Stratocaster guitars are available with C and V-shaped necks since
2004 .American Deluxe Telecasters produced between
1998 and1999 featured aVintage Noiseless Strat pickup in the middle position, 5-way "Strat-o-Tele" pickup switching and a 2-way toggle switch allowing seven tonal options. Guitars manufactured between2000 and2001 were also equipped with an optional Fishman Powerbridge and an active 12dB midrange booster with sub-rumble cut and stereo/mono switching controls (Power Tele).American Deluxe Strats and Teles produced between
1998 and2001 had a standard 4-bolt neck fixing. The contoured neck heel has been introduced in2002 .All American Deluxe models are available in Amber, Chrome Silver, Montego Black Metallic, 3-Color Sunburst, Tobacco Sunburst, Aged Cherry Burst, Olympic White Pearl, Black, Honey Blonde, Candy Apple Red, Butterscotch Blonde and 2-Color Sunburst. Pickguard colours include Aged White, Mint Green, Black Tortoise, Brown Tortoise, Aged Cream, Gold Vinyl, Copper Vinyl and Aged White Pearloid, available with 3-ply, 4-ply and 50s-style 1-ply layers with hand-beveled edges. Other finishes such as Teal Green Transparent, Natural, White Blonde, Candy Tangerine, Crimson Red Transparent, Chrome Red and Purple Transparent were introduced in
1998 ; apart few exceptions (Factory Special Run versions), American Deluxe instruments finished with these colours are no longer available.Some of the innovations found on the American Deluxe instruments (such as the rolled fretboard edges, the HSH pickup routing and the detailed nut and fret work) were adopted on the American Series models, introduced in
2001 , replacing the first-generation American Standard line produced between1986 and2000 .The American Deluxe was later updated with Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN) pickups by Fender in 2004.
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