[NGD] - Fender American Performer Stratocaster in Penny

[Flatline]

She arrived today. I've had about 15 minutes with it. First impressions are good, but action is a bit high for my liking. I'll fix that along with a full setup this weekend. Neck feels nice. No sharp fret ends, and nice satin finish. Very smooth playing. Jumbo fret will take a little getting used to. The Yosemite pickups are a little brighter than the fat 50's in my American Standard. Still sound good, just different which is a good thing. The color is definitely a rose gold and less of an orange/copper color. I'd prefer a more orange/copper but it is still very nice looking in person. The gigbag is nice, but for an MIA guitar, it should have came with a hardshell case.

[RiverDog]

That's gorgeous. Congrats and HNSD!

[Chocol8]

The gig bag thing is so irritating. I would rather a guitar come in a cardboard box like an Agile than come with a useless bag. Still, an American Fender should come with a hard case. They can’t be that much more expensive than a bag when buying in Fender quantities!

[slowhand84]

The gig bag thing is so irritating. I would rather a guitar come in a cardboard box like an Agile than come with a useless bag. Still, an American Fender should come with a hard case. They can’t be that much more expensive than a bag when buying in Fender quantities!

I wouldn't necessarily say the gig bag is useless, those are decent quality Fender bags...but still when you're talking about a USA built guitar that's normally around $1,000 a hard case really should be provided. This is something manufacturers have been moving away from in recent years, there are tons of guitars in the $700+ range that don't come with cases. I can't imagine it saves the companies THAT much money, but who knows.

[mickey]

I would walk away from any $1000+ guitar purchase that did not include a hard case.

[golem]

Nice color and congrats! If you're ever in my neck of the woods I'll give you heck of a deal on a Fender HSC if you decide you need one. I'm fond of high quality gig bags like the nicer Mono ones, the one that came stock with a Gibson Studio I had, and the PRS one that comes with a Silver Sky. I don't know how the Fender compares to those, so I won't comment on that point.

[Longblacktie]

Gorgeous color.

Are the pickups new to Fender?

[Mossman]

Hoo-hoo! It's here! That was quick! Looks great!

Gorgeous color.

Are the pickups new to Fender?

Relatively... I think they came out in 2018 when "American Special" became the "American Performer".

[Partscaster]

Looks beautiful from here. Congrats. I like the rose-gold. I would get matching glasses. Zenni sells rose-gold mirror glasses in any prescription or probably without one.

Gibson padded cases are so nice, looks like more work and materials than a HSC. I dont know why they dont give a HSC at that price point. Except, broken guitars lead to replacement guitar purchases.

[Flatline]

The gig bag is pretty decent. Nicer than others that I've gotten with guitars.

I've been playing for the last hour and a half. Very happy with it. Feels light so I weighed it. 7.65lbs. I need to weigh my American Standard... I'm guessing its heavier with the ash body.

[uwmcscott]

Excellent looking strat, I do like that color a lot too and glad it plays well. I have an American "special" tele and I believe that the peformer line may have replaced the special? Per the other fender thread here it's hard to know which end is up with the plethora of lines - but regardless, the american specials always came with a gig bag too. I think the logic was to offer an american made line and cut costs in other places ( like the gig bag ) to keep the overall price somewhat reasonable. When I bought mine I think they were $899 msrp and you could get a little off if you asked.

I have no qualms with the gig bag I got with mine, it is a well constructed and thickly padded bag with a nice pocket, looks similar to the one you got with that one. I did buy a hard case with mine for storage, but I use the fender bag pretty often if I'm going on a trip as it's a lot easier to transport in my vehicle than in a clunky hard case. If I were to need to go on a plane or let someone else handle it I'd go with the hard case for sure.

[zisme]

very nice! HNGD

[aullucci]

Nice score . Really love the finish...

[Flatline]

Next to my other strat:



Some thoughts comparing my American Standard to the new American Performer.

1. Very similar in feel (obviously they're both strats).
2. The finish on the Performer neck is satin. The finish on the Standard is satin on the back but gloss on the fretboard. The Performer neck is slicker in hand.
3. The neck on the Standard feels ever so slightly fuller in hand.
4. The Standard weighs in at 7.95lbs vs the 7.65lbs of the Performer.
5. My daughter says the Performer is prettier because it sparkles.

[Chocol8]

That is a nice looking pair!

[archetype]

The gig bag thing is so irritating. I would rather a guitar come in a cardboard box like an Agile than come with a useless bag. Still, an American Fender should come with a hard case. They can’t be that much more expensive than a bag when buying in Fender quantities!

The everyday "street price" of a Fender Classic Series wood case is $160 USD. Dealer price is pretty much half at $80. With the OP's Strat, Fender isn't going to add a case into the deal for the same price as the gig bag. If Fender's cost for the case is $60, they should consider the value to be at least $80 in the cost of what the OP purchased.

The American Performer Stratocaster sells at a street price of $1,200. It's typical for a manufacturer to put a lot of both work and guesswork into establishing price points for products. If the target purchaser will buy at $1,200, a percentage of those same target purchasers will not buy at $1,250. This issue comes up over and over on guitar forums and the complaints are consistent:

1. That price is too high.
2. I don't want a case. I only play at home.
3. Why do they force me to buy a case? I have a case.

Fender can't win on this point. IMO they just craft a package and price it.

[mickey]

I would submit that if a guitar maker sells a guitar for $1200 and does NOT include a hard case,
they do not think it is worth the asking price.

[Chocol8]

The gig bag thing is so irritating. I would rather a guitar come in a cardboard box like an Agile than come with a useless bag. Still, an American Fender should come with a hard case. They can’t be that much more expensive than a bag when buying in Fender quantities!

The everyday "street price" of a Fender Classic Series wood case is $160 USD. Dealer price is pretty much half at $80. With the OP's Strat, Fender isn't going to add a case into the deal for the same price as the gig bag. If Fender's cost for the case is $60, they should consider the value to be at least $80 in the cost of what the OP purchased.

The American Performer Stratocaster sells at a street price of $1,200. It's typical for a manufacturer to put a lot of both work and guesswork into establishing price points for products. If the target purchaser will buy at $1,200, a percentage of those same target purchasers will not buy at $1,250. This issue comes up over and over on guitar forums and the complaints are consistent:

1. That price is too high.
2. I don't want a case. I only play at home.
3. Why do they force me to buy a case? I have a case.

Fender can't win on this point. IMO they just craft a package and price it.

The bag isn’t free, so why not exclude that as well and lower the price to $1180? I would rather be told to buy a case of my choice separately than to be forced to buy a useless bag that won’t protect your guitar from much.

[Flatline]

The Performer has lived on my guitar stand since they day I took it out of the box. I've never put it back in the included gigbag after I initially took it out. It has been my most played guitar over the last month. Later this week it'll get a new HSS loaded pickguard to replace the SSS config. I really like the satin finished neck. It is very nice feeling and easy playing.

[archetype]

The gig bag thing is so irritating. I would rather a guitar come in a cardboard box like an Agile than come with a useless bag. Still, an American Fender should come with a hard case. They can’t be that much more expensive than a bag when buying in Fender quantities!

The everyday "street price" of a Fender Classic Series wood case is $160 USD. Dealer price is pretty much half at $80. With the OP's Strat, Fender isn't going to add a case into the deal for the same price as the gig bag. If Fender's cost for the case is $60, they should consider the value to be at least $80 in the cost of what the OP purchased.

The American Performer Stratocaster sells at a street price of $1,200. It's typical for a manufacturer to put a lot of both work and guesswork into establishing price points for products. If the target purchaser will buy at $1,200, a percentage of those same target purchasers will not buy at $1,250. This issue comes up over and over on guitar forums and the complaints are consistent:

1. That price is too high.
2. I don't want a case. I only play at home.
3. Why do they force me to buy a case? I have a case.

Fender can't win on this point. IMO they just craft a package and price it.

The bag isn’t free, so why not exclude that as well and lower the price to $1180? I would rather be told to buy a case of my choice separately than to be forced to buy a useless bag that won’t protect your guitar from much.

Tell Fender. The guitar and bag is their choice of package.

[Mossman]

You know, back in the '50s and '60s, Fender guitars didn't come with a case. It was an optional purchase, and they were a lot more expensive back then (adjusting for inflation) than they are now.

Having said that, though, I would expect a Professional to come with a hard case, but I would be ok getting a quality gig-bag with a Performer. I used to get all worked up about cases, and had to have a hard case for every guitar I owned, but that became cumbersome. They took up a lot of space, and I usually ended up using a gig bag most of the time, anyway. If I were traveling, or on tour, then I'd definitely use hard cases, but if I'm just going to a local gig, or open mic, a case seems redundant and unwieldy. Now, I only have one hard case for every type of guitar/bass that I own, and two gig bags (one for guitar, one for bass).

[uwmcscott]

The Performer has lived on my guitar stand since they day I took it out of the box. I've never put it back in the included gigbag after I initially took it out. It has been my most played guitar over the last month. Later this week it'll get a new HSS loaded pickguard to replace the SSS config. I really like the satin finished neck. It is very nice feeling and easy playing.

Glad you are enjoying it. I have an American Special tele that was the predecessor to the Performer line, and it also has the satin neck and really like that feature too.

[nomadh]

You know, back in the '50s and '60s, Fender guitars didn't come with a case. It was an optional purchase, and they were a lot more expensive back then (adjusting for inflation) than they are now.

Having said that, though, I would expect a Professional to come with a hard case, but I would be ok getting a quality gig-bag with a Performer. I used to get all worked up about cases, and had to have a hard case for every guitar I owned, but that became cumbersome. They took up a lot of space, and I usually ended up using a gig bag most of the time, anyway. If I were traveling, or on tour, then I'd definitely use hard cases, but if I'm just going to a local gig, or open mic, a case seems redundant and unwieldy. Now, I only have one hard case for every type of guitar/bass that I own, and two gig bags (one for guitar, one for bass).

I think I said something so similar it's like you cut and pasted it. So. Ditto.

[Mossman]

You know, back in the '50s and '60s, Fender guitars didn't come with a case. It was an optional purchase, and they were a lot more expensive back then (adjusting for inflation) than they are now.

Having said that, though, I would expect a Professional to come with a hard case, but I would be ok getting a quality gig-bag with a Performer. I used to get all worked up about cases, and had to have a hard case for every guitar I owned, but that became cumbersome. They took up a lot of space, and I usually ended up using a gig bag most of the time, anyway. If I were traveling, or on tour, then I'd definitely use hard cases, but if I'm just going to a local gig, or open mic, a case seems redundant and unwieldy. Now, I only have one hard case for every type of guitar/bass that I own, and two gig bags (one for guitar, one for bass).

I think I said something so similar it's like you cut and pasted it. So. Ditto.

Yeah, I got the feeling I've said this before as I was writing it... I think we've talked about this not too long ago.