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This ISN’T A Fender Custom Shop?!? | Rabea Massaad | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: This ISN’T A Fender Custom Shop?!?
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[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
All right, guys. How you doing? It's
Rabier. I hope you're all well. So, I
got an email recently from Fender, which
is really exciting. If you've watched my
channel a while, you'll have seen that I
did a video a few months ago on their
Ultra 2 series of guitars. I did a telly
and a Meteora which feature like loads
of modern stuff. Uh they're like a
modern take on those classic designs,
especially the telly. And I really
enjoyed them. They were cool. But I got
an email recently I was really excited
to read because they've basically
brought out a new line of guitars, the
Ultralux vintage line, and they feature
Strats and telly's. And I was very
excited because what they are is
essentially combining, you know, vintage
aesthetic with regards to like the
lacquer they use, the specs of the neck,
the pickups, and all that kind of stuff.
the hardware, but they're combining it
with some of the modcons like recessed
heel locking tuners, um, stainless steel
frets, that kind of thing. And I think
that's quite a nice combination there
because, you know, as you know, if you
watch my channel a while, you'll know
I'm a huge fan when it comes to Fender
guitars, specifically Strats and
Telly's, but mainly Strats because it's
one of those things that they kind of
just got it right from from the get-go,
you know, from back in the 50s. That
design hasn't really changed massively.
And I think with something like these
new ones, it's probably going to be
interesting because it's going to feel
or sound like a vintage strap, but it's
got some of those newer modern features.
And I'm sure some of you guys will be
curious about the stainless steel frets
over nickel frets. But, you know, it's
one of those things. These are ultralux
vintage, combining the vintage and the
modern. So, they asked me if I wanted to
check them out. Of course, I said yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes.
>> I chose a Strat. So, it's a 60s uh
inspired Strat. They offer like 50spec
and 60spec. and I was like, I want to
try out one of the ' 60s spec
Stratacasters. And uh I've got it here
in this case. We'll talk about what it
comes with if you buy one. I'm going to
unbox it. I haven't even plugged it in
yet to hear how it sounds. But I did
think it would be cool to include my
custom shop 61 artist inspired Strat to
see, you know, what the differences are
here because at the end of the day,
these are made in Corona. These are made
in sort of the in the factory. That's a
custom shops, a different team of
builders. Let's see how kind of close
they are and how they feel and sound and
do you get bang for your buck
essentially and that's what we're going
to do in this video. So, let's check out
the brand new Fender Ultralux vintage
Stratacastaster. So, the cool thing is
that it comes with a hard case, but it
comes with the same hard case that you
get if you buy a custom shop Strat,
which is really nice. This is exactly
the same hard case that come with my 60s
Strat. I think it's the CG uh cases that
are made in in LA. We went to the
factory once. It was kind of cool. But
anyway, let's open it up. So, I asked
for it in ice blue metallic because it
was one of the colors they offered. They
have HSS configuration. They had Fiesta
Red and ice blue metallic, I believe.
So, I chose ice blue metallic cuz I
think it's cool. I'm excited. As you can
see, I'll do close-ups on the camera,
Heat. [Music]
Heat. [Applause]
[Music]
It's got nitro lacquer. It's already
checkered, which I'll make sure I
capture in the close-up so you can see
just how awesome that is. Got rosewood
fretboard. It's got clay dot inlays,
which is period specific. It's got 60s
voice pickups, but you do have the S1
switching as well, which is a modern
feature. You got the fiveway. You got
the mint triple ply scratch plate.
You've got one of these modern twopoint
trim systems. Like I said, stainless
steel frets. The neck contouring is is
like a 60s, so it's going to feel very
similar to uh this 61 Strat here. Um,
you got the locking fender tuners, which
is very cool. got this awesome, and you
probably ought to see again on the
close-ups, but this this recessed heel,
which as far as I'm concerned is a great
feature because I'm I'm a guy with big
hands. And so, one of the things that,
you know, I struggle with, and I'm sure
a lot of people do with a classic Strat
is that big fat uh heel joint. It's
just, you know, part of the design. But
with this, you've basically got way more
upper fret access. And that generally
feels very, very good there. I can
already feel it. I haven't plugged this
in, so I don't know how it sounds, but I
really hope it's going to sound sick.
And yeah, man, that's just a really,
really nice looking guitar. So, what
else do you get in the case? Let's have
a little gander. This little wiring
sheet, which is probably important to
know. This is the American Ultra 2
Stratacastaster um wiring. So, it has
the S1 switching, which basically allows
you to utilize a couple of different out
of the ordinary pickup configurations.
So, of course, standard when it's off,
you have your bridge, your bridge in
your middle, your middle, middle and
neck and neck. But when you press that
switch in, it changes the first two
positions on the pickup switch. So,
where you would normally have bridge,
you end up with bridge and neck. In
position two, you get all three pickups
together. Then position three is the
same. It's middle. Then, um, position
four is the neck and the middle in
parallel. And then position five is
neck. So, pretty sick that you've got
those extra features, just different
tonal options as well. So, that's very
cool. And that's something that comes
with the Ultra 2 strap. So, they've just
included that. You get a certificate of
authenticity, which is kind of nice. And
then you get a little pouch. And let's
just have a little gander in the pouch.
Little Fender branded pouch. You get
your little whammy bar. You get strap
locks. The other cool thing with the
trim is that it's got one of those
pop-in wammy bars as opposed to like the
classic screw in which is kind of nice.
Nice modern feature. And I guess you can
tighten that up with a grub screw on the
back. Yes, you can. Um, so that's sick.
What I will say, first impressions, at
least from the unboxing experiences,
it's really nice that you get the same
cases that you get with the custom shop
line. I think that's a very nice feature
that they've done that. On top of that,
the Nitro, it already feels like really
premium. And
let me just say this, like at the end of
the day, they're sending me this guitar
to keep, and I'm already a big fan of
Fender, so I could be biased in any way,
but I'm just giving you my experience
being a fan of these guitars and being
excited about getting a new one. But the
unboxing experience with the case, the
Nitro, the neck contour, which is very
much the same as that one over there.
Knowing that this is going to age
properly with the Nitro and the cracking
and the checkering, they've done a great
job of that and it not being from the
custom shop is it's pretty impressive,
man. It's pretty cool cuz that means
it's definitely going to be more
affordable than a custom shop. But it
kind of feels like the feeling of the
lacquer and the neck and everything. It
kind of already feels like it's in the
same league, which I think is great. I
think that's already a big plus in my
eyes. I've talked a lot. I've talked a
hell of a lot. John's going to have to
cut this down. But we're going to crack
on and listen to some tones. Okay. Just
tuned it up. You're going to be hearing
a couple of different tones. Lone style
model inside QC being powered by the
Krakens and anything higher gains coming
from the Kraken itself. [Music]
[Music] Heat up
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Music] Heat. Heat.
So, that's all the pickups positions
going from neck through to bridge. My
immediate reaction because I wanted to
just get a tone before filming this
video and I used my custom shop was this
sounds like it's higher output than
that. Um, the strings are definitely
newer, too. So, that's going to give it
a little bit more top end and it looks a
little sort of spikier, but they're very
Right. So, let's check the S1 switch.
Push it in. It's going to give us uh
bridge and neck together. [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Music]
It's definitely got a telly vibe to it.
like it's kind of what a telly would do
in middle position but slightly
different because it's, you know,
different pickups of course, but [Music]
[Music]
it definitely has that telly chime to
it. And then the only other change here
is position two, which is going to give
you all three pickups together. [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music]
which is kind of a more exaggerated version.
version. [Music]
I guess my thoughts at this stage are
that it feels very similar to play to my
61 custom shop. That neck is pretty much
the same. I I feel like the fretboard's
slightly flatter, but it's probably not.
It just somehow something feels slightly
flatter or the fretboard edges are
slightly less rolled maybe. Um, but I
suppose that's what the difference might
be between custom shops and the sort of
factory run stuff, but it's it's not in
any way not good. It's just it's like
something about the fretboard or the
neck is a little bit different to the
61. The weight's really good. The upper
fret access is obviously wicked because
there's just nothing. Feels like there's
nothing there. It's like again with my
music man, that's what we did. We made
sure we really scarfed off the back
here. Pretty much the same idea. Uh so
I'm really used to that and it feels
great. I like the trim as well. Very
You're not getting any of that spring
clang going on. Uh anyway, let's let's
try out some different tones. [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] Heat
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
Heat. [Music]
Heat. [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
I've been playing this guitar for a long
time and I'm really into it. Really
vibing. It feels great. I love a good
Strat. This is This is a good Strat. I
love the feel of the lacquer as well in
my arm. It's just a small detail. It
smells really nice. Anyway, what we
should do is compare. Well, not even
compare. I just want to hear this
alongside um my 61 artist inspired track
because these are based on the same time period.
period.
They can't be that different. So what
I'm going to do is I'm going to have
John edit between. So we'll do bridge
bridge position two position two middle
[Music]
[Music] Hey.
Hey. [Music]
[Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause]
Okay, That pretty much wraps up the
video on this wonderful Stratacastaster.
What do you guys think? How do you like
the sound of it? Let me know in the
comments section below. What do you
think about this spec of guitar and what
they're trying to do here? If you're
interested in my opinion, I would say that
that
probably the closest I've played to a
custom shop Strat that isn't a custom
shop strat by Fender. Now, of course,
the things like the nitro lacquer goes a
long way for the feel and the overall
vibe. It feels really, really nice. You
know, the the scratch plate, the three
ply, the voicing of the pickups, the
neck profile. It all feels very similar
to my 61 Custom Shop Strat. There are a
couple of differences, of course, like
the trim system and the heel joint and
the switching and the locking tuners
that are all modern features, but I
don't think those are a bad thing. I
actually really like that. I think it
feels really good. I love the neck
joint. I think that's great for hands my
size. The two things I mainly noticed
the difference between this and that was
that the fretboard radius on this feels
flatter. And it might not be the case,
but it feels flatter compared to that.
That's a custom spec that Anderton's
did. So, they might have speced out a
different fretboard radius, whereas this
one feels a tiny bit flatter. And the
only other thing I noticed was the
fretboard edges are less rolled on this
than they are on that. I'm not talking
about the fret. The fret works fantastic
and the the rolled edges are there. It's
just they're more exaggerated on that
guitar than on this one. But that is in
no way a criticism. It's just a
difference. Um, in any case, I think
this is a fantastic guitar for the money
if you're in the market for wanting like
a vintage vibe but with modern specs
close to custom shop thing with the
case, the nitro. It's a great addition
to their line. And I'm I'm really
impressed and I'm really really happy
that I get to keep this guitar because
it's a beast. I love the color. I love
the fact they've done the clay dots,
rosewood, nitro. Like I keep going over
the things that I like about it because
I am genuinely really into this guitar.
And I really enjoyed the way it played
and sounded and I hope you did too. So
let me know in the comments section
below what you think of this guitar. Um
and let's open the discussion. I think
they're doing a great thing here. I'm
really happy about it. In terms of
price, I actually don't have any
information on how much these cost yet,
but I'm sure if you just follow the
links in the description box, if you're
interested in one of these, you'll have
prices. Let me know what you think in
the comment section. Let's open the
discussion. I think they're doing a
great thing here. Really love this
guitar. Thank you to Fender for sending
it to me. It's going to go and get used
on all sorts of stuff now. I'm sure Joe
will want to check this out in Ver.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Thank you for
watching the video. Links in the
description box. Like, subscribe, and
share. I've been Rabia and I'll see you
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