0:14 [Music] [Applause]
0:16 [Applause] [Music]
0:42 All right, guys. How you doing? It's
0:44 Rabier. I hope you're all well. So, I
0:45 got an email recently from Fender, which
0:47 is really exciting. If you've watched my
0:48 channel a while, you'll have seen that I
0:51 did a video a few months ago on their
0:54 Ultra 2 series of guitars. I did a telly
0:56 and a Meteora which feature like loads
0:58 of modern stuff. Uh they're like a
1:00 modern take on those classic designs,
1:02 especially the telly. And I really
1:03 enjoyed them. They were cool. But I got
1:05 an email recently I was really excited
1:06 to read because they've basically
1:08 brought out a new line of guitars, the
1:11 Ultralux vintage line, and they feature
1:13 Strats and telly's. And I was very
1:15 excited because what they are is
1:17 essentially combining, you know, vintage
1:19 aesthetic with regards to like the
1:21 lacquer they use, the specs of the neck,
1:23 the pickups, and all that kind of stuff.
1:25 the hardware, but they're combining it
1:27 with some of the modcons like recessed
1:30 heel locking tuners, um, stainless steel
1:32 frets, that kind of thing. And I think
1:34 that's quite a nice combination there
1:36 because, you know, as you know, if you
1:37 watch my channel a while, you'll know
1:39 I'm a huge fan when it comes to Fender
1:40 guitars, specifically Strats and
1:42 Telly's, but mainly Strats because it's
1:43 one of those things that they kind of
1:45 just got it right from from the get-go,
1:46 you know, from back in the 50s. That
1:48 design hasn't really changed massively.
1:50 And I think with something like these
1:51 new ones, it's probably going to be
1:53 interesting because it's going to feel
1:55 or sound like a vintage strap, but it's
1:57 got some of those newer modern features.
1:58 And I'm sure some of you guys will be
2:00 curious about the stainless steel frets
2:01 over nickel frets. But, you know, it's
2:03 one of those things. These are ultralux
2:05 vintage, combining the vintage and the
2:07 modern. So, they asked me if I wanted to
2:09 check them out. Of course, I said yes. >> Yes.
2:10 >> Yes.
2:13 >> I chose a Strat. So, it's a 60s uh
2:15 inspired Strat. They offer like 50spec
2:18 and 60spec. and I was like, I want to
2:19 try out one of the ' 60s spec
2:22 Stratacasters. And uh I've got it here
2:24 in this case. We'll talk about what it
2:25 comes with if you buy one. I'm going to
2:27 unbox it. I haven't even plugged it in
2:28 yet to hear how it sounds. But I did
2:31 think it would be cool to include my
2:34 custom shop 61 artist inspired Strat to
2:35 see, you know, what the differences are
2:36 here because at the end of the day,
2:39 these are made in Corona. These are made
2:40 in sort of the in the factory. That's a
2:42 custom shops, a different team of
2:44 builders. Let's see how kind of close
2:47 they are and how they feel and sound and
2:48 do you get bang for your buck
2:49 essentially and that's what we're going
2:51 to do in this video. So, let's check out
2:53 the brand new Fender Ultralux vintage
2:56 Stratacastaster. So, the cool thing is
2:58 that it comes with a hard case, but it
3:00 comes with the same hard case that you
3:02 get if you buy a custom shop Strat,
3:04 which is really nice. This is exactly
3:07 the same hard case that come with my 60s
3:10 Strat. I think it's the CG uh cases that
3:11 are made in in LA. We went to the
3:13 factory once. It was kind of cool. But
3:16 anyway, let's open it up. So, I asked
3:19 for it in ice blue metallic because it
3:20 was one of the colors they offered. They
3:23 have HSS configuration. They had Fiesta
3:25 Red and ice blue metallic, I believe.
3:26 So, I chose ice blue metallic cuz I
3:28 think it's cool. I'm excited. As you can
3:31 see, I'll do close-ups on the camera,
3:56 Heat. [Music]
4:03 Heat. [Applause]
4:24 [Music]
4:26 It's got nitro lacquer. It's already
4:28 checkered, which I'll make sure I
4:29 capture in the close-up so you can see
4:32 just how awesome that is. Got rosewood
4:34 fretboard. It's got clay dot inlays,
4:37 which is period specific. It's got 60s
4:40 voice pickups, but you do have the S1
4:41 switching as well, which is a modern
4:43 feature. You got the fiveway. You got
4:46 the mint triple ply scratch plate.
4:47 You've got one of these modern twopoint
4:49 trim systems. Like I said, stainless
4:52 steel frets. The neck contouring is is
4:55 like a 60s, so it's going to feel very
4:58 similar to uh this 61 Strat here. Um,
5:00 you got the locking fender tuners, which
5:03 is very cool. got this awesome, and you
5:04 probably ought to see again on the
5:07 close-ups, but this this recessed heel,
5:09 which as far as I'm concerned is a great
5:11 feature because I'm I'm a guy with big
5:14 hands. And so, one of the things that,
5:15 you know, I struggle with, and I'm sure
5:17 a lot of people do with a classic Strat
5:20 is that big fat uh heel joint. It's
5:22 just, you know, part of the design. But
5:24 with this, you've basically got way more
5:27 upper fret access. And that generally
5:29 feels very, very good there. I can
5:30 already feel it. I haven't plugged this
5:32 in, so I don't know how it sounds, but I
5:34 really hope it's going to sound sick.
5:36 And yeah, man, that's just a really,
5:38 really nice looking guitar. So, what
5:40 else do you get in the case? Let's have
5:42 a little gander. This little wiring
5:43 sheet, which is probably important to
5:45 know. This is the American Ultra 2
5:48 Stratacastaster um wiring. So, it has
5:50 the S1 switching, which basically allows
5:53 you to utilize a couple of different out
5:56 of the ordinary pickup configurations.
5:58 So, of course, standard when it's off,
5:59 you have your bridge, your bridge in
6:01 your middle, your middle, middle and
6:03 neck and neck. But when you press that
6:05 switch in, it changes the first two
6:07 positions on the pickup switch. So,
6:08 where you would normally have bridge,
6:10 you end up with bridge and neck. In
6:12 position two, you get all three pickups
6:14 together. Then position three is the
6:18 same. It's middle. Then, um, position
6:19 four is the neck and the middle in
6:22 parallel. And then position five is
6:24 neck. So, pretty sick that you've got
6:26 those extra features, just different
6:28 tonal options as well. So, that's very
6:29 cool. And that's something that comes
6:31 with the Ultra 2 strap. So, they've just
6:33 included that. You get a certificate of
6:36 authenticity, which is kind of nice. And
6:38 then you get a little pouch. And let's
6:40 just have a little gander in the pouch.
6:42 Little Fender branded pouch. You get
6:45 your little whammy bar. You get strap
6:46 locks. The other cool thing with the
6:48 trim is that it's got one of those
6:50 pop-in wammy bars as opposed to like the
6:53 classic screw in which is kind of nice.
6:55 Nice modern feature. And I guess you can
6:56 tighten that up with a grub screw on the
6:59 back. Yes, you can. Um, so that's sick.
7:00 What I will say, first impressions, at
7:02 least from the unboxing experiences,
7:04 it's really nice that you get the same
7:06 cases that you get with the custom shop
7:08 line. I think that's a very nice feature
7:10 that they've done that. On top of that,
7:13 the Nitro, it already feels like really
7:16 premium. And
7:17 let me just say this, like at the end of
7:19 the day, they're sending me this guitar
7:21 to keep, and I'm already a big fan of
7:23 Fender, so I could be biased in any way,
7:26 but I'm just giving you my experience
7:28 being a fan of these guitars and being
7:31 excited about getting a new one. But the
7:33 unboxing experience with the case, the
7:36 Nitro, the neck contour, which is very
7:37 much the same as that one over there.
7:39 Knowing that this is going to age
7:41 properly with the Nitro and the cracking
7:42 and the checkering, they've done a great
7:44 job of that and it not being from the
7:47 custom shop is it's pretty impressive,
7:49 man. It's pretty cool cuz that means
7:50 it's definitely going to be more
7:52 affordable than a custom shop. But it
7:55 kind of feels like the feeling of the
7:57 lacquer and the neck and everything. It
7:58 kind of already feels like it's in the
8:00 same league, which I think is great. I
8:03 think that's already a big plus in my
8:05 eyes. I've talked a lot. I've talked a
8:06 hell of a lot. John's going to have to
8:08 cut this down. But we're going to crack
8:10 on and listen to some tones. Okay. Just
8:11 tuned it up. You're going to be hearing
8:13 a couple of different tones. Lone style
8:15 model inside QC being powered by the
8:17 Krakens and anything higher gains coming
8:19 from the Kraken itself. [Music]
8:46 [Music] Heat up
8:54 [Applause] [Music]
9:04 [Music] [Applause]
9:05 [Applause] [Music]
9:05 [Music] [Applause]
9:06 [Applause] [Music]
9:23 [Music] [Applause]
9:40 [Music] Heat. Heat.
10:35 So, that's all the pickups positions
10:38 going from neck through to bridge. My
10:40 immediate reaction because I wanted to
10:41 just get a tone before filming this
10:44 video and I used my custom shop was this
10:46 sounds like it's higher output than
10:49 that. Um, the strings are definitely
10:50 newer, too. So, that's going to give it
10:52 a little bit more top end and it looks a
10:55 little sort of spikier, but they're very
11:11 Right. So, let's check the S1 switch.
11:20 Push it in. It's going to give us uh
11:23 bridge and neck together. [Music]
11:47 [Music] [Applause]
12:18 [Music]
12:20 It's definitely got a telly vibe to it.
12:22 like it's kind of what a telly would do
12:24 in middle position but slightly
12:25 different because it's, you know,
12:29 different pickups of course, but [Music]
12:31 [Music]
12:33 it definitely has that telly chime to
12:34 it. And then the only other change here
12:36 is position two, which is going to give
12:40 you all three pickups together. [Music]
12:57 [Music] [Applause]
12:58 [Applause] [Music]
13:03 [Music]
13:05 which is kind of a more exaggerated version.
13:06 version. [Music]
14:00 I guess my thoughts at this stage are
14:03 that it feels very similar to play to my
14:07 61 custom shop. That neck is pretty much
14:09 the same. I I feel like the fretboard's
14:11 slightly flatter, but it's probably not.
14:13 It just somehow something feels slightly
14:15 flatter or the fretboard edges are
14:18 slightly less rolled maybe. Um, but I
14:20 suppose that's what the difference might
14:21 be between custom shops and the sort of
14:23 factory run stuff, but it's it's not in
14:27 any way not good. It's just it's like
14:28 something about the fretboard or the
14:30 neck is a little bit different to the
14:33 61. The weight's really good. The upper
14:36 fret access is obviously wicked because
14:38 there's just nothing. Feels like there's
14:40 nothing there. It's like again with my
14:42 music man, that's what we did. We made
14:44 sure we really scarfed off the back
14:46 here. Pretty much the same idea. Uh so
14:48 I'm really used to that and it feels
14:50 great. I like the trim as well. Very
14:57 You're not getting any of that spring
15:01 clang going on. Uh anyway, let's let's
15:04 try out some different tones. [Music]
15:06 [Music] [Applause]
15:09 [Applause] [Music]
15:09 [Music] [Applause]
15:11 [Applause] [Music]
15:11 [Music] [Applause]
15:13 [Applause] [Music]
15:23 [Music] Heat
15:35 [Music]
15:41 [Applause] [Music]
16:02 [Music]
16:07 [Applause] [Music]
16:12 Heat. [Music]
16:30 Heat. [Music]
16:35 [Music] [Applause]
16:37 [Applause] [Music]
16:50 Heat. Heat. [Music]
17:49 [Music] [Applause]
17:51 [Applause] [Music]
18:17 I've been playing this guitar for a long
18:20 time and I'm really into it. Really
18:23 vibing. It feels great. I love a good
18:26 Strat. This is This is a good Strat. I
18:28 love the feel of the lacquer as well in
18:30 my arm. It's just a small detail. It
18:33 smells really nice. Anyway, what we
18:35 should do is compare. Well, not even
18:36 compare. I just want to hear this
18:41 alongside um my 61 artist inspired track
18:42 because these are based on the same time period.
18:44 period.
18:46 They can't be that different. So what
18:47 I'm going to do is I'm going to have
18:50 John edit between. So we'll do bridge
18:53 bridge position two position two middle
19:25 [Music]
19:36 [Music] Hey.
19:37 Hey. [Music]
19:57 [Music]
20:33 [Music] [Applause]
20:44 [Music] [Applause]
20:44 [Applause] [Music]
20:49 [Music] [Applause]
20:52 [Applause]
20:54 Okay, That pretty much wraps up the
20:57 video on this wonderful Stratacastaster.
20:58 What do you guys think? How do you like
21:00 the sound of it? Let me know in the
21:01 comments section below. What do you
21:03 think about this spec of guitar and what
21:05 they're trying to do here? If you're
21:08 interested in my opinion, I would say that
21:10 that
21:14 probably the closest I've played to a
21:16 custom shop Strat that isn't a custom
21:19 shop strat by Fender. Now, of course,
21:22 the things like the nitro lacquer goes a
21:24 long way for the feel and the overall
21:27 vibe. It feels really, really nice. You
21:29 know, the the scratch plate, the three
21:31 ply, the voicing of the pickups, the
21:33 neck profile. It all feels very similar
21:36 to my 61 Custom Shop Strat. There are a
21:37 couple of differences, of course, like
21:39 the trim system and the heel joint and
21:41 the switching and the locking tuners
21:43 that are all modern features, but I
21:45 don't think those are a bad thing. I
21:47 actually really like that. I think it
21:48 feels really good. I love the neck
21:50 joint. I think that's great for hands my
21:53 size. The two things I mainly noticed
21:56 the difference between this and that was
21:59 that the fretboard radius on this feels
22:01 flatter. And it might not be the case,
22:04 but it feels flatter compared to that.
22:05 That's a custom spec that Anderton's
22:07 did. So, they might have speced out a
22:08 different fretboard radius, whereas this
22:10 one feels a tiny bit flatter. And the
22:11 only other thing I noticed was the
22:14 fretboard edges are less rolled on this
22:16 than they are on that. I'm not talking
22:18 about the fret. The fret works fantastic
22:20 and the the rolled edges are there. It's
22:22 just they're more exaggerated on that
22:25 guitar than on this one. But that is in
22:27 no way a criticism. It's just a
22:30 difference. Um, in any case, I think
22:33 this is a fantastic guitar for the money
22:35 if you're in the market for wanting like
22:38 a vintage vibe but with modern specs
22:40 close to custom shop thing with the
22:43 case, the nitro. It's a great addition
22:45 to their line. And I'm I'm really
22:47 impressed and I'm really really happy
22:48 that I get to keep this guitar because
22:51 it's a beast. I love the color. I love
22:53 the fact they've done the clay dots,
22:55 rosewood, nitro. Like I keep going over
22:57 the things that I like about it because
23:00 I am genuinely really into this guitar.
23:01 And I really enjoyed the way it played
23:03 and sounded and I hope you did too. So
23:04 let me know in the comments section
23:07 below what you think of this guitar. Um
23:09 and let's open the discussion. I think
23:11 they're doing a great thing here. I'm
23:12 really happy about it. In terms of
23:14 price, I actually don't have any
23:16 information on how much these cost yet,
23:17 but I'm sure if you just follow the
23:18 links in the description box, if you're
23:20 interested in one of these, you'll have
23:22 prices. Let me know what you think in
23:23 the comment section. Let's open the
23:24 discussion. I think they're doing a
23:25 great thing here. Really love this
23:27 guitar. Thank you to Fender for sending
23:30 it to me. It's going to go and get used
23:32 on all sorts of stuff now. I'm sure Joe
23:33 will want to check this out in Ver.
23:35 Anyway, I'm rambling. Thank you for
23:36 watching the video. Links in the
23:37 description box. Like, subscribe, and
23:38 share. I've been Rabia and I'll see you
Chrome Extension