Fender American Vintage ii 1973 Stratocaster - First Impressions and Review. NOT Love at First Sight 

Indeed. Kind of hard to stomach the idea of spending so much and have it not be amazing right out of the box. I will say, in all fairness, this one I bought was technically "Used," so I suppose I granted a little extra leeway based on the fact that it could have been a return or an undisclosed B-stock. The neck on the '73 is by far my favorite part about the guitar.

Typical setup stuff like action, truss rod, intonation etc should be expected with any new guitar purchase, regardless of price. These are instruments and they are made out of wood, so things do adjust with exposure to varying temperature and humidity. It’s weird that players seem to have forgotten about getting a setup done on a new guitar ASAP these days, as that was pretty much standard when I was first buying guitars. The fret ends though...

@@3rdStoreyChemist I agree. I kind of look at it like buying a nice suit. The nicer the suit, generally more the need for final tailoring and alterations.

Only thing better than a nice guitar is a nice guitar at a great value.

Yeah I have that same guitar and I love it too. The ‘61 is my favorite of the AVii line

Yeah I have that same guitar and I love it too. The ‘61 is my favorite of the AVii line

I’ve thought about selling my entire guitar collection to fund an early 60’s strat. That would definitely add some space in my garage :)

I’ve owned 3 different 70’s Strats, and looked at hundreds. They were not very consistent and the body weights are insane. Not unusual to see them come in at 10lbs . Very hard to find a ‘good one’, probably why Blackmore smashed them all the time.

@@toddwilliamson2651I've heard stories of them going well over 10lbs, like 13 or so. Swamp ash is super variable, you can get some incredibly dense pieces and the Fender of that era truly DNGAF.

@@toddwilliamson2651 Blackmore usually smashed factory rejects or whatever you call those that factory didn't pass QC?

Hey great tip! I have one of the 50’s vintera ii strats on order. Looking forward to comparing it to the AVii series ‘57. Glad to hear you got an awesome guitar right out of the box!

That’s a tough one. I think the deflecting answer seems to be the absolute truth which is, they each have their own thing. At the moment I have the ‘73 in the batter’s box. I’m playing it through the Marshall JTM studio that I just picked up. The pair make a sweet sonic couple for that edge of breakup sound.

I thought the same thing before I bought it, so I did some research and found out that in 73, they actually did come with a ‘C’ shape neck. I suspect this is why they chose ‘73 for the model year on the AVii, which otherwise doesn’t seem that notable.

@@NickHandleyCreative U shape is the gold standard for 1970s Stratocasters. I bet 95% of the Stratocasters in the 1970s were U shape. I know I used to be a guitar tech in the late 70's.

I finally got one and it is actually a U neck even though it is marketed as a C neck. I should know, I have 9 other 70s Strats.

I’m confident that I leave this guitar in a room with my kids it’ll be relic’d in about 20 min 😆😆

Thanks, Bob! This guitar took a while to warm up to, but after 4 months of ownership I’m glad to have it in the quiver.

Wow that’s an awesome bit of historical knowledge! I had no idea.

They’re both cool. The poly neck finish on the ‘73 is the most notable difference IMO. Also the pickups are a little hotter on the ‘73.

I think some would say yes, some would say no. For me I tend to gravitate toward the rosewood necks, probably primarily because I like the look.

When it comes to actually sleeping with guitars, I prefer the feel of a les Paul. Less pokey 😉

Ok well now I’m curious. Does it work if you reply to this reply?

@@NickHandleyCreative I have a very recent, VERY similar story about a very similar guitar. I was testing out a B.K. Butler tube pedal at the store and grabbed a fiesta red Vintage 2 '61 strat to test the pedal with and noticed the wood grain on the headstock made an absolutely perfect bird, very raven-like, and for the next few weeks I just couldn't stop thinking about that thing! I would wake up at night! I had never played a 7.25" radius either and instantly fell in love with it which is weird since I'm a Les Paul guy. So I bought it, and when I took the beautifully bird's-eye figured neck off to do the initial setup, the neck pocket was hand-signed by Eowin (I'm Tolkein-obsessed), and the serial number ended in 666 (They all start with 7721, so mine was 7721666). At first I was going to call it The Bird because of the bird's eye figuring and the basically perfect stencil of a bird on the headstock, but after finding that serial number I may instead name it The Beast. LOL I absolutely love the Vintage 2 series. Thanks for the content!

Our ears are certainly our own, and as such have their own opinion. But just so you’re properly informed, I think the sponginess you’re hearing is the amp. The 5e3 circuit is one of the spongiest amps in existence and ironic to your comment, is one of the most sought after attributes about this amp. The deadness you speak of is probably just me not being that great of a musician 😉