American Standard Stratocasters heralding the Fender Corona factory located in California. Originally called American Standard until around 2000, they later underwent some changes and were marketed as American Series Stratocasters. This year 2008 some additional changes were introduced and this particular strat reverted to the American Standard name. This label identifies them as Fender’s usual standard offering of the Strat model.
Essentially, they are all the same, identical except for the selected color. The American standard will say Made In USA right on the front of the headstock. A typical street value for this brand of guitar as a ballpark figure would be around a thousand new dollars. For used prices, you can expect to pay in the region of $ 600 to $ 950, depending on factors such as age or condition, this would be for a 1990 to current year model. If we go back further in time, you can expect to pay more than that. In fact, if it’s a model from the 50s or 60s and it’s not a reissue, then you can expect to pay in the region of $ 25,000 to $ 35,000.
However, here, we are going to give some guidance for the previous models, from the 90s to the current year.
The serial number for the American Standard Series Strat is located on the back of the headstock. If from the 1990s this serial number begins with Nx, then 2000 serial numbers will begin with Zx, the ‘x’ equals the last number of the model year. For example, a serial number that begins with ‘N3’ will be a 1993 model and the Z3 will mean it is a 2003 model. The serial numbers for both will have an additional 5-6 digits, shown here, again by way of example; N3255748 or Z3622711. For the sake of clarity, sometimes the production years will carry over to the next year, so it is possible to get an American standard Stratocaster that indicates a different year than the actual year it was produced and built.
The American Standard Series Stratocaster will come with 3 high-quality single-coil pickups made with alnico magnets, or to be even more specific, alnico 5, this is one of the key differences from the lower priced models that are not The six pole pieces on each pickup, one for each string, are the actual magnets. On cheaper single coil pickups the pole pieces will be steel and the actual magnets will consist of ceramic (ferrite) rods that run along the bottom of the pickups – this is standard on most Squier models. and Mexicans. Alnico magnets are usually the must-haves if you really want that important vintage Fender Stratocaster sound.
