1993 Fender Stratocaster Plus

About this instrument

The 1980s through mid-1990s were not a great time for Fender guitars. But this guitar was an improvement in some regards over its extremely flawed predecessor, the Fender Stratocaster Elite. Fender learned some lessons from the Elite. They dramatically reduced the body weight on the Strat Plus by moving back to traditional Strat tremolo routing.

Fender also significantly reduced the noise level of the pickups. The Lace Sensor pickups in the Strat Plus were direct descendants of the pickups in the Strat Elite. Yes, they were much less noisy, but they also lacked character in my opinion. They continued using the swimming pool routing of the Strat Elite. That helped reduce weight but probably did nothing good for sound and resonance.

With the Strat Plus, Fender also transitioned to a modern tremolo and a Wilkinson roller ball nut that eliminated string trees. The tuning stability was quite good. But the guitar really didn’t sound like a traditional Strat in my opinion. It wasn’t lively or resonant and it didn’t have the traditional Strat sounds.

Those who came to see Half Life shows in the 1990s would have seen me with this guitar and the PRS CE-24, which were my two main guitars for most of the 1990s. I sold this guitar quite a long time ago and I don’t regret it.

Specs

• Year / model1993 Fender Stratocaster Plus
• BodyAlder; polyurethane finish
• NeckMaple; satin polyurethane finish; “C” profile; Bi-Flex truss rod with Micro-Tilt adjustment
• FingerboardRosewood; dot inlays; 22 medium-jumbo frets
• Scale / nut width25.5"; approx. 1.6875" (1-11/16")
• PickupsThree hum-canceling Fender Lace Sensor single-coils, Gold/Gold/Gold
• ControlsMaster volume, two tone controls (including TBX tone control), 5-way pickup selector
• BridgeAmerican Standard two-point synchronized floating tremolo
• NutWilkinson roller nut
• TunersSperzel locking tuning machines

Personal instrument — not for sale.