In this post, you can find additional info on my ‘Best Fender Stratocaster? American Professional vs John Mayer Signature vs Custom Shop’ comparison video.
The Guitars
- My American Professional Stratocaster in Candy Apple Red (2017)
- A Fender John Mayer Signature Stratocaster in Olympic White (2012)
- A ’59 Custom Shop Relic Stratocaster in Black (2013)
The American Professional Strat vs the American Professional II Strat
In October 2020 Fender launched the American Professional II Line. Here I compare the specs of my MK I Strat with the equivalent of the new line and highlight the differences. The Am Pro II specs are as published by Fender except for the fretboard material since Fender only features the maple version on their website (Dec. 2020). Please note that some shops carry the Treble Bleed feature on the volume control for the Am Pro II in the specs. Fender, however, doesn’t.
Specs
American Professional Stratocaster | American Professional II Stratocaster | |
Body | Alder | Alder |
Finish | Gloss Urethane | Gloss Urethane |
Neck | Maple | Maple |
Neck Profile | Modern „Deep C“ | Deep C |
Fretboard | Rosewood | Rosewood |
Radius | 9,5“ (241 mm) | 9,5“ (241 mm) |
Scale Length | 25.5“ (648mm) | 25.5“ (648mm) |
Number of Frets | 22 | 22 |
Fret Size | Narrow Tall | Narrow Tall |
Fretboard Inlay | White Dot | White Dot |
Nut Material | Bone | Bone |
Nut Width | 1.685“ (42.8 mm) | 1.685“ (42.8 mm) |
Pickups | V-Mod Single Coil | V-Mod II Single Coil |
Switching | 5-Position Blade | 5-Position Blade |
Control | Master Volume with Treble Bleed, Neck Tone, Bridge/Middle Tone | Master Volume, Neck/Middle Tone, Bridge Tone |
Bridge | 2-point synchronized vibrato bridge with bent steel saddles and pop-in arm | 2-point synchronized Tremolo with bent steel saddles, pop-In tremolo arm and cold rolled steel block |
Tuning Heads | Fender Standard Cast/ Sealed Staggered | Fender Standard Cast/ Sealed Staggered |
Hardware Finish | Nickel/chrome | Nickel/chrome |
Case | Elite molded Case | Deluxe Molded Case |
Candy Apple Red or the “Christmas guitar” as my daughter calls it Bone nut and headplate on the Am Pro The Elite Molded Case
A closer look at the John Mayer Signature Strat
This paragraph is a hub for further deep-diving into the John Mayer Signature Stratocaster. The JM Signature is based on a Stevie Ray Vaughn type of Strat design. This is because one of John Mayers first guitars was an SRV Signature model Strat. He talks about this particular Strat and the lineage leading to his Signature in this video.
As Mike Mc Cready of Pearl Jam points out in this video, SRV was a big fan of 59 Strats. The only Custom Shop Strat that floats around in my guitar playing community happens to be the 59 Relic, so that’s a nice coincidence for the shootout.
Much has been debated about why John Mayer left Fender in 2014 and why he cooperated with PRS to create the Silver Sky afterward. Here’s what the man himself has to say on the subject in a live stream from 2018. To summarize parts of the video, the Silver Sky is modeled after John Mayer’s vintage 64 Strat. So I guess if you want to get the full John Mayer Rig experience, you have to get both the Signature and the Silver Sky.
Specs
Body | Select Alder |
Finish | Urethane |
Neck | Maple |
Neck Profile | Thick “C” Shape |
Radius | 9,5“ (241 mm) |
Scale Length | 25.5“ (648mm) |
Number of Frets | 21 |
Fret Size | Dunlop 6105 frets |
Fretboard Inlay | White Dot |
Nut Material | Synthetic Bone |
Nut Width | 1.65“ (42 mm) |
Pickups | 3 Big Dipper single-coil Stratocaster pickups with special “scooped” midrange voicing to meet John Mayer’s specifications |
Switching | 5 Way Switch |
Control | Master Volume, Neck/Middle Tone, Bridge Tone |
Bridge | American Vintage Synchronized Tremolo |
Tuning Heads | Fender/Gotoh Vintage Style |
Hardware Finish | Nickel/chrome |
Case | Incase® gig bag |
Unique features | 5 tremolo springs installed at factory No back plate String tree slightly further from the nut |
The John Mayer Signature in Olympic White 5 tremolo springs pre-installed and no back plate. Not even screw holes… In comparison to the other two strats, the string tree is placed further from the (synthetic bone) nut The Signature comes with a (repro) signature 🙂 The Incase® gig bag. Notice the security wristbands on the handle: This guitar has been played at the Oktoberfest.
The ’59 Custom Shop Relic Stratocaster
This Stratocaster was made in 2013 and sold at Just Music in Munich (check out the In The Blues video made at the store). It is not a Master Built. The spec sheet was kindly mailed to me by Fender support since the owner of the guitar had lost his copy.
Specs
Body | 2 Piece Sorted Alder |
Finish | Nitro Lacquer |
Neck | Birdseye A |
Neck Profile | 60 Style Oval „C“ |
Fretboard | Sorted Rosweood |
Radius | 9,5“ (241 mm) |
Scale Length | 25.5“ (648mm) |
Number of Frets | 21 |
Fret Size | USE Sanko 6105 |
Fretboard Inlay | Micarta White |
Nut Material | Bone |
Nut Width | 1.650“ (42 mm) |
Pickups | HW Strat MD Fat 50 |
Switching | 5-Position Blade |
Control | Master Volume, Neck Tone, Middle Tone |
Bridge | American Vintage Strat Bridge Relic |
Tuning Heads | Vintage Fender Logo Relic |
Hardware Finish | Chrome/Nickel |
Case | FCS Strat/ Tele Blonde |
Black body with white pickguard and rosewood fretboard: A classic look The Fender Custom Shop Blonde Case Relic close-up Relic on the bottom side Bridge and PU relic. The corrosion looks rather authentic Birdseye maple neck with relic’ed
nitro lacquer finish
The Amp
- Career AF Tube Amp by Felleretta
For the price point, this is an amazing hardwired amp. I actually started shooting the video with the Marshall 2525C Mini Jubilee. However, I decided to switch to the Career about halfway through because I preferred its darker sound.
The Mic and the Mic Pre’s
- Sennheiser MD421 U4. A dynamic mic. I had the bass roll-off on “M”.
- Neumann U87ai. As usual, I set this up to capture my narrative. It also doubles as a room mic for the amp. I usually set it to the figure of 8 patterns because the sideway rejection makes the different levels of the amp and my talking work. This way I don’t have to constantly reset the mic gain as the amp is of course way louder than my voice.
- A Designs Pacifica P1
Stratocaster Video Mixdown and Specs Music
I mixed the Audio in Logic Pro X. On my voiceover, I did some EQing with the FabFilter Q3 and let the Izotope Nectar 2 handle the dynamics.
The guitars were processed through the UAD Neve 1073 plugin and I pushed the line amp by 5 dB here. In addition to that, I did a bit of level adjustment on a region level in Logic. On the master bus, I used the Fabfilter Pro L2, which I pretty much left on the default settings with the style set to „modern“. The Pro L2 was pushed by 7.2 dB.
The Specs Music was inspired by my recent acquisition, the DOD Rubberneck analog delay. You can hear Brian Wampler and Blake Wyland talk about this great Pedal 9 minutes into this episode on their „Chasing Tone“ – Guitar Podcast. I used the corresponding Strat in the music to every Specsheet. We didn’t use the Am Pro one for pacing reasons, but you can have a listen (and look) at it here. All sounds such as the acoustics and the amp were captured with the Royer 121 ribbon mic.