The Working Musician's Strat, Refined
If you've ever picked up a Stratocaster, you know the feeling — that instant familiarity, the way it just sits right in your hands. The Fender American Professional II Stratocaster takes everything you already love about the Strat and tightens it up with sixty years of real-world feedback. This one sports smooth rolled fingerboard edges, a "Super-Natural" satin finish and a newly sculpted neck heel that make sliding up to the higher frets feel effortless. The maple fingerboard version has a clean, snappy look with black dot inlays, and the alder body with gloss urethane finish delivers that classic Strat resonance you'd expect from a guitar built in Corona, California.
Fender didn't mess with the soul of the Stratocaster here — they just sanded off the rough edges. The V-Mod II Stratocaster single-coil pickups are more articulate than ever while retaining bell-like chime and warmth, and the upgraded 2-point tremolo with a cold-rolled steel block increases sustain, clarity and high-end sparkle. There's also a push-push function on the second tone knob that sneaks the neck pickup into positions one and two on the selector switch — a subtle trick that opens up some surprisingly fat tones without cluttering up the control layout. This is a Strat for players who want the vintage voice with none of the vintage quirks.
Whether you're tracking in the studio, gigging every weekend, or just looking for a Strat that feels dialed-in from day one, the American Pro II delivers. It's built for players who actually play.
V-Mod II Pickups: Classic Chime, Modern Clarity
Fender's pickup guru, Tim Shaw created a new breed of V-Mod pickups. Fittingly dubbed the V-Mod II pickups, each pickup delivers all the classic chime that defined the Strats of old with drastically enhanced clarity and articulation. These aren't the ice-pick-in-the-ear single-coils you might remember from budget Strats. The V-Mod II set is voiced specifically for each position — the neck pickup gives you warmth without mud, the middle pickup sits perfectly in a mix, and the bridge pickup has bite without harshness.
What makes these pickups special is how they respond to your playing. Roll back the volume and the treble-bleed circuit preserves treble tone when lowering the pickup volume, so your sound stays articulate even when you dial things back. And that push-push tone control? It adds the neck pickup to the signal no matter what switch position you're using, which means you can layer in some low-end warmth to the bridge or bridge/middle positions without switching away from them. It's a small feature that opens up a surprising amount of tonal ground.
Run these pickups through a clean amp and you'll get that glassy, articulate Strat spank. Push them into overdrive and they clean up beautifully when you back off the guitar's volume. They're versatile enough to cover everything from R&B and funk to blues, rock, and country — anywhere a Strat has ever belonged.
The Deep C Neck: Fast, Comfortable, Familiar
The American Professional II Deep "C" neck profile is slim at the nut and fills out gradually as it approaches the neck joint to create a natural feel that's perfect for chording and single note playing alike. It's not a thin shred neck, and it's not a chunky vintage baseball bat — it's right in the middle, where most hands feel at home. The nut width is a standard 1.685 inches, and the 9.5" fingerboard radius is flat enough for comfortable bending without feeling like a fretboard built for speed metal.
The hand-rolled fingerboard edges and Super-Natural satin finish provide a supremely comfortable feel. That satin finish on the back of the neck feels fast and broken-in right out of the case — no stickiness, no drag, just smooth movement up and down the fretboard. The 22 narrow tall frets are the same size Fender uses at the Custom Shop, giving you plenty of room for bending and vibrato without feeling like you're wrestling oversized fret wire. And the sculpted neck heel? It's contoured so your hand doesn't bump into a blocky joint when you're playing above the 15th fret.
The maple fingerboard adds a bit of snap and brightness to the overall tone. If you prefer a slightly warmer, more vintage-looking aesthetic, this model is also available with a rosewood fingerboard, but the maple version here delivers that crisp, snappy response that cuts through a mix.
Hardware Built to Perform
This Stratocaster features a two-point tremolo bridge with vintage-style saddles for superior tuning stability, tremolo action and ease of adjustment – and the upgraded cold-rolled steel block increases sustain, clarity and high-end sparkle. The two-point design stays in tune better than older six-screw tremolos, and the pop-in tremolo arm means you're not constantly tightening or loosening a screw to get the right tension. The bridge is smooth, responsive, and built for real-world use — whether you're adding subtle vibrato or diving down a whole step.
The bone nut contributes to better sustain and tone transfer from the strings to the neck, and the standard Fender cast/sealed tuners hold pitch reliably. The hardware finish is nickel/chrome, and the guitar comes with a 3-ply mint green pickguard and aged white plastics that give it a clean, classic look. The neck plate is an asymmetric 4-bolt design with "Fender AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL II" engraved on it.
This guitar is strung from the factory with Fender USA 250L nickel-plated steel strings in .009-.042 gauge — a balanced set that works well for most playing styles. The 25.5-inch scale length is standard Stratocaster, giving you that familiar string tension and bright, articulate tone.
Product Features:
- Body: Alder with gloss urethane finish in Black
- Neck: Maple, bolt-on, with "Super-Natural" satin urethane finish and rolled fingerboard edges
- Fingerboard: Maple, 9.5" radius, with black dot inlays
- Frets: 22, narrow tall
- Scale Length: 25.5" (648 mm)
- Nut: Bone, 1.685" width (42.8 mm)
- Pickups: Three V-Mod II single-coil Stratocaster pickups (SSS configuration)
- Bridge: 2-point synchronized tremolo with cold-rolled steel block and pop-in tremolo arm
- Controls: Master volume, tone 1 (neck/middle pickups), tone 2 with push-push function (bridge pickup, adds neck pickup in positions 1 and 2), 5-position blade switch
- Hardware: Nickel/chrome finish, Fender standard cast/sealed staggered tuners
- Electronics: Treble bleed circuit maintains highs when reducing volume
- Strings: Fender USA 250L (.009-.042 gauge)
- Made in USA (Corona, California)
Brand: Fender
Model: American Professional II Stratocaster
SKU: 0113902706
Condition: New
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