Every time I hear Matthew play, I can't help but to press pause and pick up my strat. It's hypnotic, uncanny and overpowering. Can't think of a better compliment or source of inspiration.
"WOW". Big thank you to Fender. What a gift. It sounds great Matthew. When I first listened to you playing, I thought you were really good. But now you have progressed to be an even better player. The sky is the limit for you Matthew. Go for your dreams, there is nothing stopping you. All the best from London, England. (UK).
@@vaibhavkaza. I live in London, England, (UK). My cousin also lives in London, but she lives thousands of miles away from me. She lives in London, Kentucky, USA. "dawg". There is also a London, Canada, north of Lake Erie. Now you know where three London's are "dawg".
Just listened to “Reflection” on Spotify and I never thought I would hear Jimi, SRV, and EVH jam on one track together. Then I remembered… this is one guy. Unbelievable playing Matthew. You’re an inspiration to all guitar players. Keep it up!
Congratulations for making it on to Fenders radar! First of many times to come surely. Delighted to see them sending instruments out to real artists who are also content creators. Love the new music too of course!!
Thanks for the honest review, lots of people may not realize that Fender sent you this in the hopes you'd create an advertisement, but what we need more of is someone giving all the good and bad about a product, regardless of what the people who gave it to you think.
Just received this 61 Strat in Fiesta Red and the guitar was perfect right-out-of- the-box!!!! Set up, intonation, and action are spot-on!!!! Kudos to Fender for making a fine instrument!!!! Also, the slab rosewood fret board was uniform in color and dark throughout the entire fretboard!!!!
Good luck to your band and channel also...all the practice it takes to be a guitarist with the diversity you've achieved takes sooo much time, so you deserve the best future man. Cheers!!! ✌Darrick from Seattle wa
What this channel needs is a playlist on "How to play like Mathew Scott".. like favourite licks, how he sees the fretboard, favourite/go-to scales etc. Kind of the like the bending style video! Just a suggestion - awesome content and awesome playing man!
Great job, Matthew. I like that Fender kept the 7.25" radius, continued putting the string tree in the correct spot like they did on the AVRI post 2012 & American Original guitars, the clay dots are a nice vintage accurate touch, and 5.7K pickups are definitely an improvement in getting closer to that vintage strat sound. ✌️ Thanks for touching on the nitro lacquer, the weight, the neck profile, and pickups. ✌️
Is the neck profile a chunky C ? I have a nerve in the web of my thumb that makes my hand go to sleep immediately if the neck is too thin. I have a LesPaul Special II that I can’t even play. I need a baseball bat neck.
So strange seeing you with something other than a vintage strat😂 sick video as always man, loved hearing it through a loud rig. Not many people demo this way
: ) a friend of mine went to see Robin Trower a long time ago. we were young and both had Gibsons. he said "well, I see why he plays Strats now... it screams thru that Marshall. "
Yeah, it's seems almost rude of Matthew to be playing something that's not been buried for forty years under a combine harvester next to a large vat of pig's slurry.
@@frankstein5967 Robin Trower is definitely one of the best players ever, but like Rory Gallagher he is a guitarists guitarist who has to be seen to be understood. He has always worked really hard and strictly. He was talking about how form and discipline are the best tools in your toolbox to finding your voice. He is what 80 now and he is still a mind blowing performer. I have all of his albums but no turntable, he really sounds good in analog stereo. He, James Dewar, and Reg Isidore are my favorite iteration. Trower’s sweep picking is second to none, with Carlos Santana right behind. “Fool and Me” and “Little Bit of Sympathy “ are amazing in their form and precision, presence that so many other artists lacked. And he still plays 11s to keep his hands strong. I saw in KC in 1976 75 maybe, but I couldn’t believe how he could go from Bridge of Sighs to the delicacy of In This Place. People just stood there with their mouths open at his virtuoso ability. As far as I know his board was a Mutron Wah.
Your intro sounded killer I don't think there is a better off the shelf Strat, your attack/attitude with smoking amp is the best advertisement Fender could have! perfect tone!
@@soofitnsexy No I haven’t, but I have played an original 61, and the measurements seem to bear out that it is pretty close to the original, the frets it seems aren’t as wide.
Your playing is phenomenal, even to the point of hypnotic. I love that your version of noodling is musical enough to feel like I’m being taken on a journey or told a story even with just a few seconds of playing. What really does it for me in this, though, is your tone. I’m not a tone hound and try to accept whatever sounds I’m being presented with by a player, but the tones you displayed in this video were simply gorgeous. It’s like the epitome of what I imagine to be great Strat tones. Superb content and playing, sir.
Great Summary of this guitar .I think Fender got a few things right this time.They issued this series in a Fiesta Red which had been missing in the Color Choices .And the Radius is Vintage Radius .
I really like that, the 7.25 radius is the thing I have missed. 9.5s are so so, but these Mullet Master compound radi are sacrilege. If someone wants that I think Ibanez is out there. Fender had 7.25 radius. And the thick C that’s a working man’s guitar and blues is traditionally working man’s music. I never cared for poodle pop, or any of that. Shreds in good taste are fine, like David Gilmour. But Rory Gallagher is my style. He played that 61 Strat of his until his sweat wore the paint off. Fender makes a Custom Shop Tribute to him and it is a 61, Strat. The sledgehammer!
@@michaelgreen5206 I know, the tone, before he used Les Pauls his blues tone just comes out of a Strat especially the 61. The bend up, bend down of a 7.25 neck and if you drop it to Eb, it just says Texas… I think the 61 is an epic guitar it has a soul!
A great review! You know that you are being noticed when Fender starts sending you guitars! Stellar playing, but it's not quite the same sound as your old Strat... and you are a very humble person!
The sound of this Strat is killer, but then again it also comes down to the skill, talent, and hands of the player, which is clearly evident here! 🔥🎸👏🏼🤘
especially if you play single coils,more dynamic range and more noise when cranked i always feel they have their ways of sounding more legitimate just playing regular chords clean without having to put in much effort compared to a humbucker, at least if you have an amp that can do the beatiful bass reproduction justice, humbuckers can be bassy, but when they are, they're just too strong, singles are just right for that bass but handling that gritty dirty single noise with the overdrive is some level of control, especially the very high registers are very gritty like a very talky kind of singing, but that dirt is what makes it sound fat despite of the singles :D evevn if you use the neck pickup it comes with those undertones (i swear they're like overtones but lower), like the negative of the harmonic shit you can hear off the guitar that isn't amplified when you do legato and the such, it takes a bit of that in, overdriven single coil neck pickup basically sounds halfway like harmonizer with the strong overtones that sound lower than the fundamental, now every string instrument is a bit liek a saw wave so there's overtones, but there's an obvious double voice in those in how little the ampltiude diminishes for the steps i always feel likes strats and teles are way superior for fingerstyle electric playting too, i thought it was because of the tension on the strings because of how the bridge is and the such, and it patrtially is, but most of it is really down to the bigger dynamic range of the singels i've learned over the years, you simply can't play really soft parts on a humbucker with out minor accents popping out way too hard playing singles with a decent level of gain brings in a lot of artifacts you have to deal with, if you're only used to humbuckers, you're probably very light handed on things, on a humbucker it's basiclaly impossible to play really soft, and a small difference makes a lot of difference, they are inferior for dynamics, and don't convert as well for an acoustic player, strats need to be attacked a bit more to really get the loud out, but you can full on pluck and slap and hook shit and it'll still sound right, at which point most humbuckers will just sound like gash but yeah, getting that kind of overdrive on singles, comes with an insane noise floor, especially if you want the highs to sound fat enough wihtout using slapback delays or chorus my first guitar was a cheap strat clone with singles, playing in an old house without griounded power sockets lol i learned to always keep my fingers over the strings whenever i'm not playing to keep the buzz out, singles are so much worse when it comes to static noise, even though i have way better guitars and amps and cleaner power now than i had then my main axe has been a HSS strat clone for 10 years now, where i don't have the tremolo/whammy bar inserted, but it has a floating brigdge set up so i do use my hand palm to bend up exclusively to complement left hand bends and virbrtos' (like do a slow bend upward, pick a trickly a pinch harmonic, then yank the bridge for a wide vibrato), but those are mostly humbucker tricks that are kind of tricky to pull off on singles so yeah the playing dirty on singles impresses me most even being used to strats on singles too, i opt for the humucker almost always when it 's time to rip, because it avoids a lot of feedback noise and other things you actively have to fight, and it compresses the dynamic range with makes it a bit easier for shredding without compressors or cranking the gain all the way on singles you have to, to get dirty enough, but you do get a lot of those undertoney fatness thingies as a result of it, which is a blessing and a curse lol
Hello Matt, great review ! I have the same olympic white, vintage II 1961 strat. Mine weights around 7.25 pounds ( 3.3 kg )... Interestingly enoguh, my '59 custom shop strat ( two pieces alder body ) - weights around 9.3 pounds ( 4.1 kg ) what the ... ?!
Mathew, I'm and old fart that has loved fender strats and fender amps, all my life, i had a super reverb I traded for when I was aa teenager and didn't even know what I had, I just knew it sounded right, and would like you to know I think you are and incredibly well spoken and talented young man who deserves the best, keep on picking and keep the genre alive, thank you for your content, Fred Colorado!
Thanks to Fender for giving this guitar a spin at Matt so we can hear what is this guitar capable of in the right hands, on the right gear, at the right volume :D Always happy when the notification pops up for content from you mate. Cheers
Your playing is really on point man, great dynamics and feel. I'm coming back around to my strats after at least a decade of Les Pauls so these tones are great benchmarks to strive for.
Thats pretty cool! They'll never be able to perfectly recreate the effects of time, but its good to see them trying at a more affordable price than a CS. Awesome playing nice review!
Thank you for the deep dive I of the new fender. Sounds great!! Thanks for the honest review. Appreciated. Also thank you for the links to your new songs too!!
Awesome playing!! They could not have picked anyone better. I dig this strat, reminds me of John Frusciante's white strat. I'm assuming that this is part of the reason you played that Dani California esque portion 🤟
I was really happy to see you did a demo on this guitar, I’m super interested in them and it’s nice to see someone demo one with a really good knowledge of the real thing
Dude the intro jam! You’re recording style is so beautiful, it‘s one of the most professional and juicy tones I heard from a guitar „youtuber“. I love how much stereo with your recorded guitar has, it tickles my ears in an awesome way. Crazy good video! ✌🏼👀 btw: I never thought you would play some dani california licks :D
Sir, as always you sound INCREDIBLE and the tones you chase catch and celebrate are nothing short of GRAIL LEVEL sonic bliss. Thanks for being the murderer you are, laying out the kill shots a riff at a time. STRAIGHT FKN GLORY 🔥🎸🤘🏼🤩♥️
Thanks for coming into my life and introducing this instrument. A new soulmate and body extension friend. I started on a '64 strat and as they say.... the circle goes 'round.
The amount of feel or soul in your sound brother is similar to Rory Gallagher, you even resemble him a bit. Great playing!!! And breakdown of this awesome stratocaster. Peace✌
In terms of the glossy feel, you can’t really compare the two. Fender isn’t doing a vintage series in terms of making it feel the same as a worn vintage guitar. They are going for what an off the shelf vintage guitar would have been like back in the day. I bet your vintage guitars at one time felt glossy and sticky as well.
I wouldn’t call the highlighted “issues” as such, it’s more of a setup preference - no Strats came out the factory with a decked trem, frets - again, they never came with jumbos, change too much and then you’re detracting from the whole point of a vintage reissue. Also - speculation on the nitro paint formula, I wouldn’t comment unless I knew for sure. Fair point on the body weight though, but most off the shelf Strats are 8lbs+ nowadays.
Sweeeet re-issue Fender fandangorgeous! Servin' up those sweet #StevieSnacks, one delicious blues lick at a time!!! Woww @Fender and Holy mother of woooowww Matthew 🤤🥵 will you please come play live in Orange County California? My brain auto-subbed a while ago 😁😅 Thank you brother 😎
Sounds killer & looks great, i’m definitely interested in this one. Agree they probably could have spec’d a slightly larger fret size, but everything else is about as close to what i’d be asking for in a vintage style strat as Fender could get. Looks like they have gone with a decent (steel) bridge block too! Nice one Matt !
Have an American Professional I with similar C-neck shape and with narrow tall frets and had no problem playing it or transitioning from medium-jumbo frets.
Matthew, I was happy to hear you recorded in Austin, but I wish I'd known you were that close, even too busy, but I would like to see you in person. I'm nobody special , just an old guy that still plays and enjoys the old, vintage gear. So take care, and enjoy whatever life has in store for you.
beautiful playing always ,regarding the paint ,yours originals 50's and 60's were like that when new! ,I have a 64 avri and after 6 years is checking ,yellowing ,getting marks ,cheaps ,cracks swirls ,aging nice!
you seem like you could be a touring musician for a major band. Your guitar tone and skill is spot on. You are way more talented than 90% of modern guitar players in a every genre
11:31 Not to be a bo-bo but, where are you getting that idea? With the popularity of relics, I think a lot of people want a nitro guitar for the very fact that it will age like a thin-skinned nitro guitar of old. That's why the Road Worns were popular and are so hard to come by on the used market now. And they're getting more and more expensive. I think a lot of people interested in a vintage spec Fender would love for it to age like a vintage instrument would.
@@MatthewScottmusic Yes, I believe that. Most of the reviewers who don't have the knowledge about vintage guitars like you do, say that it's nitro lacquer therefore it will age nicely. Everyone is speaking how they want their guitar to have a "honest wear". And people are buing into fender nitro guitars thinking that if they play them enough they will look like Your guitar. Otherwise why not finish it in urethane? But on the other hand I understand fender - dealing with returns of chipped guitars would be insane.
@@MatthewScottmusic Why would I care about a guitar being nitro unless it's gonna age how they did back in the 50's and 60's? if it does wear right there is no point in getting it over urethane.
It feels better than Poly. Some people think it sounds better.. just two reasons some people are convinced to purchase nitro. Rather than it turning into a relic.
If you’re happy to spend almost £2k on a guitar that probably has a wonky neck pocket, horrendous set up and average fret work then the American Vintage II is perfect for you.
@@3rdtonefromthesun no I’m talking sending multiple guitars back to Fender because of poorly built guitars. Fender are trying to produce too many guitars nowadays and it shows. If you want a good strat or tele, don’t buy Fender. Are there good ones? Of course. But the bad ones are occurring more and more often literally by the month.
@@JonWickensMusic I got 7lb 9oz sunburst, but had a minor body join line, exchanged it for another one at 7lb 15oz. Spot on, the neck pocket is irrelevant as the mating surface is perfectly flat, SRV could fit a pick in his neck pocket... The instrument is really lively and resonant and plays well and sounds awesome, no concerns with the fretwork on either but I had to set up to taste - more relief and decked trem. Sorry you weren’t satisfied, yes, plenty of options out there but if you want a vintage spec Fender then you’re not going to look beyond the brand, people want the novelty of the whole package and that is why these have been hugely popular. I have other guitars with modern accruements and tasty specs but you’re gonna get one of these because you know that this is exactly what you want.
@@3rdtonefromthesun I haven’t bought one if that’s what you think. I work in a guitar store and have handled many of them. It’s nothing to do with the gap in the neck pocket. A lot of them have wonky neck pockets meaning the whole neck itself is slanted in the pocket. The low E side of the neck is much lower than the high E side. Numerous with that issue. Others with shoddy fretwork. Tons of issues. A decent shop’s QC will mean the customer may not see this, but a lot of shops don’t QC fender guitars because they always used to be so good out the box. It’s just not the case anymore.
spraying nitro lacquer is still fairly hazardous, but the formula used way back when was even more toxic- I would imagine since Fender is based in the Communist Peoples Republic of California (sorry I'm one of those people that love and really hate that state) I'm sure they have to change the formula to even be allowed to still spray it.
I totally understand your point about the weight. Actually, for me that would keep me from buying it. A strat should be closer to 7 lbs for sure. I would also like the bigger frets too. Thanks for the honesty! Your playing is incredible. Love the channel.
Been following you since you started a few months. Everytime I click on a new video I hear some improvement in your playing. Very cool dude. You are the real thing
Thank you Matthew for providing an excellent and un-biased review, pointing out the positive and negative. Have already sat through a few other Tubers shamelessly gushing over these new Fenders without really providing any detailed content on the build quality and specs. This covered all the bases.
That’s a really kewl Strat. Loved 💕hearing you play it. I recently purchased a Fender MIJ ‘60s’ Strat that is a reissue of the 60s Strats. One thing I really like is the neck profile is smaller for Japanese players and also my small hand. My guitar has a lot of similarities to yours and a few differences like you have clay dots and my guitar has the regular white plastic style. I wanted to have a vintage style guitar before going all in on a 59 Strat. So far it’s a winner and I’m sure a vintage or even a vintage correct reissue will be ok for me. I don’t play out, I just enjoy sitting around the house playing for myself and my crabby Springer Spaniel. FYI: you are really going places. Relax and enjoy the journey because huge success is just around the corner. And please keep posting. I love 💖 what you’re doing. 👍☮️🌞🎸🎤🎵❤️
A capable guitar player should always do these reviews because honestly... we already know the scale length & pickup configurations of a Strat etc...just play the thing & let us hear it... thank you Matthew 🔥🔥🔥 awesome playing my friend.
Makes so much sense that Fender would send you their 'Vintage'. I'm thinking of buying the Fiesta Red, so it's very useful to compare your playing of this guitar with your previous videos of genuine vintage guitars. Love your channel.
Matt could make an 80s Harmony with action you could walk a dog under sound like a million dollars. Been playing for longer than Matt's been alive and he's easily the most underrated UA-cam player around. Wow.....
Nice honest review .. one of the best on UA-cam.. Fender got some specs right on these but the finish is a let down, the reason why 99% of the people who buy these will want them to fade and crack and wear in .. that’s the point.. it’s supposed to be vintage! As regards to weight, sub 8 pounds for a Strat is absolutely fine and actually vintage accurate. They are tons of vintage 50s and 60s Strats out there that weigh over 7-7.5 pounds .. (Jimi’s Woodstock strat is nearly 8 pounds) the idea that all vintage examples are lightweight is just not true. the American Vintage range from 2012-17 is the one you want .. they got everything right with those and they are never to be repeated as we have seen with these Vintage 2 and the American Original range.
Jeez....friggin rippin chops there buddy! I'm teetering between one of these Vintage II axes...I love the '61slab, but the blue '73 maple neck axe is gorgeous! Cheers!
Fender was smart. They sent their guitar to a player who knows how to make a guitar sound the best it can.
Congratulations Matthew!
Fender keeps making the same guitars and marketing them differently LOL
I hope you don't mean that American Standard that they made for 35 years.
Its a guitar look like old fender vintage played by genuine stratis vintage fingers
They’ve sent them to every UA-camr with any kind of fan base.
@@lustycourtier2425 yeah it's the new shiny object.
I don't think Fender could have asked anyone more proficient at displaying what a stratocaster sounds like than you Mathew.
Tyler Bryant?
@@gui-texzan7477 who?
As well as Matthew plays….I’d say Eric Johnson.
Festus McCraken maybe?
@@rodrigogomes2064 he’s a strat loving blues rocker
Every time I hear Matthew play, I can't help but to press pause and pick up my strat. It's hypnotic, uncanny and overpowering. Can't think of a better compliment or source of inspiration.
"WOW". Big thank you to Fender. What a gift. It sounds great Matthew.
When I first listened to you playing, I thought you were really good. But now you have progressed to be an even better player.
The sky is the limit for you Matthew. Go for your dreams, there is nothing stopping you. All the best from London, England. (UK).
dawg we know where london is
sweet message, i agree lol
@@vaibhavkaza I happen to live in Southern Ontario, Canada. Near me is a rather large city called London.
@@vaibhavkaza. I live in London, England, (UK). My cousin also lives in London, but she lives thousands of miles away from me. She lives in London, Kentucky, USA. "dawg". There is also a London, Canada, north of Lake Erie. Now you know where three London's are "dawg".
@@Teachering Thank you for commenting. I appreciate your input 😄
@@edwardgriffin8092 it was just a joke, i respect whatever you're saying. as I mentioned, sweet message still!
Sounds fantastic. The intro jam was KILLER!! That guitar and those amps, very hard to go wrong!
The intro jam is one of the tasty licks from his newly released music. Available on streaming platforms now 👌
Yeah what that intro was insane
Just listened to “Reflection” on Spotify and I never thought I would hear Jimi, SRV, and EVH jam on one track together. Then I remembered… this is one guy. Unbelievable playing Matthew. You’re an inspiration to all guitar players. Keep it up!
Congratulations for making it on to Fenders radar! First of many times to come surely. Delighted to see them sending instruments out to real artists who are also content creators. Love the new music too of course!!
I’m holding out for the Matthew Scott signature Strat! Enjoyed the video and keep at it!
Thanks for the honest review, lots of people may not realize that Fender sent you this in the hopes you'd create an advertisement, but what we need more of is someone giving all the good and bad about a product, regardless of what the people who gave it to you think.
Just received this 61 Strat in Fiesta Red and the guitar was perfect right-out-of- the-box!!!! Set up, intonation, and action are spot-on!!!! Kudos to Fender for making a fine instrument!!!! Also, the slab rosewood fret board was uniform in color and dark throughout the entire fretboard!!!!
Good luck to your band and channel also...all the practice it takes to be a guitarist with the diversity you've achieved takes sooo much time, so you deserve the best future man. Cheers!!! ✌Darrick from Seattle wa
What this channel needs is a playlist on "How to play like Mathew Scott".. like favourite licks, how he sees the fretboard, favourite/go-to scales etc.
Kind of the like the bending style video!
Just a suggestion - awesome content and awesome playing man!
I second this!!
Great job, Matthew. I like that Fender kept the 7.25" radius, continued putting the string tree in the correct spot like they did on the AVRI post 2012 & American Original guitars, the clay dots are a nice vintage accurate touch, and 5.7K pickups are definitely an improvement in getting closer to that vintage strat sound. ✌️ Thanks for touching on the nitro lacquer, the weight, the neck profile, and pickups. ✌️
Is the neck profile a chunky C ? I have a nerve in the web of my thumb that makes my hand go to sleep immediately if the neck is too thin. I have a LesPaul Special II that I can’t even play. I need a baseball bat neck.
A honest demo by a great player who knows his gear, thanks Matt!
So strange seeing you with something other than a vintage strat😂 sick video as always man, loved hearing it through a loud rig. Not many people demo this way
: ) a friend of mine went to see Robin Trower a long time ago. we were young and both had Gibsons.
he said "well, I see why he plays Strats now... it screams thru that Marshall. "
Yeah, it's seems almost rude of Matthew to be playing something that's not been buried for forty years under a combine harvester next to a large vat of pig's slurry.
@@frankstein5967 Robin Trower is definitely one of the best players ever, but like Rory Gallagher he is a guitarists guitarist who has to be seen to be understood. He has always worked really hard and strictly. He was talking about how form and discipline are the best tools in your toolbox to finding your voice. He is what 80 now and he is still a mind blowing performer. I have all of his albums but no turntable, he really sounds good in analog stereo. He, James Dewar, and Reg Isidore are my favorite iteration. Trower’s sweep picking is second to none, with Carlos Santana right behind. “Fool and Me” and “Little Bit of Sympathy “ are amazing in their form and precision, presence that so many other artists lacked. And he still plays 11s to keep his hands strong. I saw in KC in 1976 75 maybe, but I couldn’t believe how he could go from Bridge of Sighs to the delicacy of In This Place. People just stood there with their mouths open at his virtuoso ability. As far as I know his board was a Mutron Wah.
💖 I can't stop listening! You have so much soul in your playing!💖
Your intro sounded killer I don't think there is a better off the shelf Strat, your attack/attitude with smoking amp is the best advertisement Fender could have! perfect tone!
Fender hit a huge home run with this one! Glad they sent you one to demo for us.
its avg at best
very nice guitar and playing ...the tele too! 👌
@@soofitnsexy I disagree with you, he may have tried to jam too many styles into his video but he is still a good guitarist.
@@Bbbbad724 the guitar silly....not the guitar player...have u played it yet?
@@soofitnsexy No I haven’t, but I have played an original 61, and the measurements seem to bear out that it is pretty close to the original, the frets it seems aren’t as wide.
hello mathew!!! i'm just a 52 yr old metal high gain rhythm dude...but man i must say your playing is superb...love your channel...cheers brother!!!🤘
Don't ever sell yourself short Matthew...They couldn't have selected a better ambassador to spotlight their strats! Gr8 guitar and gr8 vid!
Your playing is phenomenal, even to the point of hypnotic. I love that your version of noodling is musical enough to feel like I’m being taken on a journey or told a story even with just a few seconds of playing. What really does it for me in this, though, is your tone. I’m not a tone hound and try to accept whatever sounds I’m being presented with by a player, but the tones you displayed in this video were simply gorgeous. It’s like the epitome of what I imagine to be great Strat tones. Superb content and playing, sir.
Great Summary of this guitar .I think Fender got a few things right this time.They issued this series in a Fiesta Red which had been missing in the Color Choices .And the Radius is Vintage Radius .
I really like that, the 7.25 radius is the thing I have missed. 9.5s are so so, but these Mullet Master compound radi are sacrilege. If someone wants that I think Ibanez is out there. Fender had 7.25 radius. And the thick C that’s a working man’s guitar and blues is traditionally working man’s music. I never cared for poodle pop, or any of that. Shreds in good taste are fine, like David Gilmour. But Rory Gallagher is my style. He played that 61 Strat of his until his sweat wore the paint off. Fender makes a Custom Shop Tribute to him and it is a 61, Strat. The sledgehammer!
@@Bbbbad724 Don't forget Gary Moore, who also played a 61 Stratocaster!!
@@michaelgreen5206 I know, the tone, before he used Les Pauls his blues tone just comes out of a Strat especially the 61. The bend up, bend down of a 7.25 neck and if you drop it to Eb, it just says Texas… I think the 61 is an epic guitar it has a soul!
@@Bbbbad724 Agree!!
The right man for the job! Sounds great as usual Matthew!
Please come again!
That guitar sounds really damn good. It's actually one of the best sounding new Fenders I have heard in a long time.
Just about to say the same..
he could probably make a squier bullet sound good tbh
Well it’s running through his amps CRANKED which no one does anymore… that’s a huge part of the sound of this video.
@@snapascrew 🙄
@@snapascrew Exactly. The sound comes from the speaker of the amp.
DAAAAMMMMN that intro. Sounds like a song straight from the 70s, such huge and wild tone! That strat is screaming!!!
Just incredible playing Matthew! Great video.
Fender make the right decision to sent their guitar to Matthew. Terrific playing as always. Big thanks from Thailand for all the amazing video!
A great review! You know that you are being noticed when Fender starts sending you guitars! Stellar playing, but it's not quite the same sound as your old Strat... and you are a very humble person!
The sound of this Strat is killer, but then again it also comes down to the skill, talent, and hands of the player, which is clearly evident here! 🔥🎸👏🏼🤘
especially if you play single coils,more dynamic range and more noise when cranked
i always feel they have their ways of sounding more legitimate just playing regular chords clean without having to put in much effort compared to a humbucker, at least if you have an amp that can do the beatiful bass reproduction justice, humbuckers can be bassy, but when they are, they're just too strong, singles are just right for that bass
but handling that gritty dirty single noise with the overdrive is some level of control, especially the very high registers are very gritty like a very talky kind of singing, but that dirt is what makes it sound fat despite of the singles :D
evevn if you use the neck pickup it comes with those undertones (i swear they're like overtones but lower), like the negative of the harmonic shit you can hear off the guitar that isn't amplified when you do legato and the such, it takes a bit of that in, overdriven single coil neck pickup basically sounds halfway like harmonizer with the strong overtones that sound lower than the fundamental, now every string instrument is a bit liek a saw wave so there's overtones, but there's an obvious double voice in those in how little the ampltiude diminishes for the steps
i always feel likes strats and teles are way superior for fingerstyle electric playting too, i thought it was because of the tension on the strings because of how the bridge is and the such, and it patrtially is, but most of it is really down to the bigger dynamic range of the singels i've learned over the years, you simply can't play really soft parts on a humbucker with out minor accents popping out way too hard
playing singles with a decent level of gain brings in a lot of artifacts you have to deal with, if you're only used to humbuckers, you're probably very light handed on things, on a humbucker it's basiclaly impossible to play really soft, and a small difference makes a lot of difference, they are inferior for dynamics, and don't convert as well for an acoustic player, strats need to be attacked a bit more to really get the loud out, but you can full on pluck and slap and hook shit and it'll still sound right, at which point most humbuckers will just sound like gash
but yeah, getting that kind of overdrive on singles, comes with an insane noise floor, especially if you want the highs to sound fat enough wihtout using slapback delays or chorus
my first guitar was a cheap strat clone with singles, playing in an old house without griounded power sockets lol
i learned to always keep my fingers over the strings whenever i'm not playing to keep the buzz out, singles are so much worse when it comes to static noise, even though i have way better guitars and amps and cleaner power now than i had then
my main axe has been a HSS strat clone for 10 years now, where i don't have the tremolo/whammy bar inserted, but it has a floating brigdge set up so i do use my hand palm to bend up exclusively to complement left hand bends and virbrtos' (like do a slow bend upward, pick a trickly a pinch harmonic, then yank the bridge for a wide vibrato), but those are mostly humbucker tricks that are kind of tricky to pull off on singles
so yeah the playing dirty on singles impresses me most even being used to strats on singles too, i opt for the humucker almost always when it 's time to rip, because it avoids a lot of feedback noise and other things you actively have to fight, and it compresses the dynamic range with makes it a bit easier for shredding without compressors or cranking the gain all the way
on singles you have to, to get dirty enough, but you do get a lot of those undertoney fatness thingies as a result of it, which is a blessing and a curse lol
Your playing is amazing can’t wait for more of your music to come out
Holy crap, that thing sounds AMAZING! 👏
Hello Matt, great review ! I have the same olympic white, vintage II 1961 strat. Mine weights around 7.25 pounds ( 3.3 kg )... Interestingly enoguh, my '59 custom shop strat ( two pieces alder body ) - weights around 9.3 pounds ( 4.1 kg ) what the ... ?!
Mathew, I'm and old fart that has loved fender strats and fender amps, all my life, i had a super reverb I traded for when I was aa teenager and didn't even know what I had, I just knew it sounded right, and would like you to know I think you are and incredibly well spoken and talented young man who deserves the best, keep on picking and keep the genre alive, thank you for your content, Fred Colorado!
4:50 Some Frusciante vibes there I see :D. Great playing as usual!
Its dani California
@@mikefloyd3152 Indeed it is!
Thanks to Fender for giving this guitar a spin at Matt so we can hear what is this guitar capable of in the right hands, on the right gear, at the right volume :D Always happy when the notification pops up for content from you mate. Cheers
Your playing is really on point man, great dynamics and feel. I'm coming back around to my strats after at least a decade of Les Pauls so these tones are great benchmarks to strive for.
4:50 sounds like John. Love the content. You've been one of my favorite players for a long time, been following since 2k. Keep up the amazing work
Thank you for watching that long Peter.
Thats pretty cool! They'll never be able to perfectly recreate the effects of time, but its good to see them trying at a more affordable price than a CS. Awesome playing nice review!
Wow. That intro was something else. Excellent playing.
If Fender knows what they are doing at all, they will hire you as a consultant. Congrats Matt! Keep up the great work!
@MatthewScott I just got an email saying to text you on Telegram.... real? I don't have Telegram...
@@ninelivesrob not real
My absolute favorite year for strats, would absolutely LOVE to own one of these reissues!!
Sounds great, Matthew - thanks for the review! A guitar like this one is a lot more attainable than the real vintage Fenders.
Thank you for the deep dive I of the new fender. Sounds great!! Thanks for the honest review. Appreciated. Also thank you for the links to your new songs too!!
Early crew represent lol. Looking forward to playing one of these
Jesus, Matthew! I sometimes forget just how great of a guitarist you are! Had to pause the video, 90 seconds in, to shout that out🤘🏼😸🤘🏼
Great honest review . The small frets is a no go for me and I totally agree about the weight issue.
they're not the original vintage fretss. they are the tall vintage frets. they are as tall as jumbos.
They make you go to Custom Shop to get that combination, or someone like Grosh, Xotic.
The tone in the opening song of the video is the best! Absolutely love that sound!
Awesome playing!! They could not have picked anyone better. I dig this strat, reminds me of John Frusciante's white strat. I'm assuming that this is part of the reason you played that Dani California esque portion 🤟
I was really happy to see you did a demo on this guitar, I’m super interested in them and it’s nice to see someone demo one with a really good knowledge of the real thing
It sound awesome Matt , well with some of the best amps in the world. The fiesta red looks very good.
THAT GUITAR SOUNDS AMAZING BROTHER! JUST WOW!!!
Dude the intro jam! You’re recording style is so beautiful, it‘s one of the most professional and juicy tones I heard from a guitar „youtuber“. I love how much stereo with your recorded guitar has, it tickles my ears in an awesome way. Crazy good video! ✌🏼👀
btw: I never thought you would play some dani california licks :D
I do believe them 1st 60 seconds will move some product! Stellar playing!!
Nicely done my man!!..loving the guitar!!..🤩
I've been waiting for you to review a new strat for a while now, glad to finally see one on the channel!
Sir, as always you sound INCREDIBLE and the tones you chase catch and celebrate are nothing short of GRAIL LEVEL sonic bliss.
Thanks for being the murderer you are, laying out the kill shots a riff at a time. STRAIGHT FKN GLORY 🔥🎸🤘🏼🤩♥️
Thanks for coming into my life and introducing this instrument. A new soulmate and body extension friend. I started on a '64 strat and as they say....
the circle goes 'round.
The amount of feel or soul in your sound brother is similar to Rory Gallagher, you even resemble him a bit. Great playing!!! And breakdown of this awesome stratocaster. Peace✌
I wish he would put on some blush or eyeliner for us.
@@familyengineering5591 i think your sick, you should get so help.
@@familyengineering5591 just use Photoshop
The real Rory Gallagher was a blues god! RIP - but Matt will come really near, ... !
Same kind of playing a strat, ... !
@@markusm.lambers8893 Pretty sure this isn't true. Rory is dead and buried in Ireland. Matthew is not.
Thank you Matt! Great playing and review 🎸😎
Great sounding guitar! It looks gorgeous as well!!!
Fabulous tone & feel on that 1st track! That Strat is EXACTLY my style
In terms of the glossy feel, you can’t really compare the two. Fender isn’t doing a vintage series in terms of making it feel the same as a worn vintage guitar. They are going for what an off the shelf vintage guitar would have been like back in the day. I bet your vintage guitars at one time felt glossy and sticky as well.
I wouldn’t call the highlighted “issues” as such, it’s more of a setup preference - no Strats came out the factory with a decked trem, frets - again, they never came with jumbos, change too much and then you’re detracting from the whole point of a vintage reissue. Also - speculation on the nitro paint formula, I wouldn’t comment unless I knew for sure. Fair point on the body weight though, but most off the shelf Strats are 8lbs+ nowadays.
Sweeeet re-issue Fender fandangorgeous! Servin' up those sweet #StevieSnacks, one delicious blues lick at a time!!! Woww @Fender and Holy mother of woooowww Matthew 🤤🥵 will you please come play live in Orange County California? My brain auto-subbed a while ago 😁😅 Thank you brother 😎
Sounds killer & looks great, i’m definitely interested in this one. Agree they probably could have spec’d a slightly larger fret size, but everything else is about as close to what i’d be asking for in a vintage style strat as Fender could get. Looks like they have gone with a decent (steel) bridge block too! Nice one Matt !
Have an American Professional I with similar C-neck shape and with narrow tall frets and had no problem playing it or transitioning from medium-jumbo frets.
Matthew, I was happy to hear you recorded in Austin, but I wish I'd known you were that close, even too busy, but I would like to see you in person. I'm nobody special , just an old guy that still plays and enjoys the old, vintage gear. So take care, and enjoy whatever life has in store for you.
It sounds great!! Good on Fender for sending you gear to demo! You are going places, Matthew! They know it!!
Typo?
@@davidLPST howso?
@@stephenstevens6573 his names matthew not michael
@@usernameunk my bad, man...I was driving and texting...I feel like a dumbass. Thank you, man...I know that, of course
@@usernameunk I played, long term in a band and my guitar player was named Michael Scott...must have just come through on me
beautiful playing always ,regarding the paint ,yours originals 50's and 60's were like that when new! ,I have a 64 avri and after 6 years is checking ,yellowing ,getting marks ,cheaps ,cracks swirls ,aging nice!
you seem like you could be a touring musician for a major band. Your guitar tone and skill is spot on. You are way more talented than 90% of modern guitar players in a every genre
Congrats on getting some love from Fender! Watching you play...I need to practice more again.
I already had enough guitars. Now this came out…
Seems like a really fair, unbiased review. Sounds amazing, as always. Well done, Matthew.
11:31 Not to be a bo-bo but, where are you getting that idea? With the popularity of relics, I think a lot of people want a nitro guitar for the very fact that it will age like a thin-skinned nitro guitar of old. That's why the Road Worns were popular and are so hard to come by on the used market now. And they're getting more and more expensive. I think a lot of people interested in a vintage spec Fender would love for it to age like a vintage instrument would.
You think most people want the guitar to look like mine after sometime? I think people would be wanting a refund. But maybe not 🤣
@@MatthewScottmusic Yes, I believe that. Most of the reviewers who don't have the knowledge about vintage guitars like you do, say that it's nitro lacquer therefore it will age nicely. Everyone is speaking how they want their guitar to have a "honest wear". And people are buing into fender nitro guitars thinking that if they play them enough they will look like Your guitar. Otherwise why not finish it in urethane?
But on the other hand I understand fender - dealing with returns of chipped guitars would be insane.
@@MatthewScottmusic Why would I care about a guitar being nitro unless it's gonna age how they did back in the 50's and 60's? if it does wear right there is no point in getting it over urethane.
It feels better than Poly. Some people think it sounds better.. just two reasons some people are convinced to purchase nitro. Rather than it turning into a relic.
I asked fender about the lacquer and they told me its very similar to the og 50s and 60s finishes. No poly coating/filler. Fantastic playing!
If you’re happy to spend almost £2k on a guitar that probably has a wonky neck pocket, horrendous set up and average fret work then the American Vintage II is perfect for you.
Have you seen Gibson's latest offerings?? You're talking about minor setup work at best. Well, I'll find out tomorrow!
@@3rdtonefromthesun no I’m talking sending multiple guitars back to Fender because of poorly built guitars. Fender are trying to produce too many guitars nowadays and it shows. If you want a good strat or tele, don’t buy Fender. Are there good ones? Of course. But the bad ones are occurring more and more often literally by the month.
@@JonWickensMusic I got 7lb 9oz sunburst, but had a minor body join line, exchanged it for another one at 7lb 15oz. Spot on, the neck pocket is irrelevant as the mating surface is perfectly flat, SRV could fit a pick in his neck pocket...
The instrument is really lively and resonant and plays well and sounds awesome, no concerns with the fretwork on either but I had to set up to taste - more relief and decked trem.
Sorry you weren’t satisfied, yes, plenty of options out there but if you want a vintage spec Fender then you’re not going to look beyond the brand, people want the novelty of the whole package and that is why these have been hugely popular.
I have other guitars with modern accruements and tasty specs but you’re gonna get one of these because you know that this is exactly what you want.
@@3rdtonefromthesun I haven’t bought one if that’s what you think. I work in a guitar store and have handled many of them. It’s nothing to do with the gap in the neck pocket. A lot of them have wonky neck pockets meaning the whole neck itself is slanted in the pocket. The low E side of the neck is much lower than the high E side. Numerous with that issue. Others with shoddy fretwork. Tons of issues. A decent shop’s QC will mean the customer may not see this, but a lot of shops don’t QC fender guitars because they always used to be so good out the box. It’s just not the case anymore.
@@JonWickensMusic that’s fair enough my friend, I searched around until I got a good one.
Its so astonishing to see how similar I Matthew plays compared to my style but just sooooo much better and nuanced. Really inspiring!
spraying nitro lacquer is still fairly hazardous, but the formula used way back when was even more toxic- I would imagine since Fender is based in the Communist Peoples Republic of California (sorry I'm one of those people that love and really hate that state) I'm sure they have to change the formula to even be allowed to still spray it.
Pretty sure the formula is different in Tennessee at Gibson as well. However California probably has more strict rules on specifically spraying nitro.
Some friends say I'm to "Nerdy" When I talk about Fender & Gibson guitars , so it's nice to hear & see same kind of guys ....
I totally understand your point about the weight. Actually, for me that would keep me from buying it. A strat should be closer to 7 lbs for sure. I would also like the bigger frets too. Thanks for the honesty! Your playing is incredible. Love the channel.
It's a nice strat Matt. Glad they sent you one, you can really show what it can do.
Been following you since you started a few months. Everytime I click on a new video I hear some improvement in your playing. Very cool dude. You are the real thing
You deserve it, Matthew. You are probably one of the best players in UA-cam
Thank you Matthew for providing an excellent and un-biased review, pointing out the positive and negative. Have already sat through a few other Tubers shamelessly gushing over these new Fenders without really providing any detailed content on the build quality and specs. This covered all the bases.
That’s a really kewl Strat. Loved 💕hearing you play it.
I recently purchased a Fender MIJ ‘60s’ Strat that is a reissue of the 60s Strats. One thing I really like is the neck profile is smaller for Japanese players and also my small hand. My guitar has a lot of similarities to yours and a few differences like you have clay dots and my guitar has the regular white plastic style. I wanted to have a vintage style guitar before going all in on a 59 Strat. So far it’s a winner and I’m sure a vintage or even a vintage correct reissue will be ok for me. I don’t play out, I just enjoy sitting around the house playing for myself and my crabby Springer Spaniel.
FYI: you are really going places. Relax and enjoy the journey because huge success is just around the corner. And please keep posting. I love 💖 what you’re doing. 👍☮️🌞🎸🎤🎵❤️
❤ I love the vintage to 61 white Stratocaster Jimi Hendrix edition I want to own that someday
A capable guitar player should always do these reviews because honestly... we already know the scale length & pickup configurations of a Strat etc...just play the thing & let us hear it... thank you Matthew 🔥🔥🔥 awesome playing my friend.
Congrats man. Sounds amazing.
Makes so much sense that Fender would send you their 'Vintage'. I'm thinking of buying the Fiesta Red, so it's very useful to compare your playing of this guitar with your previous videos of genuine vintage guitars. Love your channel.
Matt could make an 80s Harmony with action you could walk a dog under sound like a million dollars. Been playing for longer than Matt's been alive and he's easily the most underrated UA-cam player around. Wow.....
Nice honest review .. one of the best on UA-cam..
Fender got some specs right on these but the finish is a let down, the reason why 99% of the people who buy these will want them to fade and crack and wear in .. that’s the point.. it’s supposed to be vintage!
As regards to weight, sub 8 pounds for a Strat is absolutely fine and actually vintage accurate. They are tons of vintage 50s and 60s Strats out there that weigh over 7-7.5 pounds .. (Jimi’s Woodstock strat is nearly 8 pounds) the idea that all vintage examples are lightweight is just not true.
the American Vintage range from 2012-17 is the one you want .. they got everything right with those and they are never to be repeated as we have seen with these Vintage 2 and the American Original range.
Jeez....friggin rippin chops there buddy! I'm teetering between one of these Vintage II axes...I love the '61slab, but the blue '73 maple neck axe is gorgeous! Cheers!
Man, you're just so phenomenal, and a big inspiration! Thank you so much Matthew. It's such a pleasure listening to you!
Matthew you are absolutely fantastic player, enjoying your every single video!
Congrats on your collaboration with fender they have chosen wisely
Damn boy, that intro was friggin Amazing brother! You was straight lightin it up 🎸🎶🔥🔥🔥🔥
Sounds pretty good on this end. Thanks for the honest review.
Amazing playing. Instant sub. Want more of that. Yes, please!
scuttle buttin.......bro that was dope, always enjoy your playing, you got the touch
Bro I literally started tearing up cause of how beautiful your playing is😅😅
It sounds great when you play it Matthew! 🤠
bro, ur playing really hit to me. I mean i've seen multiple utube guitarists, but man do you hit different!
Congratulations! you deserved it