Fender American Deluxe Series
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The Fender American Deluxe Series is a line of high-end electric guitars and basses introduced by Fender in 1998 and upgraded in 2004.
The American Deluxe line replaced the Plus Series models of 1987.
The entire range came with a variety of high-end options such as solid tonewood bodies made from select alder or premium ash, polished chrome or gold-plated hardware, aged plastic parts, Noiseless pickups, abalone dot position fingerboard inlays, 22-fret maple necks featuring rosewood, maple or ebony fretboards, quilted or flamed maple tops, rolled fingerboard edges, S-1 switching, highly detailed nut and fret work, a bound top with contoured back on Telecasters and a 2-point locking synchronized tremolo bridge with LSR roller nut and locking tuners on certain models.
American Deluxe bass guitars (introduced in 1995) came in 4-string, fretless, 5-string and left-handed versions and feature 18V-powered 3-band active electronics (including a special-design humbucker on the Precision Bass models) as well as a strings-through/top-load bridge with stainless brass saddles, Hipshot UltraLite tuning machines, an asymmetrical 5-bolt neck plate with a contoured heel for easier access to the higher registers and a Posiflex graphite-reinforced 22-fret maple neck with rosewood, maple or pao ferro fingerboard. Jazz Basses usually feature chrome hardware, a traditional control plate with classic black bakelite knobs and a stylish 9-hole pickguard; however, Fender produced luxurious models without pickguard and control plate featuring flamed or quilted maple tops (FMT/QMT), gold hardware and bound necks with white pearloid rectangular block-shaped position markers from 2003 to 2007.
Early examples carried aftermarket features such as 4-bolt neck fixing, 5-in-line headstocks, black or white dot markers, Schaller die-cast tuners, 9V power supply and special-design stacked Jazz Bass pickups with single pole-pieces. Vintage Noiseless pickups and abalone inlaid fingerboards were added in 1998; 5-bolt neck fixing, 4+1 tuners, 18V power supply and Schaller Lite Bass tuning machines followed 4 years later.
American Deluxe Stratocaster guitars are available with C and V-shaped necks since 2004.
American Deluxe Telecasters produced between 1998 and 1999 featured a Vintage Noiseless Strat pickup in the middle position, 5-way "Strat-o-Tele" pickup switching and a 2-way toggle switch allowing seven tonal options. Guitars manufactured between 2000 and 2001 were also equipped with an optional Fishman Powerbridge and an active 12dB midrange booster with sub-rumble cut and stereo/mono switching controls (Power Tele).
American Deluxe Strats and Teles produced between 1998 and 2001 had a standard 4-bolt neck fixing. The contoured neck heel has been introduced in 2002.
All American Deluxe models are available in Amber, Chrome Silver, Montego Black Metallic, 3-Color Sunburst, Tobacco Sunburst, Aged Cherry Burst, Olympic White Pearl, Black, Honey Blonde, Candy Apple Red, Butterscotch Blonde and 2-Color Sunburst. Pickguard colours include Aged White, Mint Green, Black Tortoise, Brown Tortoise, Aged Cream, Gold Vinyl, Copper Vinyl and Aged White Pearloid, available with 3-ply, 4-ply and 50s-style 1-ply layers with hand-beveled edges.
Other finishes such as Teal Green Transparent, Natural, White Blonde, Candy Tangerine, Crimson Red Transparent, Chrome Red and Purple Transparent were introduced in 1998; apart few exceptions (Factory Special Run versions), American Deluxe instruments finished with these colours are no longer available.
Some of the innovations found on the American Deluxe instruments (such as the rolled fretboard edges, the HSH pickup routing and the detailed nut and fret work) were adopted on the American Series models, introduced in 2001, replacing the American Standard line produced between 1986 and 2000.