“A refinement of Leo’s original proposition in every respect”: Fender 70th Anniversary American Professional II Stratocaster review
To celebrate yet another anniversary for Fender’s world-beating 1954 design, the company has thrown everything it knows about building great Strats into the melting pot
Not only does the guitar sound incredible, it plays beautifully and looks a million dollars. And what more could any working guitarist want? A very fine guitar indeed.
Pros
+
A genuinely fine representation of a modern Stratocaster. Full of sensible refinements.
+
Professional but inherently fair price-tag.
+
Looks, plays and sounds great.
Cons
-
Noiseless pickups as the final upgrade?
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You will have read many times that no two Stratocasters are the same. And if you own more than one of these game-changing guitars you’ll appreciate the truth in that statement.
Ash body, alder body, rosewood or maple fingerboard, hardtail, traditional or floating vibrato; these apparently minor changes all impact the tone, albeit in subtle ways. Pickup height, string action, neck carve, and roller or conventional nut also play their part in how the guitar feels and sounds to each of us.
Back in the day, pretty much every operation to build a Fender guitar was carried out by workers who hand-sanded, hand-wound and hand-finished every aspect. And while much of this still happens in today’s Corona California facility, modern production techniques mean tolerances are much tighter, and consistency is better by a long way.
During our review, a number of the Guitarist team pitted the 70th Anniversary American Professional II Stratocaster against some heavyweight opponents from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, as well as from Fender’s own mighty Custom Shop. It did anything but disgrace itself in their company, and endeared itself to the players (this reviewer included) in the process. So, what is it that made us sing its praises so highly?
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
First of all, look at it! What a handsome beast it is, with its Comet Burst-finished flamed-maple top over an alder body, faux tortoiseshell pickguard and dark rosewood fingerboard, it’s every inch a Fender thoroughbred.
However, there’s a lot more to the guitar than a quick glance reveals: the two-point floating vibrato bridge has been upgraded and features a cold-rolled steel block; pickups are the excellent 70th Anniversary V-Mod II single coil pickups, each of which has been voiced for its specific position; and a push-push pot on the second tone pot brings in the neck pickup when positions one or two are selected, availing us of neck and bridge together, or all three pickups on – sounds not available from a conventional Strat.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Flip the body over and you’ll notice the chamfered heel with 70th Anniversary neckplate, while running your fingers along the satin-finished neck will reveal how the fingerboard edges have been rolled for added comfort.
Short-post locking tuners are there to help retain the guitar’s tuning when using the more divebomb-friendly two-point vibrato, and let’s not forget the 241mm (9.5-inch) radius fingerboard with tall narrow frets, designed for choke-free string bends and improved fretting accuracy.
We can’t say for sure, but had Leo been given the chance to refine his creation seven decades down the line, it’s likely that most of his potential upgrades are here. What we can say with absolute certainty is that constructionally and finish-wise, this guitar rivals many boutique makers’ quality.
Feel & Sounds
Grabbing the American Pro II out of its blue-lined Inca silver case and sitting it on our lap, we’re greeted with a reassuringly satisfying lump of wood, plastic and metal. There’s something pleasing, too, about a guitar that proclaims its newness, with no pretensions to ageing.
The urethane Comet Burst finish glows over the centre-joined flame maple body cap, and Fender’s attention to detail is evident all around, from the smooth feel of the satin neck to its rosewood fingerboard’s beautiful fret job and gently rounded (rolled) edges.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
Before playing a note the string action looks welcomingly low to medium height, but start chording, sliding, bending and hammering, and it’s clear we have an exceptionally fine instrument here.
The neck fills the hand perfectly, with just the right depth for tireless playing over long periods (20.8mm at the 1st fret fattening to 23.3mm at the 12th), and the strings glide over the 22 finely finished frets, making bends a breeze and vibrato slinky smooth.
With its two-point floating vibrato there’s more travel and control here than with a screwed-down vintage type, and after a bit of new-string stretching it returns the guitar to pitch perfectly after gentle waggles or more drastic scoops and doops.
Our Laney Lionheart L20 combo has paired beautifully with every guitar we’ve put through it, and the 70th Anniversary Professional II is no different. It’s a distinctly modern set of tones that one encounters. There’s tons of clarity but with no hint of brashness. It’s almost like a ‘produced’ Strat sound, as though it’s been through a mixing board and some sort of ‘exciter’.
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
The V-Mod pickups are exceptional, and while they’re not Noiseless types, as on the Ultra Strat also featured in the head-to-head (and which Leo probably would have stipulated), there was no obvious hum. All the pickup selections are clear, and as definitive in each position as we can recall.
Imagine all the classic Strat tones and the Professional II offers a crystallisation of each one. It’s great to press the push-push pot to bring in neck and bridge pickup or all three units together, as these are fat and funky tones that we’d use a lot.
Piling on the Lionheart’s gain, the guitar remains focused and articulate. There’s no wooliness but no piercing treble, either. Anyway, it’s simple enough to tweak the bridge pickup’s tone control to achieve more Les Paul Deluxe or Firebird-type girth. You could spend many pleasant hours finding out just what a guitar like this is capable of, and it’s a lot.
Verdict
Checking around on the internet it seems that the 70th Anniversary Professional Stratocaster II is available at around $/£2,000, a little less than its stated price. That’s a heck of a lot of guitar for the money, given that a Custom Shop NOS ’63 Strat Relic is almost exactly double that. And if the 70th Anniversary thing doesn’t particularly grab you, the regular Pro II Strat is a couple of hundred less and you can get it as a lefty, too.
Operationally, the guitar just works. Everything about it is sensible. It’s a refinement of Leo’s original proposition in every respect and does all that’s required of it impeccably.
The locking tuners are relevant since there’s so much more travel available from the two-point vibrato, the extra pickup selections are a genuine plus point, and not only does the guitar sound incredible, it plays beautifully and looks a million dollars. And what more could any working guitarist want? A very fine guitar indeed.
Specs
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)
PRICE: $1,999 / £2,139 (inc case)
ORIGIN: USA
TYPE: Double-cutaway, solidbody electric
BODY: Solid alder with two-piece centre-matched flame maple cap
HARDWARE: Upgraded 2-point floating vibrato with cold-rolled steel block, short-post locking tuners, face-mounted jack receptacle, all chrome-plated
STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.4mm
ELECTRICS: 3x V-Mod II single coils voiced for position, 5-way blade switch, 1x volume,
2x tones (1x on bridge pickup with push-push pot bringing in neck pickup in positions 1 and 2)
In the late '70s and early '80s Neville worked for Selmer/Norlin as one of Gibson's UK guitar repairers, before joining CBS/Fender in the same role. He then moved to the fledgling Guitarist magazine as staff writer, rising to editor in 1986. He remained editor for 14 years before launching and editing Guitar Techniques magazine. Although now semi-retired he still works for both magazines. Neville has been a member of Marty Wilde's 'Wildcats' since 1983, and recorded his own album, The Blues Headlines, in 2019.
