I have a 2023 Fender American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster here with its factory hard shell case and paperwork. Also note this one has a one ply cream colored pickguard and back plate.

Conditionally, this guitar looks great.

The body top shows typical guitar pick strumming below the neck and middle pickup on the plastic pickguard. Any similar superficial swirling will be minimal to nonexistent anywhere on the body. I did not find any buildup of any soft swirling. The body top looks exceptionally clean.

The body sides and edges look excellent as well. I did not find any bumps, chips, or dings. There are no neck pocket cracks. There will be just faint superficial surface signs of use only, with no buildup of any soft playwear.

The body back shows minimal traces of superficial swirling type playwear, about the same intensity as guitar pick strumming. There's just a little trace of that just above the back plate. Beyond that, the rest of the body surface shows just surface traces of use only. It has no buckle rash or worming. Nor did I find any singular marks. It looks great.

The neck looks excellent throughout. I did not find any marks, dings, or bumps on the neck shaft contour or the headstock. The headstock face will show just faint traces of use consistent with changing strings. The stainless steel frets look like new and play fantastic. The original electronics are working like they should. The hard shell case is in excellent condition.

This one rates a 9.5/10 and grades as excellent. This guitar is nice and clean, showing minimal surface signs of use. The pictures do it justice. It's a gorgeous specimen, and it plays and sounds as good as it looks.

The Ultra Strat is of course the successor to the Elite series which succeeded the American Deluxe series. The Ultra Luxe brings the addition of stainless steel frets, and a real ash body. These are premium features not on the regular ultra model.

To be fair to Fender there actually Is some interesting changes done in this incarnation. I would recommend you check out the full specs at Fender. I will give you my players perspective on what i have observed.

The body contour has been completely reshaped. The neck plate area and the back of the cutaway are now sculpted for increased access playability to the upper frets. It looks and feels great. This is similar to what is seen on shred style Superstrats.

The neck contour has changed, it feels fast and comfy perhaps a little slimmer but not crazy slim. It feels to my hands a perfect balance of thickness to roundness/flatness. Absolutely perfect.

The S1 switch effects the bridge position in a more useful way this time around. When engaged i hear a fatter filled out sound in the bridge position. This is especially useful for lead tones if you want a saturated sound but still want more "bite" then what you would get in the neck position.

Everything else, the core quality of wood, finish, fretwork, all the tangibles. All of that is outstanding here. Fender does an impeccable job on this model and it is perhaps their flagship of the production line (Non custom shop) of guitars.

The noiseless pickups have gotten better with each generation. They have dynamic and lively tone to them. In no shape or form should they be considered clinical or sterile. If anything in comparing them to true non stacked single coils, they have a slightly sweetened top end treble response that is just a little rounder then a true single coil. So they are not piercing sounding in the treble. But they have beautiful detail in the treble and upper mids. And as advertised they are extremely quiet in terms of backround hum. They are more quiet then most humbucker setups.

So overall this simply a fantastic version of the Stratocaster. I would not call it modern so much as timeless because it has both the classic look of the Stratocaster and tonal versatility to get any vintage Strat tone. I consider it a contemporary masterpiece and am thoroughly impressed with it.

Note that this listing may come down at anytime as I am a multi-platform seller and do sell locally and on my own Site as well in an effort to keep sales fluid. State sales tax will be charged On Reverb sales when applicable, so factor that in to your purchase.

I will immaculately pack it as well. I use quality shipping boxes, ample tape on all sides. And sufficient bubble wrap filler and bracing inside the box. And always Marked/denoted as fragile. I generally detune guitars 1/2 half step prior to shipment as well if needed.

Thank you for reading and considering!