I have a 2021 Fender American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster here with its hard shell case and paperwork.

Conditionally, this guitar looks great.

The body top shows typical guitar pick strumming on the plastic pickguard. Any similar superficial swirling will be minimal on the body wood itself. There are just faint scattered traces here and there of superficial swirling, but no accumulation or any built up patterns. I did not find any singular marks to describe.

The body sides/edges look excellent across the perimeter. I did not find any chips, dings, or bumps. There are no neck pocket cracks, and no buildup or accumulation of any soft playwear.

The body back looks the same. I see a gorgeous high gloss finish with no buckle rash or worming, no dings, bumps, or indentations, and just the faintest traces of scattered superficial swirling that virtually any used guitar has.

The neck shaft contour looks and feels excellent, with nothing to report there. The headstock looks good. I found no chips or dings. I found a little bit of surface scratching on the faceplate veneer of the headstock that is generally consistent with changing strings, but no deep penetrating marks. Just some average surface playwear on that.

It plays great, like butter. The original electronics are working as they should. The hard shell case is in excellent condition as well.

I will rate this one a 9.5/10 and grade it as excellent. I found a little bit of minor surface signs of use on the headstock veneer and very minimal signs of superficial swirling on the guitar body surface. It has no marks of note, no buildup of any pattern playwear, nor any dulling to the luster of the gloss finish and hardware. It is structurally and sonically sound and plays and sounds great.

The Ultra Strat Luxe is of course the successor to the Elite series which succeeded the American Deluxe series with 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!