The 50th Anniversary year of the Stratocaster in 2004 was a landmark celebration of the world's most iconic and best-selling electric guitar. This American Deluxe featured among the outstanding array of releases and stands to be, in my opinion, one the best playing and most appealing modern era Strats. First off, what an incredible looking guitar. Candy Apple Red with the gold pickguard, cream pickups and all-maple neck is an insane colour combo. It's in excellent condition too. The previous owner told me it had been sitting in the case for most of the last 20-odd years.

A big part of how it well plays is the lightly tinted “V” neck, which was reintroduced especially for this model. Even as a metal player such as myself who rarely strays from super slim necks and flat fingerboards did I feel right at home. Every feature beyond is as current as they come, like the 22 medium jumbo frets, locking tuners, striking abalone inlays and stainless steel two-point tremolo, which will hold up over years of play. The fretwork is flawless: no sharp edges, lovely clean ringing notes and a low action.

Sonically, it is impressive how many tones you can tap into with the American Deluxe. It is a Strat after all. Thanks to the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups, this guitar dishes out a higher quality thickness than a lot of other Strats, excelling in hard rock and metal realms if you're that way inclined. Add to that the S-1 switching push option on the volume dial and you've got five more sounds including three with the pickups wound in series, which give you warmer and louder tones, and two out-of-phase settings for thinner, nasally tones like a cocked wah.

As an entire package, the American Deluxe is a brilliant collectible instrument being a 50th anniversary release, the landmark recognised on the exclusive neck plate. Only notable signs of wear include one little nick to the side of the tremolo arm hole, a tiny catch on the truss rod opening and a light scratch on the rear by the neck plate. Packed with amazingly diverse and refined sounds, this Strat has held up in fantastic condition and remains as inspiring to play as any of the most esteemed guitars of this century.

Fender hard case, original parts and manual all included. Available for collection or securely packaged delivery to buyers in the UK.