things i hate about fender stratocaster design

Recently, I traded out my Squier Affinity Stratocaster. My main guitar is now the Yamaha Pacifica PAC112VM.

A big reason I parted with the Strat is because there are three main things about Stratocaster design that really annoy me.

1. The knobs. Plastic press-down knobs suck. Metal knurled knobs with a set screw are far better. Fortunately, these are inexpensive and easy to acquire, so it's an easy fix.
2. Cleaning the pots properly is a ridiculously complicated process. To do this right, the strings have to come off, and all 11 pick guard screws must be removed. Only two Fender Strat models escape this nightmare, and I'll mention them in a moment.
3. I'm always wishing for more "oomph" from the bridge side pickup. The solution for this is go HSS (which I did), or get a "Nashville" Stratocaster so you get the overwound Telecaster style bridge pickup. Fender currently does not have a Strat Nashville model, but Squier does with the Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster. It's also nice the controls are on a Tele plate, meaning the pick guard does NOT have to come off to clean the pots.

In order to stay in Fender world and have a Strat where the pick guard doesn't need to be removed to clean the pots, the only two Fender Stratocaster models that exist which can accommodate this are the Fender Aerodyne Special Stratocaster and Fender Aerodyne Special Stratocaster HSS.

What's the secret? No pick guard, and the pots are accessible from the back.

Have I played one of these? Yes, I have:

Quite a nice guitar, and easy to maintain, and keeps the head-adjusted truss rod location (no need to remove the neck!), and it keeps the top-mounted output jack too!

I went through Fender's entire catalog of Strats, and this Aerodyne along with the HSS version are literally the only two Strats in Fender's entire lineup where you don't have to fight with a pick guard just to lubricate a scratchy pot.

Will I ever own an Aerodyne? Maybe. My current Pacifica has rear access to the pots, so it gets the job done.

As for the Squier Nashville Strat, I'll pass on that because a Nashville electronics setup is slightly "too Tele" due to that mini single-coil neck side pickup. Yeah, I get the overwound bridge side pickup, but also a weaker neck side pickup. I'd prefer if the guitar had middle and neck Strat pickups, but that's not the way Nashville electronics are, so I can't get it. Not in a production model, anyway.

I will admit however that the Squier Nashville Strat has some nice trick electronics to it. The tone knob is a push/pull that adds in the neck side pickup to positions 1 and 2, effectively giving it 7 different pickup selection options. The extra two options with it enabled are bridge+neck "Tele middle" and all 3 pickups on all at once.

I might be done with Squier

The only reason I'm not done with Fender is specifically because of that Aerodyne Strat. However, that guitar is firmly in the "maybe" category because the HSS does not split to single-coil, and with the SSS, I don't know if the guitar has an output that would agree with me.

Aerodyne as far as I know has always been a Fender Japan thing, still is, and there's nothing wrong with that since it's a solidly built guitar. But it would be nice if there were a Mexico Player version, if for no other reason than to have other Fender color choices without the color matched headstock.

Of the 11 colors Fender has for the Player II, White Blonde, Birch Green, and Aquatone Blue would take to the Aerodyne style very well, even with the existing Player II neck attached. It would work.

As for the body binding, I don't know if Fender Mexico could keep that with an Aerodyne shape, but I'm certain they could craft everything else that is an Aerodyne Strat.

On the Squier end of things, I may be done with that brand. I have my two '89 Squier II Strats, they work, and nothing is coming out of Squier these days that really excites me.

This is not to say Squier isn't trying, as the Nashville Strat they have is a good example of that. And the Affinity Telecaster Thinline is a genuinely nice offering. Getting a semihollow Tele for a lower price is a good thing, and you get it with that guitar.

I'm good with what I have. Maybe I'll have a go with a Fender Aerodyne Strat at some point, but that's later.

Published 2025 Aug 26