So as most of us are aware this year is the 60th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster. To commemorate this event Fender have released a couple of really rather nice looking (and sounding) Strats.
I caught up with one of Fender's team to get the preview of the Fender American Deluxe Strat Plus, a really rather clever design focusing around a solderless system and a 'Personality Card'. Unlike other products in this field it looks just like a normal guitar (with the exception of the back panel) no messing with the image of an icon...
The Personality Card is a chip which means you can add upgrades to your Fender Strat Plus simply by swapping out the chip for a new one. If, for example, you want to add a treble bleed, well that's easy - you just buy the chip from Fender and insert it into the guitar, which takes about five seconds.
We made a call before the show that implementing new technologies onto existing products could be a big thing this year, and it looks like that trend is emerging already at this year's NAMM show.
Rob H
@sonicamped