I'm a believer - Fender 62 Hot Rod is very, very good guitar! (AC30 content as well)

[cg]

Stopped by a local Guitar Center recently to check out the 62 Hot Rod Strat and came away extremely impressed. I have owned lots guitars from the Fender Custom Shop, Suhr, Anderson and Grosh. Although the quality isn't quite to that level, it's pretty damn close! The guitar felt and sounded great! The neck the perfect shape for me. The fingerboard was beautiful and the frets were very nice. My only complaint is that you could feel the edges of the frets up and down the neck. Nothing severe, but I hate that.

The pickups sounded very good to me. I love the way the guitar is wired. The 9.5 radius felt very good. The weight was perfect. The olympic white finish was tasty. I think Fender really nailed it with this one. It will certainly work for me! It feels great not to have to spend $2K to get something very close to custom shop quality.

I tested it through a variety of amps (vintage wide panel tweed, new Fender Twin Reverb with 15" reverb, a terrible Marshall JCM800 with reverb, a BF Princeton (non-reverb), and a Vox AC30 2x12 with Warfdales). I had the Vox AC30CC2x with Blues and, I have to tell you, the warfdale model sounded really good. I'd definitely take the Blues over the warfdales, but they weren't bad at all! That's a hell of an amp for the money.

For $2K, a guy could get a killer Strat and a very nice AC30 (used for both). Nice work, Fender and Vox!

 

[jiml]

Yeah, they are sweet. I played one and liked it, would like to try one with a maple neck tho'.

 

[stevieboy]

CG,
Thanks for the report. What did you think of the bridge pickup on the 62 Hot Rod (Dimarzio, right?). Was there still any twang and chime in it, or is it too hot for that?
Thanks.

The 57 has that pickup, not the 62. The 62 has three conventional strat pickups.

 

[cg]

I just hit "but it now" on an ebay auction. Can't wait to get it!

 

[STLBlues]

I've been tempted by that one also. I had a '62 many years ago. The neck on the Hot Rod is different. I like the 9.5" radius and the chunkyness of it though. The rosewood with the Oly white looks great. Aw crap, gas is setting in....

Stopped by a local Guitar Center recently to check out the 62 Hot Rod Strat and came away extremely impressed. I have owned lots guitars from the Fender Custom Shop, Suhr, Anderson and Grosh. Although the quality isn't quite to that level, it's pretty damn close! The guitar felt and sounded great! The neck the perfect shape for me. The fingerboard was beautiful and the frets were very nice. My only complaint is that you could feel the edges of the frets up and down the neck. Nothing severe, but I hate that.

The pickups sounded very good to me. I love the way the guitar is wired. The 9.5 radius felt very good. The weight was perfect. The olympic white finish was tasty. I think Fender really nailed it with this one. It will certainly work for me! It feels great not to have to spend $2K to get something very close to custom shop quality.

I tested it through a variety of amps (vintage wide panel tweed, new Fender Twin Reverb with 15" reverb, a terrible Marshall JCM800 with reverb, a BF Princeton (non-reverb), and a Vox AC30 2x12 with Warfdales). I had the Vox AC30CC2x with Blues and, I have to tell you, the warfdale model sounded really good. I'd definitely take the Blues over the warfdales, but they weren't bad at all! That's a hell of an amp for the money.

For $2K, a guy could get a killer Strat and a very nice AC30 (used for both). Nice work, Fender and Vox!

 

[SouthernShred]

I'm a huge fan of the '62 VHR...I have one in Sherwood Green and it supplanted my EJ strat and several other strats I've owned. It's the closest in terms of feel and sound out of the box to some of the vintage strats I've had in m possession. I won't ever sell this guitar.

 

[cg]

I'm a huge fan of the '62 VHR...I have one in Sherwood Green and it supplanted my EJ strat and several other strats I've owned. It's the closest in terms of feel and sound out of the box to some of the vintage strats I've had in m possession. I won't ever sell this guitar.

Music to my ears! Did you keep the pickups stock? I have a steel pole Fralin I may throw into the bridge position.

 

[SouthernShred]

Music to my ears! Did you keep the pickups stock? I have a steel pole Fralin I may throw into the bridge position.

I've kept them stock so far, which is rare for me...I can't seem to leave anything alone, but they sound good. I wouldn't mind trying a set of Fralin Vintage Hots in the neck/middle and SP43 in the bridge or a set of Kinman Woodstock Plus...but I digress...it's great sounding right out of the box...

 

[Mike Duncan]

I love mine. It's all stock and sounds great!

 

[Groovey Records]

OK The 62 Vintage Hot Rod Strat.

Pick ups ?

A little confusion ?

How many people that own them have gone under the hod and measured the resistance on the pickups and compared the wiring to wiring diagram on the fender site for there pickups and selector switch?

The reason I bring this up is Tone quest did a review and inspection and their 62 VHR bought off the rack retail in a store had hotter pickups and incomplete wiring for the switch!

This may be an anomily but you never now

BTW this is a great issue of Tone Quest that covers a lot of ground and is very in depth and comprehensive with its coverage

The 62 VHR Strat review is towards the bottom

The Mystery of the sphinx revealed !

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache...man&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Regards

Groovey Records

Listening to Lowell George I'll Eat it Here
on vinyl of course

 

[Five Horizons]

Fender keeps getting better and better. I picked up a year ago a '62 AVRI Strat and I'll be damned if it isn't one of the finest guitars I've ever played. The stock pickups were simply ridiculously good. They cut just the right amount, respond really well, chime and sparkle the way a good single should and work great in a variety of applications. I have no intention of ever changing them out and I've owned some nice strat pickups before like the WCR "SR" set.

 

[DanielT2]

Not to be a stick in the mud but I thought I was going to pick up a 62 Hot Rod this week after having played/researched/looked at them for a while.

I compared the 62 directly against a Mayer, SRV and CS 65 in store (first played the Hot Rod, then played the Mayer, then played the Hot Rod again, then played the SRV etc). I have to say the Hot Rod, *IMHO*, lacked the refinement of the three other guitars.

The thing with the Hot Rod is that for $1599 retail, I wonder what it is you actually are getting extra other than a fatter neck (which IMHO was not as refined or as nice to play as the SRV) and nitro finish on the body. The majority of the sunburst HR's I've seen are 3 piece bodies (up to the consumer as to whether this is an issue). The SRV and Mayer appeared to be 1 or 2 piece bodies and also priced $100 lower than the HR.

The pickups are still normal American Vintage (not CS, Big Dippers or Texas Specials). Also the fingerboard on the HR seems to be either lightly finished or has had something rubbed into the pores of the wood, this did not seem to be the case with the Mayer (African Rosewood f/board), SRV (Pao Ferro f/board) or CS65 I played (prem. rosewood I believe).

This is all IMHO and only offered to try and help others with their guitar purchasing. The 62 HR is a nice guitar, and has had a lot of positive feedback here and at the Fender Forum. However, on my 3rd occasion playing a 62HR (expecting to buy that guitar) and putting it against the SRV, Mayer and 65 CS models, I felt quite underwhelmed with the 62 Hot Rod.

 

[cg]

Not to be a stick in the mud but I thought I was going to pick up a 62 Hot Rod this week after having played/researched/looked at them for a while.

I compared the 62 directly against a Mayer, SRV and CS 65 in store (first played the Hot Rod, then played the Mayer, then played the Hot Rod again, then played the SRV etc). I have to say the Hot Rod, *IMHO*, lacked the refinement of the three other guitars.

The thing with the Hot Rod is that for $1599 retail, I wonder what it is you actually are getting extra other than a fatter neck (which IMHO was not as refined or as nice to play as the SRV) and nitro finish on the body. The majority of the sunburst HR's I've seen are 3 piece bodies (up to the consumer as to whether this is an issue). The SRV and Mayer appeared to be 1 or 2 piece bodies and also priced $100 lower than the HR.

The pickups are still normal American Vintage (not CS, Big Dippers or Texas Specials). Also the fingerboard on the HR seems to be either lightly finished or has had something rubbed into the pores of the wood, this did not seem to be the case with the Mayer (African Rosewood f/board), SRV (Pao Ferro f/board) or CS65 I played (prem. rosewood I believe).

This is all IMHO and only offered to try and help others with their guitar purchasing. The 62 HR is a nice guitar, and has had a lot of positive feedback here and at the Fender Forum. However, on my 3rd occasion playing a 62HR (expecting to buy that guitar) and putting it against the SRV, Mayer and 65 CS models, I felt quite underwhelmed with the 62 Hot Rod.

that's exactly opposite of my experience. I've tried numerous Mayer Strats and none of them felt good. They all felt a bit rough to me. The 62 felt very close to a custom shop guitar.

 

[DanielT2]

that's exactly opposite of my experience. I've tried numerous Mayer Strats and none of them felt good. They all felt a bit rough to me. The 62 felt very close to a custom shop guitar.

That's very interesting, I played the Mayer and remember commenting to a friend what a nice guitar it was. I would have bought it but the neck was too thin for me.

I guess this is one of the most frustrating things I've found about shopping for a new Strat - opinions vary so dramatically on things like tone and playability.

The lesson I've learned from most of the seasoned Strat players here is to try as many strats as possible (even of the same model) before making that final decision.

 

[stout-hearted]

I tried the Hot Rod out and really liked it. Great feel, solid workmanship and really sweet tone. In fact I liked it better than any CS Strat I've tried to date. Plus - it sounded so good through a Dr. Z Carman Ghia.