Review: Fender American VG Stratocaster

Fender Musical Instruments is no stranger to modeling technology, as demonstrated by its CyberTwin series of amplifiers. However, in April of 2007, the company turned things up a notch with the release of the Fender American VG Stratocaster, a modeling guitar based on the classic Fender Strat architecture. Like other modeling guitars, the VG Strat gives the musician access to many different guitar configurations, like acoustic models, standard Fender electric models, and models with humbucking pickups. The VG Strat also allows for quick changes to five different tunings, making it a very versatile guitar for bands with a wide range of musical styles. Though the guitar uses a Roland GK pickup to harness the sounds produced by the strings, Fender is quick to note that the VG is not a MIDI guitar. As such, it does not have the tracking and latency issues that have plagued some guitar synth setups over the years.

Unlike other modeling guitars, Fender does not attempt to model sounds from guitars made by competitors. This is similar to the philosophy the company used in the development of the CyberTwin amp series, which has the ability to emulate almost any amp Fender ever made. As a result, the guitarist can dial up everything from pure Stratocaster tone (either from the existing Alnico magnet pickups or from a virtual Strat modeling patch) to a Telecaster twang, with a quick break to an acoustic reminiscent of the classic Fender dreadnought. Alas, this means that a player can not call forth a pure Les Paul archtop tone, but choosing the humbucker pickup emulation and adjusting the tone control should satisfy all but the most discriminating players.