I posted a topic a while back asking about Squier guitars and I said I was planning to get a Squier Stratocaster. Well, I changed my mind. I could afford it, so I decided to go ahead and get the real deal. So, this past week, I bought a brand new Fender American Standard Strat. It has the black body with white pickguard (like Clapton's), tremolo bridge, and single coil pickup configuration. I paid $525 for it. Is that a good price for a brand new American Standard Strat?

This is my first electric guitar, but I don't think I could happier with a guitar. It looks beautiful, it sounds beautiful and it plays beautifully. The strings bend easily (bending is sooooo much easier on electric than on acoustic), they're not hard to hold down, and they're easy on the fingertips. I really, really love it.

If I have one complaint, it's with the tremolo bridge. I have a tendency to rest my palm on the bridge while I'm playing, and since it's a tremolo I sometimes get unintended vibrato by accidentally pushing down on the bridge with my palm. Does anyone else have that problem?

As for my amp, I got an inexpensive practice amp, a Peavey Blazer 158. But I have a question about that. I was told by the guy at the guitar shop that I couldn't use a pedal with my amp since it's such a small, inexpensive one. Is that true? Is there any way that you can use a pedal with a small amp? Like an adapter or anything? I was really looking forward to trying out a wah or distortion pedal.

Any help will be appreciated.

he lied to your ass, he probally wanted to trick you into buying something more expensive in an amp. i was using crybaby and rocktek distortion on my gorilla and my fender squire 15, and i had no problem. the peavy blazer has 15 watts and it should sound decent coming out cause my two prior practice amps were like 15 and 20 watts, and it should hook up the regular way with no special crap adapter. i think this is a simple case of the guy trying to squeeze some more money outta you for an amp i think.

First of all, that's quite a good deal on a new American strat, I think they usually go for about $600-700, though I've never bought one so i might be wrong. As for the pedals, sure you can use them, what he probably meant was that there is no effects loop, that doesn't matter though, you can plug the pedal directly into the input of the amp, and the guitar into the pedal. You probably won't need a pedal for distortion, i'm sure its built into the amp. Wah can be fun to. Congrats on your first electric. I mostly play acoustic (archtop acoustic) and whenever I play my strat, while I don't like the sound as much, i must say it is a lot easier to play. Strings are so light and bendy.

The tension on the tremolo is adjustable by a screw and by adding and removing springs - you can have the tension set so that the bridge is almost like fixed bridge. My American Deluxe is set up with 3 (out of 5) springs and the bridge lays almost flat on the body. Have a tech check it out.

Thanks for the input, guys. Yes, my amp has a distortion channel, but it doesn't sound all that distorted. It sounds better if you turn the Pre and Post knobs up, but still nothing like a loud, rocking, fuzzy sound. Can anyone recommend a good pedal to give you a good noisy, loud (Hendrix-esque or Zeppelin-esque) rock sound?

try turning the volume up, it adds alot to distortion when you are overdriving the amp.

overdriving the amp? Is that safe?