FENDER AERODYNE 2023 SPECIAL
OVERVIEW
Last Update: 2025.03.21
This Fender model comes from JPN. It comes in both SSS and HSS version with very unique colors. It is also unique in that is does not have a pickguard. The necks on this guitar are very good. I’ve had 2 years to evaluate this guitar and am now just getting around to upgrading the electronics with Hot Rod wiring. But it came with some surprises…
They original were set for a $1300 retails but quickly the market price dropped and is now slowly rebounding.
The GOOD
Neck: It’s really interesting but the neck doesn’t have the thick polymer and almost feels like a satin finish on the back. Both rosewood and the maple necks are like that. It comes with the Fender Locking Tuners (a personal fav) and the edges are nicely rolled. It’s a 12″ radius, which I found quite comfortable and isn’t compound but that’s a players choice. Sometimes being consistent in radius isn’t such a bad thing and the 14″ is quite flat so you may end up loving this as a more substantial update to the typical 9.5″ radius.. The frets are Medium Jumbo which is a fav and contrary to the specs here the dots are PEARL not just white dots. As a bonus, the headstock matches the guitar finish which looks great as well. The neck is “C” shape which actually doesn’t mean a lot but in my recent experience, it felt very comfortable and almost like a slightly thin C. It has a matching headstock which is awesome.
Body: Nice Colors! The bound is bound which you almost never see on a Strat. The binding is pretty good but prone to minor imperfections, not enough to affect anything or be annoying in the least.
Pickups: The Sound Great (somewhat achieved by using 500K pots which make the very trebly).
Electronics: They now use larger Alpha pots. The did use a .047uf cap on the neck and .022uf, I like that setup.
Hardware: Nice features like locking tuners
The Not So Great
Neck: It has a FLAT heal which means it’s not easy to find a stock MIM/USA Fender body it would fix it you want to customize it.
Body: It’s not a high end US strat so there can be paint imperfections from time to time, some are just fine. It’s Basswood. I don’t care, but some people do. The top veneer is very thin.
Bridge: It’s a Babiz, which is fine, but the Block is VERY small (just like the old 2000’s MIM, that surprised me)
Electronics: The caps are tiny little babies, I guess that helps when fitting it into the closer space.
The UGLY
Electronics: Luckily they sound pretty good but they basically used bottom shelf components. The wires are tiny, the caps are tiny, it’s uses a Squier switch The compartment is VERY cramped and the wiring was a bit with more ground wire coming from the bridge area that is very confusing. The only thing separating this from low end Squier wiring is the Alpha Pots.
Pot Sizing: Their pot sizing is VERY odd, they used a size (9MM) in between Squier (8mm) and MIM/USA (9.5mm) so the only way to upgrade the pot to a regular CTS or BOURNS is to ream out the hole carefully (because the paint goes into it). The pots have a smaller shaft so if you replace a pot you’ll need all new knobs. Of course, the pots are solid shaft so finding PUSH PULL pots is a bit of a challenge.
Pickups: Bright and solid. Sound great. I haven’t measured them yet but the resonant frequency seems to be higher and much better than, say a Player Stratocaster and brighter than Fender noiseless, good recording pickups with a nice range humbucker. Note that they are brightened up by high K Pots. See the page here for details information and measurements on the pickups. However, this round of Aerodyne pickups is much higher quality than the original.Aerodyne Pickups
Body: Nicely bound, but I did notice that the binding isn’t always 100% perfect on the “gray” one I have, but that’s because I look at it VERY closely; for the most part it’s fine and I would not reject it on that basis. The back plate is not deeply logo’d, more like etched and is says AERODYNE in big letters, that’s cool. The finish is good and I saw no flaws. The body is Basswood, which is typical of JPN Strats. Some players may balk at that, but it don’t mind and the Strat sounds great, so what’s not to like. It’s a solid color finish so grain doesn’t matter. Keep in mind that Basswood is a tad softer and might dent a bit easier if you’re heavy handed.
Case: The case, or rather, gig bag, is a run of the mill nothing fancy Fender gig Bag – It loses points on that one. I wish they had hard shell cases but it seems like now the entry level for hard shell cases has gone up to $1,600+ guitars (Standard US used to come with a hard shell case, no more, gig bag only). Since good hard shell Fender cases retail at $179 and up, it’s just another way to cut costs and to push sales of higher end Stratocasters.
Summary: The guitar quickly became a favorite, absolutely wonderful neck. The sound is great for recording and likely good live. It maintains the familiar Strat look and knob placements. There are a lot of nice features like the painted headstock, locking tuners, satin back neck and more. It’s hard to get much of a price break on this guitar but if you want a daily player I don’t think you can go wrong with this guy!
I may switch out the knobs, not because of the look, but because they are very slippery and I’d like something more substanial.
Fender Website for the Aerodyne