FENDER AMERICAN HSS SERIES
Timeline and Pickups
Last Update: 2024.04.02
Circa 1996-July 2000 It was called the “Lone Star Strat” – it was an American Standard with 2 Texas Specials and a Duncan Pearly Gates + humbucker, unique colors, and either a pearloid or a tortoise shell pickguard (depending on color). I say “circa 1996” because I can’t remember if these came out at the end of 1995 or the start of 1996, I do remember the Lone Star being the first of these “Hot Rodded American Standards”; the Big Apple (2 humbuckers) and Roadhouse (3 Texas Specials) came a couple of months later.
July 2000-August 2003: It was called the American Series Texas Special Fat Strat (or it could have been “American Series Fat Strat Texas Special”). This one was an American Series (remember they updated the American Standard in July 2000 and changed the name to the American Series) with the same Texas Specials and Duncan Pearly Gates + pickups, difference colors, and pearloid or shell pickguards.
August 2003-December 2007: It was called the American (Series) Stratocaster HSS. Pickups change to the Diamondback humbucker, Tex-Mex single coils, t, and S-1 switching. No longer has special colors and pickguards, but some colors got black pickguards instead of the parchment used on SSS models.
January 2008-March 2012: It became the American Standard Stratocaster HSS. Remember, Fender did another major update to the American Series in January 2008 and restored the American Standard name. Still has the Tex-Mex single coils and the Diamondback humbucker, but the S-1 circuitry is removed.
2010-2018 – American Special Stratocaster – Humbucker: Atomic Singles: Texas Specials
March 2012-December 2014: American Standard: The single coils change to CS Fat 50s (like the SSS models). the model name stays the same
January 2015-2019 – The American Standard Stratocaster HSS Shawbucker – Humbucker: Shawbucker, plus these now have a dual-pot volume control – the single coils see a 250k pot, the humbucker sees a 500k pot – Fat 50’s single coils
Here’s where they split out the line for the most part.
— Entry American —
2018-Current – Performer (US entry line) – Humbucker: Double Tap – Single Coils: Yosemite pickups (standard line went to this)
— Middle American —
2017-2019 – Professional I – Humbucker: Shawbucker I – Single Coils: V-Mod I
2020-Current – Professional II – Humbucker: V-Mod II Double Tap – Single coils: V-Mod II
— Top End American —
This is more or less a continuation of the American Deluxe Line. All the Deluxe models have used noiseless pickups with modifications through the years.
See Noiseless Pickup (Deluxe American and some MIM) page for a lot of detail on these models
2016-2020 – Elite – Humbucker: Shawbucker I Single Coils: 4th Gen Noiseless
2020-Current – Ultra (Elite next gen) – Humbucker: Ultra Double Tap Single Coils: Ultra Humbuckers (post N4)
OTHER (Fender has a bunch of special releases not listed on this page)
Lonestar HSS – One of my favorites
2007-2014 and 2014-2016