It had been a while since we last sank our teeth into anything from this historic guitar giant. What could I expect? In recent years, Fender®'s Mexican series have seen a far bigger increase in quality than the made-in-USA models have. And here we have a model from the Deluxe series that oozes the most aggressive electric blues, with electronics and finishes that evoke the incomparable Texas master whose strings, unfortunately, stopped vibrating in 1990. Needless to say, this is a model that used to be made only in the United States. Let's see how this little one has turned out coming out of the Mexican oven.

Unboxing
The guitar arrived from the distributor perfectly packed. On opening it, a pleasant surprise shone before me: the guitar came in a well-padded Fender Deluxe gig bag. I've always preferred hard cases, but this detail is appreciated, since I know there are guitars in similar ranges and price points that come "bare," with no case and even without any accessories at all.

We took our little one out of its bag and looked at the classic Stratocaster design, with the well-known three-tone "Sunburst" faded finish. That, combined with the orange tint of the neck, gives it a very vintage look. 21 medium jumbo frets, with dot inlays on a maple fingerboard, a bolt-on maple neck, an alder body with a brown shell pickguard, and all the standard Deluxe chrome hardware: a six-point bridge with tremolo and Fender alloy tuners. We also have three Texas Special single-coil pickups, with the typical traditional five-position Strat selector (selecting the three singles, positions one, three and five, and bridge/middle and middle/neck, positions two and four), controlled by a master volume knob and two tone knobs (neck and middle pickups, respectively).
Things are looking good. Let's see how it comes together in our hands.

Setup: construction and adjustment
The first thing that surprised me: the neck. It has a "C" profile with an absolutely exquisite feel. The polished tinted polyurethane finish has the silkiest texture, allows extremely pleasant movement, and makes the guitar lend itself to speed more easily. It's exactly the one thing I missed when I tried the Classic 60, whose finish had a much higher gloss. The headstock has the typical '60s design that characterizes most Strats (the large headstock is more "'70s").

It's not the first time the neck of a Mexican Fender has surprised me. I think the Ensenada plant has taken particular care with the production and quality of its necks in recent years.

As for the choice of these materials, it struck me as appropriate, since it respects the classic Stratocaster formula to get the immortal tone this design has delivered for decades. Alder is resonant and emphasizes the midrange, while maple increases brightness, so I expect a nice, defined, bright tone. The hardware is of acceptable quality and, as I said, it's standard on all Deluxes and made from various alloys.

However, perhaps some innovation or extra feature would have added variety rather than sticking strictly to tradition, for example some change to the hardware (nut, string trees), the electronics (a switch or push-pull that let you engage the neck and bridge pickups together), etc. In any case, if we start asking, we could make an endless list for any guitar, since this is a fairly subjective matter. Not to mention that no such modifications were found on the American model either.

Right, let's get going. First of all, I should say that Fender, generally speaking, like many other manufacturers, doesn't offer what I'd call a very elaborate factory setup. Far from reflecting any shortfall in quality control, I imagine the Fender team has wisely figured that the musician who buys the instrument will set it up to their liking. Still, a good setup doesn't hurt, since in the store it saves us from having to adjust it to try it out, and it lets us judge how well it holds its intonation.

The setup I did for the test went like this: truss rod and bridge, so that the action was high, especially from the 1st to the 12th fret. The reason? This design is crying out for us to dig into its strings and get that crunchy blues and rock sound, more than for racing up and down the neck, which we'll do between those frets. The only drawback will be slight fret buzz on the highest frets.

We play a few open chords and the resonance is quite acceptable. As I said, the feel makes things much easier and the strings blend well. Speaking of strings, the guitar comes stock with a set of nickel-plated steel Fender Super Bullets, .009 to .042. Not bad, but this kind of guitar lends itself to heavier strings (at least a .010), since the idea is to produce a blues or funk tone at its wildest, and a heavier gauge would give the sound more body. We'll talk about that later; for now, let's analyze what we get from the factory.

Getting our hands dirty: action and sound
Let's plug in our guest. We'll use a Mesa Boogie Roadster. First, to start off, we'll set a flat EQ on the clean channel.

a) About the electronics
The Texas Specials say it all: a bright, crunchy sound with medium output (a bit more than the Custom 54s). A sweet tone rich in mids and highs, but balanced, clear and powerful, thanks to the warmth of the Alnico V magnet. Considering the artists who have opted for this trio, which for years has defined Texas blues, I thought it was an excellent choice (not to mention that it has defined the signature tone of many artists, like SRV or Mark Knopfler). I decided to raise the middle and bridge pickups a bit more to get that characteristic Texas crunch. We'll keep the neck pickup at medium height to avoid double harmonics, et voilà: we have a great guitar for about €700 that can emulate the signature tone of the great Stevie Ray Vaughan, may he rest in peace.

b) Trying out various settings
The good thing about the Texas blues guitar is that getting the signature tone is fairly simple with the right pickups. With the Roadhouse, it's just a matter of adjusting the EQ to our liking and choosing a suitable string gauge.

Now, let's take it step by step. Playing clean, I was surprised by how well this guitar handles a hard attack, how much volume you get out of it and how well the neck stands up to it, as well as to use of the tremolo (be careful with the latter, since overdoing the vibrato will inevitably lead to intonation problems). As a result, the guitar holds its tuning quite well.

Let's add a bit more gain to our tone, on a bluesier channel (in our case, the second one). The sound breaks up very nicely when you dig in, and an aggressive, bell-like twangy tone comes out of the amp in positions 2 and 4, so characteristic of the Strat, while position 1 made it easy for me to get all the squealing harmonics I wanted.

Back to my favorite thing about the Roadhouse: the neck. I couldn't resist running tests to check the sustain. With bends, I'm surprised once again: the note holds on indefinitely. Excellent sustain.

I've often come across guitarists who don't understand why tone controls are added, given that we're talking about a design and style that fundamentally calls for a bright, defined sound. Some argue that the timeless Strat design must be preserved. My opinion is a hybrid between that argument and the fact that sometimes it can be useful to roll off a bit of treble when playing solos on the neck pickup, which we tried, getting a warmer, jazzier sound, so we increase versatility, besides combining this option with the five pickup positions.

It's really convincing, all the more so considering the price. I'm a fairly hard-rocking guitarist, but I like versatility, and honestly, the combination of a superbly achieved, balanced blues-rock tone with the most velvety feel made me feel right at home. Definitely more comfortable than with the Highway 1 series.

Some ideas for optimizing the instrument
Something common to all electric guitars, from the lowest ranges to Custom Shop handcrafted masterpieces, is the structural adjustment of the instrument to further emphasize its design concept.

Far from suggesting that this guitar should be modified (in truth, all guitars can and should be, according to our preferences), certain additions and adjustments can be made that turn the Roadhouse into a blues and rock machine for a more than attractive price, without substantially changing its factory makeup. Let's see.

One could be switching to a heavier string gauge, like 11s. Obviously, since this is a guitar with a tremolo, this requires compensating for the tension forces by installing lower-tension springs, as well as patiently adjusting the truss rod. In our case I tried it, and the difference is absolutely palpable. The guitar screams and sounds with more "punch."

You could also add an extra string tree on the headstock, or replace the plastic nut with one made of Micarta, bone or graphite, to improve the intonation, which is already very good.

Conclusion
Before wrapping up the review, as always, I'd like to reflect on the price. The retail price is €729, VAT included. For just over €700, a high-end Mexican Stratocaster that's the real deal, with excellent finishes, solid as a tank, American electronics suited to this concept and an ultra-silky neck that fits your hand like a glove? That's what we call excellent value for money. What didn't I like? The fact that I don't see the guitar as an innovative product; it's a bit more of the same, in a Mexican version. Still, blues, generally speaking, isn't exactly a style open to technological innovation, so it's forgiven.

All said and done, the Deluxe Roadhouse magnificently meets the demands of the blues-rock enthusiast, in sound, design, construction and feel alike. A safe bet from a company that guaranteed the birth of this immortal style and will ensure its survival.