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Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

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Electric Guitar

Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Fender · American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Price: 1.181 EUR – 8.296 EUR

Price history 07.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

Availability: 9/10 (Common)

The HSS variant of Fender's USA-built flagship Stratocaster swaps the bridge single-coil for a Double Tap humbucker, adding push-push coil-splitting on top of the same Deep C neck, rolled fingerboard edges, and individually voiced V-Mod II neck and middle pickups found on the standard SSS model. It's built for players who want extra output and sustain at the bridge without giving up the Strat's classic in-between tones.

Where available? Go to the best price – 1.181 EUR About this instrument

About the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Everything below the pickguard on this HSS model is shared with the standard American Professional II Stratocaster: the alder body, Deep C maple neck with rolled fingerboard edges and sculpted heel, cold-rolled steel tremolo block, and treble-bleed volume circuit all carry over unchanged. The difference sits entirely in the pickup configuration. Instead of a third V-Mod II single coil at the bridge, this model mounts a Double Tap humbucker - a pickup built to deliver a fuller, higher-output humbucking tone for leads and driven rhythm parts, while still fitting the same routing and switching logic as a Stratocaster. A push-push control on the lower tone knob splits that humbucker into single-coil mode, thinning the tone and dropping the output to sit closer to the neck and middle pickups' character rather than simply cutting one coil passively - Fender's own framing is that this keeps more usable volume in split mode than a basic coil-tap would. That gives players access to five humbucker-based tones through the standard selector switch, plus a coil-split option that opens up the classic Strat quack in positions that would otherwise stay humbucker-only.

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Sound character of the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

The Double Tap bridge humbucker delivers noticeably more fatness, output and sustain than the single-coil bridge pickup on the SSS model, making it well suited to powerful leads and driven rhythm work. Splitting the coil via the push-push control thins the tone toward single-coil territory and reduces output somewhat - reviewers are split on how convincing this split tone is, with some finding it retains good volume and usable character, others describing it as slightly shrill or thin compared to the guitar's neck and middle V-Mod II pickups, which retain the same bright, dynamic chime documented on the standard SSS model.

Punchy Full-bodied Bright Growly Crisp

What owners of the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS say

Owners generally value this model for combining two guitars' worth of range in one instrument - the familiar Strat single-coil quack from the neck and middle pickups, plus genuine humbucker punch and sustain at the bridge, without the routing or hardware compromises of an aftermarket conversion. The coil-split feature draws more mixed reactions: some players find it a genuinely useful third voice, while others describe the split tone as thinner or less convincing than the neck/middle single coils it's meant to complement, treating the full humbucker mode as the pickup's real strength.

Playability & handling of the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Neck feel and ergonomics match the SSS American Professional II exactly - the same Deep C profile, rolled edges, and sculpted heel that reviewers describe as comfortable straight out of the box with no HSS-specific handling differences reported. The one practical change is weight distribution and pickup height setup around the larger bridge humbucker, which some players adjust slightly compared to a single-coil bridge unit, though this is a routine setup step rather than a structural difference in playability.

Recommended accessories & strings for the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Same 25.5-inch scale as the SSS model, taking .009-.042 or .010-.046 sets equally well. Players who mainly want the humbucker's driven, high-output character benefit from an amp with generous gain headroom, while the coil-split mode covers cleaner, more Strat-typical tones without needing a second guitar on hand.

Technical data for the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Type Solid-body electric guitar, double cutaway, bolt-on neck
Production Fender American Professional II series, launched 2020, built in Corona, California, USA
Body Alder, gloss urethane finish
Neck Maple, bolt-on, Deep C profile, rolled fingerboard edges, sculpted heel with asymmetrical beveled neck plate
Fingerboard Rosewood or maple, 9.5 in. radius, 22 narrow tall frets
Scale length 25.5 in.
Nut Bone, approx. 1.685 in. width
Pickups 2x V-Mod II single-coil (neck, middle) + 1x Double Tap humbucker (bridge)
Controls Master volume with treble-bleed circuit, 2 tone controls (one wired as push-push coil-split for the bridge humbucker), 5-way selector switch
Bridge 2-point synchronized tremolo with cold-rolled steel sustain block
Predecessor HSS configuration of the American Professional II series, parallel to the SSS model, replacing the original American Professional series (2017-2020)

Price history for the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

Cheapest seen: 1.181 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 8.296 EUR

8.296 EUR1.074 EUR 07.09.2026 14.09.202616.09.202618.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

The history of the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

This HSS configuration launched alongside the standard SSS model as part of the 2020 American Professional II series, itself the second generation of Fender's USA regular-production flagship following the American Standard Series (1987-2016) and the first American Professional generation (2017-2020). HSS Stratocaster variants have existed across multiple Fender series for decades as an alternative for players who want more output at the bridge without leaving the Strat platform entirely; this model applies that same logic to the current flagship tier, pairing the bridge humbucker with the same generational upgrades - rolled fingerboard edges, sculpted heel, cold-rolled steel tremolo block - that defined the American Professional II update over its predecessor.

About Fender as a manufacturer

Built in Fender's Corona, California plant as part of the American Professional II series, offered as a parallel configuration to the SSS model for players who specifically want the flexibility of a bridge humbucker within Fender's regular-production USA flagship tier, rather than needing a separate Custom Shop order or aftermarket pickup swap to get there.

Notable players & recordings featuring the Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS

No verified professional endorsement ties a specific touring artist to this HSS configuration by name. HSS Stratocasters in general see more use in hard rock and heavier genres where the added humbucker output is useful, but no documented stage use links that trend to this particular current-production model.

Related guides

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