[bglaze]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

Production on the American Standard ended in 1999. In 2000, the American Series was introduced. Harmony-Central still offers an article outlining all the changes.
I went looking and found this site in part because of my dissatisfaction with my 2004 Am Series as it was stock. With help from here, I've been able to install a vintage bridge plate and saddles, and Gotoh tuners, a few other mods. It is an extremely well made guitar; the pickups sound quite different with the vintage bridge.
The fretwork is nicer than any MIM Fender I have, but the neck does cause me difficulty playing long hours due to neck shape. Nevertheless I can make some moves on that board I cannot make on the MIM chunkier necks.
I am concerned that in terms of perceived value, the Am Se is now in some trouble image wise, and this accounts for some changes we'll be seeing soon. In part because of this site, there is a well understood trend back to vintage type features, and hopefully the Am Se will incorporate the best of these, or at least come up with something new that looks and works better.
In the very long term most if not all the bread and butter guitars will be assembled in Ensenada. But as long as the Am Se and Am Dlx are still made in Corona, it is essential that people see them as premium, and just in this last 12 months alone I think that image has eroded a lot.

Bubbanov

Interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing that. It'll be cool to see how it plays out.