Has anyone compared the Silver Sky Core to Fender American Vintage II 1961?

[Revelation]

I compared the Silver Sky to the American Pro II and I preferred the Silver Sky. I chose the finish on it, the neck, the pickups which were not as thin sounding. In addition the back pickup was not as ice picky.

The question I have is has anyone ever compared the Silver Sky to the American Vintage II. The only comparison I found was the one when Paul on a poor recording swapped back and forth between the two guitars. By the way, Guitar Center only has them in their warehouse and won't release them unless I go to the store, pay for it in full, and wait for it to come in.

 

[Mind Flayer]

I have not compared them side by side, but I own a silver sky core and have tried several american vintage ii’s in stores. I much prefer the neck on the silver sky. The av’s feel like you have to fight them a little more. The pickups on the ss seem hotter. Both great guitars, but i prefer the ss.

I also have an american pro ii strat, and i prefer that over the av. I go back and forth between the ss and the am pro ii as to which one i like more.

 

[Revelation]

I ordered a Red Fender Vintage II to try out to compare. I did play one in a store and really liked it I will provide a comparison here woth some photos.

 

[Revelation]

Well I received the Fender Vintage II 61 Stratocaster today. I heard people complaining about quality control at Fender, and I was hopeful it was not true. Sadly, I found several defects with the workmanship. I was very disappointed.
1. The nut on the left side sticks out and was not even cut straight. The right side was done perfectly.
2. The fret job was done poorly.
3. Rosewood was damaged in several areas when assembling the guitar.
4. The back of the neck is a little sticky and not smooth to go up and down on. No issue with my 1982 Fender American Strat or the Silver Sky with its satin neck.

Other things I noticed were the small tuning pegs required extra pressure when tuning the string. The pickups sounded great. Compared to my 2023 Silver Sky Core, they sounded very similar, providing a even sound from the high and low strings. The Silver Sky has more output, but the tone is very similar and honestly, it sounded great. The whammy bar is floating and sensitive to sudden changes which can be a good thing. Several strings include the low E, high E and G string had buzz issues by the 7th-10th fret. As the truss rod is not on the top of the neck, adjustments are more challenging.

 

[Brad Lawson]

Well I received the Fender Vintage II 61 Stratocaster today. I heard people complaining about quality control at Fender, and I was hopeful it was not true. Sadly, I found several defects with the workmanship. I was very disappointed.
1. The nut on the left side sticks out and was not even cut straight. The right side was done perfectly.
2. The fret job was done poorly.
3. Rosewood was damaged in several areas when assembling the guitar.
4. The back of the neck is a little sticky and not smooth to go up and down on. No issue with my 1982 Fender American Strat or the Silver Sky with its satin neck.

Other things I noticed were the small tuning pegs required extra pressure when tuning the string. The pickups sounded great. Compared to my 2023 Silver Sky Core, they sounded very similar, providing a even sound from the high and low strings. The Silver Sky has more output, but the tone is very similar and honestly, it sounded great. The whammy bar is floating and sensitive to sudden changes which can be a good thing. Several strings include the low E, high E and G string had buzz issues by the 7th-10th fret. As the truss rod is not on the top of the neck, adjustments are more challenging.

I’d be sending that back. That’s absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Revelation]

As an updated, I spent some time playing this guitar through my Mesa Boogie Mark VII. I have to say I really like the sound of this Fender. The back pick up is not ice picky and it has a nice balanced polite sound. In comparing it to my son's 2020 Silver Sky, the SK is just a tad fuller and my 2023 SK is louder but similar. The Stratocaster has a slightly thinner sound. Interesting enough the back tone control affects the back pickup. I know they added a 5 way toggle switch as well but I don't believe the tone control affected the back pickup on the original 61 Strat. The reason why I say that is on my 82 Strat, the back tone control did not change the back pickup either. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

 

[Revelation]

I confirmed Fender added the 5 way toggle and tone control for the back pickup which is part of the updated features. Personally, I think its a smart move. I complained to Sweetwater that the 55 point check they give each guitar before it goes out is a complete joke. If they really checked this guitar out, they would have sent it back to Fender for them to correct it and not sell it to one of their customers.

 

[Revelation]

In spending more time with the Fender Vintage II, it's really growing on me. It has a minor brighter top end than the Silver Sky. The Silver Sky is louder and a little fuller, but the charm of the Fender is really nice. It's not as aggressive when you add a little distortion to dirty up the sound a little. It maintains the notes with distortion without getting garbled. It has a pleasant sound where on the Silver Sky on the same setting, it breaks up more. I need to make some adjustments with the gain and treble to get a little closer to the Fender sound. I also find many times I prefer the Silver Sky at volume 9 as 10 can be a little too hot. If I could get another Fender Vintage II that does not have the quality issues, I would be interested in owning one along with the Silver Sky.

Update: The Fender Vintage II provides the sound of what I imagine in my head what a great Fender Stratocaster sounds like. It is a chimey sound. It has that classic quack in 2 and 4. The updated tone control working on the back pickup and the 5 way toggle switch are nice updates while staying close to the Vintage flavor. I have to say, the Silver Sky does not even come close to this classic sound.

If you want that vintage sound of a Strat, hands down, I much prefer the Vintage II Strat over Silver Sky with its latest pickups. I am curious how the original SK pickups sounded. I would think closer to the Vintage II 61 Strat. Even though the sound is nicer for the vintage sound, the truss rod adjustment is annoying to adjust, the screw in whammy will be not too pleasant once the metal starts to wear in the inside groove. Also, the frets are smaller than I prefer. The tall narrow frets in the American Professional and Silver Sky are nicer. I have really considered order another Vintage II to get that classic Fender sound. The Silver Sky just does not do it. But when you want a fuller Strat sound that is not as thin and polite, the Silver Sky is the one to choose.

When you add distortion, the Vintage II is more polite. I was able to dial in some very good grit rthy on this guitar with the back pickup. When I went to the Silver Sky, I had to back down the gain by about 2 to get it into the same ballpark. The Silver Sky was just too overloaded with the same setting. Adding higher gain distortion, the Fender was more polite but sounded good. The SK had more drive.

 

[newfmp3]

Recently bought a Fender AM PRO II in Dark Night. Was very very clear with dealer to check it over and I would not tolerate any flaws. It was a gift for me dad. It had the worse fret job I've ever seen and I've been playing and buying for 40 yrs. Absolute disaster. Now put that aside, I to do have a SS Core in Rosewood, a 23 model. The SS is superior in every way except one. My selector switch feels cheap and moves a little. But the fret work is perfect, the neck is a bit chunky so be aware, as the Fender neck is a bit slimmer. But there is no comparing these two guitars The PRS is in it's own league. But the Fender comes with a MUCH better case. I'm never ordering another Fender online again. Last 3 have been complete junk.

 

[Revelation]

Yes, everything about craftmanship and quality, the PRS is much better than the Fender. Tone is the only area where the Fender has caught my attention. Maybe a Silver Sky with a rosewood neck might be a better option to complement my SK with the maple neck.

 

[newfmp3]

I have a CS Strat with fat 50's and 60's neck. I would say my Rosewood SS Core is slightly brighter on the neck and middle but very close. The Bridge pup on my Strat is typical useless Strat bridge, but the SS has a different sound to it on the bridge. You have to hear it. I can't say I prefer one or the other tone wise. 2 different tools. But the average joe is never hearing a difference. They are so close.

 

[Tag]

I compared the Silver Sky to the American Pro II and I preferred the Silver Sky. I chose the finish on it, the neck, the pickups which were not as thin sounding. In addition the back pickup was not as ice picky.

The question I have is has anyone ever compared the Silver Sky to the American Vintage II. The only comparison I found was the one when Paul on a poor recording swapped back and forth between the two guitars. By the way, Guitar Center only has them in their warehouse and won't release them unless I go to the store, pay for it in full, and wait for it to come in.

I just did this. Both nice guitars but I like the SE SS a lot more.....BUT, there were some SEs with sloppy fretwork and dead frets. The Fender had much lower action and consistently much better fret work. Pick through a few SSs though and they definitely sound better to me acoustically and plugged in. It seems Fender and Gibson really has surpassed PRS in fretwork across the board until you get to the Private stocks which then evens things out. Bummer as originally (80s/90s) PRSs fretwork was always better.

 

[Woodfin]

I have a Cory Wong strat and it is flawless. The clean tones "fill in" the areas in between my S2 Studio, where the bucket will get pretty growly and the D in position 5 has a nice full sound.

 

[Bobd]

The thing with the tone of the Silver Sky is the model year ... they changed a lot on the pickups through the years .. they do not compare

 

[Tones-R-Us]

I’m a current Fender AVII ‘61 owner and can echo some of the sentiments above from @Revelation

I can understand why they hear the difference in tone with the volume on 10 and that is in part because the Silver Sky has higher output pickups. With the same amp settings you can get very similar tones with the SS on about 7ish, compared to the Strat on 10.
Pickup heights obviously come into play here and I have my Strat set up so there is a good balance across all the pickups a this means setting the neck bass side very low and the bridge higher with tone set to about 6 (I also have a treble bleed installed too).
My Strat was overall a bit darker and the SS - bit brighter, nothing obnoxious, very balanced output across all positions and truly excellent tone. Ultimately you’re comparing ‘61 vs ‘63/64 pickups and I think I preferred the Sky’s, they are magnificent - there was more articulation and shades of tone on offer, no volume drop in the 4th and 2nd positions and when rolling back the volume it didn’t get super dark like my Strat did without a treble bleed.

I have to admit it took about half an hour of playing the ‘22 Rosewood Golden Mesa SS before it started to click and it was all to do with the neck:

The neck of the Sky was much thicker overall and my hands over two years have become very accustomed to the Fender which is:
.810” - .930”, 1st and 12nd fret.
Compare that to the current iteration of the Sky which is: .860” - .984, 1st and 12th fret.
This is significant difference in the hand, it’s chunky indeed but it is comfortable, the larger 6105 style fret size felt good too, but I feel this combination presented some problems when trying play fast across the neck laterally.
In fixed position vertical playing I didn’t feel I had any major issues and I fret notes with my thumb a lot, even up by the 12th fret I could still pull off Hendrix/SRV/Sayce style descending licks to the low E.

I think what was possibly getting my hands caught up was the sticky gloss nitro - I usually scotchbrite the neck down anyway. But being a fatter neck there’s maybe not enough airspace to avoid getting caught too much - the maple necks are satin so I understand, which would possibly alleviate the issue.
My hands are the upper end of medium and I’d like to say I got on more or less fine, wider nut width bothers me more, but I think given more time I’d certainly become very comfortable, though I would prefer something just a bit thinner, maybe .950” or .960” at the 12th.
The narrow tall frets are really nice but I’d prefer jumbos, though I found with the standard set of 10’s I was overshooting bends and could get some juicy vibrato going - the fretwork was immaculate.
On my AVII ‘61, the frets are much smaller and I use a set of modified 9s (9, 12, 15, 24, 32, 48) and honestly, that guitar probably felt stiffer for bends and vibrato likely due to the fact that you’re catching the fingerboard more.

Overall fit and finish of the Sky is superior to that of the AVII ‘61, I bought mine sight unseen and truthfully wouldn’t usually do that with a guitar and with this range - the QC is all over the place, tooling marks on the fretboard (despite good fretwork), lighter inconsistent rosewood, weird clay dots and invisible side markers, paint chips, heavier bodies, poor setup (though I always do my own).
It feels like Fender don’t really care about the product they put out as long as it meets spec, even regards the Custom Shop.
Dark rosewood and a light body is not a premium option on an SS - it is standard.

The USA Silver Sky: every one I’ve tried has been nothing but top notch quality both fit and finish. You could order one online and out of the box it would be ready to go, they are excellent instruments, and I’m still considering trading my Strat for one, it’s just the fat neck putting me off, I think for the time being I’ll probably refret the Strat with jumbos and replace the clay dots and side markers. But I want to and will own a Silver Sky one day…

 

[bodia]

I’m a current Fender AVII ‘61 owner and can echo some of the sentiments above from @Revelation

I can understand why they hear the difference in tone with the volume on 10 and that is in part because the Silver Sky has higher output pickups. With the same amp settings you can get very similar tones with the SS on about 7ish, compared to the Strat on 10.
Pickup heights obviously come into play here and I have my Strat set up so there is a good balance across all the pickups a this means setting the neck bass side very low and the bridge higher with tone set to about 6 (I also have a treble bleed installed too).
My Strat was overall a bit darker and the SS - bit brighter, nothing obnoxious, very balanced output across all positions and truly excellent tone. Ultimately you’re comparing ‘61 vs ‘63/64 pickups and I think I preferred the Sky’s, they are magnificent - there was more articulation and shades of tone on offer, no volume drop in the 4th and 2nd positions and when rolling back the volume it didn’t get super dark like my Strat did without a treble bleed.

I have to admit it took about half an hour of playing the ‘22 Rosewood Golden Mesa SS before it started to click and it was all to do with the neck:

The neck of the Sky was much thicker overall and my hands over two years have become very accustomed to the Fender which is:
.810” - .930”, 1st and 12nd fret.
Compare that to the current iteration of the Sky which is: .860” - .984, 1st and 12th fret.
This is significant difference in the hand, it’s chunky indeed but it is comfortable, the larger 6105 style fret size felt good too, but I feel this combination presented some problems when trying play fast across the neck laterally.
In fixed position vertical playing I didn’t feel I had any major issues and I fret notes with my thumb a lot, even up by the 12th fret I could still pull off Hendrix/SRV/Sayce style descending licks to the low E.

I think what was possibly getting my hands caught up was the sticky gloss nitro - I usually scotchbrite the neck down anyway. But being a fatter neck there’s maybe not enough airspace to avoid getting caught too much - the maple necks are satin so I understand, which would possibly alleviate the issue.
My hands are the upper end of medium and I’d like to say I got on more or less fine, wider but width bothers me more, but I think given more time I’d certainly become very comfortable though I would prefer something just a bit thinner, maybe .950” or .960” at the 12th.
The narrow tall frets are really nice but I’d prefer jumbos, though I found with the standard set of 10’s I was overshooting bends and could get some juicy vibrato going - the fretwork was immaculate.
On my AVII ‘61, the frets are much smaller and I use a set of modified 9s (9, 12, 15, 24, 32, 48) and honestly, that guitar probably felt stiffer for bends and vibrato likely due to the fact that you’re catching the fingerboard more.

Overall fit and finish of the Sky is superior to that of the AVII ‘61, I bought mine sight unseen and truthfully wouldn’t usually do that with a guitar and with this range - the QC is all over the place, tooling marks on the fretboard (despite good fretwork), lighter inconsistent rosewood, weird clay dots and invisible side markers, paint chips, heavier bodies, poor setup (though I always do my own).
It feels like Fender don’t really care about the product they put out as long as it meets spec, even regards the Custom Shop.
Dark rosewood and a light body is not a premium option on an SS - it is standard.

The USA Silver Sky: every one I’ve tried has been nothing but top notch quality both fit and finish. You could order one online and out of the box it would be ready to go, they are excellent instruments, and I’m still considering trading my Strat for one, it’s just the fat neck putting me off, I think for the time being I’ll probably refret the Strat with jumbos and replace the clay dots and side markers. But I want to and will own a Silver Sky one day…

Great write up. Thanks for posting.