From Fender Site: Among the new American Standard Stratocaster® guitars, the HSS model is the hot rod of the bunch, with more output and warmth from its Tex Mex™ single-coil pickups and Diamondback™ humbucking pickup. The S-1™ switch is removed to keep it simple, but don't worry - we kept key features such as the hand-rolled fingerboard edges and staggered tuning machines, and we added several new features, including an improved bridge with bent-steel saddles and a copper-infused high-mass block for increased resonance and sustain. Other features include tinted neck, high-gloss maple or rosewood fingerboard, satin-finished neck back, thinner finish undercoat that lets the body breathe and improves resonance, and Fender-exclusive SKB® molded case.