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heads on fire « Eh. Disappointing to a purist. »
Published on 11/18/11 at 08:55Made in Mexico
Tex-Mex Strat pickup sandwiched between 2 Tex-Mex Tele pickups
Five-way Strat-o-Tone switching
Alder body (ash on Honey Blonde)
Vintage machine heads
US Vintage 6-saddle bridge
Maple Neck with maple fretboard
Medium-jumbo frets
Gig bag
1 volume, 1 tone
UTILIZATION
This Telecaster seems like a good idea on paper. It's all the features one would want on an older Tele, with a couple of modern additions. It includes a 6 saddle bridge, for more exact intonation, and it also includes a third pickup in the middle position with a 5 way switch, so one can get those funky "in-between" Strat sounds. To these ends, this works well. The guitar plays well, looks good...so what's the problem, right?
My problem with the guitar is the bridge, and the new pickup and switch. Call me a traditionalist or a purist, but this guitar just is not for me. I can see how it would be an appealing fit for a lot of pickers, but I just think the new additions detract from the whole Tele experience. The bridge of a Tele should have brass saddles in my opinion, and these rolled steel saddles just do not get the cutting attack that I want in a Tele. Also, my favorite setting on a Telecaster - the middle setting, where the neck and bridge pickups are active - this setting is not available on this guitar. Bummer.
SOUNDS
The guitar suffers in the sound category due to the areas I listed above. The neck position sounds good, and the bridge position sounds good. The "in-between" sounds are good, but not exactly "Strat-like" as one would hope. It's like the Fender designers wanted the best features of a Strat and a Tele smashed into one guitar, yet they got something that ends up falling a bit short.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm giving it a 7. My review makes it sound like I like it less than I do - it's really a good guitar. But it is a disappointing guitar, because it takes away the best parts of a Tele, and tries to put in some good Strat features and doesn't quite succeed. The result is a new axe, something different than either of them separately, but I'm just a die-hard old-school Tele and Strat fan, I guess, so messing with that formula to me is a bit sacreligious. Don't buy if you're a purist, but do buy if you like Teles but want them to make a few more sounds.
Tex-Mex Strat pickup sandwiched between 2 Tex-Mex Tele pickups
Five-way Strat-o-Tone switching
Alder body (ash on Honey Blonde)
Vintage machine heads
US Vintage 6-saddle bridge
Maple Neck with maple fretboard
Medium-jumbo frets
Gig bag
1 volume, 1 tone
UTILIZATION
This Telecaster seems like a good idea on paper. It's all the features one would want on an older Tele, with a couple of modern additions. It includes a 6 saddle bridge, for more exact intonation, and it also includes a third pickup in the middle position with a 5 way switch, so one can get those funky "in-between" Strat sounds. To these ends, this works well. The guitar plays well, looks good...so what's the problem, right?
My problem with the guitar is the bridge, and the new pickup and switch. Call me a traditionalist or a purist, but this guitar just is not for me. I can see how it would be an appealing fit for a lot of pickers, but I just think the new additions detract from the whole Tele experience. The bridge of a Tele should have brass saddles in my opinion, and these rolled steel saddles just do not get the cutting attack that I want in a Tele. Also, my favorite setting on a Telecaster - the middle setting, where the neck and bridge pickups are active - this setting is not available on this guitar. Bummer.
SOUNDS
The guitar suffers in the sound category due to the areas I listed above. The neck position sounds good, and the bridge position sounds good. The "in-between" sounds are good, but not exactly "Strat-like" as one would hope. It's like the Fender designers wanted the best features of a Strat and a Tele smashed into one guitar, yet they got something that ends up falling a bit short.
OVERALL OPINION
I'm giving it a 7. My review makes it sound like I like it less than I do - it's really a good guitar. But it is a disappointing guitar, because it takes away the best parts of a Tele, and tries to put in some good Strat features and doesn't quite succeed. The result is a new axe, something different than either of them separately, but I'm just a die-hard old-school Tele and Strat fan, I guess, so messing with that formula to me is a bit sacreligious. Don't buy if you're a purist, but do buy if you like Teles but want them to make a few more sounds.