Fender Solid Body Electric Guitars

This is one of the infamous CBS era strats that just has an absolutely amazing vibe going on. The guitar has an alder body, a three bolt maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, 21 frets, the big CBS headstock, dot inlays, a vintage style tremolo, three single coils, one volume, two tones and a five way switch. UTILIZATION The guitar is beat to hell, but this thing has one of the most amazing necks I've ever laid my hands on. It's all dirty and grimy from years and years of touring abuse, but it just felt so perfect in my hand. It's been refretted with 6000 frets, so there are no issues with the thing being some fretless wonder style guitar, although the frets on these originally weren't super low. The guitar has the infamous three bolt configuration, and it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. There's no real need to convert it to a four bolt like a few guys try to do. The three bolts will hold the neck fine. The main issue was that the quality control was pretty poor on these, but man if this thing didn't resonate... SOUNDS The guitar had all orignal pickups in it, and they had the coolest "woody" kind of tone going on. If you've ever listened to SRV, you'll know what I'm referring to. I actually think the 60s are some of the best pickups out there, and these early 70s ones are very close to my coveted 60s style pickups. The five way switch in this thing allowed me to get some crazy good tones out of this thing. If you're looking for a blues machine, this is exactly the kind of guitar you'd want. If you want to rock like Jimi, this is the guitar. I was just blown away by everything...except the price. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a solid guitar, and can afford these guitars, I recommend checking them out. I don't recommend rushing out and buying these blind as they can be real iffy in terms of overall quality and tone. I've seen some real dogs around this era, but the ones that are good are simply amazing. This was one of the amazing ones.

The Fender Stratocaster has such a great tone and it is extremely solid to play. It has the perfect weight and balance for me, particularly because of the shape and feel of the guitar overall. My natural stance when playing has a certain feel and certain guitars really don't give me that comfortability that I'm looking for. All I want to do is focus on my guitar playing and dynamics and style and not worry about my guitar rig, amp, and certainly not my instrument it's self. UTILIZATION Neck Shape: Modern "C" Shape Number of Frets: 22 Fret Size: Jumbo Frets Position Inlays: Black Dot Position Inlays Fingerboard Radius: 9.5" (24.1 cm) Neck Material: Maple Neck Finish: Satin Urethane Nut Width: 1.6875" (43 mm) Scale Length: 25.5" (64.8 cm) Headstock: Large '70s Style Neck Plate: Standard 4 Bolt Truss Rod Nut: 1/8" American Series Nut Electronics Pickup Configuration: S/S/S Bridge Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Bridge Pickup Middle Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Middle Pickup Neck Pickup: Texas Special™ Single-Coil Neck Pickup Pickup Switching: 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup, Position 3. Middle Pickup, Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup, Position 5. Neck Pickup Special Electronics: Greasebucket™ Tone Circuit (rolls off high without adding bass) Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup) Greasebucket™ Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass) Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit Hardware Hardware Finish: Chrome Bridge: Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo String Nut: Synthetic Bone Switch Tips: White Switch Tip Tremolo Arm Handle: Vintage Style Tremolo Arm SOUNDS The tone of this guitar sounds absolutely fantastic. It has a nice mid range tone but if you give it a loaded distortion and maybe some boost from a pedal with an overdriven amp to get a nice thick meaty sustaining tone. It has to be one my favorite resonant frequency tones at any instrument that I've ever played. Whether you're playing with a clean amplifier or a really overdriven amplifier you're going to get a complete sound night after night of playing. Overall this is the perfect instrument for anyone looking for that one specific guitar that will last generations. OVERALL OPINION These guitars you can find pretty much anywhere you look for musical gear. They come in right around the thousand dollars or so depending on the model and the specifics. This is a great price for an American built guitar and a perfect instrument for gigging or reporting applications. I highly recommend this guitar to any guitarist out there looking for the perfect American built guitar.

I dont know what Fender was thinking when they came out with this guitar but I like it. This is the Fender Modern Player Jaguar. This is a new guitar from Fender and it looks to simplify the old Jaguar design and make it a straight rock machine. The old Jaguar came out in the early 60s trying to be the classy version of the Stratocaster. It had crazy controls all over it for phase switching and whatnot. It also had a crazy tremolo on it. Not many people liked it and it never caught on as well as the Stratocaster. There have been many variations on the shape and this Modern Player guitar is the latest I think. It gets rid of everything that people did not like and simplifies it. It has a mahogany body with a bolt on maple neck with the big 70s headstock on it. The headstock script looks pretty silly. It looks like a little kid wrote it. The neck has a rosewood fretboard with 21 frets. It has a standard scale neck so the body looks kind of small compared to the rest of the guitar because the Jaguar was meant to have a short scale neck on it. Instead of the silly Jaguar tremolo they threw on a simple tune-o-matic which is great. There are no crazy phase switches on the guitar. The controls are just a master volume and master tone. The pickups are a set of growling P90s. P90s are some of the best pickups for rock and roll playing. P90s work well with a bit of overdrive and get you a classic overdriven sound. I think they do better with drive than low output humbuckers. You get the body of a humbucker with the high end bite of a single coil. The body keeps it from sounding thin like some single coils do with gain but the high end bite gives it a nice grind and clarity with playing with the gain. This guitar is a really good value. In my shop its priced at only around 400 dollars. Thats pretty good for a Fender. You cant get many Epiphones for that. With this guitar you get tons of tone and playability without any of the hassle. There are no tremolos to go out of tune or springs to adjust. Its just straight rock and roll P90 tone.

The Fender Telecaster has to be one of the funnest guitars to play. It has a unique sound and a unique tome that is all to itself. It does carry the Fender voicing in sound but yet it has its own thing going on. They usually has a thinner neck and a faster neck comparatively to a Fender Stratocaster guitar. Has less features than a Fender Stratocaster but overall as a fantastic tone and extremely versatile tone as well. UTILIZATION Fender Classic '50s Telecaster Guitar Features: Color: Candy Apple Red Body Type: Single cutaway Finish: Polyurethane Neck Wood: Maple, gloss polyurethane Neck Shape: C shape Body Wood: Alder Machine Heads: Fender/Ping Vintage Style Fingerboard: Rosewood, 7.25" radius No. of Frets: 21 Vintage Position Markers: Dot inlay Scale Length: 25.5" Pickups: 2 Single-Coil Tele Pickups Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone Bridge/Tailpiece: Bigsby "F" vibrato tailpiece Pickup Switching: 3-position blade Hardware: Chrome SOUNDS The Fender Telecaster is one of those guitars that goes great with a clean amplifier sound. This is why many country players tend to lean towards picking up a Fender Telecaster over a Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Stratocaster primarily because it has a nice clean, spanky tome that doesn't give you a lot of distortion if you use a high gain amplifier but if you use a subtle mild overdrive it's going to get great sustaining tone. The body shape is very nice and comfortable as well in the overall weight and balance is very comfortable. I really like these guitars for recording because it gets a unique frequency response in the mix. OVERALL OPINION These guitars sit in the mix very well and the price of these guitars is very nice as well. You can find these instruments pretty much anywhere you find guitar or musical gear. They range anywhere between 800 and $1500 depending on the features and the customization of the instrument. Overall they're great guitars and they're fun to play if you need a nice addition to your guitar catalog or something that you need to record with this is a great instrument to have.

Made 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.

Fender Japan is always making cool stuff. This is the latest in a line of cool Fenders from overseas. This is the Aerodyne Telecaster. The Aerodyne guitars are a series of black guitar with white binding that kind of come out Les Paul like. I really like the layout of this Tele. You get an arch top basswood body with a bolt on maple neck and rosewood fretboard. You get a 7.25 radius on the fretboard but it comes with big frets that help you out. The pickups make this thing great. I am not a fan of the traditional Telecaster neck pickup so the P90 in the neck is great. The bridge pickup is the traditional Telecaster setup but the bridge is not the ashtray design so it is more comfortable to play. The bridge is a flat design and it has 6 saddles so you can intonate the guitar properly. In the controls you get a master tone and master volume with a 3 way toggle on the upper bout like a Les Paul. UTILIZATION This guitar has a little better feel than a normal Tele. You still have the crazy round 7.25 radius but this guitar comes with big frets that help you still be able to dig in and play leads on it. The bridge is a modern tele design so it is very comfortable to play. It does not have raised edges on it so it does not get in the way of your hand or dig into your hand. The arched top body means you do not have to reach around the body to play. It is not a slab body like on an old Telecaster. SOUNDS This tele has some tone. The neck pickup on a normal tele usually has a weak thin sound but replacing it with the P90 was genius. Now you get your single coil twang with the low and and bottom fullness of a P90. It is a great way to give your tele some weight in its tone. With both the pickups on in the traditional Telecaster position you get a very full sound. The bridge pickup is pure tele twang and with the p90 you get a really big sound that still has the twang. This is a great sounding guitar. OVERALL OPINION Fender should make more original designs like these instead of putting out endless reissues. This is a great creative new design out of Fender Japan and I hope there are more to come. This is a great sounding and feeling guitar. The P90 puts the sound over the top and the arched top body makes it very comfortable to play. If you are looking for a Telecaster that is something not the same as everything else the Aerodyne Telecaster is a good options.

This guitar is made to look like a 70s modded strat. With its big headstock and natural finish, these are all 70s things and the humbucker in the bridge was a very common mod at the time. With this strat you get an alder body. A bolt on maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. The neck has a modern C profile to it and the fretboard has a 9.5 inch radius to it. The neck has 22 Jumbo frets. Up top you get 6 nonlocking tuners on the big 70s style headstock. There is a non locking tremolo bridge down at the bottom. The pickups are in an HSS configuration with an "Atomic" humbucker in the bridge with 2 hot single coils in the neck and middle. The finish is a thin coat of nitro over the natural wood to give you a cool look with a vintage feel. UTILIZATION This strat has a really nice feel to it because of the neck. It feels not unlike the custom shop models they put out that come with huge frets. This guitar having jumbo frets and a 9.5 inch radius mean you can really get a low action and really bend notes forever. The rest of the guitar feels pretty stratty. The nitro finish is a bit sticky at first but this goes away with playing. The neck bolt is big and gets in the way on the high frets. The guitar will go out of tune if you use the tremolo a lot. SOUNDS HSS strats still sound like strats but with more beef in the 1 position. The switching is typical 5 way switch with just a humbucker in the bridge. Position 1 you get the full on humbucker. This humbucker is pretty hot but it is not metal hot. It does not completely over power the single coils. It complements them well. It is more suitable for high gain tones than the single coils. It is a bit smoother sounding overall and has more thickness to it. You still get the bell like tones from the single coils in the middle and the neck. You can get that ringing single coil sound from the neck position. That kinda smooth but kind of bitey single coil sound. When you combine the bridge humbucker with the middle single coil you get a cool tone that kind of reminds me of a P90 with the single coil clarity up top with the smoothness and bottom end of the humbucker. OVERALL OPINION This is one of my favorite strats that Fender has put out recently. I love the big headstock look. Some people say they make the guitar sound better, I just think it looks cool. The original strat was supposed to have a big headstock like this but they made it smaller to cut costs. The jumbo frets make up for the reletively round radius of the fretboards. Coming from Gibsons and super strats with radiuses higher than 14 inches a 9 inch radius is pretty round but when you put big frets on it you get some of the modern feel back. If you are looking for a nice HSS strat that plays really well and looks pretty vintage the Highway 1 is a good choice.

This Tele's main draw is the high output alnico humbuckers, and as advertised it delivers crunchy tone like few others in Fender's lineup of teles. Mine has an alder body with a maple neck and rosewood board, 22 frets, and is a hardtail. The controls are: One master volume and master tone, and a 3 way switch, just like any other tele, but the knobs are cool, elongated witch hats that give off a cool old school vibe. UTILIZATION The tuners were not so great, I find that they slip with extreme bending. The pickups cleaned up well, and you can get a useable clean tone out of 'em, especially if you roll off some high end with the tone knob. I liked the neck on it. It's Fender's take on a modern C shape, which is less obtrusive than a regular Tele neck, and not as rounded as a strat neck. Medium jumbo frets make this easy to play, although I prefer jumbo frets, you really only find those on superstrats. SOUNDS Very convincing woman tones can be had if you roll the tone all the way off. The neck pickup doesn't get muddy at all, it still stays sweet and articulate. The bridge can really rip, it does sound a bit thin, but it's got lots of snap and high midrange. One thing I can't stress enough is the articulation of these pickups. I've never got a muddy tone out of it. OVERALL OPINION The overall feel of the guitar is a touch unrefined however. It might just add to the appeal if you're bashing out rock songs on it, but there's a lack of solidity and weight to this guitar that leaves me wanting. The tuning stability is a problem I liked the clarity and bit of the pickups, and the neck feels really good.

fender has made a plethora of different guitars and guitar body shapes. One of the most famous but unusual guitar shapes is the Fender Jaguar. This is a guitar shape that takes on some inspiration from the Fender Strat shape but has a funky twist of shape to it. It also has a few extra features and switches that take a normal Fender Strat to the next level. These guitars are very famous for surf music player's They have a a tone that is conducive to that style of music and the string damping device is for those guys pretty much exclusively. Neck Neck Shape: "C" Shape Number of Frets: 22 Fret Size: Vintage Style Frets Position Inlays: White Pearloid Dot Position Inlays Fretboard Radius: 7.25" (18.41 cm) Fretboard: Rosewood Neck Material: Maple Neck Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer Nut Width: 1.650” (42 mm) Scale Length: 24" (61 cm) Neck Plate: Serialized 4 Bolt Neckplate Truss Rod Nut: Original Vintage Style Electronics Pickup Configuration: S/S Bridge Pickup: Special Design American Vintage Jaguar® Single-Coil Pickup Neck Pickup: Special Design American Vintage Jaguar® Single-Coil Pickup Pickup Switching: 2-On/Off slide switches, one for each pickup Controls: "Lead" Circuit: Volume, Tone. "Rhythm" Circuit: Volume, Tone Hardware Hardware: Chrome Bridge: Vintage Style Floating Tremolo with Tremolo Lock Button Bridge Cover/Tailpiece: Includes Chrome Bridge Cover Tuning Machines: Vintage Style Tuning Machines String Nut: Synthetic Bone Tremolo Arm/Handle: Vintage Jazzmaster® Tremolo Arm Auxiliary Switching: 2-Position Tone Switch The tone of this guitar is very fender and very Fender Strat but it sounds like a disobedient step child of the Fender Strat. The tone is cool and somewhat unique. The extra switches I have never really gotten into but the body shape itself lends itself to a certain sound. I like the sound of it but it doesn't blend with all kinds of music like a Fender Strat or Gibson Les Paul would do. those guitars have a certain general and unique sound to them but a sound that can go from genre to genre without and complication. The sound of this guitar is unmistakable but also not something I would play for a cover band or something I would feel has an all inclusive musical sound. I would recommedn this guitar to someone who wants to mix things up sound wise in his or her guitar variety. This is a guitar with a very unique tone and something that either you like or you don't like. I don't find these guitars to be an everyday or every man's guitar. It is more of a specialty guitar that has its won sound and own vibe going on. It is a cool sound and nothing that I dislike personally but not something that would be an everyday sound for me. I wouldn't play a Rickenbacker or a Gretsch as an everyday guitar either. those guitars have a great unique sound to them as well but not an everyday and all musical encompassing guitars either.

To celebrate the 60th birthday of the Telecaster Fender has come out with a special edition that blends some old features with new features to make what arguably is the ultimate telecaster. The guitar features an ash body with a thin nitro finish. You can see the grain of the ash under the finish. It has a classic black telecaster pickguard and 3 way switching with volume and tone controls. The tone control is a no-load tone circuit where you can completely take the tone knob out of the circuit. The pickups are from Fenders American Vintage series. The neck is a one piece maple neck with a 9.5 radius a little flatter than what an old telecaster would have. The fret edges are nicely rolled for a comfy feel. UTILIZATION The one piece maple neck comes with 22 medium jumbo frets on a 9.5 radius. This makes the guitar play more like a modern guitar. These frets are a lot bigger than what you would have gotten back in the 50s and the fretboard is also a lot flatter than what you would have gotten. The neck is a more modern C shape and this with the rolled edges mean you can really wrap your hand around and get a good feel on the neck. The ashtray bridge does not have the sharp edges to it like an old tele would have so it is much more comfortable for your picking hand. The bridge also has 6 saddles for adjustment different than the 3 you would get with a vintage tele bridge. SOUNDS This telecaster has a really big sound thanks to the good pickups and the no load tone control. The no load tone control does a trick that many guitar players were doing over the years. The players modified their tone controls to at the maximum setting act as if there was no tone control in the circuit. When the tone knob is maxed on this guitar it is like there is no tone control. Most guitars will sound a lot better and more powerful without a tone control. So with this guitar you get the tones of a tele with the tone control on and without it because then the signal has less resistance inside the guitar. It is going straight from the pickups to the volume and out to the jack. Because the tele is naturally a bright guitar you may need the tone control sometimes to get bluesy or jazzy tones and this guitar can do those tones well. This guitar also does the traditional tele stuff great. It has all the great twang you would expect with a telecaster. OVERALL OPINION This is a great tele with an old style finish and modern style playability and a powerful tone. I wish all guitars came with a no load tone pot. Its a great option to have the power of no tone control in the guitar and the versatility it gives. Fender threw some great parts on to this guitar. If Fender cut 90 percent of their models and just made 1 Strat model and 1 Tele model like this I am sure they would sell just as well. If you are looking for a Telecaster that combines old school looks with modern playability and hardware this is a good guitar.

The 72 Telecaster Deluxe is an interesting guitar. It has more in common with a Les Paul than a tele and is very 70s in design. In the late 60s Fender was trying to compete with Gibson for a guitar that was good for hard rock music. The traditional singlecoils that Fender used in most of their guitars were not well suited for higher gain types of music and applications. Around that time Fender hired a guy who used to design pickups for Gibson. He made Fender a humbucking pickup to use in their guitars. This pickup was the Widerange pickup. The 72 Deluxe tele is very 70s in design. It has a neck similar to that of a 70s Stratocaster. It has the large 70s headstock which I like. It has the 3 bolt neck joint with the micro tilt adjuster. The Deluxe has a strat style hardtail bridge instead of the ashtray bridge because there are humbucking pickups in it. It has dual Widerange Fender pickups and a Gibson style control setup with a volume and tone knob for each pickup and a 3 way toggle to switch among them. UTILIZATION This guitar plays very nicely. The Deluxe has larger frets than the stratocaster at the time and the fretboard radius is flatter. It has more of a Gibson type feel to it. The reliced finish actually makes the guitar feel better. The fretboard edges are nice and smooth and places where your body comes in contact with the guitar are smooth as well. Since this is a bolt on Fender guitar there is quite a large neck joint heel where the bolts are and this may get in the way of the higher frets. The 3 bolt neck is not a problem although some people hate it. It works just as fine as the 4 bolt ones did and with the microtilt you dont have to take the whole neck off to shim it. I think people just saw back in the day that it had one less bolt and assumed it was worse. Now there are high end boutique guitar makers making strat style guitars with 2 bolt necks. The controls may be awkward for someone who is use to a traditional tele setup. But this is not a traditional tele. SOUNDS The Widerange humbuckers are built for heavier music than the single coils but they are not super high output. They have a very vintage voice to them. This is probably the smoothest sounding solid body telecasters out there. The tone of the pickups is very p90 ish but with more bottom end. It does not have the telecaster quack that tele players may be use to. With the smoothness there is a bit of a loss of clarity in the tone. Overall there is a nice old school woody tone to the guitar. This guitar also has a great jazzy tone. It is very warm without getting boomy. OVERALL OPINION This is one of my favorite Telecaster designs. I am not a huge single coil fan so I like the humbuckers. The flatter neck with the larger frets is very easy to play. I also always liked the large headstock Fenders to the small ones. Fender originally wanted all their guitars to have the large headstocks in the 50s but to save money on wood they reduced the size so they only had to use one piece of wood for the neck. If you want to get a 72 Telecaster Deluxe Reissue and want it to look like it was made in 72 the Road Worn version is a nice option to have.

The Fender Classic Player 50's Stratocaster is a product released to help rejuvenate and bring quality to the Made in Mexico line of guitars. The guitar is similar to the old school '50s strats in that it has an alder body, maple neck, 21 medium jumbo frets, vintage tremolo, a 9.5'' radius, SSS configuration with a 5 way switch, one volume and two tone pots. UTILIZATION The guitar is similar to the regular Mexican line of guitars, but the one I played seems to have both better pickups and better fit + finish. The body is pretty much the standard '50s strat body that has been used for awhile in their line up, but the neck is a softer V shaped neck. Since it's a V neck, it won't be for everyone, but I find the soft edged V shape to be very comfortable to where it shouldn't be a big issue. The 9.5'' radius is standard on these guitars, and while I'm not a fan of the smaller radius, it works for a lot of people. I really wish it had 22 frets, but considering it's meant to be a '50s strat, it's forgivable. The fretwork on the one I played seems to be better than the normal MIM line. Not sure if that's due to luck or what. SOUNDS The guitar sounds quite nice, and I could easily live with the stock pickups in this. The singles have that signature hum going on, but they also have all the great qualities that most people look for in singles. They're vowely, quack nicely, have some decent power and work great in both clean and mid gain tones. OVERALL OPINION If you're looking for a nice quality MIM strat without breaking the bank, you should really look into checking this guitar out. They go pretty cheap on the used market, and it can rival some of the MIA strats out there. Like all Fenders, you should really play one before you actually buy, but I don't think you'll be too disappointed with this guitar as long as you're not one of those people who absolutely needs the Fender custom shop quality guitar.