All user reviews for the Fender Telecaster Plus Deluxe [1989-1990]

USA made
Alder/ash body
Maple neck with 2 way adjustable truss rod
Maple or rosewood fretboard with 22 frets
Volume
Tone
3 way pickup selector switch
Fender Lace Sensor pickups - 2 at the bridge wired as a humbucker, 1 in the neck
Fender Tele bridge with 6 adjustable individual saddles
Fender tuning keys

UTILIZATION

This Tele is fantastic. It's like every good Telecaster feature rolled into one modern package. This is built for more modern styles, with the Lace Sensor pickups (two wired as a humbucker at the bridge position) and the 6 individual saddles. Some I've even seen with a tremolo system, but not the guitar I'm reviewing. Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead has used one of these guitars extensively for years, and he gets some great tones out of it. This can do country twang, but it can also do death metal (literally). It is a very versatile Telecaster.

SOUNDS

This Tele is a guitar that takes pedals very well. It has a bold, clear, striking sound that does not get muddled down by a labyrinth of stomps. The Lace Sensor pickups remind me of the qualities I like about EMGs (clarity, definition) but has none of the drawbacks of them (such as no personality!) The guitar still sounds like a Tele, even with these new-fangled pickups. Fantastic clean or dirty sounds all the way around.

OVERALL OPINION

This guitar is amazing. I love the sounds one can get from it. Also, the pickups are dead quiet, so running a lot of gain, one doesn't get a lot of extraneous hiss noise. This is one of the guitars that got away from me, and I wish I had it back.
One story - I was playing this at a show. We were a modern jazz-punk band, ala the Refused (before we had even heard the Refused, true story), and in the moment, I took the guitar off and threw it across the stage, where it hit a brick wall hard. I didn't mean to do it, it was one of those weird things that happens when someone is trancing out onstage in an aggressive show. Anyways, I picked up the guitar, and it was still perfectly in tune! THAT is a great guitar for you!