All user reviews for the Fender Cabronita Telecaster [2012-2013]

I bought this guitar looking for an affordable a guitar for practice, live performances and recording. My Fender Cabronita was made in Mexico, and while many times the mexican-made Fender basses and guitars can match the quality and sound of their international counterparts, this time Fender falls a little short in terms of craftsmanship and quality. However, this guitar does have the classic Telecaster tone from two sharp Fideli’TronTM humbucking pickups. It also feats a single volume control knob, 22 frets, and a 3-way pickup selector which gives you a wide tonal range to choose from.

Its modern 'C' shaped neck makes it very comfortable to play and it has a good feel. The neck needs to be adjusted more often than one would want; in a matter of weeks the strings start to feel higher and it gets harder to play loosely. Another problem that seems recurrent among Cabronita owners (even with the USA made guitars) is the bridge being too wide for the guitar. For this reason and the fact that it gets out of tune easily I would not recommend it for recording purposes in exception of demos.

UTILIZATION

The bridge doesn't fit quite well,the first two strings don't line up well over the pickups and the high E string slips over the edge of the fretboard with only a slight bend. Some of the high notes on the last frets also buzz,
the tuners seem too loose and the guitar doesn't intonate well in some of the high notes.
Because of the pick up setting and quality you can get easily a good tone from this guitar, the Fideli’TronTM humbucking pickups give the player a wide option of tones, with great warmth and aggressiveness when needed.
With some gain you can get a fantastic sound out of this Tele.

While the wood for the body of most Cabronitas is alder, the white blonde version has an ash body, which makes the guitar slightly heavier,but I believe ash has a more resonant sound than alder. So I don't mind it being a little bit heavier. The finish is perfect and the design is ergonomic too.

SOUNDS

I run it through a VOX AC15 guitar amp and with the bridge pickup setting it sounds amazing, warm, rich and punchy. I play bass in a rock band but the singer is the one who uses this guitar for rehearsals and live performances as well. He plays kind of rough but since he plays mostly rhythm guitar parts the Cabronita sounds very nice when playing with the band.
For our style of music it's perfect for playing chords and comping, however, as I stated before, some of the high notes buzz and don't intonate well, also remember that the E string slides easily over the fretboard. Usually we don't use this guitar for solos or very melodic lines. Apart from this two notorious flaws, my Cabronita run through the Vox AC15 sounds great, with a very full, aggressive and thick tone. The pickups also turn out to have good versatility; there is a remarkable difference in sound between the bridge and the neck pickup, while we use mostly the bridge pickup, the neck gives very warm, clean and clear tones too.

OVERALL OPINION

What I liked the most about this guitar was the classic punchy sound of a Tele. It fits our style of music really well and as rhythm guitar it makes a great job. Apart from the production related issues like the neck and tuners this is a good guitar for live shows and practicing. It has satisfactory electronics. Still I believe you can get a better Telecaster model for the same price. Perhaps I wouldn't make the same choice If I had to buy it again. I would go for another Tele model. I mean, the Cabronita has what I need (sound quality, good tone, punch) and the pickups and overall sound are excellent, but all of the quality problems I had with this guitar are not present in other Telecaster models, even from the standard series. So, in conclusion:

Pros:
-Good tone
-Comfortable to play
-Strong electronics
-Good finish
-Good pickups

Cons:
-Unfitting bridge
-Buzz in high frets
-Gets out of tune easily
-Poor craftsmanship
-Neck has to be adjusted constantly