View other reviews for this product:
MGR/Derek Mok « Fender Standard Telecaster »
Published on 01/10/06 at 15:00Primarily a singer, I've been playing guitar for about 10 years, been in a band (drummer!), and have continued to record and play with other musicians on a non-professional basis. My styles range from folk to hard rock, with heavy power-pop leanings -- Big Star, not Green Day.
As part of helping my friend shop for her first electric guitar, I played two different copies of this, Fender's $370 Mexican-made Telecaster, at Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd. and Sam Ash on Crescent Heights in L.A., for about an hour at each location.
The two guitars I played varied wildly. The Guitar Center Telecaster was lively, complex-sounding, and responsive, with especially impressive left-hand feel, given that I usually play Gibsons exclusively. The Sam Ash Telecaster felt dead, heavy, and gave a caterwauling sound I detested. And I was testing on identical Fender Frontman amps.
The inconsistency in sound and feel between the two guitars is enough to make me suspicious. It certainly would be a risky proposition to buy this model on the web, without actually testing it in person. The Sam Ash Telecaster felt as bad as my first electric, a Squier Stratocaster that started falling apart about six months after I'd first bought it.
The aesthetics, woods, finish and hardware on both Telecasters were all right. The Sam Ash Telecaster, again, felt like dead weight, but the Guitar Center one was very comfortable. So again, quality seems to vary wildly in this range.
I love the Telecaster sound; it's nearly impossible to get that tone without actually playing a Telecaster. So I took my friend's shopping trip as an opportunity to try out the Telecaster extensively. As it turned out, if I didn't already have several guitars and had the money, I would've picked up with Guitar Center Telecaster without hesitation, while the Sam Ash Telecaster was uninviting to play, uninspiring, and reinforced my reservations about lower-end Fenders. My advice would be to never buy a Mexican Fender Telecaster without playing it. Don't buy off the web or eBay; go to a store and try as many as you can. You can probably talk store prices down to web prices, and you'll be much more comfortable in knowing what you're paying for.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
As part of helping my friend shop for her first electric guitar, I played two different copies of this, Fender's $370 Mexican-made Telecaster, at Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd. and Sam Ash on Crescent Heights in L.A., for about an hour at each location.
The two guitars I played varied wildly. The Guitar Center Telecaster was lively, complex-sounding, and responsive, with especially impressive left-hand feel, given that I usually play Gibsons exclusively. The Sam Ash Telecaster felt dead, heavy, and gave a caterwauling sound I detested. And I was testing on identical Fender Frontman amps.
The inconsistency in sound and feel between the two guitars is enough to make me suspicious. It certainly would be a risky proposition to buy this model on the web, without actually testing it in person. The Sam Ash Telecaster felt as bad as my first electric, a Squier Stratocaster that started falling apart about six months after I'd first bought it.
The aesthetics, woods, finish and hardware on both Telecasters were all right. The Sam Ash Telecaster, again, felt like dead weight, but the Guitar Center one was very comfortable. So again, quality seems to vary wildly in this range.
I love the Telecaster sound; it's nearly impossible to get that tone without actually playing a Telecaster. So I took my friend's shopping trip as an opportunity to try out the Telecaster extensively. As it turned out, if I didn't already have several guitars and had the money, I would've picked up with Guitar Center Telecaster without hesitation, while the Sam Ash Telecaster was uninviting to play, uninspiring, and reinforced my reservations about lower-end Fenders. My advice would be to never buy a Mexican Fender Telecaster without playing it. Don't buy off the web or eBay; go to a store and try as many as you can. You can probably talk store prices down to web prices, and you'll be much more comfortable in knowing what you're paying for.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com