Fender Telecasters nowadays

TheDarkLord

Have you tried a new Fender lately?

I went into a shop yesterday and tried out a few Telecasters.

I tried a USA Standard a Mexican Esquire and a Mexican Standard.

The others were good guitars, but I have to say, the USA Standard was on a different planet.  A wonderful, wonderful guitar which sounded as good, if not better, than any other Tele I have ever played ..... and I have played lots throughout the years.

I think the quality of guitar that Fender USA is producing nowadays is incredible - to my mind, better than they have ever made ever before. I was well impressed.  

The wallet is at the ready!

frankus

hmm last time I checked the guitar was so so but simple stuff like the knobs were wonky - put me right off given the money being asked .. but I'm a lefty I don't expect the same amount of care

Richardj

Owned a few over the last few years and certainly the fit and finish was truly excellent. I still find them a bit soul-less however, can't quite put my finger on it, just not instantly engaging. I guess I'll just have to keep trying them until I find the right one for me. Same with Strats, it's taken US Standard's, Deluxe's and Artist models, all come and gone, until I found the one that felt and sounded right to me.

chrisj1602

I've been impresssed with them too.  I played tried a really nice Baja a couple of weeks ago, really nice neck, nice light body.  I own a MIM 72 Custom that is great, I've also had a Classic Player 50s Strat that was great too.  I've had a really nice new Japanese Tele too, but never owned a US Fender though.  That's going to have to change soon I think.

jaygtr

The current USA standards are great guitars. Although I actually prefer the pre 2012 ones.

Each new incarnation seems to move further away from the original.
Although if that's a problem Fender have more than enough "traditional" teles to tempt.

Not sure about the belly cut though!

JDE

The current crop of MIM's I've played seem to be very good. I actually think the consistency is high on these, particularly the Classic series. I tend to avoid the Bajas (necks are not my style) and the US Std models (don't like the Tele bridges), but I was playing a US Std Strat last night that was superb.

I have a MIM Classic 50's Lacquer model Tele and it's incredibly good. The tone knob is slightly off so there's a tiny bit of play when you roll it, but apart from that, it's the best recent Tele I've played outside of CS models. Contemplating Esquire'ing it, I don't use the neck position much, and because I'm used to playing archtops, I knock the neck p'up with my pick a lot. Bit too much of Campilongo fan, though, so I keep putting it off.

darrenp

I've got a natural ash Standard from 2007 and have recently acquired a 2011 Mahogany Telebration in a trade with @Richardj.

Both are great guitars but I can honestly say that the build quality and finish on the 2011 guitar is exceptional.

I'm fortunate enough to have a small collection that includes a Gibson Les Paul Standard and a couple of USA PRS models and I still keep going back to a Telecaster.

bluechargeboy

A few months ago I tried an American Standard, an American Special, and a Mexican Standard. I bought the Mexican one because the US ones were not twice as good or three times as good as the Mexican. In fact the MIM was my favourite playing-wise and tonally. Don't discount them!

littlethoughts

One of these days I will get a tele. I think I'll probably plump for the squier though.

ThePrettyDamned

frankus;148312" said:

hmm last time I checked the guitar was so so but simple stuff like the knobs were wonky - put me right off given the money being asked .. but I'm a lefty I don't expect the same amount of care

I wonder, do you think this happens often? I know a lefty and he thinks it definitely does...

ICBM

In my experience of a huge number of guitar set-ups, the left-handed guitars I come across in factory condition are almost always set up and in some cases finished worse than the right-handers. I really find it insulting, especially given that the range of colours and options is usually limited *and* they're usually more expensive - let alone that even a big company with the buying power of Fender can't be arsed to use proper reverse-taper pots or reverse-numbered knobs. (I'm not even left-handed, although I do come from a family of them!)

Anyway, back to the original topic - for a traditional Tele, I think it's a toss-up between Mexican Classic Series and Custom Shop Relics - and one is around four times the price of the other, although they *are* slightly better. I like the current (or as current as I've played) US Standards as well, but they're a slightly different thing, which I used to prefer but I'm now not sure I do.