Fender Cabronita (MIM). Thoughts?

guitarcookie1

I had one of these a few years ago and remember it being really well made but a little heavy and hindered by the lack of a tone control.

Strangely I have the itch to try another. Anyone else got/had one?

DrBob

The neck on them was nice. Bit chunkier than a MIM Standard, not as fat as the Baja 

stickyfiddle

Not a Mexi but I have a custom-built La Cab that I love. I put a tone control on mine and wouldn't want one without tbh. You could go with a stacked pot if you didn't want to drill?

guitarcookie1

stickyfiddle said:

Not a Mexi but I have a custom-built La Cab that I love. I put a tone control on mine and wouldn't want one without tbh. You could go with a stacked pot if you didn't want to drill?

From memory there wasn't enough space to fit another pot without extending the control cavity so a stacked pot would be the answer.

Funkfingers

I used to have the American production line model. I became increasingly frustrated by the lack of a tone control and the Am Std neck profile. (I prefer AV and AVRI necks.) Eventually, I traded it on this forum. The next owner has also traded it on.

At roughly the same time, I assembled a bitsa LC Especial from Warmoth parts. The bigger neck and slightly hotter TV Jones pickup made for a bigger sound. Best of all, this single pickup guitar has a tone control!

CountryDave

I've been through a Squier and Mexican Cab and with both I eventually got to the point of missing a tone control enough to let them go.
If they had put the controls in the same spot as a std tele, there would be space for a tone control. But they didn't.
Picked up a partscaster off here a few months back with a single TVJ, volume and tone. Works for me.

JayGee

Got one, love it. I occasionally toy with the idea of swapping the neck for something with an RW board and equally occasionally wonder if it might benefit from a tone control but again not enough that I’ve actually done anything[1] about it...

[1] Was thinking about a push-pull with a fixed roll-off.

idiotwindow

I'm sure they are comfortable and play well but the Cabronita has always struck me as essentially a Fender branded partscaster.

chris78

I had one when they came out, and it needed some mods, but was fine after that.
The bridge needed modding or the e string was way too close to the end of the fretboard. The pickups were a bit "meh" in my view, but it had a decent enough neck. It's not a guitar I miss

Dominic

Funnily enough the Fender Fidelitron pickups are generally very well thought of........Fender didn't conceive them til after the acquired Gretsch so they had plenty of R and D behind them .
Personally I dislike the TV Jones ......I find them all too bright and harsh .......would rather have Gretsch Filtertrons or the Fender Fidelitrons any day 

guitarcookie1

chris78 said:

I had one when they came out, and it needed some mods, but was fine after that.
The bridge needed modding or the e string was way too close to the end of the fretboard. The pickups were a bit "meh" in my view, but it had a decent enough neck. It's not a guitar I miss

I think your last sentence sums it up for me. Apart from the neck, not a guitar I actually miss.

Jota

I had the Squier version. One of the few guitars I regret selling but I never really bounded with the neck.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Dominic said:

Funnily enough the Fender Fidelitron pickups are generally very well thought of........Fender didn't conceive them til after the acquired Gretsch so they had plenty of R and D behind them .
Personally I dislike the TV Jones ......I find them all too bright and harsh .......would rather have Gretsch Filtertrons or the Fender Fidelitrons any day 

I was wondering about those pickups. Do the Squier Cabronitas have the same pickups as the MIM Fenders?

I've been tempted a couple of times by the idea of one of the limited edition Squier Cab's with the Bigsby trems, but was put off by the thought of having to potentially then fork out for some nicer pickups. If the pickups actually aren't half bad then I might have to reconsider! 

Jota

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Dominic said:

Funnily enough the Fender Fidelitron pickups are generally very well thought of........Fender didn't conceive them til after the acquired Gretsch so they had plenty of R and D behind them .
Personally I dislike the TV Jones ......I find them all too bright and harsh .......would rather have Gretsch Filtertrons or the Fender Fidelitrons any day 

I was wondering about those pickups. Do the Squier Cabronitas have the same pickups as the MIM Fenders?

I've been tempted a couple of times by the idea of one of the limited edition Squier Cab's with the Bigsby trems, but was put off by the thought of having to potentially then fork out for some nicer pickups. If the pickups actually aren't half bad then I might have to reconsider! 

Yes, same pickups.

guitargeek62

Ahem

https://www.gearnews.com/harley-benton-te-90flt-blast-series-loaded-with-roswell-filtertron-pickups/

guitarcookie1

guitargeek62 said:

Ahem

https://www.gearnews.com/harley-benton-te-90flt-blast-series-loaded-with-roswell-filtertron-pickups/

They look horrible (imho)..

frown

I’ve got a MIM Cab, which I swapped the glossy ugly grain neck for a MIM Tele satin neck that I’d had refretted with SS wire. Much better feel and comfort wise. Also has better look now. Other changes were a Hipshot bridge as the original Fender one was woefully out of line.

StuartMac290

I have a Mexican Thinline one that's permanently set up for slide, and it's a superb guitar for that. The Fidelitron pickups are lovely - and I say that as someone who owns several TV Jones-equipped Gretsches.

WindmillGuitars

@guitarcookie1 I've a mint MX Thinline available.