!8: Bargain Sale Fender Pickguards: December 2011

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Review: Fender Standard Telecaster

!±8± Review: Fender Standard Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster is probably one of the great electric guitar developments of the 20th century. Its dual-pickup, solid body design, although simple, has effectively set trends in popular music history. The Fender Standard Telecaster does exactly what it says - it sets the standard for all other guitar manufacturers to follow.

The Standard Telecasters are made out of Fender's hi-tech production facility in Mexico. This allows Fender to produce a high quality guitar at an affordable price.

The Fender Standard Tele had a few subtle upgrades in 2006. For instance, the edges at the neck were smoothed off, similar to the American made models. Also, the frets were replaced with slightly larger fret wire which is preferred to the skinny frets. In addition, they use a bridge where the strings go through the body of the guitar, rather than fixing to the bridge itself. This improves the tome and sustain of the guitar.

Sound:

This Fender Standard Telecaster sounds amazing for having only 2 single coil pickups. The neck pickup has the classic, clean tone. The bridge produces the iconic telecaster twang. The middle is more of a bright, rich sound, which goes with any kind of music.

Playability:

This guitar is very intuitive, comfortable and user-friendly. It seems that Fender really pays attention to the various player-centric details, like the fret and nut work, and the rolled fret edges.

The playability of this Tele is great. You'll notice that a first string whole tone bend is possible with no volume loss on the bent note and feels comfortable even around the 3rd fret.

Features:

* Model: Fender Standard Telecaster

* Body: Alder

* Neck: 1-Piece Maple, Modern "C" Shape

* Fingerboard: Maple, 9.5″ Radius (241mm)

* Frets: 21 Medium Jumbo

* Pickups: 2 Standard Tele Single-Coil Pickups (Neck & Bridge)

* Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone

* Bridge: Standard 6-Saddle String-Thru-Body Bridge

* Machine Heads: Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines

* Pickguard: 3-Ply Parchment

* Accessories: Standard Gig Bag

Value:

For the money, this is probably the best bang for the buck. You may hear people say that it can't do heavy rock or metal. However, if you adjust the tone knob and use the neck or the middle pickup, you should be fine.