Fender is a frustrating company

H

HamishR

Well-known member
I have a really great Strat, even though it wasn't cheap I love it. Just lately I've been thinking about a Tele. So I've been looking at what is available in a Tele, especially locally because shipping has got ridiculously expensive over the last couple of years. Ideally I'd like to get one like the 1998 Ltd Tele I used to have back in, well, 1998! That was a fantastic Tele - great soft-V neck one-piece maple with a 9.5" radius and med-jumbo frets, very light weight ash body (maybe around 7.2 pounds?) finished in nitro, all '50s style hardware including really great sounding pickups. I sold the first one and easily found a replacement a year or two later which was practically identical. But you know how it is... I can't afford to keep all the cool guitars I have owned.

When I walk into any music store I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of Fender guitars. But can I get a Telecaster with those specs? Nope. Not one. I don't really need the same colour, and I definitely don't need the gold hardware that the original came with. But I do like medium jumbo frets, and I can't find a Tele with medium jumbo frets at all. They're all tiny or at best skinny/tall. And I love the 9.5" radius. I struggle with a 7.25" radius. But can I get a vintage style Tele with a 9.5" radius neck? Not unless I go custom shop. And most of those have ridiculous relicing. I don't mind a mild relic but I can't stand the stupid worn finish on the front of a maple neck. And even the relic Teles don't have medium jumbo frets. If I look at the American Professional II they have a 9.5" radius board but the necks don't feel anything like the beautiful soft-V I like and are finished in poly. The tuners are those big chunky schaller style tuners - the original Klusons were a much better design with the split post so no sharp string ends to poke you. And the 22nd fret is just a PITA. They also weigh a ton! Ot at least those I have tried do. Bland pickups too.

A '50s style RI Tele would be great. but they all have the 7.25" radius necks with tiny frets which my arthritic hands are not happy with. My dream Tele would be the exact specs of that 1998 Ltd Tele but in butterscotch. And I have never seen anything with those specs. All the millions of models they make and not that.

What would you guys like to see from Fender?
 
I would like a Squire Notatele.
A kit with:
C shaped palissander neck
Alder body
Off white body
Greenish pickguard.
And dont know about the pickups yet.
 
I have and American Hotrod Strat I love it's the Lonestar model I think it's called, wouldn't mind a Tele, but just ordered an Epiphone 335 '62 model with Gibson Pickups and vintage wiring. I have a Dot 335 I just never bonded with; guess I'll sell it.
 
I've made partscasters a few times but they never work out as well as I think they should! Mind you I've sold some to guys who love them. Warmoth make great parts and I've made guitars with their stuff but they have zero value. I'd like to buy a Fender. And Fender have made guitars how I like but not now. I've found a couple of 1998 Telecasters on Reverb but they're in the USA and will cost me CS Fender prices to import which I will never get if I wanted to sell them.

The reason I posted is because there is not one current Fender Telecaster I want to buy from their current lineup.
 
Fender Mod Shop has options for a 9.5” radius and medium jumbo frets on their maple modern “C” big headstock. If you don’t like the big headstock you seem to be out of luck though.

My #1 guitar by a mile is a mod shop Strat. I also had preferences that weren’t available but I was able to get them on the mod shop. No relicking. It does take a little while for them to build it and they aren’t cheap, but the QC and build quality is very very high from the mod shop. Worth a look at least!
 
I’ve never cared what name was on the headstock. 🤷‍♂️ I have a ‘81 ES-347 that plays and sounds great, and a $65 monoprice strat that plays and sounds great. I do have one Fender- a ‘98 American P-bass, which is also great.

But if Fender asked me, a seven string tele. Like this:


It’s too niche of a market I’m sure- almost all 7-strings are metal guitars, sonically and aesthetically. I like the idea of getting that baritone twang while also still having a standard guitar tuning for thinnest 6 strings.
 
I feel you. I'd love something like a Player II Strat, but with a big headstock and jumbo frets. Not gonna happen unless I build another partscaster.

I figured the 7.25" neck radius and tiny frets are the big appeal of the 50s style telecaster. Otherwise you could just take a standard/player tele, slap an old 3 saddle bridge in it, put some 50s style pickups in it, and call it a day.

FWIW I don't like the 7.25" radius or the dinky ass frets on those guitars. I'd rather have something like a 12" or 14" radius fretboard with jumbo frets. It's just so much easier to play imo. Richie Kotzen's signature tele had a 12" fretboard radius, jumbo frets, and more modern pickups. If it didn't have the ugly gold hardware it would have been a sure winner for me.
 
KreoPensas said:
I'll never understand the appeal of "relic".
Click to expand...
There are threads on TGP that explan it in detail, with the usual immediate descent into the abyss.

In a nutshell: 1) worn necks feel better and cozier; 2) peace of mind and freedom to play with abandon because the guitar is already scratched; 3) it's a finish like any other; 4) it costs more because it requires more labour; 5) any preference will have people who don't understand its appeal; 6) live and let live, and play music instead of questioning other people's choices.

I suggest not opening Pandora's box here :)
 
There used to be a Vintera Modified line in the previous iteration of the series - MIM with higher specs (CTS/Switchcraft), vintage style but with a 9.5" radius and a couple of other concessions to modernity. I don't recall the details

BUT

Musikraft will make any neck you want. You can choose the woods, the construction (slab/veneer), the radius, profile, frets, truss rod, tuners, the finish. It's the only company I know of that offers complete customization.
So order a neck from them and slap it onto a loaded Vintera body from The Stratosphere if you are in the US.
 
Ooh philosophical subjective debate about relics! :devilish:

I’m not 100% against the concept. But the relic’d guitars I see look silly to me. My guitars never wear out in the patterns I see on a relic’d instrument. Probably because going for accuracy might not pass as an intentional design choice.

For me, it’s like if you take a new car, give it a patina paint job, add a few dents, and sell that for more than it would otherwise.
 
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