2010 Fender Deluxe series has just raised the bar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ3BVTSQ6a4

I gave up on Fender a long time ago but I gotta hand it to them: these are some quality improvements.

I think G&L should take things further:

compound radius neck

stainless steel frets

optional Kinman noiseless single coils pups

locking tuners standard

I've had two AmDlx Teles and an AmDlx strat. These do sound like some nice upgrades especially the compound radius. I'm not a big fan of 9.5".
That's what moved me to G & L....the 12" radius and a neck that is fatter than Fender's standard profile.

+1 on stainless steel frets. I've had them on a couple Carvins, an Suhr and the Parker I have now.
I love the feel and the wear forever factor.
For me that would put G & L over top.

A noiseless pickup offering would be a good idea too.

I agree, the old Fender radii (7.5 and 9.5) never did it for me. But a conical gradation from approx. 10-14 would be killer

yup...10-14 is nice. I think that's what's on my Parker Fly. I also had it on a Warmoth neck I bought.

Those guitars might look okay but they don't sound very good. I tried an ash tele, and it was not good. Unplugged it was nothing and the pick ups have nothing, they should be called soulless not noiseless (they are not as noiseless as G&L's pickups.) I can't comment on the neck as the fat frets were too wide for my taste to be objective. Oh it's 12 dots were too close together always a bad sign. I'm tempted to say that the main problem with both new Fender's and new Gibson's is this mad desire to make very expensive guitars which weigh less than a bar of soap. The Delux has a huge chunk out of the back and chambers under the guard. It's light but at the expense of the tone.
The idea's are there at Fender the execution isn't.

The compound radius sounds like a good idea to me. The MIM Strat that I gave to my teenage nephew was a nice guitar. The quality seemed pretty good. However, after playing a G&L, it was hard to go back to it, and I rarely did. It's a very nice 1st electric for my nephew though and he's putting it to good use.

Those guitars might look okay but they don't sound very good. I tried an ash tele, and it was not good. Unplugged it was nothing and the pick ups have nothing, they should be called soulless not noiseless (they are not as noiseless as G&L's pickups.) I can't comment on the neck as the fat frets were too wide for my taste to be objective. Oh it's 12 dots were too close together always a bad sign. I'm tempted to say that the main problem with both new Fender's and new Gibson's is this mad desire to make very expensive guitars which weigh less than a bar of soap. The Delux has a huge chunk out of the back and chambers under the guard. It's light but at the expense of the tone.
The idea's are there at Fender the execution isn't.

These are some pretty interesting comments. G&L doesn't make a noiseless single coil, so I find it interesting that G&L's single coils are quieter than a noiseless single coil. Never had a noiseless single coil (Fender or otherwise) that hummed. Interesting.

How do they take a huge chunk out of the back? Are you referring to the belly cut on the Tele? As for the chambering under the guard, are they swimming pool routed?

I've been steering clear of guitar stores, but reading your post just might make me stop in to check one of these out.

These are some pretty interesting comments. G&L doesn't make a noiseless single coil, so I find it interesting that G&L's single coils are quieter than a noiseless single coil. Never had a noiseless single coil (Fender or otherwise) that hummed. Interesting.

How do they take a huge chunk out of the back? Are you referring to the belly cut on the Tele? As for the chambering under the guard, are they swimming pool routed?

I've been steering clear of guitar stores, but reading your post just might make me stop in to check one of these out.

They are not as noiseless as a set of EMG's or a Lace Sensors they are more like a stacked single coil, the MFD's do the same job in another way. It could be that as this was a shop guitar the pick ups were set to close to the strings. They were fuzzy and I couldn't pick cleanly. I guess if you are not touching the guitar they are quieter I was talking about the sharpness of the response. With both on it wasn't smooth there were harmonics which seemed out of place.

The 'Chunk out of the back' is the belly cut. It's very deep more like Jackson or an ESP. It's not a swimming pool as there was wood between the pick ups it seemed to be the rest of the lower part of the guard. On the website they just say 'chamberd body for comfort' I was going by fingernail taps to see how big it was. Going back to the necks try one alongside one of the new longer scale length Godin's they have been doing that sort of radius since 2002 .

On the website they just say 'chamberd body for comfort'.....

I can't seem to find that on the Fender website under the American Deluxe Tele's. I think I'll swing into a Guitarget and take a peek at one of these.