Fender - why?

Here's Fenders latest lipstick on a pig, money grab, they have just announced this offering



22 narrow-tall frets, a Modern C”-shaped maple Tele neck, a 9.5”-radius fingerboard and Fender Custom Shop ‘51 Nocaster single-coil bridge and neck pickups, all for $1999.00.

https://www.guitarplayer.com/gear/fende ... uard-strat

My impression is

Whatchathink?

I'm sure it plays fine but not a looker in any aspect. Some of the Fender 'alternate universe' models are cool, others gratuitous. This one looks weird to guitarists and vanilla to a casual audience so I don't see the point. G&L still had a much better value model.

I see an overpriced partscaster.

This is the least parallel universe of the collection. Okay, you put a tele on a strat body. So what, it is an ugly partcaster. You would have thought at the very least they would have gave it a trem and laid out the controls more like a strat (could of had a tone pot for each pickup).

Some of the Fender 'alternate universe' models are cool, others gratuitous. This one looks weird to guitarists and vanilla to a casual audience so I don't see the point. G&L still had a much better value model.

I agree!

Ok, it's like opposite of a Nashville Tele.... with a s-type bridge.

Hey, when I saw Parker do it(P36, etc.) - I'm no longer surprised.

I see the comfort & ergonomics of a Strat, with the tones of Tele. What's the problem?

edg

telestrater

Interesting comments, all appreciated. Reason for my comment was, as a few have said, this is just an overpriced partcaster IMHO.

As much as I do like mods on an ASAT or tele, it just does not look right with the tele control plate. Like WitSok said, at least put a trem bar on it to have some strat hardware. I know some like chocolate and some like vanilla, but 2k for some of their "parallel universe" guitars does not look like a good use of either money or guitar parts.

Somehow the ergonomics of the Telecaster were always in more agreement with my body than those of the Strat; the bridge is a small fraction closer to the strap button on a Strat than a Tele, which is enough to bother me (by making me 'chicken-wing' my elbow to an uncomfortable degree.)

I also dislike tummy-cuts, believe it or not; if I play while sitting, they cause the guitar to angle its face slightly up rather than staying parallel on my knee, which is annoying. That said my least favorite Strat quirk is the strings being too close to the body (causing too much 'dig in') due to the low-profile of the bridge & saddles; and that is averted by this guitar's use of the Telecaster bridge... As is the clusterf*** of the volume knob being too close to the strings, or the trem arm for that matter- For me the area of a Strat where the volume knob, high E string and trem bar exit come together within a couple inches of each other, is the Bermuda Triangle for my knuckles.

Is there a guitar psychologist around somewhere? This guitar clearly has an identity crises, if not suffers from bipolar personality disorder ...

- Jos

I kinda like it but won’t run out and buy one. I was pretty intrigued by the Jazztele they introduced this summer. It sounded like a nicely appointed guitar and sounded good in clips. I didn’t love the color options though.
Overall I think it’s cool that Fender did these mash-ups.

Worst thing about the JazzTele is, it ripped me off from 2008

(I chose different aesthetic spacing to the tailpiece, among other details...)

Man, they STOLE that! All of those those missing royalties!

I choose yours

Thanks Still have the guitar- and the tuners are sorted now

Perhaps worth bearing in mind - I did not intend it to be an oddball: I wanted a real Jazzmaster project, and traded some items to a 'friend' for in exchange for a Seafoam body. I'd dealt with him before so felt trusting to not pick up the body immediately- But he sold it in the meantime. Serious alcoholic/idiot, I didn't get reimbursed.

Not able to budget a replacement, I picked up a cheap/shot Telecaster body and did that Still have another revamp in mind: possible refinish (as the original now looks 'relic'd' and checked- not my style) and some new pickups.

Agree on the too-high pricing, though I do like that layout, reminds me of the Chandler Metro I used to have...

Some of these Fender "Parallel Universe" models are just popular home-builds/partscasters. If you don't like it, don't worry about it as they are only going to make say 500 of them anyway.

Please note that these have a nitro finish - and $1,999 is pretty much the going rate for a nitro finished Fender (the normal "American Original" models range from $1,750 to $1,999). But who buys a Fender at MAP? Anyone can walk into a Guitar Center and use one of their 15% off coupons on a Fender product (they ignore that fine print that lists Fender among the excluded brands if you are there in person or if you call in, but the website won't apply it if you're trying to buy it online).

For comparison - what is the going rate for a nitro finished G&L from the Custom Shop - say just an ASAT Classic with the only CS option being nitro?

Some of these Fender "Parallel Universe" models are just popular home-builds/partscasters. If you don't like it, don't worry about it as they are only going to make say 500 of them anyway.

Only 500, eh? And then you realize 500 is about 2% of all guitars G&L built when Leo was still alive ... Hmmm ...

- Jos

Some of these Fender "Parallel Universe" models are just popular home-builds/partscasters. If you don't like it, don't worry about it as they are only going to make say 500 of them anyway.

Only 500, eh? And then you realize 500 is about 2% of all guitars G&L built when Leo was still alive ... Hmmm ...

- Jos

...Hah. Funny to put it that way. I think there's a lot of overlap in the fandom (I own minimum one each of all the major Fender models - Mustang, Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Strat, Telecaster) but when you put it that way as far as numbers, then factor in quality it makes the Leo-era G&Ls seem like such a better bargain (vs. any era Fender.)

Again- I don't hate Fender and I'm glad for some freaking reason there is still a large enough market for guitars period that you can consider a 500 run limited. But really interesting perspective.

Some of these Fender "Parallel Universe" models are just popular home-builds/partscasters. If you don't like it, don't worry about it as they are only going to make say 500 of them anyway.

Only 500, eh? And then you realize 500 is about 2% of all guitars G&L built when Leo was still alive ... Hmmm ...

- Jos

It's relative - "only 500" is pretty small considering Fender's current output of around 80,000 units per year. But it's 1/2 the output of say Tom Anderson who does 800-1,000 per year.

Worst thing about the JazzTele is, it ripped me off from 2008

(I chose different aesthetic spacing to the tailpiece, among other details...)

That's very cool. The pickguard shape on your works better to my eyes. Better color choice too.
There has been a Danocaster for sale on the web lately that is pretty interesting; it has a jazz p'up in the neck but a tele at the bridge position. It also retains the steel plate around the bridge pickup but has a Jazz trem.
Weighs 8.6...too much for me!

I see some of the Fender Jazz-Teles are 15% off. It looks like they actually built some nice features into the guitar from what little I saw. Evidently the bridge is a fresh design and the pickups are Custom Shop.

John C.,

I read at https://www.soundunlimited.co.uk/blogs/ ... r_timeline that in '98 Fender had manufacturing capacity in Ensenada alone at 350 per day!

I'm new around here. Does anyone have an idea how many G&L turns out in a year? I'm sure someone here has the real number but just for fun I did some quick arithmetic based on them having ~30 employees. Assuming that 5 are administrative, that leaves 25 in production. Not sure if it's probable that they could make 2 guitars per production employee per day, but if so that would come to 2,600 a year.

What's the real number?

The Palm

I see the comfort & ergonomics of a Strat, with the tones of Tele. What's the problem?

edg

I kind of like it myself, don't think I'd buy one, maybe a different color would look more inviting. Anyone know the model number.. Just curious

Jimbo

I see the comfort & ergonomics of a Strat, with the tones of Tele. What's the problem?
edg

My feelings exactly. Great looking Strat with Tele soul. It's probably a killer guitar. I play Fenders when I'm not behind a G&L so I have zero hatred for them.