Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster Electric Guitar  

fishman acoustic pickup and a tele pickup covers allot of ground.

made in Mexico

I wanted to like this guitar and played it in the store several times checking out the sound with various amps. In the end I bought a Taylor T5 Classic. It's made in the USA and the quality IMHO is a few steps above this Fender, a few steps up in price too. The Fender tele pickup is too hot and harsh for my ears, the acoustic sound is muddy, as one reviewer said, like chorus. The main problem with these dual purpose type guitars is that you have to use electric guitar strings, in order to use magnetic pickups, instead of acoustic strings and that hurts the sound if you want a true acoustic tone, there is no natural reverb either, like on a true acoustic. Bottom line is it's wishful thinking that you are getting 2 guitars in one. The dilemma of amps also throws a monkey wrench into the equation. You need a high frequency speaker to produce acoustic tone...The new fender acoustasonic amps address that problem.

Built well. Neck seems stronger to handle heavier strings.

My wife bought me this guitar for a cold weather show coming up  outdoors. I didn't want to take my Gibson Hummingbird out in the dry  cold. So, I was amazed how well this sounded and performed. I'm a lead  guitar player and naturally like the upper registery of the neck. This  allows me to do that and sound acoustic too.

To start I am an acoustic palyer first.  Telecaster player second.  Amps used with this guitar is a Fender Acoustasonic Ultra Lite, and a Blues Junior.  This guitar takes some time to get your personal sound.  Which mostly involves what strings are going to work for you.  The guitar came with nickel wound 11s.  I didnt like those acoustic wise so i put on Phosper Bronze light guage acoustic strings.  Thinking they might be to heavy took them off and put on some new NW 11s again and went to the gig.  I did not like the 11s at all the sounded thin and no guts.  Not much I could do for that night.  Got home put PBs back on.  The acoustic pickup sounded great but no volume on the neck pickup as the PBs are not good on magnetic pickups.  Took them off.  How many times is that now?  Put on a set jazz nickel wound light guage strings 12 to 52 .  Heavier than the 11s but lighter than the PB acoustic lights. NOW we are talking turkey here.  Tightened up the truss rod and a whole new sound.  Pluged in my American Tele to compare sounds.  The Acoustasonic is deep and rich.  This will be now my main acoustc giging guitar.  I like the #3 Dreadnaught setting so far.  Mixed with a little neck pickup from time to time.  Using two amps is too much to drag around to a gig but its pretty amazing playing with the seperations of sounds.  I thought I might swap out the pickup for a standard tele pickup but the twisted tele sounded better with the Fishman. (At least for now).  The guitar is too nice for a gig bag.  I had a nice case for it.

I did not get to test drive one of these before I bought it on line as no one carried them I could find so took a shot in the dark and order it on line.  I half expected the Mexican brand to be not so hot.  The finish on the body and neck was very nice.  The body did not look like it was thrown together with floor scraps.  The neck has a bit darker tint on it so its not maple white.  The 12" radius neck is perfect for this style of guitar.  The fret edges were finished fine. I'm not sure I like the split tuner posts.  I may swap them out for standard tuners.  They seem to stay in tune OK.  The neck pickup sits a little slanted.  I will mess with it the next time I change strings.

Overall I am glad I bought this guitar.  Can't say how many nice acoustics have gone south with weather changes, heat and cold.  This does not by any means sound like a flat top but it gets the job done nicely regardless.  The Fishman gives a nice even full sound.  Almost sounds like it has a bit of chourus going on.  I would probably use my regular Tele in a band setting.  But this is really nice for acoustic combos or solo playing no sweat.

Amazing versatility

Mexican manufacture

worth the money

When I bought the Fender Acoustasonic I was looking for an onstage authentic acoustic sound that was easy to play with arthritic hands and this guitar delivers.  Eveyone who plays or hears it is impressed. Most often, I play in mono mode direclty into the board.  When I need both sounds, I put the acoustic jack directly into the PA and the electric jack into the amp de jour with what ever bells and whistles I am toying with at the moment - but the primary use of this guitar is as an acoustic; I string it as such so it is a little heavy for all the bending and fretboard tricks that I would use with a typical electric.  If you are playing rhythm all night it's nails.  If you are doing a lot of lead you still might want to drag along two guitars.  I love it.

This is a fantastic guitar with the right set up. My  best set  up in the stereo setting running the acoustic channel in my Boss Looper and strait into my PA. The electric cable goes to a Vox Saturator pedal and a Boss DD5 delay, then into my Fender hot rod deluxe. All I can say is wow! My wife gives me the put the guitar down, or I will send it back look.

   When I plugged the guitar into my Marshall JMD -50, this was a major ship wreck. With work I can make this guitar sound ok. Not acceptable to me. The Twisted Tele pick up hates this amp with this guitar. When I turned up the amp, the feed back was not musical or happy in any form. If you plan to use this guitar with an amp such as this I would guess you will be very unhappy with this guitar.

    This guitar with my Fender Vibrolux is nice.  Take the acoustic cable and plug into the Normal channel and the Electric cable and go into the Bright channel. I exchange the Vox Saturator and replace it with the Ibanez 808. This set up also puts a big smile on my face.

  The guitar, I love the neck but the radius is right for me. My other guitars are Gibsons and a Fender Eric Johnson Strat, all have the same radius. Feels like an expencive guitar. The tuners keep my guitar in tune with full tone bends. The guitar is a little sharp at the 12 fret, no way to fix problem with the bridge. Still better then any acoustic I have ever owned. This guitar is very light unlike my other tele, not a deal killer for acoustic players. Guitar sounds loud and good when not amplified. Remember to pull cable out of guitar or it will cost you in batteries. Over all - happy with the quality of the instument, good job Fender.

   Bottom line, the Fender Acoustasonic is a quality instrument. Most will love this guitar if planning on running the acoustic cable into a P.A. or similar amp. The twisted Tele pick up does not shine with all pedals. Sounds great with the right ones. The pick up sounds like a tele bridge pick up when plugged strait into my Fender Vibrolux or Fender Deluxe. I think this is what Fender was going for with this pick up. This guitar is like having several acoustics, but plays better. Stomp on a pedal and drop in a lead. Huge wow sound with the right set up.