Fender American Special Telecaster Electric Guitar  

Everyone is saying "its just a tele," but that doesn't mean its not special. The pickups sound great, especially the neck pickup. The jumbo frets make playing very easy and smooth. Just an amazingly designed guitar

It's American made... nuff said

Great value, I love this guitar

Overall I have so much praise for this guitar I cant even put it into words... check it out for yourself

Not much just a tele.

Had one in white two days ago returned it 3 hours later had problems tuning guitar and staying in tune i gave the guitar a look over before i returned it noticed neck pocket to body was not that good and the nut could have been the problem didn't look to be cut that good.The guitar set-up was very bad (store is to blame also not just fender) returned it for a american standard very very happy with the standard great tele! Here is the thing i paid for a USA made fender and the guitar was a lemon maybe i just hit a bad one to me if a tele or strat is stamped usa made the quality should have been there.Now for the american standard quality was spot on.

To me the american standard or deluxe are the ones to buy for the little extra cash get the standard if you think by saving a few bucks and the specials will be  as good as a standard you might be surprised.

At that price point where the specials are in the ballpark of a standard quality control needs to be better on the american specials.Not trying to knock fender to much i do love there guitars have 3 of them but to me a USA made Fender should be the very best

I have owned this guitar in the sunburst finish for a little over a year now so I have a pretty good understanding of what this guitar can do.  First off, the neck is awesome.  Smooth finish with no gloss makes it very fast and hand friendly.  Maple fretboard is very responsive, fast and compliments the pickups tone.  The two Texas single coils are distinctive sounding in all three positions.  The bridge position has a great twang just like a Tele should have.  This pickup is also great for more overdriven solo lines.  The middle position has a clasic electric guitar sound that Leo Fender would be proud of.  When you roll back the tone knob the greasebucket tone circuit makes this middle position sound a little more mellow for an almost p-90 sound.  The neck pickup is probably my favorite one to use.  When clean it is very responsive and great for blues, fingerpicking sounds and mellow lines.  Overdriven it is pretty warm still, but the type that might have been used in late Beatles recordings by Harrison.  This guitar is very solid and has survived a few drops and scrapes with almost no apparent damage.  The sunburst finish is beautiful.  The gloss is not too thick on top, but keeps the guitar nice and shiny looking.  Overall, this is the best guitar I have ever owned yet and it is the fifth one.  I really do not know what else I could ask for in an electric guitar.

Incredible value, get them while the prices are still reasonably low.  This guitar seems like an American because it is!

A great guitar!

This is a wonderful guitar.

I am not a professional player, but I have been playing for almost thirty years and over the last few years I have been getting more serious about playing and have acquired a number of nice guitars to which I can compare the American Special Telecaster (AST).

The AST has great pickups. When I plug it in after playing my 2005 American Deluxe Stratocaster, it is noticably louder. While it doesn't have the tonal range of the Stratocaster, the Greasebucket tone does allow for quite a bit of variety. It has the same level of volume and bite as the pickups on my 2010 Traditional Plus Les Paul, which is also louder than the Stratocaster, although has the distictly crunchier and fatter Gibson sound than the AST's twanginess. To my ear, the harmonics (squeal-ability) on the AST fall between the Les Paul and the Stratocaster.

The bridge on the AST intonated perfectly out of the box and the action was low, whereas on my Stratocaster it took considerable time and effort to get the individual saddles set up (but once I did, it was dead-on and has stayed that way). On the AST, I lowered the saddles slightly and tightened the truss rod a half turn, and that was it.

The AST feels solid. The finish is as good as on my Stratocaster (which chips if you smack it), but obviously not as nice as on the Plus top Les Paul. The hardware is all very nice. Nothing on the guitar looks or feels "budget model". I find myself reaching for the AST more than the Stratocaster or the Les Paul, which both cost over twice as much. By comparison, my Gibson Melody Maker - although it plays nicely and also came set up well - looks and feels like a much cheaper guitar, even though it doesn't cost much less than the AST.

Fantastic value. I can't think of a better American-made guitar out there in the price range. Fender may have one-upped some of its more expensive models with this guitar. I'm no investment advisor, but I'd encourage you to buy one before they discontinue it or raise the price!

Lastly, The 2011 AST has a '60 Years - Telecaster - 1951-2011' neck plate, which adds to its cool factor.

I have owned this guitar for about 6 months now, and it is amazing! It sounds great, the intonation is great, but the action is just a little low when it is first bought (as with every other guitar) and has fret buzz. Nothing that a nice set up can't fix! The pick ups sound great for jazz, blues, rock, etc anything except metal.