Fender American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard Mystic RedMaple Fretboard

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

Not sure why it took me so long to own one. Can't put it down.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

This guitar is different, But I knew that. It's not a typical Tele. Some say if you want a Strat buy a Strat, I don't think this is a wannabe Strat at all. I love the contuor on the back,that's one reason I bought it. I think its about time. I wouldn't mind if Fender shave a littl of the front for my forearm, it still wouldn't be a Strat, just a more comfortable Tele. I don't have anything bad to say. It stays in tune, the tones are unique, not strat, not particularily tele, but it has twang, and it has sweetness. It is what it is, a beautiful, great sounding, great playing guitar. It came set up perfectly. A nice low action just like I like. The finish is beautiful, the wood grain showing through the Crimson is Gorgeous. I prefered a parchemnt pickguard, so I changed it out. Just my preference. I put my favorite strings on it,and I'm good. I would recommend this to anyone who doesn't mind change. It's got sustain all day, the pups are sweet and have plenty of punch. If you aren't a purist Telcaster man, take the step foward. it's a very nice guitar. And it's a telecaster.Just unique as Tele's go.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

A classic Telecaster, with a comfortable cut-out that just makes the 2012 Standard Telecaster outstanding to play. Great fit and finish as is expected of a American Telecaster. The custom shop pups add a great flavour using a blues junior NOS tweed amp. Great growl from the bridge and smookey smooth tone from the neck. Lots of love for this guitar!

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

I've been playing a 2011 natural fender telecaster for a year now so here is what I honestly think about these new Fender teles:

The good:

The Neck:

Absolutely amazing. I picked out the best tele I could find within my budget when I went to the store and this was something I really needed, a good neck that feels good the play on with frets that don't buzz. The neck and tuners provided seem to be top notch.

The body:

When I first started playing teles I noticed they sounded "thin" until I tried one made of Ash and suddenly the tone became a lot fatter. Make sure you get one of the transluscent/parent finishes like sunburst or natural. I recommend natural because they seem to give pretty good cuts of wood so the guitar looks absolutely beautiful natural with a black pickguard. The sound difference between an ash and non ash tele is quite noticeable, but I can tell you would have to be insane to call one of these ash teles "thin" sounding. The tele body itself is really great to play on if you are a les paul player but want something a bit lighter and with single coils. The tele body seems to give you more sustain and an overall better sound than a strat body because there is more wood on the body since there is no comfortability cuts. So the instrument is less comfortable to play than a strat but it has more sustain because of the body.

Electronics / pickups:

First the electronics are perfectly placed on a telecaster so you hand won't ever hit them by accident. I find that happens to me sometimes playing a strat and using a tele has really remedied that problem. Using the volume and tone knobs will make a significant difference on this guitar and they should be used often since sometimes the treble can be too much with a tele.

The pickups are quite good. The neck pickup sounds just like a strat neck pickup. But the bridge pickup, this bridge pickup, is why you should get a tele. This thing is an absolute monster and i've played everything from clean country to borderline metal tones on this pickup (only reason I say borderline is because modern metal has some seriously insane tones with the advent of active pickups). The sound of the bridge pickup alone is enough to get this guitar, if everything else about it was bad I still would have gotten it because of this thing.

The Bad:

- String Ferrules can easily fall out and get lost while restringning. You can replace them with countersunk ones to avoid this from happening but apparently they make you lose a bit of tone so I put up with the stock ferrules.
- The neck block (where the neck meets the body) can get in the way, but I put up with it because it improves sustain.

The bridge:

The bridge they give you on these new teles is not good. When you first play it at the store you won't notice the flaws because of how great the rest of the instrument is. But these bridges don't belong on telecasters. These are 6 saddle poorly designed strat style bridges that can easily break your strings. While the bridge intonates well, the problem is that the strings are allowed to slide freely around the tiny little bridge saddles. Occasionally what happens when you play is the string can slip over the screw that keeps the saddle elevated then snap because of the sharp edge of the screw. To get around this you have to keep all your saddles low enough so the screws stick out up higher than the strings. Doing this will probably mess up your action, so I'm just getting a new bridge at this point. Apparently 3 saddle bridges improve sustain and you can get compensated saddles from companies like Glendale so it can still intonate like a 6 saddle. I don't understand why fender doesn't just put 3 saddle bridges with compensated saddles on these new teles, apparently a significant amount of the tele's signature sound comes from this style of bridge.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

Always loved the tone of Telecasters and knew I had to have one. I've played off and on for 30+ years, mostly acoustic but the past couple of years I've been searching for a great electric guitar. I've played a few cheaper guitars and some good ones, solid and hollow/semi. I love everything about my Telecaster, maple neck, Crimson Red transparent finish and the awesome playability! Smooth as they come. Stays in tune forever. I do not know anything bad to say about this guitar. Get one, don't wait, if you've always wanted one, don't hesitate any longer.

And Musicians Friend is always great!

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

Very smooth neck & frets. No rough edges. Comfortable body contour. Great tone at any volume. Switch is a little too close to knob in bridge position.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

First American telecaster I have owned I rate it as high as my Gibson les Paul
love the sound and the way it plays

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

Agreat buy and as an owner of a number of Fenders over the years this is a great buy and useful updates on a great packag - the American Standard telecaster. Well done to Fender to keep it relevant and still add some nice improvements.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

The quality is superb. The feel is perfect. If I would have bought this guitar first, I would own only 1 instead of 7. nuff said.

I can't put it down.

Comments about Fender 2012 American Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar with Maple Fingerboard:

The set up of this guitar was absolutely perfect right out of the box. The action and intonation were spot on. I currently have an American Strat and a Gibson ES-339, but I needed that Tele sound to round out my options, since I play a wide variety of tunes. This guitar exceeds my expectations for that sound. As always, I was very pleased with the deal and buying experience at Musician's Friend.