Fender Deluxe Series Nashville Telecaster Electric Guitar  

I'm going a bit neutral on the features here; I really like the Tex-Mex pups with the reverse strat pup in the middle and the 5-way switch. I also very much dislike the cheesy "vintage-style" bridge and tuners.

Nice quality build and finish...except for the bridge and tuners.

Lot of guitar for the money, all things considered.

OK, first the good part; this axe plays very well if you like a steep 9.5 radius. The frets are reasonably well-dressed and polished with reasonably well-trimmed ends, not to say there isn't room for improvement here with this or any other production guitar. The Tex Mex Tele pickups, along with the single Tex Mex Strat center pup and 5 way switch sound bright & snappy with a bit more mid howl than you might expect from a regular Tele. This is perfect for tones that mimic early Led Zeppelin, which was exacly what I was looking for. Tuned into open G, I can get the exact sounds heard on the first 3 LZ albums, all of which were recorded with Page's old beat-up Telecaster. This is a Tele on steroids...plenty of clean bright snap for a country picker and lots of growl available for a heavy/blues-rock tone for Zep,The Who, et al. Very inspiring if you're into this type of music.

I would have given this guitar a much better over-all rating if not for the hardware. I'm frustrated when they insist on putting "vintage-style" hardware on a modern axe in order to satisfy a 'fad'. The six-saddle ashtray style bridge doesn't allow for the strings to pull straight behind the saddles, forcing the strings into the tension springs on the base of the saddles, making them both all cockeyed and misaligned. It might have been better with a true vintage 3-saddle set up, but IMHO, unless you're conserving an actual vintage instrument and need it to be correct, the old ones lack mass, and if you want an accurate set up for a player's axe, you need a modern tele style bridge. I replaced this one with a high-quality tele bridge from G*t*h. As far as the tuners go, these are old school design, probably mid-grade Pings, and it takes extra effort to get a new set of strings seated. They hold OK once thats done, but I would prefer a nice set of Schallers. Problem here is that you can't put on Schallers, Grovers, Sperzels or any other high quality modern tuners because the holes in the headstock will only accept "vintage" (9mm) ferrules. Have to drill it out. I may bite the bullet and just drill it, but I'm reluctant to do this...we'll see. I'd really rather have a nicer set of tuners with more mass to them.

As an additional note, I specifically went for the ash body for the tone, but can only get this with the honey-blond finish; the finish isn't too bad, actually, but I would have preferred the classic butterscotch...that would be a nice option in ash.

The Fender Telecaster is known for being versatile. And with a middle pickup, this Fender Nashville Telecaster is the right guitar for anything. Yes, even heavy metal such as Black Sabbath or Blue Cheer. It is a fantastic guitar if you want to get a 70's  punk rock tone, and it even works for hardcore punk. This is an EXTREMELY versatile guitar. I got this guitar used from a local Guitar Center, and is a 2001 Nashville Telecaster.

The frets are perfect and don't scratch your hands, however are a little bit bigger than some guitars so keep that in mind if you prefer super small frets. The bridge pickup is very good clean, and perhaps even better with some light gain (keyword "light".  Trust me, you won't need to crank the gain with this axe to really get it to sing), but the cleans are much better using the middle pickup. If you want a very authentic acoustic sound, use the neck and middle pickups and slightly roll back the tone knob. It is wonderful! and if you want a more trebly sound, use the bridge and middle pickups and do the same thing with the tone knob. Anyway, this guitar is a great guitar. Definatly not the same as the Mexican Standard by any means.

This is a great guitar. And its not "great for the price". It is just a fantastic guitar. You WILL NOT be dissapointed with this guitar. It is a formidable opponent to any American Telecaster, and honestly any other guitar in general. Its just great.

Overall I think the Nashville Deluxe Tele is a great guitar. The guitar pays very well, appears to have a decent setup from the factory, and looks great. The only problem I have with it is the electronics. The bridge pickup quit working about six months after I got it. I replaced it with a Duncan Jerry Donahue so all is well now. In my opinion the stock pickups are not very good. I know some people like the tex mex pickups, but they just don't seem to have much body or clarity to them. I think if the electronics were higher quality the guitar would be a better value. I bought it so I could have the tele sound and strat versatility and it gives you just that. To me it gives you 75% tele and 25% strat, but that is to be expected since it is basically a stock tele with a third pickup and a 5 way switch. I do think it is a great guitar and would have no problems using it as my only guitar, I just think upgraded electronics would really make it come alive. I would have no problem with owning another one and would definately recommend it to a friend.