Do I need a brand new fender guitar?
Fenders are on every stage and studio in the world. Are they actually any good?
Telecasters and stratocaster are ubiquitous among guitar players, and the stratocaster is renowned as a work of engineering perfection. Not just a piece of guitar engineering, but engineering in general. The design has hardly changed since the 1950s. They can run in price anywhere from a couple hundred dollars for a squire to many thousands for a master built to tens of thousands for a vintage piece.
People seem to forget that fenders are simply two pieces of wood bolted together. We aren't talking about a Stradivarius here. They are assembled quickly in factories, without much attention to detail, just like always. Drop a tele down a flight of stairs, and you can plug it and it will sound great. (No liability). That's what makes them great workhorses.
There are certain things I want in a fender style guitar. I don't care who made it. Nash, Fender, Acme. I care about the ingredients. Firstly I care about how it feels. It could sound like the best guitar ever, but if it feels terrible, it's of no use to me. I can't play it. Secondly it's about sound. Then I take into consideration it's weight, it's functionality, it's appearance, it's price. More specifically...
Here is what I look for in an ideal fender:
1) Nitrocellulose finish (not polyurethane like 90% of fenders)
2) Quality pickups (good luck finding those in a stock fender).
3) A neck that feels comfortable to YOU. (Go try a bunch of fenders and when you find a neck that is comfortable, write down the fretboard radius and material, fret wire size, and shape/size of back of the neck. All info is available on fenders website).
4) One that looks and feels right to you. Say what you want, if she ain't purdy you gonna get bored of her.
Fender is constantly changing their available models but to my knowledge, here are some models that satisfy these requirements.
1) Roadworn series strat, tele (basses too). Not the road worn players model yadayada. Just the plain roadworn. (You might want to change the pickups, I put suhrs in my tele).
2) Eric Johnson strat. Look for used. Sounds and plays great completely stock. The stock pickups are great.
What is the next option if you don't like the roadworn series and can't afford the Eric Johnson? Build your own! Companies like All Parts and Warmoth sell fender necks, bodies, hardware, etc, and you can get exactly the type of parts you want.
One of the guitars in my arsenal is a home built Telecaster. I bought an unfinished tele neck and body from All Parts (finished it myself with tung oil), stuck on a Callahan bridge, lollar pickups, and finished the rest with hardware I had laying around the house. It looks a little nerdy, and the equilibrium is a little off, but it was cheap and it sounds really great and unique. The pickups bolt right into the body and that's a really cool aspect to it's sound.
I have owned American telecasters and strats. Even after changing pickups, bridges, etc, they never felt right or sounded great to me. I think a huge part of that has to do with the poly on the wood. If you have your heart set on a fender, I'd go for a Used Mexican. It'll probably run you around 300, and after changing pickups (lots of great companies out there) it'll sound better than a high end American. The American standards are nowadays finished with polyurethane (not the original nitrocellulose). This seals the wood better, but most players agree that Poly is inferior to Nitro in terms of tone. Conversely, modern fenders have been tweaked a bit to be easier to play. Changes from the original design include larger frets, truss rods with opening in the headstock, flatter radius necks, but generally inferior pickups. It is no secret that fenders of the 1950s are praised for their beautiful sound, while modern fenders, although having improved playability, sound significantly worse.
Ok so let's cut to the chase. Fenders are simple instruments. But everything from the type of metal used in the bridge to the type of nut you have can effect it's tone. Find one that feels right to you, and you can always tweak it to your hearts content. And then name it Beatrice.
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