Hey man, checking out your channel because of BPC’s recommendation! If we are being honest, Fender has always had quality control issues. Certain small finish imperfections are to be expected but I’ve seen some pretty bad issues slip past quality control over the years which made the guitars nearly unplayable. Most of them are good or at least serviceable but even in the mid-90’s I remember people complaining about their QC. If the guitar plays well and the only issues are almost unnoticeable and cosmetic I think they should be ignored. Any guitar, regardless of price, has issues if you look close enough. As far as neck shims go, I have only had one fender out of a dozen or so that didn’t require some kind of shim or tilt adjustment to make play correctly.
Thanks for checking out the channel, really appreciate that, nice one! I essentially agree with you, I think maybe this video doesn’t quite get my point across, I’m basically saying what you’re saying here 😂. Thanks again!
Thanks Andy, good to hear from a fellow Guitar Nerds listener! As far as I’m aware it’s a normal size body, maybe it was the old Squier version from the ‘00s that had a smaller body.
Cool looking axe except for that silly headstock. I wish Fender would ditch that headstock on the American Performer as I’d love a Strat from that range. The previous American Special have that goofy silly headstock too.
@@JasonWharton82That guitar is really a one trick pony but a beautiful one at that! It’s almost like a Lead 1 without the coil split. I love hardtail Strats and Esquire Teles. Simplicity and less to worry about. I’ve the Noventa Strat and Tele and love them.
I actually moved mine on in a big trade in but before that I was considering adding a neck single coil to make it a little more versatile, would have kinda changed the the look and feel of it though.
I've NEVER heard that you're supposed to turn the truss rod with the shorte end of the wrench before. I've never done it like that. If you get a Gibson, a PRS, or a Japanese Ibanez, there is no way you can do that since those use socket wrenches. It makes no sense to me having to use the short end, TBH. Your review seems very honest, and yeah, those guitars are not cheap, I agree. But 99% of those are VERY nitpicky issues to me, I agree with you, with the exception of the neck alignment issue. It's just that ALL guitars are expensive nowadays, just like you mention. That, and you're paying for the Blink 182 association, sadly.
Yeah really I would have been better getting a longer key to give me more leverage. Thanks for the comment, it’s a cool guitar but I did end up moving it on to help me get a high end music man guitar 😱
I would have sent this back. I just got a am ii Tele and the fret work was the worse I've ever seen in 40 years, and far too many tool marks on a rosewood neck. Just awful quality.
I’ve seen some coverage on that yeah, maybe my take is a little off, I still gotta wonder how many actually have issues vs people who make videos on them though.
There’s at least one other (Jason Isbell tele) but that’s also a signature and the rumour is that rosewood is back for the currently unannounced Vintera 2 series!
I bought Fender anniversary for 2100EUR and it cannot be tuned correctly. Fender quality goes to sh*t and especially last 3-5 years. I feel like covid made it even worse. I will never ever buy a new Fender guitar. 2100EUR and it is not playable at all, I feel I was literally scammed, unfortunately Thomann did sh1t about it. EDIT: To be more specific, issues with 0-fret, G and H string not in tune at 2 and 3 fret, even when harmonics on 12 is correct. Whoever let pass this at quality control deserves to hire him in politics.
@@JasonWharton82 Edited my comment. Yes, unluckily I could not test it at the time it arrived. My bad that I trusted Fender for such price it will be ok. So it was just a good lesson (it was year ago). My friend also confirmed it needs to be repaired and he repairs guitars for 30 years. Thomann just does it as following - you order a guitar (delivery is in 2 months for example), but when their other customer returns it because it just sucks, they will send it to another customer. So suddenly guitar that supposed to be at your place in 2 months, might be there sooner - and that is already a bit suspicious. So be more cautious in that case. For me it was like that, delivery date was like in 4 months or so but in a week I had it. So it was basically returned from someone else and forwared to me, as "other possible buyer of that crappy guitar".
I know right?! People have crazy high expectations, sure if it’s got something obviously wrong with it you shouldn’t accept it but people returning them over the smallest things!
