I love your channel. I’m an old guy. Played drums for years. After a 43 year long career in the engineering field, I retired. 8 years ago. About 4 years ago I needed something to keep my hands and brain busy. So I started learning to play guitar. I have learned a lot but discovered that my engineering background keeps creeping out and the technical/mechanical aspects of the instrument really intrigues me. Your channel is one of the best for this stuff! Thanks!!
@@raoulduke344 No. I actually see guitar design more as art than engineering. There are some structural aspects to it but no matter the structure it still has to sound good. Or right. Particularly true with acoustics. Which is what I mostly play. As far as electronics is concerned I don’t know squat. That is one of the things that I like finding out about on this channel. I spent most of my career doing heavy structural design on offshore oil platforms and floating equipment. The structural part of an electric guitar seems to be somewhat cut and dried.
Dan, you sound like me, but I did 44yrs in electronics and planned to learn to play guitar as a retirement hobby. I started in 2013, but more than that, I learned to modify electrics in guitars, fret leveling, changing and cutting nuts, etc... I show all that on my channel. You are welcome to come see what my hobby has grown into.
Hi, I'm Rick. I'm also a retired engine assembler who is board as well. I'm a guitar player. I've been looking for any musician to play with. I'm from Mass. N. of Boston any chance you live anywhere nearby.
@danbgt I know that they structure of an acoustic has been changed a little, with the inside having scalloped bracing in later designs. Yeah, I think Fender and Gibson basically got the design pretty much exactly right the first time, and anything they missed out was already perfected by today.
I CANT BELIEVE THEY THINK ITS THE CUSTOMERS PROBLEM. I HAVE HAD TO CORRECT THIS TWICE IN THE LAST COUPLE YEARS AND NEVER HAD TO IN THE DISTANT PAST. GEAT VIDEO THANKS PHIL
This is my #1 in Texas Tea. I was in the shop the day it arrived and got lost for hours playing it. As my one year sobriety gift, I chose this over the Silver Sky and Fender 60s Tele reissue. I just fell in love with the neck and overall sound. All were under $2k at the time, tho.
Congrats on your one year sobriety anniversary. When you feel the temptation, ask the good Lord for strength, crack open a cold iced “Texas Tea” and of course your sweet tele.
3 years sober here and got myself an American pro ii in Olympic white. So nice to see other musicians who survived addiction and getting the instruments they love
Not at all! Simply means that the guitar was built in a humid environment but has spent too much time in the dry environment. A few days/weeks in a properly humidifier environment and that will go away by itself.
@@rjejames28 A humidifier pouch isn't going to do much in a case. It might help in a bag of weed but not something as big, and as loose with air as a guitar case lol. You just have to let it adjust to the environment and make your adjustments as needed.
I have a hardtail Strat I put together a couple of years ago. I had TWO sets of staggered locking Fender Tuners...3 long 3 short. I mixed the two sets and put all 6 short on my Strat and the other 6 long ones on a guitar I was selling. Nice to see Fender finally doing the all 6 short in one set on their own!
@@thomaspick4123 agreed, but faster to string change and less likely for an inexperienced guitar player to wind incorrectly…. I mean cruise control isn’t necessary on a car, but I want it 😁
@@chadbouterse8617 nailed it. That's the only reason I use them. I had one of my ibanez artcore hollowbodies fall over and broke off a tuning peg so I got the locking tuners as replacements- I now have them on all of my electronic guitars just bc I could change out strings in a fraction of the time. My American strat has the newer Fender brand black locking tuners and I was amazed at how smooth they are AND the finish is flawless.
You’ve got to love that brands like Michael Kelly, that fit things like the series switching and coil splits in their mid range guitars, plus they have belly cuts and comfort carves for modest money
Because of the strap geometry versus a Strat, I've never felt like belly cut Teles needed a forearm contour. Sticking with only the belly cut keeps the stage-facing aesthetic without giving up comfort.
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Interesting. I'd choose the front contour before the belly one, which I don't see as significant for comfort.
I am very, very sensitive to fret sprout, fret dressing, etc. If I pick up a guitar (and I don't care how expensive it is,) if I don't like the frets, it goes back. Even if every single other thing about it is amazing. Agree with me or not Fender, that's just how I am. If Fender doesn't want to address it, perhaps they partner with the resellers to include a free fret dressing as part of the purchase. You're paying for a premium product here. When I buy a premium product, I don't want the onus to fix something put back on ME, especially when it's 100% brand new. I totally get it if it needs maintenance/fixing down the road - that's a different topic. I'm talking brand-new experience.
100% Thats what happened when I recieved a 1000€ Charvel… right out of the box the fret ends felt sharp and uncomfortable so I didn‘t even bother to give the guitar more than 2 hours of playing before I put it back in the box and sent it back 😂 I felt especially robbed because a week before that I had a similarly priced PRS SE Custom 24 in my hands and the neck and frets were soo good, but I sent that one back aswell because one of the PUs was faulty… I don’t understand how some of these established guitar companies ship guitars in such conditions… in the end I settled for my 400€ Harley Benton and it plays like a dream… probably the best option for my college ass 😅
The easy fix for the fret sprout is to nip the fret tang so that it doesn't run to the edge of the neck. There are quite a few brands who do this and they never get the dreaded sprout. I think the problem for Fender is that this requires at least two more steps in the process (nipping and then filling the empty fret slots ends) and they don't want to invest the time and personnel to make it happen. I would think that this wouldn't be the case for such a premium instrument but I guess not.
Yeah my MIM Mischief Maker had some gnarly fret sprout. Took it to a shop, and for 20 bucks had the fret ends taken care of, frets polished, restrung, and intonated. Quite a deal I'd say. I'd do it myself but too much frustration causes me to have seizures.
Made in Mexico… Did you have to drive down there to get all that done? Seriously…Where in the hell do you get all that work done for a measly 20 bucks? Assuming it was done properly and done well.,. I’ve been doing all my own for years. I don’t even want anybody touching or scratching my guitars. These things take time to be done right… Without risk to the instrument or its finish. Speed kills when you are working on a guitar. I’ve seen simple screwdrivers do more damage in seconds than some players do in years.
Don’t get me wrong. Not saying you did anything wrong or the guy at the shop either. That’s just a lot of time and effort if it’s done right for 20 bucks. Hope you threw him a tip 🤠
Fender and Gibson don't have to do a good job with fretwork. All of the flannel shirt, skinny jean wearing hipsters that can only buy Fender and Gibson are the reason their quality control is garbage, and why their prices are so INSANELY high for what you get. Why would they expend the extra time and efforts to make it worth what they overcharge for the instrument if all you trendy idiots keep paying those ridiculous prices for an instrument that is sub par to instruments 1/3 of their cost? But at least you can say "I only play Fender" or "I only play Gibson".
@@warrenbutterfield4208 small shops use to be cheap like that so you come back and buy gear. Paving the road for future work and guitar sales, something forgotten these days by most
I’ve been casually reviewing your works for a few years now. This is the first technical review I’ve ever run through. Ans you hooked me from the beginning. Well done, sir. Very well done and very interesting. And finally, thank you for so many awesome reviews. This has definitely been a learning experience. Thank you.
Nice deep dive into this Tele. I like the looks and sound of this model. As for the fret spout issues, it's is way more common now than in the past, but I think it's more complex than just blaming the quality of the wood or the drying process as many do. If it was just from the wood having too high of moisture content, then necks would be twisting and warping at a much higher rate after the neck dries. Even wood cracking would be more common if moisture from improper drying were the issue. Same for simply saying the wood quality is not as good. So while wood quality and moisture may be part of the issue, I really think a lot is simply sloppy craftsmanship and poor fret cutting. Just look at the out of the box setup most guitars have these days. I've seen truss rods that have no tension, nuts so high as to make the instrument unplayable until it's slotted properly, and a host of other setup issues. Just seems like with as much work companies do to make a nice guitar these days, they cheap out on the setup and fret job. Saying all of that, they generally do a good job leveling, a decent job crowning and it's all over the place on the finishing touches for frets such as polishing, fret edge cleanup, etc. Again, great video Phil.
I have a 2013 American Special Tele with a maple neck that I bought new. That neck is still perfect after 10 years. The FB edges are nicely rolled and there is absolutely no fret sprout. The neck is the best part of it. If only.....
Great review. Comprehensive coverage of the instrument. Nicely done I suspect fret sprout is due to the age of the wood. Back in the 70’s and 80’s even 90’s older wood was available - pre-aged, however turn-around from younger felled trees to finished instrument is a lot shorter nowadays.
My theory on the fret sprout as not a guitar maker but a woodworker is that they are not letting their wood dry and acclimate as long as they used too perhaps. It might not be as dry compared to previously batches.
Acclimate to what? Both of my Fenders have fret sprout for only some of the year. They have it in winter and they're perfect for the rest of the year. If I lived in a different region, fret sprout wouldn't be a problem at all. And my guitars are an American Deluxe and an American Professional. The younger American Deluxe is from 2006.
@@JELIFISH19 winter should be the drier season, which would be causing your fret sprout. But properly dried wood should help prevent that. I would personally fix that while it's still cold and then your guitar won't have fret sprout ever. Edit: what I'm trying to say is, if the wood was properly dry when they made the guitar, you would have never had fret sprout in the winter.
Getting back into building electric guitars after not picking one up for almost 32 years. I have picked up a lot of tips on working on them from watching you. Really enjoy your channel! I’m trying to build for the beginners who want a good guitar at a reasonable price . Actually sold my first one this past weekend to a friend of mine for his son . Also made one for my step son for his birthday and you would have thought he one the lottery! Keep the videos coming !
The current Fender Noiseless Tele neck paired with a Vox is my favorite pickup sound right now. Very bell-like chime and full. The bridge isn't really ready for chicken-pickin, because it's not as pokey, but I like that it's not as ear shattering. For NON-COUNTRY, the noiseless bridge makes the Tele work in more styles, imo. But I mean, that neck tone is so sublime, I have a hard time using any other position.
yeah noiseless pups thru an ac30 top boost channel will punch you in the face haha. they honestly sound similar to Texas specials now that I'm hearing them
Just a guess, but I would think that fret sprout might be more common because of the amount of time the wood is aged. Maybe supply chain changes have meant that Fender have fewer necks in inventory and have to use fresher wood with a higher moisture content on their guitars so the necks are going to continue drying after the instrument is sold.
@@ohplezz I have purchased 3 Fenders over the past 5 years - two MIJ (but shipped from their warehouse in California), and one used one from GC (2009-2010 MIM Strat). I also have a partscaster that I built that includes a MIM Fender neck I got from a friend - NONE of them have any sprouted frets. In fact, the only guitar out of the 15 guitars I own that had any fret sprout issues was a $400 Harley Benton. A fantastic guitar overall, but I had to clean up the ends and I can't really complain for $400.
For me, I have all my new guitars inspected by a reputable repair center and worked on no matter how expensive the guitar is. Even if I paid $10,000 for a guitar I would expect some minor things to be taken care of
I would file a complaint with Fender. Then take it to the nearest Fender authorized dealership/ technician and have them correct the fretwork at Fender’s expense. With a guitar “Made in the USA” in this price range, I definitely would demand more.
The best feeling guitar I’ve ever played was a maple neck Elite Tele grabbed off the wall at an Akron Guitar Center in the 2000’s. Think it cost about $1100 at the time. It had a REALLY nicely rolled finger board. Beautiful cherry burst. Pearl pick guard. Gorgeous tele.
Bought three Strats in the last year. MIM Vintera 50s - fret sprout and skunk stripe popped out. American made fret sprout and returned. Replacement American Pro and open high E sounds like a sitar. Bought a Nash. No more Fenders unless it’s local or Sweetwater. Thanks for this video, Phil
I just received my 2023 Tele Ultra in Arctic Pearl. It's beautiful and it plays like a dream. All it took was lowering the saddles down 1 turn each to set the action close enough till I do a precise setup on it. If they had this guitar in Butterscotch, I would have gotten it without a second thought.
I can tell you why fret sprout is more common now: they don't properly cure the wood like they used to. They get wood, and chop it into guitars as fast as they can get wood. They don't have time anymore to allow wood to reach a low enough moisture content. I have a Fender Am Pro Strat with a roasted maple neck and even that thing gets fret sprout. And what's worse, it will come back after a couple of months after I've filed them smooth as a billiard ball.... on a neck supposedly ROASTED. Personally, I don't think its roasted... i think they dyed it to look roasted. There's a place on the neck under the finish where they didn't wipe away all the "roasted maple" tint.
Seriously? It's tinted ? Maybe they do that when the wood doesn't caramelize properly? Like it's roasted but, didn't develop color. I hope so because if it's a straight up lie, that's really false advertising and could come back to bite them.
I just bought a 300 dollar Chinese 335 knockoff and the frets were stainless ball ended and just about perfect. Fender is going to get killed by the competition....
I think at this point, the 4 way switch (a mod I did myself to my player tele), belly and arm carve should be standard on telecasters. Nice review Phil!
I like the belly-carve & I can totally understand the aesthetic choice to not do an arm-carve: keep the flat plane of the top… and I adore that binding being on there: it’s unnecessary, but I think it looks really nice ❤️
I received my Ultra Tele in February. It did have minor fret sprout but the bigger problem was that many of the frets had tooling marks. Sweetwater agreed to reimburse me to have my local luthier repair these fret issues (kudos to Sweetwater!). Because of your (and others) reports of recent Fender QA/QC issues, I inspected this guitar very thoroughly and didn't detect any additional issues. I really like this guitar except possibly the noiseless pickups. My studio has lots of electronics so historically 60 cycle hum has been problematic with standard single coils unless I employ a noise gate. Great review, I've been looking forward to it.
I would like you to look into neck and fingerboard woods. I live in Canada and have very humid summers and very cold and dry winters. My 45 years experience owning different guitars is that ebony fretboards are the ones that will shrink the most in dry weather making the fret ends stick out. Next would be rosewood and maple. The best wood by far that I have owned would be Pau Ferro. I have 2 Warmoth Pau Ferro necks with Pau Ferro fingerboards that have no finish on them and they need very little adjustment from season to season and have never shrunk in width. The wood is very hard. Almost as hard as ebony and can be shined to a nice sheen with 3M micromesh pads. It also feels way nicer to play than a finished neck. Less grippy. Try one. You'll love it.
It's easy, because of the price, to see the Ultra as Fender's production flagship, as you describe it, but my view differs, and -- if you're interested -- I'll explain why I say that. I see the American Pro II as the flagship because it incorporates many of the things we think as being the fundamental hallmarks, whereas the Ultra does not. So, Am Pro II has single coils, the Ultra does not. Am Pro Ii has the typical Fender fingerboard radius of 9.5". Ultra has compound radii that starts at 10" before flattening out. Am Pro II has the tradtional C neck, whereas the Ultra has a more modern D. Similarly, the Ultra Luxe is more expensive than the Ultra, but is not flagship either, because its appointments lean to a subset of modern players, rather than embodying the epitomy of what a Tele is supposed to be.
The lines have changed over the years. The American Pros have adopted many is the features that the American Deluxes and Elites had. The pros are now a mix of modern and traditional. The Ultra is all modern. But the way I see it is that people who like Fenders don't really go for the Deluxe/Elite/Ultra. Those are Fenders for people who don't like Fenders.
I've seen fret sprout ever since I started playing in the early 80s. My own Am Std Strat bought brand new in 1988 had fret sprout that pushed up the finish away from the wood. It still has some areas where the lifted finish chipped off at the fret slots. Honestly, it's been the youtube age that the issue of fret sprout seems to have become a point to really complain about. This isn't an excuse. The way Fender puts finish over the frets has always bothered me, too, since so many other manufacturers have figured out how to ship guitars without that kind of "character", for a lot less money.
Good info, thanks. That is why I bought a inca silver HB Tele with a roasted neck for 150 and serviced and modded the hell outa it (pickups, tuners, pots, alu pickguard/control plate, home made shielding paint, straplocks, recarved neck, fret level, recrown and polish, ...). Also learned a lot along the way. All for about 500 euros and quite a few hour of work ... but maaaan it is fine now. Will be putting Optima gold 9-46 strings on for the bling look ;) Waiting for a bridge BK Piledriver replacement as the first one was defect and then I can finalize the build.
I have an Ibanez MM1 and it was flawless. I also just purchased a Luke 3 model Music Man and it is flawless. Fenders and Gibsons just don't have the quality they had in the past.
The biggest problem is that there is no longer enough dry wood for so many guitars. in the past they still had the time to let the wood dry for a very long time, so later not as much has shrunk as today. it is still sad that even with the expensive guitars they no longer resort to enough dried wood.
They could put the wood in a kiln (drying oven) to remove the moisture, or use a roasted maple neck which creates a dry and more stable neck. I recently bought a Fender roasted maple replacement neck, which they should have used on this so called premium guitar. It was strictly an economic choice and in my opinion a poor one.
Don't give them that much credit, they are completely using wood that has too much moisture probably because it was cheap and simply don't care to dry it properly. They've become the Hyundai of the guitar industry and all they give you a good looking turd. This is why you buy a PRS.
The sprout problem might be modern wood. Modern harvest trees have thicker growth rings and contain more water than old growth trees. In the building industry, Lumber hewn from modern trees is known to warp and shrink.
I love my ultra Jazzmaster. Luckily no fret sprout, however the board is bound rosewood. Im a huge tele fan, but I went with a Warmoth build with Fender AM pro II parts (mostly) and I wouldnt have it any other way. Truly the best Tele I've ever played. Sure I had to build it, and it wasnt exactly easy as buying an ultra off of the shelf, but I think I made the right call
I sold my 2 crappy strats years ago because they both played so poorly. The frets were uneven and needed leveling on both and that's the way it's been with every Fender I've owned. I've learned how to level and crown pretty well since then so It's not so much of an issue but I bought an Eart Strat for $196 and put some Alnico 5 pickups in it and it's now my favorite Strat of all time. Level stainless steel frets and not a single issue and the guitar plays like butter. Bone nut, roasted maple neck, mahogany body, and a superior bridge block and trem. Why can't Fender give you a guitar that at the very least doesn't need to see a tech as soon as you get it home but a cheap Chinese company can and give you specs that embarrass a typical Fender to top it off. Why?
Exactly, lmao. I've remember visiting Guitar Center once and finding really bad fret sprout on *2* of their Fender Strats. Really cheap feeling necks on all the squires, too. Meanwhile, I bought my Yamaha Pacifica used, for $130 dollars. The pickups were more clean and sparkly than anything at the store for that price. Smooth frets, you could tell it had been played a lot.
Oops, i forgot about Eart! There are so many awesome Korean and Indonesian guitars, and some Chinese like Eastman as well. The Larry Carlton Sire range stand out as well!
Interesting. The way Phil broke it down I can easily see the difference between that USA Ultra Tele and my new MIM Player Tele and I can honestly say that after seeing this I appreciate my MIM Tele even more. I don't see any advantage for my use case in choosing the Ultra over the Player while the Player holds a major price advantage over the Ultra. Sounds crazy now but down the road we may look back at being able to buy a Fender guitar that's made in North America (MIM) for less than a grand as a true bargain. Cheers!
I'm also a retired electronics technician and I have worked on guitars since I was 14 years old. I have Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials and they are both overwound, the bridge is 10.5k ohm and the neck pickup is 9.5k ohm and I have a 4 way switch wiring and in series they have 20k ohm way more than a humbucker so I use a 1 meg volume control to preserve the tone of the pickups
Great detailed review. After watching this, I value both my 2012 Fender Deluxe Tele and Strat even more. Both came with flawless fingerboards and fret jobs and near perfect setups-just had to back off the truss rod once on the Tele, but that was it. Had no idea Fender is now saying Fret Sprout is a possibility with your new top of the lime guitar….wow, quality control has taken a turn for the worst. On a positive note, my 2019 Ultra Jazzmaster came with a completely flawless fretboard and flawless setup. Only had a tone knob that needed the fastening screw tightened, but that was it. I just hope Fender doesn’t start slipping too far south on their quality control and then making a habit of excuses for their future production lines to come.
I love this guitar. Outside of the noiseless pups that come on Ultras, those guitars are perfect IMHO. I would love to see a demo of how to roll the edges on a guitar that has the squared off fret board edge! If it already exists, plz link me in the right direction! Love these "geeky" type videos. Always learning!
Wood dryers. Or the lack of. All my PRS guitars never had fret sprout issues, and they hold tuning forever. Sold my teles and strats, only kept the US-made 80's Charvel I still use to this day. Seems most of the guitar makers are not drying their wood as well as they used to. Been looking at guitars that only have roasted necks and stainless frets now.
First time on your channel. THUMBS UP. I've been playing for 60 years and I didn't know about of a lot of the info you covered. For $2100 they sure could have done a lot better job on the frets. The middle position full-on sounds to me a bit muddy, too much bass compared to without the switch on. Nice that you played mostly with no distortion. SO many reviews have distortion on all the time and lets me know nothing about how the guitar sounds.
Holy macro. This guy is really good at breaking down a guitar. I learned about the switch at the split position. I learned why what appears to be single are humbuckers. Love your channel!
Thank you for watching out for our hard earned cash and piece of mind! Thousands of dollars is not a drop in the bucket for most! I have seen new unplayable instruments that I have no idea how they passed a Quality inspection. In this instance ' Let the buyer beware' is a total injustice for people that just want to play music. Thank you Phil for these tips and your expertise, knowledge is always welcomed! \m/
I picked up a lightly used 2015 MIM standard Telecaster. It was perfect in every way, no fret sprout, perfectly leveled frets, perfect intonation. The guy I bought it from didn't do anything to it, right out of the box. No finish cracking at the neck pocket. Fit and finish exceeded any of the USA Teles I tried at various music stores. C'mon Corona...get it together.
I always dig your approach to reviews. I have a player plus Nashville tele that has many of the Ultra features. It's absolutely great! I honestly can't see paying the difference for the American ultra. I love that thing!
Just got my PP Nashville a month ago. Love it. Massive value. Play it as much as the Custom Shops. You can make this guitar do lots of cool things. My desert Island over my beloved LP/SG/Custom Shops.
I like everything about the ultra, except the noisless pickups, they always sound too thin. I also wish they had more color choices. These two reasons are what made me go with something else, a while back, when I was looking for a high end tele. I also never cared for series switching, it takes away from the quack that the middle position should have. And as for the fret sprout, I bought new American fenders, and squiers from the eightys, and they absolutely never had any such thing as fret sprout, It was unheard of. No doubt they are not drying the wood properly, and rushing them out!
last year I got an Eart T style guitar $399 and swapped in DiMarzio Vinatage Twang King Pre-Wired Pickup set $219 and maybe 2 hours knocking down a few high frets .. Not sure I would love playing that Fender $1500 more than what I got with my Eart... And knocking down a few frets is way easier than fixing fret sprout. I've had the Eart Since October and frets are still fantastic. If I was a rich man ... yes I would go Fender USA.
Hi Phil, noiseless pickups won’t prevent electronic noise being picked up by the pots. Same way shielding the control cavity wont make single coils noiseless. I would guess that if you held the control cavity next to some fluro lights, you’ll still hear some hum.
I have to say that I’ve played several new Fenders over the past few years ( MIM & US ) and they’ve all been exceptional. I say this because I know Phil’s been hard on them and for good reason but my experience with them has been the complete opposite , they’ve all been great with the exception of one that the high E string was kinda flopping off the fretboard so I guess the bridge maybe wasn’t put on straight or I don’t know.
Regarding the Bridge Pickup volume/tepid sound, I've used Kinman Noiseless Pickups (stacked Humbuckers) for many years. They can be brought very close to the strings without getting "Stratitis," and that allows for an increase in both volume and dynamic sensitivity. Perhaps the Bridge Pickup on that guitar can be raised as well. 🤷 Have you noticed any tone differences between all Maple necks vs Maple Fretboard on top of Maple neck, and any pros and cons?
Two piece maple necks are a bit snappier sounding. Many Nashville guys prefer the two piece construction due to this. Also, having two separate pieces of wood helps to stabilize the neck against warping. This is not so much of an issue, though, with roasted maple since that makes the wood more stable to begin with. Other than that, there is not much difference.
Lol, i had some warranty work done on mine. The volume pot became cracly., so i decided to have a look at the Potentiometer. When i turned the control plate over and saw that it went straight back in it's case and back to GAK. Shout out to GAK UK for looking after me. Brilliant retailers. Amazing Guitar. They put mine on the PLEk to. I like em.
10 years ago custom shop pickups came stock on the American standard (now called the professional), that said, noiseless pickups have a been a staple of the highest end fender production models for quite some time.
I love your channel. You explain things really clearly and simply. I’m currently working on an acoustic with a few uneven frets. I saw you pound the frets down with a brass hammer in another video. When do you use the hammer vs. sand down individual frets vs. use the longer fret leveling bar? Thanks!
Thanks for a very thorough / concise review, and the problems you discussed are the primary reason why I bought a Player Telecaster so that I could improve, refine, and upgrade my guitar to get something that feels, and sounds right, and, for much less money than an Ultra.
If the neck is high quality and finished well it doesn't matter how it is attached to the body. There are way more advantages than disadvantages with bolt on necks vs set or through.
@@czechplastik While I totally agree with that, an issue Fender have is that there are many companies that build very high quality aftermarket necks, to the point where buying a more affordable fender/squier and changing the neck (assuming you are good with setups or know a competent guitar tech) will get you noticeably higher quality guitar at a lower price point.
@@morganghetti No, because Leo Fender set out to make affordable, mass produced instruments. Not one of a kind boutique instruments for cork-sniffers. And Telecasters certainly aren't those, no matter how much you love them. And raising the cost of a reasonably priced guitar does not add anything tangible. You can get some incredible instruments in this price range.
@@czechplastik It's not about playability or even quality. It's about mass production. Cheap, fast, efficient mass production. So that great things can be sold at a reasonable cost. A great plan until somebody doubles or triples the price of what it should cost.
I weened myself off mass produced basses years ago. I purchased a 1975 precision bass new in 1976. That set the bar for how I expected a guitar to be manufactured. It would have been absurd to have to have done anything to it. That would be like driving a brand new car off the dealership lot and taking it directly to a body shop to have body work done do it. I would rather save up and buy a bass that’s custom made. Even if it’s used. With that said my last two bass purchases were a MIA Hamer and a MIA Pedulla. Stellar craftsmanship for not a huge amount more. I can see why companies are folding.
The money probably isn't worth it. You can buy a body and neck cheaper and put the other goodies in as you like. Once set up properly unless there is something really wrong with the guitar they all play and sound pretty close to each other. Lots of guys have made videos proving this.
Exactly..I have a older MIM Fender body..I bought a Mighty Mite Maple fretboard neck with nickel frets and I loaded up a pickguard with Seymour Duncan pickups..Schaller tuners and a Wilkinson WVP6 SB bridge and 4 years later absolutely no problems whatsoever. It sounds and plays amazing all for less than $500. Great job here on your review as always Phillip..thats a nice Tele.
I have the exact same model and I haven’t had to adjust anything at all on it the setup was perfect. I love it but it has a slightly different tele tone with the N3 pickups . The neck has been well crafted and edges rolled . A great guitar for the money
As a luthier I have to store wood for several years (up to a decade sometimes) to ensure that it is stable. My first few guitars had bad fret sprout until I started doing this. Modern wood is increasingly "force dried" with a vacuum which removes the moisture but once this is done the wood fibres need time to reach a stable state. You cannot measure this directly but the sound the wood makes when tapped changes. Maybe I should put a frequency analyser onto this sound...
Paying $2100+ for a guitar with bad frets is ridiculous. I would send that guitar back immediately and then buy a PRS. There are other companies that take pride in their work. I refuse to reward mediocrity with cash!!! Great review Phil 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼
Completely agree that a guitar at this price should need next to no work to feel and play great. I had to put as much work in to my Fender Am Pro II as I did to my Players. The Am Pro is nicer mainly because of the pickups but otherwise the Player seem like the better deal. I expect to have to work on my guitars to get the frets and nut just right. The fret sprout on the Fenders was pretty bad. Seems to me the fret material wears super fast too but I do have a heavy hand and practice a lot. I'm not a master luthier at all so working on a much less expensive guitar is less nerve racking. Been doing my own fret leveling for a bit but likely wouldn't do it on anything over $1000. Point is, most guitars are going to require work and unless you are a pro its probably best to do it on a less expensive one.
Prevalent sprout is definitely a recent phenomenon, and it's mostly cutting corners, but I also do wonder if part of it is the quality of wood purchased/used in mfg, but also the drying process of the wood, or lack there of. Such changes usually aren't just one thing, but several that converge randomly and get noticed. Love the channel, and thanks for all you do!
Is it just me? For the price you pay for that guitar , I would be pissed if all my frets were coated with polly. Poor workmanship. Fender doesn't care anymore.
If I were in the market for a new Fender I’d most probably go for this one. I’ve stopped buying them though simply because I love Warmoth’s and I can fully customize and paint them myself using nitro too. The comfort carves really make a Tele’s a lot more comfortable to play too and especially if you’re sitting down. This neck shape they’re using definitely sounds nice too, thanks for the breakdown man 🤙
I like that you are a pro at what you do. Can learn a lot from you. Thank you. I love playing the guitar and making music, but I love looking after my guitars myself, changing the pickups, switches and caressing them. Cheers and until the next video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
I bought an Amer Standard Tele about 10 years ago. I ripped out the miserable pickups and wiring and put in Lollars. I Put on a Warmoth neck I changed the nut width from 1 and 3/4 to 1 and 5/8 and the radius from 9.5 to 14. Also, and I see Fender has followed my lead (Joke but true) on the neck. . At some point Fender necks stopped contouring 3 inches before the neck-body join point. That means around the 15th fret your hand had to play around a square block of wood. So I had Warmouth contour the neck all the way down to the body. I did keep it skunk striped. Also, I think the poly finish on maple necks is not only ugly but they play slower so I put a nitro-satin finish on. It just looks like bare wood instead of plastic. Then I took out all the bridge saddles and got an original 1959 brass saddle bridge that only has 3 saddles, big chunky pieces of brass. so now it intonates properly. I hated the ocean blue metallic finish, and I thought the black or white models were ugly, the only 3 colors they had that year so I sanded it down and took off the poly coat and now it has a matte finish. Luckily mine didn't have the gaudy front binding. All modern corporate gear is made in China. It stinks. I get a virus just looking at it. Even more frightening are acoustic guitars. Thank whatever I kept all my gear from the late 50's and early 60's. My 59 strat is a real rock and roll guitar. It has neck like a violin and the pickups are excellent. It amazes and dismays me, that with the tech improvements in the last 60 years guitars keep getting less playable as the prices go through the roof. Now you need to spend a fortune, especially on acoustics, to buy vintage, or to have the whole thing custom made from scratch. By far the worst is Martin, who has not made a good guitar since 1969. The necks are the worst part. They used to come standard at 1 and 11/16 but now they think everyone has basketball player hands so in addition to being at least 1 and 3/4 the neck contour profile are enormous compared to older guitars, unless you go pre world war two, when people liked necks that were like baseball bats.
Greetings from NL! I totally agree with your views about the cheap fretwork from Fender. A couple of years ago I got a telecaster USA around 2K and had a similar issue plus a few months later I noticed fret oxidation. Later the guitar shop contacted Fender and got no response and I had to pay extra to fix these issues. If this is the new Standard from Fender, why would anyone grab a Fender guitar?
My thoughts on fret sprout are that most factories are now controlling/adding humidity when building guitars when historically, they probably weren't as concerned. The wood was well dried when they were working it and was close to what most homes were. Many homes don't control humidity to any great extent so guitars shrink. I've had guitars sprout and I hit the frets and it's usually good after that. I use case humidifiers to minimize dryness (yes, even on electrics!) and that helps too. That said, it would be nice if manufacturers just nipped the tangs but that costs time and money. On another note, that amp sounds really good!
I have Tele fever right now. That binding looks amazing. I like Telecasters at lower price points for sure but I like to see what the top of the line can do.
That's a nice guitar. I have the prior Elite model and I love it. I have a Gibson SG and a PRS in this price range and 3 things are for sure, my Noiseless Tele feels much more premium and special in the hand, and as I hate hum, I'd rather have my Elite over any classic Tele pups anytime/any place, and the Fender Gen 4 Noiseless neck pickup (as does the Ultra Neck pickup) is so nice and full sounding that it resolves all the negative criticisms of traditional Tele neck pickups.
Got a brand new Am Pro II Tele about 6 months ago. Definitely needed work. It was nearly unplayable when I got it. Did what I could and lived with it for a bit. Just got a pro set up and they fixed a few high frets. Plays absolutely amazing now! I expect to pay for a set up to get it where I like it, but don't like paying to have bad fretwork fixed. Am Pro IIs are cheaper than the Ultra, but not by a lot. Luckily I got a good deal on mine, but the extra cost makes it not quite as good of a deal.
Honestly I'm done with Fender and Gibson now a days.I see so many brands stepping up their game at over the $1000 mark but every Gibson I have seen has horrible QC and Fender is going back to getting sloppy.There are so many brands trying real hard and I wish more people would send the big 2 a message.
I highly recommend paying $200-300 for a really good pleck setup from a good luthier. If the guitar and neck are good then it should become great. I think Fender QC is actually really good last few years compared to decades past.
At some point Fender stopped producing the Ultra in the Butterscotch finish (don't know why !) I found and purchased one last Feb. 2023 and glad I did (don't care for the other finishes).
