Telecaster and Stratocaster

syscokid said:
Depending on your current state of mind, this is either a revelation, or it's a revolution. Maybe both! BTW, specs are killer! Very interested in what you think about those Fender Fat 60's pickups.
Click to expand...

It's like revisiting an old friend TBH, I've owned a lot of Fenders (mostly Strats) over the years but was on a sort of non-planned break. For that 10/12 years I had been playing just Gibsons as I was focused primarily on heavier sounds. Now I am mellowing a bit (age I am sure), and the Fenders seem to be the right tool at the right time.
I picked up an AmPro II Strat about a month ago and it is so good I wanted another for the office, then when I saw the specs on this one it seemed perfect. Most interested in the neck and 11" radius but also curious about those pickups.

iblive said:
I sorta feel your pain. (As in. I only HAD to buy one) Never really had the desire for a Strat. Then I saw one at Sweetwater. Got a bad case of GAS. And yes. I did ultimately buy it. There were some features I liked. Locking tuners. A push button switch between the tone controls. I think on some fenders you get a push/pull pot that does the same thing…. Brings the bridge pup into the mix in positions 4&5. And it was pretty. Ash body. Transparent blue finish so the grain stands out and I’m a sucker for wood grain. And heavy….. actually heavier than my bass. It was an MIM, so affordable for me. And I really like it a lot.
Click to expand...

They got me with the specs on this one. It was a bit more expensive than the one I was going to buy, but not by too much, and I think I should appreciate the differences between it and the one I already have.
 
gball said:
So the Fender thing has gotten slightly out of control. After not owning a single Fender for about a decade, maybe a little longer, just in the last 5 months I have ended up with 4 of them, and yesterday ordered one of these (BTW, the one I got is 8.1 pounds, the heaviest one they had. I prefer heavier guitars):


It's got a lot of features that differentiate it from the regular AmPro II - roasted maple neck, 11" radius fretboard, updgraded 6-screw bridge, Custom Shop pickups, blah blah blah. And it's red.

Since it's a SW exclusive I'll have to wait a few days to get my hands on it, but will report back once it's here.
Click to expand...

Nice to see you come around Gary.:D That looks like a nice axe Congrats!
 
The GT11 showed up yesterday. Turns out to be really hard to get a good picture of what Fiesta Red actually looks like, but I'm sure you all know.

6863485888973010569.jpg


Initial impressions are very good and once I get it dialed in and played in a bit I think this will become a favorite. The roasted maple neck is a thing of beauty and has a very thin very fast feeling finish. The 11" radius is almost game-changing for a Fender - easier to fret and bend strings than the typical 9.5" Fender radius, and coming from nothing but Gibsons that little bit more curve than a 12" makes a much bigger difference than I could have expected, really comfortable. The narrower saddle spacing on the modified bridge will take a little getting used to with my sausage fingers but I do like it. The Fat 60's pickups are hot as hell for a Strat but still chime up nice when you roll back the volume, and the neck/bridge combination with this set is probably the best sound in the guitar (that combo on my other AmPro Strat is a little flat sounding).
 
Last edited:
syscokid said:
Do you know if there is some type of treble-bleed circuit in the guitar?
Click to expand...

Yes, there is, the whole AmPro II line has one and the #2 tone is the push/push that activates the neck pickup regardless of switch position, so you can get bridge+neck or all three.

Gotta say, I have 4 of these AmPro II guitars now (2 Strats and 2 Tele Deluxes) and they are the best "American Standard" guitars Fender has made IMO. The combination of features and the quality/fit/finish-to-cost ratio makes them hard to beat. I have owned Custom Shop Fenders that were no nicer than these things.
 
A couple days in now and I can report that the 11" radius is actually so unusual feeling on a Fender that it is taking some adjustment. First, the action on this thing is absurdly low, if I dare say too low and I think I need to raise it a bit. Also, the very Gibson-like flatness of the fretboard is requiring a touch of cognitive dissonance to get used to. But - the fretwork is ridiculously good for a guitar at this price-point and the thing plays like butter. Getting more used to it and liking it more every day.
 
Last edited:
Okay, raised the action a bit, lowered the pickups some, and whooo, we are off to the races. Man, what a killer neck. Very old-school Stat tones with the pickups dropped some, especially the 2 and 4. Low-to-medium gain is where it shines, really digging it now that I am getting the setup sorted.
 
gball said:
Okay, raised the action a bit, lowered the pickups some, and whooo, we are off to the races. Man, what a killer neck. Very old-school Stat tones with the pickups dropped some, especially the 2 and 4. Low-to-medium gain is where it shines, really digging it now that I am getting the setup sorted.
Click to expand...

Good to hear Gary! I knew you would get there, nothing like, a good ole Strat or Tele or T-Style guitars.;):)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top