I received the Tele on 10/19/ 2021. After playing exclusively for the last 3 months, here's my opinion. Before I get into it I have a few kudos and criticisms.
1. Upon unboxing it I noticed a noticeable ding,, raised chip whatever on the Headstock. This had to have happened during either during the setup, or the repacking. *I did get reimbursed*.
2. The setup *which I had to pay for* was not up to my liking, so I had to redo it. *I also was reimbursed for it .*
3. The tuners need to be upgraded to preferably locking tuners, or just a higher quality. It holds tune pretty well, but if you play hard and bend a lot *which I do* and upgrade is in order.
4. I will be replacing the volume, tone and capacitor to CTS 500K pots and a .022 paper in oil cap. The cavity and cavity cover came shielded.
5. I'm still on the fence with the Indian Laurel fingerboard, it's pretty porous and dry. I guess after a few more conditionings it will get better. The Abalone Dot inlays are a little daek, but still a nice touch
6. Sweetwater's description of the body was it has a flame maple cap, it's actually almost a veneer, just a tad thicker. The remainder of the body is 3 piece Mahogany as well as the neck.
7. It comes with oversized strap buttons, a pain to get a new strap over, but it'll never come off!
8. It has a "belly cut" and an extended cutout for the "set" neck, no problem reaching all 22 frets.
9. It come with a Graphite nut and the typical Tele 6-saddle strings-through-body hardtail bridge.
10. Okay, my biggest complaint......The new pricing. When I bought the guitar in Oct 2021 Sweetwater's advertised price was $799.99, it's now $999.99! To be honest I got a great deal , my invoiced price was $633.45 and that included a hardshell SKB case. I've been a Sweetwater customer for years and spent thousands of dollars, but that was one of the best deals ever.
So playing wise, it's a joy, the neck is a C shape and very smooth and effortless, balance is very good as well no neck diving here. What I really like is the weight, 6lbs, 10oz's, compared to most of my collection it's probably one of the lightest.
The sound is wicked, even with not so great pots and cap the Seymour Duncan '59 SH-1N RP Humbucker in the neck and the Seymour Duncan SHPGP-1B Pearly Gates+ Humbucker in the bridge scream. In a hard overdrive mode it cleans up nicely when you roll the volume down on the guitar, I did notice a little high end loss, but I blame the pot's and cap. Rolling back the tone control renders a nice "Women" tone.
Over all as it stands, I give it a 9 out of 10 Weasels. Not bad for a guitar made in Indonesia. I wish Fender could produce an American version for the same price point.
1. Upon unboxing it I noticed a noticeable ding,, raised chip whatever on the Headstock. This had to have happened during either during the setup, or the repacking. *I did get reimbursed*.
2. The setup *which I had to pay for* was not up to my liking, so I had to redo it. *I also was reimbursed for it .*
3. The tuners need to be upgraded to preferably locking tuners, or just a higher quality. It holds tune pretty well, but if you play hard and bend a lot *which I do* and upgrade is in order.
4. I will be replacing the volume, tone and capacitor to CTS 500K pots and a .022 paper in oil cap. The cavity and cavity cover came shielded.
5. I'm still on the fence with the Indian Laurel fingerboard, it's pretty porous and dry. I guess after a few more conditionings it will get better. The Abalone Dot inlays are a little daek, but still a nice touch
6. Sweetwater's description of the body was it has a flame maple cap, it's actually almost a veneer, just a tad thicker. The remainder of the body is 3 piece Mahogany as well as the neck.
7. It comes with oversized strap buttons, a pain to get a new strap over, but it'll never come off!
8. It has a "belly cut" and an extended cutout for the "set" neck, no problem reaching all 22 frets.
9. It come with a Graphite nut and the typical Tele 6-saddle strings-through-body hardtail bridge.
10. Okay, my biggest complaint......The new pricing. When I bought the guitar in Oct 2021 Sweetwater's advertised price was $799.99, it's now $999.99! To be honest I got a great deal , my invoiced price was $633.45 and that included a hardshell SKB case. I've been a Sweetwater customer for years and spent thousands of dollars, but that was one of the best deals ever.
So playing wise, it's a joy, the neck is a C shape and very smooth and effortless, balance is very good as well no neck diving here. What I really like is the weight, 6lbs, 10oz's, compared to most of my collection it's probably one of the lightest.
The sound is wicked, even with not so great pots and cap the Seymour Duncan '59 SH-1N RP Humbucker in the neck and the Seymour Duncan SHPGP-1B Pearly Gates+ Humbucker in the bridge scream. In a hard overdrive mode it cleans up nicely when you roll the volume down on the guitar, I did notice a little high end loss, but I blame the pot's and cap. Rolling back the tone control renders a nice "Women" tone.
Over all as it stands, I give it a 9 out of 10 Weasels. Not bad for a guitar made in Indonesia. I wish Fender could produce an American version for the same price point.
