• Good balance, versatile

  
  As reviewed by Rosettamusic on 10/26/2006

  As has been said, this is an incredibly versatile guitar. Tonally it does lie somewhere between a Telecaster and a Les Paul. Not quite the growl of a LP with hot pickups, but not as twangy as a regular Tele either. I've found it to be remarkably stable and solidly built. There are two main issues: 1. The pickups are abnormally large, so if you replace them with something else (which I tried), you will find that the string spacing is too wide to allow good string interfacing. You would also have to replace the bridge to make it work. I ended up just keeping the stock pickups because I think they're pretty decent. 2. The factory setup job was terrible. At first I thought the guitar was just poorly made, but then after profiling the nut and doing a full setup, it plays beautifully. Be sure to get a full setup from a good tech after buying this. Just on a personal note: I play some seriously detuned stuff in an experimental "post-everything" band, and this guitar sounds really unique when it's downtuned with really heavy strings. It is qualitatively different from what you would get with a Les Paul... brighter and more open-sounding. But if you go this route, be prepared to do some SERIOUS setup work to get it playing right... took me about three weeks, but now it's one of my favorite guitars for this purpose (and I have two Les Pauls).

  17 of 17 people found this review helpful.
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• unique sound, great neck, cheap hardware

  
  As reviewed by Michael Hough on 2/24/2011

  I have one of these great Telecasters. I have owned it for two years now, and have played it both onstage and at home. I love the sound of these "Wide Range Pickups." I play this Tele and my Gibson SG through the same pedalboard and amp setup using a line switcher, and they each have their own voice when everything else is the same. The Fender can be brighter than the Gibbie (as it was designed to be) but there isn't any Tele shrillness or Strato quack. No spiky ice-pick to the ears sounds from this guitar, unless you want to eq it that way, and I think you could. The first thing that appealed to me was the maple neck. It's fast and feels good in my hand. It is also quite different from the neck on my SG, so it took a little getting used to, but (surprisingly to me) the frets are fine, I haven't had any work done on them and it plays all right. The stock pickups sound great to my ears. You should know that these are like regular humbuckers, not the CuNiFe magnet pickups of the originals. These have alnico magnets like other Humbuckers. I like the sound, as I said. Guys have said that some of these MIM guitars have either the bridge or the nut placed slightly to one side or the other, so that your fingers and strings can fall off the fretboard while playing, so that's something to look at when you're considering buying one of these. MIne's fine. Mods I've done to this guitar was to replace the pots, the jack and the three way switch with a kit from Stew Mac. Quite a few players have commented on the low quality of these parts, and not just on MIM guitars, but Gibsons and higher grade Fenders etc. So I just took an evening and re wired it and everything works fine. I installed an 'electro socket' to replace the regular Telecaster jack mount which is notorious for falling apart. The electo socket is a great upgrade, solid as a rock. I also replaced the tuners with Grover Locking tuners and that helps me onstage because I use other tunings besides standard. The stock tuners were fine, but I like the Grovers better. I like to play slide on this guitar, it just screams.

  2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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• Vibe for Days

  
  As reviewed by antimatter on 10/3/2006

  This guitar is simply a rocker, it has that vibe and playability that you hear of and most of all - it has great tone. It is very easy to play and the tummy cut makes it very comfortable. The tone is nice and balanced and falls between a Strat and a Les Paul - not to bright and not to dark. It?s a very inviting instrument to play, you won't be disappointed.

  2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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