Fender American Original '70s Telecaster Custom Rosewood Fingerboard Electric Guitar 3-Color Sunburst

I bought the 70s Telecaster Custom for the CuNiFe wide-range humbucker, but the bridge pickup is every bit as stunning.If you only could have one electric, you would be covered with this one. The wide-range humbucker has clarity that you won't find in many humbuckers. It rivals my Gibsons for articulation. The bridge pickup is pure Telecaster! It's twangy, and rings like a bell without being icepicky. I rarely choose the middle position in my guitars, because I feel like they lose bite. Not in this guitar! The middle is where the magic happens, it brings a fat, 3-D tone that is unique to the custom. It is a higher priced Fender, but seriously worth every penny. You can buy a cheaper Tele, but you'll be chasing THIS tone!

Great guitar. Nice thicker, but not too thick, neck. Beautiful finish. Most importantly, great pickups that provide myriad sound options, from warm and smooth to thick and chunky.

After weeks of researching and trying out a whole bunch of different Telecasters, I decided I would go all out and buy an American one. I ordered one online and got it shipped to my local store the next day. Immediately out of the box, my impressions were negative. It felt very cheap; the body was light in a bad way, the tuners felt like something that would be on an Affinity Squier, and the set up was horrible. Now I know this could be the result of it being stored in a dry warehouse and from shipping so I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I took it home and set up everything to my liking; changed the strings to 9-42, got the action to my liking and the intonation perfect, took some relief out of the neck, lubed the nut and saddles. More problems arose during this set up. The first 5-6 frets on the treble side were all sharp and the saddle for the high E and B strings was not cut properly, resulting in a horrible buzzing. I tried to remedy it but adjusting the saddles and taking the tension off the strings, but to no avail. Also the back of the neck is just awfully gooey and over-lacquered. I know that this is technically the style from the 70's, but it makes the guitar feel gross and slow. Then came my discoveries after plugging it in. The big selling feature about this Tele was that Fender had brought back their "covetted" CuNiFe pickups. Well, the neck pickup on this Tele lacked any and all clarity. It sounded just ok clean, and then lost all use once even a little bit of overdrive was introduced. It was horribly muddy and dark sounding. I tried both raising and lowering the pickup and nothing seemed to fix its tone or lack thereof. Next came the bridge pickup, usually the main sound people think of when they think about Telecasters. The bridge pickup again was just alright and lacked any kind of snappiness or spank like I would expect from a Tele. At the end of the day, it didn't sound good, nor did it feel good to play.

It looks like the guitar was a floor model because the plastic on the pickguard shows a lot of marks, but the overall finish is very nice. No dents or dings visible on the neck or the body. The lacquer finish is impressive. The high E tuner is broken off and the tuning knob was loose in the case. The neck is shifted in the neck pocket causing the strings to be mis-aligned so the high E string is almost off of the fingerboard and the low E is not over the magnet of the neck pickup. On the bridge, the saddle height adjustment screws stick up and feel sharp. The action is high and there is some string rattle. I wish I received this in better condition. I will have to either return, or exchange it. It's hard to give the pickups a good trial because of the broken tuner and other issues, but my first impression of their sound is very good. The case is black tolex with black interior. This could be a fantastic guitar if the problems were fixed.