Fender American Special Telecaster Electric Guitar 3-Color Sunburst

Just sensational. People talk about the bad Texas pickup, but I find it perfect. I use it for jazz and mainly rhythm guitar.

I've never been inclined to leave a review on anything, this is the exception. Do yourself a favor, don't sleep on this Tele at this price range because they will go up in value. Fender has hit a homerun with this model. The only thing I can say is WOW!

Everything I expected

I can't gush enough about this guitar. I've been playing for 25 years and kept overlooking the Tele, mostly because of its looks. I also had no idea what it was capable of. For the past year or so, I was trying out Squier Teles but I wasn't super impressed witht the feel or tone. I couldn't justify spending so much on an American Standard Tele either, which didn't even have the barrel saddles, which is a huge dealbreaker for me. So then I happen to see an American Special (which I was not aware of before), and instantly fell in love. The neck has a perfect feel with that satin finish, more like a worn-in vintage guitar. The pickups produce fat, punchy, yet detailed tone that I wasn't getting from lesser Teles, and the bridge with the brass barrel saddles was the icing on the cake. I slapped on a set of Fender bullet pure nickel strings, and the sound is pure vintage. I have a Strat with a bridge humbucker, and the tone is pretty similar, which is pretty shocking for a single coil. The BITE I can get out of the bridge pickup in this thing is amazing. I could keep heaping praises onto this thing, but I'll leave you with this: there's a really good reason top artist have been using the Tele for about 70 years now: it's perfect.

This guitar is an absolute dream come true. I love 80s new wave and I'm really able to get the tone of Johnny Marr, Andy Summers. I can switch it up and play some blues and Hendrix. What's great about The Texas pups is overdrive. I have a metal streak and can get some good pinch harmonics when desired. Early Zeppelin tones are also achieved with some plexi overdrive quite easily.

This is my first Telecaster. Out of the box, it was set up and ready to play - except for tuning. It has already become my favorite guitar. I plan to put beefier strings on it but the 9's that it came with don't sound as bad as I thought they would. The pickups are LOUD and clear and the fret work is smooth with no snags or burrs. The neck is straight as an arrow with a very slight relief - just like I like it. Now I know why this guitar has been around for so long.