Product: Fender El Rio
Price Paid: UNKNOWN
Submitted
11/09/2008
at
08:59am
by
spudshredder
Features
:
8
The Fender El Rio is an acoustic/electric guitar from the California series. The Fender website indicates they were made in Japan from 1982-1985 and in Korea from 1986-1987. Mine is missing the sticker so I am unsure what year or where it was made. The body is 2-3/4" thick and made of Sycamore, it looks alot like Mahogany, the back is arched, I am not sure if it was pressed or carved. It has a flat top made of spruce with a Florentine cutaway. The neck is a three-piece Maple with bound Rosewood finger board that I believe to be Brazilian. The Stratocaster shaped headstock is laminated with a flamed Maple veneer. The decal and tuners are gold. Mine has a very nice three color sunburst finish. The sunburst is on the headstock, back of the neck, the sides of the body, the top, and back. The fit and finish is of very high quality, the binding work is impeccable the only flaw I can find is with the inlay work.
Sound
:
7
The sound acoustically is very balanced, low to high range but is lacking in volume due to the thinner body. The tone through an amp is decent, I have heard there are better pick-up systems but this works fine.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
Where this guitar excels is in action fit and finish. It has a 25-1/2" scale Stratocaster shaped neck, 1-3/4" at the nut with a very nice C-shape. It has the lowest action of any acoustic I have every played. The fit and finish are impeccable. It is my opinion that the same craftsmen who made D'Aquisto archtop electrics made the El Rio.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
The guitar is close to 25 years old and the neck is perfectly straight, the only flaw is a finish crack at the neck joint and some dings from user error.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
Never dealt with Fender
Overall Rating
:
9
I have been playing over thirty years, mostly on solid body electrics. This acoustic changed my opinion of Fender acoustic guitars. I have never really liked sitting around the house playing a full bodied acoustic because of the body is not really comfortable and the limited higher fret access. The Fender El Rio is perfect for sitting on the couch and playing.
