Fender '52 Reissue Telecaster

Well, it may not have 14 or 15 switches, knobs, toggles, etc. like a vintage B.C. Rich, but it's what I want.

When I think of the most unique electric guitar sound in the world, I know it to be the Fender Telecaster. As unique in its tone generated, as a Rickenbacker 4001, Martin D-28, Mu-tron III or Moog Taurus 1 bass pedals' (for you fellow synthesists'). For what it's worth, most of the Harmony Central reviewers here have enlightened me with their thoughts on equipment via this forum, which are informative in their analysis, and why I always come here. However, there are the occasional guys who express a need to give us all THE LIST of their musical gear. This immediately signals to me that they???re underage and probably believe rap and hip-hop are just as valid as any other musical form. I skip those reviews???.

I first purchased the MIM Fender Standard Telecaster for 300 bucks. The price was an important factor, however, after a 2 hour session of recording with it, I noticed the high E and B strings not staying in-tune. I then sent it back to G.C. here in CA, and tried out the American Standard & Deluxe model Telecasters. They were around 600 to 800 bucks more, but they stayed in-tune. I then forgot about my current economic situation entirely for a brief moment and tried the ???52 Telecaster reissue. 1100 bucks more than the Tijuana version. We all have that moment of self-analysis when we ponder: Should I do this???that???s 12 tanks of gasoline in my vehicle lately.
Pro???s & con???s??? yeh, that???s it???. Do a pro???s & con???s on this guitar to be clear-headed about this.

Con???s: 1400 bucks??? though with nice case.

Pro???s: Widest differential in tone of all the Tele???s I tried out.
The feel of the neck is smooth, unlike the MIM version where I can feel every fret on the side of the fret-board as my hand travels up & down the neck.
The machine heads look very similar to the MIM version, but the ones??? on the ???52 feel as if the machinery knows its purpose for existence, the few times you need to use them.
Finally, a rather esoteric remark I feel needs to be in here from, myself, a guy who DID NOT have the money to lay down for the ???52: The Telecaster ???52 Reissue feels warmer when just playing acoustically. Try sitting in a quiet room with the MIM version and the ???52. There???s an organic side to these electric guitars. Many may not catch it, but it???s there none-the-less.

Well it looks exactly like a Chrissie Hynde/Bruce Springsteen clone guitar. The tint and hue' of it's butterscotch finish are next to perfect in this reissue. At least the one I bought is.

As long as I don't allow a guy with an oversized belt-buckle to play my Telecaster; it's durability should stand the test of time.

None needed.

I give it one point away from a 10. I???m a person who would buy an instrument even if it was made in an Indonesian tree-house, if the quality was sufficient. The MIM and Squier versions that Fender put out, are for your daughter when she puts down her cell-phone and says: Mom??? Dad??? I want to be a guitar player. You buy her one of those. Get your son a quality instrument because he stands more chance to stick with it.

AV RI 52 tele. lightweight and resonant ash body, one pieve maple neck, old school hardware. I had the electronics changed right in the shop into a modern telecaster wiring. everything feels solid.
a lot of case candy comes with it, IMO the only usable beeing the strap which is a nice vintage design.

I am playing jazz, soul and blues. the guitar suits all of these styles. A tele is a versatile guitar 'cause it pretty much puts out what the player puts in. this one is a very sensitive guitar.
I took it to the studio the day after I bought it and it did a good job. the sound is inspiring and versatile.
be sure to have the right amp for the job. I use a polytone and fender tube amps.

the guitar was not set up well at the factory so I had it set up at the store. they fixed the saddle, intonation and the neck-screws and adjusted the pickups. most of the fenders I saw (even the MIM) are properly built but have a poor setup.
don't mailorder and have the shop set it up!

It's a tele!

-

I play guitar now for 30 years and had a lot of guitars come and go. this is a keeper!

New '06 model, got it in March '07. US made, no certificate in the case candy unfortunately. You know the drill for Teles as far as colour, pickups, hardware etc.

I've had it and played it for over a year now, so have held off sharing this until then. Objectivity.

It is pretty understandable that you either 'get' teles or you don't. It is a hard guitar to play, a demanding one. It is NOT an Ibanez Vai or Satriani. Uh-uh.

But it is also brilliant in its aloof simplicity.

I play lots of stuff, and have played a fair bit in my time. I'm not professional any more, but still have lots of gear including some very nice guitars.

Now, to 'Roy' (my nickname for this one - Roy Buchanan, you see). It is unmistakeable in its sound. Yep, the 50-60 htz hum is there. Yep, the bridge pup could peel paint. Yep, get the neck pup modification as it's unusable in the 'vintage' wiring. Yep, the neck is sticky when it's new. That passes after about 8 months - well, it did for me and my sweat residue pattern. Maybe others' sweat types may make that longer or shorter. Seems to dry after a while, It is off-putting.

If you like the tele sound then this is nirvana/El Dorado. If you don't no amount of tweaking and other stuff is gonna help. Fair enough, but I agree with other reviews that this is very much a tele thing.

I do dislike on teles generally the round switch knob, that makes it difficult to switch pups on the fly. But hey, You can put a later version toggle tip on it if you like.

The set up out of the (tweed) hardcase was excellent - haven't really altered anything. Intonation great, action good for me, pickups at good height for that sweetspot sound. You know a good guitar when it stays in tune when you take it off the hanger, and it's been different weather; ie got cold overnight, or hotted up.

It sounds rich when strummed accoustically - another telltale sign of a good'un.

Can't find a factory fault in the workmanship - and I wasn't expecting to. Not disappointed on that score. Fender USA is why. Mex and CIJ can vary greatly with Leo's kiddies. Beware; we've all had a Leo Dog fron Japan or Mexico.

I have always loved the butterscotch blonde, but not to the extent that I have mythologised it and can't see the flaws in this guitar. Simply beautiful. You will notice that the one-ply bakelite scratchboard will buckle a bit over time; the newer teles have more screws.

After a year now the maple is starting to birdseye beautifully.

This thing is - trying to think of a better epithet than 'tank', but I can't, it's a good descriptor - a tank. Tough, substantial, solid.

No doubt you could gig it; so many have. Backup axe? Of course. It does not do everything. It is not a shredder, it doesn't do strat sounds, it has no trem (of course, unless you fit a Bigsby or something), and it has its own distinctive way with overdrive pedals; it likes some, and some it doesn't. Ones that sound excellent with Gibs or strats don't sound good at all with this tele. Nothing mystical there.

Never dealt with them; I do all my own stuff as far as possible and there is great music shop around the corner anyway for stuff I can't. I have heard horror stories about Fender though; but that's hearsay as it hasn't been me. Besides, the store is the point of sale, and in Australia, at least, they are the deemed manufacturer - get your stuff fixed by them and let them deal with finding the sales people of Neptunian Guitar Company located somewhere in China.

Been playing quite a while now (over 30 years....time for my nap, thank you nurse).

Ya gotta have a tele in ya collection - this is the one to have. Maybe the rosewood neck sunburst and bound Nashville one, too (to keep it company!)

I have other guitars that what I play on them suits them; and vice versa. But, I feel I could passably play anything on it if I had to (but I do like tremelo arms, so strats are a must have).

I don't think this guitar is 'overrated' like some here do; but I reiterate you either get teles or you don't , and I don't mean that in any smart-alec or patronising way. No, it's not good for some things - but my Satriani sounds stupid on some things at times too.

This is a classic guitar - it is not The Guitar That Does Everything by any stretch of the imagination. Get used to that.

Nice swamp ash, with immaculate nitro cellulose gloss. The neck's fat but I think this adds to the tone.

The first position (bridge pick-up)on the selector switch has an additional capacitor which makes the sound muddy and bassy - pretty nasty basically!. Whilst authentic, I couldn't see myself using this setting, so I had the guitar re-wired with a 4-way switch allowing both pickups to be combined in series and in paralell (as well as independently) and was blown-over with the results: using the pups in parallel replicates a humbucker - louder and more overdriving (just crank up the trebble gain and presence a bit - instant Keef!).

I also replaced the bridge with a Callahan bridge which has a lower lip so you don't catch your pick on the trebble side. These are very high quality steel and thicker than the standard. This is a pro' tele upgrade which cost about ??70 but gave the guitar greater ring and sustain and a noticable improvement in sound quality. Also reduces squeal at v.high volume/gain settings.

I've owned a range of expensive US guitars, and the '52's are tonally very good indeed. They sound great acoustically - especially after the bridge upgrade mentioned above. Very versatile sounds are possible with the 4-way switch from bluesy to woody/nutty twang. Supprisingly powerful full/rich sounds are possible (think Page on Zep1!)

These guitars are pretty noisy (poorly earthed hummy and buzzy and occassionally the odd pop). This could be cleaned up by changing the pups but hey - these are gun-slinger's axes: not for clean freeks!

The high 7" curvature of the finger board means the action is going to be on the high side, so don't expect to be shreding! The glossy butter-scotch finish on top of grey-grained ash is really lovely - these bodies simply look better than any other Teles! Note, there a bit or rounding at the edge of the finger board which gives a less new feel.

One downer with brand new Teles is whilst they're v.beautiful, part of you wishes you had a battered up old work-horse like Francis Rossy! So who cares if it wears out a bit - love it while it's immaculate, then love it even more as it gets battered to bits - all the better!

No idea.

These aren't to everyone's taste, but if you know ya'onions and have the skill to handle it, and you want that classic tele Bigstar look and sound, nothing else will do it quite as well as one of these bad boys!
(I'd highly recommend the 4-way switch upgrade though, you loose nothing and gain so much more!)

i'd just like to remind people that the selector switch goes (bridge)(neck pickup)(neck pickup with "bass boost") so it will sound muddy on the latter setting. it was designed so people could use the guitar as a bass guitar before fender invented the precision bass. if you want to use the neck pickup i beleive you use the middle position on the selector, unlike the newer models which go (bridge)(bridge and neck)(neck)

Before I start, I want to say that I do like Fender Telecasters, and even copy telecasters. But I bought a Japanese Telecaster years and years ago, and I was not happy with it. In fact I went back to the store with it after two weeks of owning it, to trade it for a Strat.

Here it goes :

I had bought this '52 Reissue, made in Japan. Solid wood, a very heavy wood, Agathis maybe ? Butterscotch blonde, maple neck, black pickguard. 21 small frets. Chrome hardware. Ashtray bridge, brass saddles. Stock pickups, passive type, single neck, single bridge. Vintage tuners. It looked very nice, and was made very nice. Sound was so-so, in the store. Very nice reissue of a very nice guitar. Came with a new black hard fender case that would take a strat or tele.

I soon found for practical use it was all wrong. I don't know the wood, but it was heavy, and felt heavier the more I played. I was in a band, sort of, and it was hard to play for extended periods of time. The pickups sounded, well, weak. They just didn't have any b***s to them. They were noisy, unless I held the guitar in a certain way. On the other hand, the guitar looked good, and I did like the classic features like that ashtray bridge, and the old style tuners. The neck was a nice shape, but the finish felt sticky.

It was set up good, and Don from Ed's Music was a great guy to deal with. The guitar was well made, no question about that, except it was too damn heavy !

If you dropped this on someone's head they'd be dead for sure. The finish was great except the old fashioned varnish on the neck. The strap buttons were not a problem. You could depend on it for it's sturdiness, but it didn't stay in tune for long even after being set up, and checked over. Get a backup with this one if you're playing gigs. Your neck will beg for it.

I bought the guitar from a Fender dealer, who was very knowledgeable. He was good to deal with but I never called Fender for help.

I bought a new one while my Epiphone Les Paul Custom is in the shop getting new p'ups put in. I was reminded of that Japan Fender that disgruntled me years and years ago. I'm liking the options on guitars we didn't have before, like lighter weight bodies, etc. so I can make sounder choices than I once did.
I don't care who bought THAT guitar, they can have it.

This is an update on my previous review - have owned this instrument for a few months now and its been played live on many occassions. This is a terrific guitar - don't be taken in by the muddlesome nonsense that Joel was spouting - if you want a guitar that looks and sounds exactly as they did in 1952, then this is the one. if you don't choose something else - its that simple. Joel has noone to blame but himself for not doing adequate research. As for what was so good about 1952, he should maybe drop Keef a line and others....For what it is, it does the job very well. Also, being a Tele with a nice clubby neck, it challenges your technique, if you have any, that is.

Having taken it out and used it live, it does the job very well. I play an eclectic blend of jazz-funk, jazz and blues and this guitar has an answer to all of these styles. Vintage Tele twang, cuts through the mix very nicely

And the neck p/u is NOT dead.....its a low output single coil with the highs rolled off for rythym work, again, exactly how it was meant to be. if this is not to your liking, get a modern Tele, but its totally missing the point of '52 Reissue

Have had the opportunity to examine this guitar at close quarters and its flawless, just like everything else that flows out of Fender US these days. I also an eight-year old US Delux Strat and OK, its was a costly-ish guitar, but everything is as it should be well done Fender.

Also, for something which is a vintage accurate guitar, the tuning stability is just amazing....

No concerns, built like a tank

Some improvement of late, lets hope it continues

30 years + a player, have PRS Custom Artists, Les Pauls (and other Fenders) + all Mesa Boogie amps.

This guitar is NOT overrated - gives Custom Shop customers (like me) pause for thought - its cheaper and totally accurate...and of course, Fender didn;t have a Custom Shop back in 1952, no did they?

This guitar may not suit all styles, thats fine, but if it doesn't suite yours, there's not need to childishly assasinate it.

How does it suit your music style (and what is that style)?

Not well. And I don't even have a style.

What amps and effects are you using it with?

Fender 65 Deluxe Reverb RI, assorted BOSS pedals

Is it noisy? On what settings?

It is very noisy on all settings

Rich/Full sound? Bright sound?

The sound is about as rich as an ethiopian peasant, scraping fingernails on a blackboard whilst throwing shards of glass in a blender

What kind of sounds can the guitar make? How much variety?

Nothing useable that i've found yet. and what was so good about 1952 anyway? did buddy holly fart that year? if so i bet it sounded better than the sound this guitar makes.

Can't complain, very nicely put together. Actually printing the serial number on the certificate of authenticity would have been a nice touch, mine looks like it has been hand scrawled by a 5yo child with a blue texta!

But no flaws on the instrument, very well put together.

Will this guitar withstand live playing?

The immense 60-cycle hum will drive away any audience in seconds so I doubt I'll ever find out

Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

i wouldn't even use this guitar as a backup

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?

10 years. Several high-end stratocasters, BOSS pedals and Fender DRRI amp.

I have never been so disappointed in my life. For the last 3 years I have been idolising this guitar, and scrimped and saved for the whole time to buy it. I'm not sure what sound this guitar is supposed to produce, but it suits NOTHING that I play, and I'm in a 60s-00s cover band. Perhaps some country player could use the sound, Im not sure. 'Heart of Gold' is about as country as I get, and it evens sounds bad for that.

The neck pup sounds muddy and dead. The bridge pup is completely unuseable as far as I'm concerned. Some reviews here talk about using it to 'cut through the mix'. I have no doubt it can do that. It is so bright and sharp it could cut through the walls of fort knox. Doesn't mean it sounds good though.

My biggest complaint though is the playability of this guitar. I could go outside and find a piece of 2x4, attach some strings and a pickup and it would be more comfortable to play than this hunk o' junk. I have honestly never felt a more uncomfortable and difficult to play neck in my life.

I am amused by all the reviews here that brush over this problem by describing it as 'a players guitar'. LOL! What does that even mean? As opposed to a guitar you hang on your wall to make yourself look cool? I suspect this is a means of assuaging ones ego over the fact that they forked out big $$$, suppressing the knowledge that this is horrible, horrible, horrible feeling guitar to play.

i really feel let down by the reviews here, that I have been reading in good faith for years.

and for the record, no, I'm not a particularly stunning guitar player, probably a 5 / 10. im just a battler looking for a good sound. this boat paddle brings a tear to my eye every time I play it, and they're not tears of joy. they are tears of rage thinking of all the beers, smoke and girls (in that order) i could of spent money on rather than save up for this.

and im not a 'shredder'. i would rather poke a fork in my eye than listen to metal.

AVOID THIS MASSIVELY OVERRATED GUITAR AT ALL COSTS

This is 2007-manufactured US Telecaster '52 Re-issue. Being a reproduction of one of the iconic guitars from the very dawning of the solid body electric era, this is clearly not modern guitar (it obviously wasn't intended to be), features are not its strong suit. What you do get is as others have said, everything you need and nothing you don't. The controls may be basic, but its INCREDIBLY responsive to even small changes, making it a real professional's tool and no wonder so many use it.

Having had experience of the vintage instruments that this is based on, its a VERY faithful recreation, in terms of feel, tone and playability (the important bits), its also superbly put together and a real credit to Fender - you often read of cosmetic flaws on Gibsons, but nothing on the sort on this guitar, or any other recent Fender guitar I've come across. So, on the basis that it does have everything a Telecaster needs and does it so well, it gets a 10 - something this good deserves it.

The classic tele twang - but you can do alot with it besides. Its essentially a vintage-voiced guitar and thats where there the potential for problems lie. Two points. First, people will buy this expecting it to instantly unlock amazing tone - well, it does, but theres much more to it than that. You actually need to BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GUITAR...its not a shredders guitar, nor is it designed to work with today's thrash metal/heavy rock styles - if thats you, buy something else. In otherwords, you need to work with it, a Telecaster an unforgiving guitar and this '52 has a very vintage-accurate chuncky neck (a 'U' profile, as opposed to the modern 'C' profile) and will expose all shortcomings in technique.

Second point concerns the sound - its vintage and if thats what you're looking for, then trust me, there's nothing better. But the neck pickup is very low output (no thrash metal in 52, remember...) and is very muddy and best suited to delicate jazz playing. I have heard stories of buyers returning thier instruments in the belief the pickup was faulty - well, it isn't - thats how the originals sound. The middle and bridge settings have a rich and lush Telecaster honk, which with a bit of overdrive, creates an amazing blues/lead tone, but played 'neat' is spangly clean tone which is more than enough easily enough to cut through any mix. And all this from such a simple control layout....unbelievable.

I play a variety of styles from jazz to funk blues and
I use it with a Mesa Boogie Lone Star (a 2007 model) and dial in the tweed setting and switched down to Class A, you have guitar heaven. The 50w and 100w settings just give other equally gorgeous textures. This guitar seems to love 6L6 equipped amps like my Mesa. Also use a small pedal board containing a Keeley compressor, a volume pedal and a wah, but not much else.

Ths guitar totally meets my requirements and on that basis, it gets another ten

No cosmetic gliches at all, buttersctotch blond finish is beautiful and its all impressively put together, the frets are nicely done and it even sounds nice when strummed accoustically, a testimony to the 'rightness' of the who thing.

No problems so far, you can bash it, its built like a tank, only far easier to the eye, will stand up to anything. Probably wouldn't gig without other guitars......but only because this occupies the same stable as my Les Paul Standard, Custom Shop Strat and PRS Custom 22 Artist, Martin 0028EC...obviously not all at the same gig, but how on earth could I not want to play that lot?!!!

This is where Fender fall down...never been that good - I've had many Fender products over the years but found the support is not as good as might be expected. I emailed the UK website a few days ago, still waiting a resonse. By contrast, have emailed PRS many times on my Custom and have rarely waited more than a few hours. QED.

Have been playing for more than 30 years, have Boogies, PRS, Gibson and other Fenders. This guitar is every bit in the same league as the Gibson & PRS and probably ahead of other Fenders I've owned and on a par with the C/Shop Strat - praise indeed.

This is a brilliant guitar which covers so many bases. Its often been said that if you were allowed only one guitar, most would choose a Telecaster, which is about as good as it gets. Its well put together, sounds, feels and plays wonderfully. Its almost as though I've discovered the secret of time travel, gone back to '52 and brought a brand new one back - makes those Custom Shop instruments which are marketed in this way seem rather expensive.....

This guitar is amazingly good value.

Completely stock left handed 2007 "butterscotch blond" american reissue of a '52 tele. Neck pocket and neck butt are stamped may 2007 and july 2007, so this guitar was made just a few months ago and shipped brand squeaky new from Musician's Friend still in the Fender shipping box. This is the best '52 reissue I've owned.
Nitrocellulous color and clear coats over poly undercoat. Almost invisible seam on the two piece ash body; it took me a while to find where the seam was. The water slide decal on the headstock just says "Fender", not "Fender telecaster", just like the other left handed '52 reissues I've owned.
Came in a G & G tweed case w/ all the case candy except for the certificate of authenticity, but this is my third '52 r.i. tele bought new and I've never recieved one with a certificate. Perhaps Fender doesn't ship the lefties with it(?).
In any case, it's not missed. Came stock w/ the pre '70s wiring, which was immediately rewired for the modern selector switch positions: switch pushed to the front is the neck, middle is both pickups, and rear is the bridge pickup. The stock wiring, although true to the original, is useless. I find it interesting that Fender keeps this as a standard feature for the reissues yet doesn't keep the base coat nitro like the originals.
The color and neck profile on this is much better than the older reissues, being a much lighter and yellower color. The previous reissues had a thicker orange tint. The neck profile is also a bit meatier, but still very comfortable and nowhere near a "baseball" neck. This new one is also lighter in weight than its predecessors. I believe the side of the body where the input jack is installed has also been shaved a bit flatter to compensate for the jack, which I love.
The action and setup were near perfect out of the box; no adjustments were necessary, even when switching to a lighter guage of strings. I wish I could say the same for my '57 and '62 r.i. strats.
My only quibble is the sloppy fret slots on frets 14 to 16. You can see the slots were cut just a hair too deep for the frets. Although it doesn't affect playability or sound, I think Fender shouldn't let this minor workmanship flaw pass on such an expensive guitar. I'm giving it a 9 because of this fact.

The stock pickups sound great(albeit the 60 cycle hum) just like a proper early '50s tele and don't require a pickup swap. This should be the case on any reissue of a classic guitar that is touted as being an "accurate reproduction".
The chrome covered neck pickup has the glassy mellow tone of a classic tele, the middle position is the familiar Fender "quack", and of course the bridge pickup is the heart of the guitar, with its full treble that doesn't sound thin or brittle, just a beautiful rich twang that only teles deliver. Pinch harmonics are a breeze on this pickup.
I'm playing it through the only amps I currently own: 2 early('69 and '71) Marshall 50 watt aluminum panel heads through either a slant or straight Marshall 4-12 cab, both loaded w/ G12H-30 Celestions, the best speakers for these early heads.
I don't use any effects, just a Peterson Strobostomp floor tuner. No overdrive is necessary. I like the true character of the tele's tone to come through, and adding any overdrive just sets the bridge pickup into microphonic annoyance.
The Marshalls can get well into natural overdriven territory easily, and I enjoy manipulating the tone knob for wah wah-type effects and the volume knob for pedal steel swells. I find this "less is more" mentality to be both challenging and rewarding, as it forces me to just play the damn thing and test my technical limits without the aid of any gadgets or toys to cover up poor playing.
One day I'd like to get another amp with reverb and a tube rectifier for more of a Roy Buchanan sound, as well as a softer attack, whereas the Marshalls have a much harder "clang", for lack of a better word. Not better or worse, just different flavors and I'd like to have that variety.

As stated previously, the action was great out of the box, which I've never experienced on a guitar straight from the factory. Whole step+ bends with the light E string on a 7 1/4" neck radius usually are a recipe for choked notes; not so here. Unfortunately, there's also the sloppy fret job I mentioned.
Other than that, the neck/body joint is air tight and the ash grain peeking through the transparent finish is gorgeous.

It's a tele. Reliability and durability are synonymous with this guitar. Still, a backup for gigs when a string breaks is a given no matter how roadworthy the mighty tele may be.

Never dealt w/ Fender directly, and I'm sure the fact that they're a huge corporation churning out guitars by the forestload will prevent me from ever contacting them.

Been playing since high school for 16 years, off and on in bands. Teles are, along with strats, my favorite guitars of all time. Although I was sans telecaster for 4 years, I'm glad I've gotten reaquainted with it. I actually can't believe I lived without one for that long.
Its simplicity(the '52 in particular with its primitive 3 brass barrel bridge) border on genius. You can't beat it for its ruggedness, cutting tone, and basic utilitarian features. It should be regarded as a beakthrough in modern design.