Fender '52 Reissue Telecaster

Ash 2 piece telecaster body, nitro fin. with a poly undercoat/so they say/.
1pc maple nitro finished neck. I wouldnt call it an U shape, but then I just might be crazy, ehehhe.I was expcting a huge huge neck but tis one fits my smallishhands perfectly.
Made in the USA.
Weight: 3.5.kg.
You know the features of this one, no need to go thru it again, right?

I play original blues, fingerstyle, and also write popish kind of tunes. So have to say it covers a lot of ground.
It is a bit noisy but for now i dont mind, I still have it wired from the factory and I will change that, but this is just such a beautiful instrument you just have to respect it for what it is.
The sound is amazingly rich. The whole guitar is very very loud and resonant unplugged. It has this natural comresion thing going on. Every note blossoms. Very nice!
One thing that truly surprised me is that it has absolutely no "icepick" in the tone. The neck pickup is not muddy and the bridge pickup is not piercingly trebly! I love that.
I measured my pups and they read:
bridge 7.28KOhms
neck 7.30KOhms
My likes is the sound of this guitar, my dislikes r :
I would like to have the humcancelling/both pups on option.

From the factory..... it came setup with 10's and it was perfect, I played it like that 4 the 1st week or so then switched to 9's. I also tightened to truss rod just a bit. The overall setup was great, it was the only playable axe in the store! If fender setup all of their stuff like this.....eh.
The only thing that kinda pissed me is, when i changed the strings- 3 out of 6 ferrules just popped out. I mean cmon guys, superglue aint that expensive.
Everything else on this instrument is perfect, the frets, the neck, the pickups.
If it werent 4 the ferrule thing i would have given it a 10 so:

No real comment here. I mean if teles r not reliable, I dont know what is!
I cant wait seeing this beaut age!!!!

Hope i wont have the need to deal with them.

I am 26 now, been playin snce I was 8. You do the math. Ive always played strats and could never get nto tles. My friend changed that a couple of years ago. Borrowed me his cheap tele and from there on I was hooked on to the simplicity and the tone. This is truly a versatile instrument! If you got any ears you can pull out a million of tones just from the bridhe pup, let alone all 3 combinations.
The thing is, I wasnt even into buying this exact tele model, but when I played it I said to myself .....man it doesnt get any better than this. I tinkered with the action 4 a day or 2. But thats just because I have always played low action. f you want tone with this one, get the strings a bit higher and youre off.
All in all, I love this one, I believe its a keeper, but its not an ALL purpose instrument, I mean it could be but then MODDING hits the scene. No use in doing that.

Basic (very) Telecaster layout with original wiring scheme and setup. Very true to '52 specs. If you need features, this is not your guitar.

Pigeon holed as "thin and twangy", most would dismiss this insturment straight away based on the Telecasters reputation over the years. It will definately do "thin and twangy", but the real magic of this guitar reveals itself when pushed through a good valve amplifier and proper use of the volume and tone pots. The bridge pickup is not a high output affair by any means, but will provide a complex throaty growl when played hard. The original wiring scheme, which I can't bring myself to change, does not give and option for bridge/middle PU combination, but the neck pickup alone is nice and round without being weak sounding. On all settings besides the 3rd position, the top end sizzle is intact and would please any Tele-phile.

Set-up was superb from the shop. The laquer on the back of the neck felt sticky until worn in which took a couple of months. The period correct frets are great for intonation of first position chords but require quite a bit more effort for big bends at the far end of the neck. I raised the action a fuzz which helped considerably. The finish is beautiful and flawless.

This finish will most definately wear over time, it is not going to hold up like a typical modern insturment. The guitar is solidly built and is even "field servicable" if there is a problem.

NA

This is my 5th Telecaster. I have others that play better and have more tonal options, but none that sound as good as this one. I usually play about a set and a half per night with it and switch up to give my hands a rest, but it is my main guitar. I would buy it again in a heartbeat

The main feature - That classic tele look. When ever you see anything to do with the telecaster you see a butterscotch blonde ash body, black pickguard and maple neck. This is THE telecaster look. Mine is an American made (cc. 2000) reissue which i bought secondhand it hasn't been touched as far as i know except for some minor setup adjustments.

heres a run down of the electronics: volume and tone control, and a 3 way switch for bridge, neck and both pickups. Thats it really, thats all any real guitarist needs.

This simple looking guitar has an awesome sound no matter what amp you put it through. I played through a reissue bassman and a marshall 1962 bluesbreaker at the shop i bought it from and loved the sound of it straight away (by the way, the bluesbreaker shat on the bassman as far as sound quality goes). When i got it home i tried it in my crappy 15 watt marshal mg series...this is where you really apreciate the difference between a american made instrument and a copy... it made my crappy amp sound great and left my epiphone les paul gathering dust. My gigging amp is a solidstate fender, but im definitely getting me a vintage style valve amp to go with it if not for the sound but to make my room look better...;)

Hooking this thing up with a vintage style valve amp really lets you apreciate that classic tone heard on early rock, country and blues records. the bridge pickups let out a great bright sharp tone while the neck pickups gives a cool bluesy bassier tone. I prefer to play rock and blues but have tried a few other types of music on it and it holds up well with all of them.

As for the pickups...i have not been around long enough or devoted much of my time to telling the difference between a 'vintage style' pickup and a standard type. All i can say are that these pickups are pretty good if not some of the best you can get. But what one considers 'good' differs as much as ones musical tastes...so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

If i was to give a one word description of the sound i would call this a very versitile instrument. It is a very simple guitar but with a incredible range.

I had it setup up at the shop so it was perfect. There was no flaws or faults in the manufacturing, as should be expected from a american fender. Mine was so well adjusted that im afraid tto change the strings on it..:p

Now heres the tricky bit. it is a solid instrument and i believe it could last forever on stage. Im not particulary picky about my guitars at gigs...i only carry one guitar, never change the settings of my amp...only on my guitar (and on rarely).

I am however a bit worried about the coesmetics after a long period. Original fenders of the fifties and sixties show considerable wear and tear especially those with maple top necks. Whether fender have developed new techniques to counter the wear the older models show (just look for a picture of a original tele, esquire or strat) i am not sure. I can only hope mine doesn't looklike a customshop 'relic' to soon.

never dealt with.

Im a very simple 'vintage' person (im actually 22 years old although i sound about 65 from this review). The less buttons and gizmos the better. This guitar suits me perfectly and i wouldn't trade it for anything (except maybe a REAL 52 telecaster). However just because it suits me doesn't mean it will do the same for you. If your thinking about buying a tele...try it out first...see for yourself don't depend on some freak on a website. If your into vintage guitars and amps and effects...you will probably love it.



"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid." - Frank Zappa

Finish is perfect.
one of the tuners is sort of hard to move.
Year: 2006. American.

A perfect Telecaster sound. You do not need to buy vintage Teles.

Set up from factory was good enough. Normally I set up my guitars without any problem, but this one is hard to get less relief from moving the truss rod, i need an action of 3/64" on the 12th fret. I had to send it to an specialist. Another thing is that i think is very unconfortable to move the truss rod, it is a hassle like the old ones.

I wish it had a trus rod like the new Fender guitars. The logo shoudn t be a sticker.

The most classic tele you can figure out.

Made in USA, premium Ash body, butterscotch Blonde, one piece maple neck, 21 vintage (small) frets, two American Vintage single coils, vintage tuners, particular fretboard radius etc, you know the deal. It comes stock with a bone nut. I don't know the year because I'm too lazy to take off the neck right now.

Rating actually would be a 5 since one Master Volume and one Master Tone don't sound like versatility and actually it's not. I personally miss a second Vol knob because I like switching from clean to overdriven tone between songs without stepping on stomps and so on. By the way I can do something similiar with the dark vintage circuit option, but that's another story.

But it goes up to 7 because of the $#*tload of accessories (among them a replacement bridge with six vintage steel saddles instead of three brass ones, a cap to go from vintage to modern wiring etc.) it comes with. Very nice (even if I didn't feel like needing the majority of them).

First off - I'm into rock n roll, punk rock, hard rock, some old style metal. I'm not interested in any gain situation that goes beyond Master of Puppets lead tone. It's a lot, but it's not that much afterall. The guitar STOCK can really do the cleanest riff up to Hard-rockish stuff. I can play Talk Dirty to Me with it. It's not the best guitar to do that, I'll always prefer a humbucker equipped guitar for those gainy situations but it CAN handle it if you need so. For everything I play except the higer gain situation it suitsmy needs very well - again STOCK. I'm considering putting Bareknuckle Piledriver into it 'cause they say that rolling back the volume you don't loose the "normal" Tele tone, but I can't find clips of them and Right now I decided I'm happy this way.

Acoustically the guitar is beyond every other guitar I've ever played. It sounds so good that almost everyone that heard me strumming on it unplugged noticed the difference compared to other guitars, non musicians too, and unasked of giving opinions.

Plugged in it's bright, as you'd expect out of a Fender. I usually keep the tone knob at 2/5 of the range and if feels great there except for neck clean tones, in which case I like it on 10.

The variety of styles it can handle is impressing, however that's because the tone is great and fits well because it sounds good (remeber mr PRS? you only need 4 tones: good clean, good clean with chorus, good dirty, good dirty with chorus), it's not that it's a particularly versatile guitar as far as variety of tones produced is concerned. However I like if for both rhitmics and lead tones, both cleans and dirty, and I've never been a fan of those jack-of-all-trades kind of guitars. In any case, a Lester is a more versatile guitar IMO.

The guitar IS noisy. I understand NOTHING of wiring etc, but I guess it's not grounded because lots of the background noise expires when I touch the knobs with a finger. Unnoticeable during playing though. It's not a great issue for me and I guess is easily fixable, but this may bother someone.

I've left the "dark vintage circuit" right now. It means that of the three position switch the first gives a bassy sound, that's because back in '52 there was no electric basses around and so there was this option too. I find it useful for those guitarless moment where you can wheter do nothing and smoke a cigarette or add some barely udible riffs flowing with the bass line. I'd use it like a "always clean" position but it doesn't sound good to me for rhitmics - if the sound's clean you can barely hear it, if the sound's overdriven chords sound simply bad.

I use it through a Vintage Rat and a ENGL Classic tube combo. Great combination.

Overalyy the rating's a 9 I love it for what it's supposed to do, but it can't do everything. You know, single coils aren't 'buckers. With the proper pickups (thinking about Bareknuckel Piledrivers from the description) it may be a 10. I know that nobody would expect a Tele to be able to do extreme styles and maybe I should rate if for what it's made to sound like (and that would be a 10), but I decided to be more objective about it. Afterall you still can find a guitar which sounds like heaven both drty clean and in between at moderate and high gain situations...somewhere.

Ok, let me start by saying that this guitar feels PERFECT to me. No flaws (except the tone knob wich was screwed too down and was touching the control metal plate, fixed in 30 seconds with a touch of the screwdriver), stunning nut work, it felt right from the start like my Les Paul, same action, the neck is very close too. I don't mind about tiny frets, You can shred and tap with it if you've got the skills.

The pickups where properly set, but I made minor adjustments myself and that's pretty obvious afterall - I mean, you've just got a new toy, you HAVE to mess with it!

THe action was quite low but the intonation was a little bit off, I can't put the blame on Fender for that anyway because I had the guy at the shop do a string change before the "final try" and first it had 11's on I guess, so that's pretty obvious. the string weren't perfectly spaced too but again, I can't blame Fender for this. I can't remember how it was before the string change, And in any case it may not have been the factory's setup.

The guitar feels very solid. Also, having no trems, I kinda feel like I can depend on it more. I like Bigsby's and other trem devices but they make me feel less confident in the guitar overall stability and so on. It stays in tune well.

It's very very uncommon for me to break strings, but I bring backups anyway, you never know. Plus, you can't do everything at the best with just one guitar.

The finish is on the thin side and it's supposed to be so, you know, vintage specs etc. I personally like that because I hope the guitar will naturally relic sooner. Right now I find it's a nice guitar, but Leters looks 1000 times better, a perfectly clean tele lacks a bit of character IMO, but fenders look better once heavily aged than gibsons.

I changed the strap buttons to locking Shallers, as I don on all my guitars. The stock ones were nothing special, cerainly bigger than Gibson's but definitely not dependable on.

I don't know how long is the warranty. I remember it IS long, but not how much so I'm not going to give informations I'm not sure about. I haven't had the need to deal with Fender, so no rating here.

I've been playing for 17 years spanish guitar, and electrics for 6 years. The only other guitar worth mentioning I own is a particularly nice '95 Gibson Les Paul Studio. Graet on it's own, but I admit it doesn't stand a chance against the tele for everything clean up to moderate distortion.

Overall, the guitar's a 10 for me.

I know that sound should be the most important category and that I didn't gave a 10 on it, but I explained why.

I like this guitar so much because it's really well built. I really like the one piece neck with no glued fretboard - it's one piece of wood. And the body resonates beautifully, and it sustains A LOT.

Again, acoustically this guitar is PERFECTION for me.

I'd like it to be able to handle some more gain, but right now I don't want to change anything.

If stolen or lost I'd be really pissed. I've heard that some AV '52 are dogs and that scares me because down here in Italy you can't find lots of them, I don't think it's The Perfect Guitar but it comes close and I've really bonded with her so I'm afraid it would be difficult to replace properly.

I'd wish it had another kvolume knob, but you can add it without drilling anything.

My advice is: try this guitar. If you're looking for something fit to play rock, or just for a guitar with no particular purpose in mind, this could be a great purchase to make. Plus, gibsons and fenders hold their value wellover time.

I'm really really happy to have saved my money and have bought this guitar.

Beautifully made guitar. Very light (it weights about 6.5 pounds) and you can see the guys from Fender spend a good deal of time doing this one right.

It sounds great for country, jazz or blues. A friend of mine has one that he uses in his progressive funk band it he also makes it sound really good. Very bright and well defined sound. A very good match with my Boss Cs3 compressor modified by Pedaldoc.

The action was a bit too high when I bought it. The shop owner spend a couple of hours working on the guitar and now it plays like a dream. Very well made thing.

Is a Fender guitar and many pro musitians use Fenders don??t they? I haven??t had any problem with it and I think if I am a bit careful my sons will probably inherit it in a very playable shape.

Never had to contact Fender thanks God.

Great guitar. Nicely made. Great sound. What else can I say?

Same old tele stuff - you know - USA vintage pickups though - I think these make a real difference!!

Very tight, ballsy sound with the USA vintage pickups. Definate tele grunt and twang for the bridge pickup both mellow on the neck pickup.
Using the guitar wityh a Fender Stage 112SE tube emulator and minimal effects

Excellent finish straight from the Fender Japan factory. I really cant fault the workmanship on this instrument. Only really needed to adjust the action slightly

Compared to other Fenders I have owned, This is the best. I have only owned three 4 Fenders but have experienced Japan, USA, and Mexican guitars. I

Have used Fender in Australia once. After some polite coercing I went straight to their office in Sydney. I had a neck alignment with a Mexican issue strat and the store I bought it from said there was no problem....Took it to Fender and their tech/luthier looked at it rectified the problem (yes there was one).
They make take a bagging sometimes but I give them a 10. They were very polit and friendly too

Compared to other Fenders I have owned, This is the best. I have only owned three 4 Fenders but have experienced Japan, USA, and Mexican guitars. I cant see why people buy Mexican. There RRP is around $1100 AU. I bought this Japan tele over the web for the equivalent of $935 AU DELIVERED!!!. And the quality is just so much better.
ALL AUSSIE - GIVE HIROAKI A CALL AT ISHIBASHI MUSIC IN JAPAN!!!
HE IS YOUR TRUE PATH TO A LEGEND INSTRUMENT!!!!

Awesome features.

Let me start off this review by saying that I am a stratocaster player. That is what I thought all rockers were suppose to play, except maybe a gibson. But oh was I wrong. The telecaster is an amazingly versatile guitar. A stratocaster is also. But not as much as this thing. You can play almost any style of music on it. Blues, Bluegrass, Funk, Latin, Opera, and ofcourse Rock n Fugging Roll!

This thing is top o the line production guitar. Top of the line everything. Not custom, but production. Simple yet refined. Very shiny and pleasing to look at.

I just hammered a few nails in and works great. Doesn't sand the floor too well but Mr Miyagi will have to look elsewhere. Built like a tank and will probably survive longer than me as long as a guitar chop shop or fire get in the way.

Fender------

Overall Im going to give this guitar a 9. It probably is a 10 but nothing is perfect.

2005, made in USA, California...Left-handed
21 frets, solid body (Ash), 2 Fender vintage pups, 1 volume, 1 tone, One switch, 3 positions.
one piece tinted maple neck.
Finish is nitrocellulose vernish in butterscotch blonde. It is a tele...vintage bridge, vintage tuner, vintage pup, vintage vibe.
Vintage case, vintage ashtray bridge cover, 6 saddles bridge, modern wiring kit.
A cleanning cloth and cleanning spray. One vintage jack and a certificate of anthenticity.

Well, actually, I changed the bridge to a new one , I changed the neck to a custom build one, I changed the pups to seymour and the tuners to sperzel. Since I didn't like the color, I changed the body with a Custom special texas killer extra magical top with incorporated humidifier and 3 USB connections just in case.

Just kidding... I kept it stock, vintage wiring etc...

I play Blues, jazz, funk, ethnic and everything in between. This guitar is fantastic! It got a magical vibe!
I play it through a Musicman amp and the clean sounds are really shinning! The sound is really rich, vintage, organic, special, difficult to explain. This is a guitar with a special Mojo.
It suits blues, jazz and rock very well. I assume this is not a metal guitar?
Playing with the tone and the volume pots give you quite a lot of variety in the kind of sound this guitar can make.

The guitar is really well finished. The nitrocellulose finish will be getting a worn-out look faster that the new "plastic" one, I like that!
The tinted neck is very nice!
I did try the MIM, the US standard and the '52 tele's. The Us standard is "easier" to play than the '52, certainly due to the radius. But the '52 got something more organic.
I tried very good MIM, US, and Japanese tele's, but this particular '52, made in USA, has something special(IMHO).

a telecaster is the strongest guitar in the world IMHO

Well, I was on the market for an archtop... being a lefty, it is not always easy to get the right instrument for you...In the shops, they just do have cheap lefty guitars, and all the rest is on order, if it exists...
So, this great guy in Belgium (leftyguitars.BE) did open a shop with only lefty guitars!
What a dream for a lefty!!!
I tried different guitars, gretch, gibson and guild archtop. Then I tried the Telecaster '52, and I directly know it was the right guitar for me!
I know it is everything but an archtop, but I can play everything I want with a very nice vintage vibe in it. I love this guitar. More I play her, more I love her.
The "jazz" tone you can get with this guitar are suprisingly very convincing. very woody for a solid body.
I would buy it again and again and again... really, this is my guitar.

made in 90's, USA
everybody knows what is a 52 telecaster will know the features, a simple guitar, that's why i like it, but i think the reissue should change to modern wiring in the factory

i play blues, classic rock by this guitar, perfect tele sound, i use it with a blues junior, nice combination, with a overdrive pedal that's enough
the bridge pickup is very bright,i don't use it too much, i like the neck always, but once the original pickup broke, i don't know why, after testing they said the wire is broken in the pickup, so i bought a duncun stk-t1n to replace it, i 'm very miserable. i wish i can buy a custome shop Nocaster with all the stock pickup later.

action is fine, but the neck is sticky, hard to play very fast
the pickup selector head is loose,that's a pity for fender

the finish is easy to go off, but the wear off is a kind of magic
she is dependable except my miserable experience of the neck pickup, ofcourse i use it with other guitars on stage, my band is a all-style rock band and at least 2-3 guitar is required

i'm in shanghai, seems to be no support from fender, i wish i could be the fender staff to support others,:)

i'd be playing for 10+years, i also had a YAMAHA SG, fender tube amp, BOSS stompboxes, BOSS GS10 with FCB1010 which is great for live stage
i'm always a fender telecaster fan, and especially the 52, she will stay with me all my life, if she's lost i will search all the world to find her and take her home