Fender Baja Telecaster

I've got the blonde, sounds fresher and opener than the desert sand I Ab'ed it with.
Most wonderful neck ever, no effort after even hours. Good idea to have the 9,5 radius/jumbo frets, solid tone and sustain. Even without a pick, only fingers (a 50s MIM tele did vanish with fingerplaying).
Most stupid wiring ever seen, no shielding of any sort nor reverse wound/polarity neck pup which could have helped in the noisecaster department. Of course the serial switching option doubles the already tremendous amount of buzz... Hats off, F...er
Good hardware I think, apart of noise issues it's as perfect a tele should be, and well crafted. Five points off for the shielding-neck pup, bam!

Ok, without considering the noise, you have interesting sounds in there.
The bridge pup is soft, perfectly usable alone in a clean setting.
The neck pup has character, and when phase-inverted sounds better to my ears than standard, alone it is (normally shouldn't do any difference but theory and facts doesn't always match...).
In serial mode it thickens, good for leads but too much noise invalids the whole story sorry.
For me the ideal is in 1 the neck pup alone but reversed, in 2 the normal neck and bridge in parallel, in 3 the bridge pup alone and in 4 the two pups in series. Without noise.
Since I haven't heard any F...er product without noise yet, I opted for a set of Kinman broadcaster pups.
Now that sounds as it should be, go for it. No noise, a spicy bridge pup, a jazzy defined neck pup, and an in-between sound so versatile I often leave it there. And the louder you play the better it gets!

Intonation was poor, but it's a trick anyways so better learn by yourself how to set it.
All the rest was more than okay, but my dealer ain't one to be fooled...

I can see this thing last forever, the bassman among guitars...

BIG BIG LAUGH HERE!!! F...ER as I name them!

I would have liked a no pup option and 300 quids less pricetag.
There is a big tonal difference between the desert sand and the blonde, the latter has better snap and jingle, great to play clean country or light distortion. The desert sand is rounder,darker, jazz, and great to play loud, better focused.
This is, if you stand the noise.
I can't, never could, but in 2007 this shouldn't be an issue anymore.
A tip: my line 6 crunchtone pedal has a built-in noisegate that works very well with the baja (no tone loss, and you can also use it as a booster, without noise, to push your light overdriven amp into lead area).
Thanks for reading, folks, and think about it: in our electro smog modern world, single coils just can't be used in any serious application, even a noiseless tele set from F...er is better than noise. I've seen performances ruined by noise (concert place near a train line and so on...), and I wouldn't ever be in this situation myself uh...

2008 Baja Telecaster in Blonde. Feature as previously mentioned.
Been playing for over 25 years and am totally blow away by this guitar. I recently (2 months ago) purchased a Gibson Les Paul Standard which I am extremely happy with. However after playing the Baja I must say it???s a lot of guitar for a third of the price. Once I played it I just had to get it. The big chucky neck is superb and the guitar feels really solid. The setup was spot on with a really low action with not a hint of fret buzz. (More than can be said for the Gibson).
The tuners are actually excellent (so far) and perform far better than the vintage Gibson ones I have on the LP. Fairly stiff which I personally like.
The tuners are actually excellent (so far) and perform far better than the vintage Gibson ones I have on the LP. Fairly stiff which I personally like. The vintage look just adds to the whole experience, anyone remember Crossroad ;)

I play blues and rock mostly and the tone is perfect and the S1 switch adds and extra set of sounds which may be useful depending on your style.
With the 4 way switch + S1 upgrade this is one of the most versatile axes out there. From Stones to Guns n Roses, its not a problem.

I???ve read numerous reviews which suggest there are some quality issues with the MIM???s but mine is flawless. Could just be lucky, but as always play it first. Bought mine in a local Guitar shop for ??429 after a little haggling (marked up at ??499)

Like a tree trunk

Not used them

Top Class

2008 Fender MIM Baja Telecaster (Blonde) with 21 frets and glossed maple 1 piece neck. 1 volume with S1, 1 tone and a 4 way toggle switch. Body is ash, cannot tell how many pieces but it looks like 2. Classic 3 barrel brass saddles, vintage tuners and string tree. Neck on mine is not a soft V. It is more like a chunky C but feels great. Came with the standard gig bag.

Out of the teles that I tried, this one was the best. Compared to a 52VRI that has a neck pup that is so dark it's useless to me, a 2008 american standard which was good but for $300 less I got much more tone and versatility, a 52 hot rod which also was good but didn't care too much for the neck humbucker. I am using this with a Fender NOS tweed blues jr. and a Keeley SD-1 pedal. On occasion I will use a Vox V847 wah or a Rocktron Short Timer delay pedal but mostly I am a guitar + cable + amp person. I can get everything from the first three Zeppelin records to anything country you can imagine. The tones this tele produces are fantastic. There is nothing on this guitar I do not like. Mine is heavier that say a 52VRI but I like a bit heavier guitars (Been playing Les Pauls for 15 years). Very resonant even when unplugged and definately a players guitar.

The finish on this tele was good. It's the blonde ash body and you can see the woodgrain pretty good through the paint. There was a small blem by the neck pocket but nothing I have not seen on any of Fenders american guitars. It was set up poorly at the factory as far as intonation goes. The neck was straight, pickups were balanced but the saddles were way too far up (towards the headstock). Tuners were perfect, nut cut correctly, frets dressed properly with no overspray (common problem for MIM maple necks), tight neck pocket, paint was flawless, pickgaurd on mine was fine (All holes lined up which helps), all electronics work perfectly.

I think this guitar with its pup combinations will sound great in a mix or live situation. The hardware seems to be fine, finish is great, definitely a dependable guitar and I always have 2 to 3 guitars with me at a gig.

Never used.

I have been playing for 16 years mostly blues, rock and getting into country style and jazz. I would immediately replace if stolen. I would kick myself if I lost it. I mostly play strats but this is a whole other animal. My small rant....I bought this guitar online for $629.00 at MF. I personally prefer this method unlike going to GC and having them expect me to pay full price on an alleged new guitar that every 12 year old in the state has tried (and in some way damaged). I enjoy hearing the "We just put this out on the floor" bulls**t speech at every store when obviously it is untrue. I would rather order online and have 30-45 days to look it over and play it on my own gear to see if it's worth keeping. I also find it funny those who buy guitars and state the guitar is good but after I change the pups, neck, hardware, knobs and repaint it....it's perfect. Why the hell did you buy the guitar then??? This particular guitar will stay stock due to the twisted tele and broadcaster pup cannot be beat.

This Fender Baja Telecaster looks like the original '52 Broadcaster model that started it all for Fender. It has a Butterscotch Blonde semi-transparent body made of Ash, & a nice Maple neck. Two Custom-shop designed pickups & a four-way selector switch, plus a push/push switch on the volume pot, giving two more selections. It has three brass bridge saddles & String-thru'-body loading. The pickguard is single-ply black plastic. There is a Fender gig-bag included in the price.

This is a great sounding Tele, with all the twang & bark that you would associate with this model of guitar. It is way above the quality of the average budget guitar, & as with the rest of the Mex built 'Classic Player' series, it is a quality vintage-style instrument. I would rate it as almost on a par with the USA Standard instruments but at half the price. I play '60s style music, mainly, & it suits the style perfectly. I use a Vox AC151TV Heritage model amp & also a Vox AD30VT Valvetronix amp. I also use it through a modelling pedal direct into the PA. It can be a little noisy with the AC15, but that's par for the course with single coil pickups & a valve amp, so no complaints. With the six different pickup options it can be as sweet or as rowdy as you want, & all the options are very usuable including the out of phase ones. It's very versatile.

It was pretty well set-up out of the box. I did, however, replace the bridge saddles with a set of brass compensated ones to allow better intonation, so I had to re-adjust the intonation myself. The 'G' string does sound a little prominent over the others, but that may just be the particular set that fender installed at manufacture.

It seems to be a good solidly built Fender & should last many years. I have replaced the perfectly good strap buttons with a pair of Schaller Straplocks, for safety, but I do that with all my guitars.
I would gig it without worrying about a backup. Ihave only had it for three weeks, so time will tell.

Never dealt with customer support up to now.

I've been playing since the early '60s & I own several Strats, Teles, L.P. etc. I love the vintage style of this guitar & the fact that it sounds as good as it looks, & gives a bit more than you expect. The extra switching options & the great tones are it's best feature. It's great for old style Rock & Roll, Pop & Country, & I'm proud to hang it round my neck when I'm playing live.

Same as all the other reviews. No need to post the specs again. Mine is the see-thru Blond finish.

Nice standard tele sounds with rhe addition of the 4-way switch and S1 phasing.

Overall finish is great. Unfortunately the nut on mine is cut off-centered. The low E string slides off the neck very easily. I orderd a new nut and will be replacing it. Not happy about it and expected better from Fender but replacing the nut isn't a big deal for me.

Overall action is good. I haven't changed the strings or done a proper setup yet as I always do but don't anticipate any issues once I do.

You read the reviews on this site and so many people complain about the setups guitars have fresh out of the box. The majority of which don't even know how to perform a proper setup let alone know if they need one or not. I personally never expect a setup to be good no matter how expensive the guitar. My Les Paul Classic was crap out of the case and actually took about 2-3 months to settle in and play well.

Bascially in my experience it usually takes a good couple of months for any new guitar to really, really settle in and play it's best.

Built like a tank. Don't see any issue with the finish or hardware.

Never had to deal with thoer customer support..probably becaue I have always done my own work. Actually never have had to repair a guitar come to think of it. Treat it right and it will last!

I'm a Fender guy. Always have been, always will be. I have over 30 guitars which include brands other than Fender but put me on a deserted island and give me only one guitar...it will be a Fender!

Real nice guitar for the money. A tone of sounds and vintage vibe.

The Baja Telecaster is manufactured in Mexico, but is custom shop designed, with 21 frets and mine is a 2007 model I think. It has an ash body (which in the case of my guitar is really quite heavy - on a par with a Gibson Les Paul Standard). On the surface it has the standard controls - a volume and tone pot. But instead of a three way pickup selector it has a four way selector, which puts the pickups 'in series' in the fourth position (moving away from the bridge setting). This is a great feature, and I will comment more on it below. Neatly lodged in the top of the volume knob is a push pull switch, which puts the pickups out of phase with each other. The bridge pickup is a custom shop broadcaster and the neck pickup is a tele twisted neck (also custom shop). The neck is maple, nicely finished in a slightly yellowed, glossy fashion. It has an old fashioned tele bridge, with three brass saddles, which seem to work excellently. The neck is really quite fat for a tele, which suits me fine, but might not be to everyone's taste. Mine came with a gig bag.

It took me a while to get the pickup heights right, but once I had played it in, I was extremely impressed with the sounds coming from the Baja. I mainly play rock and some indie, and these pickups are the business. The bridge is hard and chunky sounding, bright but not too bright (this guitar is darker than most telecasters on the bridge). It seems to handle distortion well. The middle position is beautiful. The neck sounds are one of the reasons I bought the guitar - much more satisfying than other telecasters I tried. Smooth, but with a little more output than normal it seems. But one of the great features of this particular guitar is the 'in series' sound of the fourth position. It produces a thick, creamy tone which can become muddy with inappropriate amp settings, but which can really bring power to a lead line or chunkier rhythm section. The guitar will go out of phase in positions two and four with the phase switch down. In position two, this gives a satisfying, almost strat like hollow sound. In position four, I find it to be just too thin to be very useful, although in some recording situations, or for a wildly whining of 60s style solo, it might have an application. Overall a beautiful sounding guitar - sounded better to me than the American Standard teles.

The guitar was not very well set up from the factory. The action and intonation were fine, but the pickups were set way to low. This was easy to sort out, and the improvement in tone was immediately noticeable. The finish is nice ??? blonde with black pickguard, and the grain can just be seen in the body and on parts of the neck. There are one or two very minor flaws in the finish, but nothing to worry about. The frets were well dressed with no sharp ends. The worst feature is the crappy thin pickguard, which is often buckled a little ??? no big deal, but looks a bit cheap.

I have already tried this guitar in a live situation. It cuts through the mix quite well. The main drawback is the weight, which can get tiring at times. I would certainly use it more regularly in a gigging situation, but always have a back up.

Customer support really depends upon the place where you bought it in the UK, since if there is a problem you take it back to where you bought in the first instance, so this is a bit non applicable. Soundslive.co.uk have been excellent for me ??? very helpful

I have been playing the electric guitar now for 20 years and own an American Stratocaster and Epiphone Goldtop 56 Reissue. The telecaster sits nicely between these two in terms of tone, but at the moment, it is the first guitar I turn to. The sounds are just superb and it is a really solid instrument. But best of all is the fact that you can get some custom shop features and pickups for under ??400. Personally, I preferred this guitar to most of the American Telecasters that I played and I think it must be one of the greatest value instruments ever made (and almost certainly that Fender ever manufactured). I would almost certainly replace it again if it was lost or stolen. Recently when I played it with some friends who were predominantly strat players, they all talked about switching to the tele! The only drawbacks are the weight (which varies from instrument to instrument), the pickguard and the slightly cheap finish in places and cheaper electronics inside. But these are relatively very minor things, on what is a truly superb guitar.

I just bought a new 2007 Classic Player Baja Tele in Blond Maple finish from my local music store. Picked it up, played it, and bought it! Be advised that on this model, the truss rod adjustment is at the base of the neck, and you will need to remove the neck to adjust it.

OUTSTANDING SOUND! The parallel and series switching offers great additional sounds that you don't find in many American Teles, or Deluxe Teles - And for much less $$$$$$$

I own a number of Fender electric guitars and have owned or played many others. This guitar comes VERY close to matching the quality of the American series guitars, but naturally not finished as superbly as the American Deluxe series.

Almost everything about this guitar was PERFECT - set, up, pickup height, finish, nice ash wood grain, etc. Only two issues, fairly minor to me. The Nut wasn't centered quite correctly - but I am picky about my setup. There was more room on the fretboard for the low E string and less room on the high E string side. Only about 1/32 of an inch, but enough so if you weren't careful, the high E string would slip down off the frets and fret out. So....I removed the nut and shifted it toward the Low E string slightly to properly center it. Pretty easy job actually. The other issue is quite common - the height adjusting screws on the bridge were sticking up way too high, enough to catch and scratch the side of your palm while playing. The grinder on my Dremmel tool took care of that. Just took a few threads off each screw, thus shortening them so they didn't protrude too far above the bridge saddles.

Now it's PERFECT!

Bottom line is, check out your Mexican Tele well prior to purchase. I guess Mexican Quality Control isn't what it should be.

It's a slab of Hard Ash with a Hard Rock Maple baseball bat for a handle. It will last a lifetime

Great

I have been playing folk, rock and blues for 40 years. I compared it to thin skin nitro's, American Standards, and Deluxe models, and this is the best deal Fender is currently offering for a great sounding well constructed gigging ax.

Features...
What a big ISSUE ON THIS Guitar...
It has just every possible pickup configuration mankind can make nowadays.
It's not a light ash body as far as the official specs say..to me weighs perfectly light!!
Ash body(very light)
Custom shop Design guys..Not a marketing trick here..Real Custom Features making this guitar sth special!!

I play everything from pop-funk-disco-melodic rock
I am using a Laney vc15(i have a review on that piece of art too)
It has a much warmer sound compared to my strat(60th anniversary review too!!)
Perfect tool for all kinds of music(forget the metal things!) crystal clean from spanky texas to crunchy brits and sweet overdrivnen bluesy sounds!!
BOUTIQUE QUALITY AND SOUND

I don't know why,but Tele Baja had such a good action that really made me think after the 1st month's playing "should i get Baja for a service or no???"
All seems perfectly ok,pickups bridge etc..
The finish of it is exceptional(don't forget it's a made in mexico model!!)

I own this guitar for about 2 months.
No probs until now!

Never dealt with them

I won't say much.
It's the best guitar you can buy since the value you buy for this amount of money it's priceless!!!
If it were stolen definetely i would go and buy Baja Telecaster again!!!
Classic Telecaster sound!!!

Mine was apparently made in late 2006. It happened to be the only one in stock at Guitar Center and it has the sand finish. It came with a gig bag, which I actually liked. I've always had cases, but this is easier to store and carry around. The other features are covered in other reviews, so I'll leave them alone. The features are incredible for a Tele: 6 different tone options coupled with two of the best sounding pickups Fender has ever designed . . PERIOD! It has a 4 position switch PLUS the S-1 button which operates in the middle and 4th position for an additional 2 tone options. I would say that's a 10 as far as Telecasters go, wouldn't you?

I play a lot of genres, but I prefer rock, blues and country. I currently run through an old silver face Twin reverb using an Ibanez TS9 and a digital delay and a few other effects like wah-wah and compression, which stays on pretty much all the time. The tones? Wow! I've had a lot of Teles over the years, all American made models, and this one has blown me away. I never expected this from a Mexican made model, even though it was a 'Custom Shop Design', according to the neck plate. I've had it for a little over a year now and it is easily my favorite guitar. I have a USA G&L ASAT, but I rarely play it anymore. The pickups on this thing are perfect for pretty much anything I play, even though they're a little noisey. I delve into jazz from time to time and the neck pickup sounds great in that position, nice, lively and dark, but not dull. I also like the middle position with the S-1 button engaged for SRV type blues. However, my favorite is the neck pickup by itself - smooth as you can imagine and extremely clear and articulate. The bridge pickup is a little beefier than most stock Tele bridge pickups. I can run the tone all the way up without it sounding overly piercing like some I've played, but typically I roll the tone off a bit just to take a little of the edge off. For country leads, though, I run the tone and volume all the way up. Sounds as country as overalls and a John Deere hat, which is what I want if I'm playing that sort of thing.
Likes and dislikes? Its heavy, but I'll bet that's where a lot of the 'spank' comes from. The body is solid ash and I think the piece they used on mine was water-logged . . . that or petrified. Its heavier than my non-chambered Les Paul, so there you go. But, I loved it when I played it and I can still deal with it, so it doesn't take anything away, I humbly opine. BOOM! Another 10.

I think mine was set up at Guitar Center, but the salesman said that's how they all come in. I really don't believe that. The action was low, no buzzing frets, and the intonation wasn't noticeably off. I tweaked the intonation a little and its almost perfect. I say almost because I don't think you can get a 3-barrel bridge perfectly intonated. But hey, if you can't detect it without using a meter, is it really off? I played around with the pickup heights slightly, but I think I eventually put them back where they were. OK, here's where this review differs drastically from most of them: I haven't been able to detect ANY flaws in this particular guitar, not in the finish or the way the frets were dressed, or the electronics. I didn't look at it that close when I bought it because I was fascinated by the sounds, but I started scrutinizing it after I had read a few reviews and I'm just now getting around to writing my own. It was like the guys that worked on it wanted to see how nice an instrument they could actually build. I've heard a few reports of runs in the finish, poorly finished frets, loose fitting neck pockets and the like, but neither me nor my luthier have been able to find anything like that. So, my rating is for this guitar only. Its easily on par with American made Teles, and that's not hype. I have 2 American made Teles (counting my ASAT) to compare it with.

(Q)"Will this guitar stand live playing" and "Does the hardware seem like it will last?" (A) Its built like a rock; not much to worry about. I wonder about those S-1 pots, but so far so good. I guess I can't rate something based on what "might" eventually go wrong, so I'll strike that out. I haven't heard anybody complaining about them failing yet, but time will tell. This is a fairly new design, so give it time to prove itself.

(Q)"Is the finish good enough to last . . ?" (A) The finish is holding up great. In fact, I've been playing the dang thing nearly every day for hours and can't get it to show any wear or character. I don't believe in sanding off the finish just to relic a guitar, but after a year of playing hard you'd think something would give. But noooo, it looks like it did when I brought it home. I guess I'm just not agressive enough.

(Q) "Are the strap buttons solid?" (A) Well, they weren't liquid or gas, so that leaves solid. (oh how corney) Seriously, I can't remember if it came with strap locks or I put them on, but it definitely should come with them and it does have strap locks now. I have them on all my guitars, some came with them and I added them on others.

(Q) "Can you depend on it?" (A) Of course I can, but I always take a backup. That's what my G&L ASAT is for anymore.

(Q) "Would you use it on a gig without a backup?" (A) If it was the only guitar I had, yes. But, then I'd take an extra few sets of strings, like I do anyway. Actually, I'm lying. I have used it on at least one gig without a backup, but it was because I ran out of room after loading the bass player's gear in my van. I could have squeazed another guitar in there, but I didn't want to chance damaging it, so I took just the Baja and, not surprisingly, didn't have any problems.

Like other reviewers, I can't rate customer support because I've never tried to contact Fender. However, I've never had any issues to report, so it doesn't really matter that much.

I've been playing for over 36 years now. What difference does it make what gear I own? Well, I guess because at least I can say I have other guitars to compare it to. I own a 50s Tele ri, a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Gibson ES335, a Gibson ES175, a G&L ASAT Classic, and a Sears Ukelele (just kidding about the uke). I also own a few acoustics. I just seem to gravitate toward Teles for some reason, even though I like Gibsons for their own particular nuances. I would replace this with another Baja if it was lost or stolen, but I would shop around to make sure the QC was as good as it is on this one. I don't hate anything about it; my favorite feature is the S-1 in combination with the pickups. I compared it to a lot of other guitars and it just had that 'love-at-first-pick' effect on me. I didn't get it the first time I played it, but when I went back a few days later and it was still there, I struck a deal and walked out with it. I couldn't stop thinking about it.
(Q) "Anything you'd like to share?" (A) Yes. The neck feels great to me, even better than my Les Paul or my ASAT, but I prefer somewhat beefy necks anyway. Here's my advice: Don't buy one of these (or any guitar for that matter) off eBay unless you play one first. The neck can make or break your opinion of a guitar. Play it, and if you like the neck, you'll love the sound. Wait a few days and play it again - that's how you can tell if its the guitar for you.

Already described in the other reviews. The ping tuners work fine, I'm not shure, if I will need the out of phase sounds. I get a light "pop" when pushing the S1-switch, but I don't care, cause I will change all capacitors against high quality film capacitors and then this should be solved. The neck profile and finish of the neck is great!

I always rate with the price payed in mind...

I went to the store to purchase one of the new American Standard Tele models or a G&L Asat. Well soundwise the Baja outperformed all American Standards they had in the shop for half of the price. I compared the Baja with a 52 US Tele too. The US didn't sound better, it was just a bit lighter in weight and the finish looked nicer, but I don't like the laquer of it anyway when sweting while playing live. So I took the Baja home.

The bridge-pickup is both, beefy and bright, but not icepick like many Tele-bridge-pickups are. The neck pickup is not too fat sounding, so I will use it a lot too. The parallel in between setting is great for funk stuff. I haven't used the in series combination that much so far.

2 days after purchasing the guitar, I went to my guitar tech, cause the saddle was not cut deep enough for the high e-string. That guy has his repair shop in another music shop. He was so astonished by the sound of this mexican baby, that all the stuff of the shop had to come, listening him playing on this guitar...

Finish of neck -> 10
Finish of body -> 7 (I can see some grounding on the edge of the neck-pocket. No major problem, cause you have to look very intense to see it...

I have it for a week now, too short to rate this category

haven't dealt with them

I've owned a lot of stuff, Fender US Tele and Strats, Gibson SG Standard, Patrick Eggle, Ibanez JS-1000, Patrick Eggle, etc. 6 years ago I sold my Amercian Series Tele for the price of a new one, because it sounded so good. I've felt sorry fort that since then and missed it a lot. But the new Baja sounds even better. Get one before they stop production. I'm shure, they sell a lot less US Teles because of the Baja....