Fender Baja Telecaster

okay so this tele has 21 medium jumbo frets, was made in mexico and has a four way selector with an s1 switch.
i never really use the s1 one switch but its nice to have it there to play around with.
its a standard tele setup apart from the s1 with two single coils
(neck : : Custom Shop ???Twisted??? Tele Single-Coil, bridge : : Custom Shop Broadcaster Single-Coil

mine was made in 2008 or nine.
it has a fat "V" neck which i have gotten used to and now really like (whenever i play any other necks the feel to thin)

it was sent to me with a fender deluxe gigbag.

it has an ash body with a maple neck, i have the blond and it is so beautiful to look at =]

the sounds from this thing kick ***
those two pickups are great and the s1 is a cool added feature
i will paste the pickup settings from the fender website...

4-Position Blade Switch and 2-Position Push/Push S-1???:
S-1 Switch Up:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups (In Parallel)
Position 3. Neck Pickup (Standard Tele)
Position 4. Neck and Bridge Pickups (In Series) (Fatter Tone Than Position 2. and More Output Than Position 1., 2., or 3.)
S-1 Switch Down:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups (In Parallel)-Out of Phase
Position 3. Neck Pickup (Standard Tele)
Position 4. Neck and Bridge Pickups (In Series) Out of Phase



okay so ill tell you about what sounds i like and dot like from this guitar,
my favorite pickup selection would have to be the 3rd with the s1 switch off, the best way to describe the sound is that its like coffee and tv by blur (graham coxon had a 52 reissue tele which is similar to the baja) so i suggest you watch the song on youtube to get and idea of what it sounds like.
the bridge pickup id nice, i bit treble-y for my taste but you can always roll te tone off with the controls.
the neck pickup is clear and defined.

i play music such as arctic monkeys, blur, radiohead, graham coxon, the strokes, the wombats and stuff like that,
it seems to suite my needs well (much better than my old epiphone sg)
i play through a crappy marshall practice amp but im geting a new one soon probably the fender champ xd or the vox vt30.
there is alot of variety with this guitar you can get a trebly bright tone with the bridge pup, a sharp defined tone with the neck put and a meaty humbuckerish tone if you mess around with the settings also a great rythem sound on position 3.

i ordered mine from the english website dawsons and it was delivered in 2 days =]
i know eveyone says its a bad idea to buy online (i couldn't afford the in store prices - it was my 14 bithday present) but i got lucky, mines a beast,
it weighs around 6.5 pounds which is the prefect weight i hear,
also the action was great not to low not to high.
the finish is the beautiful blond (much better that desert sand imo)

i dont have a band yet but im looking to start one
i can depend fully on this guitar and would use it without backup deffo
if i ever play any gigs
the finish looks like it will last for ever lol
i could probly kill someone with this thing with its thick neck and solid body.
the only problem ive had is that the input jack socket think on the side of the guitar is a little loose, i think is because i play on a chair somtimes and it gets pressed into it and loosens it but its no biggy.

not ever had issues

love the guitar!
got it for my fourteenth birthday a few months ago and have played it a good few hours everyday since then sometimes like for 6 hours straight on weekends jamming along radiohead or blur lol
if it was stolen i would use the insurance to get a new one, might play some others but probly get thins in the end (although it might not be as good as the one i have now)

Mine was made in 2006, desert sand, its stock:
Made in mexico.
21 Frets.
4-way switch and s1 push-push button for phase/outofphase.
The pickups, i believe they are made in fender mexico with specs from the custom shop, the bridge pup is similar to the texas special, and the neck pup is a "twisted tele" similar to those used on some fender cs teles.
Ash body and maple neck.
Usual glossy finish
Vintage tele bridge, 3 brass saddles
Vintage split shaft tuners
The neck is a little fat but comfortble, soft-v shape

I play classic rock (elvis, rolling stones, led zeppelin), blues, surf, jazz fusion.
It makes good sounds for all of the avobe
im using it straight to a solid state raven RG20 amp with a 12" speaker reverb and delay
its not very noisy, even with lots of gain its just slightly noisy, ive thought of shielding it, but the noise is nothing i cant deal with, it gets more noise on the series setting, and its less noisy in the series out of phase.
the sounds of this guitar are like this:

Bridge pup: Nice Vintage hot sound, twangy, i would say its well balnced in treble mid and bass, maybe more treble for some, but thats when the tone control comes in, just the bridge position and the controls cover lots of ground.

Bridge and neck parallel: The usual 2 position on standard teles, good for rhytm, almost quacky like a strat.

Neck pup: Clear, bassy, nice definition, i like it for surf, but it can get womantonish too, not like a humbucker but its a good sound anyways.

Bridge and neck series: Very useful for lead, i describe it as a solid sound with some twang, very punchy. some say its similar to a humbucker, but more complex imo

Bridge and neck parallel out of phase: Hollow and dry sounding, very billygibbonish, lots of harmonics, its similar to the sound mark knopfler uses in Money for Nothing.

Bridge and neck series out of phase: similar to the above but more treble, i dont use this as much as the others.

The setup was nice, only thing this guitar really needed when i bought it was a string change, the action was nice, and the pickups height was fine too, but i like adjusting these on all guitars anyway.
Intonation is very good for a 3 saddle design, as long as you use .010 strings i guess, but it may take a while to get it right.
The nut is well cut, could be better but it works fine.
neck relief good
Flaws: When you use the S1 switch, sometimes it makes a "pop" sound.

It seems very solid with the exception of the controls, but i would use it on a gig without backups, the finish seems like its gonna last forever, but it has some scratch and dents already mainly for lack of care.
one of the rubbers that hold the bridge pickup broke when i was adjusting it, but i think it was my mistake, easy and cheap to replace.

never dealt with fender, but they are not famous for having a good customer support.

I been playing for like 2 years now, i have owned this tele for 7 months now, and i only own that and an acoustic.
if this was stolen, i wouldnt buy it again for 1 reason
when i bought this it was on sale for $560 now its $1100 too expensive for me, and i think i can make a better partscaster tele with that money, but if it was $560 again i may buy it again. good bang for the buck if you get it for what i payed for mine.
I love it for what it is, theres better teles out there, only they cost much more money, my favorite features are the neck, pickups and the 4-way switch.
I compared this to other MIM standard and Highway1 teles, this one won because it was less money than the highway1 and just as good as those.
This guitar is great for versatility, but it wont make you sound exactly like other guitars, the series position is humbucker-like and the parallel out of phase is similar to a strat quack, but if you want authenticity just buy a strat and a gibson for those tones.
If you want the original Tele tones, plus 3 original sounds and a fat neck you may like this guitar.
good value even at $1100, Fantastic value for $560

I have a Classic Player Baja Telecaster, which I ordered from Fender in blonde, in 2007. There are 21 frets on a soft V-shaped maple neck. It has a 4-way switch, including series and parallel settings and an S-1 switch for out-of-phase settings. It has a twisted Tele bridge and Broadcaster pickups. The body is made of Ash; I can't find a seam, so I can assume it may be a one piece body. The bridge is three brass barrels, with height adjustments. It has Fender/Ping tuners. I have a gig bag, but I bought a case. The Baja is made in Mexico. It has a neckplate that says 'Custom Shop Designed'.

I like to play Blues, Gospel, Jazz, and Country. This is a versatile guitar that fits all of these categories. I use it thru a couple solid state amps, the most notable are the 3210 Marshall half-stack and/or a Fender Stage lead, played on clean channels, thru a Digitech GNX 3000 multieffects pedal. The series setting (#4)is humbucker sounding; push the S-1 switch and the out-of-phase setting is a dreamy Peter Green lead sound. The #3 setting is the twisted tele bridge, the most jazzy sound. The Parallel setting(2) is very strat-like, even with the S-1 switch engaged. The bridge (setting #1)has a funk-R&B-Country sound, and is becoming a favorite. This is an expressive guitar!

The action from the factory was high, as I would expect, to prevent any string rattles. I had it setup at the guitar shop, where I bought it. I did not have any quality concerns after the setup. I later adjusted the action to my preference. My nut is aligned properly. The finish was flawless, the intonation is great. These pickups are why I bought the guitar. I will not be changing them. The neck is really comfortable, though it looks like a bat handle. The fit of the neck to the body is tight.

I have used this guitar without backups; it's new. It has been a reliable instrument. The polyurethane finish will last for years and I've owned it for 2 years. It will be hard to self-relic this poly coated beast. Eventually, I will get straplocks, but the vintage strap stays are just fine. It looks like a '52 Tele with newer style electronics.

The warranty lasts a year; but I haven't any need for repairs.

I have played guitar for about 40 yrs. I have 2 Stratocasters and 2 Gibsons; this is my first Telecaster. I don't play the other guitars much anymore because I prefer the Baja. The soft V-neck is VERY comfortable; it is the only V-neck Fender makes. Please note I can live with the sounds the Baja mimics, it is not entirely the same as a strat or gibson sounds. Frets on the neck are smooth. After comparing the guitars to other Teles, the price and versatility won over the other guitars. It weighs 8.8 lbs and sounds like a dream. I would buy another of these if it weren't for the recent Fender price increase. I wish it would come with a leopard pickguard.

Same as all the others. Blonde.

I got this guitar second hand, to replace a much more impressive JJ Jewel which I, ahem, managed to snap. Consequently I liked the sound of this guitar, but it didn't excite me in the same way. It was Tele like, which is great as I play mostly soul type stuff, but on-stage I wasn't getting that hot, driving the pre-amp kind of feeling, it was a bit of a lightweight tonally. So I replaced the pick-ups with some Bare Knuckles Blackguard Stagger jobs and boy has it come alive! You can spank it stroke it and it will respond. Sounds very Black Crowes as well through a Marshall instead of my normal Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Got rid of the rubbish 4 way switch as well, why have two poor sounds when you can have one good one?

The kid who had this guitar before me had tried to do his own Relic job on it, attacking the body with a screwdriver in places and burning off the serial number included. So a bit hard to say about the finish but after the debacle with my last guitar this room needs to be robust as it is left in a classroom all day with my pupils. It's taking the pain so far so it must be pretty well made! Intonation is tricky as ever with this design, considering getting a six saddle bridge.

Like I said going great so far in tough circumstances.

on one gig I managed to lose the top of the pickup selector. Finishing one song I managed to skewer my thumb on the top of the shaft and spent the rest of the set bleeding all over the guitar, my bass player and the drummer! Trying to get a replacement Fender's website defers all enquiries to the local Fender dealer. Can I get them to sort this out? Can I buggery!

Basically this a strong, giggable and likable guitar but it needs the better pickups to bring it to life. Don't think a real player would be fooled by it's good looks and sound into thinking it was a custom shop job but I'm happy enough with it now.

A short follow-up. Now my blonde baja sounds a tad better, or is it just in my imagination (it sounds airier, bigger).
The frets'ends are scratching my left hand now, so I say the wood Fender used to make the neck from was not very dry, am a bit deceived here since this phenomenon normally occurs in a couple of years more.
I had microphonic issues with the kinman broadcaster set I fitted in, so I went back to the stock pups BUT with a down-to-earth simple wiring: shielded wires, a 3 way shielded toggle switch ?? la Gibson, and volume pot only (of course I made another plate accordingly) and here are the good news...
Compared to stock the noise is almost gone, and the guitar sounds a deal more direct. At the rehearsal room I have no hum issues at all, and I usually play a bassman head into a randall 412 cab (amp set clean borderline, with my favourite dirt box for distortions).
Those pickups are perfect I think, very solid, you know where you are with them.

I don't gig with this baja, because outside there the electrosmog has no pity for single coils.
Best thing to do would be to buy another one and fit it with noiseless pups, just to gig with, and leave the home-only one with its proper pups. At the price it sure ain't no bad idea!

The S1 is great, I'm not sure how much I'll actually use it but you can get some beautiful tones out of it.

First off I am a total gear snob. I play this through my Orange AD15 combo. I generally don't like anything but higher quality American made Fenders. This guitar, however, sounds a lot better than most MIA Fenders.

The only problem I have with the tone is that the bridge pickup is EXTREMELY, ear piercing, bright and trebley. I've heard it with the Seymour Duncan little '59 single-coil-sized humbucker and that completely fixed the problem. It still sounds like a Telecaster but less shrill sounding with more bass and mids.

I plan on making this change to mine soon.

Plays great, feels great. I could play it all day.

I don't know about the quality of the factory setup, but finding a local luthier to set it up with the right string gauge is always worth it.

I don't know yet.

With a little bit of tweaking (and even without it) this is a great Tele. Completely worth it.

This is a follow up review.

As I thought the S-1 switch became an issue. After the honeymoon I started loosing a desire to play it. It just didn't seem to have that mojo anymore. I would dig it out, and then get tired of it after a few days. Then during a gig last fall it started cutting in and out. Not good. I tried cleaning the volume / S-1 pot with some contact cleaner. It worked again but no mojo. Then more cutting in and out. One day while at Island Music I asked if they could just replace the V pot and get rid of the S-1 switching altogether. I never used it anyway. Jeez what a difference. It has that killer Tele mojo again, maybe more than it ever had. I wish the guitar had never had S-1 switching. That obviously is just my personal preference.

Tele tough but cheezy electronics. Come on Fender. If you are going to incorporate another of your electrical golly-gee-whiz gimmicks, make it reliable, please. It cost me another $50, now I can trust it.

Yea, right.......Keep on saying that.

Standard Baja Tele, in Desert Sand. 9 1/2" neck radius, S1 switching etc etc. I've had it 5 months.

A friend bought one of these and I was amazed. He tried two, and bought the second one. I tried 13, and bought the 13th (lucky!). These Bajas are very variable in all respects. I finally sussed that generally light was good, heavy was bad. Mine weighs 6.75 lbs and rings like a bell. This gave it quite a 'toppy' sound but very musical and with lots of sustain. I already had an Eric Johnson stratocaster which is a hard act to follow tone-wise, and the Baja doesn't have the EJ's sonic complexity but it does have the same acoustic volume and richness. Maybe that's down to ash versus alder or something, but at a fraction of the price the Baja is amazing value. Whats more, I prefer playing the Baja to the EJ. In short, it pays big time to try as many Baja's as possible because sooner or later 'it' will arrive, and when 'it' does you won't want to stop playing it.

Generally things were OK except for two things in particular. The fretboard had sharp edges that cut into my thumb (I do a wrap-around thumb on the low E), and the nut was not cut deep enough for a couple of the strings. I had a good luthier 'roll' the neck edges and re-cut the nut, and level and polish the frets, and voila! I then adjusted both pick-up heights for the sweet-spots and the right mix with them together. These are great pickups. I have since, however, (brace yourself) put a Kent Armstrong PAF humbucker in the neck position and use the S1 switch for single/humbucker selection, and now its even better.

These Teles are, as we all know, one of the three things remaining when the world ends (the other two being cockroaches and Keith Richards).

Haven't tried, or needed to.

Have been playing 41 years etc etc. I play it through 80's valve and tranny Marshall amps and a Fender Tweed Blues Junior. It sounds good through just about anything, but strangely excellent through my old Marshall 5210 solid state amp. Play also an EJ strat, a Gibson ES335, Levinson Blade RML, Signature japanese Les Paul copy, Aria Pro 2 Herb Ellis, Ibanez AF125 and a Kramer Focus 3000. If the Baja went west I'd look for an even nicer tele. There's nothing quite like a Tele, and I'd like to find one which would make most if not all my other guitars redundant. I'm sure there is one..

A 2008 model in Butterscotch blong with an ash body and maple neck. The Pickups are custom shop broadcaster in the bridge and the custom shop twisted tele in the neck. included is the stock 4 way and the out of phase switch via a push on the vol pot. the neck is nice and fat but by conicdence my guitar is really light and resonant. you knock on the body and you get a kalimba type guuung guuung sound.

I am a professional guitarist/arranger who works in his own studio. i use my guitars to record extensively and as such they have to record well. the Baja Tele is a dream to play. It sounds good for every type of music. It outperforms all my other teles( a 51 Custom Shop Nocaster and a genuine stock 69 Tele). I use it in my working rack with a `64 Strat, a 1970 Les Paul Standard and my much cherished 2002 Model Ibanez John Scofield. I tell you what, the other guitars have been sitting around quite a lot, because by sheer luck this Baja Tele is so magically sounding, responsive, sustain rich and dynamic, that i don??t even feel like playing the other guitars. The pickups are standard singlecoils but behave really well in front of the screen and preamps.

The Guitar was pretty well set up. To make it exceptional i had it set up by luthier extraordinaire Thomas Keller in munich, who ironed some minor flaws. The biggest one being the sharp ends of the tele bridge which Thomas completely dissembled and smoothened out. Also the neck angle was adjusted so that i can pull the b string up a fourth without the guitar choking out. On the contrary, the bent note seemed to gain in ampitude. I use the guitar with, as far as i am concerned, the best strings in the world, Thomastik Infeld Power Brights Regular gauge 010 - 044. They further enhance the sonic integrity of the instrument. Thomas Keller also adjusted the instrument, making the Baja the FIRST TELE IN MY LIFE that intonates well. Ad Imo Pectore Bravo!

Sturdy, reliable guitar. I use it for gigs with my funk band, playing intense rhythm guitar for 3 hours and the guitar keeps up and stays where it should be. The utmost in reliability. I NEVER take back ups with me and I NEVER EVER gig with unreliable guitars!

Been playing professionally since 1985 and own about 25 guitars. The Tele Baja is definitely the Top instrument of my collection. It does exactly what an electric guitar should do and inspires me to play. Let me warn you though, all the other Bajas I tried afterwards, even in the same store i bought mine seemed to be less inspiring. So, definitely try em out and i recommend picking the guitar up and gently knocking on the body. If you hear a deep "GUUNNNNGG"you have found a special one like mine. If it were stolen i could not replace it since the next three i tried, were your usual lame new guitar.

I love this guitar - straightforward Tele sound - But also has the capability of 4 way switching. Fender does sell a "Custom Classic Telecaster" with same pickups, and the same 4 way switching as the Baja, but for about three times as much $$$$$$ You can't buy a better "Player" Tele than the Baja, especially for the money.

Sounds Great! No more to say!

Action, fit and finish were as good as most American made Teles - EXCEPT for the nut positioning (see the comment below from another reviewer who had the same problem). The slots in the nut on mine were also cut off-center, so my high E string would slip off the neck occasionally while playing. What I did was take the strings off, pull the nut out, and then moved it about 1/64th of an inch, and glued it back in the nut slot, re-centering the nut. It was an easy fix. Now it plays perfectly.

With the solid slab body and meaty neck, you could use this thing as a weapon.

Fender has always been great to deal with. The nut problem was such an easy fix that I did it myself and didn't bother to seek warranty work from Fender.

Been playing acoustic, electric and slide blues on dobros and Nationals for 40 years. Yikes! I must be getting old?

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....

2007 Mexican Made. Real classic look. Custom Shop designed. I can't figure out the difference between the names of the two finish options, I have the rich yellow one with the black pickguard. I don't really understand why they call things "desert sand" when you could just call it "yellow" or "beige" and be a lot less confusing about it. 21 Frets. Based on a 50's tele EXCEPT 4 way selector with S1 switching in two positions for a total of 6 pickup options. Others have posted the details so you can read those. Twisted tele neck pickup and broadcaster bridge pickup. Vintage tuners. Vintage Fender decal on the headstock.

Certainly has more than you'd expect in the typical Telecaster Department.

Over the last few years I've gotten more and more into telecasters. I love the simple but easily customized and modified vibe of teles. You can make a telecaster that sounds like just about anything. This Tele has a very versatile range of tones thanks to the 4 positions and S1 switching. You can get tele spank, or a really nice neck position beef.

I play just about anything and like to think that you can basically play any style of music with any guitar, more or less. At the very least, I like to have instruments that can multi-task. I guess I play rock, though, if we're going to pigeon-hole. Weezer (Blue and Pinkerton) is a big influence on my playing if you need a reference point. Weezer, Queens of the Stone Age, and Do Make Say Think. Figure that out.

The bridge position (1st position) is great with some gain for good, searing lead tones. The 2nd position by itself is like your standard neck and bridge config. It sounds pretty cool on it's own, but I prefer the sound of pickups on their own. However, with the S1 switch on, it gets this cool hollow sound (I love it with the tone down and lots of dirt for lead lines in Queens songs... it's like it's coming through an old car radio.) 3rd position is the neck pup by itself which has some really nice tones. It's probably my second favorite position on the guitar and has a nice mix of bass and treble. Really definite clean tone with a simultaneously rich and bright feel. I like it more than the mixed position of 2. The 4th position, however, has balls to spare. I can't believe the beef that comes out of this telecaster. I can't remember which between 4th and 2nd is series or parallel (others have mentioned, and I'm too lazy to go back and look), but this 4th position is awesome. It doesn't really sound like a tele traditionally sounds, it almost has a humbuckerish quality to it. With the S1 depressed in this position you get a sound that's a lot like position 1 but with a little different tone.

All in all, I love the sounds this guitar makes. Even though it has tones I like more than others, there aren't any that I dislike. The tone pot is responsive and adds additional character to any of the positions available making for a tremendously versatile experience.

My signal chain looks something like this: Guitar -> Crybaby Wah -> Boss TU-2 tuner -> Boss DD-6 Delay -> Marshall GV 2 "Guvnor Plus" Distortion (great underrated pedal by the way) -> Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. [More or less pedals: Big Muff Pi, Danecho Delay, Marshall Jackhammer Distortion/Overdrive, Danelectro Cool Cat Chorus)

I will say this. I'm sick of reading reviews where people say this guitar (or other guitars) aren't good for metal and heavy music. Music doesn't get much heavier than Queens of the Stone age, and even if it does, that's irrelevant. You can get those tones and then some. If you want big beefy distorted tone it's only a pedal away. You can make a banjo sound metal with the right pedal and amp, so I just can't buy this whole "not the guitar for metal and hard rock players" sentimentality. You can do it all on most guitars if you can play them and you have the right accessories. *end rant*

There's noise, but they're single coils and I expect some. My only dislike is not knowing which sound I'll like the most when I pick it up. When that's your only dislike you're sitting pretty. I'll give it a 9 though. I had a lot of professors that wouldn't give 100% on assignments in university because they said you couldn't write a perfect paper (always room for improvement). We all have those "I hate my tone" days, even with awesome guitars. I give it a 9 for not being flawless... so... take that Fender?

Setup was great and I gigged comfortably with it only a few days after getting it. Felt like butter compared to my other guitars. I had to have the nut adjusted after putting 11's on it since the slots weren't wide enough but the shop did it for free so that was pretty cool. Pickups were perfectly blended but I might raise the bridge pickup soon as I've noticed how much more beefy the 4th position is and I'd like some more balance when I switch from it to other positions. Bridge is great, the Finish is gorgeous (although I'd argue that Teles are never all that pretty... I dig the classic 50s look... there's just something about teles that scream "utility") with just a little wood grain peaking through the paint.

I love the neck. It's beefy but the V-shape makes it play a lot faster than you'd expect.

The only flaw was that there was gunk all over the place... like globs of somewhat-easily removed gunk. I have no idea what was going on there, but a cloth and some friction seemed to take care of it. At first I thought it was bubbles in the piant or something. Odd. Whatever, looks great now.

I've played it live a pile of times. I don't understand the "withstand live playing" question. I don't jump around like a retard or anything so practice, dicking around, and live playing all pretty much look the same for me. So yeah. If you don't play your guitar with a hammer, I'd say you're fine.

My only gripe with the hardware so far is that the knob the S1 switch is on feels really flimsy, and when I first got it the S1 switch got stuck in the knob in the down position and wouldn't come back up. I took it back for fixin. There's just something that feels flimsy with that switch and I wish they'd go for a push/pull instead.

Oh, and the pickguard sorta bubbled just above the bridge, I'd pin that maybe on humidity and less screws... and maybe 1 ply? I dunno. It's minor but even after some of the holes were re-drilled and tightened by the tech at my local shop, it still sorta does it. Weird, but whatever.

Otherwise, everything is cherry. Two slabs of wood man, can't beat it. You could beat back adoring fans with it and it would still be in tune.

Never gig without a backup... at the very least people don't want to watch you restring your guitar... that's never entertaining.

The shop I take it to is awesome. Does that count? They sold it to me after all. I'm giving the SHOP a 10. I guess Fender made the guitar right... it's all the same thing.

I've been playing for something close to 10 years. I've managed to learn a fair bit of guitar wisdom during this period but I still have a lot of growing to do. At least I know that tone is in the hands.

My other guitars are an Epiphone Les Paul Classic (heavily modified with Kent Armstrong Vintage PAF pickups, totally redone electronics, and complete hardware overhaul), an Epiphone Dot (just purchased and about to receive the same sort of treatment), and a customized self-titled "ebay tele" built with parts from all over (old squier neck that feels great, seymour duncan phat cat p90 in the neck and GFS coil-tapped rails in the bridge, american body... very cool). I've also got a japanese mustang bass (can't recommend those little fellas enough). I sold a mexican strat not long after getting this tele because I knew I'd never touch it again.

I played about 10 different telecasters at the shop the day I bought this guitar. I tried a Fender '54 reissue, a Classic Player Series Esquire, some Tele Customs, and Tele Deluxe, and some standards before I settled on this guitar. In short, I tried to do my homework. Nothing else in the store felt or sounded this good.

If it were stolen or lost I would weep, because I couldn't afford another one. Tremendous guitar though, if I could afford it, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

I love this guitar for it's versatility and wonderful, wonderful tones. I love that it's like a 54 (with a much less gimped neck pickup) but with just enough customization to make it interesting. It's like the fun mods I like in a guitar that looks traditional and button-down. It feels and plays like butter. Easily the best guitar I've ever played and clearly the best I've ever owned. It just feels so solid and you know when you strum it for the first time that it's a guitar you can trust.

This guitar is perfect the way it is, I think. I know my hunt for a great sounding telecaster has been halted (for now at least, we just never stop looking, next stop: thinlines!)

I got this on clearence for 499.99 at guitar center wow! It is the desert sand and has the ash body and custom pickups and S1 switching

Killer little blues axe , the out of phase lets you get that T-Bone ton
Killer great job Fender

Had to set it up, I use 12s so so neck work was needed.

Great guitar

Unique features: Desert Sand? finish (faux mid-50's pastel vibe, think white blond without the wood grain showing through I guess), fatter maple V-neck, flatter 9.5 radius and medium jumbo frets that facilitate bending, Twisted Tele neck pickup, and the S-1 switching system which adds three more interesting pickup sounds--1)Neck and Middle in serial for a fatter sound with more output than the neck and middle pickups in parallel, 2) neck and middle out of phase, in parallel 3) neck and middle in series, out of phase. The rest of the features resemble the standard Mexican 50's re-issue Tele: ash body, 21 frets, etc.

If one plays rock, rockabilly, blues, country, and soul and R&B (i.e. Steve Cropper) this guitar will fit the bill. Hard rockers, punk rockers, and heavy metal shredders should look elsewhere. Distortion boxes and fuzzy, buzzy amps would only aggravate and amplify the noise of the single coil pickups that Teles are especially susceptible to (shielding would help, but usually significantly changes tone). Also the V-neck is not as fast as a thinner neck.

I usually use Fender style amps (Deluxe Reverb, Vibrochamp & Mesa Heartbreaker) or a Vox Tonelab using the Fender amp models. Settings are classic clean-ish and mid-gain sounds.

Teles in general are bright sounding guitars, and this is no exception. The Broadcaster bridge pickups is wound to 9.3 in this case. It's bright but not piercingly so. But it is extremely one-dimensional in my opinion. If one is looking for the classic just-about-to breakup Tele sound, it's not here. But I think any heavily wax-potted pickup will have a hard time replicating that sound--think Jeff Beck with the Yardbirds or Mike Bloomfield on Highway 61 Revisited. That's why a day after I installed a Fender Nocaster Bridge pickup. Better, but not quite there.

I'll probably go through a very expensive excursion in trying one of the army of "boutique" pickup makers (Fred Stuart, Peter Florance, Don Mare, OC Duff, or Dave Stephens)of the moment in trying to find the right sound. This is something which is trial and error, until one finds, basically by luck, the "right" pickup.

But,the upside of the Baja Tele are the Twisted Tele Neck pickup and the S-1 switching system.

I can only say that all the hype around the Twisted Tele Neck pickup are true. Rumored to have been created by Alan Hamel, then of the Custom Shop, using the longer magnets from a Jazz Bass pickup, this pickup does what very few traditional, covered Tele pickups can do--be very usable. Think Strat neck pickup with enough high end and dynamic range for leads without getting muddy or murky. Think Keith Richards' Tele sound without having to rout for a humbucker. It truly is a revelation.

The other plus is the S-1 4-way switching system. I'm not usually into electronic gimmicks, but this is no gimmick. It give you useable sound options. The neck and bridge pickups in series give a boost in sound. think humbucker territory but with more clarity and high end. Rather than flicking the overdrive, you can actually just flip the selector and get a great lead sound. Funk players will probably love fooling with the out of phase sounds.

Overall, a bargain for what one gets in available and quality of sounds, especially from a 2 pickup up guitar historically known for its raw, bridge pickup. Though docked 3 points for the bridge pickup.

Word of warning: The website says the Baja is equipped with Custom Shop pickups. I believe the pickups were actually made in Mexico. The tell-tale sign is the plastic-coated pickup lead wires. All the Custom Shop pickups that I've seen have been cloth-covered. Comparing the Custom Shop Nocaster to the Broadcaster that came with the Baja, the difference just physically was noticeable. Sound-wise, as I noted above, there was no comparison. The difference is more than just the difference's in magnets (Alnico 3 for the Nocaster, and Alnico 5 supposedly for the Broadcaster).

Not to be cynical, but the game Fender is playing is a little devious. The Custom Shop has credibility among players for caring about the quality of its products. When Fender initially introduced the Classic Player Series, it actually had Custom Shop pickups, whereby it created a buzz among players. Riding on the initial good reviews and demand, the next production run substituted made in Mexico pickups. Most people will not know the difference. That is what they did with the Classic Player 60s Strat, which originally had the great Custom 69 pickups.

The Guitar Center in NYC had 5 Baja Teles in Desert Sand. Unusual in that from what I've seen, a good stock of Teles is not a strong point for New York music stores, but I guess Fender was trying to get rid of it's stock at the end of the year and sold them to GC at a good price.

It's interesting that they all varied noticeable. 3 of them were relatively heavy, over 8 lbs. Also the finish of the fret ends varied from guitar to guitar. I narrowed it down to two. The lightest one being closer to 7 lbs. But the finish on the neck seemed slightly different. And it actually felt different from the one I bought, which just felt more comfortable. Can't complain about the one I got. Fit is almost perfect. The slight scratches here and there probably due to being jostled by the amateur rock gods in training at the GC circus.

Factory set-ups vary from horrible to acceptable. Remarkably the action on the one I bought was good, albeit a little low, and no fret buzz, while others I tried were truly abominable: Rusted strings, buzzing frets, etc.

Made in Mexico quality control is notorious, so inspect the guitar carefully. Compare the a good U.S. Vintage '52 Reissue and you'll quickly notice the difference in how they feel and are made. The quality of the wood in the MIM stuff is extremely variable.

Telecasters are know for being virtually indestructible. Usually the cheap tuners will go first. I replaced the strap buttons already with strap locks.

No matter how indestructible the guitar has been, one should never gig without a backup. One never knows when electronics, like a wire coming loose, will disable a guitar--which I learned the hard way from experience.

Never dealt with Fender directly. Their website is a great P.R. tool for drooling guitarists everywhere, but I doubt a corporate behemoth like Fender really cares about the average amateur player. That's what Guitar Center and the retail stores are for.

Remember when dealing with Guitar Center and their ilk, that 90% of the staff barely knows the merchandise. I got some teenage kid. Though nice enough, could barely complete the purchase without assistance. And he even gave me the wrong--read cheaper--gig bag.

I've been playing for about a quarter of a century. I've got about 15 or so guitars. I have a Japanese '62 Reissue Tele which I bought in 1985, but I always wanted a 50's style Tele. I would have bought a '52 Reissue ages ago if I could have lived with the neck. Would love to buy a Nocaster which is one of the best Fender Tele guitars I have ever played, but this Baja was less than a third of the price and I love V-neck and the Twisted Tele neck pickup. Plus, with this Baja, I have a guitar that I can really play hard and not worry so much about devaluing my "investment." With a bit of tweaking, it will get close.

I guess the only thing I wish it had was a thin-skin nitro butterscotch finish and compensated brass bridge saddles. In other words, if there were a readily available Custom Shop version, I would buy it in a New York minute.

This has been covered in detail already, mine is the blond model with a nice mid weight ash body.

Sound is everything you want from a tele, although the neck pickup lacks a bit of volume, and probably needs tweaking. The S1 switch alternative sounds are not bad, to my ears they make more sense through an overdriven amp. I play through a Peavey Classic 30, and a modded Epiphone valve junior.

Oh dear, oh dear. From a distance the guitar looks the absolute business, but viewed close up mine has two noticeable runs in the laquer. I realise this is a cheap Fender, but this is poor quality control that shouldn't be happening. Two of the pickguard screws go in at an angle - it doesn't cost any more to drill holes straight, so this is nothing to do with the price, it's just sloppy.

I paid for a set up before delivery, so no idea whar=t the factory set up is like.

A big ol' maple neck, which is not too big, and maybe contributes to the excellent acoustic sustain.

Built like a brick outhouse, not sure how long the S1 switch will last, though

Never put them to the test

Overall a reasonable guitar, but let down by basic quality control issues that would add nothing to the price to correct. I'd save a bit longer for a USA built model next time.

Been playing about thirty years, I've also got a strat plus, and an old Epiphone Casino

Ash body, 1 piece maple neck with med jumbo frets. Vintage style 3 brass barrel bridge. "Desert Sand" poly finish with white one ply pickguard. Broadcaster bridge P/U, Twisted Tele neck P/U. 4 way switching with S-1 option. Slotted tuners. Custom Shop neck plate and 50th anniversary badge on the back of the headstock. Gig bag included. For a tele it has some nice features.

I have never been a big fan of super twang. This guitar is the best souding and most versitile tele I have ever played. By using the switching options you can get a good twang or go to a rip it up growl and just about anything in beetween that single coils will deliver. It does the "rip it up" very well. With the right amp it punches right between the eyes. There may be a little hum, thats life in single coil land.

Overall the guitar was made and put together well. The nut was it's weak piont. The low E string was out of alignment by about a half a string. Not to hard to fix and will also let me have the nut material I want and have it set to exactaly like I like. MIM quality control is not what it could be. I have a classic player strat that was perfect, but not all are. Other than the nut everything is great. Less than an hour cleaning, re-string, setting the bridge and intonation, going over the neck, and it was done.

Should be typical Fender tele tough. Not so sure about the S-1 Switch, just have to wait and see.

Fender

I also have the Classic Player 60s Strat and it is awsome. I expect this to be just as good. The color is really growing on me also, it is so under-stated. It seems like everybody has a Keith Richards look-a-like. It is such a sleeper. it it so plain but it ROCKS with the best of them. The neck feels great (I have big hands). The weight is right. The pickups RULE. I have found that the classic players series of guitars to be some of the best deals Fender has produced in a long long time. I recomend checking them out, but play them first because of MIM quality control.

This is a blonde one. See features on other threads. The body finish is not to everyone's taste, for me it could be thinner. Mine is 3.9 Kg, which is a bit heavy. Neck is a nice quartersawn maple with an inconsistency in the grain around the 3rd fret, but nice. The overall features of this guitar are great for the price.

Coming from Les Paul style guitars (I wanted a Tele because of Jimmy Page early days) I welcomed the hot pickups. Still I need a boost with it to feel "home" - for which I am using an Xotic RC booster. It is adding noise but also punch and I like it a lot. Playing into either Diezel Einstein or Bogner Shiva.

The guitar is great for cleans and has awesome high gain sounds, unbelievable how versatile it is. I have several much more expensive guitars, but since 1 month I only play the Baja. The 4th setting out of phase is a very special sound (did anyone mention Peter Green?) that gives you pinch harmonics all over the fret board - absolutely astonishing.

The Baja plays great and cuts through the mix as well. It's noisy with gain, but that is not a sign for bad quality, it comes along with any single coil guitar and is very manageable.

For the money this costs, it gets a straight 10 in sound!

Finish is OK. Frets are not perfect and shiny as on other guitars I bought (not same standard as e.g. a PRS Singlecut SE). The setup was beyond good and evil, they definitely have not checked the intonation before the guitar went out. All saddles were about 0.5-1cm off! Neck and action were almost fine though.
I had fixed the intonation and action in <1h, so no big deal. I would like the body finish to be thinner though, this is a bit too plasticky for my taste.

This seems very sturdy, I mean it's a Tele, must be the most stable guitar on the planet. If I ever feel like thrashing it into my cabs on stage, I know who will win. Well, I wanted a new cab anyway :o)

Great guitar! You gotta have one, or two :o)

Solid swamp ash bodies, probably 3 piece; opaque gloss poly skin (semitransparent on hard to find blonde ones), full thickness stock tele shape, modern edge radius, US quality thin nickel plate bridge, 3 brass saddles, string thru, ping 'kluson' nickel plate vintage machines--slotted; skunk striped slightly V'd big "C" shaped neck, almost one inch depth, 9.5 board radius, conventional modern frets, gloss poly coating, 4 way switching providing series or parallel use of pickups when both pups are selected, S-1 gives out of phase for those two settings as well, total of six, custom shop origin twisted tele neck pup and broadcaster not nocaster bridge pup, fancy neck plate. Significant US content, finished and assembled in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico. A lot of stuff for a Tele, and I say the extras sounds are not a gimmick.

I play most styles, but not metal, hip hop or show tunes.
The Baja is well suited to my style.
Sounds great through a Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb-Amp 2x10 combo, not bad through a Peavey Classic 50 2x12 combo either; pedals are not really needed here.
Mine are dead quiet in position #4, S-1 button down (series out of phase) and progressively louder up to positions #1 and #3.
Let me just say these pickups are much more rewarding that the stock ones in my American Series (04) Tele, leave it there.
Love to have a bass and treble cut setup for more range of sound, stacked potentiometer, one will get modded that way soon.

The basics are all just fine, all the things I couldn't fix if wrong are right. I'm a big boy, and I don't mind fixing a pickguard or cleaning up a little compound or adjusting the intonation. Both bridge plates were canted a minute fraction, no sweat to fix during a string change. The hard plastic nuts are both cut nicely for 10s or 11s. Crucially, the fretwork and tuner placement and the neck fit is all I ask for; these are the ones that really count. One of mine is barely used and had a GuitarPartsResource set of $22 slant compensated saddles which I adjusted, and each got an $12 Electrosocket for the outlet jack from Stewart MacDonald. The stock saddle one intonates with 10s better than any other I've had with tilt only barrels.
The S-1 switches are a bit wobbly by nature and will be replaced with push pull pots sometime into the guitars' lives.

If you're putting the hurt on a real Fender Telecaster, you must know Michael Vick I guess. These guitars are easy to maintain and are relatively indestructible by guitar standards. You need Jim Dunlop straplocks because if the guitar falls, someone's foot might be injured.
Once the Electrosocket is on, the electrics (except possibly the s-1) are reliable, but as inexpensive as these Bajas are, I have two.
If I couldn't depend on it though, I wouldn't have one.
They're lifetime guitars should you wish it so.

As long as Leo is somewhere looking over us, that's good enough for me.
He's designed it so I can look after myself, that's all I want.
Can you ever say that about a set neck guitar honestly?

I have 4 american made G + Ls that are better, no question, but are intended to sell for twice as much. None does a Tele quite like the Baja.
Sure, I wish the Baja was available with the bass and treble cuts, and transparent color finishes in other pale colors, Gotoh tuners, Callaham bridgeplate and saddles, heavy knurled knobs, maybe even a thinline body. But guess what, every loving sister would be in line to get one at $ 1,200 each. Somehow I've gotten a new one at $ 600 plus purse for $39, plus tax, and a lighter used one for $499 including the tax, whilst others have paid $ 800+ in the States, more overseas.
But if you're just wearing this guitar around your neck for show, please don't buy this model.

I picked the desert tan because it looked so 'traditional'. Not really, that was the only color in stock when I walked in, but it was an eye catcher. I was only there to get a strap and set of mating strap locks for my JV Strat. Being a Tele afficianado, I started noodling around, riffin' blues and my favorite chicken pickin' licks on a red American Tele when my eye caught sight of the Baja on the wall. I got it down, plugged into a Fender Deluxe reissue and the fun began. I'll get into that later. The pickups, of course, are custom shop models - a twisted tele in the bridge and a nocaster in the neck, or is it the other way around? Anyway, it has a 4-way switch (S1) and a button on the volume control to change the phase. Very useful and well though out. The body is solid ash and the neck is maple. Standard for the Baja.

I play pretty much anything from ZZ Top to Chet Atkins, so this is the guitar for me. I play through a Dr. Z (z28 model), an Ibanez TS9 distortion, an Ibanez digital delay, and an ernie ball volume pedal. The sound is very clean and articulate. Of course, these are single coil REAL Tele pickups and tend to pick up the magnetic hum of every electrical widget in sight, but that's a Tele for you. A noise gate helps, but I quit using one because the volume pedal works well enough. I found out early on that the parallel out-of-phase (position 2, button down) works fine for SR cover tunes (scuttle buttin, house is rockin', pride and joy), even better with the TS9. Its not exactly a Strat sound, a lot thicker, but it works for me. The out of phase in series (position 4, button down) is great for old British cover tunes. Try it on 'Day Tripper' or 'I Feel Fine' and you'll see what I mean. It nails that hollow sound. Also, Suzie Q (CCR)sounds tough with that sound. Primarily, however, I use the neck or bridge pickup with the button up (standard tele setting). The 4th position (both pickups in series, button up) is great for fattening the tone a little more and getting more gain for distortion. A very sweet sound in that position and one I use several times a night.

I couldn't believe the factory setup. I asked the salesman if someone in his store had done it and he said it came from the factory like that. Strings were low, no buzzing, the neck felt nice and meaty, but not like a baseball bat as one reviewer stated. I love that neck and I'm a Les Paul lover as well, so that should tell you something (I like the Les Paul 60s thin taper neck, btw). The pickups were adjusted fine, but I raised the bridge a touch. Didn't really make that much difference, it just looked too low to me. I've been over this thing looking for flaws and can't find anything. I must have been at the right place at the right time. No complaints there.

This guitar could double as a weapon. It ain't gonna break from what I've seen because Teles are just plain tough! The finish is polyurethane, so it should stand up well to my sweat, and I sweat profusely when I'm playing. Strap buttons are good on this one, but I tighten all my strap buttons before a gig. They tend to work loose after playing 3 or 4 nights. Its very dependable and I really don't NEED a backup, but I usually bring a couple of other guitars just to vary the sound. I used it stand alone once because I did't have room to haul more guitars. I pulled off the entire set list with no problems. There were a few moments where I missed my Paul, but the audience didn't notice, so there you go.

I've been playing since my pre-teen years. I think I was 8 or 9 and I'm late in my 40s now. I played a Baja several times within a 2 month period before buying one. I wanted to be sure it wasn't just a whim. I paid 700 bucks for it and that's a lot of money for something you don't really HAVE to buy. Still, no regrets. This is as fine a guitar as I've ever owned. The wiring is ingenious and everyone I've shown it to is amazed by what it can do. Two of my friends are getting Baja Teles after playing mine. This is a keeper and I haven't been able to say that for 20 years or better. I really think this is one of the coolest things Fender has ever done. I'm sticking with this Baja Tele and my Les Paul from here out; sold my Strats. Thinking about getting an upper end US Tele? Try this out first and compare it side by side with one, unless you just have money to burn. That's what I did and I know what I'm talking about. It feels as good as a Custom shop US Tele from the wood to the hardware to the eletrical components. I think that covers pretty much everything. It will never have the resale value as an old American model, but you'll get your money's worth from a Baja if you're buying one just to play and keep. It's a blast to play. Try one and you'll see. And yes, if this were lost or stolen, I would definitely get another one, same color. I'm in love with this thing still.

Vintage looks, modern features....
Four way pick up selector...the 4th position plays the two pickups like a humbucker...very cool
The volume knob also has the S-1 switch
Positions 2 and 4 are effected and it basically puts them out of phase for some interesting sounds that could have some cool uses
The neck is huge and feels/plays great, except the tuners are cheaper versions of the official vintage ones that Fender uses. However, they stay in tune and look cool, so I'll keep um for a while
Old school 3 saddle brass bridge
I'll give it a 9 in this category, cause for a tele its loaded with features

This is a mexican tele, but man does it shine
Much darker than your average tele, but it still has enough bite to do what it needs too....i always end up rollin the tone off other teles and takin treble off the amp anyway
Stays nicely in tune after a lil setup and string change
The pickup combinations you can use give you plenty of options
My only gripe is the static it makes when you rub the pickguard while playing...I'm able to stop it by rubbin a fabric softener sheet on it, but i wish there was a way to permanently stop it...This sorta thing seems to happen on all my guitars...maybe its me?? If anyone has any input send me an email
Sounds greeaaat but not perfec so its gettin an 8

Good enough
I had to adjust the string height, and intonate the guitar, but once that was done shes plays and stays in tune....
Fret job was ok but i filed down around the edges of the neck to really smooth it out...I find a nail file works great...its gentle enough not to hurt the neck if you over do it, and because its soo fine, you can take your time and get it right

6 outta the factory....9 now that I did my thang to it

Hope so:)
lil nervous about those "ping" tuners...maybe one day i'll put the good ones on...we'll see...they work for now so i'll deal
that static issue bothers me too, but with a lil tweakin its a sweet tele that should last a long time

fender?

A better tele than most american fenders, at a great price....i love the color options, and i love the sound....its not my perfect tele (i havent found that one yet) but its pretty darn close...plus it offers up some cool extra features while maintaining a sweet vintage vibe

Update of previous review: Before exchanging the Baja for an amp, I played its newly arrived replacement then took it home. This one looks like a $1200 model, and gets the tones that I've never gotten from three prior Teles and four or five pickup changes. What is an
"Alan Hamel/Hanel" tall neck pickup? Is it what makes a Twisted Tele p.u.?
Much better fret work; qtr.-sawn neck figuring; neck-to-pocket fit perfect. O.K., Fender....

The features are excellent. The custom shop did a good job keeping the tele true to it's roots with the 3 saddle brass bridge and "plain jane" looks.

The body is ash and is desert sand colored. The neck is a giant hunk of wood and is solid maple. The neck is described as a soft v, but feels more like a an "O" shaped neck. It's like holding a baseball bat. The neck is noticable much thicker and beefier than my strat neck and other tele necks i've played on. It has jumbo frets and the neck is very straight. I'm used to strat necks and tele necks that are thinner with a slight curve. This neck is straight and flat like a les paul neck.

The tuners are the vintage style kluson style tuners and stay in tune. It doesn't have as fine of adjustment per turn like my sperzel's on my strat so going back and forth between them can cause me to over crank and miss my mark when fine tuning the tele.

The best feature are the pickups, 4 way pickup selector and the s-1 pickup switching. This gives you a possiblity of 6 different tones and they all sound good.

I gave this a 9, the only way to make this better is to add a strat middle pickup so you can get the 2 and 4 "notch" tones like on a strat.

This is a great sounding tele and is a hidden gem. The tele has twang and bite, but it's not ear piercing. It does have a slight different tone than a traditional tele in that it is a little "beefier" in sound and not as glassy. The bridge pickup has a nice snarl and growl and it's hard to believe it's a low output single coil. The pickup sounds thick, without being "creamy." Very punchy and bright, but balanced tone.

The middle position sounds good. I'm still playing with it though. I'm more of a fan of the 2 and 4 positions on a strat than the middle position of the tele. However, the middle position with the S-1 switch pressed puts the pickups out of phase and gives it a slight honk that is a little closer to the strat in sound.

The neck pickup is very round and fat, but doesn't get muddle. I haven't played with the pickup height on this yet, but I would raise it just a little bit to give it a little more bite and chime. Otherwise it's a very woody and fat sounding pickup.

The 4th position is the bridge and neck pickup together in series. The output kicks up a bit higher, but it's a very dark sound that can get muddy if you're not carefull. I use this position when I want a humbucker like distored lead tone. My favorite position for a distorted marshal tone, however, is the 4th position with the S-1 switch pressed down. This puts the 2 pickups out of phase and gives it a very honky midrange that cuts deep in the mix and gives your tone a nice grind.

Overall, this guitar has a very punchy sound.

Set-up was pretty close from spot on from the factory. I had to raise the bridge pickup a little higher. The action, however, is superb and this is the only fender guitar I have ever seen with a neck so perfectly straight like a les paul, yet have strings so low to the frets with no buzzing. It's different from what I'm used to in playing a fender. I usually like a slight bow in my neck and high action in my strats and teles.

Guitar is basically 2 hunks of wood bolted together. The only thing I'd worry about is maybe the S-1 switch failing after years of repeated use.

9.5

Fender's hidden gem. Any guitar player should get this tele in their lineup.

From F.'s spec.'s @ offcl. site: Classic Player B.T.(389)Desert Sand
polyester on ash(not quite '56 Mmstr/Duosn, restrctd diff.in paints)(307Blnd also)Nk 1pc mapl,soft'V'glospolyurth.FbdMap9.5"21mdjmbfrts.
CustShp"Twisted"Tele sc(n);CShpBroadcstr sc(b) [No Mktg. or Tech. info at official siteon either p.u.] S-1 is 8 pos.,not 6(reviews)4pos.by2(pshpsh). Notcompbrassbarrlstthrbrdg. F./Ping(K-look)vintsttnrs.Pgd blk/bld,pchmt/dsand. Stgs10-46.Inclds VeryNice F.Dlx.gbg+FStrp,calndr,3goodpkts,goodstrps.

Rarely use trad'l Tele for Chicago/Chess,Richards 68-72,Cropper,Cooder.Traded Bill Lawrence SwampkasterT w/EMGs+boot for G&L ASAT "Bluesboy"+AC30(Ch).Buying Swampk. back later today. Baja is proof of the creative wealth at Fender. S-1 is a legitimate mod. on this Tele,more for casual T players; the real guys - not impressed.

Action, string spread, nut height, all fine. Bridge frustration from non-comp. saddles - of course. Neck/pocket fit for the perfectionists
who still won't practice...Full disclosure: the Strat for me is my SRV: big frets healthy neck thickness solves the arthritis and loss of strength over yrs. from nerve comprssn. in neck. And the laziness..
Now the painful: Pickguard was buckling away full perimeter because some minimal trimming(a little filing)at switch end of control plate
was just flat denied. The nastiness reputation of certain Mexico facilities was sustained by 10 or so gobs of polishing material, same color as the finish; such had not damaged the finish. But,oh,
the underside of the single-layer guard looked like the bottom piece
in its stack,with dozens of grit-like surface slices; which wouldn't
affect the whoa! My excitement just went, oh man. What's underneath
the color coat, and the solder joints, and...that was it for me.

I think Baja is progress towards providing a package of sensible and
cool mods that could reduce much of the victimizing of the folks who
would benefit so much by investing their energy in playing and performing skills. If folks realized how much more good sound comes from tissues and energy than wood, metal and paint. But Fender knows that; and those offshore deals will keep on churnin.

Retail return within the behemoth's grace period.
And knowing some folks, and judging their guitar tournaments helps...

Playing piano-51yrs; guitar-41;reeds-45. I'm returning it because,
while I was trying to get over the sloppiness, maybe contempt for
an employer, I made a good trade for a Schecter(Kor)Diamond Series,
Tele.Dlx.-styling, also hot-rodded with Duncan(K)Gretsch-type humbkr-nk,Duncan59br, both tapped, strat rosewood neck w/import Grovers,
beautiful neck work.
How can you ignore Fender? Just go to the next one, like they do.

The custom shop pickups and S1 switching are really nice; you get a total of 6 pickup configs, all of which have their own useful sound. I have no desire to swap for Fralins or anything else. Tuners are solid, fretwork seems pretty good. I like the 3-saddle vintage bridge but I did swap the saddles for compensated; you might find yourself doing the same.

It really sounds beautiful to me. However, it doesn't quite sound the way I always imagined the 'tele' sound -- it's not at all icepicky or harshly bright, but it does twang. For me this is a feature; I expected to be struggling with excess highs in my amp/pedals but that's not at all the case. The pickups are really good for stock, no hum or excess noise, lots of good tones between the 4-position switch and the S1 selector. Even the neck pickup is useful, very round and fat.

Unsurprisingly, it was not particularly well set up at the factory. When I got it the frets rattled and buzzed quite a lot, and the intonation was nowhere near reasonable. I had to set up the saddle height and intonation, and ended up raising the action a bit and lowering the pickups, but now it plays like a dream. I'm not going to take points off for this because nobody should expect their guitar to be perfectly set up from the factory; that's part of your job as a guitarist.

Too early to tell; I've had it less than a year.

Huh?

I had mostly played strats before this, but I had a strong sense that I wanted a tele for a while now. Went into the store and played about 10 of them before hitting this one; played it unamplified for 30 seconds and knew I'd found it. If lost or stolen I'd cry, then kill, then probably go build one myself.

Does any Tele player escape the 'build my own' obsession?

Vintage Blond finish,lovely see through paint that shows a beautiful ash body under.the rest is classic telecasterlook,apart from the S-1 switch on the volume knob.Big jumbo frets,great feel - kluson de luxe like machine heads,very precise and reliable.Classic tele bridge with brass saddles.Great wiring - 4 position switch ans S-1 together add three every usable sounds to the classic tele sounds,making this guitar an incredible live machine.

I play R&B and blus mostly,and thsi guitar has it all - BTW you can really play everything with this thing.
I use a Vox cambridge 30 modified to 58 watts,and the sounds that come is exctly what I wanted - lots of twang and presence,cranks the amp out and screams really good ;-)

setup was ok,neck was a bity too straight,but changing the string gauge from 010 to 011 solved the problem without the need to access the truss rod,which is the located at the neck joint to the body,classic fender feature but a bit annoying to handle especially on the tel,as the neck pick up is in the way.pup's were set up good,everything else is top class.No flaws no dings,great lacquer on the neck for the right fender feel (I hate "satin" necks!)

built like a tank

never dealt with fender since now

to be honest,this guitar really doesn't seem mexican.is top quality,everything that you would expect from a real good american Telecaster plus some exciting new sounds.And it's a big bargain,get one before the price rises up!

Desert sand color. Unlike one of the previous reviews, I absolutely LOVE the color. "Subtle" is the word here. This color looks so nice because the finish is so smooth and glassy. There is no transparency whatsoever that half-ass shows the grain. I dislike finishes that just "sort of" show you the wood grain. Either show the grain so you can see it, or cover it with paint, I say. This opaque color really accents the timeless Telecaster shape - Simple, functional, elegant, industrial, and classic. How can one guitar be ALL those things? Ask Leo Fender. He got it right the first time. And all this is BEFORE it's plugged in. Custom Shop neck pickup and Custom Shop Broadcaster pickup. Ash body. Custom 4-way selector switch. Vintage gloss finish on the neck like all Fenders should be made, not the TOTALLY LAME flat finish most Fenders have on the necks. Sweet looking vintage style decal on the peghead. Vintage tuners that really complete the look and work well. Nice vintage "Pat. Pend." bridge with 3 brass saddles. Perfect intonation isn't achievable with this style bridge, but's it's close enough. Like some gear geek in the crowd with canine quality hearing is gonna say, "Hey dude - that's a 3-saddle bridge yer dealin' with - intonation is like imPOSSIBLE!!" Strum a chord with that smooth, powerful Telecaster tone, and he'll shut up right away. Custom Shop neckplate. Nice single-ply vintage style pickguard. Made in Mexico (who cares?) with the help of Fender's Custom Shop. Not "Tons of features", but a total classic with all the features you need -therefore, a 10.

I play 60's psychedelic rhythm mostly on a Rickenbacker 360/12. The Telecaster is for everything else, like rock and pop. I use a Fender Deluxe Reverb for both. Not noisy. Sounds are rich, full, AND bright. All the above. If you play heavy metal, forget it. Take your faded SG and break it over your bass players head. Then get a Telecaster and bow down before the Clear Tone God.

Only flaws were a few finish flaws on the peghead , but in places that are pretty unnoticable, like the edge and top, where you can't really see them. All Fenders need the intonation set. Neck is perfect with the correct teeny tiny concave bow. Had to raise the strings a bit because of buzzing. All this is pretty normal and expected.

Everything seems first rate. Time will always tell. I'm not worried.

I've called Fender several times. They actually answered the phone and were helpful, despite the horror stories you hear.

I've played over 20 years. Would buy this guitar again. I like the fact that it is a Custom Shop model at a reasonable price and has all the vintage appointments that make a Telecaster what is and WAS at the same time. The neck feels and plays like proverbial butter, it has THE tone, and looks like it was pulled out from under your grandfather's bed, where it's been stored since 1955 - yet mint condition. If only one word could be used to describe this beauty, it's YUMMY!!!

custom shop p/u's ash body, S1 switching, 21 frets , gig bag.

Incredible sounding guitar! This guitar has converted me from humbuckers. The sound and tone is so nice and there's so many tones available with the s1 option and 4 way. I never was happy with a strats bridge p/u, this tele's bridge is so sweet for overdrive sounds or super clean, it sounds amazing. I did not go in to the store to buy a tele, I just p/u this guitar and was wowed!. I have had other tele's before(52 fender RI) and thought they were nice but this guitar is special. The neck is bigger too, and it feels fantastic, and maybe adds to the magic tone. I love this guitar, check it out ASAP.

The fit and finish and set up were perfect. I got this at GC and I know they touch there guitars. I think you should check a couple out and find the best one.

this will be my main guitar for gigs and at home.

been playing for over 30 years i own tons of tube amps Marshall , fender, boogie's etc. i also have a PRS single cut and strat and now this tele. If stolen I'm running to buy another.

Basically, a tweaked 1952 Telecaster with additional killer tones. Ash body, 1 piece maple neck, 9.5 radius maple fret board with soft V-shape, 21 medium jumbo frets, old style 3 section brass barrel bridge, a Custom Vintage Broadcaster bridge pickup and a Custom Twisted Tele neck pickup with S 1 four-way switching, Gotoh vintage style tuning machines, deluxe gig bag, color is Desert Sand.

This guitar sounds great. The four-way switching produces 6 distinctly different sound positions. The 1 (bridge) and 3 (neck) positions remain the same in both S 1 positions. You get the 3 great, traditional Tele sounds (because of the custom pick ups, very, very good traditional sounds) and 3 additional great sounds of both pick ups parallel and out of phase, both pick ups in series (like a humbucker) and both pick ups in series and out of phase. It is really incredible. This particular wiring and switching arrangement dramatically improve the versatility of the Telecaster.

The extra positions give you a lot more sounds to explore. The sounds are so rich. There are great, pure blues tones, rock tones and unmistakable rockabilly tones. It is one of those guitars that is hard to put down because it sounds so good. This is a dramatic improvement to the Telecaster. The 3 classic Telecaster sounds plus 3 more killer tones. If you have reservations about buying a Telecaster because of the limited pick up positions (like I did), that problem has been totally solved.

Great single pole, nasal, reedy, creamy tones. Great bite when you want to rock.

The neck is much chunkier than the standard Tele neck. It was a surprise. I had expected some kind of slimmed down neck. It took some getting used to but it plays very easily. Intonation was fine, action was very, very good. No adjustments needed to be made. The body is very resonant and it sounds good unplugged. The maple fret board is terrific. The guitar stays in tune.

The G string had a slight buzz to it out of the box but I was able to easily take care of that. Two minor fit issues are that the bridge plate does not totally cover the bridge pick up cavity and the neck pick up cut out in the pick guard is too big so the fit around the neck pick up is sloppy. Just an observation, no big deal. For comparison, I have since looked at US and Korean made Telecasters and they do not have those issues.

The finish is great. No imperfections at all. With regard to the color, Desert Sand, there could not be a more nondescript color. If bland were a color, this is what it would look like. But, I suppose it fits in with the whole Player Series idea. This is the pre-color, 1952 Tele vibe of the industrial strength guitar that sounds great. With the bland colors, the Custom Shop completely keeps the focus on the sound. Which is where it should be. I should note that this was a scratch and dent find (actually just a return, the guitar was mint, with all paperwork, etc) so I took the color they had. For $600, I can live with it. Happily.

The guitar seems incredibly sturdy. Very much in keeping with the original Fender idea of sturdy, easy to fix guitars

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This guitar is all about sound and playability and Fender nailed them both at a good price. The Tele is a classic guitar and the limitation of only 3 basic pick up positions has been completely eliminated. You can go all over the place with this thing.

This is a classic guitar. Very, very good quality. Very, very good sound. On those counts, it???s right there with my USA Strat and Gibson Les Paul. Looks are another matter.

I don't have the time to detail all the specs. I can tell you that body is ash and neck is maple. The guitar is part of the Custom Classic Series. It has an S-1 switching system and the pick ups are wound to custom shop specs. If you have spent anytime researching this guitar, you will know it's made in Mexico with the assistance of Fender's Custom Shop.

This guitar is the king of the street here. You have to hear this guitar to believe the sounds it can produce. I play it through a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue with a GNX1. I think sometimes the GNX1 actually works against the sound of the guitar, but in this case, nothing can stop this thing from producing the best tones I've ever heard. The switching system is extremely effective and useable. The guitar can go from classic telecaster, silky smooth overdrive and high gain. The best way to describe the sound is to tell you that the guitar actually sings to you. Anything you can imagine you can play, can be played with this guitar. This guitar is off the scale for tone.

The guitar is fine. I just tuned it up and started playing. Fantasic action up and down the neck. The only thing I need to do is adjust the bridge saddles for a little better intonation. This is the only criticism I can make against this guitar. I love the way this thing plays because it has a nice big neck that plays like butter. This is not hype.

Built like a friggin tank. It looks every bit like a classic telecaster and feels the part as well. If you play telecasters, you know they are two chunks of wood. This one is a mojo caster. It feels good and sounds even better.

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I am 51 years old and have played guitar since the age of 10. I currently own 15 or so guitars including Am Deluxe Strat, Am Standard Telecaster and other brands as well. I have come to the conclusion for me that no other brand is quite up to the Fender bar. I am stuck in the past, but nostalgia has nothing to do with my opinion. You plug up a nice Fender guitar into a nice Fender Amp and you have magic.This Baja Telecaster is something else. If you like Telecasters,you will love this guitar.