Fender Richie Kotzen Signature Telecaster

Features,well it's a Tele with some cool modern adjustments.

neck pu : dimarzio twang king
bridge pu : dimarzio chopper,a single coil sized humbucker.

Finish is great,laminated maple top,this guitar is one of the most beautiful you'll ever see.

Comfort contour on the back,like the strats

The tuners are AWESOME,GOTOH golden tuners. the thing has never went out of tune ! NEVER. And i break ONE string every 2-3 month,if any.I play it every single day for hours.

There's a Pickup phase knob that it's just phenomenal for jazzy tones...choose FAT or bright/out of phase.And you use both pickups together.

The neck it's HUGE,i've got pretty big hands so no prob,but you gotta know this before you buy it ! It's a baseball bat. And yes,it makes FATTER TONE !! 21 big jumbos frets

The sound. This guitar massacres every other guitar i have or ever had (i have a kramer pacer custom and an Ibanez Pgm ). The thing just plays like an acoustic without an amp.
I'm addicted to it and I don't know if I'll ever want another guitar.
The sound you got is basically the classic tele,but fatter tone.Very bright,of course,since the bridge pickup is installed in a metal plate,but the thing ROARS. Just be careful backin off a little the treble on your amp. Then ,if you back off the vol.knob on the guitar,you can play wathever style you want with it ,jazz,funk,blues..everything. Oh,important note. It shines on clean sounds (best clean ever.) and it's better when you don't use the tele with too much distortion.It roars better on crunches,you know what i mean..

Of course,it sounds like a standard Telecaster,very bright,chimey,but with the humbucker you got a fat mid range,a bit nasal tone.Best clean / crunch tone ever.I use it for metal a-la- HELMET,go figure,and i set the amp with very limited gain.The thing roars so much and got a LOT of tone and resonance that "normal"guitars like ibanez are missing.PLay an ibanez after the Kotzen tele,it will sound like it's got a hole into it.

When it arrived to my home in italy from ishibashi,japan,the thing was perfect.I tuned up the strings (they were of course flubby because you must send it like that,to preserve neck damage ) and it was already in action. I made a bit of setup myself and adjusted the pickups height to my taste. Ready,set,go.

Ok,i could go gigging without any backup.You break a string (almost never happens with my tele) ,no problem,just pull it away and keep playing. Then when you finish the song you put a new one and tune it,READY. The thing will never go out of tune.

never dealt with fender.

I've been playing from 12 years now (i'm 25)and i own a kramer pacer and a ibanez PGM
If this guitar were stolen,i would buy it again and hope to get one that plays good like mine.
I own this guitar from 3 years now. you can play EVERYTHING with this guitar.

Only complaint it's the weight,,,it's not a light guitar,you gotta be careful..not a les paul,but almost.
For everything else,i think i will never replace my tele.

You probably know the features already.
I own
- Ibanez GIO ( yes the jumpstart thing, my first electric guitar... )
- Indie Les Paul ( Great study guitar... not for gigging )
- Maton Acoustic guitar ( Nice for learning fingerpicking )
- Valencia Spanish guitar ( My first ever guitar )

But this guitar beats every guitar I've owned so far.My first fender. Great for gigging. I had to play for a commision a couple of times so I could go to a rock academy. With this guitar I can start rock academy next year with confidence! THANK YOU FENDER FOR THE AWESOME FEATURES.

ps. I'm Dutch so sorry if my English isn't flawless.

This guitar is the most versatile guitar I've played so far. classic rock, hard-rock, blues, funk, psychedelic and 60s rock even Thrash metal - I like to play it all. This guitar can handle 'm all.

I own an orange crushr 30r and a digitech Jimi Hendrix Experience pedal. Altough I'm getting myself a marshall Jcm-900 from a friend, the guitar sounds awesome. In my own rock/pop/hard-rock band I can't play without this guitar anymore. My LP is very very dusty.

As I already mentioned, I'm not a pro yet and I'm still learning - so I'm having a hard time understanding every little thing from the guitar so far. However I did like the factory settings. It had 0.9 strings on it and I've put 0.10 strings on it, the guitar unfortunatly has to get used to the 0.10 strings. they sound normal amplified but not without. The neck is huge but I have large hands so that fits perfectly.

Gigged it hardstyle. It survived some hard rocking. However, I did not mistreat it and it still looks great after a couple of months.

I always have the LP as backup when a string breaks or anything, so a friend in the audience can fix the string. However it did not fail me live so far. I have broken some strings before, but that's because of my style of playing.

I've put some strap locks on it just to be sure it won't drop like my LP. It's not neccecary.

Bought it in a normal guitar store in Holland. Richie Kotzen had plated a demo there and he left ??ne Tele.

Nothing has broken so far so I can't judge the warranty so far.

I'm playing guitar for about 2,5 years now. I'm compared to all of you - inexperienced. 16 and addicted to guitar. This guitar made me even more addicted. If I see someone scratch the guitar or anything he'll eat wood.

This is just an update- I've had the guitar 7 months and have been gigging it as my main axe. Overall its become a vital part of my working selection. I have only 2 criticisms

1: The phase switch can be a bit tricky switching over, when playing live, I still think a push/pull pot would have been better.

2: The Brass plating on the bridge and control panel look as though it needs a clean, having said that it does give it a more tasteful lived in look.

On the positives , the neck is amazing, the range of tones are excellent. But above all it feels well made and really quality.

I was at the Music Live Guitar show in Birmingham NEC last month. I tried an American Deluxe Telecaster, which felt like a cheaper guitar. No wonder Fender don't import the Kotzen into the UK.It would really hurt sales of the more contemporary American guitars.

This is the Richie Kotzen TLR145-RK from Fender Japan. I ordered it from Ishibashi music. (THANKS TO NORIKO!!!)

Just for the record I didn't buy this because I am particularly fond of Richie Kotzen but, I do respect his playing. . . This is an unbiased review by a pro guitarist

2005 Fender Japan
22 frets Dunlop SUPER JUMBO
Ash body with flamed maple cap (very decent for under $3000)
3-way selector volume knob and phase switch (replaces tone)
Two Dimarzio Twang King passive (neck) and Dimarzio Chopper-T passive hum cancelling (bridge)
Neck is maple with maple fretboard and "skunk stripe"
Telecaster with excellent comfort cuts (forearm and stomach)
Brown burst flamed maple finish with gold hardware (very classy)
Very Decent bindin (single ply) that matches single ply pickguard
Standard tele 6 saddle bridge with Brass saddles
Ghoto non-locking tuners (they are great and hold tension and intonation very well).
Neck is. . . MASSIVE! like a louisville slugger fatboy with frets and a flat radius. . .
Purchased Fender Japan hardshell case and recieved manuals (with all appropriate wrenches) and a nice cable (manuals are in japanese though!)

Overall, you get alot of great non-standard upgrades that couldn't be found anywhere else and would cost a fortune to upgrade an American Tele to match. Custom Shop in Corona would charge nearly $5000.00 USD for the same thing. The closest equivalent would be the American Deluxe Ash Telecaster (with a '52 neck).

This guitar has features promoting and demanding a technical style of play especially a fluent and accurate left hand. . .

I play nearly every kind of music sans Rap. . . Mainly Rock, Progressive, fusion, jazz, classical, and country. This guitar's versatility comes from the pickup selection and the phase switch. I can't think of anything it wouldn't just excel at. Very impressed by the Bluesy scooped sound of the neck pickup and the middle selector in phase is one of the best jazz sounds I've heard on any solid body electric. . . I play alot of difficult music like the Dregs and Paul Gilbert in addition to Albert Lee and Brent Mason style country music. I've played a load of Dream Theater and such as well as Jimi Hendrix and James Taylor. This guitar will make you play very accurately and improve you alot or frustrate you horribly. It took 3 days of practicing 5 hours each day and a 5 1/2 hour gig to get the bugs out of my technique to handle this thing and I consider myself a pretty accomplished player.

I play with a Carvin Legacy VH100L and 2x12 Legacy cabinet (celestion vintage 30's). I use a Boss TU-2 Tuner and a Dunlop ZW-45 wah and that's all. The bridge pickup is real real quiet but, the neck pickup is hums as normal for tele's. Shielding the pickguard would help alot.

Acoustically, this guitar is very resonant and vibrant with a blooming sound and even decay. . . Amplify that with responsive pickups and viola! great tone! This guitar is totally balanced and only gets shrill when out of phase or at the peak of toe forward using the ZW wah.

I cannot say anything that I dislike inparticular but, if I shield the pickguard and reduce the neck pickup hum it would be nice. . . I also wouldn't jerk at the cable input too much as it isn't screwed into the body but, has a good tight finish and seal.

Factory action? Craptacular, came with .009-.042 and you couldn't even intonate the thing with such light strings. I moved the saddles as far forward as I could and it still played flat on the bottom 3 strings. . . The strings bent like wet spaghetti too. . . 1 hour later-----Ernie Ball .010-.046 like magic the guitar played perfectly and could easily accomodate .011's without too much fuss. I can't blame it on Fender Japan or Ishibashi as it traveled from Japan and stayed in Chicago for 4 days. . . Besides, realistically I've never been totally satisfied with any factory "set-up" none do more than a cursory intonation and neck adjustment anyway and I don't think anyone would not change strings (brand and/or gauge) from the factory strings so no matter what your at square one. With 10's and a little time I produced magical playability. . .

Pickups are a little unbalanced right now, after my gig on Sunday I knew I'd need to raise the neck pickup a bit and maybe lower the bridge to split the difference a little. . . However, you must keep in mind they are two VERY different pickups (tone wise)that just happen to work great separately or in tandem.

Binding was good, Flamed maple was great for the money; very sharp and pretty. Not PRS or high end Gibson but, also 1/3rd the price. . . grain on back matched up decently but not the best I've seen; who cares? I won't be showing that to anyone.

Fretwork and neck were just spectacular; perfect in everyway. Not a single flaw. . . good joint nice bridge and great saddles. I'm rather sure the gold will probably go away no matter how nice I keep it wiped down but, so has every Jem or Les Paul I've had gold on. Great guitar and excellent craftsmanship. . .

It has been gigged and I'd depend on it exclusively if I weren't a pro. . .

Hardware is great but, gold my tarnish, oxidize, and/or just wear off. . . Time will tell. This input jack is my only worry; I heard Richie had duct taped the thing on after it fell out however, he also jerks the cable out of a tight input. . .

This finish is good but, I put a decent nick in it already while intonating it with a screwdriver; I'm afraid I really will jack the finish from dinging it around from gig to gig. . .

Straplocks are not necessary on this one good strap buttons. . .

I do depend on it already with great confidence; and I'm not a gentle player. . .

Gig without a backup? NO WAY! Could I do it? Absolutely, positively.

Ishibashi is a direct distributor of Fender Japan and They put all American customer service to shame. . . It cost $116 for shipping and I will say I'd pay it again before using $.50 of gas in my car to get to guitar center. . . Noriko is the person to work with; she was outstanding and sincere. . . Warranty is in Japanese but, I couldn't imagine it being any worse than Fender America (warranty basically covers. . . . . NOTHING!). You can buy an extended warranty through Ishibashi and I would if you had the cash. . . Except the cost of shipping I know you'd be taken care of. . .

I've been playing about 17 years and a pro for 15.

I only play a fender american tele with the same dimarzio pickups and a fender american ash tele with fender texas special tele pickups. I definately will buy the TLR-135RK (seafoam green transparent on quilted maple). I have a Vasquez Rubio 3/4 classical by Armand.

I took a chance on this one and lucked out; it is perfect for technical and expressive playing. However, I thanked God I'd practiced my chops for ages before getting it as it makes you play with a precision that even belied my very developed technique!

I'd absolutely beat the living bejeezus out of anyone that touched this guitar. . . I've found THE GUITAR and I'm going to buy another one soon. I'd buy it again in a hearbeat.

I love everything and hate nothing. The best feature it the neck and SUPER JUMBO Dunlop fretwire followed by the pickups and phase switch. . .

I have compared it to everything else out there that I've suffered over the years retrospectively. If I could've had this earlier I would have. The closest I've come to being this happy was my Steve Morse Music Man. . . (which was based on a Tele).

I wish it had a twin in the case next to it. . .

Shredders, chickenpickers, and bluesmen unite under one guitar. . . just beware the most massive neck and tightest supersized fretwork ever, you will be a better player. . . The neck is shocking at first but, stick with it and you'll probably be converted. This guitar is for anybody and any style knowing in advanced you'll be wood shedding for a couple of weeks or more.

I suspect its 2003-2004. Bound Ash body 3 peices, with laminate maple top thats figured, 1 peice vintage profile neck with Jumbo frets & pearl style dot markers, Brown sunburst finish paintjob thats well applied. The back is contoured & it looks a bit like an American Telecaster Deluxe

In general construction is pretty much modern Japanese Fender. Its well made & feels durable.

The 2 pickups are a Di-Marzio Twang king in the neck, which is basically a good Tele style pickup & a Chopper-T which is a twin blade humbucker, thats single coil sized.

In place of a Tone Control their is a phase switch for the bucker that has 2 positions, 1 is fat sounding, the other is more Tele like.

The bridge is a six saddle modern style Job, the Brass or gold plating looks good, but under lights looks less so. The tuners are Gold plated Gotohs which are like on my old Ibanez & work well.

I'm not really into Ritchie Kotzen as a player. I play modern alternative Rock & although I solo, they are worked out melodic peices to serve the song.

I use a Marshall TSL-100 with only a few pedals, wah, overdrive & a Line 6 DL-4 Delay.

Its a very versatile guitar & considering I normally use a Les Paul or Yamaha SG700 live. Its very playable. Using the phase switch on the in between & rear pickups enables it to sound Telecasterish or really Fat & Strident.

I would have liked the phase switch to be a push-pull pot & to retain the tone control as any good player will have need for it depending on what you are doing. I like to back off the tone slightly for Solo's or E-Bow work. Apart from that I'm very impressed.

I bought this used from the Ishibashi Web shop. It was well set up and considering how far it has travelled, it was in tune when I unpacked it!!!! Its very playable, but I will probably raise the action, change the strings & give it a set-up soon.

The bookmatching of the top is Ok, the back is'nt so well matched grain wise, but it still looks good.

Aside from the plating of the bridge being slightly iffy. Its immaculately made.

As a guitar I'm very impressed & will report back once it has been gigged.

Fender J-Craft guitars are made by the people who build Japanese Ibanez guitars. So it has a real sense of being roadworthy & solid.

I tend to use a Les Paul & have a Yamaha SG700 as a backup. But I want to introduce new tones to the band. So I'm gonna gig it. I think it will be fine.

As its a U-Box from Ishibashi, I've no dealings with Fender Japan. But Ishibashi were Fantastic. I've no problem reccomending Tatsuro & his team. Their customer service was impeccable & craps on every music retailer I've been to in England. Their English was good & they really seemed to care. I was originally going to buy a new Kotzen, but asked if they had a used or Shop soiled one. They sent me a photo of the guitar, highlighting one tiny scratch in a place no-one would see. Its barely visible & yet they cared so much.

The guitar cost #530.00 including courier with insurance. I should have paid duty & VAT, but no one seemed to notice. So I did'nt- heh heh.

I've been playing 20+ years & own A Gibson Les Paul Classic/ SG Standard/ Yamaha SG700/ Yamaha SG1300t & an old Barnes & Mullins Classical guitar.
I was originally going to buy a grey import J-Craft fender 52 tele reissue with Texas Specials. But I saw the Kotzen & fell for it. If it were Stolen I'd hunt the theives down & kill them horribly.

Aside from the tone control issue mentioned earlier, its perfect.

Brand new 2005, made in Japan!
Ash body with Quilted Maple Laminated Maple Cap, C Shape maple neck, 22 fret Maple board, DiMarzio Twang King(Front), DiMarzio Chopper T(Rear) Pups, Control&Switch 1 Vol, Pickup Mode Switch, 3 Way Switch, 6 Section Brass bridge,Gotoh machines, Gold hardware, 3-Ply White Pearl scrathplate, HSCase.

I play metal - Metallica, Korn style stuff thru Mesa Dual Rec head & Mesa 4x12 cab, no FX. This guitar sounds superb! The DiMarzio's really scream with plenty bite & Tone!

This was delivered a couple of days ago from Trans Am Guitars in the UK. I took it straight from the box, plugged in to my Vox Valvetronix practice amp & it felt REAL GOOD! The set up was spot on with a set of DR 10's I asked the Trans Am guys to put on for me with the action set just how I like it - low! The quality really shines thru, the green paint job is great with no flaws at all. This is a high quality instrument from the J-Craft guys.

We''ll see - I'm gigging a lot over the next month so........

Fender Japan make 'em & Trans Am Guitars supplied it so not sure here. But I must say I am impressed with the service from Trans Am, ordered & received the very next day & ready to play! I have now ordered the other model Tele (Sunburst) & a Fender Japan Mustang from them also!! I work hard so I treat myself now & again OK! 10 is for Trans Am, will let you know about FJ if & when......

I've Been playing 15 years or so & have had loads of other Tele's & Strats but this one is one of the best I've played as it feels so good & comfortable & the pickups are superb. I sometimes use a FJ 52 Tele with Texas Specials which is so nice to play especially for more ZZ Top style bluesey stuff but the RK is right on the money for extreme metal.

I know what you must be thinking, 'there isn't such thing as a Richie Kotzen signature Telecaster', wrong! there is and he has a signature strat as well. Both models are made under the 'crafted' moniker and sold in Japan (where Mr Kotzen is rather popular, obviously). My guitar, the Tele, has quite a few unusual features including gold hardware, translucent paint, huge frets, Dimarzio pickups (Chopper-T in the bridge and Twang King in the neck) and a rotary phase switch in place of the tone knob. In my opinion a standard telecaster should only be given a 5 or 6 in this catagory, it always has been a guitar that makes you produce the tones with your hands, this guitar has a huge leap of extra versitily thanks to the phase switch. I have also awarded an extra point due to its strat style comfort cuts on the body which makes it sit very nicely.

The 'Twang King' in the neck is a fairly standard affair and is seemingly low in the output stakes compared to the 'Chopper-T' sitting in the bridge. Being a humbucking design the Chopper is really quiet which I think is great since I record a lot and it still retains some of the infamous Tele treble (some not all). The middle position is really cool, in-phase the sound is much thicker and hotter than you would think, out-of-phase the sound is pleasently thin and nice on clean sounds. I have a feeling that I'm just going to keep both pickups on and switch between the phase switch for clean and lead sounds. The only problem with that though is that the switch isn't as convenient and the pickup switch makes a click noise when changed. The body is fairly heavy and thus helps the sustain along a bit.

I bought mine in 'A' grade second hand from a music shop in Japan. I don't know who old it is but the gold hardware has suffered a little bit but it mainly needed a good cleaning. The nut seemed to be cut a little shallow but given the size of the frets this is probabely a good thing. Because of this I haven't given a mark as I can't really vouch for the product as new. It certainly seems to of been made to a higher standard than my now dusty American Standard Tele (poor thing).

Fender Telecaster. 'Nuff said. What can go wrong!

I'm not going to give my opinion on Fender as their representatives in England, the ominous Arbiter, are a funny/arkward bunch of people. The company which I bought it from (Ishibashi Music Tokyo) where just great! I contacted them via email and they responded quickly. Their English is spotless and they were able to describe the condition of the guitar very clearly to me. Ordering speed? I emailed them on Sunday night and the guitar arrived on my doorstep on Wednesday! From Japan!! Most dealers in my country aren't that quick. They also organised insurance for me which was nice. I'm not being paid by these guys, they really were very good. Want an unusual Fender? Drop by their website. My quoted price includes postage and a killer extra 17.5% tax charge, thank you very much your Majesty.

I've only just bought it and I am feeling very sorry for my old Tele. I'm struggling a little due to the size of the neck (big fifties 'C') but I'm all up for going chunky as I've just moved up to using 11' gauge strings too. As far as I know it's the only one of its kind in the UK and only one of two in Europe, the other owned by a guy in Sweden. I can't wait till I can afford a Richie Kotzen signature Stratocaster!