Fender Telecaster Special

1994 Mexican Tele Special, vintage blonde translucent finish, black pickguard neck humbucker, bridge single coil, maple fingerboard/neck, vintage tuners, jumbo frets. I picked this incredible guitar up at a vintage/used guitar shop here in Austin, Texas in March, 1996 for $300 in near mint condition. This is, without a doubt, the best Tele I have owned, and I have owned 6 since 1979. When I plugged this thing in, it just screamed "Keith Richards"!

OK, the sound is perfect for my style of Roots Rock, which is heavily influenced by the Rolling Stones, the Black Crowes and John Mellencamp. This Tele has a real "growl" to it, which is really great for open G/capoed rhythm playing. Plus, it has that classic Tele "twang" and the neck humbucker produces amazing Gibson-like sustain. In short, this baby has a LOT of great tones, stock! It always sounds good and inspires me to play!

As others have stated, I had to lower the action when I got this guitar. Once that was done, the jumbo frets make country and blues bends a snap. The pickups had to be raised, but that's a no brainer. Everything else about this guitar was/is great, except for the vintage tuners, which for some reason I STILL haven't replaced. They stay in tune OK, but I know replacing them would be worthwhile. There's something about the old school look of the vintage tuners I like, which may be why I have yet to replace them.

This Tele I have played in every possible setting, from club stages to recording studios, and it ALWAYS performs like a champ. The hardware is sturdy, the workmanship excellent and the finish STILL looks great. I have seven other guitars, including another Tele, 2 Strats and an Ampeg Dan Armstrong (which is my main guitar), and this Tele is my number 2 axe. It is a true workhorse!

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I have been playing for 30 years, nearly 20 of those professionally. This is one of the best guitars I have ever owned in my career as a musician. Apart from the vintage tuners not being that great, this is a perfect Fender Telecaster in every respect. It's as good or better than ANY vintage or re-issue Tele. Plus, the neck humbucker gives it the tonal capabilities of the great Telecaster Custom. I really love the vintage blonde finish, with the grain peeking through. I, too, love a pretty blonde!

1994 Mexican made Tele with black pickguard, 1 piece maple neck with fat frets. Red translucent finish with grain showing throught he finish. Fender humbucker in the neck position, single coil at the bridge and a 5 position switch. vintage tuners, 1 tone, 1 volume control and a standard bridge. It came without any accessories.

At first, it fell way short of what I expected - it sounded thin, almost tinny. Once I adjusted the height on both pickups and replaced the bridge saddles with graph-tech saddles, the guitar turned into a monster. The sound became round, well defined and fat. This is a VERY versatile guitar. I generally use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe or Concert amp and have run it through a Boss ME-5, a Boss ME-30 and presently a Yamaha DG-Stomp. It just keeps sounding better. I play everything from jazz to country and spend most of my time in the blues/classic rock area, and it works for everything I play. Granted, it's not gonna sound exactly like a Les Paul or sound just like the opening Strat licks on "Sweet Home Alabama", but it gets damn close. Given the choice though, I'd rather get damn close to a couple of sounds and have a lot more usable ones in one guitar than have to schlep 4 guitars to a gig to get all the sounds I get out of this one.

In typical Fender fashion, the action was to high for my (and apparently everyone else's) taste. Once I got the action lowered and the pickups raised, it got real easy to play. The thicker frets make for nearly effortless bending - even with 10 gauge strings. The vintage tuners left a lot to be desired. Aside from hating those things, they didn't stay in tune well at all. I replaced them with stock Fender Schaller tuners, and that ended any issues about staying in tune. The neck pocket was air tight, the finish was flawless and everything else on the guitar was standard Fender - ready to rock.

I pulled this guitar out of the box, set it up and hit the bars with it. Aside from the minor tweaks I've described, I've gigged with this guitar nearly every week since 1995 without a backup and without any problems. All I've done to it during this time is wipe the grime off of it at the end of the night, change the strings and make minor adjustments. Reliable? Yeah, it can hold its own on in the bars - after all, it's a Tele. If you have a day job, you could also probably use it to chop down trees, drive nails and lay bricks, bring it to a gig, have it perform without a hitch and still look good at the end of the night. This guitar is solid as a rock. Just to be on the safe side though, I installed a set of Dunlop strap locks - you never know when you might drop it and hurt the stage.

I've never had to deal with Fender customer service or have the guitar worked on. The folks in Scottsdale were very friendly and informative whenever I'd call with any questions, though.

I've been playing for over 30 years, and depending on the venue, go between a standard Strat, Les Paul, ES-335 and a Takamine acoustic/electric. For straight versatility and if I could only take one guitar to a gig, this would be the one. If it were lost or stolen, I'd hunt the s.o.b. down and beat him senseless with the guitar before I tuned it back up and played another gig with it. If you want a great, inexpensive guitar that will look good, do everything you need it to do and give you an incredible amount of bang for the buck, this is the one I would recommend.

1994 Blond finish Mexican made Tele with Black pickguard, one piece "Vintage" colored maple neck with large, almost gibson style frets, Body is Basswood with an Ash cap, Very pretty color and grain showing though on top. Volume control, TBS tone control and 5 position switch. Chrome Covered 4 wire Humbucker in the neck position and a "Very different" sounding single coil pickup in the bridge position.

This is a Hot Rod. at first I thought the humbucker lacked highs, But when played at higher volume through a 4-10 peavey classic 50 it sings. All 5 positions have wonderful distinct sounds. I bought this guitar new in 94, I play mostly blues and blues based rock and this guitar is one of my favorites allthough it was the least expensive.
I would buy another one if I could find it. This is one Fender (out of 11) That I would never change the pick-ups on. a Great Blues axe

BEEF:The Orange Finish was slopped over the frets and factory action was too high. (isn't it always?) I have this guitar strung with .010's and like it alot, I usually string "big fretted" guitars with lighter strings.

Has done duty in the "Bar wars" and earned distinction. Its a Solid guitar. The finish is as good as the day I bought it. Even let the Drunks slobber on it on "jam night" and (after being wiped off) it's good as new.
I have alot of guitars and rarely have only one with me. BUT: This would be "THE" one, If I was only taking one.

I've never had the pleasure

I have been playing 20+ years I own way too many guitars, (15 as of today) I buy, sell and trade 'em and am suffering from G.A.S. (Guitar Aquisition syndrome) This one is a keeper. If stolen I would cry and get drunk and probably wake up with another one just like it in bed with me. Just a sucker for a pretty blonde!

Maple neck, body ?, humbucker in neck position, single coil in bridge(replaced with Seynour Duncan Little 59 Tele single coil-sized HB), five-way pickup selector, string through body, 1 tone 1 voume knob. Creamy finish with the grain visible in the center. Made in Mexico Also play Amer. STD tele and Strat.

Neck pickup is very full and deep. At times it seemes like it could use a little bit more high end but the natural brightness of the maple neck compensates nicely. I only had it a week before the SD pickup was put in so I can't really comment on the stock bridge, however, much praise to Mr. Duncan on a wonderful replacement. Everything does exactly what it is supposed to. As I said before the neck pickup is a little dark but still crunches. The bridge sounds aggressive and punchy at higher gain settings, not at all what you would expect to come out of a Tele. With clean settings I use the #2 and #4 settings. #2 sounds unbeleivably pure and bell-like. #4 is very warm and great for blues. I have received countless compliments on my tone. I have been running straight into a Marshall JCM 900 100watt head with 4x12 cab with d'addario 10's. At age 17 I grew out of my Ibanez+rack phase and became somewhat of a purist. Recently I have stated using a few select boxes through the FX Loop, the Dan-Echo pedal and Cool Cat chorus; both sound marvelous. The do what effects are supposed to do, color your sound not define it. I just tried it through my new tremoverb and it sounds like a monster.

The finish on the body is flawless. The neck a tiny flaw in the laquer. The action was a little high and the I had to intonate it but that is common with stock fenders.

This guitar has been given several nick-names by my friends. The 'beast', the 'rock', and 'Tim's anvil'. Everyone says they are careful with their instruments but come on, we've dropped and knocked stuff over. If that happens I get upset but it does not worry me, this thing will probably be around longer than I will. I could never gig without a backup because of the one time when I didn't and I ended up breaking a string. The strap buttons have been replaced with schaller strap locks.

I've never dealt with fender because of a problem so I can not offer an opinion. Most of what I hear is positive but no one can satisfy everybody. I have recently got in touch with them to find out more about this guitar ex\\ what type of wood in the body etc.

A mexican made tele with a humbucker at neck and special design single coil at bridge. 21 frets, nice cream finish where the grain can be seen. 5 way selector which goes #1 hum,#2 split-hum, #3hum+s.coil, #4 split hum+s.coil, #5 s.coil. Rating gets 7 because of lack of extras like bag or strap. Otherwise 8.

Quite a versatile guitar. possible to get a lespaul sound but cant be too hopeful with the humbucker. the split hum bucker gives a cross between tele and strat sound. can play rock, blues and country very well with the exception of metal and related genres. Running it through a dual overdrive, it sounds heavy like a lespaul on the humbucker. with the crunch it sounds good on position #4. like i said, sound is quite versatile.

Action a bit too high for comfort, after adjustment plays smoothly.had to change a screw for the top strap button, stock screw was too small or the hole was too big. otherwise pretty well-made guitar.

dependable. my main ax. yet to complain. dropped it once and the guitar was fine except my toe which became swollen.

no complaints.

A good and cheap guitar. i recommend it for those who play blues, rock and pop-rock. looks really cool, all the girls(?) seem to like it.would definitely buy it again. a good cheap tele for those who cant afford a real one but also wants more bang for the buck.

This mexican tele comes with a splitable neck-humbucker and a single in bridge position. Great 5-way switch delivers a variaty of sounds. Maple neck on a well built sunburst body.

The original humbucker sounds very jazzy like a 59'PAF. The splitted humbucker is more open like a standard tele neck PU. The combined position (H + S) has a little more power than my preferred position (splitH + S) which is great for rythm work. I did not use the original lead position. But now I changed the lead pickup to a joe barden tele lead - what a difference! This stacked humbucker sounds exactly how a lead pickup on a tele should sound. (slightly louder, smoother highs, good attack - but expansive)

As I took the guitar out of the box I was surprised how good this one felt and sounded in comparison to other teles I've played. I only changed the strings to flatwounds 11 which I prefer on non tremolo guitars. (try it out!) Action could have been a little lower.

It stays in tune and does not make any unwanted noise. Very solid guitar.

Not necessary. It seems not to be possible to buy a replacement pickguard - so be careful.

This is a very versatile guitar which delivers useable sounds from jazzy solos over classic fender rythm to high and funky tones. But - you can't get a strat rythm sound out of it. This is a very good allround guitar for people who don't like strats. I would buy it again but this type is not produced any more.

This is a blond, ash veneer-on-poplar instrument, now not made anymore, though well-represented in the current catalog in the California Fat Tele I see in the Musicians' Friend catalog. It has a humbucking neck pickup and a single-coil classic Tele neck pickup. There is a special five-way switch, not at all like a contemporary 5-way Strat switch, along with a TBX "treble-bass expander" stacked potentiomer. The neck is maple, with "skunk stripe": the neck is magnificent. The tuners are Kluson-type; the finish is translucent, so that the ash grain shows through. The frets are nicely-big, definitely bigger than the original frets on my 1962 Strat reissue. It came with no accessories; I bought a gig bag.

As originally purchased, the original steel-saddle bridge and the poplar body gave it a thin, mildly uninteresting sound. I've since replaced the body with a Warmoth swamp ash body, and the steel saddles with brass. It sound much better now, more like "Hot Rod Lincoln" than the "Byrdmaniax" thin sound it used to have. Play it through a 1997 Hot Rod Deluxe and a 1995 Peavey Classic 30. Not noisy. All Teles are subject to pickguard static, and this has mysteriously gotten worse lately. (You can fix pickguard static by putting StewMac's or Carvin's shielding tape on the unexposed side of the pickguard, and on the inside of the control cavity, then connecting both pieces of the shielding tape to the common ground on the back of the volume potentiometer: just haven't gotten around to this yet.) It gives a nice mixed humbucker/single coil sound reminiscent of Andy Summers' work with the police. The humbucker sound is not very distinguishable: I like it most because it's not 70 percent louder than the single-coil sounds. The neck pickup with one coil cut out was too quiet until I changed the body and the bridge saddles: now it sounds very Hendrixy, reminiscent of "Axis Bold As Love".

Great Action ! No flaws. The humbucker is mounted by two screws from the pickguard, not with a four-screw mounting ring, and can rock back and forth, which may be one of the reasons that the original neck single-coil sound was too quiet, since the coil in the circuit may have been too far from the strings.

Very reliable; the soldering job was firstrate, and no problems with the hardware.

No experience with customer support.

Been playing since 1969. This was an excellent value at normal price, and many similar guitars are just now going out of availability as discontinued items for even lower prices. An excellent guitar to buy and modify to taste, or to leave absolutely alone. (The bridge pickup may be reverse-wound, reverse-polarity, in order to mix correctly with the humbucker: I'd check the single coil pickup's polarity carefully before buying a replacement.)