Fender Toronado

I just wanted to add that after comparing it to my band mate's les paul, the sound is actually quite different. The Les Paul has a thick, rich, warm tone, while the Toronado has a bright, punchy, mid-cutting tone. Both guitars have equally interesting sounds, it just depends on what you go for.

Also this guitar has remained faithful to me for quite some time. I beat the s*** out of it (and i mean beat the s*** out of it...i'm glad i didn't crack the neck in two) the other night doing a wild solo and the thing had some tuning issues for a little bit but it straightened right out. I thought I had ruined it but it turned out that we were just being stupid and couldn't tune it by ear since our ears were bleeding that night anyways.

2005 Fender Toronado GT HH, made in Korea. 22 frets, 24.75" scale, solid top, 2 volume/2 tone knobs. Double Seymour Duncan humbuckers. Mahogany body, polyurethane finish, bronze color with black racing stripe. Hardtail Gibson-style bridge, generic no-name tuners. No accessories.

Sound was great, for the first ten minutes, until it went out of tune and would not take a re-tune. Several sets of strings broken trying to get them to re-tune properly.

If it had stayed in tune, I'd give the sound a 10. Fat, crunchy, awesome sound even without distortion.

Action and set-up sucked. For some reason the bridge was not aligned well with the body, the tuners wouldn't hold a tune, the pick-up selector switch cover came broken (this was a brand-new guitar) and the finish at the truss rod adjustment was already peeling.

Pickups were about the only decent thing.

Finish was decent, strap buttons were solid, I would not use this without a backup due to the tuning issues and breaking strings.

Sent it back immediately to Samash.com under their 45-day return policy. We'll see if they credit me in full or if they deduct for the one broken string that would NOT go into tune despite using three different sets of strings to try to make it work.

What a piece of crap. Makes my Mexican Standard Fat Strat look like a vintage '60s collectible worth thousands. I was really excited for this guitar and when I got it, so much about it was wrong. I'm frustrated by it, it's my second guitar but I was going to make it my primary. Now I'm thinking maybe of just quitting guitar entirely, it has me so mad.

Mine is one of the new GT HH range, with the go faster 'Starsky & Hutch' black stripe across the front. Pretty garish really, especially as it's green, but immaculately finished.

Made in Korea to a very high standard, with real twin Seymour Duncan humbuckers, Gibson style tune-o-matic bridge and heavy high chromed tail stop. It's a mahogany body, bolted maple neck & rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium frets. Tuners are Fender's own - same as on my classic 60s strat.

Bought new at a very heavily discounted price (the reason I bought it if honest) with no extras/gig bag etc. Played fine out of the shop, but I paid #40 for a pro set up - which was worth every penny.

Simply put, the guitar is amazing. Plays like dream due to the effortless modern Strat C section neck and has a thick creamy sound reminiscent of a Les Paul, but still with a Fender edge. The Seymour Duncans are pretty poky, I don't know what model, but I'm guessing they're ceramic rather than alnico. I can easily overlook it's dodgy hot rod looks when it's plugged into my Fender Blues Jnr Amp and a basic overdrive pedal. Amazingly it also has a nice snappy clean sound, which I would never have expected from ceramic p/ups.

It was the best bargain ever for me. Along with my Strat, I have every conceivable blues/classic rock sound covered. Hell, the Torrie will even do metal if needed.

Buy one even if you don't need it - these are superb guitars. Their non American build heritage ceases to be a factor the moment you play the first note

Suits my modified blues stylings just fine..

Used mainly with Fender BJ amp & Digitech/Boss overdrives.

Not at all noisy on any setting.

Acoustically plyed the gtr is mellow and very middly. Plugged in, the sound is huge & very woody. Plenty of treble available, but it's hard to make it sound shrill in any way.

Clean construction, superbly finished. Hardware was immaculate, just a small missing length of braid around the LHS of the neck p/up. The set up was good basic rather than exceptional - intonation fine, p/ups well balanced, but a few rough fret edges on the unbound neck. Frets themselves well fitted and polished.

Don't expect any problems in this are after playing a few gigs. Whilst it's not especially heavy, it has a mass and solidity that inspire confidence. No guitar is bomb proof, but this feels close to it - makes my strats feel almost insubstantial though of course they're not..

Never had to deal with Fender and don't expect to.

Played guitar for 36 years, but only moved seriously to electric in the last two. Played a lot of elec guitars though.

I'd happily replace it with another guitar from the Fender GT Toronado HH range.

Fender MIM Toronado. Mine is from 1998. Cream color, tortoiseshell pickguard, rosewood fretboard, two humbuckers and a selector switch.


Not too few, not too many. Enough features to get the job done. Looks beautiful, plays flawlessly. Gets a 10.

Sounds like a Les Paul but with a Fender feel. If you like the sound of thick, buttery, hot humbuckers but love the feel of a genuine fender, this guitar is for you. No doubt.

If you compared the two side by side, the Les Paul MIGHT sound just a tad bit warmer or richer, but honestly there's not that much difference. The tonal characteristics and variety from each pickup setting is breathtaking. The neck pickup is bluesy (won't get you a 335 tone, but it has its own sound), and the bridge pickup bites and snarles like you wouldn't believe. Halfway in between lies a setting that sounds remarkably like a fat strat.

Excellent sound, excellent features.

Excellent feel, and solid to boot. It's probably not the nicest guitar I've ever played in my life, but then again the nicer guitars have been at least a few hundred and/or thousand dollars more. For the price I got it at (roughly $400) this guitar is a knockout.

Satin-smooth neck and a gliding rosewood fretboard. Tuners are vintage deluxe tuners and they are SOLID. The instrument is very toneful and has a bit of a resonant quality to it. I can't really say anything negative about this instrument! The G string has a tough time once in awhile, but that's a rare occasion and something I can live with.

Tough as nails. Been to practices, gigs, and back. Still holds up like the day I brought her home!

Excellent guitar. I have not played the new ones but I am guessing they are somewhat similar. If you can get your hands on an older model, DO IT!!! They are excellent guitars for the money, especially the prices they go for used.

Beautiful, chiming, rich sound and a feel that goes on for days. Terrific axe! Recommended!

Pretty well covered. Mine is a Mexican one from a few years back. Black with the tortoise shell. H/H with separate vol & tone for each pick-up, pretty much a les paul set-up with the toggle. Atomic Humbuckers. Fixed bridge. I give it a ten because of the fixed bridge and the separate controls for the pick-ups. I don't really know what else you would want.

Toronado=> Wah =>DS-1 Keeley =>TS9dx=>'75 Bassman 10 silverface 4x10 combo

The sound of this thing is great. It is pretty unique. The guy at the music store told me it was a "Fender Les Paul" and I've heard it described that way before. I have to say it sounds very different than a LP. LPs are obviously great, but if you want that sound, save your duckets and get one. As I said before the sound of this guitar is pretty unique. The pick-ups seem to be very hot, especially the bridge. I think the pickups are great. The neck pick-up, surprisingly, has an almost single coil sound to it. They can squeal a bit with a lot of distortion when you're not playing. I actually kind of like this because I play in grunge cover band and I use a lot of noise. I'd probably say that this guitar is not for all styles of music or for every guitar player. It's aggressive and unique. Again, this is not a LP or a strat, it has a sound all it's own which I really like.

This guitar plays really well. I really like the neck on it. It is more substantial than any other Fender I've played.

NA

I've been playing for 15 years or so. I traded a Fender CycloneII (s/s/s)for this because I wanted something with dual humbuckers. I have several favorite things about this guitar. It is very comfortable to play, as stated above the neck is very substantial but well balanced. It's not too heavy (much lighter than my Paul). I think it looks cool. But most of all, I like the sound. It's different. So many dudes play Strats and Pauls through Marshall or boogies or twins etc. Don't get me wrong, those are great sounds, but this one has a different sound that I find to be great. One final thing. A lot of these reviews on this site have unfair comparisons in them. I'll read things like "This mexican strat terrible compared to my dad's 70's strat he's had in the closet for 30 years..." No shit. You gotta remember that this is a lower end guitar. I got mine for 3 bills. I can't expect it sound like a $3000 guitar because it's not. I play out and this guitar is awesome because if got busted or ganked, I could easily get another and I would.

Just to complete my previous review. The buzz until you touch any metallic part of the guitar (string, screws, the metallic jack of the cable connected...) is a REAL thing in nearly all the Mexican Toronado guitar (at least). It would be nice to get a solution written here. Not sure if fixing the pick-ups screws or having the amp ground-connected...

Mine is a Mexican H-H black polyester finished with 2 atomic humbuckers. Very heavy but nice jaguar-shape with gigbag included.

Sound good, a lot of sustain because of the weight. Sometimes the humbuckers get a bit noisy but usually ok.

Confortable.
The finish is not perfect anyway and in edges with neck and pickups you see the paint is not perfectly fixed. It has a tiny scratch under the bridge so i got a little discount. I don't know how fender send things like this, after paying such a lot for them. Pick-ups are not 100% perfectly adjusted but sounds ok. (first string not in hte middle of the magnet)

Hard and heavy. Finish is not so good and i will be careful with scratches.

I bought in a german shop (guitar24.de), directly sended from Fender Netherlands. They should have it in stock cos it was a bit dirty and the protection foils where removed. I got a discount but i would have changed it for having perfectly-brand new

It's ok, but not the perfect guitar i dream to own. Seems that if you want it, you have to pay an american one.

2004 H/H passive pickups, offset waist, crappy standard Fender Mexican tuners.

Action set randomly at the factory. Intonation was not even close. Pickups seem a tad weak. The finish on the body was good, but within weeks the clearcoat finish on the headstock started peeling, and Fender refused to cover it under their "5-year warranty" because, as they told the Fender authorized repair guy, it happened after I bought the guitar. As if I made the finish peel on the headstock underneath the strings.

Finish is cheap and horrible.

Customer support is worse than non-existant. If they had never even called back, it would have been better than the blanket refusal to honor their own warranty. Gotta love giant, faceless corporations.

Never buy anything from Fender ever. At least nothing new, because that warranty is worth jack.

Made in Mexico sometime during October of 2000...body is unique..Jaguar meets Strat meets Ernie Ball?? Really Plain string thru bridge. Jazzmaster looking headstock. 24 3/4 neck scale, which is odd since Gibson normally uses that scale.

Sounds very interesting. Stratlike in some ways but the humbuckers give it more warmth with less bell like features. Has good harmonic balance. Full sounds. I would love to put a coil tap on the bridge humbucker....

Good fitting neck. Nice fretwork...few buzzes here and there but nothing terrible. Make sure the saddle screws are all adjusted evenly or you will get strange buzzes...

It survived the last five years, and I think it will keep on keepin on..

Absolutely a unique find...interesting and useful sounds..could definately do a wide variety of tones...

Deluxe MIM Toronado, if you don't know the specs by now, my repeating them won't help :)

The Atomic Humbuckers are good, but lacking a bit of 'snap' so I had the rear 'bucker coil tapped with a push/pull knob on the tone, so I can make it a single coil. This has greatly increased the already good tonal range. I currently play thru a Vox Pathfinder 15, with a MXR DynaComp, a Wasabi distortion, and Danelectro reverb pedal.

bought it used, so couldn't say how the factory set-up was.
the only issue I noticed is that intonation is difficult as the bridge appears to be about 2mm too close to the neck to get the low E properly intonated.

Seems durable. Heavy, shiny paint, hard to ding, no cracking. Strap buttons stay tight, no crackling or snapping in the pots.

n/a

I've been playing for about 8 months after a LONG (15yr) hiatus. If lost or ripped-off I'd gladly buy again. I REALLY want to get a custom made one of these, with a 3 color 'burst and a pair of SD Phat-Cats.
Love the neck on this guitar, big fat custom shop style neck (1.6875 @ nut) with a mexican price.