Fender Toronado

Really nice heavy piece of alder with a maple neck and wide rosewood fingerboard. Mine is a 2002 Mexican deluxe model and is black (like all of my guitars, I guess it's a Johnny Cash thing)with tortoise shell pickguard. I won't describe what it looks like since you are more than likely either playing one already or currently thinking about playing one and have at least seen it. The guitar also has dual humbuckers and a bolt on neck. I don't know what the scale is since that involves math and I play for fun and math is not fun. Chrome hardware and String-thru-body Hard-tail Bridge.

The instrument sounds a lot different than other Fenders that I own ('62 Jaguar reissue MIJ and a '72 Custom Telecaster reissue MIM). My first impression is that the guitar is best suited for music that requires distortion. Whether it is crunchy riffs or loud leads, the bolt on neck and dual humbucker configuration compliment both. Since I write and play a variety of different types of rock, I can incorporate it into my music rather easily. The guitar appears to be designed for punk rock (or whatever it's being called these days) from a sound standpoint (However I could swear I saw a girl playing one on CMT the other night). Playing it through a clean channel does not produce a real full sound and this is pretty common for a bolt on solid body with dual humbuckers. The biggest thing I noticed about the sound was that the quality was completely different depending on which amp I played through (Really????). The point is that it sounds a lot better through my Fender M-80 than it does through my Carvin SX200. This is relatively common knowledge that Fender designs things this way and should be considered when purchasing this instrument.

Nothing to complain about

This guitar will last in all environments (studio\live). The instrument appears to be durable and dependable. I don't play too many gig's anymore, I'm into home recording. Regardless of that, I would never play a gig without a backup regardless of what guitar\amp I was using on stage.

N\A

I've been playing for about 15 years. I have about 10 guitars of various makes and models, a few bases, a few amps and some recording equipment. I played in bands for about 4 years but hate learning other bands' music so I dropped out of the cover band scene (back in the grunge era) and started writing and recording on my own. My music is based on simple rock, 60's psychadelic blues, merseybeat, punk roots (mod), types of music. I didn't compare the guitar to any others because upside some guitars, it is lacking. Upside other guitars it performs well. I rated it based upon what it really is, a cheaper alternative to high priced instruments and a higher quality alternative to cheaper instrument. It's just a tool for whatever you are trying to get accomplished. If you are going to play in a 10 piece Jazz ensemble, pass this up, wrong tool. If you consistently play and are looking to upgrade from your $150 strat copy that you got for xmas 2 years ago and learned on, this is a far more better purchase than a $2000 Les Paul

Features include 2 nickle or chrome covered humbuckers, a 3 way switch and a poplar body with a sunburst maple top. If you like sunbursts, this is one of the best I've seen and I was happy to pay the extra $40 for it. Otherwise, a simple guitar made in Mexico and with the exception of some sloppy knobs and a cheap jack, a pretty solid piece. Kind of heavy but no worse then some ash Teles I own.

When I tried this guitar out in the stores at low level, I really fell in love with the bridge pickup's clean sound. Very snappy and three dimensional. Almost like a Tele but with more girth. When turned up, it yields typical humbucking squawk but with a neat high end to it. I would definitly consider this pickup for modding a Strat or Tele in the bridge position. In my opinion the name "Atomic" is a misnomer in that this does not come off like some super distortion pickup. The neck pickup is equally articulate and offers fat bell-like sounds that morph into rich overdrive when pushed. The combined pickup setting is not a sound I use much so I'm not really going to say much about it. Having not tried out alot of the boutique humbuckers I'm not going to hand out any 10s here...I'm sure there are alot pickups out there that sound different and better to some ears. Humbuckers are not something I'm well versed in but if you are a single coil player looking for something a little fatter but still with some zing to them, this guitar is one you should look into. Plus, they look neat and are reasonably priced.

Finish: Gorgeous
Action: OK
Fit:?
Quality: needs some minor adjustments and wiring tweaks. My knobs were loose and the plug-in jack cuts in and out...simple stuff but annoying. I can fix it myself...no big deal in a $500 guitar. One thing that does bother me is the Gibson scale. I did not think this would bother me but I do find myself over bending. If you are used to Gibsons, this is no big deal.

I guess I should have left my quibbles for this section...wiring, loose knobs etc. Otherwise, typical Fender slab of wood that sounds real good.

I've not spoken to anyone about the guitar so I would not know how Fender is to deal with.

Good! I love the way it looks and sounds and with a little attention and tweaking, it would be just fine. If you have to have feather weight guitars, this may not be for you. While I prefer light guitars, some of my heavier ones sound real good, just different. Overall, a good guitar that allows a Fender player to wander into Humbuckerville without too much culture shock.

I bought my Toronado 8 months ago, it's grey pewter & i love the body shape, chrome everything, strings thru body (great thing if your used to your Floyde rose going horribly out of tune when you snap strings)nice neck & the tuners on mine seem to be ok,& damn these pickups are fantastic on this axe!!

This guitar sounds great considering the price, i wa looking for a humbucker equipped guitar & this thing has everything i need sound wise. I play mostly Rock, Blues, jazz & it does it great.

Heres where i was worried waiting for my guitar to come in (it was on order) But upon picking it up, i quickly pulled it out of the gig bag supplied and gave it a good looking over & was suprised to see everything was fine, action & setup was good & no marks or dents anywhere.

Been using it as one of my main two guitars whilst gigging & it has never let me down.

Fender have always returned my emails even when im asking pretty pointless questions so that goes for something.

i have a '99 mexican toronado. 22 frets, 2 humbuckers, 2 tone 2 volume controls. i dont know what kind of bridge, but it is alright. The neck is very wide, i like this but if you have small hands i would watch out for this. i would compare it maybe to a gibson firebird neck on the subject of wideness.

p.s. THIS GUITAR IS VERY HEAVY, LIKE A LES PAUL.

I play rock-blues-classic rock. I am using a Carvin 100watt solid state and a little vox 15 watt. The sound from the humbuckers are very fat. If you want something like sabbath this is a good guitar. it sounds alright when it is clean but is better for crunch.

this is kind of a problem for me. First, two of the tone knobs came off and i tried to use a little bit of glue on the screw but it came off again! next the switcher for pickups had a little washer/screw thing that fell off that i had to replace. lastly, the low E tuner has been bent and turns really weir. None of these affect the tone of the guitar but when you buy this guitar remember, it was built in mexico.

I have been playing for over 3 years and this guitar has been good. I prefer my '70 SG over it but it is a good guitar to play around with. Its got a good tone, especially with heavier strings - i prefer GHS boomers .11's these work very well

Mine's a stock 1998, Candy Apple Red, Mexican-made model which is so ultra-cool I decided to give it a self-indulgent "10" rating in this category.

I would like to take this opportunity to retract a remark I made in a previous review.

At one point I made a comment stating that the Toronado "wouldn't be well suited for anything considered clean" but have since discovered this not to be the case while using my Toronado in a dual purpose role lately...

Of course the bridge pickup is predictably fantastic for an all-out rocking tone and for this it continues to perform exceptionally well. The only problem was that I also needed a usable clean sound. I turned to the neck pickup for this and discovered that it also worked great for phenomenally clean rhythm playing!

Backing off the volume on the neck pickup sweetens it up remarkably well... and I'm not just talkin "good enough" here, but rather that it has impressed me as being "excellent"! Rhythm playing is a delight and chords ring out with pleasantly smooth texture.

Sure, you can always crank the volume back up for that fat powerful tone, but if you need a tone that will allow you to play with a little more "finesse", then I can vouch for the Toronado's ability to get that too!

I would like to point out one problem I've had with the Toronado: It's size!

The Toronado does not fit in any standard Fender hardshell case (it's much wider than most other Fender guitars), but hopefully this will soon change with the all new "American Special" Toronado. I suspect that they will have a case available to fit that guitar.

In the meantime I have discovered an good alternative...

Musician's Friend (www.musiciansfriend.com) sells a hardshell case that works pretty good. It's not perfect, but with a little padding it works out well with the Toronado.(much better than a gig bag anyway)!

As I briefly noted in my first review...

I must reiterate that a high quality amp is a must for getting the best results. I mainly use this guitar with two of my amps: a Mesa/Boogie Rect-O-Verb and a Carvin X-60A. For all out rocking the ROV works great, but for my "dual purpose" role I prefer the Carvin.

I also own several other guitars. You can see a pict of them at: http://members.aol.com/danzprod/MyGuitars.jpg

As you can see I have several guitars to choose from, so I can pick and choose what I want to play at any given time. Still, when I need a good all-around player I know I can count on my Toronado to fit the bill.

Anyway, I can truly say that I have nothing but good things to say about my Toronado and I still love it!

It is a brand new (not sure of the year, and Fender's website doesn't have a serial number lookup that I can find) Fender Toronado, made in Mexico. In my opinion, the extra money you would pay to get any Fender product made in the US is a waste, they sound practically the same. All the features can be found on Fender's site, so just go there if you want anything more specific that what I type. It has dual Atomic Humbuckers, a volume and tone control for each, and a 3-way pickup selector. I believe the body is Poplar, and the fretboard is Rosewood. It has a solid black finish, and a red speckled 3-ply pickguard. It has the same style body as a Jazzmaster and a Jaguar with a string thru body, non-tremolo bridge. It has Fender vintage tuners (stays is tune quite well) and came with a Deluxe gig bag. It has all the exact features I was looking for in a guitar (dual humbuckers, dual vol. and tone controls, 3-way selector, and non-tremolo bridge). The only thing that would have been cool are pickup taps, but I really don't need those at all.

My style ranges from classic rock, to metal, and to punk. The Toronado works great for all of those. I've used it through my Fender Princeton 65, my friend's Peavy 2x8, and my friend's Marshall valvestate half-stack. I only use 1 effect, distotion, and my amp and the Marshall have footswitches, so I use those when playing through them. When I'm on the Peavy, I use a DOD grunge distortion pedal (also my friend's). Personally I just like the built in distortion better. It is not noisy at all, on any setting, and I have trouble getting feedback from it. It has a very rich and full sound when on the neck pickup or both. The bridge pickup sounds okay when the tone is not all the way up, somewhere are 3 or 4 sounds good (hard to tell what it's at with tele knobs), but the bridge pickup sounds not very good when you play stuff on lower strings... don't use the bridge pickup for power chords, it'll just sound like crap. The neck pickup sounds great, no matter where you're playing on the neck. I usually play with both pickups selected to get a fuller sound. I absolutely love the sound of this guitar.

I think the place where I bought the guitar adjusts the action, setup, and pickups, but it's all done excelently, no fret buzz, and the strings are quite close to the neck. No flaws in the wood. The frets could have been cut shorter, but they feel better than other Fenders I've played

The thing's built like a tank. I can't think of anything that would fail, the finish looks solid, and the pickup selector doesn't feel or look like it would break. The strap button are very solid. I don't have another electric so I kinda have to gig w/o a backup, but I have to qualms about that.

never dealt with them, but I heard they're good. It comes with a lifetime warranty.

I've been playing for about 4 years, and own a Martin DM with an under the bridge pickup, and a Fender Princeton 65 amp. If it were stolen, I'd hunt down and rip the theif apart piece by piece with my bare hands, and then dump him/her in the Ohio river, but that's just because they had stolen something expensive from me. I'd definitely get aother one though, it's a great deal for a guitar that sounds so great. The only think I don't like is the sound of the bridge pickup when playing power chords, or anything low... it sounds like a muffled strat (and I hate strats). I love having a tone and volume control for each pickup. It sounds pretty good compared to other guitars with dual humuckers, dual vol & tone controls, and a non-tremolo bridge. Other guitars like that that I can think of are SG's and Les Paul's. The Les Paul is too heavy, so the Toronado wins by default. The Toronado doesn't sound as good as the SG in my opinion, but it is a few hundred dollars cheaper, and a few hundred dollars is a lot for a 17 year old.

Well, this is either an early 2002 or one of the last 2001's sold. I think it's probably a 2001, I got it around the turn of the year. So yeah, not that it makes a huge difference. 22 frets. It has a decently wide neck, (which is a good thing) it's wide enough to easily be able to be sure you're where you wanna be without interfering with the other strings and still thin enough that you don't murder your wrist hitting some weird chord that requires your fingers to be in four very different spots at once (ya gotta love those :) ) There are two pickups describes as "atomic" pickups, i'm not really sure what that's supposed to mean. I'm not even which fender-owned company makes these beasts, especially since there really isn't anything else like it used in the fender guitars that I'm familiar with. (They're both covered humbuckers) The knobs are set up like a les paul's, two tone/two volume, but the knobs are solid metal, not the weird plastic ones they use in les pauls or the crappy strat ones. That's definitely a plus. (I keep reffering to les pauls because the Tornado seems to be fenders attempt to blend the strat and les paul into one superguitar) There's no numbers, but you don't really need those anyway. It's got an interesting bridge design. It's a string thru-body, but it's shaped a little different. The strings load pretty much like a lot of schecter guitars I've seen. It's really easy to mess with your configuration on this bridge, which helps. The tuners are good, I've seen better. They aren't very accurate tuning, so it might take a while to get it perfect (as in it's hard to get it in just the right spot) but once it's in tune it holds it really well. Those really aren't a problem. The body is one of the main reasons I got this guitar. My ideal guitar would be a Jazzmaster with good humbuckers replacing the fat single coils that it comes with, and this guitar is the next best thing (for 1/4 of the cost) It's shape is very similar, yet the Tornado is different enough to be it's own guitar and a refreshingly different guitar that stands out from the overly made and copied "big two."

I'm running this through a crate gfx212. The amps clean tone is pretty nice, so I use that and leave the distortion channels alone. (the distortion on that amp is pretty much like a mediocre emulation of a hot rodded head, it's not that impressive at all) So I got a Marshall Jackhammer (great pedal, by the way) and that gets my distortion sounds. This guitar is great! I've noticed the neck pickups tends to be a bit strong on the bass end, but that's mostly my amp's fault (the clean channel is naturally a little bass heavy, but that's nothing that a little eq won't fix) The wide variety of tones available with this guitar are stunning. If you put all the knobs to ten and put on your bridge pickup you can get anything from a harsh heavy metal to a sweet crunch and even some more smooth or mellow "alternative" rock sounds. (Those usually would be better off in the center position) The neck pickup alone gets a really dark sound to it and amazingly smooth buttery sounding leads. Turn down the tone on the neck and leave it on by itself and you get this awesome ringing out sustain. (If you've ever heard the Pearl Jam song "Immortality," this can do that perfectly) Feedback is usually minimum (except when you want it...hehe...I've had some fun with that) and pretty easily controlled. Clean it can get that twangy funk sound (especially with wah) all the way to the opposite end of the spectrum with mellow bass heavy sounds. Great range, I've found it very difficult the make this guitars tone bad. Beautiful.

Factory setup pretty much sucked. But hey, what can you expect? I had to lower the action and restring it. I put on some Ernie Ball power slinkys on it recently and those got a great tone, but they're a bit heavy to do much with em, so I'd suggest something lighter. I usually use Hybrid Slinky's on my Les Paul, so I'm gonna try those next. I'm guessing I'm finally gonna settle on something in between. With this guitar, I'd pretty much suggest getting as heavy strings as you can without cramping your style. (I use altered tunings alot, so heavy strings make it difficult to tune up, plus heavy strings are easy to break doing lead if they get too much pressure) The intonation was a tad off too, so I had to fix that. If you get one of these (or any non-american made guitar, really) you should expect to have to do the set up yourself, but when you get it just right, you'll find it's well worth the effort. I've got mine playing like a dream now, and it only took an hour, maybe 2, to get it the way I like it. I've got a few minor problems with the finish. (Mines arctic white, by the way, I don't think I mentioned that) It came with a few flaws on the back, but not on the front. There's a couple little spots where it looks like the paint was scratched off or maybe was never even there. These are only small and thin spot/marks/lines and they're on the back, though, so it wasn't a major problem. I ordered mine from the factory through guitar center, so I didn't have much choice anyway. But really, everywhere else the finish is really great. With a white finish you've gotta be careful to keep it clean, but that's a given with any white guitar. I'll give it an 8, because it can be a ten with proper maintenance work, but it comes as about a 6.5 or 7 from the store.

This guitar seems really solidly built. Like I mentioned earlier, the knobs are made of a good quality metal instead of cheap plastic. The pickups don't move at all, even if you press on em a bit, they're in snug. It's a nice weight, pretty heavy and solid yet not so much so that it's uncomfortable and would do great damage to itself if dropped. It's around the weight of some of the higher line PRS guitars that I've played. I don't know how the strap buttons were, because I replaced them with strap lacks before I even set up my intonation/action/etc. Note to everyone: If a guitar is worth having, then it's worth the twelve bucks for a strap lock set. Get one. I have used this without a backup, but it's not a good idea in any case. Accidents happen and no guitar is invincible. So i'd bring a backup, but it would probably not be necessary even with a large gig schedule. The neck's maintained it's color really well, if not even better (with good oils/cleaners, I've found that pine sol does the trick just fine, just don't get it on the rest of the guitar)

Never had to contact them yet. Most minor repairs I can do myself, and I probably wouldn't bother going to fender for anything else, cuz then you'd probably have to mail it to them or some other crap like that's probably not really worth the time it takes.

If this guitar were stolen, I would cry. My band would cry. It would be a sad day in the history of man kind. I'd probably get a new one about as soon as I could. It's got a very wide range of sounds, and is really pretty much like a fender/gibson blend. It's not even really that. It's distinclty fender, which is why I use it alongside my les paul as my main guitars, yet different (and better in my opinion) than any other fender I've played save the 63 Jazzmaster that I played once (and drooled for several hours :) ) This is like the fender guitar for non-fender players (I never really like them before this guitar)

Orange. Pretty. Made in Mexico. Inclueds a crappy gig bag in which the zipper will surely grab the fabric and rip to shit-I have three other great gig bags like this. The guitar-Nice I guess. I dont want to judge the guitar truly till I can get it set up correctly-it seems that the people at fender really know a whole lot about setup-not. I bought this guitar to get kinda a sharper rock sound(foo fighters, weezer, american hi-fi) but still a fender feel-it seems to do this well-the pickups sound ok-the jury is out on weather they will be replaced. The knobs look alright, the tuners seem fine to me-dunno why everyone dislikes them. The neck is real thin, plays real nice, but the rosewood looks awfully light-but this is how my mexico strat looked 5 years ago, and if you play it alot and oil the neck, it will darken and sound better by the years-thats my intetion for this gutiar.

Im using this through a fender de ville 2x12, dunlop wah, and tech 21 snansamp. It sounds pretty good, but again, it needs a setup. The treble pickup seems a bit to bright, but that might just be me. Truthfully, all 3 of them I played in the store played differently-and I dont think thats a good thing-they all sounded very different, and this one sounded the best. Besides, who in the hell wants a canary yellow guitar? But it does sound pretty good distorted so far(havnt played it to much yet), and it WAILS for leads-I was blown away by this.

Hah, set up at the factory, thats hiliaroius. It came with 9's. Honestly, dont expect much out of any guitar outside of a metal machine (jacksons, esp, etc.) if your going to throw 9's on it-wimpy strings, wimpy tone. The action therefore sucks, the neck is all goofy-it needs work. Honestly, I realize Im bitching about this alot, but honest to god fender, how do you expect to sell a guitar if the dam thing dosnt hit full notes in the store? Honestly, if you want to get one of these, try, if it all possible to play a couple of them-they seem to vary alot from guitar to guitar in tone. Finish is dam good, very even. Neck joint has a gap on the top sde thats about big enough to fit a thin pick into. I guess those ruler in the mexico shop dont go down to 16ths.

Eh. It feels solid enough, but not bullet proof. Fenders are usually built well, and honestly, you have to be pretty stupid to break a guitar-scratches happen, but I dont you will be playing one day and the neck will just explode to shreds-on that note, the thin neck does make me a tad nervous, but it feels pretty solid.

The salesguy was a dam moron. He told me that the yellow one and orange one were more expensive because they had differnt pickups then the silver one. Yes you jackass, thats why they are all the same price in muscians friend. I havnt dealt with fender, but Id love to call them and listen to thier answering machine sometime.

Ive been playing for 6 years now. Ive had strats, mustangs, jaguars, cyclones, and generally alot of crap that wasted my money. When I buy stuff now, I buy it to keep it. Im sure this guitar is good enough for alot of people out there, but im might put new pickups in it becasue I am indeed that anal retentive. In all honesty, I dont want to judge this guitar to deeply until its gets a pro setup and strings that dont cost 2 cents to make. Bottom line-a great guitar, funky vibe, but try it before you buy it-they seem really inconsistent. This looks like a keeper, which is saying a lot for me-ill post another review several months down the line

made in mexico
adler dody
decent black paint
offset waist
string through body bridge
nice neck
big frets

I play a mix of metal, country, blues, and punk... all mixed together
she fits that style perfetly.
it has the richest fullest sound on anything shory of a 2400$ paul.
the frets are huge, so i can bend strings and chords to infinity.
she is rude but refined; relaxed but angry.
perfect for a combo of blues and punk.
i solo up and down the neck with love.
she is perfect; i can connect fully withn her; love her; talk to her; caress her.
she rewards me with a perfect solo.
the pickups scream but moan also.
they cut through distortion perfectly.

everything was perfect but the action
i fixed it myself

everything but the tuners shall hold up well

never talked to them
never will have to

i connected with it too well
u should definatly check it out
i touched her once and fell in love

The toro is 2001, made in Mexico and part of the Fender Deluxe range. It has 22 frets, made of poplar, but, as mine is sunburst it has an alder veneer on the back and front. mIts got a LP-like 3 way switch, and a volume and tone control for each of the two "atomic" humbuckers. The neck is maple with a skunk stripe, and the fingerboard in rosewood. Body is a very nice poly gloss and the neck an equally nice stain finish. Of course, it has the Jaguar/jazzmaster body shape...i forget the correct name. makes it very comfortable anyway (however, it doesnt fit in any cases so i had to buy a bass case)..
String thru hardtail bride with kluson style deluxe tuners. i suppose they are med jumbo frets. Came with 2 hex keys and a gigbag.
I would give it a 10 if it had a coil tap for the bridge P/U, but i have a strat for that sort of thing anyway.

I play rock, alternative...anything really, and so i can appriaciated the clean and distorted tone. Im using a small, cheap amp at the moment, but that doesnt stop the toro getting a wide vareity of tones from it. I have a marshall chorus pedal and a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal, both work very well, although the chorus is thin..but thats the pedals fault. My amps grounding is non-existant, so it sometimes buzzes horribly, however, touching the strings rectifies the problem. The guitar is the neck P/U is full and very loud. When i first used it, the difference in the depth and strength of the sound, compared to my strat is amazing (the two cater for different purposes however). Generally, it can give a smooth, bluesy clean sound, a very wiry, aggressive distorted "Nirvana" sound, and can do all sound in between. The only bad point really is that it is impossible to get a treblly sound without increasing the volume to near full...

The action, fit and finish were generally very good. The action is very low, but there is no bizzing unless you pluck and a near vertical angle. The pickups were quite even in their output, and are balanced across the sonic spectrum. Very nice and shiny with no marks or things like that. The fingerboard has a small scuffing like mark on the side of two of the higher frets..these disapeared with the application of 600 grit sandpaper and some lemon oil.

Not played live in a proper sense yet, but i would use a backup for two reasons...
one, i hate the fintage tuners, as the slot rather than hole in which to thread the string is at odds with by lack of tuning ability....at the moment i am re-tuning often..this is due to my lack of skill however.
Two, the pots crackle...there is a dry joint, possibly in the pits. The aplication of some electrosound cleaning spray every month sorts this problem out, but it sometimes rears its ugly head and cuts the sound from the bridge P/U altogether...

The guitar is built solid (and is very heavy compaed to the strat) and i wouldnt expect it to break at any point in the forseable future.

only dealt with UK distributor - very helpful

I own a Taylor 810, plywood acoustic, Fender MIM strat and, as i mentioned a small amp. Only been playing a year. I would have asked if i could have got some replacement tuners thrown in..but my fault.
I would buy again if stolen...although i may go with a fat strat (for ease of gaining parts, etc) in the unlikely event that it gets taken. I love the rich distorted sound and the wiry ness of the bridge pickup. Its also built very well.
Brought singht unseen, so no sound comparison..but i chose the features and design of this over other fender guitars, suitable for more distorted sounds. A coil tap and a pre fitted case are the only things i retrospectivly would like to have been included.