Fender Toronado

1998 toronado MIM candy apple red you know the rest

I was simply blown over when I first saw the toronado I thought finally a guitar by fender that has a good design and idea I liked that whole gibsonesque thing. I also like the fact that its a sort of hybrid design; jaguar body, jazzmaster/gibson scale neck, gibson electical layout and tele string thru body and jack socket

straight away it sounded great the pickups are hot!! they are very dynamic you can go from blues to full on filth easily it is also very unique without sounding c**p! I really love the sound it is my favourite guitar right now.

if you're an effects freak you will love this guitar it seems to go with any effect perfectly...well better then other guitars anyway

surprisingly for a mexi this was pretty well set up I just changed the action a bit which is understandable considerin' it traveled half way round the world. The finish is beautiful its a silver under coated candy apple red this is a really cool colour.

the guitar seems rock solid it will definatly be used on stage. My only concern is the chrome...

I have only been playing for a year but I know a lot about guitars and this is great even thru a practice amp it even better on my princeton 65 amp. compared to strats and teles I prefered this enough said.

Mexican made, 22 frets, Atomic HBs... ya' know. I like the body shape. I have the black with the almost nice tortoise pickguard. I did replace the tuners with Sperzels. Standards were ok, but I think changing strings with the Sperzels is so much easier.

People get it right when they say great for OD/Distortion, ok clean. Basically a bright HB sound. Like a Strat on steroids. Really, the bridge sounds ok clean, but is missing a little something. Neck is good clean and both together sound very good. But, flip on the OD and this piece rocks. Good definition and string clarity and the neck feels nice in your hand. I use this guitar a backup for my Peavey EVH because it is a rock tone monster.

Fender factory setup? Are you kidding? This ain't no PRS or even a Peavey EVH. You better bring your tool kit or take it to someone who knows what to do or you won't be a happy camper. Setup was just pittyful! Stamped saddles with way too high set screws, String ferules falling out on string change. Pickups need tweeking for height. And the neck felt like it was shifting in the pocket on demand! After a few hours of work, nice playing piece. Paint was very good. Frets a bit sharp on the ends, but not too bad. On the good side, the guitar was easy to tweak to my liking.

Tuning machines aside, the guitar seems well made. Strap buttons are normal, so be aware. I would gig without a backup, but that would be stupid, wouldn't it?

Next!!

I have been playing for almost 20 years. I have a lot of higher end gear, but I am always on the prowl for a diamond in the rough. This be it... Perfect rehearsal and bar gig guitar. For your $$ you get a well thought out rock machine. It can do blues very well too. Anything else will take a some big tweaking. OK for jazz, but I roll down the neck tone. Guy before me didn't have the guitar set up at all. Probably why he sold it. I would buy it again in a minute. A bit higher quality on the hardware and this guitar smokes anything in its price range. As is, a very good affordable guitar.

This is a brand new Fender Toronado shipped to me directly from Fender's Mexico shop I believe in Baja. I bought a black one with the nice red and black pick guard. I like the features for the most part on this guitar. Separate volume and tone pots for each of the two atomic humbucker pickups as well as a toggle switch between the three positions which are bridge, bridge-neck, and neck pickup. The finish was nice on the guitar. Great looking but funky piece. The tuners are terrible in fact worse than a standard tele or strat. The gig bag that came with mine had a ripped zipper and came off.

I know I'm going to cause some contention here with the rest of my review among Toronado fans, but in honesty, I was not at all in impressed. However, stupidly (and never again) I bought it online without having played it. I was not happy with this guitar when I first unpacked it and plugged it in. I could tell right away that neither of the pickups had been grounded at all with the enormous hum I got with this thing. I could tell it was the ground because it went away when I pressed on the pickups. Even despite the noise, the pickups were lifeless, muddy, and definitely not balanced. I guess I read the other reviews on the Toronado and assumed I had found a cheap sleeper. Nope, just cheap. I switched the cheap strings to Diadario 10's without a whole lot of improvement. By the way, I'm playing through a fender vibroking with effects in front (comp,wah,od,distortion,flange,delay). I have to admit, however, that it was just a touch above the Hamer Korean models that I had played just recently.

Suprisingly, the action was not at all bad. The neck needed some adjustment but everything else seemed ok. The neck was not aligned horizontally (more space towards the high E down the neck). The pickup adjustment was ok but needed to be raised a bit. Oh ya, the jack plate came off straight away as wood screws were too small to keep it on. Easily fixable. I took a peek in the pot cavity in the back of the guitar ... rats nest city. I could also tell that there wasn't even an attempt at providing a ground wire to either pickups.

I'm sure this guitar would survive a long time with cheap parts and features and all. The finish was nice. I would only possibly consider this as a backup.

Fender is hard to get a hold of. How about an email address or something?

I have been playing for 14 years and am currently in a band. I own a Fender Tele standard with Harmonic Designs pickups (very nice) and a strat. The first thing I would tell someone looking to buy this is do not buy it without first playing it. This was my first mistake. Secondly, if you are looking for a professional instrument, I would look elsewhere unless you are planning to spend a little extra money to upgrade pickups, do some setup, and change out the tuners. My luthier was disappointed that I sent this back but he did quote me $500 which isn't bad except to say that I wasn't excited about this guitar. My tele outshines this in every possible way. I may look into spending a little more on a Gretch.

Bought new in '99. Mexican "Deluxe Series". 2 Fender 'Atomic' humbuckers with 3-way switch and 2 volume and 2 tone controls as per Les Paul/SG set up. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard (or rosewood effect?). Black with red shell effect scratchplate. Came with gig bag & allen keys for adjustments.

This guitar rocks. I play mostly indie rock, power pop and punk but also country, blues and even thrash metal (when on my own!).It never lacked anyhting soundwise in any of these styles. I was using it with a Peavey Bandit and a Zoom 505 pedal and from clean straight through to death metal sounds it just kept giving and giving. The neck pickup is warm and full and the bridge pickup is great for shredding.

Factory set-up sucked. The action was very poor and the strings weren't sitting right on the saddles. I have read in other reviews here that people did surgery on theirs, i.e. cutting screws etc. but I got mine into good shape after a couple hours of adjustments (bridge and saddle heights etc.)The 3-way toggle switch was loose and needed tightening, and the socket wasn't holding the jackplug snugly, in fact the lead was practically falling out of the guitar at every available oppurtunity. All of this was very shoddy in my opinion, but admittedly easy enough to correct. I'd recommend checking all these things before leaving the store and getting the dealer to sort them for you.The body finish was fine. The bridge is simple and unspectacular, a tremelo/bridge similar to a jazzmaster would have made this guitar special. This is a very light guitar (poplar body)and both it's weight and the neck/fingerboard(doesn't seem like real rosewood) are typically Mexican Fender.

This guitar is pretty solid and benefits from a fairly simple, straightforward setup. I've had no problems from normal wear and tear. I could maybe foresee the toggle switch packing up if you are gigging constantly with it and I'm not sure the tuning machines would last long either if you play this guitar hard (which it screams out for you to do!)

N/A

I've been plaing for 15 years and have played many guitars that feel better but few that sound better(if that makes any sense).The Toronado feels and plays like a typical Mexican Fender, but what sets it apart is the sweet sweet sound you can get from those humbuckers. I recently traded up to a Gibson SG standard and soundwise there's nothing between them (how about that, a $450 Fender sounding as good as a $1400 Gibson). It seems to be the perfect answer for people who prefer the Fender neck/body but want to sound like they are playing an LP or SG. The jaguar/jazzmaster-type looks are pretty cool too. Overall, very good value for money.

2001 model
made in mexico
22 frets
everything everyone else says

THESE PICKUPS WERE DESIGNED BY GOD!!!!!!!!
the rating was an average of the sound
12 with distortion
8 when clean
the sound is powerful enough to turn your brain to liquid and let it flow out of your ears!!!!!!
you can get an infinite number of tones from it

the action stunk from the factory
i fixed the action myself without knowing what i was doing with a allen wrench.
fit and finish were areat

everything but the tuners were great.
Buddy rogers refuses to sell the guitar because of the tuners!!
I'll replace them in a month or 2

lifetime warrenty on guitar
1 year on electronics and tuners(kinda tells you how good the tuners are)

been playing for 8 months.
if'in ya'll are looking at it online you should play it
if it is right fou you it will just click and you'll say "i gotsta get this"
some guys hate it
I love it!(is it legal to marry a Fender)
The whole package just fits together well!
except the tuners

Mexican made which like other things isn't so bad in this case. For some reason a couple of people have said it has 24 frets, well go back to school cause it has 22, count em!! Rosewood neck which feels so much better than maple to me, ,gig bag from fender, al that good stuff.

Its perfect, humbuckers sound great. I play a strat and this so i can get any tone possible. Love the pickups, sounds like a telecaster when on the bridge pickup and neck sounds like a les paul without the feel of a les paul (which is bad)

A beautiful guitar, couldn't ask for a prettier one. Love the tortoise shell pick guard and black finish. Awesome.

that's a dumb question.

I've heard stuff about fender quality and support going down hill and i think it's a bunch of crap. of course the quality is bad, if you buy a cheap guitar like a squier jagmaster. come on if you want a good guitar, you have to pay good money. Don't complain.

Just a great guitar. It's no paul reed but i like it this way. Not too elegant but not a grunge death guitar like a bc rich or something. It's got style and sounds like a dream. Been playing for almost 4 years and that's enough to know whats' good. Toronado=good, epiphone les paul=gibson squiers!!

Mine is a 1998 Candy Apple Red model; poplar body, maple neck and what seems to be a rosewood fingerboard (although mine *looks* more like pao ferro...)

I'll forgo listing all the features (since they are well documented in other posts), instead I decided to mention a couple things of interest I've discovered about about the little ol' Toronado:

Of course everybody knows that the Toronado comes with a pair of infamous "Atomic" humbuckers, but in typical fashion Fender doesn't care to divulge anymore info about their pickups than that. Anyway, I had to take the pickguard off to do some minor repairs (more on this later) and noticed something interesting about these pickups...

First, I need to mention that I recently bought a set of DeArmond "GoldTone" pickups (in case you didn't already know, Fender happens to own Guild, which in turn owns DeArmond).

Anyway, the design of these two pickup is remarkably similar when compared side by side. Of course there are notable differences; For one thing, the Atomic HB has a wider string spacing than the GoldTones (besides having totally different cover designs). They also use a slightly different colored wiring scheme. Both have wax all over them, so I can only assume that they've been wax potted.

No doubt they are quite different tone-wise. I haven't mounted the DeArmond PUs on anything yet but I'm sure the Atomic HBs are most likely considerably hotter. My guess is that Fender uses their DeArmond division to perhaps manufacture some of the pickups on a select few Fender guitars. This is fine with me since DeArmond has been making excellent replacement pickups for many years (long before Seymour Duncan was a glimmer in his daddy's eye anyway...)

The reason I looked under there in the first place was due to a slightly "microphonic" pickup cover on my Toronado's bridge pickup - it would squeal when I cranked the distortion on my amp. *This was definitely a loose pickup *cover* BTW - not to be confused with loose wires in the coil.

To fix the problem I had to remove the cover and in doing so I discovered another interesting little tidbit: The pickup coils are "zebra" colored (one black and one white), just like the ones used on the Toronado's cousin, the "Cyclone", which utilizes the open coil version of the Atomic HB. Not sure if the neck pickup is the same (I didn't remove its cover).

Another useless bit of trivia about the Toronado is the headstock. In case you didn't notice, it is bigger than the classic Fender Strat style, but not quite as large as the big 70's style. It's somewhere in-between. The Cyclone blurb at www.fender.com claims it has the original JazzMaster headstock, so me-thinks the Toronado has the same thing.

Besides the initial microphonic pickup cover problem (see more on my solution below), in my opinion the sound of this guitar is nothing short of awesome!

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the Toronado is "sustain". There's definitely no lack of smooth, flowing sustain surging out of this guitar. I should also mention that I play though a Mesa/Boogie Rect-O-Verb, which is a sustain monster! But, I've also tried it through my little solid state Vox Pathfinder and it still displayed remarkable sustain characteristics, which is a true testament to the excellent design of this guitar... (of course results may vary).

The next thing that comes to mind is "harmonics". There is a superb balance of harmonics and sustain on this axe. It is very lively and responsive. The neck pickup is fat and smooth, while the bridge pickup really roars when you drive it hard! Hot, but not sterile or cold sounding. The tone is actually pretty warm even at full throttle(it's not easy to get high output and warm tone in the same package).

Also, back the volume off and the bridge pickup cleans up rather nicely. Don't get me wrong, this is no doubt a total rock guitar and wouldn't be well suited for anything considered "clean" (I'd say blues is as clean as it gets), but it can remain fairly articulate even with the distortion cranked (depending on your technique and the quality of your amp of course).

Power chords sound rich and "brownish" through my Rect-O-Verb, very smooth with a wonderful sheen to it. I dare say that an "early Eddie Van Halen tone" comes to mind when I use my Toronado/Rect-O-Verb combo.

Solos are the funnest part for me though; I can just sit around playing minor pentatonic rock scales and Santana riffs all day long and never grow tired of it. The neck pickup in particular gets me that Santana-like sustain everyone always talks about. Sure I'd like to get a PRS someday but, until then, I'd say the Toronado can handle the job well enough (and, at a fraction of the cost)!

Just keep in mind that a high quality amp is required to get most desireable results (I don't think a second-hand Squier Champ will do the "trick")... just food for thought...

A couple problems...

First, I'd like to point out that my Toronado was the display model at a Guitar Center in Las Vegas (I got it while on vacation)... so give it a little leeway will ya?

The first problem (which I already mentioned) was the pickup cover squealing thingy...

This was easily fixed; All I had to do was break the solder loose (which secured the cover to the base), then I took a piece of double sided mounting tape (the stuff that's about 1/16" thick) and postioned it between the bottom of the cover and the top of the coils for a tight seal. All that remained was resoldering the cover down and voila!... problem solved. Now I can literally have the pickup sitting two inches from my cranked amp with no fear of a squawk or squeal or anything! excellent...

The next problem I had was the 3-way toggle switch: It would never stay on the up (neck) position, popping back to the middle all the time. This was also easily fixed; After taking the pickguard off, all I had to do was pry one of the connectors back in place.

Lastly, there was a chip taken out of the finish, probably by some inconsiderate klutz at Guitar Center. On the upside, I got the guitar for only $200 bucks! The chip was near the top strap button, (towards the back of the body) and since no one can see it anyway, I didn't really care. I found some matching touch-up paint and dabbed a little in there. Otherwise the finish is actually very hard and durable and the rest of it is absolutely beautiful (I highly recommend the Candy Apple Red finish BTW).

The setup wasn't great but, like I said, this was the display model and was sold "as is". After getting a complete setup by my own very talented guitar tech, it now plays like a dream!

Points were docked for the first couple problems, and, even though they weren't that big a deal, I still had to take the time to render them harmless...

Since I got it back in tip-top shape, I feel confident that it can endure the usual abuse (especially considering it survived being the display model at Guitar Center)!

I bought this thing in May of 2000, so I've had it a little over a year now. In that time I've run it through its paces and can say it impresses me as being a very serious guitar...

When the Toronado was first released I thought it was the best design that Fender has put out in years (and they've put out some real stinkers in the past).

Although it obviously takes its styling cues from the Jaguar/Jazzmaster models, it is just different enough that you don't automatically make that distinction right away. Compared to its cousin, the Cyclone, it looks handsome and balanced (frankly, to me the Cyclone looks like it was made from spare parts just lying around).

I WAS considering getting a Toronado when they first came out, but didn't think it was worth the $500 asking price. Now that I have one I can truly say that it's worth every penny! I know that's easy for me to say now, since I only paid $200 for mine (and I'm fairly sure I would have never gotten one at the full retail price), but if you need a true honest-to-goodness rock machine, the Toronado definitely does the job!

I also own several other quality guitars, including a Les Paul Studio, a Fender Tele, a Carvin DC200, a Fender 50's reissue Strat, an Epiphone Casino, a Danelectro Mod 6, a Fender lead-I and a Fender acoustic DG22CE. My amps include the Mesa/Boogie ROV, a cool little Carvin X-60 tube combo, a vintage Ampeg SB-12 Portaflex (circa 1965) and the Vox Pathfinder (also a cool little amp).

I love all my guitars, so I can't really say whether I'd only own a Toronado as my "main" guitar, but if you mostly play heavy rock I'd say it makes a very good choice. It can also do the blues, but doesn't really "look" like a blues guitar (if you know what I mean...)

I recommend this guitar for anybody looking for something a little different (ie: other than the "big three"... Strat, Tele, Les Paul styles), while still remaining conventional and affordable.

My final thought is this: "I LOVE MY TORONADO"!

Good Luck!

1999, Mexico. 22 frets.
2 tone/ 2 volume knobs. 3-way selector.
Humbucker/Humbucker setup.
Fender "Atomic" humbuckers.
The body is a light and cheap poplar; the neck is sort of a maple and walnut mix.
Transparent top with a sunburst finish.
String through body.
the tuners are nice and thick.
Medium jumbo frets--great for bending: jazz, BLUES.
The gig bag didn't show up, so I got a hardshell for $15.

Sound upon sound!!!
It sounds like a cross between a Gibson flying V and a Telecaster.
Bright sound...but only to a certain extent. Without a single coil in the mix, there is a mild lack in bight. The thud is very heavy though. It has sounds ranging from an antique bass to modern $1000+ humbucker-based guitars.
Much love for the off-set waist. Makes all 22 frets useful to the end. The only bad thing is the neck--it keeps saying "replace me with an actual rosewood fingerboard". But the frets do kick much ass.

Good setup for the price. String/bridge changes were needed, along with a dramatic change in the truss rod's bend. The pickups are set perfectly. It's just the damn 3-way switch. Sometimes it needs an extra jiggle...almost like the wire is barely clinging to electricity. I think Fender knew about that one but let it slide. Excellent over-sized tuners!
The body's wood is light, but it's good to have a light body in the arsenal with the strat(with an ash body), or Les Paul.

Live playing=yes.
The hardware will last but will need to be upgraded probably every 5 years or so--wire connections, etc.
The finish is good and strong. That's surprising because the body is so light.
Solid strap buttons. I've depended on the Toronado for 2 years and haven't been let down yet.
It is a great guitar, but I would never go gigging without a backup.

Fender is good. Reliable with their guarantees. Information about their products are abundant.
NEVER BUY A FENDER WITHOUT PLAYING IT FIRST.
Having said that, feel comfortable paying 4-500 for a Toronado.
Warranty...what's a warranty?

I've only been playing five years, but I've played many types/brands on the market, both popular and nearly unheard of. I reccommend that buyers ask about a warranty before buying just to be sure.
If it was stolen I'd buy a used model for no more than $2-250; yeah, I'd buy another.
I love the off-set waist, it makes thudding lows and screeching highs possible. I dislike the fingerboard's wood--it feels like it doesn't have a finishing coat or something.
I like the body shape. It seems to cross a Jaguar with a Telecaster with a Strat: completely impossible until now.
I wish the 3-way switch was more reliable and the body was ash, but if that were true it would probably be another one of Fender's $1000 whoop-dee-doo's.

Buy it if you like strats, les pauls, or want something new. It's worth the money but no more than $600 tops(retail value).

This guitar was made at Fender's Plant in Baja Mexico
22 frets (med Jumbos), Solid Top poplar, 2 volume, 2 tone, dual humbuckers(Fender Atomics SWEET!!). Maple Neck with rosewood fingerboard.

The Body is an offset waist.
The features for This price range are what I expected.

no surprises there.

AMAZING Sound... one hears that alot but think about the meaning
of that superlative while I say it again...Listen! here it comes
A FUKIN MAZING fat sweet tone, Squawky harmonics in overdrive.

The front humbucker would make muddy or BB cry like a baby.

I am simply thrilled. To get this sound out of any other fender
you will have to find a Robben Ford sig from the custom shop for
3500.00 smaks...

I play through a 1977 fender tube princeton reverb II
Sweet.

The setup was done by folks at guitarstop.com

They do an excellent Job, but I had read these reviews on it before
I bought, so I was prepared to destroy their setup and intonation.

I cut the 9's that came on it off with pruning shears, replaced the
saddles with some highly polished ones from the custom shop.

Removed the light vintage machines and replaced them with
Sperzel locking ones, threw on some tens and reintonated it.

Has not given me any problems at all...

I am only giving it a six here though now with my hardware setup it
is a 10. But to be fair at 499.00 I was expecting to tweak and replace anyway.

I am only using this guitar on stage now..
I never use a backup.
Strap buttons are fine.
If you pull a lot of stunts while strapped though you will
want locking ones.

Very durable guitar...

Never Dealt with fender directly,

Never had to as Jeanne at www.guitarstop.com
Provides fantastic service... Their selection on hand
is limited but They probably could get you anything you
wanted.

I have owned about 17 guitars,

I have a couple of very expensive, so called "classics"
That blow chunks compared to this hunk of poplar.
Now I am a big fan of cheap guitars...

Fuck all those boutique handmade snobs...
Overbuilt, overpriced and anemic sounding crap..

I give the Toronado a 9 only because of the hardware
I had to replace, and the setup I had to do.

Bought this guitar new in 1999. Vintage white with a brown pick guard. kinda looks like a jazz master. very cool looking. Atomic humbucker pickups. it's like what other reviewers are saying a cross between a les paul and a strat. would suit players that favor playing fenders but would like a fatter tone than a single coil strat has to offer. rose wood finger board, threeway pickup selector (like a les paul) two volume and two tone controls. came with a gig bag. I give this a ten because it had everything that sparked my interest to buy it in the first place.

simply put......this guitar sounds beautiful. I love playing fenders and gigged with my strat quite often and thought this would be a cool second guitar to bring along as well. when i plugged in and started playing it i ended up gigging with this one more than my strat! this guitar feels real light and balanced when strapped on. It's lighter than my 79 strat. I play chicago blues, delta blues, and west coast jump styles. When i first got this i was playing through a fender hot rod deluxe i picked up doing a stint with a blues rock band. thought this guitar sounded great through this amp. then i bought a victoria 4-10 bassman and plugged in.........THIS GUITAR'S TONE BLEW ME AWAY! I've been playing for over 20 years now and have not been moved by a guitar's tone like this in a long time. I'm not exaggerating. this guitar sounded so fat, clean and smooth that you'd swear it was an old jazz fatbox guitar! when cranked up the natural overdrive tone of the guitar and my vic is undescribeable. i was so blown away i called a friend of mine and played it over the phone and he too could not believe it! When playing through my victoria i get so many little subtle tones that it's like strapping on a strap, les paul, and my silvertone 50's fatbox all at the same time.

now........the down side. I put 11's on it when i got it and proceeded to set the intonation. much to my dismay i had to remove a couple springs to get the saddles where they needed to be and on two other strings had to remove the actual saddle adjusting screws and cut them down to get the intonation set on THOSE strings! i tried to set the action on how fender recommends the string heights and there was know way possible. i like my action a little higher so all in all i got the intonation set and the guitar plays nicely. i've had a problem with the pickup selector. I've had it happen on a few instances when i go from the neck pickup to the bridge pickup it grounds out somehow and there is no sound! this is unnerving when playing live in a club. I've taken it apart and made sure the switch is getting a good connection when in either pickup position. i also sprayed some contact cleaner in it and so far it has functioned o.k. went to restring it the other day.........my D string tuning head out of the blue started to get real tight than suddenly acted as if it stripped out not allowing me to string it!!!!!! i took this apart which was damn near impossible and after thinking i ruined it(no big deal considering it wasn't going to serve it's purpose in the condition it was in anyway)i got this to work again as well.

I do LOVE THE SOUND of this guitar but due to the problems i've encountered could not possibly bring myself to using this one at a gig without a backup. I feel you get what you pay for and now realize why you pay the big bucks for the american made fenders! I bought my 1979 strat used 18yrs. ago and never had a problem with it yet! I own eight other guitars so hadn't played this one in a while. thought about selling it until i plugged it into my victoria and decided ain't no way i'm selling this one!

bought it through a mail order catalog so i chose to handle the things that went wrong myself. these little problems didn't occur all at once and happened after i owned it awhile.

Like i say i love the tone of this thing. after working on it and getting it to how i like it it plays very nice. i feel despite what i encountered it was worth the money.