Fender Toronado

This is One hell of an Axe. I knew Right away when I touched it, that it was mine, and it was meant for me (I named it Jessie). It speaks, sings, and rocks to me. And I'm glad that I bought it. It's A 2001 Mexican Deluxe Edition With Double Humbuckers. (Fender Atomics)-Passive. It has A black finish with a tortise shell Pickguard,(I wish to change to pearl white). It looks liuke a jaguar but it has a ve different unique body style. The tuners that are placed on it are custom lock ins. I don't know how they got there. The neck is fine, Can't complain, I wish it was smoother, however. It has standard dot inlays.

THe sound is amazing and very thick and bluesy. bluesiest and clearest guitar I've ever played. However It does not scream well for metal. I would never replace the pickups, i would Just get a Second Axe. The sound is too thick to play Metal, But some metal sounds can creep through, and still sounds good with distortion. However, I do get heavy feedback when close to the amp because of how large the guitar is, and however the elecronics are made. Overall The guitar has a good vaiety of Sound Though.

When I bought it, The guitar needed serious work on the action. It took me $100 Bucks to get everything adjusted. For whatever reason, my guitar will stay perfectly in tune for literally weeks on end. Its sick! As far as looks, I love this thing, I'm never selling it. There's a ding on the side of it, But I guess It is what it is.

THe Guitar is a tank. Its really Heavy and made with a ****-load of wood. I've never had any ploblems with it electronicalls. It's built to last. It's reliable as Hell.

???

I'm Going to be 18, and I've been Playing for 3 Years now. I'm actually a drummer, playing for 8 Years now. I'd rather play this than any other fender guitar. It deffinately sounds like a fender, and its one of the only ones with Humbuckers. If it were stolen I would have to get a new one. Its my best Friend.

I managed to score myself this Toronado GT HH for an absolute steal thanks to someone listing it wrong on Ebay ("Fender Guitar: Don't know what it is!"). It's Korean built with an alder body, maple bolt on neck and a rosewood fretboard (24.75" scale length). The real guts of the guitar are the Seymour Duncan humbuckers (a '59 at the neck and Pearly Gates at the bridge) which are independently controlled by 2 tone and 2 volumne knobs as well as a three way selector switch. In terms of the other harware, it has an Adjust-o-Matic bridge with an anchored tailpiece, a plastic nut and tuners which I'm affraid I don't know the providence of. The main point for me was the finish with the two racing stripes on blue with matching headstock. This won't be to everyone's tastes but to me it just screamed 'EGO GUITAR!' and I mean that in a good way. This thing should have carburetors rather than pick-ups. All in all, there's plenty to be getting on with this guitar and it covers all the bases I need well.

My first impression of this guitar was that it sounds MASSIVE. I play in a band that do Dillinger Four/NOFX type punk and to be honest, it just sounds too big for that sort of think and the trebble response could use a bit more omph. However, I also like to dabble in some Fu Manchu-esque Stoner Rock and in this line of work, it truely excels. The Duncans provide a red-blooded, gutsy sound ideally suited to some full-fat drop-D riffs. I still need to work on my amp settings (I play it through a Laney Linebacker 100R) to get the bass right, but it shows promise on the Stoner front. As for the punk rock end of things, I'll stick with my P90 Gordon Smith.

Can't comment on factory set-up and finish because I got it second hand and I get the impression that it was somewhat unloved by it's previous owner. Upon getting it, I had it properly set up and the action is pretty good. There's still a little buzz on the A strig at second fret, but that's something I can work out in time. Personally, I prefer a lower profile neck but I've played guitars that cost way more than this that don't feel as nice and I think that overall it's a solid effort.

It's a nice chunky slab of guitar that feels substantial without being overly heavy. The finish is still retina-burn bright and the tuners are great for at keeping it, well, in tune. The strap buttons are nice and big, but I still stick Grolsh bottle seals on them just to be on the safe side. At the moment, I'm not gigging with it, but if I did, I would be confident that it wouldn't give out on me.

No experience in this department.

I guess my favourite thing about this guitar is the way its looks match with its sound. Visually, this axe is a drag racer...masses of power, masses of vanity and a god given mandate to kick ass. The Duncans certainly make it come good on the promise of these expectations, providing a ton of horse power and throaty fury. Is it the most versatile guitar? No. If you want something that you can use in a bunch of different bands then I'd say go for something more generic. Is it the most refined guitar? Certainly not. My other axe is a Gordon Smith and I much prefer the feel of that. However, there's not much to complain about either as the overal feel of it comes across as solid and trustworthy. Would I buy this guitar if I didn't like racing stripes and stoner rock? Probably not. It's not bad but it's not stella and you could probably find something a little more refined for your money. However, if you into balls-out, does-what-it-says-on-the-tin road monster thats heading west at Mach 3, then this is a great guitar. Some people will say that it looks naff and that it's just too brash, but if your not affraid of ten tons of awesome then it's well worth a go.

I have an early 1998 Sunburst Model with a very dark tortoiseshell pickguard. Of course the classic Gibson 24 3/4" scale length that in all honesty is alot closer to 24.5". Body is standard Alder, while controls are decidedly Gibson-like (if you don't count a deluxe telecaster), upper bout 3 way switch with individual volume and tone controls with telecaster style knurled knobs. The maple neck with rosewood fretboard is one of the meatiest necks I've felt on a Fender. It fills the hand more like a Les Paul then the often thinner Fender necks. Some may not like it but to me it fits the more rock vibe of the Toronado.

Overall an 8 because the pickups could've been coiltapped, but this guitar doesn't really need it, for it is versatile enough without it.

I play mostly blues rock, and this thing is a beauty for my style. The Fender Atomic II humbuckers are not super high gain pickups, but instead are very dynamic and musical at low and midrange gain levels. I'm currently using a Line 6 Spider II 75 watt because I could only take one amp to college with me and I decided on versatility, but through my Peavey Classic 30 at home it sounds glorious. With the Spider, the guitar needs some EQ adjusting to get really dialed in but once you have it there you can forget about it. The two humbuckers have very distinct voices: the neck pickup is very flutey and rich sounding while the bridge pickup can twang with the best if you let it. Really, for being limited to 3 pickup combinations this guitar can play anything from ballsy country twang to hard rock and even a little bit of metal.

A+ job Fender on the Atomic II humbuckers. While not a typical Fender tone, they are unique enough to stand out while still delivering classic tones.

I got this baby at a Pawn shop nearly 8 years after it was made and it was honestly in mint condition. Besides some minor intonation issues, the thing was playable right off the wall. My only gripe is that the knobs are a tab bit scratchy, but I'm planning on swapping these out for some CTS pots in the future, so I have no beef with them. Action is low with a little buzz played unplugged but none through an amp. In my mind, as long as the audience can't hear the buzz it might as well not be there.

For a pawnshop guitar, this thing had a great setup and was very playable right off the wall

This axe is very gig worthy and it honestly has required almost no maintenance. Besides a light cleaning with pot cleaner and the standard rubdown of lemon oil on the fingerboard there have been no issues at all. The tuning is solid and all the hardware shows almost no signs of aging. The finish on this guitar is fairly thick, so I'm not so sure it couldn't survive some pretty insane guitar torture. I could gig this thing without a backup for sure.

This thing is rock solid. 10s

I emailed Fender my serial # to get some more info on the guitar and I literally had the info within 3 hours. Very informative records. Other than that I haven't had to deal with Fender.

I've been playing casually for about 8 years now, and have been getting fairly serious while in college. I only had the space to take with me the Toronado and an awesome Airline acoustic I scored at a garage sale. The Fender sounds great and definitely pisses off the neighbors, but they all think it sounds awesome. I wish I could replace it by just buying another one but it's getting tougher to find the older models without the stupid stripes. I would definitely want another of the original models if I had to replace it.

If you are looking for a classic humbucker sound from a Fender feeling guitar, I think the Toronado is a great choice. The guitar isn't made for any super high gain metal, but for general rock it sounds great.

Great guitar Fender!

98 Black with a red tortoise shell pickguard..Found it in a pawnshop miracle. It still had the sticker on the neck plate..Not a scratch on the beauty.

I play rock, blues, grunge..just about everything. I feel as if the toronado was made for me. I've always wanted a fender with humbuckers. The sound great to btw.

The finish is flawless and it's a decade. Everything is perfect with it.

I would def trust this guitar without a backup.

I've been playing for 2 years. If someone stole this guitar I would hunt them down!!! lol

THe price tag said 750, but ended up just trading the guy lots of stuff, including a mexi strat.

mine is an H/H with three way toggle and independent volume and tone. pickups are actually cool, Fender humbuckers. the height adjustment screws also have a tilt screw so you can have one side higher than the other. rosewood neck. kluson tuners- hated them at first, now that i know how to use them they are amazing, i can take strings off and put them back on with no kinks. three way switch is cool, nothing special anout this one, its just awesome to turn off one pickup, play a chord and flicker between the pickups. awesome effect.

i play a mix of blues, funk, ska, goth, dream pop, classic rock, and worship songs and this thing works pretty good most of the time. my current favorite guitar. i put push/pull coil taps for more tones. humbuckers have good tone NOT HIGH GAIN, which is better in my opinion, and when split sounds like early zeppelin when jimmy used that psychodelic tele. i removed the tone knobs for brighter humbucker tone. sometimes im irritated with one tone or the other, but thats just my tastes changing.

i bought mine for 125 at a pawn shop so it was beat-up to perfection. actions fine i lowered it, took like two minutes. the neck's straight.
some stuff is bent and tweeked. better than new in my opinion. banana yellow with paint coming off due to playing with a drumstick. looks great!

pretty reliable sound-wise. i hope the finnish will wear off, i dont want a guitar that is to pretty to use. this things a workhorse. if it breaks i'll love it more, adds character and authentic-ness.

ive been playing six years, i own fifteen guitars- american tele, squire tele, bc rich, strats lots of them, ibanez talman, two acustics- this ones my favorite right now. i wish they still made them cause my pick guard is warped or something, buts it gets the job done. its wired almost like jimmy pages les paul, but i like it better cause im not affraid to leave it in my car on a hot/cold day. it sounds great and is much more punk rock, not show-ee. people say they really like. cute guitar center girl likes it!

This is a Toronado HH, made in Korea.
Kind of looks like Starsky and Hutch's Gran Torino....slight metallic finish,beautiful red with white go faster stripe set.

I bought it used, but you can't tell it's anything but brand new....finish is pristine, and gorgeous. It looks about three feet deep. Jaguar body style, no tremolo, dual HB Seymour Duncans all the way around, '59s on the neck, Pearly Gates on the bridge, solid body, with really strong strap locks, and beautiful satin neck. 6 on one head, with inline keys, and 2 string trusses...

I'm a good rhythm player, but I had a neighbour kid come over to let me know what he thought...He was doing Steve Vai leads, AC/DC, blues, jazz, and letting me know as he was changing the sounds...this sounds like a Tele, this sounds like my strat.....I almost had to beat him up to get it back.....it sounded amazing.....

LIKES: looks, satin neck plays really well, smooth and fast, large frets give you lots of room for bending.....

DISLIKES: hard to say, haven't really found anything I don't like yet....

Action was a little high, and the '59 SDs were really low....intonation was off on 4 strings....and the output jack nut was loose, but I did buy it used....and it only took a few minutes to get everything just right again. Now I like it (dare I say) better than the USA strat my neighbour has.....I still love my LP better, but this is a sweet axe, with a thousand voices.....

This thing is rock solid....tune stays forever....I only check it for posterity...the hardware is strong, and well seated. everything feels solid, and I've heard even when these things drop, they hold up very well...sorry, but I'm not ready to test THAT theory.

the strap buttons feel like you could swing from them......not going to try that one, either, though.....

Haven't needed any, but their web page has a lot of neat stuff, like guitar and bass lessons, as well as interactive info on a lot of their products.

I've been seriously playing guitar for 9 years, and I've played everything from vintage hollow bodies to Les Paul to this toronado. I think that this guitar is better than the USA strats and teles, because of the pickups and the jaguar body style, this is far more versatile....

I still like my Les Paul better, but this is the second favourite in my arsenal.

I kind of like Floyd Rose, I might like it with one, but I can certainly live with it exactly as it is.

If you get a chance to play one, take it....you will be really happy you did.

I'll start with saying that this is all subjective. The guitar itself is beautiful... I have the dark metallic blue 2006 model (the final year it was made), the blue is so dark that it passes for black when most people see it. It feels like a Fender while sounding like a Gretsch, mainly due to the "Duncan-designed" humbucking pickups (which are open-coil, no chrome covers).

Thin Rosewood fretboard (easy to grip, great feel), amazing tuning machines (solid, never goes out of tune). Mine has two tone pods and two volume knobs (neck and bridge).

If you like a plain, yet solid and clean looking guitar with a classic body design, then this is your axe... good luck finding one! As of January 2007, all Toronado variants had been discontinued by Fender.

I'm using an all-tube amp... AS ANYONE SHOULD!

I'm using a "Pevey Classic 50 2/12 combo" (great amp by the way). The clean tone is amazing, it is very warm. You will NOT get your normal Fender twang out of these pickups, so if that's what you want stick to the Strat models.

The dirty tone is out of this world, again this is subjective and very dependent upon your amp. I'd say that you can probably achieve just about any dirty tone you want with the right amp and patience.

Here is where I would give this guitar its only negative rating... I paid nearly $700 for my guitar and was considering this a higher-end model due to the fact it was part of the "Deluxe Series". When my guitar arrived it was like it was halfway put together... The toggle switch run horizontally, instead of vertical and it was loose and would stick. The knobs weren't tightened at all. The bridge was high and had never been adjusted for intonation... this meant the guitar had terrible action. They did an all around piss-poor job of assembling this "Deluxe Series" guitar.

Expect to spend around $100 for a professional setup and intonation after you get this guitar...

This guitar will play like butter once you've had it setup professionally to your personal liking, as most guitars will. You should always plan on having your guitar maintained properly anyways.

If you played my Toronado you'd probably fall in love with it because of the care I have put into it personally... If you played one right out of the box, well then you'd probably send it back.

This guitar was made to be used in a live atmosphere. I use strap-locks so I've never dropped mine, but I've ran into things many times (ie:the bass player, the drum symbols, mic stands, etc..).

As previously stated, you want to have setup and intonation done by a professional, they'll tighten up all your pods, toggles, adjust your neck, action, bridge etc... It amazing how solid your guitar will feel and sound.

I believe the body is made from "Alder", which is a pretty dense hard wood. The neck is your typical maple neck with a rosewood fretboard. It's tougher than a strat, based on materials.

I've never really had to exercise one of my warranties before, so I'm not familiar enough with the experience. As far as dealing with the company, it's Fender, one of the largest guitar manufacturers in the world.

Overall the rating is an 8. I would have given it a 10 had it been setup better in the factory, but it wasn't... My guitar is a great guitar mainly because of the maintenance I've put into it myself.

The knobs on this guitar stink. I could never completely turn it off. The tone stinks too.

I'm not a snob but I have a sweet les paul, 80s american strat and a american deluxe tele. I thought this guitar would complement the collection. Nope. The tone is so flat. It offers me nothing. I truly love fenders but this was a flop. Next guitar will be the squier with P90s

The finish and color on the body was awesome. Gorgeous orange. The action was really nothing great. I expected more from fender.

I sent mine back. Heh, actually returned a guitar. Isn't that crazy? It was that bad.

No idea but I imagine its outsourced to India

I've played off and on for about 25 yrs. I'm not that awesome but I enjoy it. I really thought this would be worth the price. Nope. Buy a strat. If you have a strat, buy a tele or les paul. Then the other. Check out the squiers. I have the fretless J bass and it is awesome. Feels like a fender . . . unlike the toronado.

It has the features I expect it to have. I have the mex made version. Orange with a pearl pickgaurd. Atomic Pickups. Great finish on everything.

Here's the big deal, and I've read a couple of other reviews about this problem as well. It's not really a big problem, but when I buy a guitar I want it to sound good. At low volumes it was great, when the volume is cranked with distortion it gave out a microphonic pitch. I read one review where someonw had placed double sided mounting tape in between the pickups and the pickup case and that stopped thier problem. I tried that and it didn't work. So I just ended up removing the pickup casings all together, and it revield two zebra humbuckers. It looks cooler without the casings on them in my openion and it got rid of the unwanted pitch. After that it's great. It has a suprisingly dark tone for the guitar it is. I love it now that the problem has been taken care of. I play for a alternative pop band, and I do studio, garage projects as well, this guitar will fit with all of those. I got it mainly for stage work, but I'll use it in the studio when the time comes.

I get my guitars set up by the same cat that I've used for years. I never go with factory settings. The finish is great, not a flaw. I've read some people have had tuning problems, but I have not. Stays intune like a champ, even if I bang it around a little.

This is my main guitar live. It's built to be on the stage which is why I got it in the first place. The hardware seems like it will last, but I take good care of my gear. I always replace my strap buttons with a strap lock system regaurdless of the guitar. I have gigged with it, and I do have a back up. I haven't needed it so far, but I was in the boyscouts so I follow the "always be prepared" bit.

Never delt with them.

I've been playing for 14 years. This is my seventh guitar. I know what I like, and I know what to look for. I got this used at a pawn shop, and it's exactly what I was looking for. Other than the microphonic issue, I've been very pleased with it. Very comfortable, plays great, and there's a dark sound that's in this mellow looking guitar that I love. Everything else was perfect on it. My current stage set up is the Toronado, line 6 pod xt live-tube screamer, to peavey classic 50 4x10 combo. I get a variety of sounds out of it which is what I require out of all of my gear. I picked this up because I needed a solid stage guitar, and it looks pretty killer as well, you could get laid just standing next to it.

Toronado GT HH (red w/ white stripe) made in Korea. Seymour Duncan pickups, '59 in the neck & pearly gates plus in the bridge. Mahogony body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. 3-way switch, 2vol, 2tone knobs. How do you rate features? Its got what its intended to have. I'll give it a 10 because there's nothing missing?!?!

Its been hard to put this guitar down. It just plays great, granted the shop where I bought it does a pro setup to your specs on every guitar sold, so it was already setup to my satisfaction. The pickups sound marvelous. I have had zero tuning issues with mine. The only problem I've had are scratchy tone pots(both of 'em), but I haven't bothered to open it up to try and clean them or replace them. I've run this guitar into a Vox ad50vt hybrid modeler, a 10watt Vox practice amp, and straight from a Korg ToneWorks multi-pedal into a PA, and it has been a pleasure in every instance. I love my tone with this guitar.

No flaws on this guitar. Everything was sound from day one.

This guitar just feels substantial. I don't mean heavy, don't get me wrong. It just feels like you could drop it a few times and it would still be just as strong(although I haven't dropped it...yet). A solidly built guitar.

The shop where I bought it (Morrison Brothers in Jackson, MS) handles all warranty repair work in-house, and they are excellent. I will probably never have to deal directly with Fender on this.

I've been playing for about 15 years, but only got sucked into the world of electric guitar about 3 years ago. I am meticulous about trying out gear and comparing locally before I buy. I have a regular weekly gig and am too poor to allow for my gear to fail on me(although I do have back-ups), so I make sure that what I buy will last. This guitar is exactly that, a piece of gear that will last. It doesn't get much better at this price.

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.

My toronado was made in Mexico, approx 2 years ago, it has the standard Fender atomic humbucker pups, which I have to say are great, It's black with a purple scratch plate, All the other features have been covered by other reveiws !

The sound I can acheive through my Line6 212 150w combo with this guitar is awesome, I play mostly britpop oasis, etc. The sound is a full bodied, all out kick in the teeth with distortion, yet played clean it also has a lovely tone, to cover almost all genres

The action, and finish on my axe is spot on, the only negative I could say is that, after a while the tone pots get a little crackly, and require a bit of spray on them to bring them back to life !

This is a fender, so it is built to last forever, I gig with this as my sole guitar, and so far I have no complaints at all. If this guitar was ever lost or stolen, I would rush out and buy another, these guitar are really underated, I would never go back to a strat or LP.

No conatct, no need to !

I have been playing for more years than I care to remember, and I have always been a die hard Les Paul fan, I stumbled across the toronado by accident, and boy am I glad I did, this guitar ticks all the boxes for me, it is a universal guitar, but more than that it is just that little bit unusual without being weird (if you know what I mean !) ive the toronado a try, it's the best move you'll ever make !

My guitar was made in Mexico, about 2 years ago, and it's black, and turtle pick guard. The specs are the one already refered so it's useless to point them out. I love the aesthetics of this guitar, and i felt in love by its beauty...

This guitar suits my style of music perfectly. I play Alternative Rock, and Metal, yet, i'm going to upgrade my guitar with Seymour duncan jazz model in the neck, and seymour distortion in the bridge.
The atomic humbuckers are not bad, yet, I need a more versatile thing, more distortion, and a sweet jazzy sound in the neck pick up, and I think this guitar deserves a better sound!!!

Absolutely no complaints here. Everything was ok and ready to go.

I hope this guitar to last, honestly. This is one piece of gear i'll never sell. My intentions are to upgrade the guitar slowly, first the pick ups, then the hardware. It will be my costumized Toronado.

Never had to deal with them , therefore I don't know!

I love my guitar, and as I've said, I hope to stay with her until i perish. I give an 8 to this guitar because I always expect the best from what I purchase, and the pick ups were a let down for me, as I was to expectant about them... Beautiful guitar, nice to play, upgrade the pick ups and you'll have a diamond in your hands!!!

2003 fender toronado, made in mexico. (black with t-shell pic-guard)

24.75 scale, solid, deluxe modle, shouldn't have to say much more.

this guitar is made nearly perfect. great fender feeling neck, awsome gibson sounding pick-ups, les paul style controlls, body feels like a bloated jag, or a melted strat les paul mix.

the hardtail bridge is fa-goddamn-nominal... It's like a mix between a vintage bridge, and a modern hard-tail start bridge. It feels awsome, and is very nice to strings.

the tuners though I hate. I think vintage tunes are just made poorly. They don't like heavy strings, they bend easily when yer guitar gets thrown or you drop it, or you slightly bump into your amp, or if you spit on them. I had to replace two of them not a month after getting my first toronado... I just hate replacing things on new instruments.

Also this thing comes with a gig bag, which is pointless if you tour, so I say get rid of the nut sack it comes with a buy a case (the guitar is worth it).

flawless.... very les paul like, a bit more clanky. I play sort of manic depressive music... pretty, full clean (with a nice amount of bite) and harsh crunchy distortion (warm and full). Think.... signal to trust, proundentall, ten-grand, or "...trail of dead"... that type of stuff.

I am not a lead guitarist by any means... As far as I know this thing might blow for that stuff.

awsome.... flawless... I have thrown this thing and fallen on it more that a few times, and the paint has such a high gloss on it the paint is cracked, but the wood is fine. AMAZING!

I just said this.... AMAZING.... other than the shitty tuners. If I have gotoh tuners or something like that I won't be able to say anything bad about this guitar (and i am rough as hell on it).

good, I got my fender dealer to fix my tuners for like 5 bucks when i clearly did the breaking myself. Waranties are great.

Same standard features as any other regular stcok Toronado.

I play a wide variety of rock, indie rock, post rock, blues, experimental etc. I ordered this guitar from Musicians friend because I fell in love with the body and I thought that the humbuckers were going to give me a very rich warm clean and thick overdriven sound; according to other reviews. Unfortunately I was wrong. My first impression was that this guitar is designed for harder modern/punk rock. I absolutely could not get any clean sound from it. I have a Fender 2x12 deville and a Roland JC-120 and both sound below par with this guitar. When I buy a guitar my biggest concern is overall tone control, being that their are four pots you'd think it would have some if any, but no. I have to do an incredible amount of tweaking with compression and other secondary products to achieve what I want. The most important factor when reading reviews is the musical style the reviewer plays and listens to. So here is a list of a few bands that I listen to, Radiohead, Tortoise, Starflyer59, Elliot Smith, Echo and the Bunnymen, Fugazi, Godspeed!, T-rex, The Cure, Zepplin, Pink Floyd and of couse The Beatles. As you can see my musical taste don't accomadate this guitar well. Although I couldn't get any clean vintage tone from it I found that this guitar pushed me to play more like Danzig or Black Sabbath because of the red hot Atomic Humbuckers, which isn't a bad thing, but not what I wanted.

The neck came slightly warped so I have to have my neck maintenanced every month. It is my understanding that the guitars that Fender sends to Musicians Friend are all B- Stock wood quality. Don't get me started on integrity in modern society. It doesn't exist in Corporate America. Anyways....I replaced the tuners with sperzel locking tuners which I highly reccomend. I am researching the schematics right now to see if I can install some PAF classic style humbuckers but I think the pick guard prohibits it because the lack of holes. Other than that I was quite pleased with the pots and jacks, very sturdy.

Dependability should really never be an issue with Fender. In my opinion they are all usually reliable. In this case that wasn't the issue

Never dealt with Fender, but I probobly should.

Overall I love the look, I hate the natural tone. Unfortunately it was somewhat of a present so I plan to do a complete upgrade. one Dimarzio PAF humbucker and a TV Jones Filtertron Classic, Bigsby Tremolo, resoldering and maybe a new neck. I guess you get what you pay for.

Mexican made Fender Toronado "Deluxe Series" in dark red. This thing has a cool shaped body style similar to the Jaguar or the Jazzmaster. Seems to be Fender's answer to the Les Paul. 22 frets. Poplar body with 24" scale maple neck (rosewood fingerboard). Jumbo frets. Two passive Fender "Atomic" Humbuckers at the neck and bridge position, although I have already replaced the bridge with a Di Marzio Evolution. The Atomics sounded really good, but I needed more definition for my style of playing. String-thru body bridge style. Tuners are non-locking, and pretty chinsy. I'll have to get them replaced at some point.

It's a good guitar for loud rock, punk, or metal, which is what I play. The Atomic Humbuckers that it came with sound big and rich. The 24" scale neck is great for pulling bends. I'm keeping the bridge pickup that I pulled out of it to possibly throw into another guitar at some point. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it sounded good.

When I got it, the strings were almost 1/4 inch off the fretboard (I bought it used, so I can't say how well the set them up at the factory). I took her into the shop immediately for adjustment. As I had said before, I want to replace the tuning pegs at some point. I'll eventually also want to replace the pots. The body and neck are solid. Well crafted pieces of wood. I was expecting less considering the stigma floating around about Mexican made guitars. I am pleased with it, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Mexi Fender.

The body and neck are going to last for years of playing, but the mechanical and electronic parts are going to need to be replaced at some point (sooner then later). They definately cut some corners on parts to increase their bottom line. It seems typical of most guitar manufacturers today. Once I replace everything I mentioned, and add some strap locks I will consider it solid as a tank on stage.

Never delt with Fender directly.

Inexpensive guitar if you're happy with it off of the shelf, but if you want to gig out with it regularly, expect to shell out another couple hundred bucks to make her more reliable. It feels good, sounds good, and it's fun to play so I'd say it's worth it.