Fender Standard Telecaster Reviewed by Guitarbitz

Fender Standard Telecaster

The timeless Telecaster, more popular today than ever it seems.

This superb Mexican made Fender Standard Series version offers great value and vibe at a seriously tempting price.

The familiar thin headstock adds barely any weight to the neck side of the Tele, the front has a single Chrome string tree for the 2 treble strings, and the Fender logo, and TELECASTER in block letters.

The back of the headstock has 6 in line Fender branded Chrome die-cast sealed tuners, the guitars serial number and country of origin (Mexico).

The Maple neck feels beautiful, the back has a thin 'skunk' stripe of Rosewood, where the truss rod has been inserted.

The neck and fingerboard is a single piece of Maple, finished to high standards, totally smooth and polished up. The Standard Telecaster is also available with a Rosewood fingerboard.

The board has large black position markers, and 21 medium jumbo frets. As supplied from the factory, they're set up perfectly as well, action here between 2-3mm across the range at the 12th fret.

The bolt-on neck joins the Alder body at the 17th fret on the bass side, 20th on the treble, so access to all 21 frets is dead easy. The back of the neck joint has a simple square Chrome plate, with 4 screws keeping everything together.

The curvy body feels quite chunky and square, the design has never changed of course, it precedes the Stratocaster, so there is no chamfering to make a comfortable playing position. That said however, Mr Fender did seem to get something right, at the guitar feels totally right played sat or standing. A design classic.

The back of the Telecaster is plain and flat, all that is there are the 6 round Chrome hole protectors where the strings are inserted.

The front is much more familiar, the long Chrome plate with rounded ends that houses the 3 way pickup selector switch, volume and tone controls, these again are big, chunky Chrome versions.

The beautifully designed scratchplate, with a long sweeping curve at the top, passing over the bridge, under the strings and then following the body shape, is 3 ply, white, black, white.

The neck pickup if that famous 'lipstick', originally made with a disused lipstick cover, whilst the bridge is a large square Chrome plate, bent up at the far end, here with 6 individual Chrome saddles, all fully adjustable for string height and intonation.

The bridge pickup is black, slanted across the strings with 6 polepieces poking though the plastic cover.

Everyone must be familiar with the telecaster sound, but if you need reminding, players like Bob Dylan, Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Rick and Francis of Status Quo, Joe Strummer of the Clash and Bruce Springsteen are all big fans.

And with such diverse musical styles there alone, the Telecaster is a truly versatile guitar. Rock, country, blues, punk and indie are all represented.

An amazingly successful guitar, the Fender Standard Telecaster is an instrument ALL guitarists MUST have in their collection. And at this price, great value for money.

Specifications:-

Country of Origin - Mexico

Body - Alder

Nut width - 42mm

Neck - 1 piece Maple, Modern C shape, bolt on

Fingerboard - Maple, dot inlays, 9.5" radius, 21 Medium Jumbo Frets

Hardware - Chrome

Tuners - Fender®/Ping® Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines

Bridge - Standard 6-Saddle Strings-Thru-Body Bridge

Pickups - 2*Hot Standard Tele® Single-Coil Pickups

Controls - 1*volume, 1*tone, 3-way selector