I recently had the opportunity to try out a brand new Fender American Vintage 52' Telecaster, a true throwback to the old times and the classic Telecasters! If you want guitar-perfection, then this may be the guitar for you.
For about 30 years now, Fender has been researching it's own past. This research has ultimately boiled down to the new American Vintage range, a collection of what Fender believes to be the most perfect guitars of it's history. In this range you have: an ash-bodied 'black guard' '52 (reviewed here); the slimmer-necked, ash-bodied '58; and the rosewood 'board '64 that's generally alder-bodied, but employing ash for the White Blonde colour option. Each model is based on an existing guitar of it's type, and Fender aims to replicate these as perfectly as possible. Your author is in no way new to Telecasters, having owned a Fender MIM Tele from 2007 and a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster from 2011 - neither of which fitted my needs in their entirety - so I was excited to try out this new American Tele, not only because quite simply it was an AMERICAN TELE but also I had recently heard that old tele's body and neck shapes were drastically different, as such I was intrigued - and boy were they right.
Blonde finished Telecasters from before '65 always seemed to turn a yellow colour, known as butterscotch. This is down to the formula of the finish they used. In my opinion, this is the only way a tele should look, that is a very controversial opinion, yes, however I can just imagine the late '50's and early '60's stars with their yellow shade tele's. It just seems right.
So, to the review.
The '52 reissue is the heaviest of the three new tele models, not by a huge amount, but it's still noticeable. It's neck is also different from modern tele's in that it is of a U construction, something that Fender has gone to great lengths to recreate, along with all the other aspects of each guitar in this range. This profile gives you the chunky neck feel, it really fills your hand, something that I can see many people loving, and many loathing. The curvature of the edges of the neck does offer a bit of relief from this though.
With the thinner frets and fatter neck shapes the old Fender guitars were certainly a bit trickier to play, and since Fender have gone for a complete copy that is also reflected within this guitar, don't worry though, it's not as hard to play as it sounds, despite being a bit more difficult to play than say, an American Standard Tele. However, many players love guitars such as this as it allows them to put in real effort to display their own playing style, if you like.
As an example, try bending the third string at the 2nd fret for your archetypal Muddy Waters or Hendrix blues lick; the string may slip from below your fingers. On the other hand, try smashing out those barre chords for an hour or two, on a modern Fender the flat neck and jumbo sized frets would make this difficult and tiring, on this guitar it's a doddle.
Anyway, if Bruce Springsteen and his '52 Esquire get along well, why can't you and this American Vintage?
You cannot criticise this beautiful guitar from a build quality standpoint. In terms of reliability and ruggedness.. well, it's a tele. In terms of finish quality etc it is superb, what you'd expect really. However it does have a few of those old Fender Vintage issues - why? Because it's an exact copy.
However, if you're a user of a new Tele, Strat, Les Paul etc this guitar may take a bit of getting used to, with the neck profile and all. However if you're willing to put in a bit of your time this guitar may be brilliant.
Sound
The bridge pickup is dark. That's the first thing that hit me, on many Tele's the bridge pickup is a bit to bright for my liking, and maybe this is going in the other direction, I'm undecided. When plugged into one of our valve amps with a 4x12 attatched we instantly noticed how big this guitar sounds, not quite up to the usual tele twang. If you mess around with the tone you could get some Gibson-esque sounds out of this beauty. The twang only comes in with the neck pickup, a little warmer than your standard tele necker too. The middle position provides the best of both worlds, providing a superb warm twang, a combination that you don't often get the chance to play with. The tones that pump out from this tele are indescribable, we really recomend you go try one out for yourself, it's the only way you'll feel what we feel. Feel.
The wiring in the guitar, despite using vintage pots etc is strictly modern, which we like. No prehistoric failures there!
Incredible build quality, beautiful tone and of course, perfect vintage replication.
Cons
The neck may be a bit difficult for some modern players.
Verdict
Try it out, really. Just try it. I can't stress enough that you just need to try it. So, try it.
Specs
Scale Length (Inches)
25.5
No. of Frets
21
Hardware
Vintage chrome tele bridge, 3 saddles, Fender vintage tuners, chrome knurled volume and tone knobs
Manufacture Country
USA
String Spacing (In)
2.25
String Spacing
54
Weight (lb)
7.5
Material of Neck
Maple, U-shape, bolt-on
Left Handed Model?
Yes
Electronics
3-position lever pickup selector switch, master volume and tone controls, 2 x Fender American Vintage '52 Tele single-coils
Nut
Bone/42mm (1.65")
Accessories
Vintage '52 Tele strap, cable and cloth; vintage wiring kit, 50s Tele information kit, bridge cover, owner's manual, saddle height wrench
Scale Length (mm)
648
Weight (kg)
3.4
Material of Fingerboard
Maple
Material of Neck
Ash
Body Style
Single-cutaway solid electric
Available Finish
Butterscotch Blonde (as reviewed) 'Flash Coat' nitrocellulose
