Fender American Ultra Telecaster - Texas Tea with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews

Fender dressed up the classic tele with this beautiful Texas Tea with a Strat like contour body, noiseless pickups and a silky smooth Rosewood fretboard with a D neck… once again Randy Poteete at Sweetwater whose indispensable advice waa critical

The compound radius neck is the sweetest thing I love about this guitar. It is so comfortable to play especially in the upper registers. Also I love the pushbutton on the volume knob that puts both pickups in series. It's a quick boost when playing a lead. The workmanship on the entire guitar is superb.

I know it's said about a lot of different things, but if you could only have one guitar, this is the one to have. From the beautiful finish to the creamy smooth neck and the perfectly versatile sound the American Ultra Tele is absolutely top notch. And you'll never get tired of the compliments you get every time you plug it in. Sheer six-stringed perfection. And, as we've come to expect, the customer experience you get from Sweetwater is second to none.

First of all the customer service is an example of excellence. Second the delivery process is spot on and everything I ordered came nicely packed with some sweets.The guitar is just beautiful and I think worth the money, but with the 55 point inspection I have my doubts as the bridge pickup was still covered in plastic foil and loose, but that's a real minor detail. The rest is good very good. I'm a new customer and I'll surely will order in the future from you guys, you rock. I'm a novice player and the week I used it together with the fender junior amp is just great. It's very playable and certainly for a beginner player although some of us might find it a bit expensive.But a good beginning is half the work as I love the looks and feel and can't stop picking it up. Well done fender and Sweetwater.

I have played Fender Stratocasters for most of my life but recently sat in on a friend's gig with a telecaster. I was impressed with how the tele balanced with acoustic guitar and other instruments.

The main reasons I avoided telecasters in the past was that traditional models did not have fully compensating saddle pieces for intonation, the pickups were notoriously noisy, and the body felt cookie cutter rigid. The telecaster ultra corrects all of these issues. The locking tuning machines and out of phase button are nice additions also.

I purchased the telecaster ultra Texas Tea model from Sweetwater a few weeks ago. I'm very impressed with the sound, feel, and improvements Fender made. The color is also very cool in that it looks black from some angles but shines with a sparkle of green closer up. It looks great under stage lights. The only downside I have experienced is the pick guard that looks like it's made of brushed aluminum. It is pretty sharp on the edge and can file down your nails if your playing style has non-picking fingers in that area. I swapped it out for a traditional white pick guard and I'm very happy with it now.

A big thanks to Phil Potts for his help with this purchase. Sweetwater is still the best online music store around.
Thank you!
Dan

Perfect instrument

A very nice Telecaster. Top quality and craftsmanship. Tone for days.I was on a gig and the guitar I was playing had no tone,felt very uncomfortable. I called my Wife and asked her to please bring me my Telecaster. I sold the other guitar the next day...lol.

Hey Guys,

just received mine Ultra Tele Texas Tea yesterday and I will make my comment pretty short and concise coz everything else has been apparently already said by other folks.

I played Strat, Les Paul, Sheraton...and I can say only this. This Tele is clearly the best guitar I ever played and it's worth every penny. If I can compare it for example with Fender Stra Am. Pro. the feeling and sound of the Tele is somewhere else and especially the neck feel and frets. The medium jumbo frets feel amazing and are way easier to play than narrow tall frets.

Last but not least, I never liked the Tele look but after many years of playing I got to the point where I actually find it weirdly nice and simple guitar and especially the Texas Tea color is just beautiful. Also, this guitar makes you literally to become creative when it comes to develop your own style and tone which I never lived before with any other guitar. There is really something special about this one..

Cheers!

I purchased my Texas Tea Ultra on 26 May 2022. It arrived on 1 June. I was blown away by seeing a Texas Tea Ultra Tele for the first time. So freaking beautiful & way beyond my wildest imagination. I was blown away by the way the neck felt in my hand; it was as if it was custom made for my short fingers.

Then became dismayed to find string buzz the first time I played something. That was most disheartening for me due to the time it took me to finally purchase my first Tele. I had waited for what seems like a lifetime for the "correct" Tele with noiseless pickups. My new Tele came with some of the expected "Ultra" missing. (Thank you for that Fender!) I was surprised and shocked since these are assembled by the builders in the Fender Custom Shop. Shame on you!

On 3 June I took it to a luthier that came very highly recommended located in Las Vegas to find the buzz. She had it for 10 days and it came back 100% a different guitar when it comes to playability. I won't list all the challenges she found. I contacted Sweetwater's customer service because all of the things she fixed were checked off on their 55 point inspection service. I will leave it there.

After contacting customer service once it was finished they reimbursed me for the needed repair and setup processes that were completed. I have never in my 72 years had such wonderful responses as I received from Sweetwater for the needed repairs that were missed in their inspection processes from any purchase I have ever made. It was instant and with a only a few questions from the gentleman that helped me from customer service. In today's world there is always an argument of sorts from most customer service or warranty issues, but not with Sweetwater.

The better aspect of this purchase is the quality of service received by my Sales person Grant Embury. He and I have chased each other for around 2.5 years now on the purchase of a Telecaster, He gave me the best price available on this amazing guitar as well as the price for 20 sets of strings to go along with it. (They are not available in Peru)

I met Grant Embury back in early 2019 when I was looking to purchase my Taylor Builders Edition K14ce after having challenges with another popular music store. I for sure made the correct decision by considering Sweetwater for that purchase which is why I chose him for my Tele Ultra.

Thank you Grant for being the sales person you surely are. And many thank you's go out to everyone in Sweetwater for considering the consumer first in everything you do. I don't believe there would have been any equal service on this same guitar had it been purchased anywhere else.

My significant other who has never entertained playing guitar and gifted me the Taylor K14ceBE has decided she should learn to play guitar after holding my new Tele Ultra. All she said is; "Teach me!" I may lose it if I do! LOL

The first model that I received was defected/damaged in shipping. Between the help of my sales representative Zack Davidson and tech support representative Joe Steinhart we were able to get it all sorted out in no time. As for the guitar, I love it. Plays like butter. I have trouble putting it down

Really love this guitar! Before this, had a Gretsch Tennessee Rose, but honestly, I would say that this one is officially my favorite of the two. Well made. Feels great. Sounds great. And is just generally awesome! The only problem I've encountered is that when the volume nob is all the way down, it will go to far and be on again. But this could probably be fixed fairly easily and it has not been a huge issue. I would 100% recommend this guitar!

Jason and the Sweetwater crew were great in helping to procure this beauty! This guitar completed what I considered my own trifecta of an American Deluxe Fender Strat, Gibson Les Paul, and now the Tele. They all have their own personalities as many can attest, but this Tele seems to have the greatest versatility. The quality and craftsmanship is as good or better for electrics in this price point, and the sounds and tones it generates is tremendous, whether it's a bit country, blues, or rock. The true, deep Texas Tea color can't really be appropriately visualized on the pics, as you have to see it in person to truly appreciate it. Overall, very satisfied with this purchase and the service received from Sweetwater! Sounded great right out of the case!

I am as skeptical as they come. Yeah yeah the guitar is great. I was amazed as it was ready to play out of the case.
But even though this Tele is the best you will play, I cannot say enough about the service and attention to detail.

Thank you.
Guitar Center is missing the boat!

I have been a Strat guy for over 50 years and this is my very first Telecaster. I can't really comment on the sound of it verses other Telecasters, but I do love its sound. It has similar, yet slightly different tones than my current Strat, which is an American Professional. The guitar is a stunner in looks, feel and the fit and finish are immaculate. I really love the neck feel and frets, the belly cut feels nice and similar to the Strat. I use this as a studio workhorse with my Strat and it definitely fits the bill. It is wonderful to play. The Texas Tea color is really gorgeous, but keep a dust cloth handy as it does show dust. Fender has taken their vast experience in guitar building and created a beautiful and refined instrument!

First I would like to say thank you to Colton Smiricky my sales engineer who helped with the purchase and answered all my questions.If your looking for a made in America Tele I would suggest you check out the Ultra series. The ergonomic features alone make it amazing to play. The Texas Tea finish is beautiful and love how it changes color depending on the lighting.

Would love to go on and on about how great this guitar is but I can't put it down. Typing a review with a Fender American Ultra Telecaster in one hand and trying to type with the other is not fun.. A shout out to Erik Bothwell for taking care of me.

Just got my Fender American Ultra Telecaster in Texas Tea with Rosewood fingerboard. It's a 2021 model. It's so light: I was able to pick my specific guitar from Sweetwater, and I chose a 7 lb 7 oz guitar. So light.

Fit, finish, playability are all excellent.

What I want to focus on in my review is Sweetwater's 55 point inspection. I professionally setup my own guitars as soon as I get them. I know how to do it, and I know how to do it well. When I opened my case, I saw the card with the SW 55 pt inspection. I placed my guitar on the workbench and reviewed the inspection details, which were all checked. So I thought I would put that to the test. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. String height, pup height, truss rod, intonation were all checked on the card. When I sighted the trussrod, it was spot-on. String height, spot-on. PUP height, spot-on. Intonation...no way I thought, but yeah, it was spot-on 100%. Quickest setup I've ever done. Thanks Sweetwater for getting this guitar so perfect out of the box.

Yep, it sure is. I am so pleased with the service I received from Keith. The only complaint the frets were not polished. I had to polish all the frets in order to make the guitar 110%

No regrets here, fits me and my playing like a glove. Completely in love with it and will be keeping it for life.

In the past 60 years I have owned just about every Fender model, and I always favored the Jaguar or the Jazzmaster-until the past couple of years. Then I played the Elite Telecaster model, and loved it, except for the static that kept building up on the pickguard. So I traded it for the Elite Strat, which apparently had copied some of the improvements Leo made with Music Man. I just loved the upgrades, and it became the first Strat I ever held on to. So, when the Ultra's came out, I was initially skeptical, as in, how could they improve it? Well, they didn't, really, just created another branch off the tree with moving the truss rod access point, the neck profile, and another generation of pickup changes. So, first I got another Ultra Strat, which I love, so then I got the Texas Tea Tele. I thought the anodized pickguard might get rid of the finger induced static, and it did. And the silky compound neck is just a breeze to play. To me, tone is the outcome of matching the right pick, strings, tubes, and amp. Easy to do with these Elites, and Ultras. Playability supercedes all other factors. For those who complain they don't like the S1 configuration or the noiseless pickups, well, aren't you glad they are so many other models for you to choose from? For me, this is just the best Telecast I have ever played, and the consequence of almost 70 years of continuous improvement.

Matt McKible is the best, the new Ultra Telecaster is very cool especially with the 55 point pre inspection (I had to return one to another company due to flaws) and Superfast shipping with Great service and knowledgeable input. I have and will buy more from him. Sweetwater is lucky to have him as an employee.

J B Phillips

Fender's Ultra Telecaster brings some really cool features to a classic guitar, and I like it so much my other 2 electrics just sort of idle now. For reference, I own it in the butterscotch blonde finish.

The neck was the first thing to stand out. The profile is thinner than most telecasters (Fender's MIM or MIJ models). It fits my hand in a way that almost feels personalized. The first impression is how nicely it sits and feels, compared to how some necks first jump out to me with their bulk. The satin finish is smooth and silky. After months of daily use, it refuses to stick to my hand. I wipe it down with a cloth every few days and it still feels like it did on day 1. The slightly rounded fingerboard edge just adds to the comfort. The compound radius is barely noticeable while playing, and a bit more obvious if you take the time to pay attention to it. The range was a great choice, meeting a nice middle ground. Not too curved, not too flat. There's no unnecessary fret buzz, I got my action pretty low before it started to become audible.

The noiseless pickups are great for getting rid of the hum, and scratch that "itch" of clarity and glass. They do sound a bit...lacking sometimes. Something to consider after dropping almost $2k on an instrument.
My favorite part is being able to run the neck and bridge in series. Press the button, and the clarity and balance sits on top of added warmth. Some say it's like a humbucker, it's more like a noiseless P90. Back off the tone, and it starts to breathe a bit. You might fool some people into thinking it's a semi hollow.

The bridge piece lets you adjust the height and intonation individually, a great help when adjusting the truss rod. I like my neck as straight as possible, it took almost no time to tweak the guitar to my preference.

The tuners made changing strings very quick and easy. The amount of time it took for new strings to settle was maybe a few minutes with tuning it up. After moving from 9s to 10s, I did need to adjust the truss rod just a bit to get it back where I wanted.

The only thing I don't really like is the seated input jack. It won't let you use most 90 degree input cables. Something else to keep in mind if that part of the guitar sits close to the ground or chair. These small issues don't take away from it being my new standard. The Ultra Series are probably the closest you can get to a custom guitar quality for the price point. There's not much for factory guitars that own up to it.

I never liked the teles and my dealer recommended it , I bought the ultra stratocaster ultra burst and I was in love and I received this tele today and WOW its really amazing the sound the neck the feeling on your hands , the Texas tea color and metallic pickguard its amazing

Really recommended

Just received my Ultra and I am amazed. This is the most expensive Tele I have bought to date and wondered if it was worth it. The answer is yes is it is exquisite. The neck is perfect. I purchased the setup with Sweetwater and it was dead on. All I can muster is wow. Kudos to Sweetwater for their customer service. It takes some of the worry out of buying over the internet.

I've had the Texas Tea Tele for a few weeks now and not a day goes by that I am not playing it. It just begs to be played! Very much in love.

These are awesome guitars. Built well. Sound fantastic. Innovation that just keeps coming.

Really a joy to play, feels great in your hands

I unboxed the guitar today and I was stunned how beautiful it looked. Everything about the guitar is spot on perfect. The neck is simply amazing, it’s like butter in my hands. I never thought a neck would get better than my Elite Strat, but this one is. The color of the neck is fantastic too. Looks like a lightly roasted maple neck. The Texas Tea color is beyond awesome. Let’s just say this is now my go-to guitar. When I first picked it up, it felt like an old friend. The pickups are smooth but biting when you want that Tele bite. The body contour is appreciated as is the neck contour which makes it easier for me to hit the high notes now. Thanks go out to my rep Alden Debee for jumping on this order while they were in stock. Alden, you’re the best!

The Fender Ultra Telecaster sounds and plays incredibly. The sustain and tone on this Tele are top-notch. I'm very pleased. I had Sweetwater set up the guitar with Ernie Ball 2921 Regular Slinky M-Steel Electric Guitar Strings - .010-.046. Sweetwater did a great job. After trying dozens of strings over the past two years on my Ultra Stratocaster, I landed on M-Steel. I am pleased to report that the tonal qualities of these strings pair well with the Telecaster guitar too. I highly recommend it.

I have only two design complaints with the Fender Ultra Telecaster:

1.) the Texas Tea finish comes with a great-looking metal pickguard; however, the metal finish is textured, and it has hard edges. After playing for a few days, I noticed that the pickguard had worn away two of my right-hand fingernails. It also rubbed my pinky knuckle raw, so I've had to adjust my playing.

2.) the plastic switch tip keeps falling off. At this price point, the switch tip should be nickel plated and should have a screw in it to keep it in place. The plastic switch tip seems out of place when compared to the rest of the finishes on this guitar.

Aside from those issues, the guitar is a great instrument.

I'm a new player, so asking for a player review of this Tele is like asking a person who can't drive to rate a Lambo. I can therefore only say the quality of construction, fit, finish are, as the current saying goes, "Lit". I can't comment on playability. *Yet* Why did I purchase such an expensive instrument if I can't play it? As I told Kelly, my sales engineer, based on my experience in JHS & HS band, when the family couldn't afford a new car, and had patio furniture in our Rec room: a great instrument won't automatically make a poor player better. But a poor instrument will keep a poor player from becoming better." Shout out to Kelly for his outstanding service, putting up with my numerous messages, and walking me through the purchase of the Tele and a few required accessories.

Bought this guitar 3 months back on really love it. I chose it because it looks great visually. The Texas Tea and rosewood neck compliment each other well. It plays nice, the noiseless pickups have the Tele sound with the slight additional warmth. The only thing I am not totally sold on is the series/parallel button in the center position. It's a new option, so I'll give it more time. This instrument is quality made - I finally got my Tele!

I wanted a Telecaster and took a chance with a demo.
The guitar:
After waiting the dreaded 24 hours I held her in my hands and the 1st thing I noticed was the color, "Texas Tea" which is beautiful. The 2nd thing was that the strings were pretty high off of the frets, after a "setup." I was probably wrong to get a setup on a demo... I played it for a few minutes and it was really hard to play. I'm pretty good at setups and i keep thinking Someone else is going to set up a guitar for me and I'm gonna like it. Anyway, I started lowering strings and found out why the action was so high. Buzz. Way too much to where it was distracting. I went back and forth about returning it, no fun, and that was what this was supposed to be about. I really love everything about it besides how it plays. (and on close inspection the grain is visible in the gloss finish) Had I tried it out in a music store i would've hung it right back on the wall and moved on, SO I decided to try the "Plek Pro"
cnc service and see if that could breathe a soul back into it, and it t DID. I really enjoy playing and looking at it now. Another caveat (emptor?) is the anodized, brushed aluminum pickguard, which exfoliates anything in it's path. In an emergency one could sharpen a razor blade on it.
My conclusion:

Most of the time, when I buy a guitar, "it's just my favorite!" for about 2 months. ...then I start to also play my other guitars. I have now exclusively played this Tele for almost 4 months solid now. I really don't think there's a day where I haven't played it. I almost always leave it in the middle pickup position (S1 engaged), volume and tone rolled off about half. The compound radius took me a few weeks to really get comfortable with but now it feels ridiculously natural. The video in the link was recorded via the Strymon Iridium using the Round (Deluxe) setting and going right into the Focusrite Solo and into Reaper recording software. The reverb was added in post. All purchased at Sweetwater over the years. :)

Still knocking a half star off for the fit issues mentioned in my first review. Nothing major but, again, for the money, I expect a tighter eye to detail.

Playability and electric tone this guitar has for days. Why 4.5 stars instead of 5? Small issue but it seems like something that should be obvious to someone inspecting it at the factory. Two of the pickguard screws are off-center. The issue is this is a metal pickguard so it is very unforgiving an the screw heads sit visibly high and you can see part of the hole they were supposed to go into. At $... I do expect a little more care. ...big enough problem to return it? No. Just hope this gets back to Fender so they can pay a little more attention. This is my second USA made Fender and this is the only issue between them. Both fantastic instruments.

excellent guitar all the experience of fender a perfect guitar

Only had the guitar about 10 days, but love if so far. Sounds fantastic and I really like the shallow Modern D necks they put on the Ultra series. They're great for folks like me with small hands. My lone complaint, other than the guitar arriving with a dirty fretboard, is that awful anodized pickguard. Why Fender?! It looks cools, but feels awful and basically sands down anything that scrapes it. First thing I did after playing the guitar for the first time was order a replacement pickguard.

Have had this a little less than a year, but enough time to figure out things I'm not crazy about. Lot's of positive comments so will focus on the things I don't like, but don't take that as negating other positive things. The anodized pickguard is a problem: it feels horribly rough and suffers from the same static buildup issues (resultant pops and crackling) experienced with my other teles with plastic pickguards. The trick of using dryer sheets is made difficult in that the sandpaper like pickguard tends to rub off and collect particulates from the sheets. For the $, one would think Fender would have fixed this on the Ultra. The anodized pickguard is just a no-win. The "modern-D" 10-12" compound radius neck is a real puzzler. My other teles as 9.5" modern C and 60s C shapes. Oddly, despite the flat fretboard, I find country style strings bends difficult; i.e. where you hold say the high E or B in position and bend the other strings. I have yet to figure out what is up with this. Yes, it has been set up. The fact it is a compound radius means some forethought needs to go into what radius you will use in setting up string height .. and I've had varying feedback on this. The issue is that the radius continues to extrapolate out beyond the 12th fret; you can't do setup based on 12" at say the bridge. Sadly queries to Sweetwater resulted in no response whatsoever. Bottom line, my preference is just a good old 9.5" radius standard neck. So why'd I buy it, you ask? It is SUPER HARD to find MEDIUM JUMBO frets on Fender these days; couple that with noiseless pickups, an option for rosewood neck .. the choices get pretty slim. The "Texas Tea" finish is pretty much just black all the time. I was hoping it would change colors a bit more as light changed. Not for me. It's pretty much just my second black guitar, end of story. I like the noiseless pickups, but had hoped the series setting was a bit more pronounced as it is on my Mexican tele w/ this configuration. I think running in series depends a lot on the type of pickup, and these provide a sound that's OK, but not what I was hoping for.

The feel and playability of this guitar are without a doubt the best that I've ever experienced, befitting of the name "ultra." Fender also put a lot of effort into making these instruments look absolutely smashing, which is nice.

However, the pickup selector knob came off after a couple of sessions playing it, with a small crack in it. This is an easy fix, and it wouldn't bother me if that was the only thing. The neck pickup also began cutting out intermittently within about a week of purchasing the guitar. It randomly occurs after manipulating the pickup selector switch - and doesn't cut out completely, but cuts down to about 1/3 of the regular volume output. After a few minutes it will come back. I checked out some telecaster forums online and found that I am not alone in this experience.

Fortunately I'm handy and like to tinker, as the closest Fender authorized service department is a few hours away.

As for the sound of the pickups: this is completely subjective - I think that the guitar sounds quite nice and I've been able to create some great tele tones that I'm happy with, but it still doesn't sound EXACTLY like a vintage tele, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

So I've got one major issue to address, but in general, this guitar looks, plays, and sounds beautiful.