Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat Acoustic-electric Guitar - Natural with Walnut Fingerboard Reviews

I've owned this guitar for about a year now and I'm blown away. I have the blackout Anniversary version and for the price I'm stunned. I wish there was 6 starts. I got mine at a local shop and they didn't QC is so I've got a few imperfections but I think it adds character. One of my favorite things about this guitar is the B string. It adds this beautiful chime that I've never heard in another acoustic guitar. Every time I play the B it's just a magic overtone. Excellent instrument.

So I get this, look at it, and think "gee what a cute toy". Then I play it and I think "sounds pretty good for a toy". Then I run it through my new Fender Acoustic Junior and think, holy sh*t. Has a nice Fender sound that almost sounds electric with great lows and highs with amp bass and treble on 5 and then adjusting bass and treble on the guitar. Tuner is spot on - tricky though has just a wee bit of delay. Very comfortable to play, body and neck. Awesome set up by Brandon H. Got the PB nanoweb Elixer 11/52's. Phenomenal, really. Anyway, this thing ain't winning any contests for looks it really does look like a plastic toy to me but I'd buy it again without hesitation in a heartbeat!

I've had an inexpensive Rogue acoustic for many years. When I saw that there was a Tim Armstrong signature instrument, I decided it was time for an upgrade. This is a really great instrument. The look and feel are really nice. Great construction, lightweight and sized well for comfortable playing. The material choices work well and the inlay really stands out. The guitar produces a great sound, the built in Tuner is handy and works well. Overall, I'm super happy with this addition to my collection.

My guitar arrived well packed and in perfect condition. It was even very close to being in tune, right out of the box!
I feel especially grateful for the care and process of the 55 point inspection. The only place I will buy a guitar that I haven't yet played, or touched. Good job Sweetwater!

Love this guitar... arrived in great condition. Sweetwater did an awesome job making sure this was packaged well and safe in transit. Appreciate the quick delivery. Thank you Sweetwater!

This guitar is absolutely stunning! The playability and action was amazing and had ZERO intonation issues. The only thing I could find wrong about this guitar was that MINE had sharp fret ends, but THATS LITERALLY ALL. Amazing color and amazing sound. Really great for recording acoustically and/or electronically. Very balanced tones so it’s great for most styles. I’d recommend this to anybody!

Coming from Sweetwater, the guitar was perfectly set up. Payed it for awhile out of the box and checked it out. It was already in tune, strings evenly spaced above the fret board, and intonation at the 12th, 7th, and 5th fret were in tune and rang out with perfect harmonics. The Hellcat comes with 11 gauge strings, and I've been playing 10s on all my guitars for decades, so I did change the strings. While off, I lemon oil on the fretboard and bridge,, and polished the guitar, probably unnecessary, more force of habit. Guitar tuned right back up and no change in the set up. I have a Martin that is strictly for inside the house, and a Takamini for playing out with the band. Took this to the studio antyd played it thru an amp to check out the electronics. The tuner is excellent and dead on with the tuner on my pedal board. Bass, treble, and volume all work as expected. Pre-amp is clean and strong. Ply plenty of power at about 2. Very pleased with this guitar and would highly recommend buying it. Worth much more than the sell price. Bought this to play out on the porch with neighbors, and in Florida summers it can be 95 with very high humidity. The guitar is better than that and would not hesitate to take on gigs. The guitar is beautiful, and I love the inlays.

I have been playing the guitar for 55 years and have owned dozens of guitars. This is by far the finest instrument I have ever owned and played. What more can be said?

Richard V.Webb

I originally bought one of these because of the neck being so much better than other guitars I sampled in the price range, but I've grown to love the sound that comes out of this thing. It's loud and raucous, and perfect for blues. I slam out delta and Texas blues on this, and it sounds so good. It's also great for country guitar where you need loud and bright. You can amplify it with the built in pick up, but I prefer to mic it. On this aspect, your mileage may vary according to your tastes, but for the sound, you owe it to yourself to try one of these. As already noted, the neck on this is really good. Very smooth and playable, with no buzzing frets and it holds tune very well. While I've had many more electrics than acoustics, out of the ones I've owned, this is my favorite.

It's a beautiful guitar. It looks good, not gaudy...very cool. But sound wise....this thing is tiny, tinny, and sadly it sounds like a toy. Plugged in it sounds fine, very reasonable. The neck is great, fast and very comfortable. But I couldn't get over the sound. I played it for a week straight trying to convince myself it wasn't as weak as I thought it was. Finally, I gave up. It wasn't convincing me. I'm sure it's a great guitar for beginners or a smaller person. But it just didn't work for me. I play OM's and dreadnoughts and I wanted to move into smaller guitars. Obviously this guitar is not built to complete with those types of guitars, but this one just wasn't it.

I want to start by saying that this review in no way is a reflection of Sweetwater. The customer service is phenomenal, and I will continue to be a loyal customer.

Discussing the guitar, there are some things I like and some things I'm not to happy with. I love the sound provided by the mahogany body. As a huge fan of Rancid and Tim Armstrong, the inlays on the fretboard are what really sold the guitar for me. I feel like that's something you will either love or hate. The built-in Fishman preamp and tuner is an awesome feature, really adding some value to a fairly inexpensive acoustic guitar. There are some areas where it is evident that Fender cut some corners in quality to keep the cost low, such as the "decal" around the sound hole, the pickguard that isn't completely flush with the body (it appears they used adhesive tape to hold it on, but there are some gaps along the edges), as well as the plastic tuning pegs and bridge pins. The nut and saddle are Nubone, so it is a slight step up from cheap plastic ones.

The biggest thing stopping from loving this guitar is the playability. It needs a proper set up something fierce. I have (for lack of a better term) multiple "dead zones" on each string. The 5th and 6th string have some minor fret buzzing around the 12th fret, but the high E and B strings are worse. From the 6th fret to the 15th fret, it doesn't matter which fret you push on, the string is contacting at the 15th fret. The truss rod required some adjustment, but that did not solve the issue. I replaced the saddle with a GraphTech TUSQ saddle and had some improvement, but there are still adjustments to be made. I understand that pretty much all guitars will need to be set up out of the box, but they should at the least be playable from the factory. Once I have this professionally set up, I no doubt will be in love with this guitar. It's like buying a brand new Corvette with a missfire. Lovely to look at, but doesn't operate the way it should. Hopefully for everyone else's sake, this is just a one off instance with this guitar. I love Fender guitars and own several, but have never been a huge fan of their acoustics. This has solidified my opinion and next time, I'll buy a Martin or a Taylor.