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Fender American Special Telecaster - 3-tone Sunburst w/ Maple fingerboard Reviews

Solidbody Electric Guitar with Alder Body, Maple Neck, Maple Fingerboard, and Two Single-coil Pickups - 3-color Sunburst

Fender's American Special Telecaster solidbody electric guitar gives you popular Tele features at a price that's nearly unheard of for a US-made Fender. It all starts with an alder body for classic Tele tone, and it's all wrapped up in a great-looking gloss urethane finish. Fender's easy-playing maple neck/fingerboard combo sports jumbo frets for easy shredding. In the tone department, a duo of Texas Special single-coils dish out distinctive Tele twang. We guitarists here at Sweetwater are a picky bunch, so trust us - you're going to love the Fender American Special Telecaster!

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Awesome guitar

By Nathan on April 5, 2017

Fantastic guitar for the money, plays great, sounds awesome with the Texas specials. I'm going to eventually slap some Glendale compensated saddles on there to get the intonation perfect.

Awesome

By Wyatt from Seattle WA on July 11, 2016 Music Background: Recording engineer

This is an amazing guitar. I bought mine a few years back since I was graduating from college. This is definitely a guitar you want in your rig. The neck is comfortable and smooth, its looks and plays great, and the pick ups are perfect for the music I play (blues, alt country, classic rock, folk, funk, etc)

Great Guitar for the Money

By Lakeman from Lake Waccamaw North Carolina on July 1, 2016 Music Background: Former Road Musician

First I got to give a lot of credit to Ben Porter for helping me pick out the model I wanted I told him what I wanted in a Fender Tele and he look at my choices and I think we did a great job working together because there are so many to chose from it all came down to this model the American model with the Texas Special PU's they sound great and the 3 tone sunburst is beautiful less talk about the frets you can't ask for a better matchup for me they feel great as you slide down and up the maple neck and the tuners are also great along with the old style bridge . Hey what can I say but I am so pleased with this AXE it's a real GREAT BUY.

PS
I Talked so much to Ben Porter about this Guitar the REP from Fender sent me a little package of Goodies and a Thanks goes out to Fender and there REP at Sweetwater

Fender Special is Superb

By Sam from Midwest on June 2, 2016

Great customer service, fast free shipping and I really love the guitar! Sweetwater rocks.

A great american made Fender guitar!

By Don Whitesel from Lancaster, PA on May 4, 2016

I bought my Fender three tone sunburst back in 2013 and love it! Sine I buy a lot of other gear from Sweetwater Sound I wanted to write this review. The Texas Special pickups in this are super great and very hot. It cleans up real well though when you roll off the volume or go to a clean amp setting which makes it even better. The only change I made on it was to add a set of locking tuners.

fender special telecaster

By marty from fl on July 15, 2014 Music Background: hobbie

The best deal on an American made telecaster and what a difference. I love the setup with the Texas specials. love it!!!

American Special Fender Telecaster

By Jay Jenkins from University Place, WA 98467 USA on April 17, 2013 Music Background: Some pro years ago. I'm 77 now.

Great Guitar! Had to get used to the jumbo frets a little bit. It is the first guitar that I ever bought that I had to pay extra for the strings. I like the tone even better then my Strat Deluxe.

WOW - what else can I say

By Jim Rokes from ROCKWELL CITY, IA on February 22, 2013 Music Background: Hobbyist

Just received this guitar this morning - took it to the guitar shop tonight and played it ... what a great experience ... sounds great - plays well ...I just love it ...

it's now what I play

By Bruce Grilli from Golden Valley, AZ on October 28, 2012 Music Background: Too long to list, to old to care, lol.

I live in the desert boonies, so I asked my son in Reno to test some new Teles for me in Reno. He reported that his favorite Tele in the bigger stores was the American Special. He's a LP player but he owns a nice American Standard. I trust his taste, so I searched online and took a shot. Unfortunately, I only learned of Sweetwater's service before the sale, like showing the actual guitar, often giving weight, etc.

I immediately liked the feel, and the "Greasebucket" really is slick and eminently useful. The weight feels around 7 1/2, same as my 08 Am St Strat. Same 3T sunburst with maple board.

I really like the dead-flat finish on the neck. As I play, it takes on a natural feeling and look. I don't care for speed bump frets, however I'm learning to reckon with them, only because I like this guitar a lot, in spite of my usual preferences. It is what it is.

II always clean and polish frets, change strings to what I use, make whatever adjustments need to be made after a little playing time. But I liked it immediately. I'm not a big fan of Texas Special Strat pickups that I've heard, but I am once again surprised at what these over-wound pickups are capable of sounding like,especially with the Greasebucket rolled down keeping the eq nice and consistent and sounding convincingly traditional Tele.

My 3 dislikes:

Not a big Schaller tuner fan. Swapped them for Schaller locking tuners, only because I wanted something locking that would retrofit, requiring no new holes in the headstock, just yet. My dislike for the the Schallers, their shear weight, and the new Fender/Schaller staggered tuners are made in Taiwan, on a a guitar that touts made in USA. hmh... ah well, they work well so far, and I never notice them or their weight when I'm playing.

Also the the string ferules fell out when I changed strings; only spot glued in place. Didn't disturb me. For this money, I'd expect a few cut corners in a MIA Tele. I just Elmered them in place, strung up and been playing the tar out of it. The honeymoon is either long on this one, or else she's a keeper.

I'm looking forward to buying my next guitar from Sweetwater.

That said, there has to be a lot to like to put up with what I don't normally care for.

Fantastic Guitar, great bang for your buck!

By Johnny Wishbone from New York, NY on September 22, 2012 Music Background: Hobbyist / Amateur Musician

I've been a longtime Gibson guy (over 20 years to be exact), but I decided to take a flyer and try this guitar out on a whim. Needless to say I was completely floored by the feel and its tone. Picking up this guitar, you can feel the weight - it's a solid block of wood. The pickups give it some real bite when you plug it in. I also love how you can go from a nice jangle to a hard edge. This is one great guitar that can play a variety of styles. At under $1,000 and made in America, it's a great guitar for your money.

Moi Bueno

By Billy B. "Doc" Brice from Philadelphia, PA on August 31, 2012 Music Background: Drummer, new guitar player

This guitar totally rocks...
Save yourself mucho deniro and buy the American Special.
Sounds great...one change, pickguard to white makes it look
even more beautiful.

Wow!!

By Matt from Nashville, TN on November 30, 2011 Music Background: Touring Musician, Producer, Engineer

I have quite a few guitars here at the studio, but all have been bought secondhand over the years. This is the first "new" guitar I've ever purchased. Buying something like this online is kind of a crap shoot since you can't get the feel of the guitar. When it arrived and I got the chance to actually play it, I was blown away! Finish is just awesome and it was setup really well. No buzzing, intonation was right on and it plays like a dream. Two thumbs up Sweetwater for having the guitar gallery so you can at least pick the finish you want. Totally stoked with this purchase.

Awesome Guitar

By Engval Christoferson from Los Alamos, Ca. on October 13, 2011 Music Background: Hobbyist

This is an awesome guitar, I love those Texas pickups., I use 10-48 Flatwound strings, which gives it a little deeper tone. I changed out the pick guard with a black pearl pattern, talk about good looking, I also used a anti-static foam to total eliminate the Static feed back., I have always played the Strat, but this one is now being played the most. Great service Sweetwater, your the best I have dealt with.

Awesome

By Bob Neal from Connecticut, USA on July 12, 2011 Music Background: Play for fun,

Gorgeous, easy to play, with the smoothest neck I have ever played. Great tone, a total joy to play. Well worth the money.

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