Fender American Ultra Telecaster - Arctic Pearl with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews

You know how it is. You're browsing Sweetwater late at night not expecting anything. And then boom, you see a guitar and instantly fall in love with it. I'm not a gear guy, I wasn't in the market for a new guitar (my Fender Blacktop Tele was serving me fine), but something about this one just called to me. I couldn't get it off my mind. After a few months of looking at this guitar every day, I came into a bit of money that made this (well-researched, long awaited) impulse purchase possible.

Still, I couldn't help but feel a little silly spending so much on a guitar when I already had one... but all that went out the window as soon as I held this thing in my hands. An absolutely beautiful guitar-- in look, sound, and playability. I haven't touched my Blacktop tele since I got this back in September. Honestly, the Blacktop feels atrocious to play after spending so much time with the Ultra. I feel grateful to have this guitar every time I play it, thanks Mike at Sweetwater for helping me out with the process. And the awesome case is a great bonus!

My 6th Telecaster. Compound radius neck is awesome. Upper fret reach is so much easier. Wasn't sure how I'd bond with these latest generation noiseless pickups, but love them. The Arctic White finish is stunning in person. Pictures don't do it justice. Throw in a great case and the guitar is a bargain.

I like it!

It feels and sounds remarkable. I'm liking the new neck profile. Really nothing not to like about this one, except $$$.

Thanks to Michael Duncan for being an awesome Sweetwater rep. This is my second Tele, and I'm never getting rid of either of them.

Great looking, great playing, great sounding Telecaster! This Ultra doesn't seem to sound quite like a classic Tele' but definitely has its own cool Fender single-coil-sound Tele'ish thing going on. The neck feels great (a little more oval than chunky) and plays so smooth and fast. Gotta say thanks again Greg Savino for putting me into this Telecaster...highly recommended.

I own several expensive, high-end guitars, including a Fender Custom Shop Strat, a Gibson Class 5 Les Paul, and two PRS Custom 22s. This Ultra Telecaster plays and sounds better than all of them. The Arctic Pearl finish on this guitar has to be seen to be believed. It has an almost sparkly, pearlescent look to it. This Tele has body contours and a beautiful neck joint that allows for easy access to upper register notes. The neck is superb, a bit wider than a Fender classic C, but an absolute dream to play. Where this guitar really shines is the sound it puts out. Even unplugged, it has a solidity and resonance that sounds great. Plugged in, the pickups sound fantastic in all positions (you get and extra option with the S1 button on the volume knob.} Playing this guitar is like driving a Ferrari, but for hundreds of thousands of dollars less! As always, my man Jozy Franco did an excellent job.

There are so many excellent reviews on this guitar and they are all spot on! I purchased the Arctic Pearl Wow I could not be more pleased to add it to my favorites. Mostly I would like to thank Nolan Dye for all his help and hands on experience took the fear of buying site unseen on the web! Thanks again Nolan we are fortunate to have people like you and Sweetwater for our musical needs. You guys Rock!

This guitar is one of the best I've ever played. Once I decided to order it, Sweetwater instantly sent me hig resolution pictures and kept me up to date with the shipping process. The guitar arrived 2 or 3 days later in some of the best packaging I have ever seen. After waiting the recommended 24 hours before unpacking, I opened it up and it was even more beautiful than I expected from the pictures. I was also perfectly setup to manufacture specifications and the intonation was perfect. This was a perfect experience.

The photos online of the Arctic Pearl Telecaster Ultra don't do it justice. The finish is kind of iridescent, more like a white metallic finish. I purchased this Tele to add to my collection, as I never had a rosewood fretboard Fender before. My Stratocaster Ultra and my Tele Pro II both have maple fretboards. Since the Strat Ultra has the same neck profile as the Tele Ultra, comparing the two, I lean toward the maple fretboard. The maple fretboard, to me, "Seems" slightly smoother to play on. What about Tone difference. My Tele Pro II came customized with locking tuners and noiseless pickups, so it is very close to the Ultra features. Comparing the Tele Pro II to the Tele Ultra, same gauge strings, same pickups, Tone wise, I can't hear any difference between the maple and rosewood fretboards, but that's just me. Again, I find playing on the Tele maple fretboard slightly more comfortable than the Tele rosewood fretboard. All in all, I love this guitar. I play it every day, along with my others.

I own several guitars (of course!) and this one is my new fave. It's so easy to play and has a lot of great sounds. And thanks, Logan, for your help and great service!

I had hoped that for this kind of money I'd get a guitar better than the partscaster I built, but I'm blown away by how much better it really is. Literally every detail is superior. As others mentioned, it is beautiful -- I watched a dozen reviews, but no camera seems to capture how gorgeous the paint job is in person. Sometimes it looks white, but as you turn it in the light you'll see subtle gold, blue and purple flakes. Stunning.

It feels wonderful and inviting in your hands, and I haven't been able to put it down since I got it. The contoured heel lets you get up the neck comfortably. The pickups are indeed noiseless, even with high gain, while retaining that tele twangy. Still getting used to the S-1 button vs. the 4-way switch on my other guitar, but when engaged, it gives a much beefier, mid-heavy tone than the pups in parallel. Nice option to have. Another nice touch is the electrosocket, much better than the traditional tele jack. The hardcase is ultra sturdy, too.

In all, it's the nicest guitar I've ever played. Had to wait several months for the re-stock, but it was worth it.

I am not sure what I was expecting.I had a strat ultra back in 1990,1991 ish.Its almost dead on the neckshape of that guitar,something I've tried to find on a fender since.The neck is really thin,wide and flat and this guitar looks,sounds like a tele ,but feels way 1980s.It had some minor fit and finish issues,but nothing major that a setup wont fix.Overall minus a few tooling marks,really high action and some serious relief in the neck I still give it 5 stars.It is really cool!Now I just gotta come up with the cash to get the stratocaster version.The case that this comes in is the nicest case I've ever owned.G&G who?This case is very ergonomic, lightweight,plush, well made,I dont know why companies like Gibson give you crappy cases,companies like Suhr sell you a G&G case that weigh a ton.Now I gotta go I gotta new guitar to play

I've a 72' Tele and now this one. What a difference a new model makes! This guitar plays incredible with great action. Tuners are excellent, color is beyond cool (Arctic Pearl) and it was an easy purchase through my man Phil Potts!! Love me some Sweetwater!

Love it! Perfect in every way. Thanks to the Sweetwater team for their awesome service.

I purchased a Fender American Pro Stratocaster maple neck, burst body in the color of Buddy Holly's guitar. This is a great instrument. Then I purchased the Arctic Pearl Ultra Tele because they are such popular and versatile guitars. All my life I've been primarily and acoustic guitar player or F-hole style guitar, hollow body or semi-hollow body, so I wanted a solid body guitar. Every time I would try these style guitars in a store I would feel so underwhelmed. But now that I own both the Strat and the Tele I can tell you these are fine instruments. My style of playing has always been on the jazz side or acoustic side. I like some fingerstyle and old jazz standards and was a praise and worship leader for many years. So I lean to heavier strings and put 11's on these two instruments and had them set up properly. I can tell you they are hard to put down no matter what style of music you play. The strat seems to have more natural resonance, maybe because there is more wood on it? I can sit around and play it acoustically and still enjoy it immensely. It would be hard to choose if I had to part with one or the other. So let's just say there is no real war between a tele and a strat you should have them both. It's like a fork and a knife. But if you want a very fast neck, the necks on these Ultra's are very easy on the hands and you can reach the highest frets effortlessly. The tele has a bit more bite. They each have their own sound characteristics but can be made to sound a lot like each other. The tele has more chime and bite. The strat has a more versatile array of tones. Neither disappoint both just marvelous instruments. They are causing me to stretch my playing styles to other genres I haven't tried.

I've had dozens of quality electric guitars, some vintage and some new. I think buying and selling guitars in part of the process of discovering your own sound , style and who you are as a musician. Having said all of that I will never part with two particular guitars: my Novo Serus J and this, my new Fender Ultra Telecaster in Arctic White.
The reasons a quite simple: the radius on the ultra neck allows for easy chording and playing leads; the locking tuners and (mostly) the bone nut keep my ultra in tune "forever"; the fret work and rolled edges make the neck an absolute pleasure to play for hours on end; it's light weight; the pickups are balanced and quite. Lastly, the arctic white, although nearly impossible to capture in photo is absolutely beautiful.
My Sweetwater consultant, Mike Brandt is the consummate professional; no hard selling and even days after my purchase called just to check in on me because I had the flu. Thanks, Mike, I'm fully recovered and loving my Ultra Tele!

Waited awhile to pull the trigger on one of these because I already own a nice Tele, but now I own a fantastic Tele! I love everything about this guitar. The Ultra Vintage pickups are by FAR the best noiseless pickups I've experienced on a Telecaster. Neck is super comfy and easy to play. The finish on this guitar is just stunning in person, I stared at it for several minutes when I first opened the case! Thanks to my sales engineer Cristian Good for reaching out to me when one became available, so glad he did. This guitar is really awesome, there is zero risk in purchasing one.

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.

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

Really a joy to play, feels great in your hands

I recently bought this Ultra Telecaster. I loved it from the moment I saw it. When I picked it up to play it for the first time my heart sank. There was a string buzz on the B string that I just could not live with. I notified Sweetwater, and after a conversation with the tech department I ended up packing it up and sending it back to Indiana. I thought it would be a long time before I saw it again, but it was perfectly repaired and back to me in just a few short days. Thank you guys for caring!

I've had this guitar for about 3 or so weeks at this point and I love it, mostly! It sounds absolutely incredible and I am completely blown away. It's not as "spanky" as a standard Telecaster with traditional single coils in it, but it is not far off. And is absolutely worth it for how little noise comes through my amp, especially with a substantial amount of drive. It's also FANTASTIC to have the truss rod accessible right on the head stock. I do not think I will be getting rid of it in this lifetime!

So whats the deal with the 2/5 star rating?


1) Fret buzz. Fender states that guitars with this neck radius should have an action of:

4/64" Bass side
3/64" Treble side

I was only able to get the action set to around 5/64" Bass & 4/64" on the treble ONLY AFTER leveling a few uneven frets higher up on the neck. I can't bring it any lower without some buzz coming through the amp and notes losing sustain. This is an acceptable action and I find it comfortable so I am good with that for now. But i digress.

This guitar DOES NOT have the neck tilt feature built into it. You have to shim manually if need be.

2) Random length saddle action height adjusting screws.

4 of the 6 saddles needed the action height screws removed and filed down because they stuck out from the saddle far enough to shred my hand while resting it on the bridge. The Low E, D, G and B string height screws were the troublemakers at .375". The A and the high E were flush and fine at .310". Not a big deal to fix, but still a lack of attention to detail and in my opinion something I would expect on a cheap overseas model, NOT an American made model retailing above $2000.

3) Finish crack around low E string ferrule.. (Picture included)

I feel ridiculous to be hung up on such a tiny imperfection in the finish (cosmetic only) and especially because its on the back of the guitar where nobody will even ever see it. However it's there. I didn't put it there. And it bothers me every time i see it. I only noticed it when i went to restring the guitar after addressing the hi fret issues noted above. (I checked the hi-res photos Sweetwater sends after you purchase a guitar, and sure enough, you can barely make out the crack in the original photo. So it was there before I bought it.)

4) VERY slight discoloring on the black binding right in the Treble side cut away. (Picture included)

Not a very big deal. If this was the only thing on the guitar that wasn't right Id have still given the guitar a 5/5 star rating as its so insignificant.

5) Finish chipping on Treble side edge of fretboard near 4th fret and 9th fret. (Picture included)

Again insignificant, and would happen over time from playing it anyways. But yet again, it was there without me having put it there.

6) Case candy. Or lack there of. (Picture included)

If you were expecting this guitar to come with extra Fender strings, a Fender strap, or the red handled fender truss rod wrench, you're going to be disappointed. No strings. No strap. And just a basic little allen key that gets thrown in with every guitar all the way down to the $100 price point. However it does included a Schaller style locking button system which is neat if that is the what you're into.

All in all this guitar is pretty sweet and I am happy i have it, but I would be lying if I said i wasn't quite let down that it came with some damage on it. Guitar's are instruments and are meant to be played, chances are they will get some damage over time. I just think the buyer should be the one to put it there.

Perhaps I got the lemon off the Fender line.

I was excited about the neck profile (D) and loved the balance of this guitar. then I plugged it in.

No sound... tried switching between pickups (now I was getting crackling and buzz from the "noiseless pickups" .
This guitar was meant to be a backup for another American Ultra that I purchased elsewhere.

My takeaway is .....make sure you play the guitar you are interested in otherwise you might receive the guitar you need.

Advice to Fender....I like your gear, but up your game on quality control