Fender Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline Semi-hollowbody Electric Guitar - Crimson Transparent with Indian Laurel Fingerboard Reviews
A collaboration between Jim Adkins and Fender, the Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline is a re-creation of Adkins' old TC-90 - with some special touches specifically for this new model. The Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline's semi-hollow ash body is joined to a set maple neck with an Indian laurel fingerboard - a great combination that produces a warm tone with a nice edge. Pickups are Seymour Duncan soapbars, and a Adjusto-matic bridge with anchored tailpiece round out the hardware. The Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline is a sweet axe for any style!
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Highest Rated Reviews
A great spin on the Telecaster
I've had mine since February 2021 and I absolutely love it. It was already a fantastic guitar off the shelf, but I upgraded the tuners, bridge, tailpiece, pickup switch, and pots, to ditch the import parts and it took the guitar to a whole new level! (I'm also a big Jimmy Eat World fan so this guitar had been on my wishlist for a while)
You can get any sound you want out of this guitar, from chimey top-end to growling low end; this guitar can do it all. The set neck and 24.75" scale also make this guitar play wonderfully. The chambered semi-hollow body makes the guitar very comfortable to play and has great resonance even when unplugged.
Despite being built in Indonesia, the build quality is very good. A few upgrades has made the guitar comparable to any US built tele out there. For the price point, this guitar is hard to beat in terms of value.
Highly recommended to anyone, especially those familiar with Gibson/Epiphone guitars. This will feel right at home.
Neck is angled like a Gibson
This is the best tele I have ever played . One spec I never see listed anywhere is the neck is angled back like a Gibson . That and the Gibson shorter scale make it feel like the best playing tele I've ever held . The pick ups are hot so roll down your volume a little for great clear sounds . The p-90's on with medium gain give you an amazing growl I don't get from any other guitar I have and the clean channel with volume rolled back a little sounds great with chords . This guitar is perfect I wouldn't modify anything . My only gripe is it isn't us made . It's in the price range U.S.A. guitars are available . Good news is if you are reading this you are on sweetwater's sight and I've had the best luck with online guitars here .
Not Your Dad’s Telecaster
First off, this is not like any Telecaster I've ever played. The scale is different, bridge, neck, etc....but it all works perfectly! This guitar sounds great! I was a little worried about excessive hum from the P-90's as I'd never had a chance to actually try them out in person before but was pleasantly surprised how good they sounded both distorted and clean. I've never owned any Gibson or similar guitars before but obviously anyone familiar with them will be comfortable with the Adjusto-Matic bridge and tailpiece. Although new to me it didn't take long to figure it out and only made some minor adjustments out of the box.
The finish (Crimson Red) is gorgeous and I love the overall look and feel of the guitar and find myself picking it up more often than any of my others at the moment. If you're familiar with Jimmy Eat World and Jim Adkins's guitar sound and it's something you're desiring then I can't recommend this guitar any higher. It really is a comfortable and fun guitar to play and for the price point you really can't go wrong. I chatted with a few customers before taking the plunge and didn't hear anything negative enough to make me not want to buy it.
If you like Telecasters and SG's this guitar is for you. Highly recommend!
Fender Ji Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Thinline.
Never did I expect such clarity and strength coming from this guitar. I can get bold and brazen, or I can play softly and still get the best sound I have ever heard and felt. The guitar for the price can not be equaled with all the guitars i own. The purchase of this instrument has been more rewarding than I could ever have imagined. Thanks so much for all your efforts. They have paid off in aces!!
Outstanding
I am a new player with small hands. This is perfect. Can do a G with easy. Still can't do barre chords but even I sound good, on occasion. Great for a beginner and my friend, who got me into playing, is very talented and it sounds as good as any guitar I ever heard.
Outstanding Instrument
THIS TELECASTER ID DEFINITELY UNIQUE;
The ONLY Complaint, and I really can't say complaint, rather wrong choice in designed pickups was the use of p-90s due to their inherent noise at Full Volume.
Nowadays with the advent of noiseless pickups such as the Fluence units would have been a much better choice, but that being said when NOT at full volume, it is like playing your dream Guitar, the action was on the money right out of the box and if not it is easily adjustable do to the Gibson like tune-a-Matic style bridge, seriously, this ax gives you an unbelievable degree of versatility, it can sound like my Les Paul, or my Strat and then it can sound like a Tele from Downtown Nashville... to a FireBreathing Dragon from the depths of FENDERS secret Guitar Caves in California...lol seriously this guitar should be selling for $1500-2000 Just like its other siblings in the primer Fender lines, so at this price buy it, it is only going to get more expensive, it is defiantly a SLEEPER hanging out BELOW everyone's Radar...
Guitar is Awesome, Setup, not so much.
I did a lot of research before buying this guitar, and even paid for the setup. The guitar is awesome. Light, high quality everything. Very satisfied. However, do not pay for the sweet water setup. Get it done at your local shop or do it yourself. See the picture below. The guy who set it up, brought the bridge all the way up and it was tilting forward. The picture is after I moved it back a bit, it looked way worse. I had to take it apart, and redo everything to get the post flush with the wood. Also someone filed the bridge slots down so the strings are all the way to the bottom, i basically have to replace it or deal with string rattle. This should not happen to a brand new guitar. I would have sent it back, but didn't want the hassle or have it come back worse.
I would recommend the guitar though, for sure. Lovely instrument.
THIS IS NOT A true FENDER GUITAR!
This guitar is a FendSon! Mostly a Gibson/Epiphone. The only thing about this guitar that's Fender is the headstock and body style! All hardware and fingerboard are a Gibson design style. The artificial bone nut is not filed on both ends and can rip your finger if you tend to play near it. Fret buzz is the norm at around 40% of the fingerboard, though it was supposed to have been setup in the Sweetwater 55 point inspection. The bridge is already way too high and it's unrealistic to raze it more to try and fix the fret buzz! Some may call the pickups "warm" I would say they sound distant and dull with no personality.
The volume/tone knobs are the cheapest possible and barley hold on to the pod posts! The pickup switch is cheap as well with way too much play to last. I keep trying to get something good out of this over priced "Epiphone" clone guitar with no luck!
