craftsman tl30 vs mim fender road worn

[Hito]

Recently the road worn telecaster has caught my eyes. The price for it is about $1200 I believe. But I'm quite hesitant due to the price as I'm most probably buying it for the looks.

So my qn here is, will a craftsman tl30 ($200+) be a better guitar in terms of value for money?
Does it have the tele twang?

And how a fender tele compared to tl30?

I play songs ranging from little wing to x japan.

Help me decide thanks!!

 

[shibby]

If you are serious about guitar and you can afford the fender, get the Fender. You wont regret it.

 

[Hito]

Oh sorry, forgot to include that that's not my first guitar. My 3rd electric btw. So I have no idea should I spend the money or not

 

[CyanideJunkie]

Are you talking about the first series of roadworn Teles or the newer ones with a humbucker in the neck?

 

[Hito]

Are you talking about the first series of roadworn Teles or the newer ones with a humbucker in the neck?

Talking About road worn 50s. Not humbucker

 

[CyanideJunkie]

Excellent guitars. Tried both the blonde and sunburst models before and felt that the blonde one was just this much better. The Tex-Mex pups are nice and raunchy, great for anything from blues or heavy country to rock and heavy metal. One thing to note is that the fretboard radius is the vintage 7.25", so you might want to sit down and work through it before deciding. Still it's loads better the Craftsman TL, with better resale value too.

 

[zoyd_berg]

I prefer Fender Japanese Tele. The quality is just amazing. for $1200 you could get the Ash bodied with US Texas special pickups.

 

[CyanideJunkie]

The Roadworn 50s comes with a nitro body, big plus over the FJ models!

 

[Hito]

Never tried a fender before, is there really a significant difference over craftsman copy that worth the $900 diff?

 

[CyanideJunkie]

Build quality is, in most cases, much better plus it retains value better too. Pickups are of a better quality too I reckon. Furthermore, the neck pocket is routed for a humbucker, so you can either replace the neck pickup with a P90 or a humbucker if you find it too dark, which is a fairly common mod. Still, if you want to be sure it's best to test it yourself and let your ears decide if it's worth the $900 difference or not.

 

[LadyInTears]

lol what you pay for is what you get man

 

[al89]

I just tried the roadworn tele and a Baja tele not too long ago. In terms of tone I think the Baja wins. Pricing is 1.2k for Baja at BGW too.

 

[carboxymoron]

Not exactly the same situation but I use a J&D tele that originally cost around $300 too, but now has nearly every part upgraded, and still costs less than the average MIM/MIJ. I've heard Fenders that are better, but I've also heard Fenders that are worse, and I've had a few people ask me about the guitar at gigs and are very surprised that it's a Made in China copy.

In the end it boils down to what you're comfortable with. I knew from the first time I tried the J&D that I liked the feel of the neck and the body weight, and I knew I wanted quite a few parts that weren't available on stock Fenders anyway, so it made sense to work with the cheaper guitar.

 

[ryechua]

I prefer Fender Japanese Tele. The quality is just amazing. for $1200 you could get the Ash bodied with US Texas special pickups.

agree with this. i recently got a used one (tl-52tx) for roughly 1200 (including shipping and tax) and it really plays well. still different from 52 avri's but it has it's own characteristic. only downside is that you can't test the guitar beforehand so it's like a "blind" buy.