hatecrew
New member
Everyone's reviewing their telecasters, so i'll hop onto the bandwagon as well. I'm glad to know that telecasters are getting more recognition in soft. I was one of the "i'll never play a telecaster cause it looks ugly" person in the past. How ignorant i was...
Firstly, here's the guitar in question,straight from the day i got it:
Overview
Let's start. Alder body, 3-tone sunburst, double bound with white binding. Oval shaped maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Standard tele-style bridge, and on the control plate, a 3-way switch, volume and tone knobs. Texas Special tele pickups. Stock Fender Gotoh-style machine heads. Bought straight from a store in japan that let it go with a heavily padded fender gigbag, so it was cheaper than the "before shipping" cost from Ishibashi. Great deal. Couldn't really ask for more, except maybe a G&G hardcase.
Sound
I play quite a lot of different types of music...from blues to rock to hard rock to metal to acoustic stuff. This guitar is definitely not for the metal head in stock form, but can satisfy my needs for the other types of music i play. It doesn't matter that it can't really play metal music, as I find myself playing less and less as time passes anyway.
Even though it does have the "Texas Specials" pickups, which i don't think is the actual Texas Specials, just the Japanese version of it. Initially i found it's lead tone very impressive, as it really can sustain quite a bit (thank the string-through bridge) and the notes really cut through very clearly. It can rival my Fender American Vintage '62 Jaguar's lead tone, although i find the stock American Vintage Jaguar's pickups more powerful and packing more punch than the Texas Specials.
I imagined the guitar to be a moderately high output, overdrive-only Lynyrd Skynyrd type guitar. It definitely is able to do that, with it's impressive lead guitar tone. However, when in the neck or middle positions, when you roll back the volume and tone knobs and the gain knob on your amp, this guitar cleans up extremely well, and you can get great jazzy tones out of it if you carefully tweak the controls. The volume and tone knobs are pretty sensitive on this guitar.
My only complaint with this telecaster is that it easily feedbacks, compared with my Jaguar. I never get unwanted feedback with my Jaguar, but with the telecaster, it is easier to get feedback, so you must take note of your position in relation to the amp's position, or your ears will suffer. It has significantly a greater amount of noise with the pedals (2 pedals, powered by a onespot) than the Jaguar as well, but i'm planning to get an isolated power supply to counter that.
Overall, in it's stock form, an awesome all-rounded guitar for almost any style. Great bluesy tones and a great rock tone with it's bridge pickup.
9.5/10
Action, Fit and Finish
Straight from the case, even when it went abroad a plane back to Singapore from Japan, it was, to my surprise, actually in tune. It shows how great it's stock machine heads are. The only problem was slight buzz with my A string, but that was easily fixed. The strings lasted a while before they went dead. Other than that, it was perfect. I love how it looks! And the feel! Awesome feel! The only gripe that people might feel is that the neck is coated with a thick layer of lacquer, a common characteristic in CIJ Fenders. That might be unappealing to folk with sweaty palms.
9/10
Reliability and Durability
I had this guitar for less than a year...10 months to be exact, and so far, nothing went wrong with this guitar. It's lightness might be a turn-off to some people out there, as it is quite a great deal lighter than my Jaguar or my strat, but it is still a sturdy guitar...and you'd be able to spend a lot more time playing it!
9/10
Conclusion
Overall, I'd say this guitar is almost on par with the American-made guitars, and I got it at a great price (no shipping). Less than half the price of an American telecaster! I highly recommend the CIJ guitars to folk who want to save their money for a player's guitar, and not a collector's guitar.
Firstly, here's the guitar in question,straight from the day i got it:
Overview
Let's start. Alder body, 3-tone sunburst, double bound with white binding. Oval shaped maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Standard tele-style bridge, and on the control plate, a 3-way switch, volume and tone knobs. Texas Special tele pickups. Stock Fender Gotoh-style machine heads. Bought straight from a store in japan that let it go with a heavily padded fender gigbag, so it was cheaper than the "before shipping" cost from Ishibashi. Great deal. Couldn't really ask for more, except maybe a G&G hardcase.
Sound
I play quite a lot of different types of music...from blues to rock to hard rock to metal to acoustic stuff. This guitar is definitely not for the metal head in stock form, but can satisfy my needs for the other types of music i play. It doesn't matter that it can't really play metal music, as I find myself playing less and less as time passes anyway.
Even though it does have the "Texas Specials" pickups, which i don't think is the actual Texas Specials, just the Japanese version of it. Initially i found it's lead tone very impressive, as it really can sustain quite a bit (thank the string-through bridge) and the notes really cut through very clearly. It can rival my Fender American Vintage '62 Jaguar's lead tone, although i find the stock American Vintage Jaguar's pickups more powerful and packing more punch than the Texas Specials.
I imagined the guitar to be a moderately high output, overdrive-only Lynyrd Skynyrd type guitar. It definitely is able to do that, with it's impressive lead guitar tone. However, when in the neck or middle positions, when you roll back the volume and tone knobs and the gain knob on your amp, this guitar cleans up extremely well, and you can get great jazzy tones out of it if you carefully tweak the controls. The volume and tone knobs are pretty sensitive on this guitar.
My only complaint with this telecaster is that it easily feedbacks, compared with my Jaguar. I never get unwanted feedback with my Jaguar, but with the telecaster, it is easier to get feedback, so you must take note of your position in relation to the amp's position, or your ears will suffer. It has significantly a greater amount of noise with the pedals (2 pedals, powered by a onespot) than the Jaguar as well, but i'm planning to get an isolated power supply to counter that.
Overall, in it's stock form, an awesome all-rounded guitar for almost any style. Great bluesy tones and a great rock tone with it's bridge pickup.
9.5/10
Action, Fit and Finish
Straight from the case, even when it went abroad a plane back to Singapore from Japan, it was, to my surprise, actually in tune. It shows how great it's stock machine heads are. The only problem was slight buzz with my A string, but that was easily fixed. The strings lasted a while before they went dead. Other than that, it was perfect. I love how it looks! And the feel! Awesome feel! The only gripe that people might feel is that the neck is coated with a thick layer of lacquer, a common characteristic in CIJ Fenders. That might be unappealing to folk with sweaty palms.
9/10
Reliability and Durability
I had this guitar for less than a year...10 months to be exact, and so far, nothing went wrong with this guitar. It's lightness might be a turn-off to some people out there, as it is quite a great deal lighter than my Jaguar or my strat, but it is still a sturdy guitar...and you'd be able to spend a lot more time playing it!
9/10
Conclusion
Overall, I'd say this guitar is almost on par with the American-made guitars, and I got it at a great price (no shipping). Less than half the price of an American telecaster! I highly recommend the CIJ guitars to folk who want to save their money for a player's guitar, and not a collector's guitar.
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