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Fender Select Telecaster: The MJ Review
The new Fender Select range of guitars take Fender's "Big 4" - the Strat, Tele, P-Bass and J-Bass - and add to them an extra layer of class. Dan takes a look at the improvements!
9th
August
2012
ViewWe here at Music Junkie are huge Telecaster fans - we all own or have owned one at some point. With that in mind, surely there's no Tele out there that'd be more attractive to us than our well-loved, played-in instruments, right? Well, that's what we thought.
The Fender Select Telecaster in Violin Burst came into our flagship store in Leicester the other day, and each and every one of us has spent a good long time wishing it was ours. For a start, we can't stop checking out the amazing finish on the solid flame maple top.
The gorgeous looking top sits on top of a honeycomb-chambered ash body that helps keep the weight of the guitar in comfortable territory, making it feel just as great as it sounds. The modern "C" shape neck is made from birdseye maple with just enough figuring to give it character without overdoing it. The fretboard is also birdseye maple, with a stupidly comfortable compound radius for ease of play, and the back of the headstock is inlaid with a Fender Select medallion. So, it looks great - that's not in question. It feels great too, thanks to the low weight of the body and the incredibly well-designed neck. So how does it sound?
The Select Telecaster features specially designed Fender Select Telecaster Pickups, which have never been in any other Fender guitar and which, at the time of writing, are not available to buy on their own - meaning that they are strictly limited to the Select series. This is another thing that helps to make this guitar incredibly special, because they sound stunning. They have an ever-so-slightly warmer tone than the average Standard pickups, with a great clarity and chime that basically adds up to a true Fender sound with an improved edge. I cannot recommend the sound of this guitar enough.
In Conclusion - The Select series sits above the American Deluxe in Fender's range, and boasts incredible quality, feel and tone. While the Deluxes have a couple of features the Selects don't - the S1 switching, N3 Noiseless pickups - I'd say that the Selects are free to take their rightful place as the top of Fender's regular range.Come on down to the best place for Fender guitars and check them out for yourself!
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