Fender 113962718 Electric Guitar: Full Review

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is a premium solidbody electric guitar that offers exceptional tone, playability and craftsmanship. Part of Fender's American Professional series, it combines modern appointments with vintage Fender style and character.

This Telecaster features some notable upgrades from previous versions, including V-Mod single-coil pickups, new body contours and a comfortable "Deep C" neck profile. The guitar has a solid ash body finished in beautiful Mystic Seafoam, along with a maple neck and fingerboard. Overall, the American Professional Telecaster Deluxe provides the quintessential Tele tone and feel that players have loved for over 60 years.

Body & Neck

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe features a lightweight alder body and maple neck for excellent resonance and sustain.

Alder is a classic Fender tonewood, prized for its balanced sound across the frequency range. The alder body offers tight lows, pleasant mids, and clear, ringing highs. The wood's natural resonance allows the guitar to ring out with sustain.

The maple neck provides brightness and snap that cuts through the mix. Its smooth satin finish allows for fast, comfortable playability up and down the fretboard. The back of the neck has a slight "C" shape that fits nicely in the hand.

Together, the alder and maple offer a tone balanced between warm and bright. It's an extremely versatile pairing suitable for all genres, from country twang to indie rock jangle. The Tele's distinctive snap comes from this combination.

The finish is a beautiful 3-color sunburst that shows off the woods' attractive grain patterns. Overall, the Tele Deluxe has a lightweight, resonant, and great feeling body and neck.

While the Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is a high-end guitar with premium tonewoods and craftsmanship, there are also more affordable Tele-style options. For guitarists on a budget, the Pyle PSTGT71BL is a solid choice that captures the classic Telecaster vibe at a fraction of the cost.

This Pyle model features a basswood body with a glossy blue finish. The maple neck has a standard C-shape profile that many find comfortable to play. It has a rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and pearloid dot inlays.

Hardware includes diecast chrome tuners, a fixed bridge, and a single coil pickup in the bridge position. The pickup aims to reproduce that bright, cutting Telecaster tone. There are tone and volume control knobs for shaping your sound.

Overall, the PSTGT71BL looks, feels, and sounds like a Tele-style guitar. While it may lack some of the resonant tonewoods and polished craftsmanship of pricier models, it nails the vibe for a low price. This makes it a great choice for beginners learning on their first electric guitar.

The guitar comes with an extra set of strings, picks, gig bag, strap, and cable - everything needed to start playing right out of the box. It's lightweight and comfortable for practice and jamming. The tone is bright and crisp when playing clean, and aggressive when distorted.

For under $100, the Pyle PSTGT71BL packs a ton of value. It captures the spirit and sound of the Telecaster in an affordable package. Beginners will appreciate the playability and classic styling. Overall, it's a great entry point into the Telecaster experience before upgrading to a more professional model down the road.

With options like the Fender American Professional Tele and Pyle's budget model, there are high-quality Telecasters available at every price point. This iconic guitar's signature snap and twang can fit into any guitarist's collection and playing style.

Pickups

The American Professional Telecaster Deluxe features Fender's latest modern pickup innovations that provide enhanced tone. The bridge pickup is a Wide Range humbucker that delivers powerful, rich low-end and bright treble notes. This allows for thicker, beefier distortion tones compared to traditional single-coil Tele bridge pickups.

The neck pickup is a Twisted Tele single-coil, which has vintage-style staggered pole pieces for balanced string-to-string output. This pickup has a smooth, warm neck tone that is great for blues, country, and clean rock. The Twisted Tele pickup aims to capture some of the sparkling treble and woody lows associated with the best early single-coil Tele neck pickups.

Together, this powerful humbucker and vintage-voiced single-coil pairing offers a diverse tonal palette suitable for everything from country twang to high-gain rock soloing. The pickups give the player a plethora of tones to craft their signature sound. The innovative pickup configuration allows guitarists to shape their tone with clarity and character. With the American Professional Telecaster Deluxe, Fender has engineered pickups that honor tradition while pushing boundaries.

For guitarists looking for a more affordable option with versatile pickups, check out the TARIO LC-220FL-L. This electric guitar features a humbucker in the bridge position and single coil in the neck, allowing for a wide range of tones. The LC-220FL-L uses quality materials like a Canadian maple neck and laurel fingerboard. It has a thin, comfortable C-shaped neck profile making it easy to play. An adjustable truss rod allows players to fine-tune the neck relief.

The TARIO LC-220FL-L pickups are designed to be tonally flexible. The neck single coil has clarity and definition for chords and clean tones. Switch to the bridge humbucker and you get increased output and sustain for solos and heavier sounds. Having both pickup types in one guitar provides tonal options from jazz to hard rock. The five-way pickup selector switch lets you blend the pickups. Tone and volume knobs offer further fine adjustment of your sound.

This guitar comes in an attractive transparent blue burst finish that shows off the wood grain. Chrome hardware including tuners and a Tune-O-Matic bridge provide smooth functionality. Overall the LC-220FL-L is a high quality and great sounding electric guitar offered at an affordable price point. It's an excellent choice for beginners and intermediate players looking for tonal versatility. With quality pickups and hardware, it will handle anything from practice to gigs. Check out the versatile TARIO LC-220FL-L for your next guitar.

Controls Offer Versatile Tone Shaping

The American Professional Telecaster Deluxe features simple but versatile controls to shape your tone. It has a master volume knob, individual tone knobs for each pickup, and a 3-way pickup selector switch.

The master volume gives you overall loudness control. Roll it back to get those sweet, warm clean tones or crank it up for natural overdrive. The volume knob has a very even taper from zero to ten, allowing subtle or dramatic volume adjustments.

Each pickup has its own tone knob that shapes the high end. The bridge pickup has a brighter, punchier tone that can be mellowed out by turning down its tone knob. The neck pickup has a fatter, darker sound that can be brightened up with its tone control. Having individual tone knobs allows you to blend the personality of each pickup.

The 3-way pickup selector lets you choose either the bridge pickup, both pickups, or the neck pickup. You can go from snappy and twangy to thick and creamy simply by flicking the switch. The pickups have staggered pole pieces to ensure balanced output across all strings.

Overall, the controls offer a versatile tonal palette while still keeping things simple. Whether you want glassy cleans, sweet blues, or raunchy rock, this Tele puts the tones at your fingertips. The master volume and dual tone knobs provide a wide range of control over the unique voices of the Tele bridge and neck pickups.

Hardware

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe features high quality hardware designed for great sound, stability and smooth playability.

The guitar has a 6-saddle string-through-body Tele bridge, allowing for precise intonation and increased sustain. The strings pass through the body, transferring string vibration for enhanced resonance. The bridge also allows for adjustment of saddle height and intonation for each individual string.

It uses vintage-style tuners with a modern screw-in bushings design. This improves performance through greater break angle over the nut for increased sustain and resonance. The tuners provide smooth and accurate tuning stability.

Overall, the hardware supports the Tele's iconic tone while also enhancing resonance, sustain and tuning stability. The string-through-body bridge and vintage-style tuners optimize the guitar for chordal twang as well as single-note lead playing.

Sound & Playability

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is known for its versatile tone and easy playability. The combination of the ash body and maple neck provides a balanced, well-rounded sound that works for a variety of musical genres from country to rock and everything in between.

The V-Mod Single-Coil Telecaster pickups deliver classic Tele twang with increased dynamics and presence. There's plenty of brightness on tap but also a smooth warmth, especially when switching to the neck pickup. Clean tones ring out with clarity while distortion packs a punch.

The modern "Deep C" neck profile feels comfortable and fast. The smooth satin finish and narrow-tall frets also facilitate easy movement up and down the neck. Whether you're ripping through solos or chugging out rhythms, it's an effortless playing experience. Intonation is excellent across the entire fretboard.

The Telecaster Deluxe lives up to Fender's reputation for rock-solid reliability. It stays in tune through heavy use and maintains its resonance. The more you play it, the more the tone seems to open up. Overall, it offers impressive versatility for the money and continues Fender's legacy of high-quality, great-sounding guitars.

Pros

The Fender American Professional Telecastar Deluxe has numerous advantages that make it a great electric guitar option.

• Great fit and finish: The guitar features a premium fit and finish, with perfect fret ends and smoothly finished necks. Owners praise the excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail.

• Quality materials: Fender uses high-quality tonewoods like ash or alder for the body along with maple for the neck. These woods help produce full, resonant tones. The hardware is also sturdy and reliable.

• Versatile tones: With an HSS pickup configuration, this Telecaster can produce vintage Tele twang as well as thick, warm humbucker tones. The S-1 switch also provides even more tonal options.

• Modern appointments: While still retaining a vintage vibe, this Tele has modern features like a contoured heel and forearm cut for improved playability. Locking tuners provide excellent tuning stability as well.

Cons

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe has a few drawbacks to consider:

• Expensive - This guitar sits at the higher end of Fender's product line, with a price tag over $1,700. While the build quality and components justify the cost for serious players, it is out of reach for more casual guitarists or those on a tight budget. The price makes it a significant investment.

• Limited color options - The American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is only available in 2-color sunburst, lacking the wide variety of finishes that other Fender models offer. Those who like having color choices may view the single option as a downside. Players who prefer black, white, translucent, or even customized finishes cannot get them on this model.

Comparable Options

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe has some strong competitors in the electric guitar market from other major manufacturers. Here are two models that are worth considering as alternatives:

Gibson Les Paul

Gibson's Les Paul model is one of the most iconic electric guitars ever made. Like the Telecaster Deluxe, it has a solid body construction with a maple top and mahogany back. The Les Paul generally has a thicker, heavier tone compared to the brighter sound of the Telecaster. It also features humbucker pickups instead of single coils, which gives it a thicker, louder output. The neck is thicker and wider on a Les Paul, making it better suited to playing leads and solos. Overall, the Les Paul is ideal for classic rock, blues, and metal genres.

PRS SE Custom

For players looking for versatility, the PRS SE Custom is an excellent option in the same price range as the Telecaster Deluxe. It has a solid mahogany body with a maple top for balanced tone. The SE Custom uses both single coil and humbucker pickups, so it can handle cleaner and higher gain tones. The PRS has excellent craftsmanship and attention to detail, with a comfortable 25" scale neck. For a guitar that can cover a lot of sonic ground, the PRS SE Custom stacks up nicely against the Fender.

Summary

The Fender American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is a top-of-the-line electric guitar that offers exceptional tone, feel, and playability. This guitar features premium tonewoods, upgraded pickups and electronics, and high-quality hardware that can handle anything a professional musician may demand of it.

Overall, the American Professional Telecaster Deluxe lives up to its name and legacy as a deluxe version of Fender's classic Telecaster model. The added flexibility of the S-1 switching system, noiseless pickups, and comfortable modern C-shaped neck make this Tele an incredibly versatile instrument. From country twang to roaring rock, this guitar can faithfully reproduce iconic Fender tones while also going into more modern sonic territory.

For players looking for a professional-grade Telecaster with some modern appointments, the American Professional Telecaster Deluxe is easy to recommend. It retains the best qualities of the traditional Tele style while adding features to increase its tonal palette. Experienced players who want a high-quality Fender with great attention to detail will find this model appeals both to tradition and innovation.