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New Fender 2010 American Special Guitars

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We got them in today at GC! These are good guitars ... not life changing, mind you ... but very impressive considering the price and (especially) the country of origin. I got to play both the Strat and the Tele as soon as the came out of the cardboard box!

The guitars are nicely finished: rolled fretboards ... none of the Mexican "jaggies" that I've been seeing lately, very stable tuning even with heavy trem use and brand new strings, and the Texas Special pickups destroy the Tex-Mex ... nice and fat sounding.

They are indeed $799 ... but a 10% coupon will knock that down to $720. Not bad for an American made guitar. I say good on Fender for this one!

Jim
 
MIDIMan56 said:
We got them in today at GC! These are good guitars ... not life changing, mind you ... but very impressive considering the price and (especially) the country of origin. I got to play both the Strat and the Tele as soon as the came out of the cardboard box!

The guitars are nicely finished: rolled fretboards ... none of the Mexican "jaggies" that I've been seeing lately, very stable tuning even with heavy trem use and brand new strings, and the Texas Special pickups destroy the Tex-Mex ... nice and fat sounding.

They are indeed $799 ... but a 10% coupon will knock that down to $720. Not bad for an American made guitar. I say good on Fender for this one!

Jim
Click to expand...

I thought the 10% GC coupons generally excluded Fender. Am I wrong about that?
 
They look good. Are they replacing the Highway 1 series, they seem to fill the same niche in the range?
 
MIDIMan56 said:
We got them in today at GC! These are good guitars ... not life changing, mind you ... but very impressive considering the price and (especially) the country of origin. I got to play both the Strat and the Tele as soon as the came out of the cardboard box!

The guitars are nicely finished: rolled fretboards ... none of the Mexican "jaggies" that I've been seeing lately, very stable tuning even with heavy trem use and brand new strings, and the Texas Special pickups destroy the Tex-Mex ... nice and fat sounding.

They are indeed $799 ... but a 10% coupon will knock that down to $720. Not bad for an American made guitar. I say good on Fender for this one!

Jim
Click to expand...


Good to know i just might have to bite on the Black HSS model Strat that is one sexy looking Guitar!!
 
markb said:
They look good. Are they replacing the Highway 1 series, they seem to fill the same niche in the range?
Click to expand...


No, the 2010 Fender Frontline catalog still has them listed.
 
EnglishJW said:
I thought the 10% GC coupons generally excluded Fender. Am I wrong about that?
Click to expand...

Negative! Sam Ash plays that game of excluding over half the brands they carry. GC honors the coupons on every sale.

Jim
 
Well that is good to know because there where times last year I tried to use the 15% off coupon in the LA area @ GC and was told fender products where excluded.
 
Wow

I had the pleasure of playing the American Special SSS Strat tonight while my daughter was taking piano lessons.

AMPS used Marshall S5 and fender VM deluxe.

The quality of the guitar was excellent.
The neck was spot on perfect felt just as nice as the American Standard right next to it. The Texas specials sound great reminded me of the sound I get out of my Paisley Strat. The two tone burst was done very well.
IMHO this guitar blows the Highway one out of the water.

I highly recommend this guitar. They had just sold the Black HSS man I want see and play that guitar. I had them order me one just from playing the SSS version. So much for no new guitars in 2010!!!! LOL
 
I've really been curious about these, would LOVE to test-drive some. I was VERY impressed when Fender re-worked the American Standard line back in '08. I thought all the refinements were good. When the prices jumped higher than the American Deluxe I had bought two years prior I kinda chuckled; but I think even at the current prices the Am Standard is a good axe.

These Specials are REALLY intriguing. I personally LOVE a 70's headstock; though I've been sort of underwhelmed by those 6-screw trems previously. But that could mainly be they were mostly attached to really cheap guitars. I'd love to try out the Special Tele; I've had Tele-GAS for a long time, and the idea that I could cure it for WAY under $1K sounds pretty damn good to me.
 
Mister Boston said:
I'd love to try out the Special Tele; I've had Tele-GAS for a long time, and the idea that I could cure it for WAY under $1K sounds pretty damn good to me.
Click to expand...

I played one last week and it was a really good guitar I could not find anything abut it I did not like BUT with that said I also played the CV Tele Custom which is $400.00 USD cheaper and even though I thought the special was a better guitar I did not think it was so much better that I would buy it over the CV Tele Custom. You should go test drive one I think if they stuck a fender label on it and ask $800.00 for it would still sell its just that well made and sounding.


Good luck hunting. :dude
 
I love mine just got it last week:)Sorry for the terrible picture My face plus a webcam is no winning combination:thwap

fatassme.jpg
 
hagarfreak33 said:
I love mine just got it last week:)Sorry for the terrible picture My face plus a webcam is no winning combination:thwap

fatassme.jpg
Click to expand...


So after having it for a week what do think of of it?
 
I love it-I went in the store looking for another Mexi-strat and they had 2 of these guitars-the neck felt so good and the price was right-now i need a new amp:)
 
hagarfreak33 said:
I love it-I went in the store looking for another Mexi-strat and they had 2 of these guitars-the neck felt so good and the price was right-now i need a new amp:)
Click to expand...


Well I have joined you picked mine up on Saturday.
still getting the feel for it. but I think this one is a keeper.
 
MAXIFUNK said:
Well I have joined you picked mine up on Saturday.
still getting the feel for it. but I think this one is a keeper.
Click to expand...
nICE!!:happy
 
Congrats on the new guitars Gents. I saw a local shop I drool over had some come in so I sent an email to inquire about Canuck pricing and model availability, but hadn't heard back from them as yet. I headed out tonight to a local retailer to see if they also had them in stock yet.

I found a candy apple red model, and as luck would have it... the little sournd booth they have was also free. I'm not sure I was thrilled with the factory setup on the guitar, but I haven't played a strat in a long time... so don't let me hold you back from checking one out for yourself. The neck and fret work were very nice, and the Texas Special pickups sounded good, but I'm not sure they would be something I'd be happy with in the long haul (personal preference only).

What I did like was the 'Greasebucket' tonepot wired to the bridge pickup in favour of the centre p/u... this made for a very useful combination of tones. The trem was floating with the three springs in the 1-3-5 holes, and held it's tune reasonably for a Strat. I've seen Gibson offer 335's for a lesser price with a less labour intensive finish, so I'd imagine these guitars will likely do well in this current market as well. I'm looking forward to trying one out again in the near future.
 

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