I got no clue, but they look cool:D
Features of the Fender Lite Ash Telecaster
Tuners - Unbranded mini-sealed tuners, six-on-one-side with quite small tuning knobs. Accurate and worked well.
Headstock - The classic Telecaster headstock always reminds me of Joe Bugner's nose. The birdseye maple adds a certain girlish charm. This Telecaster is in actual fact a "No-caster". Only the Fender logo appears on the headstock. This echoes the headstock of the production run just after the guitar was renamed from its original designation of Broadcaster. For legal reasons Fender had to snip the "Broadcaster" off the headstock decal while they waited for the new "Telecaster" decals to arrive. Two string bushes increase nut tension for the four highest strings and the truss rod has no cover.
Nut - White plastic set-in-slot type which is nicely finished.
Neck - C-shaped birdseye maple Telecaster heaven with a rosewood skunk-stripe. The birdseye grain of the maple adds dollops of class. This extremely comfortable neck is made even sexier by the sultry feel of the satin polyurethane finish.
Fretboard - The fretboard is made from a slightly darker birdseye maple that has a lot more eyes of the bird than the neck. With the addition of abalone dot markers it becomes a thing of sublime beauty.
Frets - Medium frets, 22 as tradition dictates.
Action - Low and playable from the box. The guitar comes stringed with 09's but if I were to take one home I'd slap on a set of 10's and tweak the action a tad lower.
Body - Classic thick slab Telecaster body made from lightweight ash. Lightweight or not this guitar still has a satisfying presence on the strap.
Bridge - This is a vintage style ashtray bridge with has three saddles, one for each pair of strings. Therefore the strings are intoned in pairs. Checking this model I found the intonation to be correct within a gnat's cock. I have a modern bridge on my car-boot Squier so I was worried that the lip on the vintage bridge might cramp my style. In practise it took a very short while to get used to it and when I did I found I could use the raised lip on the lower part of the bridge to anchor my pinky whilst playing.
Pickups - Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro2 single coils at neck and bridge. Serious stuff!
Controls - Standard, no-nonsense Tele fare - one volume, one tone, 3-way pickup selector.
Pickguard - Single ply black plastic. Which makes this guitar a Blackguard Nocaster. Cool.
Strap-buttons - Oversize buttons! Excellent! You know if it's a struggle to get your strap on, then it's gonna' be equally difficult for your guitar to fall off. A bit like condoms, really.
Output Jack - As with all proper Telecasters the output jack is on the bottom edge in its own spittoon.
Finish - The natural finish on this model shows the grain of the body through classy high-gloss lacquer. The level of finish overall is very good for a Korean-built instrument.
Sound of the Fender Lite Ash Telecaster
The Telecaster is the original sound of Electric Spanish Guitars and as such set the stage for the birth of Rock 'n' Roll. Which means it needs to sound right. The good news is that Mr Duncan's pickups deliver all the classic (and therefore essential) Tele tones in spades. The bridge pickup is bright and ecstatic without resorting to filing your front teeth. Here resides the true nature of the Tele, the tone that changed the music world and consequently the whole of Western Culture. Add some crunchy overdrive to this and set course for Boogie Town.
The neck pickup on clean gives one of the nicest vintage-style rock 'n' roll lead tones that I've ever come across. Slapped together these pickups produce a complex and satisfying mix of tones that are perfect for blues when run clean or harder-edged rock when overdriven.
Overall Impressions of the Fender Lite Ash Telecaster
This is a lovely guitar to look at and to play. If you want authentic Telecaster tones then this pair of Seymour Duncans are sure to impress, while the cool Telecaster looks will turn you into a girl-magnet (or a boy-magnet, depending on the venue). The birdseye maple neck adds a level of luxurious indulgence that will have the guitarists in the audience coo-ing over your guitar-stand at half-time. All in all, out of Korea, I don't think it gets much better than this.
You are at GuitarMasterClass.net
Don't miss today's
free lick. Plus all our lessons are packed with
free content!
