Fender American Original Series

crunchman

Look quite good.  Pity about the limited colour options.  Classic as a blonde 50's spec Tele is, it would be nice to have other colour options.  Even if there is nothing outlandish would prefer black or sunburst.

MattFGBI

not_the_dj said:

Ignoring the marketing....I think these look great.

@MattFGBI are Fender at the Birmingham show again this year...and will these be there?

I'm not sure this year, that's up to the Marketing team.  Either way, the guitars will be as plenty of dealers will be there. 

Philly_Q

So to sum up, we've gone from a vintage series which alienated a large number of potential buyers because they don't like a 7.25" radius to a vintage series which will alienate a large number of potential buyers because they don't like a 9.5" radius.

Personally I think the 9.5" radius is an improvement and I wouldn't have bought an AVRI, but it's all just opinions.

I wonder if this will eat into Custom Shop sales?

crunchman

Philly_Q said:

So to sum up, we've gone from a vintage series which alienated a large number of potential buyers because they don't like a 7.25" radius to a vintage series which will alienate a large number of potential buyers because they don't like a 9.5" radius.

Personally I think the 9.5" radius is an improvement and I wouldn't have bought an AVRI, but it's all just opinions.

I wonder if this will eat into Custom Shop sales?

I think this is why there are such limited colour options.

There are limited neck options as well.  If you want a nitro finished maple board Tele without the thick U shaped profile you have to go Custom Shop.

Forgive my cynicism, but there are always things on Fenders that you can only get on a Custom Shop guitar. 

JezWynd

New Teles, Strats, Jazz, Jags, P and J basses. Radical Fender.

RandallFlagg

JezWynd said:

New Teles, Strats, Jazz, Jags, P and J basses. Radical Fender.

Have you seen the parallel universe models?

Philly_Q

crunchman said:

I think this is why there are such limited colour options.

There are limited neck options as well.  If you want a nitro finished maple board Tele without the thick U shaped profile you have to go Custom Shop.

Forgive my cynicism, but there are always things on Fenders that you can only get on a Custom Shop guitar. 

True.  One thing which struck me was that they've gone for a "Thick '60s C" neck profile on the '60s Strat, whereas most of the Custom Shop '60s models have the "Mid-60s Oval C" profile which I assume is (a) the most popular and (b) slightly thinner.

Again, I'd personally prefer the fatter neck but that's just me.  I wonder if some people are going shit, I still have to buy Custom Shop because I want the thinner neck.

DougCoda

Strat54 said:

@DougCoda Are you not going to publish the new Custom Shop models this week...just for a for a short while like last week ?? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=68&v=DvJxMX-1GI8

I only have a PDF of the models..no pics yet, may have to wait until Namm for that The Custom Shop preview is on Wednesday night and I'll be taking pics of the new range and the show specials and posting on Insatgram and FB. Most of our stock is our own Custom Orders so I'm quite picky about catalog stuff, the show specials are generally quite cool..
Catalog stuff ..there's a Historic Collection which are NOS, they look good, more Artisans, some cool looking Jazzmasters and Jaguars and tweaks to the Strats and Teles..but I didn't tell you that.

bacchanalian

Octafish said:

Hmmm, are these anything more than overpriced Classic Players?

Or, maybe cut price Custom Shop.  The 60's tele is pretty close to my Namm Ltd CS tele except less than half price

humbucko

Any information/ideas/guesses from anyone on how the nitro finish on these will differ from the 'flash coat lacquer' of the American Vintage line? You could blow on my 52 AV and a new bit of paint would chip off

Rigid_Digits

I reckon these are going to do really well for Fender, but I do hope there will still be some vintage radius guitars available though. So much rubbish spoken about them being difficult to play. They're not. But I do like the look of these and could be tempted.

crunchman

bacchanalian said:

Octafish said:

Hmmm, are these anything more than overpriced Classic Players?

Or, maybe cut price Custom Shop.  The 60's tele is pretty close to my Namm Ltd CS tele except less than half price

Nitro finish in some form or other (even if it's not like the 50's version).

The Strat also has a vintage style bridge so that's an improvement over the CP.

RandallFlagg

I like the white 60s Strat

StefB

crunchman said:

  The Strat also has a vintage style bridge so that's an improvement over the CP.

In terms of looks?  Surely not in terms of functionality and tuning stability?

crunchman

StefB said:

crunchman said:

  The Strat also has a vintage style bridge so that's an improvement over the CP.

In terms of looks?  Surely not in terms of functionality and tuning stability?

In terms of sound.

lovestrat74

jellybelly said:

I thought they’d have taken the opportunity to change up the colours on the offsets a bit more - how many white and sunburst Jazzmasters are there already in the world?! Why is Lake placid blue or fiesta red never trotted out?

Otherwise, a new neck and the same trem as the MIM classic player and that’s all that’s changed. 

They'll be out in the summer as FSR after you've already shelled out for a compromise colour 

lovestrat74

Thick "’60s C"-shaped neck profile  - be interested to see how thick this is given that the new Pros were supposed to have a "Deep" C and there was nothing deep about it in my book

jeztone2

Why won’t Fender or Gibson use fucking 6100 fretwire? Given that it seems to be such a popular choice for refrets. Why not just offer it in the first place?  Fretwire to me is a purchase critical issue. It’s just easier to buy used and have it refretted. 

crunchman

jeztone2 said:

Why won’t Fender or Gibson use fucking 6100 fretwire? Given that it seems to be such a popular choice for refrets. Why not just offer it in the first place?  Fretwire to me is a purchase critical issue. It’s just easier to buy used and have it refretted. 

I quite like the tall narrow stuff they are using on these.

On the other hand, I had a Custom Shop Tele with jumbo frets and hated them by the end.  I bought it thinking I'd get used to it but I never did.

Philly_Q

jeztone2 said:

Why won’t Fender or Gibson use fucking 6100 fretwire? Given that it seems to be such a popular choice for refrets. Why not just offer it in the first place?  Fretwire to me is a purchase critical issue. It’s just easier to buy used and have it refretted. 

I think the tall narrow 6105 type maintains some of the vintage character (and look) but is a bit easier to get to grips with than the real skinny little vintage frets.  I assume it's a popular choice since Fender use it on so many CS models.

I haven't thought so much about Gibson, do they have a standard fret?  To me they usually seem moderately wide but not tall enough.

Personally I agree with you, I like the 6100.