No more Baja telecasters

thegummy

CasperCaster said:

So, the full details of the Vintera range are now officially out. The modified 50's Tele's get a U profile neck with modern frets/radius. That's a shame as for me it was the soft V neck which really sold the Baja Tele. Anyway, there are plenty out there second hand, so perhaps it was time for a change. 

The baja would be the 50s modified which had a soft v 

Ossyrocks

I have been on the lookout for a reasonable and lighter weight 60's Classic Player Baja Tele for a while.
Just looked at the Vintera range and of the 60's models available, both have Bigsby's.
It's a no from me.
Rob.

CasperCaster

@Ossyrocks there is a 60's modified Vintera Tele without a Bigsby - Lake Placid Blue looks nice to me, and sea foam green is okay too! 

@thegummy I should have gone to Fenders site for the specs, not Thomann! 

crunchman

CasperCaster said:

@Ossyrocks there is a 60's modified Vintera Tele without a Bigsby - Lake Placid Blue looks nice to me, and sea foam green is okay too! 

Apparently the "modified" ones have hotter pickups. Might need to budget for a pickup change if they are like Texas Specials.

Gerz6558

The Thomann YouTube video with the Fender guys confirms the same pickups as the baja for the 50's modified at least. Wonder if they kept the same pickups for the 60's version.

Either way I'm thankful they chose some vaguely interesting colours for this new rebrand.

tony99

Gerz6558 said:

The Thomann YouTube video with the Fender guys confirms the same pickups as the baja for the 50's modified at least. Wonder if they kept the same pickups for the 60's version.

Either way I'm thankful they chose some vaguely interesting colours for this new rebrand.

There's a pink baja, and I have to say it's delightful

menamestom

Ossyrocks said:

I have been on the lookout for a reasonable and lighter weight 60's Classic Player Baja Tele for a while.
Just looked at the Vintera range and of the 60's models available, both have Bigsby's.
It's a no from me.
Rob.

I thought that as well.  They do a 60's modified but the neck is listed as modern C, which wouldn't work for me.

Jalfrezi

I was a surprised that Fender would stop making the Baja, seemed like a real winner for them.  I like mine just fine, not too sure about the pickups, and a couple of minor issues (fitted an Electrosocket to replace the loose jack, and the neck pickup screws are made of shiny cheese), other than that, it's pretty great, light and very resonant.

Ossyrocks

menamestom said:

Ossyrocks said:

I have been on the lookout for a reasonable and lighter weight 60's Classic Player Baja Tele for a while.
Just looked at the Vintera range and of the 60's models available, both have Bigsby's.
It's a no from me.
Rob.

I thought that as well.  They do a 60's modified but the neck is listed as modern C, which wouldn't work for me.

Coda have one in and describe the neck as "thick C". They may be worth checking out.

Musicwolf

Jalfrezi said:

I was a surprised that Fender would stop making the Baja, seemed like a real winner for them. 

Presumably they have data that tells them that sales have stagnated or they believe that they can achieve a higher margin on the replacement models either through higher prices or lower costs.

Has the spec of the Baja changed much over the years?  It looks to me to be unchanged from the guitar I first looked at about 10 years ago.  I bet that there aren't many Fender, or other, models that have remained unchanged for that long.

chris78

mark123 said:

tried 3 different bajas at different times thinking "maybe i just had a bad one",all sounded meh..over complicated switching ,my 100% stock classic vibe custom blew all 3 of them away .

Of course. The classic vibe is the best guitar in the world, says the internet 

chris78

thegummy said:

Moltisanti said:

SteveRobinson said:

A few years ago I retrofitted a lot of 4-way switches, nowadays I mostly take them out.

yep, the std wiring is bollocks, replaced mine with a normal 3 way switch loom

Can't believe anyone would get rid of a guitar because of it, or even judge one on the stock electronic setup, when it's so easy to change it to anything one can think of.

I don’t get why anyone would take a 4 way switch out. Who wants less versatility?
For me it’s a great tele mod and means I can take my tele out and play nothing else all night, even with a range of different styles

crunchman

chris78 said:

thegummy said:

Moltisanti said:

SteveRobinson said:

A few years ago I retrofitted a lot of 4-way switches, nowadays I mostly take them out.

yep, the std wiring is bollocks, replaced mine with a normal 3 way switch loom

Can't believe anyone would get rid of a guitar because of it, or even judge one on the stock electronic setup, when it's so easy to change it to anything one can think of.

I don’t get why anyone would take a 4 way switch out. Who wants less versatility?
For me it’s a great tele mod and means I can take my tele out and play nothing else all night, even with a range of different styles

I wouldn't personally make the effort to take the switch out, but it does complicate things.  It's easier to accidentally put yourself on the wrong setting.

I put a 4 way in my first Tele, and I had a Custom Shop one for a while that came with a 4 way from the factory.  I never used the series setting.  It was muddy and didn't sound like a humbucker.  A 3 way is definitely better.

Kittyfrisk

chris78 said:

mark123 said:

tried 3 different bajas at different times thinking "maybe i just had a bad one",all sounded meh..over complicated switching ,my 100% stock classic vibe custom blew all 3 of them away .

Of course. The classic vibe is the best guitar in the world, says the internet 

Just occasionally, the hype has a solid foundation.
Doesn't work out for everyone, but the rest of you keep believing you have a better guitar, because it cost more 

Nikc

Kittyfrisk said:

chris78 said:

mark123 said:

tried 3 different bajas at different times thinking "maybe i just had a bad one",all sounded meh..over complicated switching ,my 100% stock classic vibe custom blew all 3 of them away .

Of course. The classic vibe is the best guitar in the world, says the internet 

Just occasionally, the hype has a solid foundation.
Doesn't work out for everyone, but the rest of you keep believing you have a better guitar, because it cost more 

But it says squire on the headstock yuk

Kittyfrisk

Nikc said:

Kittyfrisk said:

chris78 said:

mark123 said:

tried 3 different bajas at different times thinking "maybe i just had a bad one",all sounded meh..over complicated switching ,my 100% stock classic vibe custom blew all 3 of them away .

Of course. The classic vibe is the best guitar in the world, says the internet 

Just occasionally, the hype has a solid foundation.
Doesn't work out for everyone, but the rest of you keep believing you have a better guitar, because it cost more 

But it says squire on the headstock yuk

No, it says 'Squier'  
Besides, don't you have any abrasives or aftermarket decals? 
Hope you didn't buy a cheap copy 

Moltisanti

chris78 said:

I don’t get why anyone would take a 4 way switch out. Who wants less versatility?
For me it’s a great tele mod and means I can take my tele out and play nothing else all night, even with a range of different styles

i didn't find the additional 2 sounds to be of any use to me to be honest - i much prefer the 3 way switch setup, it's part of what makes a Tele a Tele, the simplicity.

Plus i could hear the difference between the std wiring and a "fancy" wiring loom, i know a lot of people think it's bollocks but to me it was night and day, like listening to your guitar straight into an amp vs through a big pedalboard

thegummy

chris78 said:

thegummy said:

Moltisanti said:

SteveRobinson said:

A few years ago I retrofitted a lot of 4-way switches, nowadays I mostly take them out.

yep, the std wiring is bollocks, replaced mine with a normal 3 way switch loom

Can't believe anyone would get rid of a guitar because of it, or even judge one on the stock electronic setup, when it's so easy to change it to anything one can think of.

I don’t get why anyone would take a 4 way switch out. Who wants less versatility?
For me it’s a great tele mod and means I can take my tele out and play nothing else all night, even with a range of different styles

It's much easier to switch quickly on a 3 way. Trying to quickly switch it to the 3rd position on a 4-way, it's easy to go too far and put it in to the unwanted option.