Anyone played a Fender Meteora?

PVO_Dave

Birthday is coming up, likely to be in lockdown still so it'll likely to be cash and I do like the look of the HH versions.

Anyone on here with some first hand experience? 

Dave.

simonhpieman

I like offsets but I must confess these were really not my thing. I'd imagine they're quite heavy?

Have seen them on sale in quite a few places, though. Make sure you get a keen price as there are deals out there.

grungebob

I like the looks of them but I can’t see them having that much of a unique sound/tone. 

I love quirky fenders and I think I’ve owned most of them at some point in time. 

I imagine these will sound very much like the toronado a nice polite generic humbucker guitar. 

However saying that if you’re primarily a fender man then it’s a good way into Humbuckers.  

For similar money I’d pop on to peaches website and pickup that Black rivolta combinata for £650, I’m biased as I have the red one but it’s a fantastic guitar and excels at everything I need. 

I was a fender and PRS man for the longest of times but I can’t see me letting the rivolta go at any time in the future.  

Funkfingers

I tried the original butterscotch American model with the Telecaster pickups and controls. Comfortable worn on a strap, plays nicely, sounds like an ash 'n' maple Telecaster should but, maybe, this is the problem with that variant. Any guitar looking that different probably needs to have the sounds to match the looks. The MIM HH models should be easy enough to modify with fancy pickups and multi-mode pickup coil switching options.

simonhpieman

grungebob said:

I like the looks of them but I can’t see them having that much of a unique sound/tone. 

I love quirky fenders and I think I’ve owned most of them at some point in time. 

I imagine these will sound very much like the toronado a nice polite generic humbucker guitar. 

However saying that if you’re primarily a fender man then it’s a good way into Humbuckers.  

For similar money I’d pop on to peaches website and pickup that Black rivolta combinata for £650, I’m biased as I have the red one but it’s a fantastic guitar and excels at everything I need. 

I was a fender and PRS man for the longest of times but I can’t see me letting the rivolta go at any time in the future.  

Wis'd because you're probably right about the Combinata, as much as I've been eyeing it up for months.

grungebob

@simonhpieman honestly mate it’s the best sounding guitar I’ve ever played. 

It’s built well but obviously to a price point. So the tuners and the bridge will be replaced in the future but it sounds glorious and the C+ neck profile is a nice hand filler. 

Henrytwang

Never seen one before.It looks a bit like a Telemaster a guitar that I’ve always fancied.

HarrySeven

@PVO_Dave - played one, felt and sounded utterly generic.

PVO_Dave

HarrySeven said:

@PVO_Dave - played one, felt and sounded utterly generic.

Build quality OK though @HarrySeven ;? - It's more the look of it I think is cool, very high likelihood I'd swap the pickups out to have a P90 in the neck and a decent HB in the bridge as that seems to be the combo that works for me

Thanks for everyone else's comments too, I'm not especially a Fender or Gibson man any more, most of my guitars are parts / custom builds with just a couple of real ones  

abw1989

@PVO_Dave ;said:

I'd swap the pickups out to have a P90 in the neck and a decent HB in the bridge as that seems to be the combo that works for me

If that is the case have you thought about the Fender Powercaster, it already comes with that pick up combination and an odd offset body?

PVO_Dave

abw1989 said:

@PVO_Dave ;said:

I'd swap the pickups out to have a P90 in the neck and a decent HB in the bridge as that seems to be the combo that works for me

If that is the case have you thought about the Fender Powercaster, it already comes with that pick up combination and an odd offset body?

That has my preferred layout, but prefer the looks of the Meteora, really fancy one in CAR too  

HarrySeven

PVO_Dave said:

HarrySeven said:

@PVO_Dave - played one, felt and sounded utterly generic.

Build quality OK though @HarrySeven?

Yes, nothing untoward to report, but...it just felt like *any* current mid-range Fender.

NB. If I was in the market, I'd go for the Powercaster option, too...

PVO_Dave

Looks a lot better with a P90 in I think, not sure on chrome cover for the bridge or not

Funkfingers

I concur with earlier comments about the MIM Meteora and Powercaster build quality being as you would expect. Similarly, the USA version is on a par with American Professional and Original products.

My nearest Fender dealership has had a Powercaster on display since they first came out. If I did have a quick go on it, it cannot have been very memorable. As H7 said, "utterly generic" and with the dubious benefit of resembling a nightmare Warmoth self-build project. 

Usually, something that strongly divides opinion is described as "Marmite". In the case of most of the Parallel Universe Fender instruments, the adjective should be "Kennomeat".

abw1989

I have tried a Meteora too, I should add; and agree with the other sentiments, it felt like a guitar not much more or less. I seem to remember that I didn't like the neck, it felt like it should be a slim profile but was actually quite chunky, of course that is mainly personal preference.

I also didn't see the point of the switch that swapped the order of tone and volume controls around. There was no indication as to where you'd left them but I guess if you own it, you'd set it one way then never touch it again!

grungebob

PVO_Dave said:

Looks a lot better with a P90 in I think, not sure on chrome cover for the bridge or not

Chrome. 

Funkfingers

The way that this Discussion is going begs the question, has anyone purchased a Fender Meteora (or Powercaster) and modified it to make it sound exciting?