Fender American Vintage II

Mike58

Saw a pic of a lefty in Fiesta red in a French site ( ? Music 3000 ? ) now that’s been a long wait for a lefty to come along in FR that’s not a Squier or a CS. Yes Fender Japan did a FSR lefty Fiesta a couple of years ago and of course I got one , but the thought of an American nitro finished Fiesta with dark fretboard.... mouthwatering.
Yes, could go CS but why pay for someone to damage your guitar before you buy it and pay double price minimum?
cannot wait to try one and smell one... 7.5 radius... I’ll see how that goes with the vt frets... neck shape on the ‘61 Strat... hopefully a good handful with plenty of shoulder just like my older Fender Crafted in Japan ‘62 reissue Chandlerised back in the 90s.
Been a while since I’ve looked forward to a release more than this... I’m expecting wiring disappointment with the lefties tho.. any money they use normal log pots wired to work counterclockwise ie. reverse taper and stick on righty knobs so it all looks weird... the crap we have to put up with from Fender !!

chris78

Definitely official!
Guitarist magazine has reviews of the 51 tele and 61 Strat this month

chris78

And just to add, they’ve got 10/10 guitarist gold awards which is unusual.
Tele was a good weight, Strat heavier than I’d like at 3.65kg.
No details on what “nitro” finishes mean

chris78

Finally you can hear them

https://youtu.be/eMAH5eoLxF0

barnstorm

He keeps saying they're special but that's not really coming across… Much prefer the sound of his own guitars there.

tomajoha

barnstorm said:

He keeps saying they're special but that's not really coming across… Much prefer the sound of his own guitars there.

I agree, the new AVII sounded really muted compared to his guitars?

LPManic

If I was a gigging musician I still would get the Ultra.

barnstorm

tomajoha said:

barnstorm said:

He keeps saying they're special but that's not really coming across… Much prefer the sound of his own guitars there.

I agree, the new AVII sounded really muted compared to his guitars?

A cheaper guitar with my choice of pickups or a more expensive but more individual custom order would both appeal more to me. No doubt they'll sell heaps, as usual, but they do seem to fall between two stools a bit at £2k.

stickyfiddle

Not sure why they're leaning with the boggo Strat & Tele for reviews tbh. It's not like those are really actually new. 

Re the demos themselves, I can't help feel Neville isn't the most exciting player to make you want to go out and spend money. He speaks very well in terms of his descriptions but he just sounds so unenthused! (sorry Nev!)

impmann

Wow... they sound like a Strat and Tele. Cool... they look like a Strat and a Tele.

I'll now sit back and await the 10 pages of drivel with folks arguing over minutiae based on YT audio (with post-prod before upload), headstock shapes, neck profiles and colour choices. And how "wrong" these guitars all are... how they were cheaper/better years ago and why won't Fender listen to what "everyone" really wants. (Which tbh, is actually to get out more imho).

Offset

impmann said:

Wow... they sound like a Strat and Tele. Cool... they look like a Strat and a Tele.

I'll now sit back and await the 10 pages of drivel with folks arguing over minutiae based on YT audio (with post-prod before upload), headstock shapes, neck profiles and colour choices. And how "wrong" these guitars all are... how they were cheaper/better years ago and why won't Fender listen to what "everyone" really wants. (Which tbh, is actually to get out more imho).

^^ Made me chuckle, but you're on the money :-)

Gerz6558

I'm with you. But when you call something American Vintage and sell it based on the details, expect the hardcore to come out and pick it apart.

Roundwound

There’s been a lot of reminiscing in recent years about how the previous AV series were Fenders second golden period and lamenting the lack of vintage spec in the current range. Fender seem to have listened.

I did think it was amusing when Neville spent the pre-amble talking about how vintage correct these are and how Fender have used all their new knowledge to match the old guitars. He then says the finish type could be urethane, nitro, nitro over poly but that’s irrelevant! 

Mike58

A “ friend” was trying a guitar today and told me the AV11 ‘61 Strat had very little quack compared to a CS with Fat 60s pickups.
I wasn’t there of course and could not possibly comment further.

barnstorm

See that Guitarist have had to take that video down now, so we're obviously a little way off from the official announcement still. Really don't know why companies try to orchestrate these shock-and-awe launches. The endless drip-drip of leaks and the eventual flood of mostly paid-for demos is just annoying.

Gerz6558

barnstorm said:

See that Guitarist have had to take that video down now, so we're obviously a little way off from the official announcement still. Really don't know why companies try to orchestrate these shock-and-awe launches. The endless drip-drip of leaks and the eventual flood of mostly paid-for demos is just annoying.

It's supposedly tomorrow, and was supposed to be last week. 

Seems that all of the shops and reviewers are ready to go, with some jumping the gun.

Lewy

barnstorm said:

See that Guitarist have had to take that video down now, so we're obviously a little way off from the official announcement still.

Given that the finish is such a big part of the picture when it comes to the differences between the different Fender re-issue series, I don’t suppose a video where the demonstrators essentially goes “don’t know what the finish is and I don’t think it matters” went down too well….

mudslide73

Despite Nev's efforts that white 61 is really doing it for me.

Offset

@chris78 I want to watch the video but it says 'unavailable'...

Mike58

So embargo is due to end 2pm Tues 11th Oct UK.