Comments on: Fender Shows Off ‘Road Worn’ Series, New Amps @ NAMM 2009

By: Nathan A

Nathan A — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:52:43 +0000

A friend of mine just bought one of those road worn guitars and I can’t let him off the hook. I love my NEW Mexican Tele Custom. I have customized it a little myself. I replaced the saddles with compensated ones and now the intonation sounds great. I don’t know why they don’t just come with those but whatever. Bottom line. I want to put my own scratches on this guitar. Who knows how it will turn out in twenty to forty years. There is no short cut to experience.

By: Mathijs

Mathijs — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:32:33 +0000

On the Road Worn series the neck is American made while the body is Mexican.

I just bought a ’50′s RW, and I must admit that it is something like a “best ever” to me. It’s got everything I want in a good strat: it’s light, it’s got a fairly fat V neck with most of the lacquer missing on the back -and the neck lacquer even is satin poly as I prefer as nitro can be too sticky for me. The body is 100% nitro, just as I want, and the frets are my prefered 6105′s.

A guitar with these appointments is normally only available from the CS. Now it’s avialable for just $850.

Does it look goed? Well, the body looks fairly good although it won’t fool anybody, but that’s basically with ALL relic jobs. The front of the neck just looks plain bad IMO. It’s just fake and totally over-done. The fret ends stick out too much, the nut is a bit high, but that’s about it.

Seriously, I think this strat is the best $850 can buy.

By: Don

Don — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Gearhund – The Band-Master VM head has a street price of $650 and is already available for pre-order at webstores. I wonder how close the tube amp circuit is to the ‘66 Bassman head?

I think it’s closer to the Hot Rod Deluxe, or the recent reissue 40 watt Deluxe, than to anything vintage.

By: Tom L

Tom L — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 14:42:29 +0000

Rick I’m with you 100%. I just bought an Epiphone Genesis that was made in Japan in the late 70s. Admittedly it’s a Gibson product, but I paid $375 for the guitar and got it with its original HSC and old-school coiled cord. The guitar plays and sounds amazing.

Companies like PRS, Reverend…hell, maybe even Eastwood…are putting out quality instruments at great prices.

On the other hand, if you want to spend a ton of money on a guitar, there’s this explosion of boutique builders that are putting our beautiful, handmade instruments that have got to play and sound better than production Les Pauls.

There’s more competition out there than ever before. Maybe that’s why the Big Two are out of control.

By: Chicago Rick

Chicago Rick — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:17:20 +0000

You know Tom, I just bought a PRS SE Custom for less than $500.00 and I love the little Korean fucker. Maybe it’s time everyone stopped putting such a high premium on the Big Two. If other brands are putting out quality instruments in other countries, why are we paying 10 grand for reissues? Have we all lost our minds?

By: Tom L

Tom L — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:34:54 +0000

Fender IS out of control. I can’t imagine the nightmare of managing all of those SKUs. Definitely not an 80/20 approach to business.

On the other hand, Gibson released the Darkfire too soon, and now they’ve had to recall it — or at least delay the release. And they want 10 grand for the 50th anniversary Les Paul. 10 GRAND!!

So…which company is more out of control?

By: Cary

Cary — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:17:21 +0000

Rick, I’m right with you on this one.

Fender is OUT OF CONTROL.

But they’ll probably be laughing all the way to the bank.

By: Chicago Rick

Chicago Rick — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:48:24 +0000

You know, during your self relic experiment, I said I would build you a trophy if Fender lowered their custom shop prices. Now that it has happened (sort of) I find myself on the other side of the fence. I am now inclined to think the pre-worn guitar fad is officially out of control. I think Stratoblogster has already used the best word to describe this – cheesy. A whole series of MIM guitars all worn down in the same spot is quite lame. I think it is time this generation of guitarists finally starts putting wear and tear in the gear the right way – by constant playing. Factory finished “relics” really suck the mystique out of the whole concept.

OK I’m done ranting and your Tele still looks bad ass. :)

By: Stratoblogster

Stratoblogster — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 21:51:58 +0000

Interesting what GRIMM says about all models being worn in the same place.

ESP’s cheaper version of their George Lynch model has the same “wear” patterns guitar to guitar, and looks like they use some sort of finish template– pretty cheesy looking. The premium versions are identical too, but the aging looks more naturally occurring.

If a Squier Relic line comes, it will probably represent the first foto-finish distressed guitar… If they hurry, that is.

By: Tom L

Tom L — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:10:37 +0000

A grand is a lot for a MIM guitar. I’m surprised they started that high. I thought they’d be in the $750 range.

By: Gearhund

Gearhund — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:20:39 +0000

The Band-Master VM head has a street price of $650 and is already available for pre-order at webstores. I wonder how close the tube amp circuit is to the ’66 Bassman head?

By: GRIMM

GRIMM — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:00:50 +0000

Cary, great to see you posting again!

I was just in guitar center and took a look at the road worn series (didn’t have a chance to play one though)I liked the finish but thought they would vary the wear areas – nope – the’re all worn in exactly the same place. The street price is $900.00 – a little steep to me for a MIM strat when the 08 AM STND’s are in the same range.

GRIMM