Wow… I definitely didn’t see this one coming, and I have to say I love the design. Check out that rosewood Telecaster bridge! Very cool looking guitar. And Fender has apparently built a truly usable Electric/Acoustic hybrid guitar if word from the NAMM demonstrations are any indication.
According to Fender, the new Acoustasonic Tele packs both traditional Telecaster tone and feel (note the Custom Shop Twisted Tele pickup in the neck position,) and a believable acoustic guitar component (via a Fishman Piezo Pickup and on-board Aura pre-amp,) into a single, and rather traditional looking Fender package.
The guitar is built utilizing a chambered Ash body with a Spruce wedge center block, and sports a modern “C” shaped maple neck with satin finish (25.5″ scale length,) a rosewood fretboard (9.5″ radius,) and 21 MJ frets.
Of course, the real stand-out here is in the electronics department: as mentioned before the Acoustasonic Tele sports a Twisted Tele single-coil at the bridge, but raises the bar with a full suite of acoustic guitar sounds via an under-saddle Piezo pickup, active Tone control, a trio of PC-board mounted trim pots for volume adjustment, and and 18-volt bridge-mounted pre-amp with four pre-sets emulating various acoustic guitar tones.
Interestingly, while I don’t see it mentioned on Fender’s official website, according to a product write-up at one of the big online guitar retailers, the Acoustasonic Tele sports a “braceless graphite composite top with a directional woodgrain-like pattern that reacts and sounds like spruce.” Huh?
The guitar comes in your choice of Olympic White or 3-Color-Sunburst, and ships with a Deluxe gig bag. It’s currently selling for a street price right around $1,000. I’ll get you more info as it becomes available.
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- Fender To Produce Limited Release Rosewood Telecaster
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January 24th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Piezos sound terrible…especially for acoustic “emulation.” They even sound bad on real acoustic guitars. Line6 does a reasonable job making their acoustic Variax sound like real wood, but piezos on their own sound like all steel and no wood. I have the Fishman bridge system on my Nashville Power Tele, and its OK for blending a super clean tone with a dirty one, but that’s about it. This is a gimmick. Want to get a good acoustic sound….mic a real one.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Hah! Well, I completely agree about Piezos in general –– “quacky” is the last thing I want my acoustic to sound like, but I’m willing to forgo conclusions until I hear one of these in person.
I absolutely love the look though.
For my part, I’ve moved to a Schertler Dyn-g for my Martin, and I freakin’ love it… now *that’s* the way an acoustic should sound when amplified!
January 28th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I was at Gelb music in Redwood City yesterday and played a “Road Worn” 72 Tele with a humbucker in the neck position and single coil in the bridge. They don’t have a listing for it on the Fender website, but I loved it. Same type great feeling neck as my Road Worn 60′s Strat. I hope its not a one of a kind, so I can pick one up at my local store in the next few months.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Oooh! What was the price like? Standard Road Worn?
January 29th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
It was $900…. I think the list price is the same as the other Road Worns. I wish Fender would formally announce them and put pics on their website. Also, the machine heads and hardware had a cooler design than the 50′s & 60′s Road Worn. I’ve seen Custom Shop Relics with that same hardware.