bluesboy_g's Full Review: Fender Deluxe Nashville Tele Electric Guitar Rosew...
In 1997 Fender released a Telecaster that is turning heads as the months and years roll by. The Nashville Deluxe Tele is a real workhorse guitar that offers a palate of tones at your fingertips. I believe the idea for this guitar came from the Nashville session scene where Tele players modified their Telecasters by adding an extra pickup to give them more versatility in the studio.
I purchased my Nashville Tele with rosewood fingerboard about 5 or 6 months ago. I paid $660.00 Canadian (about $375.00 US) for this used Tele. For a used Tele is great shape I felt that was a great deal.
Here are the features of my Nashville Tele...
The typical Tele headstock with vintage style tuning pegs and a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard.
The body is made of alder wood, is painted in a brown sunburst, and has a tortoise shell pick guard.
The bridge is an American Vintage 6-Saddle string-thru-body Tele bridge.
It has volume & tone controls and a 5-way pickup selector switch.
It has a Tex-Mex Single Coil Tele pickup in the neck, one in the bridge, and a Tex-Mex Single Coil Strat pickup in the middle. Yes folks, 3 pickups in this sucker!
This guitar has what Fender calls "Strat-O-Tone" switching. Basically, the guitar has a 5 way pickup selection system like a Fender Stratocaster. But it this case it's on a Tele. So you can get the traditional Tele sounds plus the middle pickup lets you get some extra Strat sounds from the guitar. This makes for one versatile axe!
The stock Tex-Mex pickups are terrific in their own right. Very bright and high end sounding. Many players tend to modify their Teles by switching the pickups. This is a personal thing. The Tex-Mex pickups are one of the top of the line Mexican made electronics Fender offers. In comparison to other pickups though they do come off sounding weak. Like I said, they sound good but your taste may vary.
The necks on these Teles are very good. They are well built. The neck has 21 Medium Jumbo frets on it. These frets make the neck feel "beefy" and really help with string bending. The notes ring out loud and clear on these necks. It's very comfortable to play. The action is set up well but this is another personal preference issue. Some people like high action and some like low action. The 6 Vintage saddles make it easy to adjust the action to your personal requirements.
I have used this guitar at a few gigs this year. All I have to say is...EXCELLENT!
First of all, the guitar was easy on the shoulders. I would say it's an average weight. I do have a Fender Custom Shop Telecaster that is much lighter in weight. But the Nashville was okay.
Secondly, this sucker stays in tune. It held up well at the gigs. And it stayed in tune en route to the gig (regardless of the bumpy car ride).
The Nashville provided me with all of the tones I needed for the gig. I used it for the whole show (on more than one occasion). The 3 pickup selection let me have enough sound selections to keep me going. The only reason I switched guitar during the gigs was because I broke a string. Hey, it happens.
I have used my Nashville through a Fender Twin Reverb, Fender Blues Jr., Fender Pro Reverb, and a Fender Super Reverb amp. This guitar sounded great in every one of these amps. A Fender guitar going into a Fender amp is 99% of the time a great combination.
I have played blues, jazz, swing, rock n roll, rockabilly, country, and jump blues on the Nashville and it works with each style. Versatility is this guitar's main selling point. You can do anything on this plank!
If there is any weak point on this guitar then I would say it's the pickups...which are just fine. If you have a particular sound in your mind then you will probably switch the pickups anyways. But that's fine. It's still cheaper than buying a high-end Fender guitar. The Nashville can hold it's own against a '52 reissue Telecaster any day. It may require a few adjustments here and there. But like I said, the modifications will be A LOT cheaper than just buying a stock high-end guitar.
I plan on buying another one, maybe two, more of these Nashville Telecasters. You truly get your money's worth out of these guitars.
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