Fender Hollow Body Guitar For Sale (2024 Update)

Purchased with expectation of needing setup (common with new guitars). Happy to report the guitar arrived in exclnt shape – virtually no setup needed. It plays smoothly, the string action is low and frets polished. This guitar's finish is impressive – I could find no flaws, pretty amazing for such an affordable instrument. The pickups sound great, very clear – again amazing for inexpensive import. Tuners are pretty stable, no tuning issues to speak of. Ive played it through a few diff amps and it sounds awesome. Happy to recommend the Squier CV Starfire – awesome bang-for-buck with these.hatterasgear

Actually better than 4 stars but the strings were horrid. At first I thought it might be the tuners. I liked it so well I would have replaced them if necessary but a switch to quality strings fixed it immediately. I can't understand why they do this; it seems this would lead to lost sales and returns from the beginner and intermediate players it is aimed at. The build is excellent. The shape is far more ergonomic than any other hollow or semi- hollow body especially if you set down to play. I've wanted one of these since the last millennium. The original was always too rich for me. I play acoustic almost exclusively but I changes coming. I gave away a Gib 135 a few years ago because I never bonded with it. Did I mention I like this guitar?Al

Sound: Fender pick ups sound good with good range on the pots. Set up out of the box needed no adjustment. Intonation was good, action set up low no strings buzzing or dead notes. Very little fret sprout and have not dressed. Features: Body is comfortable to hold heavier than I thought but OK. Finish on guitar is very nice, no extra glue or uneven binding areas. No over spray. Neck a little sticky I may hit it with a little steel wool#0000 to get rid of that new finish stickiness. Ease of Use: as for as sounds I play clean and it sounded great in my Tube amp and also my Fender 40 watt Champion. Value: Worth buying. The Wow Factor: guitar was appealing because of the limited hollow bodies in the price range Overall: I've been looking at this guitar for awhile and finally pulled the card out. No regrets at all. 1st thank you to zZounds for the quick service as usual. I recently went to buy a different guitar from the so called "Friend" site because Z didn't have one and paid for a new guitar and they shipped me something worst then a blem. Broken from being dropped and wrapped in bubble wrap. Someone else returned and sent to me as new. New guitars don't come wrapped in bubble wrap and damaged that a blind man could see. They lost a customer needless to say. The Starcaster WOW! Very nice, no adjustments needed. Played for 2 days at this time and can't believe the value. I have an Ibi Hollow body cost twice as much and the quality of this guitar is on par. Has a good rockin sound, clean, Tuning pegs appear solid, pots have decent range , neck reminds me of a tele I have 9.5 and thin, really sounds good and looks great. Go for it and add another to your collection.Peter

Was really pleased with this guitar right out of the box. Little to no set up required. Plays great but may be difficult for novices. The hollow body makes it necessary to have skills a novice may not have. The sound and electronics are great. A little heavy but otherwise solid insrument.Dave

Well built short scale bass; very cool that it has a high F on the first string, my '75 Fender Mustang only goes up to D. This bass is more of a thumper axe that plays well with fingers or pick; feels similar to a Precision bass neck. It is not much for slapping and snapping but I'm starting to find the sweet spot to do that in a pinch. I've been using the natural finish model regularly for about three months and get a lot of positive comments and questions about it. The Starcaster is a heavy bass so if weight is an issue you had better look elsewhere; if you like easy to play short scale thumpers this would be an excellent choice.jzbassguitar

The Starcaster is quite good quality although the original set-up from the factory was fair at best. The intonation had to be adjusted and set correctly. Now corrected it is a fun bass to play and has a nice warm vintage tone. I use a vintage Traynor Bassmaster (1966) Tube Amp YB1-A with a Yamaha 12" bass driver cabinet. Sure gets the old 100 year old windows a rattlin'! For the money its not only a good quality instrument but a piece of artwork, especially in the Cherry Sunburst!G the Bassmaster

I already own an Am Std Strat and Tele and a G&L Tele all single coil. I wanted to try a humbucker sound and being loyal to Fender, I purchased this guitar. The high quality feel, looks and sound of this guitar were immediately apparent. The sound has a distinct "bite" which is perfect for certain uses with the typical humbucker "growl". The Pearly Gates can get dirty, clean and somewhere in between depending on my settings. Though not made in America, this guitar is not "cheap", corners were not cut. Rock, blues, jazz all sound great. I use to be an "American Made", single coils only snob, but this purchase changed my opinions.GM

Overall: This guitar is a real surprise. It looks absolutely gorgeous. The pictures do not do it justice. It's comfortable to play and the weight is fine even for long gigs. The neck is very comfortable to play and easy to get to the high notes. You can do most any style of music with it. I use it with Fender, Marshall and Boss Katana Amps and it complements them all like they were made for each other. I definitely recommend this guitar to anyone wanting to have a Tele sound and Les Paul style sound all in one great guitar. You get the best of both worlds without paying a fortune for it. Absolutely worth every penny spent!Bill

I have a Peavey (Steve)Cropper Classic guitar as my daily driver, now sadly discontinued. This Fender HHFMT is perfect as a replacement. It is very light. It looks great. The pickups are powerful and very smooth. It sounds like a tele, it punches shred like my 1960 model, LP Classic. I always wanted the Fender Robben Ford guitar to get that “Talk To Your Daughter” tone which this guitar delivers on brilliantly. It covers the Stevie Ray Vaughn sound and feel, I also think it could handle a set of 12 gauge strings without dropping tuning as the action and play-ability is excellent right out of the box. You-tube it, research it and buy one before the price goes silly. Chris xReviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Having a couple guitars I was curious about the short scale. Came across a Mustang P90 in surf green with maple fret in the open box section. Awesome deal , guitar is a joy to play. Sounds great clean or with overdrive. What an fantastic bang for the buck fun. Fun to play blues , metal , punk thrash…etc Cannot say enough good things about this guitar.Michael P

Overall: I can't believe there aren't any reviews of this guitar yet!I have the Burgundy Mist version of this with the pao ferro fretboard which, sadly, zZounds no longer carries. It's pretty, really pretty, and it exudes a seriously vintage vibe. (I saw an antique Burgundy Mist Chevrolet last week and I immediately thought of my feisty little Fender.)The hardware; bridge & tuners, is your standard MiM Fender quality. They're more than up to the task. The Strat-style bridge makes this an easy guitar to keep in tune. (I once had a 1978 Mustang and keeping it in tune was a nightmare that not even Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft could imagine.)The MP-90 pickups are capable of so much that it I could fill a whole page trying to accurately describe them. They are beefy enough to really drive a good tube amp. (My main amps are a Marshall DSL1 and Vox AC4-C112.) On a clean setting the neck pickup on its' own isn't particularly impressive, kinda dark, but the middle and bridge positions are really versatile if you tweak the volume and tone controls.With distortion, in my case a Boss MD-2 Mega Distortion (it's more of a gargantuan fuzz than a distortion pedal), all three positions sings with a tone that would make Leslie West smile broadly.I'm not a big guy (5'9", 150 lbs) so the small offset body and short scale neck are really comfortable.There is only one real drawback to this marvelous axe but it's something that shouldn't for even a second dissuade anyone from adding this guitar to their guitarsenal, and that's the pickup selector switch. It's junk. It cuts out and is rather staticky (is that a word?). It's a cheap piece of junk but it usually works so I can deal with it. (And you can as well.) I'll eventually replace it but there's no need to right now.My particular specimen had a truly beautifully grained pao ferro fretboard, with the frets being smooth and very well dressed. I love a big monstrous tone and this little wonder genuinely delivers.(Fender's prices have gone up since I bought mine but this particular axe is an absolute joy to play and for the price is still a true bargain. It loves, LOVES, full six-string power chords so if you're in a Mountain tribute band then you'll find a lot to like in this guitar.)I am first and foremost a "Telecaster guy" but I love pulling out this little dude and blasting away like Han Solo in a cantina full of Greedos.I've gone on for far too long here but it's only because I really, really like this guitar.[In my 'stars' rating I give this guy five stars in the 'manufacturer support' column because I own a bunch of Fenders and have never had a problem.]Mark

I already own an Am Std Strat and Tele and a G&L Tele all single coil. I wanted to try a humbucker sound and being loyal to Fender, I purchased this guitar. The high quality feel, looks and sound of this guitar were immediately apparent. The sound has a distinct "bite" which is perfect for certain uses with the typical humbucker "growl". The Pearly Gates can get dirty, clean and somewhere in between depending on my settings. Though not made in America, this guitar is not "cheap", corners were not cut. Rock, blues, jazz all sound great. I use to be an "American Made", single coils only snob, but this purchase changed my opinions.GM

Do not spend $799 on this guitar. It’s more in line with $499, $599.
The Pros. The Duncan’s are spot on. With the split coil feature it rocks. The maple top is awesome. The neck is wide enough to shred whatever your genre is. Tone is exceptionally good overall.

Negatives. It won’t stay in tune. I bend the hell out of my strings and this guitar won’t handle it. The tuners are garbage. Have to turn 2 x 360 degrees for a minor increment. The string trees probably are the culprit. I’m ordering new tuners and string trees. The pickup selector wobbles a bit. Going to change it out. The split coil tone control knob wobbles when pulled out…..changing that out. It came with a slight bow in the neck and action way high. It is advertised as Mahogany neck and body. Not true. The neck is NATO. Google it. Or they call it eastern mahogany. It’s not true mahogany. Has the same tonal and density characteristics as mahogany…but not true mahogany. I wonder if the body is the same. Doesn’t quite feel or sound like true mahogany but it is good tone wise.

Summary. It’s a awesome guitar but not worth $799 if you have to make $100 to $200 in mods. I looked at 3 guitars before purchasing. This one, a G&L, and a Schecter PT. I bought this cause it was a Fender……well….I made the wrong decision. It’s border line garbage.Rob Pedrick

Cons: When I unboxed the Tele and did my initial inspection, the fit and finish was almost perfect. Only one area on the back where the finish sucked into the grain, leaving a dimpled, coarse area. The switches and knobs are absolutely terrible. They seem to work cleanly without noise, but they feel like they are falling apart. The action seemed a little on the high side, and the neck appeared to have a bend in it. Playing the guitar, it had a very jangly sound, even with those SD humbuckers. Also, I could tune it standard, and intonation was close, but don't press any frets! ICK! It would be so far out of tune! Barre chords sounded terrible. Pros: After playing the guitar for about 30 minutes, trying different amps and effects, I put it on the bench and checked the neck with a straight edge. It had at least 0.018 inches of gap on the fretboard from the 5th – 8th frets. I gave the truss rod a few tweaks and it was perfect. With the neck straight, the frets were perfectly leveled. The radius of the string heights at the bridge saddles was perfect, and the action was very nice. It shipped with 9 – 42 strings, so I put a new set of Ernie Ball Super Slinky's on it, tuned and set the intonation. Conclusion: The neck and frets were nicer than I expected for this price range with nicely finished fret ends and smooth edges. They would only need to be polished a little better to match a guitar of many times that price. The guitar is MUCH lighter than my other Tele, and it is very comfortable to play. The look and fit of the set neck is perfect, and access to the upper frets is fantastic. The sound is MUCH nicer with the new strings, and it plays and sounds great after a proper setup. I believe the nut is graphite, and the tuners are nice and smooth, so tuning was a pleasure.. no popping. I will definitely look into upgrading the electronics in the future, as well as taking the time to polish the frets during a future string change.Tom B

Overall: Always wanted a Nashville Tele but several things were stopping me from buying it. I could have made some mods myself but that kind of defeats the purpose of a new guitar. No bridge + neck pickup option was a biggie.No locking tuners. All my guitars have locking tuners. 3 saddles instead of 6 individual. I just prefer the 6 even for a Tele.No noiseless pickups. Now they've also done a couple of things I wasn't necessarily looking for but are nice addition. The rolled fingerboard edges are a really nice touch as well as the belly cut. Again, not expected but very nice additions especially since I can roll my own fingerboards but have never attempted my own belly cut on a Tele and probably wouldn't but they are really nice on my G&L's. For the not so great stuff. The neck had entirely too much relief in it but this was rectified with a truss rod adjustment. I did have to do a fret level, crown and polish. The guitar also had a bit of fret sprout and some sharp ends. I easily fixed these issues but would understand others might have to take it to their local tech for a fret job. After a little work on my part the guitar plays wonderfully. The neck is really comfortable. This is every bit as good a guitar as the US produced Fender's I have played recently. The sounds are exactly what you would and should expect from a Nashville Tele. Overall, this is a very well made guitar. Played 4 gigs with it over the New Year break and I gotta say, this is probably going to be right there onstage with my EBMM's. No, it's not as good as my Cutlass and LIII's but it doesn't need to be. I think this guitar is a great bargain and I'm pretty picky. Fender finally got the Nashville Tele right. It's really nice to see.Richie

What a absolutely beautiful instrument. I got mine surf green and the online pictures don't do it justice. Guitar arrived flawless and played great out of the box. Action seemed a little higher than I like, but still plays great with the vintage frets to my surprise. Definitely has that telecaster sound with very nice cleans and twang. Also hitting it with a tube screamer or distortion pedal it has a snarl. Playing through a PRRI, 78 SFDR and 67 Vibro Champ. The C shaped neck does seem slightly beefier than other C shapes on my AVRI strats, but I find it just as comfortable and a nice difference. Clay inlays look really good on the rosewood neck also. There is also a tint to the neck that's more than what was on the previous line of AVRI guitars but I think it looks good.Don

This telecaster is legendary. First, the noiseless pickups immediately distinguish this tele from others and result in ZERO hum and stays that way on all pickups. Second, the C-shape fretboard design makes for effortless phrasing. Third, this guitar is impressively light (much more so than my strat) and is therefore my go-to guitar for gigging. And I should add the unique color configuration makes this tele stand out from the rest. Apparently "Aged Candle Apple Red" is Fender's own thing. Finally, I should note that I run this guitar through my Marshall DSL40CR. The combination makes for great depth and a fullness that rivals my strat — including on clean tones. I'm very happy with this purchase and highly recommend it to anyone seeking a compliment to their rig (particularly if you have a strat and want to expand the universe of sounds).Chad the Bad

Kudos to Fender/Squier for the paranormal concept. I love Telecaster style guitars and this one with a thinline body and jazzmaster pickups is really cool looking. The guitar is superlight (less than six pounds) and has a really resonant sound when played unplugged. Overall the build quality is really good at this price point. No issues with fret buzz or sharp fret ends. Plugged in this thing almost sounds like an electric/acoustic guitar, works really well for chords in the middle position giving it a bright and airy sound. It's not a true Tele but the bridge pickup on its own can get you somewhat close to a Tele sound. The tuners are just ok but will be looking to replace as they seem to slip a bit. Needed to file the nut slots down just a tad and overall the nut is probably something I'll also replace in the future. I have never owned a Jazzmaster so not quite sure I know what the pickups should sound like but I think these are a good pairing. The neck pup is a bit darker sounding and more suited for jazz type sounds. The middle position yields a nice country rock sound great for rhythm guitar playing and the bridge pickup is brighter and I have found it useful for solos. This is not a rock guitar although you could get by with it as that, more of a nice sounding rhythm guitar for someone looking for an airy acoustic type tone. Lead tones are suitable for blues or jazz. I did put some pedals in front of this guitar and you can fuzz it up with some success but overall there are better guitars if you're looking for a metal or hard rock type sound. Guitar plays great and the light weight is a big plus. The neck has a nice thin C shape and it's got a bit of a heavy gloss but its not tinted like a lot of squiers are and the grain int the maple on mine is really nice almost quilit like in some spots. Overall a fun guitar with some cool factor to it.Mr Mustang

I have this Thinline in Olympic white. It's a beautiful guitar, very lightweight with the hollow body. The tone is amazing out of the stock Jazzmaster-style pickups (which are actually p90s in disguise). I play through a Vox AC4 and can get anything from crunchy blues to ballsy stoner rock and everything in between. I brought it to a guitar tech for a setup and the only upgrade he recommended was swapping the output Jack for a Switchcraft with an Electrosocket mount. He was impressed by the weight and sound, and he said the tuners are great quality. He had to reduce some relief in the neck and dress the frets, but it was well worth the $100 setup as this guitar is a keeper. Love the slick maple neck and string-through body too.Brendan

Guitar plays ok (after a prolonged set-up), but there are some problems with the quality. For example, instrument cables don't fit snuggly into the input jack … they just fall right out. Not an insurmountable problem, I know, but I have never had that happen on ANY guitar I've owned. Also, the pickup selector doesn't stay in the bridge position (it also has an electrical buzz when you hold it there). Again, not something that can't be fixed, but I bought this new and I shouldn't have to deal with such problems right out of the gate. Where was the quality control? Buyer beware!Joe

This is an incredible axe! Fender wasn't lying when they said it's their most versatile guitar yet. You'll pull sounds out of this thing that you only used to dream about. It's light on the shoulder but not at the expense of tone and voice, actually I should say voices. It replaces at least 10 of my guitars. It's a giggers dream come true. Worth every penny. I just hope that it can take a licking and keep on picking. Thanks Fender and thanks Sam Ash! Jake at the San Diego store went the extra mile that I've come to expect from Sam Ash. They never disappoint me.Night Train

From the 1st time I saw this guitar it peaked my interest. I play an electric guitar and found it difficult to play an acoustic guitar. This guitar IS A CHAMP! Although it is an acostic-electric guitar, I love that it is made like the traditional electric Telecaster guitar. The neck is slimmer just like my electric Telecaster and the body of the guitar is also slim and light weight. This guitar is awesome with all the voicing and new cool functions that makes it comparable to an electric guitar. I can finally play on this Acoustasonic Telecaster the songs that I struggled to play on my standard acoustic guitar. It's an awesome transitional instrument. The next time I have band rehearsals, I will bring both my Telecasters. 😊😁 If I could, I definitely buying the Acoustasonic Stratocaster and the Acoustasonic Jazzmaster!Kami

I got this guitar because I wanted an acoustic guitar and I'm used to the feel of electric guitars. I find that the ability to dial-in different tone to be a vey nice feature and I like to be able to amplify my sound. The different tones is are a bonus. What I really, really like after the sounds, is the weight and balance overall and the feel of the neck. It is much nicer than a bulky acoustic which usually requires a sitting position. The one drawback that I've run into is that the amplification hardware is battery driven (rechargeable) via a USB cable and it appears that it discharges even when not being played. Its rated at 20 hours but even if I don't play it, it needs a recharge in a day or two. I hesitate to leave it on the charger every time I put it down.JKS

Great buying experience! CME does a tremendous job checking the guitar over and making sure it’s totally right. This Fender short run exclusive was exactly what I was looking for! It does what a Jazzmaster is supposed to do … once you take the time to dial in your setup! The setup is a bit tricky for sure because everything has to be balanced and intonated just so to prevent the strings from buzzing on the adjustment screws OR on the bridge itself. It also helps to have the absolute tiniest amount of relief possible in the neck and to raise the bridge and angle it to the sweet spot for ideal string vibration and a high enough break angle to anchor the strings within the slots. Once you do these things and set the pickup height, the guitar truly sings, rocks, plays great, and stays completely in tune, even with serious tremolo arm use! My pickups are set to spec: 3.5 mm on the bass side and 3.2 mm on the treble side. If you aren’t comfortable doing a detailed setup, be prepared to locate a professional. I have set up MANY Fenders so I was able to do it myself in a couple hours of tinkering. The 65 pickups sound amazing! Cleans are shimmery and huge. Dirty sounds are fat and ringing. Perfect for indie and shoegaze styles. You can also roll off the tone for a darker, blues or jazz lead tone and, unlike the original jazzmaster bridge, the strings will stay PUT and allow you to pick hard and bend as much as you like even with 9 gauge. No need for a rhythm circuit in my opinion. This wiring setup keeps it simple, lowers the cost, and still gives you the full Jazzmaster experience. Buy one before they are gone! Love it!Joseph

Mine arrived looking beautiful but had a lot of hum/noise and I figured it had something to do with the pickups or 1 meg pots. I opened it up to shield it and the bridge ground wire was never soldered to the ground wire on the pot. After soldering it I plugged it back in and it was silent. I went from thinking it was ok to being my favorite guitar at the moment. This guitar looks, sounds and plays great and its priced very low too. It nails that classic Jazzmaster tone and does what a Jazzmaster should do. Before you jump into the Jazzmaster pool understand that these guitars require tinkering with. Saddle rattle can be fixed by adjusting the screws on the saddles. They tend to loosen and tighten when changing strings and if they're even slightly uneven they will rattle. Another way to fix this is to shim the neck so there's a slight backbow to it like a Les Paul. This will increase the break angle and put more pressure on the bridge preventing rattle. Using 11's or 12's helps too but the nut on these ones is perfect for 10-46. The 4th position is actually very usable and I find myself using this position more than I thought I would. This is a great guitar at a great price and CME is the gold standard in online purchases. Besides the ground wire mine came set up perfectly and almost in tune. The ground wire was never even tinned so I know it was never attached but again, it took me 5 minutes and 0 dollars to fix. I'm sure had I complained they would have fixed it for me. I bought the Silver Blue Metallic. The Shell Pink was definitely my favorite color but I wasn't secure enough to buy a pink guitar.john g.

I just received this guitar today. There is a lot of negative talk about the noiseless pickups, but it sounds phenomenal to me. Many complaints include that it sounds too "dark", but it sounds terrific through my 1966 Bassman. There is a tremendous range of fantastic tones that are possible with this guitar, but it is definitely not for metal. It gets a great tone for classic rock, alt rock/indie, jazz, funk, and stoner rock. I've gotten a great Gilmour tone to Hendrix to QOTSA, and it honestly doesn't take long to learn the guitar's wide tonal capabilities. The neck plays so well that I found myself inspired to get into new sonic territories and genres. I own a lot of guitars, and this is my favorite one currently. It's my pick over my Les Paul Traditional, Telecaster, Ibanez S Premium, and the others. Do yourself a fiver and try it out with an open mind. Don't listen to the naysayers. This thing rocks!The Hammer

Overall: Always wanted a Nashville Tele but several things were stopping me from buying it. I could have made some mods myself but that kind of defeats the purpose of a new guitar. No bridge + neck pickup option was a biggie.No locking tuners. All my guitars have locking tuners. 3 saddles instead of 6 individual. I just prefer the 6 even for a Tele.No noiseless pickups. Now they've also done a couple of things I wasn't necessarily looking for but are nice addition. The rolled fingerboard edges are a really nice touch as well as the belly cut. Again, not expected but very nice additions especially since I can roll my own fingerboards but have never attempted my own belly cut on a Tele and probably wouldn't but they are really nice on my G&L's. For the not so great stuff. The neck had entirely too much relief in it but this was rectified with a truss rod adjustment. I did have to do a fret level, crown and polish. The guitar also had a bit of fret sprout and some sharp ends. I easily fixed these issues but would understand others might have to take it to their local tech for a fret job. After a little work on my part the guitar plays wonderfully. The neck is really comfortable. This is every bit as good a guitar as the US produced Fender's I have played recently. The sounds are exactly what you would and should expect from a Nashville Tele. Overall, this is a very well made guitar. Played 4 gigs with it over the New Year break and I gotta say, this is probably going to be right there onstage with my EBMM's. No, it's not as good as my Cutlass and LIII's but it doesn't need to be. I think this guitar is a great bargain and I'm pretty picky. Fender finally got the Nashville Tele right. It's really nice to see.Richie

What a absolutely beautiful instrument. I got mine surf green and the online pictures don't do it justice. Guitar arrived flawless and played great out of the box. Action seemed a little higher than I like, but still plays great with the vintage frets to my surprise. Definitely has that telecaster sound with very nice cleans and twang. Also hitting it with a tube screamer or distortion pedal it has a snarl. Playing through a PRRI, 78 SFDR and 67 Vibro Champ. The C shaped neck does seem slightly beefier than other C shapes on my AVRI strats, but I find it just as comfortable and a nice difference. Clay inlays look really good on the rosewood neck also. There is also a tint to the neck that's more than what was on the previous line of AVRI guitars but I think it looks good.Don

This telecaster is legendary. First, the noiseless pickups immediately distinguish this tele from others and result in ZERO hum and stays that way on all pickups. Second, the C-shape fretboard design makes for effortless phrasing. Third, this guitar is impressively light (much more so than my strat) and is therefore my go-to guitar for gigging. And I should add the unique color configuration makes this tele stand out from the rest. Apparently "Aged Candle Apple Red" is Fender's own thing. Finally, I should note that I run this guitar through my Marshall DSL40CR. The combination makes for great depth and a fullness that rivals my strat — including on clean tones. I'm very happy with this purchase and highly recommend it to anyone seeking a compliment to their rig (particularly if you have a strat and want to expand the universe of sounds).Chad the Bad

what a great bass! It's beautiful, light, and sonically versatile. the different pickup modes have 3 radically different tones which makes this bass right for lots of situations. I've seen some reviews that mentioned so issues with some fret roughness but mine showed up in perfect condition. I couldn't be happier with the bass. I also want to mention the customer service. I used the chat feature to confirm whether this bass came with a bag or case. the agent let me know that it does not but pointed me to the bundle that includes the bag and they set me up with a price I could not pass up. once I completed the purchase the item was shipped within 90 minutes. Other music stores I've done business with are not nearly as responsive. CME killed itShaun M.

This is a great short scale bass. It is a quality instrument. The finish is excellent. Playability straight out of the box was very good. Nicely set up.I love the pick-ups and the ability to blend the two with their individual volume controls. Great range of tones available. It looks good too ! Highly recommended. The only gripe is that at this price it should come in a hard case and not a bag !Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Really good guitar for nirvana type music. Only issue is that you need to set it up for it to be playable but once it's set up it's a great instrument. Pickups are pretty articulate but not to bright either just perfectly balanced. If you get one I recommend to lock the bridge down to improve its tuning stability and sustain. Note it DOES NOT sound like a kc style mustang, it has its own sort of sound to it. Fretboard is pretty nice same with the low radius which I prefer. Overall it's one of my favorite guitars I've ever bought and I cannot recommend it enough if you play grunge and nirvana music.Preston

Fantastic! Tried so many Fender Strats and replicas by other manufacturers and the Vintera guitars were the only ones with the neck dimensions, shape and fretboard radius I was truly happy with. So easy to play. Very pleased.Giles B.

Beautiful guitar. I thought I wanted a Fender Player until I tried the 60s Vintera. Once I tried it I knew it was the one for me! I have small hands and thought on paper that the neck would be too big but I found it way more comfortable for my hands to the slim modern c neck of the player. I also sounds great. Also, the ice blue metallic is a fabulous colour!Reviewed by Project Music custom

This version of Fenders latest incarnation of Stratocaster is simply superb. It feels great, brilliantly built and finished and plays like a dream. I have an American Strat (1980s) which is amazing, and this particular Strat is as good. The action is excellent and the fretboard feels great. Best of all, however, is the price – absolute value for money. I can, without a moments hesitation, recommend this guitar. You will not be disappointed.5110nigel

My first guitar years ago was a classic early 70s American Tele which I needed to sell to help pay for school. Years later, I'm back to gigging regularly and I have plenty of guitars that play reliably on stage, but I never found something that replaced my first guitar and I've had a telecaster shaped hole in my life for 20 years. I decided to rectify this a week ago. I can afford anything at this point and thought for sure I'd come home with an American Tele Deluxe with Shawbuckers, but spent half a day at our local Mom and Pop guitar store playing every configuration of telecaster. I'm here to tell you, this is the one. As I suspected, you want the maple fret board on a telecaster. For a guitar that excels at spitting out sharp percussive twangy notes, the harder maple fretboard just works so much better than rosewood. Also as I suspected the thinline body adds so much with subtle overtones and resonance — this is a guitar with a distinctive punchy twang but a fullness that is lacking in solid body telecasters. I've only played this with the entire band once, but this guitar has a sound that is unique and stands out in the mix. The big surprise though is the "noiseless" pick up system which does not seem to be widely available on the American Tele Deluxes, in favor of the Shawbucker set up. This is what ultimately sold me. The noiseless pick ups just have so much more percussive, twangy personality than the more typical humbuckers. I like playing a guitar that sounds like the guitar and not the pedal chain I'm playing and this guitar sounds more like a telecaster than any other telecaster I've played. And It sounds amazing through every overdrive pedal I've got which just brings out more of its distinctive sound. Yeah, I'm a little sheepish about the "made in Mexico" on the back, but I have to be honest and say I could tell zero difference in playability between the American and Mexican guitars I played, so get over it already.Dr Sour Puss

I have wanted a semi hollow guitar for a really long time, and within the last couple of years, I've been wanting a tele. I love the color, and combo overall. It's my first guitar that the fretboard is part of the neck (never really looked at Fenders that closely). Satin neck is pretty nice too. The profile is thicker than what I'm use to, but not so thick that it's uncomfortable. I have small hands, so that was a concern. I've never really cared for string trees, but the locking tuners make that less of an issue for me. I've had the guitar for less than 2 months.For the price, I wasn't expecting the fret sprout, but I know it can be taken care of fairly easily. It plays nicely outside of the frets needing attention. Gig bag is nice and padded. I love having string through body. It's what all but maybe 3 or 4 of my electrics have had on them. Just know it will need a setup when you get it. I don't have any major complaints. There was a piece of paper inside the sound hole that got missed at the factory, and the finish isn't perfect. I honestly wasn't expecting it to be. It's close enough not to be a problem. It's my first Fender, but likely won't be my last after this experience. I may change the bridge to a babicz at some point, but I really want to get to know this thing before I do. I know there are lots of people who may look down on where something is made, but I am not disappointed by this thing.UncleB

Just love this guitar, feels great to play, sounds wonderful, locking tuners absolute bonus and I would have changed to them if they hadn’t come as standard. No issues with build quality, although I might get the neck dressed as I can feel a couple of frets ends but again no biggie.Reviewed by Andertons Music Co.

Great guitar and an amazing value. My Olympic White Strat came in tune and intonated. There was one fret that was a few milimeters higher than others (only noticed because I dropped the action lower), took a minute to set up and then she was a dream. I own several American Teles, Strats, and Gibson Les Paul's, this is (with my head down) my first Mexican made Fender. I'm not gonna lie, it's darn good! The big thing on this guitar, and why it's a little more pricey than the typical Mexican Strat is that the electronics are flat out better. Vintage Noiseless pickups sing through my Blues Jr., and sound just plain mean through my AC15. I'm not one that adds guitars to my arsenal often, but I played this one a few times before pulling the trigger and each time I was reminded about the fact that a good guitar is a good guitar. The S1 boost button is cool, nice and hidden so it isn't annoying or takes away from the normal look of a strat. The finish on the neck is great (more of a satin finish versus a high gloss) – this is a plus in my opinion as it feels more like my higher end American guitars. A real treat to play and will join me in the road this summer.John

I took up the guitar in the 70's and played casually for about 25 years, before life got in the way and it fell by the wayside. Last year I decided to pick it back up and go with a decent quality electric, rather than an acoustic this time around. I've always loved the Stratocaster sound, so I perused the options before deciding on the Deluxe Roadhouse Stratocaster. The ability get so many different sounds in one package was the deciding factor, along with the price point. I have to say the quality of this particular instrument was surprisingly good to me. The forums make it sound like "Made in Mexico" guarantees you're getting a piece of junk. This couldn't be further from the truth. The fit and finish of this guitar is every bit as good, if not better, as the American-made 1978 Telecaster Deluxe I had in high school. Set-up was good right out of the box. The action is light and low and the tone is classically Strat. If you're not hung up on getting a US-made instrument, try the MIM models. Great quality at a great price.Dave in Edmonds

1 month review with guitar being setup professionally: Great pickups and tone and overall good sounding guitar after a proper setup, gorgeous nitro finish and paintjob. Relic effects are beautiful. The nitro finish feels thin enough for you to eventually make your own marks from repeated playing – a perfect way to tell a story and give the guitar character. Worn in neck feels amazing to play and not sticky to touch. Worth noting that the Pure Vintage 59 pickups on these don't have a reverse-wound middle pick, so there will be hum including positions 2 and 4. If you are easily annoyed with single coil hum, these pickups might not be for you. Also worth noting that these pickups do sound a bit warmer than a stock Fender Player pickups. These respond so MUCH better to high gain type of playing, all while still sounding amazing on low-gain and clean playing. Despite the pros, there are still some areas are lacking and needs improvement. The guitar had razor sharp frets along the binding that could easily cut you, meanwhile I have a $700 MIM fender player didn't have this problem straight out of the box. It's crazy to think that $700 guitar went through better QA than a $1200 guitar, but whatever, the frets are bound to be polished and worked on anyway with your initial setup regardless. CME's shipping page policies say "Every guitar gets a full inspection, as well as basic setup." Guitar came with an inspection card that had overall playability specs checked but some of it was questionable. The guitar was not playable at all out of the box despite letting it acclimate for over a day before opening BUT that is a given considering it spent time in a delivery truck trunk in freezing winter. However, it was a bit bogus how they even checked off volume output when the pickups were NOWEHERE near the appropriate height out of the box and there was BARELY any audible output on the treble side of the guitar. I highly doubt weather and temperature fluctuation will make the pickup screws spin by themselves to the degree at which the pickups came out of the box. Secondly, the tremolo springs at the back also weren't ******* in the appropriate depth for a either a floating or flushed trem setup – it was just sort of in the middle of the cavity. Weather fluctuation from their shop and may have affected string tension, but I also don't think it would make the claw springs in the back unscrew themselves to the degree the guitar came. Makes me wonder how thorough the inspection was. These might not matter as much to some especially those who will get their new guitars setup anyway, but it's good to note that you may still need to budget for a setup if you aren't doing it yourself. Although there could've been improvements on Fender and CME's part that I don't think could be blamed on external factors such as weather and climate fluctuations, overall, I would still 100% recommend this guitar, and it's a gem. The guitar played well after a proper setup, so I'm happy with it now. The price may be too expensive for some considering it's not made in USA, but it must be considered that this is the cheapest proper nitro-finish guitar you will currently find. The next best thing are Fender custom shop, so this guitar is perfect for those looking to enjoy vintage style paint/nitro body finish, and vintage specs without paying custom shop prices. The appearances are just a plus, since they sound and play amazing after a proper set up.Carlos T.

I've been playing for a little while, I rehearse with my band once/twice a week so my guitars definitely get played quite a bit, I've preferred Stratocasters from an early age. The shape is legendary and the tone is versatile. I own Chinese, Japanese, U.S. and Mexican Strats. This one is very comparable to my American Professional Stratocaster, the neck profile, the weight and intonation. Electronics are great, single coils produce a sweet twangy clean tone and the humbucker roars really nice with the right amount of gain/distortion. Makes it a very comfortable instrument that plays as easy as mantequilla on a hot tortilla. Only issue, (hence the 'almost comparable to MIA strats comment in the headline) are the frets… They are a little bit on the sharp side, I'm guessing it comes down to a player's preference? A competent luthier can dress the fret ends and make this one a real player/main axe. Other than the sharp frets, everything else is pretty solid and straight, the vatos down in Ensenada MX do great work producing these!Benjamin

So my story goes like this, I flew into Portland Oregon for work and immediately drove from the airport to Guitar Center. Upon walking in, someone was shredding on a guitar and it went on for a good 10 minutes. The guitar he was playing was the Candy Red Burst Fender Stratocaster Player Series. After he was done, I grabbed it and saw why he played it so long. It felt just solid in the hands. The strings, fret board and neck were silky smooth; Super easy to glide up and down with no fret buzz. The pickups are all Fender Player Stratocaster series which I have had no issue with and perform great out of the box. Also, just holding the guitar is a treat in the hands. It's a beautiful guitar. The Candy Red Burst has a very high functioning coat that gives a deep black fade anyway you turn it. It also fit my bill for something to remember Oregon by since the guitar is a deep Rose Red and Portland is know as the City of Roses.The Pau Ferro fingerboard is also eye candy as it has black veins that run through the grain matching the black hardware of the guitar. Other then that, I have had this guitar for 5 months as of this review and absolutely love it. The guitar holds its tune very well I enjoy playing it every time. Wait, you still reading this? Go get one already!Allan

1 month review with guitar being setup professionally: Great pickups and tone and overall good sounding guitar after a proper setup, gorgeous nitro finish and paintjob. Relic effects are beautiful. The nitro finish feels thin enough for you to eventually make your own marks from repeated playing – a perfect way to tell a story and give the guitar character. Worn in neck feels amazing to play and not sticky to touch. Worth noting that the Pure Vintage 59 pickups on these don't have a reverse-wound middle pick, so there will be hum including positions 2 and 4. If you are easily annoyed with single coil hum, these pickups might not be for you. Also worth noting that these pickups do sound a bit warmer than a stock Fender Player pickups. These respond so MUCH better to high gain type of playing, all while still sounding amazing on low-gain and clean playing. Despite the pros, there are still some areas are lacking and needs improvement. The guitar had razor sharp frets along the binding that could easily cut you, meanwhile I have a $700 MIM fender player didn't have this problem straight out of the box. It's crazy to think that $700 guitar went through better QA than a $1200 guitar, but whatever, the frets are bound to be polished and worked on anyway with your initial setup regardless. CME's shipping page policies say "Every guitar gets a full inspection, as well as basic setup." Guitar came with an inspection card that had overall playability specs checked but some of it was questionable. The guitar was not playable at all out of the box despite letting it acclimate for over a day before opening BUT that is a given considering it spent time in a delivery truck trunk in freezing winter. However, it was a bit bogus how they even checked off volume output when the pickups were NOWEHERE near the appropriate height out of the box and there was BARELY any audible output on the treble side of the guitar. I highly doubt weather and temperature fluctuation will make the pickup screws spin by themselves to the degree at which the pickups came out of the box. Secondly, the tremolo springs at the back also weren't ******* in the appropriate depth for a either a floating or flushed trem setup – it was just sort of in the middle of the cavity. Weather fluctuation from their shop and may have affected string tension, but I also don't think it would make the claw springs in the back unscrew themselves to the degree the guitar came. Makes me wonder how thorough the inspection was. These might not matter as much to some especially those who will get their new guitars setup anyway, but it's good to note that you may still need to budget for a setup if you aren't doing it yourself. Although there could've been improvements on Fender and CME's part that I don't think could be blamed on external factors such as weather and climate fluctuations, overall, I would still 100% recommend this guitar, and it's a gem. The guitar played well after a proper setup, so I'm happy with it now. The price may be too expensive for some considering it's not made in USA, but it must be considered that this is the cheapest proper nitro-finish guitar you will currently find. The next best thing are Fender custom shop, so this guitar is perfect for those looking to enjoy vintage style paint/nitro body finish, and vintage specs without paying custom shop prices. The appearances are just a plus, since they sound and play amazing after a proper set up.Carlos T.

I've been playing for a little while, I rehearse with my band once/twice a week so my guitars definitely get played quite a bit, I've preferred Stratocasters from an early age. The shape is legendary and the tone is versatile. I own Chinese, Japanese, U.S. and Mexican Strats. This one is very comparable to my American Professional Stratocaster, the neck profile, the weight and intonation. Electronics are great, single coils produce a sweet twangy clean tone and the humbucker roars really nice with the right amount of gain/distortion. Makes it a very comfortable instrument that plays as easy as mantequilla on a hot tortilla. Only issue, (hence the 'almost comparable to MIA strats comment in the headline) are the frets… They are a little bit on the sharp side, I'm guessing it comes down to a player's preference? A competent luthier can dress the fret ends and make this one a real player/main axe. Other than the sharp frets, everything else is pretty solid and straight, the vatos down in Ensenada MX do great work producing these!Benjamin

So my story goes like this, I flew into Portland Oregon for work and immediately drove from the airport to Guitar Center. Upon walking in, someone was shredding on a guitar and it went on for a good 10 minutes. The guitar he was playing was the Candy Red Burst Fender Stratocaster Player Series. After he was done, I grabbed it and saw why he played it so long. It felt just solid in the hands. The strings, fret board and neck were silky smooth; Super easy to glide up and down with no fret buzz. The pickups are all Fender Player Stratocaster series which I have had no issue with and perform great out of the box. Also, just holding the guitar is a treat in the hands. It's a beautiful guitar. The Candy Red Burst has a very high functioning coat that gives a deep black fade anyway you turn it. It also fit my bill for something to remember Oregon by since the guitar is a deep Rose Red and Portland is know as the City of Roses.The Pau Ferro fingerboard is also eye candy as it has black veins that run through the grain matching the black hardware of the guitar. Other then that, I have had this guitar for 5 months as of this review and absolutely love it. The guitar holds its tune very well I enjoy playing it every time. Wait, you still reading this? Go get one already!Allan

My wife thought the Inca silver guitar was beautiful. I thought it was very unique looking and assumed that since it was made in Japan, it would be very high quality. The Gotoh tuners are incredibly difficult to turn. Hopefully this is an anomaly. I could try to loosen them but I expect a guitar like this to need nothing from the start. Also the guitar would not hold tune and yes, the strings were stretched. The tremelo bar requires an allen wrench (provided) to install and remove. Although I'm no guitar tech, it looked as if the two fulcrum screws were not tightened enough. Regardless, even when not using the tremelo, just the heel of my hand resting on the bridge would make the guitar squirrelly. This was very frustrating. The low E string had a buzz on the lower few frets and I broke the high E string my 2nd day of playing it. I've gone years without breaking a string on other guitars and I just do whole step bends, nothing more. The pickups sounded fine, the TBX tone control is not something I claim to understand, but it sounds ok. The guitar is not very versatile – kind of a one trick pony good for cranked up crunch guitar, which I was ok with. The 12" radius and jumbo frets? Not very comfortable IMHO. Kind of a tiring guitar to play. I wanted to like this guitar, but again, I refuse to start out with it needing work so it 's going back and the days of me assuming that Japanese quality, or at least quality control, are over.Kelly G.

I was in the market for a Fender guitar so as I browsed I saw a beautiful Telecaster that I really liked but it didn't have a whammy bar so I continued to browse, then I saw this beautiful Stratocaster and it was love at first sight. Plus it plays and sounds great. I'm loving it! 👍🏻Clarence

This is a monster of a guitar! You get so much for your money! First off, the feel of this guitar rivals American build quality. The neck has that rolled edge feel to it with more of a satin back. The jumbo frets feel absolutely perfect. If you had told me that this was made in the US, I certainly would believe it based on the feel and quality of construction. The features are so cool on this guitar! While it has two humbuckers, the coil split turns both of them into single coils. Normally, split coil humbuckers do not sound like single coils, but both of these pickups are so good. The split neck pickup has that woody, full tone to it, just like a good quality single coil. The humbuckers have a good throaty feel to them, they are great for rock tones, but they have a vocal quality to them that gives them a really great character even when they are clean. This TBX tone control is an amazing addition and is what makes this guitar so crazy versatile. It has a notch that lets you know it is a halfway. This is like using a regular 250k tone pot. It sounds great with both the humbuckers and the split coils. But, when you take the tone to '10', it enhances both treble and bass by engaging a 1000k pot. It gives a higher gain, somewhat scooped tone. This is great for rock, blues, grunge etc. Just an amazing tone to me! To sum up the tone, this guitar sounds amazing playing high gain rock as well as playing John Mayer licks. It is seriously that versatile. I have never played a guitar that can cover so much tonal territory. The other appointments are absolutely top notch. This guitar has a bone nut, graph tech type saddles, and super high quality gotoh tuners. The crazy thing about this guitar is that I feel that I have just purchased two high quality guitars for a price that is less than one american strat. Gorgeous clean single coil tones, AND heavy, thick humbucker tones all in one unit. I can't recommend this guitar highly enough!Mike

Pro – Great sounding pickups, wouldn't change a thing. It is really easy to get all of vintage Strat sounds you want out of this. Pro – Really well made. Pro – The neck profile is a lot closer feeling to that era Strat then Fenders previous reissues of this guitar. Pro – It has the 5 way pickup switch as opposed to the three way that was on the original. Much better option. Pro/Con – (Con) Having to pull the neck off to adjust it is a drag. (Pro) To be fair it is like that on the originals and as such needs to be like that to be an accurate reproduction. Con – The setup out of the box was pretty bad. Not a problem, but if you don't do your own setups factor it in as an additional cost. Con – I could not get the stock tuners that came on it to stay in tune for long. I kept having to retune it. I replaced them with some vintage replica locking tuners (like the ones that come stock on the Vintera 50's modified) and it is now perfect. To be fair the tuners are meant to be replicas of the vintage ones so if you are used to guitars with higher end tuners this will through you off. Again just consider it an additional cost if it bugs you. With the locking tuners and a set up this guitar plays and sounds great. I would recommend it if you are looking for class Strat tones.Included pics of stock -vs- locking tuners, it does not really take much away from the look and makes the tuning much more stable. I would buy it again without hesitation.phez10

I’m no stranger to custom shop strats. No, it doesn’t have the nitro smell or the perfectly rolled edges, but this is one spectacular guitar. First impressions out of the box, it felt really nice in my hands, kind of similar to the deluxe Lone Star Strat I used to own, but the neck on this one is a lot more comfortable to me. I couldn’t find any flaws in the finish or the fretboard and frets. And best of all is how this guitar resonates, it’s deep and soulful when unplugged. Plugged in it sounds just like a strat should. I see no reason to change the pickups. The setup was a little off. A minor truss rod tweak and trem spring adjustment were all it really needed. I always put .10’a on anyway. The fret ends were nice and smooth and the fingerboard edges, while not “rolled,” felt rounded and smooth regardless. It really does feel like a high end USA made instrument. I was worried about the lighter brown colored Pau Ferro, but it really looks fantastic on this guitar. Also, the mint green pickguard is much greener than the photos and matches really well. Also the tint on the headstock and neck is perfect. It’s nice and dark but not too dark. It’s just right to make it look old and classy. The fretboard was very dry, though and a bit of oiling really brought out the grain and made it look a bit darker and much nicer. The ice blue is a nice color but it’s kind of weird. Almost looks green in certain lighting. The vintage frets are not for everyone but I absolutely love them. Also the radius is just fine, no fret-outs anywhere like everyone tries to tell you. I can see why most people would want the modified version if you’re a speed demon, but if you like a luxurious and smooth feel, you can’t go wrong with this one.Michael R.

I've played a lot of Stratocasters and this is the best vintage feeling guitar I have ever played. For being vintage I have no fretting out and the neck plays smooth and fast for me. I don't understand the complaints about this guitar, if your into a modern thin uncomfortable c shape and hum buckets or noiseless pick ups with jumbo frets that go out of intonation with hardly any wear than this isn't for you. If your looking for the absolute best bang for your buck that fender has ever produced than this guitar is for you. I've played American strats and deluxe and I don't like where my creative mind goes. You really get the authentic feel of what a Stratocaster is. Only recommendations I have as far as upgrading would be electronics. 65's would fit this guitar perfectly. But if your playing clean tones alot then the clean tones on this guitar are beautiful. Fender hit a deer spot here. I have 17 years of experience playing stratsEd