Overview
When seeking out my first guitar to purchase I had two main categories that I wanted to hit. I knew I wanted a telecaster shape with humbuckers and this guitar fills both of those needs. Does this guitar live up to what I wanted?
Specifications
(Values pulled from Fender’s website)
| Neck Shape | Modern “C” |
| Scale Length | 25.5″ |
| Number of Frets | 22 |
| Bridge Pickup | Seymour Duncan® Pearly Gates™ SH-PG1B |
| Neck Pickup | Seymour Duncan® ’59™ SH-1N |
| Price | $999 |
The table below shows you the most important specs that you need to know when looking into this telecaster. One interesting thing about this guitar is the Pearly Gates pickup in the bridge. It is a higher output pickup
Playability
One thing that all guitar players can agree with is that a good playing guitar is one of the most important things. Whenever I first got the guitar I noticed the action was a little too high for my liking so that was one of the first things that needed to be fixed.
Then again every guitar will probably be a little different out of the box. The guitar comes with .9 – .42 gauge strings out of the box so it is pretty easy to play. If you’re wanting to play heavier music then maybe increasing the string gauge will be needed for drop tunings.
What makes this Guitar Special?
The flame top maple on this guitar looks very good with the amber finish. There are 3 different finishes that you can get on this model which include Amber, Crimson Red, and Black Cherry Burst.
Out of the different finishes I think the Amber finish looks the best. It shows off the flame maple top off very well and is very different than other Fender guitars. Back onto the pickups, the bridge pickup being the Pearly Gates allows for a good higher gain sound because of the higher output.
Conclusion
After playing this guitar for almost a year now I can say that it does play great other than fiddling with the action a bit. Once I fixed the action it has been one of my favorite playing guitars because of the neck shape and finish.
Having the slightly higher output Pearly Gates pickup is nice because I play more down the Metal route so I’m able to take advantage of that.