The new Acoustasonic Fender guitar is cheap, but cheap enough

When I tried Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster earlier this year, I was skeptical. One of the main reasons was price. I could not justify $ 2,000 in the best. But I said if the price dropped below $ 1,000 I would think. All right, new Acoustasonic Player Telecaster it does not hit the benchmark, but $ 1,200 it is very expensive.

Obviously, something has to offer for the company to get $ 800 off the price, but from a good construction point it doesn’t seem like you’re losing much. Made in Mexico Player Acoustasonic is almost indistinguishable from made-in-America models. The body and neck have the same satin finish on the combination of mahogany and spruce. And the components, from tuners to modern, are the same. This does not sound like an entry guitar.

But there are other physical differences. The most popular is the fretboard, which was ebony in the beginning, but was made of rosewood here. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person. it’s just a little different. The rosewood fretboard, combined with floor coverings outside the box, makes the new Acoustasonic Telecaster play more electric than acoustic – in stark contrast to the Jazzmaster version, in my experience.

The main difference here is in electronics. Where the pricier Acoustasonics has three pickups and a five-way switch for 10 guitar sounds, the Player model has only two graphics and three switch options with six options.

The Acoustasonic Player also loses the rechargeable battery and is replaced by a standard 9V. I say this: The guitar chews 9V batteries with incredible speed, but being able to switch to a new one (instead of waiting for it to charge) is easy.

Like other Acoustasonic record labels, the main speakers are basic, but they are slightly different from your guitar. There is a volume noise, but the selector does not then modifying pickups (though, they also do so); alternates between the two “words”, whereas the second point connects the two.

Moving from back to front, the pairs of keywords found in the three-way switch here are Noiseless Tele and Fat Noiseless Tele, Lo-Fi Clean and Lo-Fi Crunch, Mahogany Small Body Short Scale and Rosewood Dreadnought. The obvious fact is that there are fewer comparisons than other Acoustasonics. The two colors here, Rosewood Dreadnought and Mahogany Small Body, cover the ideal area. It is very satisfying to play a simple cut on Rosewood and turn the connector in front of the Mahogany to play.

Two of the words here are as good but unsatisfactory as they are on Jazzmaster Acoustasonic. I would say it is the third artist that is missing: Fishman’s Acoustasonic Enhancer. The two images here – Fender’s Acoustasonic Noiseless and Fishman’s Under-Saddle Transducer – do an amazing job of delivering electronic audio and acoustic piezo, but they are not as obvious in delivering a wide variety of colors and textures of Enhancer.

That being said, I love the audio soundtrack on Telecaster to Jazzmaster. It sounds like a guitar that inspired me in my ears, and it plays well with the pedals. The sound of “Fat” Tele has the right amount of flavor to my taste. The word “lo-fi” just sounds like a piezo sound that you can find in your vocabulary. That’s not a bad thing, to make it sound good. I like the explosion of a little driving piezo. If you are removing the covers of the Neutral Milk Hotel or playing with Nirvana Freed, this is your place.

Harmful and small body language is still much clearer than you would find in your vocal / electronic voice. They have the depth and quality that your piezo almost alone can not quite match. But just two words may not be worth the money you are paying here.

Instead, the price remains a major obstacle to the Acoustasonic line. $ 1,200 it is not really cheap on the guitar. Sure, it’s better than $ 2,000, but even the most curious players will spend a lifetime without spending more than $ 1,000 on a guitar. The Telecaster made in Mexico Player will cost you $ 800, and you can carry acoustic / electric power from Fender for about $ 400 – and no doubt the two devices as separate devices are more flexible than the hybrid Acoustasonic hybrid. And the price increases considerably when you consider the American-made Acoustasonic Telecaster for $ 1,600.

The Acoustasonic Player Telecaster remains the best guitar and it is exciting to see Fender bring its hybrid guitar expert to the most affordable instrument. But they are still too expensive for most people.