Fender Acoustic Guitars

Subject: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST,Big Red
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 09:37 PM

I noticed that Elderly has some very in-expensive (cheap) Fender guitars, both 6 and 12 string. How playable are they and do they sound acceptable? (This will come from a GUEST. Gotta look for a cookie. Again.)

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 09:52 PM

i've played some cheap fender acoustics that sounded pretty good to me but you need to make that choice for yourself. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: WyoWoman
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 10:18 PM

I have a Fender acoustic (with a hook-up for electric) and I like it a great deal. But then,I'm a fairly rank beginner. I had a Yamaha that I just didn't like and then the Fender came into my life via a man who moved on and I like it just fine. Has a nice tone to it, and the action is much better than the Yamaha.

But, it IS a really personal choice. The woman I loaned my Yamaha to really likes it a lot.

ww

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 10:18 PM

I haven't played one of these yet myself, but Rick has and made some very favorable comments. Fender acoustics in the past have been pretty marginal instruments but the Guild takeover seems to have benefitted them far more than Guild....hardly surprising. In any case, I'll let Rick come along and give his opinion which as a player is a lot more valuable than mine.

I'd like to see and play one because I surmise that the construction and design is likely to be heavily Guild influenced. I had a good look at a new Fender acoustic bass and it's very nice and also very much like the Guild acoustic bass which has been a pretty fair piece.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 10:28 PM

spaw, do we have any dates re the Guild bit?

I have played a couple of Fenders where "mariginal" would be flattering.

I could say the same for a Vega banjo I once tried but I believe (and would expect) Vega made by Deering are good instruments...

Life gets confusing when brands get passed around, used as labels... I guess it all adds weight to the "blind test" thoery though...

Jon

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: CraigS
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 10:29 PM

Old Fender accoustics, made in USA with bolt-on hockey stick necks, are underrated and can be very good value. Their far-eastern made successors were also generally good value if you can find the ones with solid tops. Can't comment on the new ones beyond saying that Fender have generally held a very high standard of quality control over the years, which I can't say for Guild.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: catspaw49
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 10:36 PM

Guild has made pretty damn respectable guitars and especially at Westerley.......And I have a lefty old Fender which I can't give away. I'm generally pretty even handed and try to see the best in a lot of instruments but I never ran across a Fender acoustic that was worth a hi-ho-diddly fuck. There value used is pretty telling too. No offense Craig, but you're about the first person here on the 'Cat in the past 3-4 years that has said much good about Fender acoustics.

That's OK....WW likes hers too and gawd knows there are some instruments that play well regardless.......Glad to hear someone make a case for Fender whether I agree or not. Have you had many of them?

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: CraigS
Date: 10 Nov 01 - 11:53 PM

Well, Spaw, I've played a few when I worked in the guitar shop. I've never owned a Fender accoustic, but I've got a couple of electrics under the bed somewhere. This is because when I couldn't afford a good US-made accoustic the Japanese helped out, and when I could afford one there were other things to be had. I've had several Guilds, and while they offer good value for money they have let some bad ones slip through from time to time. The worst I've ever seen I still have, a D35. The front started bowing on it. I opened it up to change the plate, and found that the strutting had slipped down an inch while it was being glued to the top, which is probably why it sounds better than the average Martin. Unfortunately the top had been slammed on with the strut ends on top of the linings instead of in the prelocated notches. When I'd got the top problems stabilised, I realised that I had to re-line the back before I could refit it, because it had been routed right through the linings in places to fit the original bindings, and I wanted to fit oversize bindings to assure a neat fit. There were some ladder-strutted Guilds that sounded great when new, but all needed top/bridge work after a few years. I've had hours of innocent amusement repairing Guilds. I should say that Guilds are sold in the UK at higher prices than in the US, in competition with Gibson and Martin, while Fender accoustics haven't tried to get into that league. While I was in the business twenty years ago the mark-up from wholesale to recommended retail price on a UK Guild was never less than 100% , even on the cheaper models, while the mark-up on a Gibson could be as low as 45% - there's got to be a reason!

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: CraigS
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 12:01 AM

Having said all that, it may be that your opinion is partly influenced by Fender accoustics being pitched too high at the US market, just as my opinion is influenced by Guild being pitched too high at the UK market. Could you see things this way? Face it, I'm complaining, but I still play my Guild and it still sounds good.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: DonMeixner
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 12:18 AM

I played a few at Elderly's on thursday. I found them a little brittle and thin sounding over all. But the electric ones are generally they are good sounding and playing mid rangers whenb plugged in. I have a friend with a very expensive Fender accoustic that is every bid as good as many Takamines of equal value.

Don

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 12:28 AM

Could well be Craig. That's a slant I hadn't thought much about and there's probably more than a grain of truth in it!!! I can understand why your D35 still sounds good.....it's hand built!

Drifting off topic a bit which happens a lot around here, isn't it funny how so many of us wind up with a guitar that we originally didn't want or caused us problems? I had traded and swapped guitars around for years, had a couple stolen, and all that until I finally reached a point where I was happy with the three I had which included a Guild 12. So around 1980 I'm living in chattanooga and I come home to find myself cleaned out of all the stuff that can be easily sold....TV, stereo, and of course my guitars. I wasn't real flush at the time and there was this little music store going out of business where I bought this Takemine for a hundred bucks. Solid woods, D-18 copy, which eventually became known as the "Lawsuit Taks" because Martin had a shitfit.

It sounded good and I figured it might age a bit better, but my intention was to sell it as soon as I could start buying what I wanted again. Those Taks aare beautiful copies that frankly look better inside and out than Martin's of that period or most others for that matter. Long and short of it is that I've bought and sold a boatload of other guitars since then, but I could never quite get rid of the Tak and today it's still my "mostfavorite" guitar of any I have ever owned.

Anyway, thanks for the input on Fender and Guild. BTW, I also looked at one of the Fender "Squier" line of acoustic basses and that sucker was pretty decent too with the Fender electronics and a damn good price! Some of the Squier electric solids have gotten some flak, but this acoustic bass looked really good, clean construction, good woods.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 12:39 AM

Like virtually all the lower priced imports they're pretty damn good. All I had to look at when I started was Harmony, Kay, and Stella. Fat necks, high action, yadda yadda etc.

When I played my first Goya I damn near passed out.

The 'new' Fenders (all Mexican) look very nice and sound decent. The 'old' Fenders were pretty awful design wise (those Tely pegheads) and most I played weren't great, but the odd one (both six and twelve) was fine. Don't feel they had the same quality control as Yamaha.

A little game you can play with yourself (don't friggin' TOUCH that line Spaw!) is:

Suppose your LAST guitar for the rest of your life had to be bought sight unseen from ebay....you had a thousand bucks.....what would you buy?

Me? A used Larrivee, or top of the line used Yamaha.

How 'bout 500 bucks?

Gotta go for used Guild or New Fender

100 bucks?

Yamaha all the way.

Rick

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 08:23 AM

Ya' know, you oughta' start that one as a thread of it's own Rick...........Great choices you have there so maybe I wouldn't play, but it's an interesting idea.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 06:11 PM

i think that the strat is probably one of the better electric guitars made. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: CraigS
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 07:50 PM

Hey, Spaw, I had a Takamine 000-18 copy the same age as yours. I lent it to a guy so he had something to play while I repaired his Guild D35. As you can guess, the job took a while, and he moved away ... thats how I got the thing!

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: WyoWoman
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 08:34 PM

This may sound really weird -- it won't be the first time for me -- but I never connected emotionally with my Yamaha, and did almost immediately with my Fender. Anyone else have that experience? (And be-leeve me, it doesn't have to do with warm feelings toward the man who left the Fender in my living room ... )

I want a stratocaster. Is that so wrong?

ww

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 08:38 PM

no, wyowoman that is not so wrong, i have a 1988 strat plus, and it plays like a dream, it is a midnite blue and i have done some custom work to it like adding a black pearloid pickguard, and black tone and volume knobs and a black selector switch, and i'm very proud of that guitar. go get you a strat. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: WyoWoman
Date: 11 Nov 01 - 09:11 PM

I think I'll tell my kids that's what I want for Christmas ...

ww

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 02:35 PM

when i bought glenda a taylor big baby for her b day i fell in love with it and i told my kids that's what i wanted for fathers day and believe it or not that's what i got. bob,

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST,raggytash
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 03:08 PM

Played several never found a good one yet

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 08:27 PM

seems that to me fender makes better electrics than acoustics. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:43 PM

Wyo,

I find the Strat hard to play only because of the location of the knobs. I'm forever hitting the volume control and turning it up or down, which ever is least desireable. I'd rather a Telecaster.

Don

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 09:49 PM

a telecaster to me feels a lot heavier and it doesn't have the contour body that the strat has, i've tried the tele and it does have a nice twang to it,but the ultimate is the strat to me, i also have a squier bullet strat made in mexico, and i have a lot of fun playing that guitar. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 10:10 PM

I've never got on with 6 string electrics...

The best Fender I ever tried was a friend's Fender Precision (I think) Bass which he's had for I don't know how many years. I'm not a bass player and have never owned a bass but I have had some sort of desire to have a bass since trying this one - it seemed to feel just right and so easy to play (even with my fumbled attempts).

Jon

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 11:11 PM

Doug R. did some good research. I was wrong. Not all Fenders are made in Mexico now. Some are Korean and some in Arizona.

Rick

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: DougR
Date: 12 Nov 01 - 11:28 PM

Arghhhhhh, Rick! Sorry. No accoustics are made in Arizona! They are made in Korea and "somewhere" in the U.S. (Must be a big secret). Electrics are made here. Shucks shoot. You tried your best to make me a researcher, though, didn't you? **BG**

DougR

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Ned Ludd
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 04:49 AM

I agree with Raggy and Bob, I've come across one good one and played loads. I think they have always made better electrics. Maybe they don't sell the good ones to us Brits?

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Luke
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 08:03 AM

I play a Yamaha Pacifica Strat knock off that I bought for 200 bucks. I use it daily, mistreat it ,carry it on the planes and just generally play it loud. It sounds great and feels kinda like my Srat. Don't know why I mentioned it. Only that it was cheap to buy and has earned me more dough that my expensive guitars.

Luke

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Raptor
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 01:38 PM

I love my guild And my Tack but I have to play one or the other for months due to the difference in the fretboard size. I've never played a fender I liked Accousticly! I do like Simon & Patricks for thier price range too!

Thanks for the info Spaw My tacks also a copy of a martin and I didn't know the story!

Raptor

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 02:50 PM

really all guitars are a take off from martin , since they started making guitars in 1833, i don't know of any other company that's been making them that long, gibson started in 1894 and so they probably took some of martin's ideas too. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 03:31 PM

Not too many Bob. Orville Gibson was more interested in "carved arched" tops, right from the git-go. They've always used different bracing on their flat top instruments as well.

Many of the early builders did indeed look to Martin for innovations though. By the sixties though, Martin started falling behind in a number of areas, that other makers (notably Guild and Yamaha) capitalized on. Things like adjustable necks, 12 stringers, and certain marketing strategies. They're back to making really consistent instruments now, including their "low priced" line.

Rick

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 04:08 PM

Hey Rick! I've got a circa 1981 Korean Harmony 6 that has very nice sound, but it also has one of those height-adjustable bridges with the knurled knobs and floating metal channel. I've been told that the acoustics would be even better if this mechanism were replaced with a standard bridge, but I'm reluctant to change anything since she's got great sound already. Whaddaya think?

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 07:31 PM

i taught one of my students today who had a fender squier acoustic guitar , it is kind of beat up but still even though it had strings that were dead as hell, the guitar played kinda nice, i'd like to have 1 like it as an old beater. BOB, THANKS RICK FOR THE INFO.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 Nov 01 - 11:59 PM

Cheers Bob.

Lonesome, this SHOULD be a slam dunk! Get rid of the extry weight and the guitar will sound better......but it's not. I've done it on at least four guitars (an Epiphone Texan, Two Harmonys, and a Gibson B25 12 string.

Only the Texan improved. The rest showed no difference at all (they LOOKED better!)

All I can say, is Do it.....you won't LOSE anything.

It's like shaving or scalloping braces. I bought a lovely 35 year old fake Martin Rosewood dreadnought a couple of years ago (sure I must have babbled on here about it). It looked great but seemed a bit quiet. I had the braces shaved AND scalloped...very little difference.

So I leaned it up against a stereo speaker in the basement and turned the classical music station up loud. Did that for about four days....three or four hours at a time. The guitar showed a serious improvement....definitely more resonant. I loaned it to my friend Greg, who played it constantly for about three months, and when I got it back (No, he DIDN'T want to give it back) it sounded great.

I think gettin' that top to vibrate is what really makes a guitar sound better....but you'd think removing some iron should do the same thing....maybe it will on yours.

Rick

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 14 Nov 01 - 01:04 PM

Well, I've had so many compliments on this cheap axe that I hate to mess with it. But, I would like to lower the action a bit and gain some resonance. I'll let you know what happens.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Arbuthnot
Date: 14 Nov 01 - 04:44 PM

A Late comment about the Stratocaster. I've tried for years, but I seem to get the nastiest sounds out of them that are possible, just when I'm not expecting them. I tried asking an expert (Alan Holdsworth) and he said You just have to keep working at it to get a good sound out of a Strat. I got fed up years ago. I've got a Strat that I use sometimes - but it's a DiMarzio with stacked humbuckers. On the other hand, lots of people have had good experiences with Strats. The point is that to get a good sound needs a little more than just plugging into the amp, unlike most Gibsons.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Arbuthnot
Date: 14 Nov 01 - 05:46 PM

Re: that Harmony, LonesomeEJ. You could try having the cut-out for the adjustable bridge filled out with a slightly softer timber, eg. Iroko or Jelutong, and have a slot cut in that for a fixed bridge slide. If you don't like it, you can have the wood dug out again and the steel thing put back. If you do like it, you can have some new wood glued in. The worst that happens is minor (cosmetic) damage to the existing bridge - and it should be relatively cheap, compared to replacing the bridge with no idea of the resulting sound.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 14 Nov 01 - 09:38 PM

i used to have an old harmony guitar, and then i got a stella, boy what a step up, and then my next guitar was a gibson, melody maker, and a c 1 classic, but i never did have a fender acoustic, i have some old fender ads that showed the fender acoustic series i believe it was called either coronado or something like that and they came in about a million colors, and the year was 1964.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 15 Nov 01 - 06:56 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST,Dave Lack
Date: 15 Nov 01 - 08:01 PM

Can anyone tell me anything about the Fender I have? It is an acoustic/electric cutaway. It does not have the standard Fender headstock. Model 270SCE. Went to the Fender website and found out it was made sometime in 70's. Local guitar shop said it was not made by Fender but was made for Fender by someone else. Said they would probably sell it for around $500.00. It is a beautiful guitar with lots of inlay. It has a great acoustic sound, but useless with an amp. Anyone know anything about this guitar. Thanks. Dave

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 15 Nov 01 - 08:15 PM

does it have an input jack to plug a guitar cord into ? BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 16 Nov 01 - 04:59 AM

i need an answer to my question. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST,Tony in Brussels
Date: 16 Nov 01 - 08:21 AM

I have a nice old Fender acoustic that I bought in Brighton, UK in about 1983. Reason I bought it was that it was the first acoustic Fender I had ever seen, it played and sounded good in the shop and looked good as well. The name "Fender" is inlaid on the headstock in mother-of-pearl (but later models I have seen just have a tacky-looking transfer).

Anyway, I still have this guitar and (IMHO) it still looks and sounds pretty good. I don't know what the new ones are like, but I can only give my sample-of-one a good report. It seems to be sensitive to the state of the strings - the sound is best when the strings are new.

Going OT for a few other comments: on another point raised above by Rick Fielding,I keep my Fender - and my other guitars - in our music room, where they are subjected to all sorts of other sounds from music students playing piano and other instruments. I reckon that this really loosens up the sound of a guitar, but have never understood why until I started reading this board.

Like catspaw49 above, my own guitar collection is a result of the workings of fate over the years. I first learned to play on a blonde Hofner President F-hole: a lovely guitar, which i bought for fifteen pounds in a Coventry junk-shop. But it was damaged in a house fire and never sounded the same afterwards. During my student days, I had several different acoustics, mostly low-range cheapo models, bought second-hand and sold on with no regrets. When I started work, I bought the Fender new because I liked it and had some spare cash at the time.

I bought an Epiphone acoustic later, primarily to keep at my girlfriend's flat (before I moved from London to Brussels) so I didn't have to carry a guitar across the Channel every weekend. And I've still got it. No-one loves Epi's, but this one has been abused to hell and back: I take it with me when I go sailing and it lives in a corner of the boat, subject to sometimes violent motion, damp and salt air. But it still sounds good and I've kept it because I have no emptional capital invested in it, so I can travel around with it without having to worry about it getting damaged or lost.

I like 12-strings, so I bought an Ovation Celebrity 12 three years ago, with some redundancy money. This one may have been a mistake. It sounds OK when amplified, but very thin when played acoustically. I don't like to have to plug in when I play at home, so will probably sell it on soon. Any offers?

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Kaleea
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 04:31 AM

Way back in the '70's I played a Fender acoustic which had a small body, and the fender electric neck. I'm thinking it might have been called "Wildflower" or something like that, don't know how can I remember anything that long ago! It belonged to a friend who let me "borrow" it for 2 or 3 years, and I had to return it when I moved. I really liked that guitar, as my short fingers had an easy time stretching along the frets, and the action was way down low and easy, and it had a lovely tone. Now that I am getting the arthritis in the fingers, and find the big old Gibson heavy to carry, I can only imagine that one of those would be difficult to find. Anyone have one of those for sale?

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 17 Nov 01 - 07:36 PM

try a taylor baby or a big baby they play wonderful. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 12:06 PM

to 53 Bob

The Fender has the plug in on the end where the strap hooks on. Dave Lack

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: 53
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 01:24 PM

ok then you should be able to just plug it in to the amp. BOB

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Philibuster
Date: 18 Nov 01 - 01:57 PM

My Fender Squier DG-6 has served me well. It has the nicest fretboard imaginable (atleast for my hands). The strings are set far enough apart that you can finger pick easily, but close enough together that they still have that nice hummy tone to them.

They are great guitars, and the price is right. I'd say go for it. =P

-Philibuster

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: GUEST,BillyL.
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 02:05 PM

I'm sure everyone of you play bettern'I do but.....and it's a big but-I like my fender Alexxus(yes two x's) constructed by Koreans c.1988. But I have played (borrowed) much more expensive guitars such as a Tacoma and I can definitely hear the difference q-wality makes. On the other hand Yamahas are much lighter and have a nice feel. My Fender was a Christmas gift from my wife so I will cherish it for ever. The first bridge cracked so the entire guitar was replaced.(So I guess I'm actually sentimental about the second guitar...Hmmm,this sentimentality thing gets confusing.)It looks OK nothing fancy. I replaced the saddle and continue to struggle through all of the internet tab sites. Maybe someday my playing will warrant a better guitar. Does anyone know about Marvel guitars? I have a beat up one calleda "special" but I'm not sure what is special about it.

Subject: RE: Fender Acoustic Guitars
From: Blowzabella
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 03:22 PM

I had a Fender acoustic once - loaned it to my brother - told him there was no great rush in returning it to me. Next thing I know, he's 'loaned' it to his son (my nephew) who has taken it with him when he emigrated to live in the Sumatran rainforest! Some hope of ever seeing it again!