Fender Vintera Road Worn 50's Telecaster. Lake Placid Blue

If you’re looking for an affordable guitar with a cool vintage vibe that ticks the right boxes sonically and visually then these Fender Vintera Road Worn series of guitars and basses are hard to beat for the money.

True they are obviously not vintage quality or Custom Shop reissue quality and may well need a ‘bit of work’ to get them performing at their best, but for the money you can’t really argue.

When this one came in (pretty much as it was when it left the factory) the finishing on the frets, the fretboard and back of the neck left something to be desired. But we have taken it upon ourselves to give this one a proper fret dress to sort out the sharp fret ends, have buffed up the thin nitro finish on the fretboard which has eliminated any stickiness and have smoothed out the rough feel of the back of the neck. This has made a big difference to how the guitar feels and plays. You could now be mistaken for thinking it was one of Fender’s more expensive reissues.

The thin nitro finish on these Vintera Road Worn guitars is pretty incredible when you consider the price point. This one comes in a very cool looking Lake Placid Blue which has a subtle amount of fading, relicing and lacquer checking giving the guitar a nicely worn in vintage look.

The pair of ‘hot ‘50s’ Tele pick ups deliver your classic Telecaster twang and chime but with a hotter output than normal which will overdrive an amp much easier. In a real life situation if you are gigging this guitar alongside say a Gibson with humbuckers or P-90s, then you can pretty much leave your amp settings the same for each guitar – no need to crank the gain slightly to compensate for the weaker Tele pick ups like in the days of old.

The neck features a chunky 50’s U profile based on the early blackguard Teles, though in this case it is noticeably softer that the full U profile of some early vintage Teles.

All in all a very affordable Telecaster with a cool vintage vibe. Great for gigging if you don’t have a roadie to look after your prized guitars but want something that at least looks and sounds in the right ballpark and that you don’t have to worry too much about. For the money it’s a no brainer. Comes with a Fender deluxe gig bag.

Weight: 7lb 2oz

Pick up readings: Neck 7.6k, Bridge 7.4k