Next up I'm going to talk about the one and only telecaster I have in my arsenal at the moment. Definitely a situation I am looking to rectify :)
What's the story of this guitar? When did you get it?
Well, I have distinct memories of what inspired this purchase: I was at a "blues night" at the local live music venue, well local at the time anyway: The Gov. It was one of those ones where anyone can go up and jam with the band. I remember one guy coming up with a telecaster in butterscotch blonde and it had THE SWEETEST neck pickup tone. The seed was planted...
The purchase was made from a second hand guitar dealer in, I think, 2005.
What do you love about this guitar?
The tone for one thing. Nothing like a tele tone, and since upgrading to the Slider pickups it has never sounded better. I used to be really enamoured with the neck pickup but these days I appreciate the bridge a lot more. Totally different beasts to a Strat bridge, I reckon they are my favourite single coil bridge tone - although it may be tied with a P90.
What do you dislike about this guitar?
I don't think Fender in 1996 was too concerned with the accuracy of their vintage reissue models. These 1996 AVRIs are their own thing but they are VERY different to the 52 RIs that are offered these days and I'm going to bet that the recent reissues are way more accurate. Here are some of the things I've noticed or read about:
Neck profile - most egregious for sure if you are comparing to vintage spec. I don't mind it but it is a lot thinner than what a 52 spec would come with these days
Finish - Sold as nitro finished but I'm pretty sure it was nitro over poly. I would have loved to get player wear over this fretboard but it just doesn't happen
Electronics: I've since replaced almost all of the electronics however I do remember the pickups being acceptable but not great. It came with CTS pots, and cloth insulated wires so there was SOME effort made to look vintage even on the inside
Pretty sure it wasn't a bone nut, but I replaced it anyway because I wasn't happy with the way it was cut
Annoying Fender things like stickers in the neck pocket, not sure if they still do this
Out of all of these, the one that bothered me most was #2 because I have put the hours into this guitar and that finish just doesn't wear away. I would have loved to have a worn maple fretboard a la Jeff Beck's tele/esquire. I'm pretty sure the finish is poly underneath and if you google for 96 AVRI Fenders you're unlikely to see any fretboard wear on the maple boards. I have indentations from all the playing but the finish is intact.
Sometimes the 21 frets (instead of 22 or 24) bothers me but then I remind myself that Danny Gatton didn't complain, so who do I think I am anyway.
The neck profile does bother me sometimes but for the most part I'm ok with it. I DO prefer a more substantial neck especially at the nut end but it's not a showstopper.
What are the upgrades that you have done and have they made any difference?
Where do I start...Nut, pickups, capacitor. Wow, I was expecting that list to be way longer when I started that sentence. I think it just FEELS like I've done a lot to this guitar because I also experimented a lot with it as far as setups go. It was the guitar that I used to gain some guitar setup skills through trial and error (and Youtube).
The Sliders pickups have made an amazing difference to what was on there before but I don't remember the specs for those pickups.
What are the upgrades that you might do?
I think at this stage the next biggest thing that might happen to this guitar is a refret. The current frets are getting pretty low...not low enough to cause any issues but they started low (when I got them) and as I mentioned earlier this was my guitar to train myself on setups, so those frets have been levelled a few times more than my other guitars.
When it comes time to do a refret I will likely not be game to do it myself. And I will probably get it refretted with vintage style, tall, thin frets in Stainless Steel.
Any advice for anyone purchasing this guitar?
I think the 1996 AVRIs are a tough sell, with the market being what it is now - i.e. obsessed with vintage details. I don't think these models are very period correct and hence if you were after an accurate 52 reissue, maybe a more recent RI will be better.
However I wouldn't write it off as they are great guitars, they sound great and come from a time when swamp ash was more abundant so by logic there would have been more to pick from and higher quality in general. If you play one, and like the feel and sound then I would say why not.
Do not get it if you want yours looking like a dirty worn down telecaster that your favourite guitar hero has though, as I think you'd be wasting your time.