New Fender Light Ash Tele & Strat

[gvarko]

Has anyone seen these yet and am I the only one sporting a stiffie or what? Just got the new Sam Ash catalog and there are 2 new Fenders, a light Ash Tele and light Ash Strat. Both have birds eye maple necks, abalone inlays and Seymour Duncan PU's. The price you ask, $599... Unless it's a misprint I may be getting 1 of each...

Here's a link to the Fender site, look at this beauty....

http://www.fender.com/misc/winternam..._Ash_Tele.html

Let me know what you think...

[bongolation]

They won't be available until later this month. Who knows when they will really be in stores?

These are Korean, presumably from Cor-Tek (Cort), who does other FMIC instruments.

That explains the price. I suspect the build quality is substantially better than MIA and MIM production.

I'm not crazy about the combination of the woods, but imagine these will be excellent values.

I have read that they have chambers in them for lightness, but I do not know if this is true or not.

[revoltingyouth]

well if fender keeps in line with the new stuff that they have been putting out latley (even the squier line), these will probably be killer for the price. i dont think were gonna get any in till mid month (work at musicians friend). but if you want one better put in an order now, cause i think they are gonna be on back order for a while, i think our estimated shipment is lower than out back orders already, and they have only been on our site for a couple of days.
i dont know about the chambering, i havent heard anything about that yet.

[Light]

Well, the strat is not chambered, as it has arm and belly contours. It is possible to chamber a guitar with these (I do it), but I have never seen anyone else do it, and I know Fender has not.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

[bongolation]

Originally posted by Light
Well, the strat is not chambered, as it has arm and belly contours. It is possible to chamber a guitar with these (I do it), but I have never seen anyone else do it, and I know Fender has not.

The guy I know who saw these at NAMM said that the Telecaster was chambered, though he said nothing about the Stratocaster. I have no idea if that's correct or not.

Cor-Tek has put fairly complicated chambers in other instruments they made for FMIC in the past (M-77T DeArmonds, for one), so they know how to do it, but I would personally be surprised if these are anything but lightweight ash.

I'm waiting for a more detailed and complete page on these on Fender's website.

In any case, they look like they'll be well-made and good values.