Fender Deluxe Blackout Telecaster Guitar Review

The Fender Telecaster line has been a long standing tradition in the music industry. The design, sound, and value have held their own against the competition for decades now. But, every now and again, an update is needed to pique the interest of more contemporary and modern musicians. It's not that the Telecaster is old, it's just that it's not new. If that makes any sense. As an answer to this persisting question, Fender made the Deluxe Blackout Telecaster to give some additional features to the standard Telecasters that younger guitarists are looking for. Let's take a closer look to see just how well Fender did with it.

Features: The body of the Deluxe Blackout Telecaster, like most other high quality Fender instruments, is made of select alder wood. It's assembled in Mexico, in an effort to make it more affordable to the average person. The finish of the Blackout Telecaster is an extremely high gloss ebony, complete with a three ply pickguard. It's black on the surface with one white layer in the middle. The neck is made of maple, and has a nicely smoothed finish. The fretboard, meanwhile, is also maple with twenty one medium jumbo frets and black dot inlays. The tuning heads on the Deluxe Blackout Telecaster are chrome and designed to keep the strings well in tune. The bridge is of the standard Fender six saddle design, which takes the strings through the body. The bridge plate and control plate, additionally, are a highly glossed chrome as well. Electronically, the Blackout Telecaster. What really makes the Blackout Tele unique among other Telecasters, however, is the pickup design. Instead of the traditional two single coil pickup design on most Telecasters, the Blackout version has three single coil pickups. Along with this comes the Strat-like five way switching system, and one volume and one tone control knobs.

Playability: One thing I noticed about the Blackout Telecaster immediately was its finish. You might want to play this bad boy with gloves on, because its extremely high gloss black finish will show everything from a little fingerprint to a speck of dust. Other than that, however, it plays just like any other good quality Telecaster. The body is extremely light, making it very comfortable to stand up and play for long periods of time. The neck is a little bit thicker than some other Fender models, but you can barely notice, as it's still very fast and plays like a dream.

Sound: This is the department in which the Deluxe Blackout Telecaster sets itself apart from other guitars in its line. It still has the classic Telecaster twang, but can crank out some nicely versatile tones as well. Some users say it's even a little Strat-like with its three single coil pickup design.

Overall: For the serious musician who likes the Tele, but is looking for something a little more unique and original, the Deluxe Blackout Telecaster does the job well. I would definitely recommend it to just about anyone. You can find the Fender Deluxe Blackout Tele in music stores for about $525.