Fender Alternate Reality Meteora HH

[Futuron]

2019 Fender Alternate Reality Meteora HH
https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric- ... 23302.html

Haven't seen this one posted yet. Made in Mexico. String-through, 3-way pickup select, 2 volume, 1 tone. Push-push button to reverse the 2 volume controls, push-pull coil split. Same humbuckers from player Tele.

[Embenny]

I like it more than the Tele version with the Gibson B&B neck.

The string-through is neat and not commonly seen on Fenders, but why are we back to more TOMs?

I'd rank this below their Jazz Bass guitar but above their Fallout knockoff. At least the colours and overall look suit the Meteora much better than the first offering.

[loveinathens]

This is precisely what I hoped they'd do with the design, sans the bridge.

[ManaT]

Agree that I prefer these over the last version, except for the bridge.

Am I right in thinking there was some kind of staytrem drop in replacement for the TOM on the JMJM that could work here or did I dream that?

[flysky578]

Finally

[Embenny]

Agree that I prefer these over the last version, except for the bridge.

Am I right in thinking there was some kind of staytrem drop in replacement for the TOM on the JMJM that could work here or did I dream that?

There was one, and then all of us in North America (and elsewhere outside the U.K.) lost access to buying them when Staytrem cut back production, so it pretty much is just a dream for most of us.

[B]

I'll echo the same sentiments... I like this much more than the Telecaster-ish version. Make it in Shell Pink and I would jump on one.

[Larry Mal]

I'll treble the opinion around here that this is much better than the Telecaster thing they did before.

I still wish Fender would quit the stupid Tune-O-Matic bridges, though.

Take a look at the Fender Lead 3.

It's a nice double humbucker Fender, right? And it has a great hardtail bridge on there with Fender Strat type saddles. I would rather have that bridge all day long than the TOM bridge, with its stupid knife edge saddles and round strings resting in a crude "V" shaped notch. The graceful Strat type saddle is so much more elegant than the TOM, I really don't understand Fender and this.

[HNB]

I like the body but not with the round headstock. I think if they used a Katana headstock or something similar it would look better. Heck my M-80 headstock would fit it better.



20181204_180027 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

[Larry Mal]

Good point... it's like Fender never really commits to these guitars, using the same old necks they have laying around, using the TOM bridge rather than design anything original because a new design costs money and using the same tired bridge from seventy years ago is cheap.

I don't know why I find it irritating, but I do.

[HNB]

Or use a roller TOM so that the strings are in a rounded channel instead of a V on a flat edge? I am sure they could do that. Maybe make a mix between a TOM and a Mustang bridge where it is fixed, but has the rounded Mustang adjustable saddles? (Kinda like a Staytrem?)

[Embenny]

Good point... it's like Fender never really commits to these guitars, using the same old necks they have laying around, using the TOM bridge rather than design anything original because a new design costs money and using the same tired bridge from seventy years ago is cheap.

I don't know why I find it irritating, but I do.

It's kind of like having that good friend or family member that you know can do better, but keeps getting in the way of their own success. You keep giving them good advice, and they have the tools to turn things around, but they always seem to fall short of their potential. You love them, and you support them, but they keep letting you down a little so you look back on the good old days and sigh, hoping they'll do better next time...

[HNB]

I feel like Fender often does "new designs" that are mostly an old design with one new part. Here is a Tele with a different body. Here is a Jaguar with a different body. It would be like Chevy saying we created this brand new truck and it is just a Chevy truck with a different door.

[CROSS_guitars]

I like the body but not with the round headstock. I think if they used a Katana headstock or something similar it would look better. Heck my M-80 headstock would fit it better.



20181204_180027 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

I believe someone did a mockup a while ago using this headstock design.
This is what they should have gone with

[Larry Mal]

Or use a roller TOM so that the strings are in a rounded channel instead of a V on a flat edge? I am sure they could do that. Maybe make a mix between a TOM and a Mustang bridge where it is fixed, but has the rounded Mustang adjustable saddles? (Kinda like a Staytrem?)

Right, a roller bridge is a no-brainer, but it doesn't really accomplish anything that the Strat saddles didn't already present us with. A roller bridge is only an attempt to deal with one of the drawbacks of the TOM bridge. The Strat saddles when well done are already capable of doing what the roller bridge does.

Another TOPM drawback is that they don't lock to the posts, which I can't imagine why they wouldn't. And the posts aren't locked to the body (at least Nashville style TOMs aren't). The whole apparatus is just cheap and sloppy. Garbage.

I deal with it on Gibsons- well, I buy expensive aftermarket shit that makes the TOM be as good as it can be.

But what bugs me is that the deficiencies of the TOM bridge were well known back in the day, which is why Leo Fender designed new bridges that didn't have those problems to start with. The Telecaster bridge at times is a little crude, but it's a solid hunk of metal affixed securely to the body, with nice rolled saddles that when done well allow for the string to sit gracefully on the saddle with no binding.

And the Strat bridge is even better.

That's why Fender came up with those bridges in the first place, you know? Because they were better than the TOM bridge was then, so Leo didn't want to use those, and he came up with something original and much superior.

And now all Fender can do is buy Chinese pot metal garbage for their guitars like everyone else. I just can't get over it.