new Fender American Performer series

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).

First impressions?

Nice! :)
11
23%
Hit & miss
16
34%
Meh...
8
17%
No thanks >:(
12
26%
 
Total votes: 47

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Futuron
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new Fender American Performer series

Post by Futuron » Fri Nov 16, 2018 7:57 pm

So we've got a thread for the Jazzmaster with Strat vibrato, but not a dedicated discussion for the rest of the offerings or the line as a whole. A thread has now appeared for both Mustang & Mustang bass, I'll discuss my thoughts on them there.

I figured that there'd be others interested in seeing the full line-up but not bothered to put the time in, so I typed a million serial #s into the Fender site to try to find all of them and this is what I got:

Image

The obvious: 9 models, and 4 finishes for each (from a pool of 10). So it seems that Fender USA is not willing to offer a modern Jaguar besides the Professional, nor the bass counterpart. Not a surprise, but still worth noting. Strange to see an SH Telecaster. I wonder how that would sound, it's not really a configuration I've considered. Not really much for me to say about the configs of the others, (besides the offsets of course - but that conversation already exists elsewhere,) but I didn't find any 5-string or fretless basses, HHs, left-hand etc. What we get is almost what you expect. (Cue many in great disgust)

edit: series colours are 3t sunburst, honey burst, arctic white, black, satin lake placid blue, satin seafoam green, aubergine, penny, vintage white (yellow), satin sonic blue

I like the honeyburst, and with the rosewood boards, both S & T look really nice. I'm not a fan of the massive 70s headstock that the Deluxe & Special lines had/have, so I don't like it here either but again it's no surprise. Less said about sunburst, black & white the better. The satin Lake Placid Blue is nice of course, the Penny copper is interesting and the deep dark red looks great on both models. The other colours don't really sing to me.

Thankfully the Jazzmasters & Mustangs all come with rosewood boards, too bad we get stuck with maple on the other blue and penny guitars, you can really see what you're missing out on. I wouldn't touch any of those basses as they come, but swap the necks and I like 3 of them.

Too early to talk about pickups, profile, radius etc but probably predictable. Price somewhere around the Special.

I wonder if these Teles have a contour on the back or not. Some people like them, some don't. The Elites have them, the Professionals (except Tele Deluxe) don't.


What does everyone else think? Like anything you see?
Last edited by Futuron on Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:42 am, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Larry Mal » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:24 pm

Those Micawber style Telecasters look pretty cool.
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Embenny » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:25 pm

SH is a classic format for the telecaster. Not my cup of te, but it does have an interesting tone with the two combined - kind of like a Rickenbacker, where a very bassy neck and a very trebly bridge give you a tone that isn't found when the pickups are more closely balanced.
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by timtam » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:26 pm

What do we think the purpose of the Performer series is ? Has anyone seen any marketing ? What are the series' defining characteristics. I see HBs on the strats and teles, but only on half of them. Where does the series fit in relation to other series ? I could see some merit in a one-off JM with strat trem, just for the sake of it. But a whole series ? Why ?
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Larry Mal » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:38 pm

timtam wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:26 pm
What do we think the purpose of the Performer series is ? Has anyone seen any marketing ? What are the series' defining characteristics. I see HBs on the strats and teles, but only on half of them. Where does the series fit in relation to other series ? I could see some merit in a one-off JM with strat trem, just for the sake of it. But a whole series ? Why ?
You figure it's got to be slotted underneath the "American Professional" series, right? Because above that there is the "Elite" and then there is whatever Fender is doing with the "Vintage" lineup, so I can only think that these guitars are kind of taking the place of the old "American Specials" or something.

I mean, I have no idea, but I don't know what else makes sense. Little Fender does makes sense to me.
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Larry Mal » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:41 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:25 pm
SH is a classic format for the telecaster. Not my cup of te, but it does have an interesting tone with the two combined - kind of like a Rickenbacker, where a very bassy neck and a very trebly bridge give you a tone that isn't found when the pickups are more closely balanced.
Right, I have something similar with my Gibson Marauder, which is Gibson's way of competing with the SH Telecaster back in the day. One thing I really like about that guitar is that there is a blend knob, so you can add in as much of the bridge pickup as you want to the dark neck pickup and it kind of functions almost like a tone control.

I've never had an SH Telecaster to really know all that much about them, though. But like you say, the concept is cool, especially if you find the bridge pickup of a Telecaster a little harsh on its own (heresy, I know).
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by marqueemoon » Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:46 pm

Kind of into the maple board Burgandy Mist-ish J Bass on the lower right. Pretty indifferent to the rest.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Futuron » Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:51 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:25 pm
SH is a classic format for the telecaster. Not my cup of te, but it does have an interesting tone with the two combined - kind of like a Rickenbacker, where a very bassy neck and a very trebly bridge give you a tone that isn't found when the pickups are more closely balanced.
Of course, the middle. That could be an interesting sound. Hadn't thought of that. I always forget about what the middle would sound like, despite gravitating towards it on every guitar I've ever played...



And yes a blend knob could've been very nice (on any guitar really) - but this isn't a Deluxe or an Elite, not gonna happen. Except on a Precision bass.
Larry Mal wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:38 pm
timtam wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:26 pm
What do we think the purpose of the Performer series is ? Has anyone seen any marketing ? What are the series' defining characteristics. I see HBs on the strats and teles, but only on half of them. Where does the series fit in relation to other series ? I could see some merit in a one-off JM with strat trem, just for the sake of it. But a whole series ? Why ?
You figure it's got to be slotted underneath the "American Professional" series, right? Because above that there is the "Elite" and then there is whatever Fender is doing with the "Vintage" lineup, so I can only think that these guitars are kind of taking the place of the old "American Specials" or something.
That's what I figure. Think about it, every large company wants products at every price point. So here in Australia for Fender, we have RRPs roughly in the order of 3600 for Elite, 3000 for Professional, 2400 for Special (Performer?), 1800 for Deluxe & 1200 for Player/Standard. And each series has different bridge/radius/logo/pickups/finish etc from the other series.

And I'm guessing that the marketing will be out by NAMM, the products can't be far away from trickling into distribution.

edit: regarding "series' defining characteristics", I think it's the Deluxe line where one of the key features of the Strat is that it is a double-cutaway guitar... unlike every single other Strat in history... :fp:

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by timtam » Sat Nov 17, 2018 2:58 am

timtam wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:26 pm
Has anyone seen any marketing ?
To answer my own question, I have now, although it doesn't say much yet ...
https://www.themusiczoo.com/blogs/news/ ... -performer
"Born in Corona, California, Fender's new American Performer series delivers the exceptional tone and feel you expect from an authentic Fender—along with new, player-oriented features that make it even more inspiring to play. New enhancements include a DoubleTap™ humbucking pickup on the HSS Stratocaster, a special split-coil pickup in the Mustang Bass, and much more!"
"I just knew I wanted to make a sound that was the complete opposite of a Les Paul, and that’s pretty much a Jaguar." Rowland S. Howard.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Embenny » Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:05 am

Larry Mal wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:41 pm
Right, I have something similar with my Gibson Marauder, which is Gibson's way of competing with the SH Telecaster back in the day. One thing I really like about that guitar is that there is a blend knob, so you can add in as much of the bridge pickup as you want to the dark neck pickup and it kind of functions almost like a tone control.

I've never had an SH Telecaster to really know all that much about them, though. But like you say, the concept is cool, especially if you find the bridge pickup of a Telecaster a little harsh on its own (heresy, I know).
Yep, you know how much of a fan I am of Bill Lawrence's designs. That was some of his earlier work, but even then, he had some very interesting ideas about how to make guitar electronics more versatile.
Futuron wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 10:51 pm
Of course, the middle. That could be an interesting sound. Hadn't thought of that. I always forget about what the middle would sound like, despite gravitating towards it on every guitar I've ever played...
It's funny that a relative obsession of recent years is making all the pickups on a guitar balanced in terms of tone and output.

It makes certain things convenient, but does reduce the sheer variety of available tones, and that middle position is a great example.

A lot of rickenbackers and danelectros have this very unique and beautiful middle position because their bridge pickups are relatively lower output and very, very trebly. The danelectro is in series of course but the reason that works so well is that the bridge pickup is so low output and trebly compared to most modern bridge pickups.

I don't like most humbuckers, and SH Tele neck pickups are almost never a tone I like on their own, but that middle position is awesome. You can hear all the fullness of the neck pickup but with a bite and definition that you only get with a single coil bridge pickup.

A vintage JM or Jag is not necessarily an entirely different category, either. Part of what I love about a vintage style JM is the relatively unbalanced pickup set. When you put a fatter bridge pickup in, you lose that certain character to the middle position.

My '66 Jag came with a pickguard that had shrunk and seized the pickups in place. The bridge pickup was trapped a good 3/8" from the strings. It was nigh unusable on its own, but the middle position was one of the most beautiful tones I've ever gotten. I did liberate it and adjust it normally, and the guitar is far more versatile (include a middle position that's still plenty lovely) but I do miss that tone it got before.

Come to think of it, maybe I should try getting a bridge pickup with a coil tap taken off at 4K or something for one of my offsets to replicate that middle position tone.
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by sirspens » Sat Nov 17, 2018 8:13 am

So it seems there is a Mustang in the series. Correct bridge, solid cover single coils, but a simple selector switch.

No Jaguar, though.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by wooderson » Sat Nov 17, 2018 4:04 pm

timtam wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 8:26 pm
What do we think the purpose of the Performer series is ? Has anyone seen any marketing ? What are the series' defining characteristics. I see HBs on the strats and teles, but only on half of them. Where does the series fit in relation to other series ? I could see some merit in a one-off JM with strat trem, just for the sake of it. But a whole series ? Why ?
Replacement for the American Special, I would guess. The current Special Stratocaster is the CBS headstock model (vs pre-CBS for the American Pro), like this one.

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by vistavision » Sat Nov 17, 2018 5:48 pm

Futuron wrote:
Fri Nov 16, 2018 7:57 pm
I figured that there'd be others interested in seeing the full line-up but not bothered to put the time in, so I typed a million serial #s into the Fender site to try to find all of them and this is what I got:
I deeply admire your level of sticktoitiveness.
I'm sure some Fender dealer in '64 looked at the new Duo-Sonic II and thought, "That's not a Duo-Sonic. That's a Mustang".

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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by timtam » Sun Nov 18, 2018 4:18 am

Every pickup in this series seems to go by the name Yosemite ... strat, tele, JM?, mustang.
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Re: new Fender American Performer series

Post by Squirrel » Sun Nov 18, 2018 9:29 am

The surf/seafoam green (dunno which) Tele with the humbucker is pretty cool, I could take or leave the rest of them but none of them are terrible.

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