Fender American Ultra Telecaster Review

The Tele I Hoped For

I bought the Tele Ultra to sit next to my Lone Star Strat and could not be happier! In short, it plays better than advertised and sounds so good I'm making up words to describe it. The playability of this guitar is 10/10. If you're interested, go for it! As for my Sweetwater experience, I cannot say enough good things. My gear shipped the day of purchase and arrived the next… read more day. The Tele was double boxed and arrived in truly perfect condition (and almost in tune!). The setup was perfect and it was 100% playable the minute it arrived. The case is light, very sturdy and and perfect to protect my investment. Finally, the pictures don't do the guitar justice. It's flawless and gorgeous - more like fine furniture. I bought it to keep and can't be happier. Thank you to my rep. Dan A. and all of the Sweetwater team. Thanks for another addition to a long history of positive experiences.

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Great Modern Telecaster

Great looking, great playing, great sounding Telecaster! This Ultra doesn't seem to sound quite like a classic Tele' but definitely has its own cool Fender single-coil-sound Tele'ish thing going on. The neck feels great (a little more oval than chunky) and plays so smooth and fast. Gotta say thanks again Greg Savino for putting me into this Telecaster...highly recommended.

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What a Beauty!

I have been a Strat guy for over 50 years and this is my very first Telecaster. I can't really comment on the sound of it verses other Telecasters, but I do love its sound. It has similar, yet slightly different tones than my current Strat, which is an American Professional. The guitar is a stunner in looks, feel and the fit and finish are immaculate. I really love the neck feel… read more and frets, the belly cut feels nice and similar to the Strat. I use this as a studio workhorse with my Strat and it definitely fits the bill. It is wonderful to play. The Texas Tea color is really gorgeous, but keep a dust cloth handy as it does show dust. Fender has taken their vast experience in guitar building and created a beautiful and refined instrument!

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Revolutionary

First I would like to say thank you to Colton Smiricky my sales engineer who helped with the purchase and answered all my questions.If your looking for a made in America Tele I would suggest you check out the Ultra series. The ergonomic features alone make it amazing to play. The Texas Tea finish is beautiful and love how it changes color depending on the lighting.

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Fender American Ultra Telecaster

From the moment I opened the case the playability was just fantastic. Feels comfortable in your hands and no set up needed. Great guitar!

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Great Sounding Beautiful Looking Guitar

The photos online of the Arctic Pearl Telecaster Ultra don't do it justice. The finish is kind of iridescent, more like a white metallic finish. I purchased this Tele to add to my collection, as I never had a rosewood fretboard Fender before. My Stratocaster Ultra and my Tele Pro II both have maple fretboards. Since the Strat Ultra has the same neck profile as the Tele Ultra,… read more comparing the two, I lean toward the maple fretboard. The maple fretboard, to me, "Seems" slightly smoother to play on. What about Tone difference. My Tele Pro II came customized with locking tuners and noiseless pickups, so it is very close to the Ultra features. Comparing the Tele Pro II to the Tele Ultra, same gauge strings, same pickups, Tone wise, I can't hear any difference between the maple and rosewood fretboards, but that's just me. Again, I find playing on the Tele maple fretboard slightly more comfortable than the Tele rosewood fretboard. All in all, I love this guitar. I play it every day, along with my others.

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Demo+Plek=a process worth it?

I wanted a Telecaster and took a chance with a demo. The guitar:After waiting the dreaded 24 hours I held her in my hands and the 1st thing I noticed was the color, "Texas Tea" which is beautiful. The 2nd thing was that the strings were pretty high off of the frets, after a "setup." I was probably wrong to get a setup on a demo... I played it for a few minutes and it was really… read more hard to play. I'm pretty good at setups and i keep thinking Someone else is going to set up a guitar for me and I'm gonna like it. Anyway, I started lowering strings and found out why the action was so high. Buzz. Way too much to where it was distracting. I went back and forth about returning it, no fun, and that was what this was supposed to be about. I really love everything about it besides how it plays. (and on close inspection the grain is visible in the gloss finish) Had I tried it out in a music store i would've hung it right back on the wall and moved on, SO I decided to try the "Plek Pro"cnc service and see if that could breathe a soul back into it, and it t DID. I really enjoy playing and looking at it now. Another caveat (emptor?) is the anodized, brushed aluminum pickguard, which exfoliates anything in it's path. In an emergency one could sharpen a razor blade on it. My conclusion:

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Fender Tele Ultra Texas Tea

I am not sure what I was expecting.I had a strat ultra back in 1990,1991 ish.Its almost dead on the neckshape of that guitar,something I've tried to find on a fender since.The neck is really thin,wide and flat and this guitar looks,sounds like a tele ,but feels way 1980s.It had some minor fit and finish issues,but nothing major that a setup wont fix.Overall minus a few tooling marks,really… read more high action and some serious relief in the neck I still give it 5 stars.It is really cool!Now I just gotta come up with the cash to get the stratocaster version.The case that this comes in is the nicest case I've ever owned.G&G who?This case is very ergonomic, lightweight,plush, well made,I dont know why companies like Gibson give you crappy cases,companies like Suhr sell you a G&G case that weigh a ton.Now I gotta go I gotta new guitar to play

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I like it a lot!

First, props to the staff at Sweetwater: The purchase was easy, the sales person was excellent, and the tech's set-up (at extra cost, of course) no doubt improved the guitar's action. I like this Tele a lot and play it every day; beautiful instrument! But, I also play (on a daily basis) a '79 Gibson "The Paul" and it is a better axe in terms of playability. Don't get me wrong,… read more as I said, the Tele is a very nice guitar, but I find myself wondering if the set-up can be improved upon? In any event, I would without hesitation buy another guitar from Sweetwater!

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Excellent choice!!

I've a 72' Tele and now this one. What a difference a new model makes! This guitar plays incredible with great action. Tuners are excellent, color is beyond cool (Arctic Pearl) and it was an easy purchase through my man Phil Potts!! Love me some Sweetwater!

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Nice guitar but....

I purchased my new Ultra telecaster two weeks ago. I have to admit it is a fantastic guitar. It has everything on it that normally would be an add-on on other telecasters. Now here comes the but! When i plugged it in to my amp it has an open ground and as a result it buzzes. Touch any metal part of the guitar and it goes away. This what's telling me there is an open ground somewhere.… read more Its not a big problem but I find it frustrating that one pays significant amount of money for a guitar and the darn thing buzzes. This also happened to me on a 2019 Gibson Les Paul Studio I bought. I'm faulting the manufacturers on this type of workmanship. I can fix the ground but my point is, with the money I paid for this guitar and my other one, both American made, I shouldn't have to open up the guitar to fix anything! Shame on you Fender! Your quality control on these guitars are slipping. With noiseless pickups, I shouldn't be hearing noise. That being said, setup and intonation was spot on out of the box! The case is extremely nice. I just wish they could have made the guitar truly noiseless!

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A Musical Gift to Myself!

Last October I picked up a friend's Les Paul & we played a livingroom concert for about 2 hours dispite being distanced across the room from each other. I once had a Thinline Telecaster but never really got into it & couldn't get much out of it. I've always played swampy fingerpicking acoustic blues so ended up selling the Thinline Tele. Thing is, I have poor hand circulation &… read more recently have only able to play my acoustic guitar for 15 or 20 minutes before hand cramps set in. From that long playing session I decided an electric guitar would work for me again. Now what to get. I like high end guitars, who doesn't, but affordability was a factor. The 2020 American Telecaster Ultra fit my budget & the Ultraburst fit my not so flashy taste. My goal was to improve, I wanted deep, clean tones for blues, I wanted to get into flatpicking a bit more & spend a lot more time playing. This American Telecaster Ultra did all that for me. Concern that it might play way to bright turned out not to be a factor, the tonal range of this Tele provides the right sound for a variety of styles & the American made, '98 vintage Fender Blues Jr amp I use with it compliments the tonal flexibility that I was looking for. The carved body & tapered neck make the guitar a real pleasure to play for longer sessions. I opted for the tortoise shell pickguard as a more subtle upgrade but I'll safely store that original white guard with the sticker on it. The American made aspect mattered to me. It was a gift to myself for the December holidays, where solitude has been commonplace in these times, What better than an instrument you can spend hours enjoying & be really proud to show off when we get back to our music parties with friends?

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Simply amazing

I never liked the teles and my dealer recommended it , I bought the ultra stratocaster ultra burst and I was in love and I received this tele today and WOW its really amazing the sound the neck the feeling on your hands , the Texas tea color and metallic pickguard its amazing Really recommended

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The search if over

I've had dozens of quality electric guitars, some vintage and some new. I think buying and selling guitars in part of the process of discovering your own sound , style and who you are as a musician. Having said all of that I will never part with two particular guitars: my Novo Serus J and this, my new Fender Ultra Telecaster in Arctic White. The reasons a quite simple: the radius… read more on the ultra neck allows for easy chording and playing leads; the locking tuners and (mostly) the bone nut keep my ultra in tune "forever"; the fret work and rolled edges make the neck an absolute pleasure to play for hours on end; it's light weight; the pickups are balanced and quite. Lastly, the arctic white, although nearly impossible to capture in photo is absolutely beautiful. My Sweetwater consultant, Mike Brandt is the consummate professional; no hard selling and even days after my purchase called just to check in on me because I had the flu. Thanks, Mike, I'm fully recovered and loving my Ultra Tele!

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My New Best Friend

I unboxed the guitar today and I was stunned how beautiful it looked. Everything about the guitar is spot on perfect. The neck is simply amazing, it’s like butter in my hands. I never thought a neck would get better than my Elite Strat, but this one is. The color of the neck is fantastic too. Looks like a lightly roasted maple neck. The Texas Tea color is beyond awesome. Let’s… read more just say this is now my go-to guitar. When I first picked it up, it felt like an old friend. The pickups are smooth but biting when you want that Tele bite. The body contour is appreciated as is the neck contour which makes it easier for me to hit the high notes now. Thanks go out to my rep Alden Debee for jumping on this order while they were in stock. Alden, you’re the best!

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