It’s basically a vintage spec instrument with a modern neck and pickups. I own two of these now. One is vintage blonde with maple and the other is Sherwood green with rosewood. I bought them about a year apart, both were in excellent condition and I think they’re awesome and the Texas Specials are excellent. If you search there’s a lot of amazing FSR colours over the years. Fiesta Red, Shell Pink, Daphne Blue, violin burst (hand rubbed), Black, Natural, Surf Green and Aztec Gold with matching headstocks! Then stock models came in Olympic White, Lake Placid Blue, Sunburst, etc. Damn I want them all!😄😁😃 By the way my blonde Tele seems to have a thicker neck than most modern C I’ve played. Very noticeable after playing my Highway One Teles which are great too. The Am Spec have CTS pots, Oak switch and grease bucket tone control. I would prefer Kluson style tuners as they conceal the string ends and 21 frets would have been cooler than the 22 fret overhang.
The American Special/Performer models whether it's a Tele or Strat feel more dense and heavier that an American standard/pro and don't resonate as well, I always figured they used a different quality of wood or something. The jumbo frets give a different feel too, someone not knowing the difference would probably thinks the Specials are better due to the it feels heavier, i ended up changing the stock pups to rail humbuckers because I feel the guitar sounded better with humbuckers
I had a custom made guitar made for me by Sam Koontz. He made a guitar also for Pat Martino. He said to never use lemon on the fretboard. Too acidic, bad for the frets. The best thing to use is woodwind bore oil that oboe, clarinet and bassoon players use. It's alight mineral oil. Use sparingly.
The Highway 1 are awesome too because of the nitro finish. I own 4 now, 2 Strats and 2 Teles. The 2006-2010 HW-1 revamped the guitars and they put jumbo frets and hotter pickups (horrible!) on the Teles and Strats (2002-2006 had classic series pups), the Strats also got a big headstock and unfortunately this continued into the Am Special series and now the Performers. A big deal breaker for me.
I had one of these American Specials but could never really bond with it. Couldn’t fault anything about it but it just didn’t feel and sound as good as my Mexican standard tele.
It’s basically a vintage spec instrument with a modern neck and pickups.
I own two of these now.
One is vintage blonde with maple and the other is Sherwood green with rosewood. I bought them about a year apart, both were in excellent condition and I think they’re awesome and the Texas Specials are excellent.
If you search there’s a lot of amazing FSR colours over the years. Fiesta Red, Shell Pink, Daphne Blue, violin burst (hand rubbed), Black, Natural, Surf Green and Aztec Gold with matching headstocks! Then stock models came in Olympic White, Lake Placid Blue, Sunburst, etc. Damn I want them all!😄😁😃
By the way my blonde Tele seems to have a thicker neck than most modern C I’ve played. Very noticeable after playing my Highway One Teles which are great too.
The Am Spec have CTS pots, Oak switch and grease bucket tone control.
I would prefer Kluson style tuners as they conceal the string ends and 21 frets would have been cooler than the 22 fret overhang.
The American Special/Performer models whether it's a Tele or Strat feel more dense and heavier that an American standard/pro and don't resonate as well, I always figured they used a different quality of wood or something. The jumbo frets give a different feel too, someone not knowing the difference would probably thinks the Specials are better due to the it feels heavier, i ended up changing the stock pups to rail humbuckers because I feel the guitar sounded better with humbuckers
I had a custom made guitar made for me by Sam Koontz. He made a guitar also for Pat Martino. He said to never use lemon on the fretboard. Too acidic, bad for the frets. The best thing to use is woodwind bore oil that oboe, clarinet and bassoon players use. It's alight mineral oil. Use sparingly.
I've always loved the look of your '62 MIJ Tele.
Thanks. Great guitar but I moved it on to a nice chap who really enjoyed it!
I had the Highway series tele, it was like new, never played it. Now I wish I had it back.
I've heard mixed reviews about those guitars. I almost bought one when they first came out but ended up getting my CIJ Strat instead.
The Highway 1 are awesome too because of the nitro finish. I own 4 now, 2 Strats and 2 Teles.
The 2006-2010 HW-1 revamped the guitars and they put jumbo frets and hotter pickups (horrible!) on the Teles and Strats (2002-2006 had classic series pups), the Strats also got a big headstock and unfortunately this continued into the Am Special series and now the Performers. A big deal breaker for me.
I had one of these American Specials but could never really bond with it. Couldn’t fault anything about it but it just didn’t feel and sound as good as my Mexican standard tele.
Interesting. They are great guitars but I did prefer my Road Worn Mexican Tele.