Have you fellas seen this yet? I'm pretty excited!
http://www.fender.com/series/folk/mando-strat/
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Have you fellas seen this yet? I'm pretty excited!
http://www.fender.com/series/folk/mando-strat/
Wowsers ... where are they having those built?
Is it fair to say that there's no great virtue in copying the original bridge design, since the iffy intonation is one of the most common complaints about old Mandocasters?
Photo, for posterity:
Attachment 96715
I would assume that at the $399 MSRP that it's made in China. That's not a bad thing either. Some of Fenders best guitars lately come out of China. Just go over to the Tele page http://www.tdpri.com and see what they say about the Classic Vibe series that comes out of China.
... and the YouTube video... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTz1...ature=youtu.be
Well, Gibson left the door wide open when it discontinued the Mandobird ... and given the amount of interest and money that was generated by that small batch of discolored FM-984s in 2007, you'd think this would be a logical step for Fender. At a lower price point than the FM60E and FM61SE 14 years ago, and with more vintage cachet than either of those models, I'm guessing the Mando-Strat will do pretty well.
This makes me want to go to NAMM, as if I had the time or money to make the trip. (My publisher goes every year, and could probably get me a badge if I begged him...) We'll have to rely on Ted to give us an in-person review.
Do we know if it has a body contour, or is it a slab?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTz1WYuXQ4
Love the comments on the video page. Some made me laugh out loud at the ignorance.
Wondering why Fender has done this through their Acoustics division. Seems odd.
Wondering why the guy in the video is only playing on the G and D strings. Could he be a guitar player who can't really play mandolin? Hmmm....
And one more thing... That is the worst overdrive/distortion I have heard in a loooong time!
:) As Miranda's mom says, "Such fun!"
Daniel
PS:
Looks like a slab from the reflection lines in the photo.
I don't know if it will do well or not. I'd need to see one in the flesh, and that'll be a difficult thing here in England. But at $399, I doubt it will have the quality of a JBovier.
All Fender mandolins for the past 15 years have been offered through the Acoustics division, whether they had pickups or not.
I think he's a guitar player, yes ... but he is hitting all 4 strings when he crosspicks; his jazz solo is mostly on the A and D strings; his rock solo starts on G and D but then goes up an octave and actually hits the E string at one point.Quote:
Wondering why the guy in the video is only playing on the G and D strings. Could he be a guitar player who can't really play mandolin? Hmmm....
The contour, if there is one, would be on the back, which we can't see in the photo.Quote:
Looks like a slab from the reflection lines in the photo.
Sweet. Be sure to ask about custom finishes.
I'll check 'em out at namm as well. Looks a bit disappointing at first blush: the 1 single coil pickup is going to be noisy [hum] and probably won't have enough jam to pick up the high E very well. Those tele-style bridges are a major pain to intonate. Considering the small size, the slab construction isn't really a problem IMO. I have one of the MIK 5-string "thin-lines" - it has 2 pickups and a strat-style bridge so in some ways what they were doing is superior to this latest offering, but we'll see shortly.
Wonder what kind of case they'll offer with it?
^^ LOL!
Fender has, historically, had problems getting the mandolin-thing right. But it is nice to see they're putting such a premium on brand consistency.
How long before I can order a drop-in pre-wired pickguard harness with upgraded pickups from Almuse and an upgraded four-barrel bridge from Moongazer?
You can probably get the bridge already, and if I were Pete I'd get busy on a few of those harnesses right away.
I do want one , but I have no explanation as to why , other than it is inexpensive . I probably would never play it
Looks fun!
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I'll happily wait for Ted's expert opinion. (And envy his ability to get there! Sometimes I miss California a LOT.)
(But I'm guessing this instrument will languish in the 'neither here nor there' nature of its position in Fender's corporate structure.)
[Wow. I'm really wearing some cranky pants about this. I wonder why? Time to shut up, Daniel] :)
I wonder if there`s enough metal over the string holes to drill another 3mm hole.......Strat saddles would improve things....
OMG, I was going to write this exact same post...Like word-for-word!
BTW, huge props for the classic Fender 7.25" fretboard radius on this. Hoping the frets aren't too tiny.
I too am really looking forward to Ted's hands-on review.
At the price point, it will almost certainly NOT come with a case or bag.
I've got a few jars of some accurate Sonic Blue kicking around, and some authentic early 60's decals....
A matching color peghead would look nice on that puppy, and it would be a joy to dump that inaccurate 'burst...
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...r/P1190091.jpg
Will check 'em out at NAMM, and give a full report...
There ya go Bruce. I love it.