Fender Standard Telecaster, Maple Fingerboard, Butterscotch Blonde

Fender Standard Telecaster, Maple Fingerboard, Butterscotch Blonde

Some guitar designs spend decades being redesigned, streamlined, modernised and generally interfered with. The Telecaster has largely spent that time looking back at everyone and saying, “Nah, I'm grand.” The Fender Standard Telecaster in Butterscotch Blonde takes that famously straightforward formula and packages it into an accessible, modern Fender built for players who want the real thing without unnecessary complication.

And visually, this one absolutely knows what it's doing. Butterscotch Blonde, maple fingerboard and a black three-ply pickguard is about as unmistakably Telecaster as combinations get. Underneath that gloss polyurethane finish is a poplar body, retaining the familiar slab-bodied Tele shape that's been slung around the shoulders of country pickers, blues players, indie bands, punk guitarists and rock players for generations.

Plug it in and you're dealing with the classic two-single-coil Telecaster layout, here using Fender's Standard ceramic single-coil Tele pickups. They're voiced for a punchy, higher-output character while retaining the clarity and direct response that makes a Tele such a versatile machine. The bridge pickup brings the bite and attack; the neck offers a rounder, smoother alternative; and the middle position combines both when you want a little of each.

Controls remain gloriously uncomplicated: Master Volume, Master Tone and a three-way blade selector. That's it. No menus. No push-pull labyrinth. No wondering which of seventeen miniature switches you've accidentally knocked during the chorus. Just three genuinely useful pickup sounds and two knobs.

The maple neck uses Fender's comfortable Modern C profile, with a satin urethane finish on the back that keeps things feeling smooth beneath the hand. The maple fingerboard has a familiar 9.5" radius, paired with 21 medium-jumbo frets and a full 25.5" scale length. It's a nicely approachable setup whether you're working through your first proper electric-guitar repertoire or you've already spent years discovering just how many completely different noises can come out of two Tele pickups.

Down at the bridge, Fender uses a string-through-body Tele design with satin chrome steel block saddles. It's a more contemporary six-saddle arrangement than the old-school three-barrel setup, giving you individual adjustment for each string while retaining the solid string-through construction associated with the Tele design. Fender Standard sealed tuners take care of things at the other end.

The Fender Standard Telecaster makes a lot of sense as a first serious Fender, but there's nothing remotely beginner-only about the fundamental recipe. It's a straightforward, highly usable electric guitar built around one of the most enduring designs ever made.

Butterscotch. Black guard. Maple board. Two single coils. Sometimes the obvious choice is obvious for a very good reason.

Features

• Fender Standard Telecaster

• Classic Telecaster solid-body electric guitar

• Butterscotch Blonde finish

• Gloss polyurethane body finish

• Poplar body

• Classic Telecaster body shape

• Maple neck

• Comfortable Modern C neck profile

• Satin urethane neck finish

• Gloss urethane headstock face

• Maple fingerboard

• 9.5" / 241mm fingerboard radius

• 21 medium-jumbo frets

• 25.5" / 648mm scale length

• Nut width: 1.6875" / 42.86mm

• Micarta nut

• Black dot position markers

• Dual-action head-adjust truss rod

• Two Fender Standard ceramic single-coil Telecaster pickups

• Traditional SS pickup configuration

• 3-position blade selector

• Position 1: Bridge pickup

• Position 2: Bridge and neck pickups

• Position 3: Neck pickup

• Master Volume

• Master Tone

• Standard string-through-body Tele bridge

• Satin chrome steel block saddles

• Fender Standard cast/sealed machine heads with hex buttons

• Chrome hardware

• Knurled flat-top control knobs

• 3-ply black pickguard

• Four-bolt neck construction

• Factory strings: Nickel Plated Steel .009–.042