Fender Standard Telecaster, Laurel Fingerboard, Olympic White

Fender Standard Telecaster, Laurel Fingerboard, Olympic White

Few electric guitars look quite as immediately finished as a Telecaster in Olympic White. Add a dark Indian laurel fingerboard, crisp white pickguard and chrome hardware, and the Fender Standard Telecaster in Olympic White has that wonderfully clean, no-nonsense appearance that works just as well under stage lights as it does leaning against an amp waiting for somebody to play it.

The body is made from poplar and finished in gloss polyurethane, retaining the familiar slab-sided Telecaster shape that's been causing trouble in studios, pubs and arenas for generations. This is very much Fender's straightforward take on the instrument: two pickups, two knobs, a three-way switch and very little standing between your hands and the amplifier.

Those pickups are a pair of Fender Standard Single-Coil Tele pickups, designed to provide authentic Fender character with plenty of usable output. The bridge position delivers the attack, definition and bite you'd expect from a Tele, while the neck pickup gives you a smoother, rounder voice for rhythm work, bluesier leads and warmer clean sounds. Throw the three-way blade selector into the middle and both pickups work together for that familiar open, balanced combination.

The neck is maple with a Modern C profile, finished in smooth satin urethane across the back with a gloss urethane headstock face. It's an approachable shape designed to feel comfortable across a broad range of playing styles rather than forcing you into any particular technique.

This version pairs that maple neck with an Indian laurel fingerboard, giving the Olympic White guitar a lovely darker contrast compared with its maple-board sibling. The board uses Fender's familiar 9.5" radius, with 21 medium-jumbo frets, white dot markers and a full 25.5" scale length. A Micarta nut measuring 42.86mm wide rounds out a setup that should feel immediately familiar to plenty of Fender players.

At the other end, the string-through-body Tele bridge uses individual satin chrome steel block saddles, providing straightforward adjustment while maintaining the solid, practical design that suits a Tele so well. Fender Standard cast/sealed tuners handle tuning duties, while the rest of the hardware is finished in chrome.

It's a cracking choice for somebody moving into their first proper Fender, but the appeal goes well beyond that. Telecasters have always been extraordinarily adaptable instruments, and this Standard model keeps the recipe refreshingly direct. Country snap, indie jangle, blues, rock, punk, clean rhythm work or a filthy overdriven amp – two single coils and a slab of wood can get an alarming amount done.

Features

• Fender Standard Telecaster

• Classic Telecaster solid-body electric guitar

• Olympic White colour

• Gloss polyurethane body finish

• Poplar body

• Classic Telecaster body shape

• Bolt-on maple neck

• Comfortable Modern C neck profile

• Satin urethane neck finish

• Gloss urethane finish on the headstock face

• Indian laurel fingerboard

• Attractive dark fingerboard contrasts beautifully with the Olympic White finish

• 9.5" / 241mm fingerboard radius

• 21 medium-jumbo frets

• 25.5" / 648mm scale length

• Nut width: 1.6875" / 42.86mm

• Micarta nut

• White dot position markers

• Dual-action head-adjust truss rod

• Two Fender Standard Single-Coil Tele pickups

• Traditional SS pickup configuration

• 3-position blade pickup 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

• Individual satin chrome steel block saddles

• Fender Standard cast/sealed machine heads with hex buttons

• Chrome hardware

• Knurled flat-top control knobs

• 3-ply white pickguard

• Four-bolt neck construction

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