Read Premier Guitar's recent review of the Road Worn Tele. Their reviewer went nuts, describing it as the perfect Telecaster, a guitar that just had it all.

I could look past the grotty finish for that.

It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't all worn in the same spots like the production line distressed jeans you can buy. I've tried 3 of them because I thought the Tele looked decent, but two of them had too many setup and quality issues like intonation, fret out etc. I have a couple really worn guitars and they wear I guess you would call it smoother where your arm rests on the body. The RW's just look like they've been hit with a sander. If they were around $5-600 I'd bite. But close to a grand for a MIM? Nah.

nice! yeah i think it was subic bay back then haha. cool!

I don't trust guitar magazine reviews. They operate on advertising dollars. I read them, get their point of view, then I go out myself and try stuff out. I have my own ears, eyes, fingers and technique. Tone wise it's the usual for me, nothing great or different, but nothing bad either. The one's I've tried are lacking in the QC dept.

Notice how you never see even the worst of worst stuff get a bad review in any magazine. They cant slam something who's makers are spending money on full page ad's.
As far as roadworn guitar go i'd like to think that theres good ones and bad ones, like all factories produce.

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No no and no

the same can be said about artist sig guitars too.

i have guitars from kirk hammett, jim root , james hetfield, paul allender--cradle of filth and tony iommi... i bought those because i like the setups... the same can be said on these relic's people like the look....Me personally i rather relic them with time instead of buying it.

Its a weird subject and it all comes down to looks and how people appreciate guitars, some do collect them and mount them on their walls

Yep they do. If you get a Road Worn, just hope your other bandmates don't but the same thing all worn in the same spots, I'd start to think poser.

63 that would be funny, actually two of my buddies have the joe strummer road worn guitar lol.....my esp truckster has the relics, but i also added my own damage some on purpose and by accident--fell off my bed and has a nice chip lol

but yea man but to each his own

Oh yeah, that's why they have so many variations of the same thing. When Iibought my Strat in 72, it was pretty much one flavor except for maple, rosewood a couple of neck widths and a hand full of colors. My 72 is really sweet. Real old school.

yea i gotcha, im lucky my truckster does have different "relic"marks of the paint fading away.

I always wondered why fender uses maple or rosewood for the board, isnt ebony a better sounding wood? if fender introduced that i think it would make for more choices rather 2

better sounding is all subjective.

Fender originally went with one piece hard rock maple necks, frets hammered in, not other piece for a fretboard. After the first round of Broadcasters(tele's) they added a truss rod, for stability, Leo didn't think they needed one.

Then after seeing his maple boards starting to wear, Leo thought they looked ugly. So he added rosewood because he thought it didn't wear as badly.Or that it didn't show wear as bad.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

Not better, just different. I have a rock maple neck. One piece with a "skunk stripe" where they inserted truss rod. I find that Strat has a tighter bottom end and a little more bite and cuts the mix a little better than my rosewood board guitars. In the 70's they used a poly finish. I hardly wears. On some it was too thick. Mines not too bad. I'd rather have the wear. It just depends on what you're after. I like the Strat for some stuff, my bucker equipped guitars for others. They are all my sonic tools.

Perhaps you should examine the magazine's advertiser based before you proclaim.

The magazine is supported by hundreds of small, boutique advertisers, and Fender buys no space that I've seen, and certainly no full-page ads.

And nobody was suggesting that you by anything based solely on a review. Just that one writer for one fairly objective magazine, while underwhelmed by the Road Worn Strat, found the Tele pretty damn hot.

Unless the magazine has NO advertising what so ever, I won't trust a review period. I've worked for magazines who were funded by or donated money to corporations who did not advertise in them. I'll never be convinced that Fender didn't know the review was coming.

I never rely on reviews about guitars...I think its better to go to the shop and hold it. Then i would start to play it to get the feel.

The same can also be said about the you tube videos of these online reviewers, they give nothing but praise on every guitar that is out there, i never really find a fault, which is odd.

The only negative i have heard and i know its not true, is that bolt on/in's are crap. That pisses me off, since fenders are all bolts and the guitars are amazing.