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Post subject: New 52 Tele AVRI Owner
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:05 pm
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Indeed, patience is a virtue when trying to find the perfect Tele. Several modifications were made to the pickup wiring and volume audio taper pot - see 3/6/09 post below). My '09 has everything I pretty much wanted in an AVRI: a super-light, perfectly grain-matched 3-piece Ash body - the left 2 pieces were flatsawn while the right piece was quartersawn; clear-grain maple neck that is perfectly quartered and this example has a lustrous, flawless medium-thick nitro finish; highest quality hardware for knobs, switch, plug socket and bridge. Perfect setup right off the showroom floor. Fender was generous to supply an optional modern bridge and spare capacitor as part of the case candy. Fender is at the top of their game as far as build quality goes, but it took a few simple but effective mods to further improve the pickup tone and volume.


Last edited by WCRefLib on Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:43 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:33 pm
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Hello WCRefLib,

Those 52's are about one of my
most favored telecasters I test
drive them with some regularity.
They are really super players &
and great lookers too.

Best of luck with your new axe.

Cheers.


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 5:25 am
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Hi,
Congrats!!!! I'm with you, I just purchased my 08 vAmerican vintage 52 tele and I think it is an amazing guitar. It feels great, the finish is perfect and it was setup just right for me out of the box. It is truly one of the finest guitars made , if not the finest.
I'll try to get some pictures soon.

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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Feb 23, 2009 2:59 pm
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I just got off the phone with Shawn at Fender. I was told my Tele AVRI is a 2009 model, serial number 653**, assigned on a very historic day in American history: January 20.

As everyone here knows by now, the AVRI list price was bumped up $250 to $2300 effective February 1. Hard to believe you could have acquired a Tele AVRI for $1100 street not so long ago.

Sometimes you have to eat a price increase to find the best example of a popular model. It was a challenge finding an AVRI that weighed in on the lighter side at around 7 lbs. Shawn said the weight of these Teles can vary between 7 and 10 lbs!

Kudos to all the good people at Fender, both in Scottsdale and Corona.


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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 5:55 am
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I got mine last week, right before the price increase. I ordered mine from MF (showed up in perfect condition) and I just checked the MF prices and it went up .....ALOT!!!

It is an amazing tele - I think the best one out there.

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Post subject:
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:40 am
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The AVRI's new $1840 sale price at 20% off is not MAP. That's the final sale price unless the dealer is willing and able to give their preferred customers a special break.


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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:02 pm
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After one week, my new Tele is back at the dealer today for warranty repair to replace an anemic volume pot, recheck the wiring for poor ground, and upgrade the capacitor that supposedly gives you a hotter treble and crisper bass. I'm keeping the stock bridge. Without making some radical upgrades, this Tele sounds like a lower-priced MIA or MIM Tele. :roll:

Bottom line: Depending on the quality of your example and what tone you expect out of your Tele, be prepared to replace and/or upgrade certain stock parts (pups, pots, wiring) over the life of the instrument.

As far as the build quality on this particular Tele (neck to body fit, nitro finished maple neck, premium ash grain matching, light weight) it gets high marks. At least I don't have that famous "sticky nitro neck" issue. The Gotoh supplied metal parts (Kluson style tuners, knobs, plate, bridge) are of excellent quality. You can keep looking at so many Teles for years as I did and find one defect or problem in each of them. Like any fine acoustic guitar made in a large factory (think Martin), no two Strats or Teles within a model or series are exactly alike. Buying guitars and finding the holy grail IMHO is a crapshoot. It pays to have lady luck on your side. :)

If you find sonic perfection like I did with my 57 Strat RI, hold onto it whenever possible.


Last edited by WCRefLib on Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 7:37 pm
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I finally got back my Tele this evenng after a few free dealer mods to the pickup wiring (upgraded the capacitor and a resistor) and replaced the rather weak-sounding (to my ears) stock Fender 250K audio taper volume pot with a (believe it or not) Gibson-spec 300K linear taper pot with the short shaft (Part #PPAT-310, $9.50) which are the tone pots on LPs and ESs.

Apparently, it's "normal" for the '52 AVRI's 250K audio taper volume pot not to have signficant volume until you reach what is equivalent to the 7-10 positions on a AVRI '57 Strat. When it's necessary to replace a stock audio taper volume pot and you want to keep it vintage spec, make sure the pot has a brass short shaft. The standard Fender replacement 250K audio taper pot has a steel shaft.

The result of these changes is much greater sparkle in the trebles, crisper mids and bass and a much greater dynamic range in volume.


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:51 pm
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Hello WCRefLib,

Thanks for the info,
Good stuff to be aware of.

Cheers.


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