NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

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Funkfingers

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Actually purchased ten days ago. Brand new but had been lurking in the shop for three years. Discounted to make way for the incoming 2012 revised AVRI range.

010-046 strings off, AVRI pickups out, CS Nocaster pickups in, compensated brass saddles fitted, 009-042 strings on. Planning to change to a .022uF capacitor on the tone pot and fit a proper sprung selector switch.

This was originally intended to serve as a backup for my Relic Nocaster. (Going to need some hard gigging to collect the necessary dents and scratches.) Could post pics but you already know what a butterscotch blonde ash/maple blackguard Tele looks like.

Next stop, culling several of my mid-price T style guitars.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

Cool. With the changes in specs in the AVRI line, I was waiting for some NGD threads for discounted old ones.

One of the best sounding guitars I ever played was an AVRI in BSB. I kept it bone stock. I sold it once my CS Esquire came my way, as it sounds just the same or even better. I regret selling the AVRI now.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

I detest the feel of the CRL selector switch type with the wheel that runs over a corrugated surface with a slight sideways motion into each notch.

I prefer the way that a sprung switch snaps into each position.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

The pickup voicing, the finish thickness and, erm…

You're right. What else is there to revise?
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

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Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

uOpt said:
What in the world do they want to revise in 2012?
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They basically went back to the drawing board and used actual 1952 specimens as templates and rebuilt them from the ground up. New pickups, different method and paint formula for finishing, revised neck shape, revised colour...
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

Powdered Toast Man said:
They basically went back to the drawing board and used actual 1952 specimens as templates and rebuilt them from the ground up. New pickups, different method and paint formula for finishing, revised neck shape, revised colour...
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...and all that, but still a poly undercoat on pre-'63-based reissues. D'oh!

And I wonder if they are using the proper milled jack cup and the proper mix of Philips and slot screws now.

The new ones are nicer than the old ones, but they still aren't really correct in terms of specs, and they are more expensive than the old ones.

The red '65 Strat gives me a boner, though. I am perched and waiting for one of those to turn up on the used market.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

Powdered Toast Man said:
They basically went back to the drawing board and used actual 1952 specimens as templates and rebuilt them from the ground up. [...]
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Oh yeah just like the last time they said they did a totally authentic reissue. Nothing changed since the first reissues in what 1968?

Guitar companies suck.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

ItsaBass said:
...and all that, but still a poly undercoat on pre-'63-based reissues. D'oh!

And I wonder if they are using the proper milled jack cup and the proper mix of Philips and slot screws now.

The new ones are nicer than the old ones, but they still aren't really correct in terms of specs, and they are more expensive than the old ones.

The red '65 Strat gives me a boner, though. I am perched and waiting for one of those to turn up on the used market.
Click to expand...

If you sincerely care that much about the jack cup and what kinds of screws they use, feel free to buy an authentic 60's Strat.
 
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Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

Ironically, guitar makers likely switched to poly and other plastic finishes because players of the day probably complained that the nitro finishes were not durable and showed wear. Now we all want visible wear right away.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

ratherdashing said:
If you sincerely care that much about the jack cup and what kinds of screws they use, feel free to buy an authentic 60's Strat.
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I care about a reissue being a reissue.

Your comment does not logically follow my gripes.

Powdered Toast Man said:
Ironically, guitar makers likely switched to poly and other plastic finishes because players of the day probably complained that the nitro finishes were not durable and showed wear. Now we all want visible wear right away.
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They largely switched for cost saving reasons. Lacquer took dozens of coats, with prep and polish in between each set of coats. Poly is a few coats and that's it. It's more difficult to get good results, but it saves tons of labor time.

Also, who else but Fender switched? I'm curious. Gibson didn't. Guild didn't. Martin didn't. Mosrites were poly from the start. Music Man, from the start G&L from the start. What about Hamer and Dean? What did they use when they were starting?

Look, I don't care about finish or specs or whatever on an absolute level. Nitro, poly, screws, whatever. I care about a product being what the maker claims it is...about the company that is "reissuing" guitars actually doing their homework, instead of making combinations of specs that never appeared in the first place, and then reaming people up the ass for them because they supposedly match the original specs.
 
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Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

Powdered Toast Man said:
Ironically, guitar makers likely switched to poly and other plastic finishes because players of the day probably complained that the nitro finishes were not durable and showed wear. Now we all want visible wear right away.
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Actually, what happened was environmental regulations. Nitrocellulose is brutally toxic stuff, and in the 60's the EPA started putting heavy regulations on its use.

Car companies were the primary consumers of nitro, and they all started switching to other options because the new regs made nitro cost-prohibitive. At the same time, new alternatives came along (such as poly) that were cheaper and easier to work with. This drastically reduced the demand for nitro, which turned it into a costly niche product.

Fender in particular was affected because their finishes were almost entirely also car finishes. The solid colors were all used on cars at the time. When the car companies stopped ordering these paints, DuPont stopped making them. Fender needed to switch to poly in order to keep the paint flowing. This is probably why Fender switched early on while the other big builders stuck with nitro.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

ItsaBass said:
Look, I don't care about finish or specs or whatever on an absolute level. Nitro, poly, screws, whatever. I care about a product being what the maker claims it is...about the company that is "reissuing" guitars actually doing their homework, instead of making combinations of specs that never appeared in the first place, and then reaming people up the ass for them because they supposedly match the original specs.
Click to expand...

They don't use wood from the same trees as before.

The people who made the originals are long gone.

The building they're made in is in a different city.

The tools they use are different.

How far do they need to go before an instrument can be called a perfectly accurate reissue?

Actually, I know the answer to that: as far as they need to go to sell guitars.

Fender is in the business of selling guitars, not building molecule-perfect replicas. If they thought that screws would be the tipping point for someone to not buy an instrument, they'd do something about it. Money talks.
 
Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

ratherdashing said:
They don't use wood from the same trees as before.

The people who made the originals are long gone.

The building they're made in is in a different city.

The tools they use are different.

How far do they need to go before an instrument can be called a perfectly accurate reissue?

Actually, I know the answer to that: as far as they need to go to sell guitars.

Fender is in the business of selling guitars, not building molecule-perfect replicas. If they thought that screws would be the tipping point for someone to not buy an instrument, they'd do something about it. Money talks.
Click to expand...

A reissue cannot be perfect. I don't expect it to be. It's about looks, though. As far as looking "right" upon shallow visual inspection, there shouldn't be issues on such expensive guitars. I do expect them to be, at a glance, not easily discernible from the specs of and original, condition aside. And I expect the easy, simple, cheap things to be a no brainer, especially when they revamp the line making claims of increased accuracy, and giving us a 20% price hike to go with it. It's a different deal with a cheap guitar. But if you are paying that kind of money, it should be what it claims to be. The issue here is paying a boutique price because something is supposedly an accurate reissue, but then having it have notably different specs. Easy to fix things, too.

They aren't bad guitars in any way, shape, or form. They are great guitars. I just have an issue with how they are marketed and priced...especially after this latest revamp. They didn't do anything to warrant the price hikes of several hundred dollars. Thinner lacquer finish? Who cares; it's still over poly, and that is the main gripe with the AVRI finishes.

Hopefully it will backfire and prices will come down fall to Earth when people realize that you are now probably better off buying a used, babied CS model instead of a new AVRI.
 
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Re: NGD: Fender AVRI '52 Tele

jcthejester13 said:
I'm performing a completely random survey
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You don't say. :D

To those thread contributors interested in guitars, I bought a vintage style T because I happen to like them with those features. I am under no delusions that any re-issue guitar is authentic to the details of a genuine, historic piece.

If/when I want to obsess about the screw head pattern, capacitor type or the control knob height, I crack open a copy of "The Blackguard".
 
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