Re: what's fender smoking?
Dude, I've only had one experience with an LSR nut and it was not good, not to mention they kinda limit the string gauges you can use. It's not like you can exactly open up the space between a pair of ball bearings with a file.
I think the basic Select Tele is stunning. Dig.
the basic one... I would dig if it was pickguardless. I could never get used to a PG on a flametop fender. It just ruins the aesthetic a bit for me. (Although i can see the functionality in the event of say you pluck right over the pickup and you don't want to dig out the coils, so there is a practical purpose, as with most fender PGs.) I could adapt to it, but on a strat, i like a back-loaded, no PG flame / quilt top... bookmatched CS strats with such loading have proven to be absolutely stunning guitars.
As for the LSR nut. I have one, I use it, and it's great for me. No binding, no having to recut because I want to change string gauges, and in the 5 years I have had my current strat, I have NEVER lost one of the ball-bearings. They can go up to .014-.060 with zero modifications (I asked Fender about this) and I can leave my strat without playing it for weeks, and it mitigates the string-binding that occurs due to expanding and contracting wood.
Those other companies aren't boutique because they put fancy tops on bolt-ons.
They're boutique because it's usually 1 - 5 craftsmen building them with an attention to detail that a larger company can't or won't offer at the same price point.
I think Fender is getting dinged here because they're charging the same money as you would pay for a Suhr or Anderson or Grosh, but you aren't getting a Fender Custom Shop instrument. You are getting a standard production guitar made with fancy woods for custom shop money.
This. I've played Fenders (non-CS) where the gap between the neck and the body was enough to stick a heavy pick (1.2mm) within them. My AmDlx, I got lucky, it has a fairly tight fit (not where i can pick the whole thing up just by holding the neck, but not massive gaps either). The CS is more consistent, but even at the Teambuilt level it's almost a production unit (albeit with more specialized labor and better woods). The boutique guys (particularly callaham, which is a 2-man operation in building guitars and is building ZERO for 2012) deal with fancy woods, odd pickup / wiring configs, etc., enough to know not only what works and what doesn't, but also how to maximize the resonant and sustain qualities of the wood while maintaining a tonality that is pleasing to the end-user. I gather for whatever the street price becomes ($1800 to $2000 is my guess), it will still be the same "random pick of neck to body... hope it works" with a pretty top and pretty neck (flames galore). As I say, if the select was more of a "player's guitar" with "player oriented upgrades towards tone and playability" BEYOND the amdlx, i'd rather have that than have to deal with a no-more-playable-than-the-amdlx-but-prettier guitar.
I think they look great but they better be better than the crap I've played from them lately.
This. Lately it seems only the AVRI, AmDlx, US Artist, and CS guitars have been consistently great. MIMs are good, but it seems the USA bread n butter has been falling off the job in favor of cost-cutting. A USA Select shouldn't just be pretty, but it should minimize any reason for me to upgrade even at the fundamental level (pots, caps, bridge, etc.,) and have a build quality even higher than the amdlx. If fender wanted to go boutique-style, the build quality more than the pretty constitutes the glut of S-style and T-style boutiques. Those ornaments are mere ornaments, and do minimal to nothing to make the guitar a better player.
