When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

[Gearjoneser]

Much like guitars in general, you may come across one that's as good as a vintage or Custom Shop?

I always like picking up Road Worn strats and teles just for fun at guitar stores. The necks feel good, but the consistency from guitar to guitar is spotty. 9 times out of 10, they sound acoustically dead or have fret out spots on the neck, unlike a guitar 3 times it's price. Then you pick up one that rings loud and has a perfect neck and setup.

I've generally had the best luck with the sunburst strat w/rosewood and the sunburst tele w/maple. Most gems I've picked up are those. If I ever did get one, I'd put a Callaham bridge on it, along with better pickups and strung w/11's. Then, it'd really be something.

Today, I played a $900 Road worn tele w/maple that's probably the only MIM $900 guitar I'd buy, if I were actually shopping for real.

It looked just like this one.
http://ventura.craigslist.org/msg/1809556632.html

 

[tone?]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

hey man

i cant help but play those as well.
and yes they do vary so much. mostly in the favor of them being crap. but every once in a while i pick up a nice one as well.
but because they are so off i dont think i would ever buy one.
they could of made them a taaaaaad bit better. sheesh. i mean some are horrible. high E strings slip off the board. total crap sometimes.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

hey man

i cant help but play those as well.
and yes they do vary so much. mostly in the favor of them being crap. but every once in a while i pick up a nice one as well.
but because they are so off i dont think i would ever buy one.
they could of made them a taaaaaad bit better. sheesh. i mean some are horrible. high E strings slip off the board. total crap sometimes.

The funny thing is that the MIM Road Worn might be as inconsistent as ACTUAL vintage guitars, compared to the always perfect CS guitars.
I've picked up some 50's and 60's guitars that sound and play as bad as some of the Road Worn guitars. Maybe that's why I like playing them....to test their quality level. I'd surely never buy one without trying it first, because the ratio of good ones is pretty low. But every once in awhile....

 

[Got_tone?]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

+1 to spotty MIM strats and teles. I found one that had gap in the neck pocket. I was able to fit 2 tortex picks (1mm) in the gap.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I tried a blonde tele, and totally loved it. However, every one I have tried since (tele included) was not as nice.

I foolishly assumed they would all be closer in "sound".

I won't make that mistake again if I find another good one.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

You are going to need to reinforce your floor if you acquire any more gear, or it all may end up in the downstairs neighbors living room!!!!!

I agree with you though....if you can find a used guitar that has been well played but has that certain sound, it can be worth every penny. In the end, only great guitars get played until the finish is worn off and the neck has been smoothed out by years of hand oil, sweat, smoke and who knows what else. Mojo just oozes from them.

 

[JeffB]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I've played several-mostly teles, but a few strats as well- Most have had good enough to really great acoustic properties- original production (08/early09) seem to be put together much better and the relicing job is more "realistic" (though of course it's not all that realistic to begin with). I did see a real dog a couple weeks ago while on a weekend trip. It was a 10xxxxx serial # and looked like a 5 year old put it together and relic'ed the pickguard. there were a couple 09xxx serial #s there too, and they were average. They did have a killer RW60s strat that frankly I would have bought over the Custom Shop 59 relic hanging next to it even if I had the $3K

The biggest issue I've seen with the RWs is fret overhang/sharp fret ends and poor setups. Of course this is mostly an issue with guitarmart models-quality private dealers tend to clean them up before putting them on the shelf (at least around here)

I had my salesguy at sweetwater comb their inventory and his tech went through a few different Roadworns for me to pick out the best one for play/tone. This particular one stood out among the masses apparently It's an early production model (08xxxxx serial #). Of course they do full setups & a 55 point inspection with your purchase, so they may have cleaned up the fret ends, etc, but this thing is certainly put together as well as any production American Standard guitar, and plays just as well too (I did drop to 9-46 string gauge and need to tweak the truss & saddles to get it back to perfect, but I'm waiting for my custom wound pups before I do that).

 

[WhoFan]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

i will say that i own a Closet Classic Custom Shop strat and it's pretty good... the finnish cracking and all the aging to it is not my thing but i snagged it for a steal so why not... but that being said i have tried out a lot of the Road Worn MIM strats and teles and some are amazing... some i liked better then my Custom Shop strat... price point does not always garranty that you get a better guitar in the end...

one issue have seen on a few Road Worn strats is the bridge and neck being off and the High E string does not sit on the neck right... and oddly the Road Worns mostly have too tight of a neck joint to shove the neck over... The onetime you need a neck to shift and you can't... IRONIC! the local shop had to return a few to Fender when they first got them...

I think the Road Worn stuff will be making "history" soon... a lot of retailers around my parts have them heavily reduced in price...

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I think the Road Worn stuff will be making "history" soon... a lot of retailers around my parts have them heavily reduced in price...

I think they'll really be fun guitars to buy when the used price drops to $500....same with the Joe Strummer relic tele, which I also like a lot.

My idea is to buy the gems cheap, then maybe refinish them in other colors, only to relic them slightly again. I'd love to find a Joe Strummer with a killer neck, then sand and refinish the body. I'd get the benefit of that cool looking rusty hardware.

 

[Wattage]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I've tried a bunch but haven't found a good one yet. In fairness I played no less than 100 MIM Strats when I bought mine years ago. Should've kept it.

 

[guitfiddle]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I think they'll really be fun guitars to buy when the used price drops to $500....same with the Joe Strummer relic tele, which I also like a lot.

My idea is to buy the gems cheap, then maybe refinish them in other colors, only to relic them slightly again. I'd love to find a Joe Strummer with a killer neck, then sand and refinish the body. I'd get the benefit of that cool looking rusty hardware.

Un-relicing a relic..I like it!!

I've thought about that same thing, cause the JS Teles that I've played always sound good.

 

[tone?]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I would like to buy a good one at around 500 and put in a real
good neck on it

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I would like to buy a good one at around 500 and put in a real
good neck on it

That would be easy to do, since you'll always find a buyer for a Road Worn neck. And they'll probably pay you enough to buy a good USACG neck.

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

That would be easy to do, since you'll always find a buyer for a Road Worn neck. And they'll probably pay you enough to buy a good USACG neck.

I did the opposite: bought a Road Worn neck and put it on my American Standard Strat --- now I have a guitar that feels 50 years old, it feels awesome, and it doesn't look goofy. Win-win.

 

[tone?]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

I can confirm what Joe said
just played a road worn with rosewood board
it was right next to a custom shop R Gallahger
would you believe the roadworn sounded as good??
Almost??

The guy at the shop said that's why they had em close to each other
of course the CS had better work done but......

 

[SFW]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

The road worn guitars that I've palyed were nice, but not $1k nice.

 

[BrockSamson]

Re: When playing Fender Road Worn guitars...

The only "Road worn" Strat I would ever buy is the David Gilmour black strat.