Fender Toronado Crew:

I have seen a handful of posts but I don't think there is an official 'owners club' post dedicated for these cool :cool: fender humbucker guitars. I for one didn't even know they existed until earlier this year. When I saw one I just knew I had to have one. Here I am a few months later, and a proud owner of an original black 1998 Fender Toronado! I got mine from a local trade, and I feel like I finally got a good deal. My hope is to bring the guitar back to it's original form for the most part. Only changes have been are the pickguard (black) which I like, and the bridge pup was changed out from a '72 Deluxe Tele RI. Thought it would be decent, but it pales in comparison to the original atomic humbucker (so if you happen to have one, hit me up). New tuning keys also from the same '72 Deluxe Tele RI (also fine by me).

Any who...anyone else got a Toronado they would like to share about. These are really great guitars for the price, at least from my perspective. Really rounds out my collection with a strat, tele, and new toro. :cool:

There has got to be a few more Toronado owners out there...right?
Did you all sell them or something, :neutral: Well, for what it's worth I really dig mine, and this is one of the funkiest bodies, and a great chunky neck.
Can't wait to get that bride p/u and set it up a bit more to my liking. :cool:
Few more pics. One showing the fam.

RubyRae! I had a black one from '98 it was all original with the tortoiseshell pickguard and atomic humbuckers, which are fantastic! Best pawn shop find I've ever had. It was one of my favorite guitars too, but it was either that or the tele:sad:...I sold that and my '73 Silverface twin to finance my writing career,,which has taken off, so one day again I will own another '98 Toronado,,really one of the coolest sounding guitars I've ever had. Spaghetti western on a humbucker? the toronado does with big hairy cajones. I sold mine to a 16 year old kid who was in awe..he had never even heard of them, he was going to get a Jazzmaster, but this straitened out his shorthairs, so off it went...figures that you are one to have it too, nobody knows how killer these are!

That's cool that you once had one, and liked it enough to want one again. You can't really beat it for the price some of these are going for. I really was only interested in the early (original) model. Those atomic humbuckers are fierce in this guitar, so I plan on getting that back for the bridge. Some of the tones I get from this guitar are just plain funky, but cool and useful. Now I got the fever for a jazzmaster, and BIG fever for the (no relation) Fender Coronado. I'm real happy with it and haven't put it down. It's a work out compared to my others, so will have that medicine ball effect when I pick up my tele or strat again.

Just got one through a trade on Craigslist. It's a 2002 (? I think, gunna look into it) and I traded for a MIM standard strat. I think I got a good trade out of it!

One question: It has an SD bridge hunbucker, but would I be able to use (or find for that matter) an original Toronado pickup cover over the SD? I like the look of matching humbuckers. Would it fit?