Fender Deluxe Nashville Tele opinions

[Craig Williams]

Seen these being advertised fairly cheap at the moment. Not many about these are the pre Player models so old stock. Anyone have any thoughts on the Fender Deluxe Nashville? I really like Noiseless Vintage so won't be a problem for me there. I already have 2 Strat deluxes with the Noiseless. Going off the specs on paper looks like a desert Island guitar, can do it all. Is it really possible to get Strat tones out of them?
I like to play in the 2nd and 4th position. I see the newer Player Plus Nashville price around about $400 more than the deluxe. Is there that much difference between them?

Any advice appreciated

 

[black_doug]

You may like the 2nd and 4th position on a Nashville Tele. I don’t think it sounds like a Strat without the tremolo bridge. Close, but no.

 

[John C]

Seen these being advertised fairly cheap at the moment. Not many about these are the pre Player models so old stock. Anyone have any thoughts on the Fender Deluxe Nashville? I really like Noiseless Vintage so won't be a problem for me there. I already have 2 Strat deluxes with the Noiseless. Going off the specs on paper looks like a desert Island guitar, can do it all. Is it really possible to get Strat tones out of them?
I like to play in the 2nd and 4th position. I see the newer Player Plus Nashville price around about $400 more than the deluxe. Is there that much difference between them?

Any advice appreciated

There are a few differences between the older Deluxe Nashville and the Player Plus Nashville:

1. Nut width - the Deluxe Nashville was 1.65" wide while the Player Plus are 1.685" wide

2. Fingerboard edges - the Player Plus has the rolled fingerboard edges, the Deluxe Nashville does not

3. Fret size - the Deluxe Nashville has the "tall/narrow" while the Player Plus has medium jumbo

4. Pickups - not really sure if there is a difference; Fender of course says the Player Plus pickups are "new and improved" but they are based on the Vintage Noiseless design (based on seeing photos of the pickups)

5. Body shape - the Nashville Deluxe has the contoured neck heel but does not have the tummy cut; the Player Plus has the tummy cut but not the contoured neck heel

I suspect the main reason why the Deluxe Nashvilles are so much less expensive than the Player Plus where you are is that your local dealers are putting them on clearance sales. I still see a few Deluxe Nashville Teles here in the USA and they are still priced at $999.99 - which was the price they were at when the Player Plus models were introduced last fall; that price is $130 less than the Player Plus price.

 

[Craig Williams]

Thanks for that. I like the idea of the medium jumbos as opposed to the thin tall frets. All my other guitars have mediums. Just balk at the "player" noiseless a bit. Not much around about them. I really love the Vintage noiseless. I kinda suspect it may be the same PU but made in Mexico? or even Asia? But then again it sounds like noiseless Pu aren't made in the US anymore anyway. Could be completely wrong on that.

So I was looking at a new old stock Tele deluxe which I already thought was cheap, and now a Player plus Nashville has popped up, which is actually secondhand, but like new condition...and it's $100 cheaper than the new Deluxe Nashville. Unfortunately too far to try it so will have to take a leap of faith. I don't play that far up the neck so neck heel isn't an issue for me. Decisions decisions. What do you think you would do?

 

[John C]

Thanks for that. I like the idea of the medium jumbos as opposed to the thin tall frets. All my other guitars have mediums. Just balk at the "player" noiseless a bit. Not much around about them. I really love the Vintage noiseless. I kinda suspect it may be the same PU but made in Mexico? or even Asia? But then again it sounds like noiseless Pu aren't made in the US anymore anyway. Could be completely wrong on that.

So I was looking at a new old stock Tele deluxe which I already thought was cheap, and now a Player plus Nashville has popped up, which is actually secondhand, but like new condition...and it's $100 cheaper than the new Deluxe Nashville. Unfortunately too far to try it so will have to take a leap of faith. I don't play that far up the neck so neck heel isn't an issue for me. Decisions decisions. What do you think you would do?

I think that the Vintage Noiseless used on the MIM Deluxe series was already made in Mexico. Based on a couple of those youtube videos it looked like the pickups were made the same but I've never wound up playing the Deluxe Nashville back-to-back with the Player Plus to catch any sonic differences in the two.

When I was on a Tele hunt back around Thanksgiving I wound up with an American Performer after playing a good portion of the Fender lineup (Player, Player Plus, American Professional II and American Ultra). Between the Nashville Deluxe and the used Player Plus - it would come down to neck feel; the $100 price difference isn't enough to trump neck feel to me.

 

[Chester P Squier]

According to the Sweetwater site, the Player Plus Nashville Telecaster has the option of having the neck and bridge pickups play together. The Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster does not have this option.

I could be wrong; I'm just going by what I have read.

 

[John C]

According to the Sweetwater site, the Player Plus Nashville Telecaster has the option of having the neck and bridge pickups play together. The Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster does not have this option.

I could be wrong; I'm just going by what I have read.

Correct; I totally forgot to mention that. It is done through a push-pull pot on the tone control.

 

[ronmail65]

I had one of the Deluxe Nashville Teles a few years ago and sold it. Now I'm getting another one. Here's why...
- I sold the guitar because I also had one of the FSR Tele's with the built-in mid-boost. It's is hot! I could never achieve that tone with the Nashville, so I sold it despite it's other great attributes.
- I'm getting it again because I've never forgotten how great that Nashville played - the neck was awesome and that minor heel contour makes a big difference. Plus it's got that 22nd fret!!

I could care less about the middle pickup in the Nashville. If the Player Plus (with 2 PUPs) was the same price or cheaper and had the heel contour, I would have gotten that one. Plus, I didn't really work or try swapping the PUPs on the Nashville I had before. I'm willing to give it a try now - and I'm open to suggestions.

 

[stormsedge]

I have had a Nashville Deluxe ('06 model) for ~9 years. It was love/hate for many of those...mostly because the setup on it just didn't suit me. A year or so ago I added a seven-way control plate, gaining B-N and B-M-N along with the other five settings. In the process, I worked on the setup a little more...closer. A week or so ago, I pulled it down as I was planning to make some trades...still not there yet---a quick look at the neck and I saw it was set much flatter than my other guitars---a quick tweak of the truss (I had tweaked it before) and bang, it was in there. I really like the Tex/Mex pickups. Wrt to the setup, the frets took some getting used to over the assorted jumbos on my other guitars. But, this is a sweet guitar, especially for the $$s.

All that to this: I bought a second one a couple of days ago ('99 model). Why?...when what I was really looking for was a Strat and/or a regular Tele? Because even though some say "no", it is close enough to doing both to warrant a second one, with a BMason sort of arrangement (I already ordered a control plate). The new guitar has a lace pickup in the middle, so eventually I'll change the neck to a HB (probably a single coil size, as I like the colors on this one). And the price was right (actually less that the majority of the "regular" MIM Teles I was looking at).

Yeah, I bought a Strat too, but that is a story for another day.

 

[Craig Williams]

I ended up getting a display model Nashville player plus for a steal. Absolutely delighted with it. As far as I'm concerned definitely does the Strat and tele thing well. Position 2 and 4 (where I normally play) has the nice out of phase quack. All round very nice guitar.

 

[chris m.]

I like wiring the middle pickup so I can turn it on or off with a push-pull pot. Then the guitar can otherwise be operated like a stock Tele w a 3-way switch.