Fender manufacturing quality American Professional II

[lefty bluesman]

Hello,
I just purchased a left handed pro II. As you probably know, on left handed models, fender uses righty pots (clockwise to increase), and reverses the lugs on the pots so the pots turn counter clockwise to increase with very limited range. I always rewire and resolder the wires back to righty as I like my pots to turn clockwise to increase and this way I have full range of volume/tone. Anyway, in taking a look at the electronics on this newly purchased guitar, I was *shocked* at the poor soldering work done at the American Fender factory. Wires were soldered only to the outside of the pot lug and not through the lug and them soldered in place.

In addition, I had to return the guitar as i was unable to get it in tune. The intonation was way off (I fixed that), but I was still unable to get the guitar in tune. There was something else going on with it.

Has anyone else noticed this, or did I just get a bad one?

 

[Lef T]

I haven't looked inside my 2019 lefty Jazzmaster Pro,but it actually came with left handed pots, wired correctly.
It only needed to a little lowering of the action to my preferences.
A little bit of nut sauce and it was good to go.
Stays in tune and is a great guitar.
I bought a 2001 Fender American Standard Tele lefty last month and it came with the righty pots
wired lefty.
I had lefty pots installed and the nut had to be done also.
It must have been early Monday morning when the nut was cut.

 

[Killing Floor]

Really? 70 years. It really hasn’t changed, it’s always been messy. Nobody buys a Fender because it the exceptional quality. You buy it because it’s the look and sound of rock’n’roll. And every other type of amplified music.

 

[lefty bluesman]

I forgot to mention that I purchased the guitar from Sweetwater, and they were great - going above and beyond to correct the issue(s).

 

[lefty bluesman]

Really? 70 years. It really hasn’t changed, it’s always been messy. Nobody buys a Fender because it the exceptional quality. You buy it because it’s the look and sound of rock’n’roll. And every other type of amplified music.

@Killing Floor
you might be right. I never expected such sloppy soldering from such an expensive guitar.

 

[kuch]

About a month ago I picked up a preowned/used AO 60s Tele. IIRC it's a '18. IMO the workmanship is great. Frets, fit, electronics, and finish are excellent. I pulled the control plate but didn't notice anything unusual and everything works as it should.
My other Fender guitars are '12 EJ Strat, '11 Am std Tele, '12 AV 52 Hotrod Tele. The build on those are also excellent.
They're all well built guitars and I've never really had any issues with USA Fenders.
Especially the EJ Strat and the AV52 Hotrod are IMHO near or equal to CS quality.

 

[Wrighty]

Hello,
I just purchased a left handed pro II. As you probably know, on left handed models, fender uses righty pots (clockwise to increase), and reverses the lugs on the pots so the pots turn counter clockwise to increase with very limited range. I always rewire and resolder the wires back to righty as I like my pots to turn clockwise to increase and this way I have full range of volume/tone. Anyway, in taking a look at the electronics on this newly purchased guitar, I was *shocked* at the poor soldering work done at the American Fender factory. Wires were soldered only to the outside of the pot lug and not through the lug and them soldered in place.

In addition, I had to return the guitar as i was unable to get it in tune. The intonation was way off (I fixed that), but I was still unable to get the guitar in tune. There was something else going on with it.

Has anyone else noticed this, or did I just get a bad one?

I have two AmPro Teles bought this year and have been really impressed with the aesthetics and build quality. Haven't looked at the wiring but my view is that if it works and carries on working I'm not too concerned with the method of soldering.
Suggests to me that you, unfortunately, got yourself a Friday afternoon guitar. I hope the replacement is what you dreamed of.

 

[HWTele]

I bought a 2019 BSB ash American Pro Tele -> fit and finish was perfect, extremely tight neck pocket, electronics were as should be, everything checked out under the hood as well. Could not have been happier with QC.

 

[jld_brow03]

Just got a Shell pink am Pro II telecaster, workmanship is very very good. No issues on my end.

 

[fatherjones]

Very surprising. I have one of those and I was quite pleased with the total quality of it.

 

[AquariumRock]

I think we have all heard the stories of Fender’s slipping quality in the last three and a half years let’s say.

Anecdotally, I don’t have any experience with the original AmPros, but I did try out a tele deluxe AmProII when I was hunting for a new neck shape (modern C wasn’t doing it for me anymore) and I was a bit surprised at how unfinished the guitar seemed.

It was still perfectly nice (didn’t care for the deep C neck though) I think in my head I felt a guitar costing $1750 should be the cream of the crop, so to speak. Or at least, there should be nothing wrong with it. There were a few sharp frets, the knobs felt a little finicky, I don’t know.

I have a Hybrid II telecaster I got for like, $900 and I’d say it was far better quality out of the box than the AmPro. Even the AmPerformers at 1300 or whatever are steep, imo, so I had a really hard time seeing where the extra 450 went for the Pro.

 

[lefty bluesman]

as an update, I returned the guitar and was sent a replacement. Much better quality.