New MIJ Traditional II 60s Tele Arrived

[electroman]

The Trad II 60s Tele is here. Took about a week from Japan. Fit and finish is spectacular. Still setting it up. So far I'm loving it, although there will be a getting-used-to period as all my other guitars have a 24 3/4" scale. My only issue so far, aside from normal setup type things, is that the high E string doesn't respond well; it lacks body compared to the other strings; thin sounding. It could be the threaded steel bolt type saddles (whatever their proper name is) or the neck pickup could contribute to it. I'll drop in a set of Gotoh brass saddles and raise the treble side of the neck pickup and see what happens.

With regard to the pickups on these, there is nothing written on the underside of the neck pickup, but there is a sticker with this:
PTP1071 A56T-PU42-730 TTCF I assume the A56T might refer to alnico 5, but the rest is foreigh to me. (no pun intended) Does anyone know what the rest of the code means? Manufacturer code?

Love the tuners; probably Gotoh. The vintage style frets are not too small, the narrow nut width (41.02 MM) seems OK. I think a few of the old Fenders from the 1960s had nuts that were under 41 MM. I'll post again with an update after I get the brass saddles installed. This is my first ever new Fender Telecaster off the rack; feeling great about the purchase; the Japanese merchant was excellent.

 

[Jakedog]

Congratulations! IMO, Fender Japan is making the best stuff of any of their factories right now.

 

[GGardner]

Congrats. Great color. Which vendor did you use?

 

[electroman]

Congrats. Great color. Which vendor did you use?

It was an eBay listing, but the merchant is a legit music store. His eBay name is carry-happiness.

 

[kinkstah]

Congratulations! IMO, Fender Japan is making the best stuff of any of their factories right now.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[Fendereedo]

Nice, congratulations .

 

[Wallaby]

Congratulations!

That body, pickguard and fretboard color combination are high on my list, also - it looks great!

 

[H. Mac]

My only issue so far, aside from normal setup type things, is that the high E string doesn't respond well; it lacks body compared to the other strings; thin sounding. It could be the threaded steel bolt type saddles (whatever their proper name is) or the neck pickup could contribute to it. I'll drop in a set of Gotoh brass saddles and raise the treble side of the neck pickup and see what happens.

Why not try another e string first?

 

[electroman]

Why not try another e string first?

It came with 9s and I use 10s on a 25 1/5 scale guitar, so I changed the strings already. I put the Gotoh brass saddles on and it improved the response of the top string considerably. I also raised the treble side of the pickups and lowered the bass sides. The overall frequency response is better. The bridge pickup is pure Bakersfield; couldn't help playing the Buckaroo riff. Jury is out on the neck pickup for now. It is very different than my other parts Tele pickups. Maybe that's what a true 60s Tele neck pickup sounds like. After all, they are called 60s Vintage, or something like that. They certainly nailed it with the bridge pickup. Regardless, I'll play it for a while before changing anything else. I should mention that the Gotoh In-tune Compensated saddles are perfect for the width of this neck. I didn't have an issue with the intonation on the other saddles, but it's nice to have the compensation with these. The real plus is in the sound though.

 

[blue metalflake]

Sounds like you got it cracked - enjoy it.

 

[MichaelD83]

Anyone know why we don’t get Japanese import fender in the states, only Mexico ?

 

[electroman]

Anyone know why we don’t get Japanese import fender in the states, only Mexico ?

There are a few models that come in, such as the JV Modified series, but it's very limited. My understanding is that Fender Japan and Fender USA have some kind of non-cometition agreement. Someone else might know how that relationship works. Ironically, when Fender set up manufacturing in Mexico they brought over technicians from the Fugi-Gen factory to train the Mexicans.

 

[MichaelD83]

There are a few models that come in, such as the JV Modified series, but it's very limited. My understanding is that Fender Japan and Fender USA have some kind of non-cometition agreement. Someone else might know how that relationship works. Ironically, when Fender set up manufacturing in Mexico they brought over technicians from the Fugi-Gen factory to train the Mexicans.

They didn’t train them very well if that’s the case !