Fender American Professional II Telecaster - Rosewood/3-Color Sunburst

Great guitar. Tried a new Player Tele. And while that is a decent guitar in its own right, let's just say don't kid yourself and think they are the same. They are not. The neck alone is about 1000 times better. Pickups are very dynamic, nice well rounded and the switch to run the single coils in series is remarkably amazing. The bridge and the neck pickups are still excellent by themselves, but the mid section is underwhelming in my opinion. The running in series changed that quite nicely.After that, the finish is top notch, the neck is pure heaven and everything else is Tele perfect. A really nice guitar and I would say priced quite nicely at the 1500 mark.

40yr experience the absolute best Tele!

I'm not employed by Fender, have many terrific guitars from Gibson, Fender, Martin - most US, some Fender made in Mexico which are nice playing, quality instruments. They all need their tweaks here and there to get to your personal level of playability and satisfaction. As for Telecasters, currently have 3 including this new one in Miami Blue (we'll get to that in a moment) and this is hands down, the absolute best Telecaster I've ever played or owned. It is SO comfortable - out of the case (which is a new style and impressive on its own merit) was flawless. Put a strap on, tuned and felt something odd - nice lightweight alder, it felt different, smaller, more comfortable . . . it's the same size of course but the edges of the body are more rounded than the typical ... MoreI'm not employed by Fender, have many terrific guitars from Gibson, Fender, Martin - most US, some Fender made in Mexico which are nice playing, quality instruments. They all need their tweaks here and there to get to your personal level of playability and satisfaction. As for Telecasters, currently have 3 including this new one in Miami Blue (we'll get to that in a moment) and this is hands down, the absolute best Telecaster I've ever played or owned. It is SO comfortable - out of the case (which is a new style and impressive on its own merit) was flawless. Put a strap on, tuned and felt something odd - nice lightweight alder, it felt different, smaller, more comfortable . . . it's the same size of course but the edges of the body are more rounded than the typical hard flat Tele body I've been familiar with for so long. The neck heel is contoured, the fretboard edges are rolled and fret wire are like butter! Pickups and push button which activates both pickups in series make the tone range so wide. Very impressed to say the least. Now, the Miami blue shown in stock photos here and elsewhere looks much lighter and brighter than in person. The actual color is darker with a greenish tint to it. Either way, the guitar is not going anywhere but would like you to be aware and search for pics on Google until you see or have a grasp of what the range of photos capture. It's not a traditional Fender color but looks fantastic - I know you will not be disappointed.

Absolutely would purchase again!

I am blown away, had a new limited edition Gibson and traded it in. I am blown away, the tone is amazing, rich, warm sound and the treble bleed switch gives it incredible sound. Leads sound fantastic, rhythm is awesome. I can't say enough about it and the color is beautiful. I bought the Dark Night and the online photos don't do justice, WOW! Add some distortion and watch out or throw in some overdrive and you're off. Guaranteed to make an average player better immediately. The neck is smooth as glass and super fast. Playable right out of the box but always get mine setup and replace the strings. Have to compliment the Pasadena, TX, store reps. Michael the manager was great to get to know and was very amiable. Really worked to satisfy my demands as a customer. ... MoreI am blown away, had a new limited edition Gibson and traded it in. I am blown away, the tone is amazing, rich, warm sound and the treble bleed switch gives it incredible sound. Leads sound fantastic, rhythm is awesome. I can't say enough about it and the color is beautiful. I bought the Dark Night and the online photos don't do justice, WOW! Add some distortion and watch out or throw in some overdrive and you're off. Guaranteed to make an average player better immediately. The neck is smooth as glass and super fast. Playable right out of the box but always get mine setup and replace the strings. Have to compliment the Pasadena, TX, store reps. Michael the manager was great to get to know and was very amiable. Really worked to satisfy my demands as a customer. Jasmin was great to deal with also, has a great personality and was just as excited to help me open the package at the store as I was. Great people to deal with. Can't say enough about the playability of this Fender Telecaster Pro II. Frets were smooth, no rough spots, narrow tall, and easy to play leads. Can't go wrong with this guitar. Last part of review, the molded to fit case is spot on and solid.

Good but Performer Sounds Better

I caught the telecaster bug so I first bought a classic vibe 50s telecaster. Then I bought an American performer Telecaster in honey burst. Then I bought a professional II telecaster in dark knight finish thinking it would be a big step up in quality and tone from my other two. Well the professional II is very well constructed. The performer is just as well constructed but different pickups and bridge/saddle. At the end of the day the professional had all of the right stuff but was missing the magic sparkle when playing it side by side for hours against my other two telecasters. Even the classic vibe shockingly sounds a little better...more attack, sustain, and fullness. I do like the professional II but not enough to keep it. Again I'm quite shocked that I didn't ... MoreI caught the telecaster bug so I first bought a classic vibe 50s telecaster. Then I bought an American performer Telecaster in honey burst. Then I bought a professional II telecaster in dark knight finish thinking it would be a big step up in quality and tone from my other two. Well the professional II is very well constructed. The performer is just as well constructed but different pickups and bridge/saddle. At the end of the day the professional had all of the right stuff but was missing the magic sparkle when playing it side by side for hours against my other two telecasters. Even the classic vibe shockingly sounds a little better...more attack, sustain, and fullness. I do like the professional II but not enough to keep it. Again I'm quite shocked that I didn't want to keep the professional II and sell my others... but price doesn't always mean better tone just different. Try them all before buying. Note I play mostly clean so someone who using more overdrive may prefer the professional II. Shocking how good my cheap classic vibe is...as good as any really... construction and sound wise. I think the four saddles on the professional II killed the tone but you can always swap that out. Four saddles gives you more control over intonation but you sacrifice sustain, punch, and brightness.

I love this guitar!!

Take away all the “it’s not vintage” chatter, this is an excellent instrument. There is nothing about this guitar I don’t love. I have both an AP and an AP2 and so far I prefer the AP but both are excellent. The V-Mods sound great to me, maybe the best single coil bridge tone I’ve ever gotten, but I’ve mostly played strats with Fralins, EJ’s vintage Fender and many others. The neck is one of my favorites of any guitar I’ve ever had (don’t ask). I don’t see ever getting rid of my 2017 butterscotch AP. There is nothing about it I don’t love. The AP2 has yet to be fully explored but I can’t imagine what improvements could be done. Everything about the American Professional works for me.

Inspiring to play

I've had one for about 1.5 years. It's a very raw guitar that inspires me when I play. The tone is fantastic and the neck plays great. I replaced the tortoiseshell with a black pickguard which I think looks better. I also added Fender locking tuners for easier string installation. One thing to note is that it has rolled edges on the neck which can be quite slippy for the two E strings, especially the top one. I've had to adjust my playing to account for this. I can't speak enough about the tone. The guitar sounds amazing. One of my favorite guitars.

It's great

The best thing about this guitar is the neck. The neck is pure greatness, so smooth and easy. The next best thing about this guitar is the pick ups. They sound amazing. It's a little spiky through my Vox ac30 (gotta roll off the tone control) but pure creamy goodness through my fender amps. The third best thing about this guitar is that the fingerboard is so dark, i'd swear it was Ebony instead of Rosewood. I love an ebony fingerboard. Side by side next to my rosewood American professional I Stratocaster, this fingerboard is so much darker for whatever reason. It looks awesome having such a dark fingerboard with the dark night body...Downsides, The bushings in the back of the body for the string-through we're not tightly fitted into the body and might fall out if ... MoreThe best thing about this guitar is the neck. The neck is pure greatness, so smooth and easy. The next best thing about this guitar is the pick ups. They sound amazing. It's a little spiky through my Vox ac30 (gotta roll off the tone control) but pure creamy goodness through my fender amps. The third best thing about this guitar is that the fingerboard is so dark, i'd swear it was Ebony instead of Rosewood. I love an ebony fingerboard. Side by side next to my rosewood American professional I Stratocaster, this fingerboard is so much darker for whatever reason. It looks awesome having such a dark fingerboard with the dark night body...Downsides, The bushings in the back of the body for the string-through we're not tightly fitted into the body and might fall out if you top-load. Which leads me to my next criticism, I did top load this guitar with the string through a bridge and I had a lot of problems with slippage on the brass saddles. If you don't do a lot of bending it probably won't be an issue for you but if you do a band expect that the strings will shift on the saddle. This was really annoying and I immediately went back to the string through set up which solved the problem.

Outstanding Telecaster

There's no such thing as a perfect guitar and because of that I don't like to give 5 stars in any review but this Telecaster is exceptional. I own 20+ guitars including high end Strats, Les Paul customs, a Lucille and an outstanding USA made vintage Gretsch. I love all those instruments but this Telecaster is something special. It's the most versatile guitar I own. This Telecaster can play as sweet or as nasty twangy as you want. It can do any genre with style. This telecaster is the only instrument I've ever owned that didn't need any adjustment after purchase. It came out of the box in absolutely perfect intonation. There were No sharp fret ends like on cheaper models and the action was perfect. I couldn't find any imperfections anywhere. The neck is smooth as ... MoreThere's no such thing as a perfect guitar and because of that I don't like to give 5 stars in any review but this Telecaster is exceptional. I own 20+ guitars including high end Strats, Les Paul customs, a Lucille and an outstanding USA made vintage Gretsch. I love all those instruments but this Telecaster is something special. It's the most versatile guitar I own. This Telecaster can play as sweet or as nasty twangy as you want. It can do any genre with style. This telecaster is the only instrument I've ever owned that didn't need any adjustment after purchase. It came out of the box in absolutely perfect intonation. There were No sharp fret ends like on cheaper models and the action was perfect. I couldn't find any imperfections anywhere. The neck is smooth as butter, slick and fast, very nice. The V-Mod pickups are outstanding, with all the punch you would ever need. I also like the angle molded heel cut where the neck meets the body. All I did was put on a new set of Fender Bullet 9-42s and she was ready to go. I can't recommend this guitar highly enough if you need or want an exceptional Telecaster. I've played virtually all the other models and brands of the Tele and while some of those were excellent guitars, some were cheaper, some more expensive but none were as good as this version of the Telecaster in my opinion. It's just an outstanding guitar. I'm thinking about buying another one for my son because he won't leave mine alone. You need to play it through a good tube amp to get the most out of it but it still sounds great out of lesser amps like say a Fender Champion 100. I use a tube screamer pedal and a vintage tube Fender Reverb and vintage Gibson tube Dual medalist amps mostly. This Tele still sounds very good even when using some of my digital practice amps.I can't find anything wrong with this guitar. I just wish that I had found it sooner.

Pictures do not do the dark night finish justice!

The stock photos of these guitars do not do them justice. I couldn't believe how gorgeous the dark night was when I opened it up. Whoever picked the guitar to photo for the stock photo was crazy! Adorama shipped me a brand new unopened guitar at an incredible sale price! The guitar is exceptional. I had an am pro i and the pickups were kinda lifeless to my ears, NOT THE VMOD II'S! These things really sing. The fit and finish on the guitar is killer. This is truly a special instrument. Also I saw the mercury finish in a guitar store and that picture does not reflect how cool that finish is either!

Powerhouse Telecaster!

Fender hit it out of the park with it's Am Pro II series. I recently bought the Miami Blue Telecaster and am thrilled to have a guitar this nice for $1,500. I don't generally throw down on mid-priced Fender's, preferring instead to save up my nickels until I can afford a Telecaster at the $2K+ level. But there are simply too many higher-end features on the new Am Pro II to be overlooked. The finish concocted for Miami Blue must be very similar to the recipe used for "Taos Turquoise", my all-time favorite Fender color. Surprisingly, Fender doesn't bust many guitars out in Taos Turquoise, a color seemingly reserved for Custom Shop offerings.The "Deep C" profiled neck is just right for most players, and the noiseless pickups seem to have a bit more horsepower than ... MoreFender hit it out of the park with it's Am Pro II series. I recently bought the Miami Blue Telecaster and am thrilled to have a guitar this nice for $1,500. I don't generally throw down on mid-priced Fender's, preferring instead to save up my nickels until I can afford a Telecaster at the $2K+ level. But there are simply too many higher-end features on the new Am Pro II to be overlooked. The finish concocted for Miami Blue must be very similar to the recipe used for "Taos Turquoise", my all-time favorite Fender color. Surprisingly, Fender doesn't bust many guitars out in Taos Turquoise, a color seemingly reserved for Custom Shop offerings.The "Deep C" profiled neck is just right for most players, and the noiseless pickups seem to have a bit more horsepower than the typically thin-sounding iterations that have accompanied the Am Pro in the past. In my pre-purchase research on the guitar, some reviewers have gone out on a limb in stating that swamp ash is the best tonewood to use in the making of a Telecaster but because of a shortage in that wood, Fender has opted to craft its Am Pro II lineup from roasted pine and that roasted pine is a step down from swamp ash. Yes, Fender made a "green" business decision in going with roasted pine, but pine is far from being inferior to swamp ash and, in truth, is an excellent tonewood. Yes, it is softer and thus more prone to dings and dents, but that's not how tonewoods are selected. Further, the Miami Blue Am Pro option is comprised of alder, a tonewood that Fender has a long history of using, with great success. There's a good number of high-end boutique builders that use pine, unless otherwise specified by the client. These builders choose pine because of its tonal qualities and relatively light weight. So, to all Fender buyers out there who have even a single concern over Fender's new decision to use pine, don't. Most vintage Telecasters and Strats are made from pine and these are the guitars most coveted by collectors and players alike.In short, I believe the new American Professional II has everything a guitar should have for $1,500. It sounds and plays as well as guitars costing thousands more. For anyone in the market for a new guitar that covers a lot ground at the $1,500 price point, I recommend taking the Am Pro II Telecaster for a test drive. It's doubtful that you'll find anything that even remotely compares to this guitar, offered at this price point.