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Fender's New Ultra Series

Home › Forums › Discuss Your Gear › Fender's New Ultra Series

  • This topic has 17 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 8 months ago by Billy.
Viewing 16 reply threads
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    Posts
    • November 6, 2019 at 5:36 am #149888
      charjo
      Moderator

        Some nice new features, I’m still not sure about noiseless pick ups but Danish Pete can make anything sound great. The new Tele is gorgeous. Unfortunately, I think Fender just devalued the Elite series for all their loyal customers.
        John

      • November 6, 2019 at 5:48 am #149890
        6stringer Pete
        Moderator

          Lace sensor pickups, no noise, install them. The gold ones, but the blue and reds ones are just as good.

          The melody of the notes is what expresses the art of music . 🙂 6stringerPete

          It really is all about ”melody”. The melody comes from a language from our heart. Our heart is the muscle in music harmony. The melody is the sweetness that it pumps into our musical thoughts on the fretboard. 🙂 6 stringer Pete

          Pete
          Active Melody
          Forum Moderator

        • November 6, 2019 at 5:55 am #149891
          Richard G
          Participant

            I watched the Anderton’s reveal of the Fender Ultra series yesterday and was blown away by the look and sound of that Texas Tea (aka black) Telecaster. I did however note that at £1,739 the price had risen considerably from the elite series.

            Richard

          • November 6, 2019 at 6:20 am #149894
            John H
            Participant

              John,
              I already have a bad case of GAS. Didn’t need to see this! Just kidding. Gorgeous looking and sounding in every way. Gonna have to settle on the Squire Vintage Classic Tele!!

            • November 6, 2019 at 7:37 am #149896
              Billy
              Participant

                Sat and watched this yesterday about 30 mins after it was put on the internet, can’t get enough of Pete’s playing no matter which guitar is in his hands..
                1st impressions we’re, that’s a strat and that’s a Tele.
                2nd thoughts on it were just how many coats can one concept wear and dare to be seen as something new or groundbreaking..
                Fender and Gibson tend to keep repackaging the same concept and fender so far have failed to impress me again.
                Choice is not a bad thing, it’s good to have choice, too much choice on the other hand….well.

                ..Billy..

              • November 6, 2019 at 10:40 am #149907
                Kevin S
                Participant

                  I’m severely underwhelmed, especially with that pricing. I’ll keep on lovin’ my Player Series HSS.

                • November 6, 2019 at 10:49 am #149908
                  GnLguy
                  Participant
                    Billy wrote:

                    Sat and watched this yesterday about 30 mins after it was put on the internet, can’t get enough of Pete’s playing no matter which guitar is in his hands..
                    1st impressions we’re, that’s a strat and that’s a Tele.
                    2nd thoughts on it were just how many coats can one concept wear and dare to be seen as something new or groundbreaking..
                    Fender and Gibson tend to keep repackaging the same concept and fender so far have failed to impress me again.
                    Choice is not a bad thing, it’s good to have choice, too much choice on the other hand….well.

                    Couldn’t agree more, Billy. Different color lipstick on the same pig given a different name – and all in time for holiday shopping!!
                    It would be different if there were major improvements to differentiate this series from others but there isn’t.

                    When a Fender Master Builder is surprised at the overall quality of sub-$259 Squier Strat, you have to ask, what are the expensive series really giving a person in the terms of a quality guitar for making music?


                    • November 7, 2019 at 2:35 am #149950
                      Billy
                      Participant

                        One of the videos I watched, think it was with Phil Mcnight, when he asked the question “Just what is the difference between custom shop and”,I thought Ron was never going to find an answer, the silence near hit the embarrassing stage before saying “greater attention to detail”…
                        Tbh I don’t know if expensive guitars really do play or feel any different to say a $200 guitar or if It could be a placebo effect or whatever it’s called..i probably couldn’t afford to find out thh..

                        ..Billy..

                    • November 6, 2019 at 2:12 pm #149918
                      sunjamr
                      Participant

                        My 4 year old American Strat has noiseless pickups, and I can’t hear a lot of difference between mine and the new ones. Maybe hearing them in person would be different.

                        Sunjamr Steve

                      • November 6, 2019 at 5:53 pm #149930
                        Duffy P
                        Participant

                          Almost nothing new here for Fender, and nothing at all that is groundbreaking. They basically have started calling some things ‘ultra’ and declared that it’s new as a result of the new name. Same goes for the colors.

                          I cannot understand why Fender doesn’t offer a variety of necks, pickups, bridges, and wiring as options below their Custom Shop level. The thing Leo did that made his guitars revolutionary, is that he designed them to have interchangeable parts. Changing the neck from one profile to another doesn’t necessitate having a new model line. There’s no reason at all that there should be 37 different flavors of Strat.

                        • November 6, 2019 at 6:51 pm #149932
                          GnLguy
                          Participant
                            Duffy P wrote:

                            Almost nothing new here for Fender, and nothing at all that is groundbreaking. They basically have started calling some things ‘ultra’ and declared that it’s new as a result of the new name. Same goes for the colors.

                            I cannot understand why Fender doesn’t offer a variety of necks, pickups, bridges, and wiring as options below their Custom Shop level. The thing Leo did that made his guitars revolutionary, is that he designed them to have interchangeable parts. Changing the neck from one profile to another doesn’t necessitate having a new model line. There’s no reason at all that there should be 37 different flavors of Strat.

                            Leo’s final company carried on that tradition of offering various neck, fingerboard radius, finish and other options on all of their USA models

                            USA Guitar Options

                            Made in Fullerton Finishes

                          • November 7, 2019 at 2:41 am #149951
                            Billy
                            Participant

                              Talking about pickups, has anyone else watched the video about the most expensive pickups in the world, Wilkinson silver series?..silver wire instead of copper wire, these things retail at over 300 dollars each, that’s near $1000 for a set of Strat pickups..

                              ..Billy..

                            • November 7, 2019 at 4:47 am #149954
                              Richard G
                              Participant

                                That’s a good example Billy, of the ‘law of diminishing returns’. Where the costs esculate into the premium range and you get very little benefit for for quite a bit extra cash. It’s a mindset thing and a good marketing ploy.

                                Richard

                              • November 7, 2019 at 6:15 am #149959
                                charjo
                                Moderator

                                  Hey, what’s wrong with diminishing returns? They’re still returns. Nice guitars give me a lot of happiness and I do spend a lot of time with them.
                                  John

                                • November 7, 2019 at 6:28 am #149960
                                  Richard G
                                  Participant

                                    Couldn’t agree more John, I know that if I play one of the best instruments that the industry can produce, if the resultant sound is not to my liking, then it’s my fault and I can at least do something about it.

                                    Richard

                                  • November 7, 2019 at 7:38 pm #150009
                                    Duffy P
                                    Participant

                                      Bah, I will see your $300 per pickup, and raise you $6200 per, for original Gibson PAF pickups (which probably aren’t all that good).

                                      https://reverb.com/item/28903948-1959-1960-gibson-original-sealed-nickel-double-white-cream-gibson-paf-patent-applied-for-humbuckers

                                    • November 8, 2019 at 3:11 am #150035
                                      snakechisler
                                      Participant

                                        For the price the elite’s and now the Ultra’s (at full retail) are pushing into an area where if your budget stretches to that sort of money your more than likely looking for specific sounds / Features.

                                        There a solid workhorse instruments with a decent range of features

                                        In terms of diminishing returns it’s a complex thing, quite a bit of those percentage points on the scale are the connections you feel to the instrument and that feedback to the player isn’t really something you can put a $ sign on.

                                        While the Ultra’s have a good spec if they just feel OK is that good enough?

                                      • November 8, 2019 at 4:07 am #150038
                                        Billy
                                        Participant
                                          Duffy P wrote:

                                          Bah, I will see your $300 per pickup, and raise you $6200 per, for original Gibson PAF pickups (which probably aren’t all that good).

                                          https://reverb.com/item/28903948-1959-1960-gibson-original-sealed-nickel-double-white-cream-gibson-paf-patent-applied-for-humbuckers

                                          What is that they say about a fool and his money, oh yeah “easily parted”..hahaha
                                          Seriously though it astounds me at times the amount of money paid out for vintage bits, especially vintage electronic bits which don’t get better with age..ans we all know that tone depends on which colour pick guard fitted..

                                          ..Billy..

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