Guitarists are a finicky bunch. We argue endlessly about
things like solid-state versus tube amps, digital modeling
versus actual tubes, true-bypass pedals versus not, and
directional cables versus standard models, etc. The list
goes on and on. Most of the aforementioned clashes take
place between electric guitarists, but acoustic players certainly
have their sticky points, too. One thing they’ll usually
agree on is a skepticism about modeling in any form.
Personally, I’ve long been against acoustic simulation. I’ve
just never come across a pedal or software emulation that
really gets close enough for my tastes. My hang-ups aren’t
just about the tonal discrepancies, they’re also about the
differences in feel. The vibrations from a nice jumbo make
me play differently than when I play an electric guitar. But
taking an acoustic onto a loud stage with a full band presents
a lot of challenges—they’re difficult to amplify without
getting a lot of feedback, and then there’s the issue of
switching between acoustic and electric tones within a
single song. Gigging guitarists who primarily play electric
have been searching after ways to avoid both these issues
and having to take their acoustic treasures—which are
often more susceptible to damage than their electric counterparts—
out on the road.
So, as the old saying goes, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
At least that’s what Fender seems to be saying with their
new Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster. Only in this case,
Fender is literally joining the two ideas together. The
Acoustasonic combines several acoustic and electric traits,
with the intent of delivering convincing acoustic and electric
tones that you can use either individually or together.
Split Personality
My first impression after picking up the Acoustasonic Tele
was that it’s very light, despite being made of ash—which
tends to be a weightier tone wood. Fender has chambered
the body and inserted a center block made of spruce,
which lightens the load. Spruce is, of course, perhaps the
preeminent tonewood for acoustic guitar tops. It’s rather
lightweight and has powerful projection qualities. The
sunburst-finished body is topped with a rosewood bridge
shaped roughly like a Tele’s standard bridge assembly.
Taking sustain issues into consideration, Fender designed the body and bridge combination to take
advantage of a string-through setup. The
21-fret maple neck has a modern C shape
and is capped with a rosewood fretboard that
has a nice, deep hue.
A Fishman undersaddle piezo pickup is
embedded underneath the compensated
plastic saddle, and it’s controlled by a
Fishman Aura preamp. Like a standard acoustic-
electric, the preamp controls—Volume and
Tone knobs and a four-way Image switch—are
conveniently located on the upper bout. The
guitar’s top features a three-position selector,
a master volume knob, and a concentric knob
that controls the magnetic neck pickup’s
tone and volume. In its leftmost position, the
selector switch activates the neck pickup only,
in its rightmost position it activates the piezo
and Aura preamp, and in the middle it’s both.
The battery compartment around back has a
small DIP switch to flip between mono and
stereo output, which means you can use a
standard cable to route acoustic and electric
tones through one amp, or use the included
Y-cable to send the Aura tones to an acoustic
amp (or a PA) and the neck pickup tones to a
dedicated electric amp.
Traditional Tele neck-pickup tones can be
found by flipping to the neck pickup, which
is a Fender Twisted Tele model. According
to the company, this pickup was designed
to address common complaints regarding
conventional Telecaster neck pickups, which
sometimes sound weaker than the typical
Tele bridge pickup. The concentric volume-and-tone knob is a really great feature,
because it allows you to mix in just the right
amount of electric guitar tone with the acoustic
sound when you’re using both.
Super Sonics
Since the Acoustasonic is tailored to cover
a wide variety of tones, I chose to play it
through a Quidley 22 head and matching
2x12 cabinet—an amp that handles clean
tones very evenly and honestly. First, I soloed
the piezo and set its tone and volume controls
at noon. The Image switch allows you
to select between four digital emulations of
popular acoustic sounds: dark folk, bright
folk, dreadnought, and jumbo. Dark folk
sounded surprisingly crisp and clean when
I picked through a basic E major chord. It
really took me by surprise, because I’ve
played high-end acoustic guitars that didn’t
sound that even and full when amplified with
a pickup. Flipping to bright folk brought a
major bass boost, with a slight roll off in the
upper frequencies. It sounded really good,
albeit scooped in the midrange. I was a little
dumbfounded, because that position was
supposed to be brighter, but the dark folk
position seemed to have more high-end
sheen. Regardless, both were impressive. I’m
a big fan of acoustic tones that sit well in the
mix while another instrument (such as brass
or woodwind) takes the lead, and the second
position was perfect for that—and it was
even better for jazz progressions when you
dialed the tone back to 9 o’clock.
The third Image setting kicked in even more
mids while keeping the same amount of
bass. It was certainly the most prominent and
aggressive sounding, perfect for rock riffing.
The final position, the jumbo acoustic image,
evened out the frequencies. For players who
like to thicken up their electric riffs with an
acoustic sandwiched between (think Ace
Frehley’s “Ozone”), this setting is ideal. After
playing with each setting for a while, I realized
it could be tempting to go overboard
with higher tone settings. I had to keep the
control set rather low to help the instrument
sit in the mix more comfortably. Once the
tone gets up near the 2 and 3 o’clock range,
some unpleasant harshness appears in the
upper frequencies. Luckily, the tone control
is extremely responsive, so it was easy to pull
back when I had to.
Things really started to get interesting when
I mixed the piezo with the magnetic neck
pickup. The Twisted Tele is a fantastic pickup.
It can feel a little strange if you’re used to
the subdued tones of some traditional Tele
neck pickups. It’s extremely usable and versatile,
and its output blends nicely with the
piezo to yield a fantastic, three-dimensional
tone. It’s almost like when you have a nice
piece of gear that you’re really happy with,
but then you throw a booster in the chain
and fall in love with it all over again. And I’ll
admit that I was suspicious of the notion of
blending a Tele neck pickup with an acoustic
tone, but the Acoustasonic quashed my
misgivings. The magnetic pickup frequencies
never fought the piezos, they always seemed
to complement them—and extremely well,
I might add. The voicing that Fender and
Fishman engineered is exemplary, with a near
perfect balance.
That said, moderation is the key to crafting
a great tone with this guitar. Too much
high end or midrange can cause some really
disagreeable tones, so keep your amp’s presence
at a moderate level to stay in the realm
of smooth, controllable timbres.
The Final Mojo
The Fender Acoustasonic Tele, quite frankly,
has a ton going for it. First, the acoustic
tones are all usable and sound great. Each
has its own unique strength, making the
Acoustasonic Tele a fantastic choice for the
studio pro or the touring musician. Second,
the ability to expand your musical possibilities
with the blending options makes it a
blast to play. Any instrument that gives me
song ideas just from strumming around on it
is a good instrument in my book. And finally,
the Acoustasonic’s affordability puts it well
within reach of most players. It’s a difficult
task to meld the electric and acoustic worlds,
but Fender has found a great balance with
this guitar.
Buy if...
you’re looking for a solid, well-rounded
guitar with acoustic emulated
tones that stand out from the
pack.
Skip if...
you need a piezo-equipped guitar
that also features a magnetic bridge
pickup.
Rating...
