Roseless- confirmed

A follow up to what's mentioned here: CLICK

From the Fender camp:

Fender is committed to the continued use of Rosewood in American-made solid body guitars, such as our American Professional Series. After actively exploring alternate wood options to Rosewood for selective use on a few US models, we will be transitioning most of our Mexico made product away from rosewood to pau ferro, a fantastic alternate we currently use on the SRV signature strat. The American Elite series is transitioning to ebony fretboards with dealers and our inventories. Rosewood is still used on many series of instruments, as it is a historically accurate tone wood. The changeover will be somewhat fluid in the market, there is no set date at this time.

We are still currently evaluating options for Squier and the acoustics category. (A. Mooney, CEO)

😑

K-pot

These are the default pots in my Fender Duo-Sonic (Mex) & they are evidently of Asian origin. This is a popular consideration for many guitars these days, even American ones. Skimping? Maybe but let's not be dismissive of the fact that they work well.

Unworthy?

Sharing with you how a Mexican Fender looks like under the hood (the pick guard more like it). As indicated above, the surfaces were not levelled/filed down to a smooth finish. They didn't give a hoot about it & went ahead with the shielding paint. Mind you, this product has a 'Fender' slapped onto the headstock, it should carry some fundamental pride in terms of goodwill but that's how it is if things aren't 'American'. Surprisingly, the instrument displays good QC in all other areas so they skimp at places where you can't see. Tsk, tsk...

PJ Mustang

One of the new Fenders at Swee Lee right now is the Mustang bass. Previously, it was offered as a Japanese make & only feature the P-type pickups which were smaller than the P models seen here. The current Mexican version (part of the new offset series released late 2016, listing for $839) has both the P & J pickups on board & medium jumbo frets as opposed to the vintage frets of the Japanese. Since I own the Japanese version, I would urge guitar dweebs who would grab a bass every now & then to check this one out. Its shorter scale length is the winner here with so many extended scale guitars out there rivalling the scale of shorter scaled basses. It's about familiarity & the willingness to embrace a bass which delivers all the low end  goodness, just a little compressed to address the needs of smaller built players. 

Sonic assault

I'm very determined to not make an Ibanez be the first purchase of 2017 & so this happened. The 'new' Fender offset models were introduced in the final quarter of 2016 which didn't make it here till now. I had bad episodes with the Mexican models; bad nut slots, warped necks, dysfunctional truss rods... the list goes on. These days, the Mexican models had been souped up to fill in price voids (more than anything else) so they need to keep up in terms of QC. I managed to play an impressive Mexican model (thanks to the good people @ Swee Lee Katong 👍) last June but held back as more of the good stuff were streaming in. 

So I guess the wait paid off. No complaints with the QC here as the Duo-Sonic was played right out of the box. My only gripe was the very low action it came with, everything else was splendid. Playing through a Marshall amp at the store, these default single coils were adept at both clean & driven settings with no clarity compromise but the twang factor could have been better. I will continue to check the newer generation of Mexican models out. They are now worthy considerations (in my books), more so when the American models are climbing up the price points.

PS: Thanks to Mr. Faizal & company @ Swee Lee I12 for their awesome service as usual.

Mustang 2016

Together with the Duo-sonic, the Fender Mustang was the other member of the Offset Series (Mex) released during the Summer NAMM 2016 convention. That's right, no traditional Mustang bridge, just a fixed bridge.

Alternatively, the sibling, Mustang 90, features a pair of P-90 pickups for added fatness. Definitely interested :-)

Flea bass

You know that Flea guy from RHCP? He finally got his Fender signature bass. With due respect, they should have given him an American model.

Fender Lone star: Mexican/ USA

Recently, Fender has a Lone Star model in the catalog (recent addition? I must have missed it) but at a single glance, I thought something was not right with this guitar. Upon a more detailed reading, the Lonestar in question (the latest manifestation) is a Mexican version- evident from the 21 frets on offer.

I remember trying this guitar at Swee Lee back in the '90s when it was still situated at the current Art Friend location. It was an American model back then, featuring 22 frets & those steel block saddles which I prefer. Here's that USA model in one of Fender's ads (this one taken off Fender's homepage).