Bob Kovacs is an engineer and singer/guitarist. He can be reached at pvreditor@yahoo.com.
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Fender Deluxe Nashville Power Tele
The $899.99 Fender Deluxe Nashville Power Tele is an impressive variation of the venerable Telecaster, with features that appeal to a wide range of players and styles. Where it really excels, however, is as a live performance guitar. With its unique blend of pickup flexibility, the Nashville Power Tele is the all-in-one guitar to have on stage.
Features
The Mexican-built, Fender Nashville Power Telecaster is a well-made guitar. The alder body sports the traditional Tele shape with a string-through-body and American Standard saddles. Unlike traditional Telecasters, however, it has three electric guitar pickups like a Stratocaster, a Tex-Mex Strat pickup in the center position and Tex-Mex Tele pickups for the neck and bridge.
There is another big difference: the Nashville Power Tele also has a Fishman Power Tele Bridge with a Fishman pickup above each saddle - netting out sound from nine total pickups! Many musicians like the acoustic sound of an electric guitar, which is often changed significantly through a traditional magnetic pick up. The piezo showcases more of an electric's natural ringiness.
A five-position pickup selector switch is used to select and combine the standard electric guitar pickups, just like a Strat. The switch dials in the following: bridge pickup only, bridge pickup and center pickup, center pickup only, center pickup and neck pickup, and neck pickup only. Unlike regular Telecasters, however, the Nashville Power Tele cannot combine the bridge and neck neck pickups.
The Fishman bridge acoustic pickup has its own volume control and, thus, can be combined with other combinations of pickup selections, or used on its own as an amplified "acoustic" guitar. The tone control only affects the regular pickups. The acoustic pickup's output and normal pickups' outputs can be separately routed to different amps, a stereo amp or two mixer channels by simply plugging in the provided cable.
The review sample's one-piece maple neck came with a rosewood fretboard. The tuners are the traditional style instead of the Fender/Schallers that are used on the American Standard Telecaster (but the guitar stayed in tune pretty well). The guitar is strung with .009 to .042 strings. Although the guitar retails for $900, it only comes with a gig bag. In my opinion, it should come with a hard case.
The Audition
The Nashville Power Tele is a picker's delight - thanks to the fast neck and small strings that allow for maximum bending. You can select and mix the pickups with enough sonic variety to go anywhere - from that chimey bridge pickup sound to the fuller, neck pickup chunk. The Nashville Power Tele can give the player just about any electric guitar sound. Then, if a song calls for an acoustic guitar, just rotate the pots for the Fishman pickup, and you have a reasonable facsimile of an "acoustic" guitar. Let's call it an "acoustic" guitar with an electric attitude.
I played this guitar at an acoustic club and got some pretty funny looks because of the classic Telecaster appearance. When I started playing, the other pickers in the crowd started zooming in on me and the Fender - giving me that "what the hell is he doing?" squint. A dyed-in-the-wool acoustic guitar player borrowed it for his set. After Mr. "I-Only-Play-Acoustic" finished his selections, he handed the guitar back and said, "That was okay · it's different, but it plays well."
Conclusion
If you perform in a working band, play electric, but also play an occasional acoustic song, the Nashville Power Tele is an ideal guitar. It has nearly all the single coil, electric character you can ask for, plus it plays "acoustic." What else do you need?
Contact Fender at 480-596-7195; or visit the Fender web site at www.Fender.com
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