Fender Acoustasonic Player Telecaster

10
GUITARIST MARCH 2022
FENDER ACOUSTASONIC PLAYER TELECASTER
The new Acoustasonic Player Telecaster
is more affordable and currently lists at
£1,049 compared with the USA version,
which costs £1,749: a reduction of pretty
much bang on 40 per cent. Coincidentally
or not, that figure exactly correlates to
the reduction in sounds. The USA version
has 10 (of which the five sound-pairs can
be blended or gain added to the magnetic
pickup voicings). The Player version drops
down to six sounds from its three-way (as
opposed to five-way) Voice Selector switch.
Elsewhere, we go from three onboard
pickups – under-saddle, body sensor and
magnetic – to just two, the casualty being
that body sensor.
Yet pulling the new Mexican-made
Acoustasonic from its classy gigbag (the
same that’s supplied with the USA model,
as far as we can see), you’d be hard-pressed
to see any difference in the construction.
The hollowed mahogany body with an
inset Sitka spruce top and the bolt-on
mahogany neck appear identical, although
the mahogany of the Mexican model is
considerably lighter in colour than the
deeper red of the USA guitar. The light satin
finish allows you to clearly see that the USA
guitar has a two-piece centre joined body;
the Mexican guitar is four-piece.
As we investigate further there are more
subtle differences. The fingerboard and
bridge here are rosewood, not the striped
ebony of our well-used USA Jazzmaster.
3. Another casualty of
the Player version is
that it uses a standard
nine-volt block battery
to power the electronics;
the USA version uses a
smart USB rechargeable
battery accessed from
the output jack. The
output socket and
mounting plate here
are very standard
1. The standard Telecaster
headstock with its
staggered height
tuners, string tree and
‘branded’ Fender logo
is identical to the USA
Acoustasonic Tele’s
2. The Player platform
uses two pickups instead
of the three pickup
systems present on the
USA model. The visible
magnetic pickup is
Fender’s Noiseless N4
We’d wager the printed colour of the top
is thicker, too. On the USA model you can
easily see the spruce’s striped grain through
the finish and even the position of the two
longitudinal braces that sit either side of
the ‘doughnut’ soundhole, while the white
top of our Mexican model appears not only
more matt but more opaque, too.
Conversely, plenty of the USA model is
retained here: that rounded nose heel, for
example, with the Micro-Tilt neck pitch
adjustment, the same staggered height
enclosed tuners and string tree, not to
mention the Graph Tech Black Tusq top nut
and compensated bridge saddle.
But it’s the electronics that have taken
the biggest hit. As we said, we have one less
pickup and fewer sounds, but we also lose
the classy USB powering of the USA model
with its USB input and colour-changing
power status LED on the Electrosocket-
style output jack plate. They’re replaced
here with a nine-volt block battery –
accessible in a clip-top compartment on the
central rear cavity cover – and a standard
metal output jack plate. Those rear
backplates are black plastic, not the brushed
aluminium of the USA models, too.
Feel & Sounds
It’s important to remember that the
Acoustasonic is an acoustic guitar. It’s
hollow with a lightly braced spruce top,
and the size of the guitar’s cavity directly
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