My Carbonita was very clean and well put together.

The issue with the bridge that has been reported so widely is simply baffling to me. I could not find a Fender (or aftermarket) bridge that would work so I took the bridge off the guitar and had one made to the same specifications (but out of brass) and I fixed the string spacing issue. I added some intonated barrel saddles and adjusted the pickups upward a good bit and now it rocks.

Originally I was going to replace the Fidelitron pickups with some TV Jones Classics but after I changed out the bridge and saddles, I found the sound of the pickups was much better and to my liking - especially the neck pickup! I do not care for both pickups blended but I do like both the bridge and neck separately very much.

You have to be careful what amp you play this guitar through - it does not like clean. Especially Vox clean. So you either need an amp you can dirty up a bit or a good overdrive or distortion pedal to find the sound that this thing likes best. And when you do, you'll be rewarded.

And I promise you that you won't miss the tone knob one bit!! I personally like the bridge pickup for rhythm work and the neck for lead but either way you go, this will please you for the money.

It's getting a lot of play out live these days!!!

Bigsnaketex owns this item

Bought mine last August, and since then it's my go-to guitar. I got the brown sunburst and the finish is top notch, the fretwork is amazing, and overall build quality matches Made in USA models. I know many get turned off by the fact that the guitar lacks a tone pot, but dare I say it doesn't need one? The bridge pickup still has that tele twang, but can also handle high gain quite well. The neck has that nice mellow bassy tone, that's great for blues, but also for high gain heavy metal riffs. Yes you can play metal with this Tele! The split position well sounds like a bit of both, and I rarely play with the switch in the middle. As for amps, I just have a practice amp and I use a digital modeler (Boss GT-6) with it. Before I bought the guitar I did plug her into a Blues Jr. and she really sang, I almost walked away with that amp that day as well, they were made for each other!

Now the not so good. No guitar is perfect, but this is worth mentioning. First thing is that apparently, Fender used the wrong bridge size for this guitar. They used a 2 7/8 bridge, which leaves the GBe strings a bit misaligned in relation to the pickup poles. It also leaves the high e string a bit too close to the edge of the fretboard. Luckily, with an American Standard 2 3/4 bridge ($60 if you shop around), it lines things up a bit better and the high e string comes a bit closer to the fretboard. This minor flaw has absolutely no effect on the tone, only a minor playability and aesthetics issue, that most likely will be a non-issue to most. Another thing I noticed as of lately is that my pickup selector switch sometimes malfunctions. If I'm playing on the bridge and want to switch to the neck, sometimes no sound comes out. I have to switch back to the middle position and back to the neck and the sound comes back. This is probably a very isolated issue with just my guitar though.

Overall, this is a fine instrument for its price, if mine ever gets stolen or something really bad happens to it, I will replace it with another one in a heartbeat. It is after all, my favorite guitar!

1neeto owns this item

This is one of 4 teles I own. The finish was a bit damaged by the shipping material used, but that just meant a discount. As for tone, not much room to adjust. On my Supersonic 22, this thing sounds amazing, on my Vox it just doesn't sound as bright as I'd like it too, so before buying, I'd try it with your amp. Other then that the factory setup was pretty spot on, action was low with no fret buzz, but needed to raise the pickups a bit to get more gain out of them, they were far below what TV jones recommends. Although this guitar has a limited tone range, the one it's got doesn't get much better. I would buy one again in a second if this one got lost.

Ksar owns this item

I don't own one of these, But about a year ago I tried one out and LOVED every second of it!!!!! I've played quite a few teles over the years and by far, this one is my favorite. The neck plays incredibly smooth and accurate. The pickups have plenty of punch, whether on clean or dirty. I loved the sound of the neck pickup, especially for some blues stuff. I only have one thing I wasn't that happy with; This thing should in my opinion still have a tone control on it. Other than that, I'd say it's the coolest tele on the market.

I recently purchased this guitar as a replacement for a Gretsch electromatic. This is a great guitar the fidelitron humbuckers have that great Gretsch twang but has the playability of a tele! The neck is great, my first maple neck and I'm really loving it. Very playable and a nice slim fit. My only slight complaint is the factory set up. It does have fret rattle on the bass strings but should be easy to sort out. The pick ups sound great the bridge has a great rock and roll sound and the neck has nice warm tones ideal for blues. This is a very versatile guitar and i would highly recommend it. I have the 3 tone sunburst and it is immaculate finish, photos don't give it full credit, the nice wood grain shows through.

DG0069 owns this item