Fender Straight Six... REVIEW

[CharvelRocker]

So today as an XMas gift I bought a Fender FSR Straight Six guitar. "Limited" to 800 or so for small dealers. Unique anyway, and they are going for the old school Charvel feel.

SPECS:
Alder Body (3 Piece)
21 Fret Maple neck/fretboard (one piece), Rosewood skunk stripe
Vintage Tremolo
Single Atomic Humbucking Pickup
Volume Control
Three ply pickguard
Matte Black Paint

Alright...so out of the box, the guitar is nicely set up by the shop, with the trem floating. Amazingly it stays n tune nicely. Plug it in, and here we go. The guitar is very bright. I had kind of forgotten how bright guitars without a tone pot can be. Playability is pretty smooth, and the seems a bit shaved down from your standard MIM. Very smooth satin finish. to it. Fretwork is very nicely done, and the guitar plays like a champ. All hardware seems solid and does it job well. The only minor flaw is it seems like a little too much glue seeped otu aroudn the 17th or so fret. I'm sure it will come off with play, but seems a hair sloppy.

The body of the guitar has a top notch satin black finish. I think it is poly, but it is smooth and crisp looking. It will smudge up, but it has not turned shiny, which can happen with cheaper matte finishes. The three ply pickguard is nice touch. The humbucking pickup is bright, and has a nice mid bump. Good harmonics and smooth treble response. It's bass response is tight but will not punch a hole in the wall In terms of "hottness" it is not as hot or bright as a JB, but has more cut, clarity, and output than your normal overwound PAF.

Assembly of it is tight, with no finish flaws, misfitting parts, or poorly done screws. The skunk stripe is unnoticeable. The pickup is a nice choice for the guitar, though the sound of it is a bit of an acquired taste as it is not easily comparable to your normal Duncan or DiMarzio IMO. Overall, a very tight guitar that nicely captures the feel of an early 80s, pre-Floyd hot rod. At $399, it is a KILLER value. It does however bring up an interesting question...

WHY is this not a Charvel? This is the essence of what a Charvel is and why I bought the guitar. The only thing Fender are the hands making it and the logo. Everything Screams Charvel. No doubt that at $399 and marked Charvel, it would sell like a hot cake and appeal to the lower end market. Maybe the world is not ready for a Mexican Charvel, I don't know.

Pictures to come tomorrow...

[Cygnus X1]

A couple more frets and a headstock mounted truss would make it Charvel, perhaps.

Sounds cool!
Merry Christmas, CR!

[triplehold]

Your review sounds great- a nice acquisition and an real good buy as well. When I first saw an ad for these I thought someone at Fender is finally thinking along the right lines. I have a couple of MIM strats set up with 1 hum/1 vol, it's the way to go. That's all you need as far as I'm concerned, they sound good and I always figured it's no major loss if one got ripped or you had to leave one stashed in in the bushes somewhere on "one of those nights". Being able to experiment with different pickups easily, adds a lot of fun to a 1 hum axe!

[Ben...]

Dude! I just bought one too! Isn't the neck amazing! I was just about to make a thread about it. Pics to come soon.

Edit: Do you think the edges of the fretboard are rolled? It seems to be on mine.

[Ben...]

Well I finally had time to set mine up. Mine needed the saddles lowered and a couple of sharp fret edges filed. I set the bridge to not be floating anymore and lowered the pickup.



Here's a shoddy webcam pic of it. My webcam has much clearer close up pics than medium to long distances.

Edit: I messed with my webcam more. The default settings are terrible. I'm getting way clearer pictures now. Maybe I'll retake that picture.

[CharvelRocker]

Yes, I do think the fretboard edges have a slight roll. This one is going to get .10s fitted and probably having the floating action toned down a bit, as it knocks the guitar out of tune if you touch it more than once or twice. My pickup also seemed rather high. I will say, you have good taste in guitars

[sonicsamurai]

that should be a charvel, but either way it is cool

[Blazer]

That looks like a cool guitar, just the other day I tried out one of THESE...

And they are the kind of Charvel that Fender is trying to make with that guitar.

[Ben...]

Well, after a few hours plugged in I must say that I like the pickup (The Atomic Humbucker). It can get a nice 80's sound and isn't as bad as my Jackson's JB when set for cleans. It does a really good Judas Priest sound. I really am digging this guitar so far. The neck is thinner than my Standard Strat but thicker than my Jackson and it seems to fit quite well. I like how the finish on the body feels so smooth and isn't sticky when my arm rests on it. This guitar just screams to be modded. I'm considering getting locking tuners and maybe a new pickguard. I'm going either keep it with the single humbucker or turn it HS with one of my extra Strat Pickups I have laying around.

Still think it should say Charvel on the headstock though.

[KBRR]

i have been thinking about one of these for a while... the 21 frets turns me off though:think:

[SEEGERMANY]

Didn't Fender have a single atomic humbucker model that was the Tom Delonge model?

[chrisolson]

Didn't Fender have a single atomic humbucker model that was the Tom Delonge model?

No - it was a Duncan Invader.

[SEEGERMANY]

Thanks. I just located it in my Fender catalogue.

[Ben...]

i have been thinking about one of these for a while... the 21 frets turns me off though:think:

That's the only negative I've found. It's funny because when I went guitar shopping I was determined to not get a 21 fret guitar again because I use frets 22-24 a lot. I just thought I'd try this model but not buy it but once I played it I couldn't put it down. There's something about the neck that just clicked with me.

I'll just use my Jackson for anything that needs more than 21 frets I guess.

[CharvelRocker]

My 22nd fret is a full step bend on the 21st

I do think the matte finish on these was perfectly done. It does indeed not shine up. I agree on the Judas Priest thought, and actually was looking at a chrome pickguard, but I think it would take away from the theme and feel of the guitar a bit, as it kind of does it's job without being totally overkill in terms of theme. The only mod I am considering are some better saddles for the trem, as I dislike ones that are not notched.