Fender Limited Edition Pete Townshend Stratocaster is a miss

I saw this appear in my inbox, and here are my thoughts on this guitar.

There are some signature Fender guitars that are genuinely very good instruments like the Eric Johnson Stratocaster, but then there's not-so great stuff like the Pete Townshend Stratocaster.

Here's all the things that make the Townshend Strat not-so good.

Style

Torino Red body with a super-white pick guard (and I mean that as all 3 plies are white), no tint on the neck and that extra knob behind the bridge makes this thing look weird.

Electronics

The Townshend Strat has both regular (or rather semi-regular) pickups with use of Lace Sensor Gold Strat pickups.

But there's more.

It also has a "two-post Fishman Powerbridge tremolo bridge". This allows the guitar to produce acoustic-style sounds. And this of course requires a battery to make that work.

Where does the battery go? Here:

This is not exactly what one would call the most graceful modification.

There's also a TBX tone control on this guitar. This isn't a good combo when mated to the Lace Sensor Gold pickups. Why? It's not necessary. The Sensors have more than enough treble response on their own. If anything, there should have simply been an option installed to bypass the tone control entirely.

Neck

Just plain weird.

The spec sheet on Fender's web site states 21 frets but I see 22.

The neck shape is "Soft V", which is a vintage style shape, yet has a modern 9.5-inch radius fingerboard.

The nut width is 1.65", which is vintage style.

The fret size is tall/skinny vintage style.

The neck plate has a micro-tilt adjustment.

Summed up: A weird half-modern/half-vintage neck with a micro-tilt adjustment and frets that will probably buzz out with the slightest note bend.

A bunch of not-so good ideas rolled into one guitar

You know those guitars sold by guys on eBay that claim any change done to a guitar is an "upgrade"? That exactly describes what the Townshend Strat is. This guitar is full of "upgrades" that really don't improve anything.

If you want an example of different and good, see the Fender Offset Telecaster. Great guitar. Simple electronics and a very good player's instrument.

As for the Townshend Strat, however... no. Just about every single not-so good idea you could put in a Strat is present in this guitar.

Published 2016 Jul 15