Fender Acoustasonic: playing impressions for American Acoustasonic Telecaster buyers

Electric or acoustic? After a proper play

I thought this would be a guitar that suited me perfectly—electric and acoustic together. After really playing it, I didn’t feel that way.

The different digitally voiced sounds were quite good through amplification, but listening in person I couldn’t make much of the distinctions. The built-in overdriven electric mode was another matter: I thought it was awful and muddy. I don’t really understand who would use it. Even gigging or recording players, I imagine, might stick to its acoustic sounds.

A body I love, a neck I don’t

I love its exposed wood grain. Bare-looking wood feels like a tough, slightly wild statement: I’m vulnerable, but I don’t need paint to protect me. To me, playing it means reducing its resale value, because some areas will polish up with use and reveal its age. On the positive side, the surface is comfortable, without drag, and the textured grain feels reassuring.

The neck isn’t my shape. It reminds me of an American Ultra, and the fretboard edges feel hard and sharp against my hand, although I think I could adapt. Both the feel and the response of the sound strike me as stiff. Perhaps it’s the acoustic strings, but it takes effort to play. The body is hollow yet the unplugged volume is small. It’s nothing like its Highway Series sibling, which I really like and plan to write about later. Even amplified, the response still feels hard to me, not particularly comfortable.

My verdict

7.5 out of 10. The electronics aren’t my thing, but other parts are good, particularly the body. I’ve heard that solid-body electric guitars were developed for performance and feedback control. This specially designed body serves the same purpose, so isn’t that retro?