Fender Acoustasonic Tele ?

[MarkDyson]

Another quick note related to that observation: I recently watched a YT video of Def Leppard on the Stern show and the front man was sporting an Acoustasonic in the burst color scheme. He's hardly their strongest guitarist but that's a nice bit of celebrity endorsement.

 

[Scotty R]

...he said the things sold out very quickly and he's angling hard to get Fender to send him more because he has a waiting list...

Seeing the same here. None in the city, and store owners are saying they're both extremely popular (lots of people showing interest) and hard to get as Fender can't keep up to demand.

 

[MarkDyson]

Seeing the same here. None in the city, and store owners are saying they're both extremely popular (lots of people showing interest) and hard to get as Fender can't keep up to demand.

And the haters are still losing their minds. It's kind of funny.

I know a large part of the expense of the thing is in the high zoot electronics; still, if they get their investment back with enough of a return, I'm hooping the design makes it into the MiM line so the cost comes down some and more folks can buy in. It's a great concept and I'd like to see it solidify and be expanded. I'm biased, the primary use case is exactly where I'm at musically, but I can see lots of folks enjoying something similar down the road.

 

[PapaRaptor]

And the haters are still losing their minds. It's kind of funny.

I'm certainly a Telecaster afficionado and not a hater. I've listened to a bunch of demos and from what I've heard, Fender has done a great job of making it sound like a big acoustic when plugged in. But every demo I've heard seems to be focused much more on the acoustic side, with almost an "oh, it sounds like an electric, too" almost as if making it sound like an electric is an afterthought. I'll have to reserve judgement until I can mangle one with my own two hands. Considering that the only acoustic 6 string I have is a sub-100$ Ibanez that my oldest son left at home when he moved out (unless you count a Stratacoustic I bought while on a business trip a few years ago), I do tend to be openly biased towards electric guitars.

Now if Taylor comes out with a dreadnaught that sounds just like a Strat...

 

[MarkDyson]

...every demo I've heard seems to be focused much more on the acoustic side, with almost an "oh, it sounds like an electric, too" almost as if making it sound like an electric is an afterthought.

Yeah, that's pretty spot-on. When Swerdfiger worked for Taylor and did the T5 the focus was an electric that had some acoustic tones. He went the other way with the Fender version; only two blade settings even activate the Tele bridge pickup and one of those is a blend with one of the acoustic dread tones.

I think a big part of the thinking is that in electric mode you're going to either use the Tele bridge tone as-is or color it with pedals so there wasn't a whole lot they needed to do to punch up that aspect of the guitar. For me, I play way more acoustic than electric stuff so the focus works for me quite well.

My ideal use case example is doing "Let It Be" and being able to play the solo on the same guitar.