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A cool new acoustic from.... Fender?


Phil O'Keefe

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I know they don't have the greatest of reputations for their acoustic guitars, but I was pleasantly surprised by the Fender Redondo Classic acoustic...

 

 

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For all the details, check out my full review:

 

https://www.harmonycentral.com/expert-reviews/fender-redondo-classic

 

As always, if you have any questions or comments about the guitar or the review, feel free to post them here. :wave:

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The Redondo Classic is a cool looking guitar. I really like the matching blue headstock! Nice review Phil! I have been on the fence about buying one though. When shopping for my last acoustic I was super intrigued by the Buddy Miller signature and a Custom Shop USA they had used at Gryphon. In the end Fender's acoustic reputation kept me from pulling the trigger on either of those. My real problem is I have never played one! I hope someday Fender will hit some home runs and change the direction of user reviews. They seem to have the look, the Fender name and history, all they need is the quality build and sound!

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I have a Stratocoustic, and truly the only way it sounds good is through a TC Body Rez pedal...that pedal can make a ukelele sound like a Gibson jumbo :thu:

The only Fender acoustic I thought ever sounded like a quality instrument was the old Kingman.

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My knee jerk reaction is, "but... it's a Fender. :freak:"

 

Being that it's made of solid wood, I'd probably pick it up and try it if I had the opportunity.

 

I can just imagine the looks I would get if I pulled that thing out of the case at a bluegrass jam session. :eek2:

 

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My knee jerk reaction is, "but... it's a Fender. :freak:"

 

Being that it's made of solid wood, I'd probably pick it up and try it if I had the opportunity.

 

I can just imagine the looks I would get if I pulled that thing out of the case at a bluegrass jam session. :eek2:

 

I doubt that they were targeting traditionalists with the Redondo Classic... although you could certainly play bluegrass on it if you wanted to, anything with a blue painted top is probably going to get you some strange looks in those circles.

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Phil, I know that you and some others here probably think of me as a closed minded old curmudgeon, and I probably am. My first reaction was, yeah, its a Fender, Fender doesn't know how to build acoustics, besides look at that color.

 

However, I happened to be in my music store earlier today and they are a Fender dealer so I went over to the wall to see what all the fuss was about. They have 20 or 30 Fender acoustics but unfortunately none of this new California series. A couple of butt ugly "hellcats" and a few nylon string guitars (I didn't realize Fender made classicals) and a couple of 12 strings, but all the rest had the Taylor looking headstock and were either priced at $199 or 299 (Cx-60xxx model numbers). I actually sat down with a couple of them (see, I really can be open minded) and noodled around. I also played a couple of Yamahas that were on the wall next to them, and for a palate cleanser, a nice Martin OM.

 

I have to bite my tongue, these were all decent guitars. Uniformly nicely built, they all sounded like a guitar, the finish was shiny, actions were all reasonable. I think they very nicely represent the price point made in China guitars that have come to dominate this part of the market. Would I buy one? No, I'm not in that market. Would I recommend one to a friend? That's harder - no reason not to but my old biases are still there.

 

If and when the store gets one of the California guitars in stock (is there an irony about a MIC guitar being named after a famous place in Cali?) I will make a point of playing it and bumping this thread.

 

Now, where is that OM

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. . . I can just imagine the looks I would get if I pulled that thing out of the case at a bluegrass jam session. :eek2:

I thought something similar back when Takamine introduced the "Bluegrass" series. Good as they might be, I can't imagine a serious Bluegrass picker choosing a Takamine willingly.

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Yeah, it’s that headstock. As a sorta old person who should be voting republican, bitching about kids on my lawn, and saying “candy bars cost...WHAT!!!?”, it’s just not right. Blue, ok. But good lord, that’s a slickin’ CLASSIC electric guitar headstock. Has no business on an acoustic.

 

...and I really do say the candy bar bit. ;)

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Yeah, it’s that headstock. As a sorta old person who should be voting republican, bitching about kids on my lawn, and saying “candy bars cost...WHAT!!!?”, it’s just not right. Blue, ok. But good lord, that’s a slickin’ CLASSIC electric guitar headstock. Has no business on an acoustic.

 

...and I really do say the candy bar bit. ;)

On the other hand, if it was good enough for Merle Travis . . . .

 

 

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Well, stranger things and all that...

 

I used to claim that aesthetics had zero impact if the sound was good but a man's got to know when his limits are being tested. Fender did me the favor of showing me mine.

 

Fact is, I could not be seen in public with this guitar. Perhaps Cindy-Lou Who could rock it but I could not conjure up the courage or character to stand behind this guitar without busting a belly laugh.

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. . . . Well, stranger things and all that...

 

I used to claim that aesthetics had zero impact if the sound was good but a man's got to know when his limits are being tested. Fender did me the favor of showing me mine.

 

Fact is, I could not be seen in public with this guitar. Perhaps Cindy-Lou Who could rock it but I could not conjure up the courage or character to stand behind this guitar without busting a belly laugh.

 

Oh indeed, Joe. Not for me either in that respect. But then, lots of people play ghastly things with more MOP of bling than wood that cost zillions of $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

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I get you, Howard. I couldn't picture you and Dylan or Cohen coming together over that guitar.

 

The MOP laden guitar is typically a host to a craftsman who specializes in inlay work. If not for the ostentatious at large he'd be out of work and out-of-work inlay artists would make the world a sadder place.

 

I guess.

 

Then we have all the so-called boutique builders with a penchant for that kind of thing, though they lean towards contrasting wood species, creating all manner of visual ornamentation. Even Ervin Somogyi, considered the premier artisan of luthiery, can get a bit visually busy for the sake of visually busy. If he sets the bar for ostentatious in an embracing market, that means he sets the standard others strive to achieve.

 

It sells over sound to the eyeball market, though. In that sense it swaps virtues from sound to sight and that legitimizes it. But, I've yet to find a word other than tacky to describe it because I can't appreciate ornamentation.

 

Fender, in this instance, strikes me as outrageously intent on foisting an acoustic faux pas upon a traditional market to see what falls out. If they have that kind of scratch to throw around experimentally, instead of actually trying to create a respectable acoustic line they've never had, then they are comfortably situated with their market share and are just tossing outrageous ideas around for the grins.

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