Question on "Blem" guitars

DiRtyFranK38

so it's comming down to the wire of me buying my new guitar off of musicians friend. i was orignially going to go with the standard mexi telecaster sunburst. my budget is like $550 and i would like to have some to spear. however, i came across the nashville teles which are so nice, and american made for $548. the honey blonde ones are awesome. so if i want to use all my cash i just might get that. then, i decided to look at strats, and i came across the most beautiful looking strat i think i have ever seen. HOWEVER. it is a "blem" item. obviously meaning, blemished. i wanted to know if anyone here has bought a blem item off of musiciansfriend, and what it was like. is it still worth doing? how bad is it? just let me know what it was like, or for you extremely experienced people, what you think it will be like. anyways here's the links:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-Deluxe-Nashville-Telecaster-Electric-Guitar?sku=510067
i like the honey blonde

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-FSR-Deluxe-Players-Strat-Electric-Guitar?sku=513880X
heres where the big question comes in. just look at that last pic! this thing is beautiful.


but anyways, let me know about blem items, and how bad they truly are blemished. and what do you think i should do in this situation. hell, i might still end up with the standard tele.

keeponrockin

Nashville Teles aren't american made.

DiRtyFranK38

keeponrockin wrote:

Nashville Teles aren't american made.

my bad. thought they were.

anyways, do you have any idea on this situation?

Novawind

Same "build-quality on both" I'd say, mid-range guitars. They'll both sound really good but in the end it's up to you to decide if you want a Strat or a Tele. Gold hardware isn't my thing though. Far as the blem issue, I got my Strat used from eBay and for being "used" I could only find a few minute scratches in the finish, not even noticeable unless you're looking for them. I think all blem means is that it's not "totally new" condition. It's a return that someone played for a few days, didn't like and returned under warantee. And TBH, if you get one and decide you'd rather have the other (I'm assuming you've played both Strats and Teles to get a feel) you can always return it within 45 days.

WES

the nashville tele is a great guitar if you want a solid tele with the ability to get some strat tones. I own the sunburst model and am pretty happy with it. (Mind you I modded it pretty heavily, ie. P90 neck, arm carve, and a mini toggle to turn all three pups on at once) Out of the box its a great mid range guitar and a lot of different tones can be achieved. It basically gets me any kind of sound/tone I need.

ianvomsaal

Yeah that nashville tele isn't USA.
The Players strat isn't USA either - remember that the PIC you see is just an example.
The PIC is NOT the one you'd be buying, it's just a PIC of a Player's Strat.
Depends on what the Blemish is - could be as small as a body ding or as big as a headstock crack.
Give them a call - you should be able to ask them what's wrong with it.
Side-Note:
One of my students has a players strat, and honestly it plays and sounds like crap (but looks pretty).
His even arrived with a warped neck that couldn't be fixed - He got screwed.

- Ian

All Those Yesterdays

My impression of Blemished guitars, is the finish has nicks, or scratches in it. But the guitar itself is still there.

DeLukin

I bought a "blem" Fender Jazz bass from MF a few years ago - nothing wrong with it that I could see, except the color was less pure blue and more purple-ish blue. It sucks that they won't tell you what's wrong with the frickin thing when you buy it, but I guess that's part of the game... I only wanted a beater bass, so it wasn't a big deal but if I was dropping serious cash I would want to know exactly what's "blem" about it before I got it. Conversely, I just bought a used Highway One tele last year from a music store in Atlanta that I found on an eBay store - the guys were really thorough about explaining it's minor imperfections (some belt-buckle scratches on the back) and even emailed me pics of them so I knew exactly what I was getting.

If you're not comfortable buying "blem" on faith from MF, I would keep looking...

DiRtyFranK38

thanks for all the input. i just came across this on ebay now. it is a HIGHWAY ONE telecaster. now THIS is american made, and i would assume is superior to the other teles i mentioned. it is going for $500. i think that's a grat deal for an american tele, no? let me know what you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-TELECASTER-HIGHWAY-ONE-1_W0QQitemZ110173920878QQihZ001QQcategoryZ38083QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

All Those Yesterdays

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

thanks for all the input. i just came across this on ebay now. it is a HIGHWAY ONE telecaster. now THIS is american made, and i would assume is superior to the other teles i mentioned. it is going for $500. i think that's a grat deal for an american tele, no? let me know what you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-TELECASTER-HIGHWAY-ONE-1_W0QQitemZ110173920878QQihZ001QQcategoryZ38083QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

It's sort of american made. To me they are the same quality as the Jap and Mexican fenders.

You can find "newer" american standard tele's for $650 or so on ebay.

MLC2006

even if you buy a "blem" guitar, you can still return it, right? their return policy is 100% no hassle. I returned a pedal 2 weeks ago with no problem and no questions asked.

one thing I read on their "blem" thing was that many of them are simply guitars that were returned for whatever reason and there may actually be NOTHING noticeable wrong with the guitar. last week they had a $1400 SG blem selling for $1000 and if I'd had the money, I would have got it. it lasted less than a day before it was gone.

ianvomsaal

DiRtyFranK38 wrote:

thanks for all the input. i just came across this on ebay now. it is a HIGHWAY ONE telecaster. now THIS is american made, and i would assume is superior to the other teles i mentioned. it is going for $500. i think that's a grat deal for an american tele, no? let me know what you think.

http://cgi.ebay.com/FENDER-TELECASTER-HIGHWAY-ONE-1_W0QQitemZ110173920878QQihZ001QQcategoryZ38083QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD4VQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Funny . . . that’s not entirely true.
Highway 1 Strats/Teles are not actually fully American made guitars.
The Guitars parts are actually made in Mexico, but the guitars are shipped/assembled in Corona, California.
One of Fenders reps told me that this is not something they publicize much, but it's the truth.
But who cares, no matter what guitar you buy, if you like it, who cares where it's made.
Shit, Japan has been making some kick ass guitars by hand over the years, and many have far superior quality to many
of the American production line guitars (I’m not saying the Jap Strats are better, but other makes (some Yamaha, some
Alvarez Yairi - each of those have a high end line that is actually far superior to many American Guitars).

DiRtyFranK38

so are the highway one teles superior to the nashvilles?

ianvomsaal

Go down to your local shop and play each one.
See which one you like better (which ones plays better and sounds better to you).
Whichever one you like better is the superior guitar (who cares where it's made).

mccreadyisgod

I would buy a fully-finished Mexi Fender before a "USA" Highway 1 any day of the week... there's nothing wrong with the Mexican factory for a standard guitar, and the Highway 1 units are made cheaply to grab suckers who believe the USA models are superior to the rest. The only reason to prioritize the American Fenders is if you want a step-up model, like a Deluxe Strat/Tele, or custom shop. But if you just want a standard model, save the cash and buy Mexican.

The Nashvilles are Mexican, yes. I owned one. It was pretty freaking amazing. Sad I sold it. You really cannot go wrong there.

As per the Musicians' Friend blem items... some are indeed just a simple return where the customer opened the item and decided it wasn't for them, so they returned it. Other times, it is an item where there were small imperfections in the cosmetic finish of the item. A headstock crack, malfunctioning electronics, or anything affecting the playability/functionality of the guitar would NOT be considered a "blemish". In my opinion, the MF blem items are functionally good-as-new, akin to a floor-model for a dealer showroom.

Good luck on your search.

lucylespian

ianvomsaal wrote:

Funny . . . that’s not entirely true.
Highway 1 Strats/Teles are not actually fully American made guitars.
The Guitars parts are actually made in Mexico, but the guitars are shipped/assembled in Corona, California.
One of Fenders reps told me that this is not something they publicize much, but it's the truth.
But who cares, no matter what guitar you buy, if you like it, who cares where it's made.
Shit, Japan has been making some kick ass guitars by hand over the years, and many have far superior quality to many
of the American production line guitars (I’m not saying the Jap Strats are better, but other makes (some Yamaha, some
Alvarez Yairi - each of those have a high end line that is actually far superior to many American Guitars).

Actulayy, there are plenty of people who would say that JApanese Strats are as good as Custom Shop, and more importantly, were the keepers of the faith during the CBS years. The YAnks who bought Fender from CBS had to go to Japan top learn how to make em properly again. That's a hard pill to swallow I know, but true all teh same.
My Japanese ESP and Gretsch guitars are better made than my Gibson USA, and at least as good as my Custom Shop Gibsons.
"Made in Japan" is equivalent to a gold standard of quality manufacture in this part of the world. They don't have "World Series" lemons that's for sure !!
The weirdest thing about forums to me is the overwhelming ego-centrism of Yanks about their home products being superior.
I think you will find that Mexicans have been playing and making guitars for a lot longer than the USA has existed.