Fender Jim Root Telecaster , Ebony Fingerboard, Flat White

I bought this guitar being that Jim root is one of my favorite guitarists and I was excited and had high hopes, but I’m not completely satisfied with it. I’ve played a decent variety of guitars with different finishes both on body and necks as well as different shaped necks. The neck on the guitar (my guitar at least) didn’t feel that great. The neck where they the frets feel a little conclaved when I’m standing up and using the guitar and it just feels weird to me. Now if I sit down with the guitar it’s not bad, I can play pretty well on it but it’s problem for me since I’m a live musician and well I gotta be standing. One other thing I didn’t like was how close that volume knob is, I’d start playing and within 30 seconds to a minute and the volume knob is at zero ... MoreI bought this guitar being that Jim root is one of my favorite guitarists and I was excited and had high hopes, but I’m not completely satisfied with it. I’ve played a decent variety of guitars with different finishes both on body and necks as well as different shaped necks. The neck on the guitar (my guitar at least) didn’t feel that great. The neck where they the frets feel a little conclaved when I’m standing up and using the guitar and it just feels weird to me. Now if I sit down with the guitar it’s not bad, I can play pretty well on it but it’s problem for me since I’m a live musician and well I gotta be standing. One other thing I didn’t like was how close that volume knob is, I’d start playing and within 30 seconds to a minute and the volume knob is at zero so to me it’s not reliable to use live but all around the guitar feels nice in the weight it’s not heavy and it’s not a feather also it sounds good. If you’re used to the volume knob so close you’ll love the guitar

BUY THIS GUITAR!!!! DO NOT HESITATE!!!

This guitar is amazing! Over the years I always wanted one, but just couldn't go the route of buying one. I finally got sick of having issues with all of my other guitars and bit the bullet to get this. WOW, was I surprised when I got it!First impressions, the weight of the guitar is solid! Alot of complaints about the weight, pickups, and other things, but it feels great about this guitar. You can hear the acoustic resonance of the strings when the guitar is unplugged. The Mahogany body really enhances the sound and balance. The matte finish gives it an excellent feel and touch. Solid neck bolt on body and man oh man does the all black look good! (white one will be incoming soon!!!!)I traded in my Epiphone Dot and I am so glad that I did! I am now selling my ... MoreThis guitar is amazing! Over the years I always wanted one, but just couldn't go the route of buying one. I finally got sick of having issues with all of my other guitars and bit the bullet to get this. WOW, was I surprised when I got it!First impressions, the weight of the guitar is solid! Alot of complaints about the weight, pickups, and other things, but it feels great about this guitar. You can hear the acoustic resonance of the strings when the guitar is unplugged. The Mahogany body really enhances the sound and balance. The matte finish gives it an excellent feel and touch. Solid neck bolt on body and man oh man does the all black look good! (white one will be incoming soon!!!!)I traded in my Epiphone Dot and I am so glad that I did! I am now selling my other guitars to buy an additional one in white on black.The sound plugged in is great. It is unlike anything I have ever played before. You can get those melodic sounds of a Telecaster as well as the drive and crunch out of a Les Paul (almost) You get a good deep resonance when playing. I run this guitar in black through an Orange CR60C. Plays excellent clean and distorted. I run 3 mainly different setups. Clean with delay for swells, slightly distorted for lead, and heavily distorted for other needs.My musical taste is hard rock, metal, and praise and worship. Somewhat of an eclectic set, but I play them all with worship being the main thing.The guitar sounds great for me when playing overall. From standard tuning all the way down to drop D, I haven't gone any further down.Overall if you are on the fence, get off and get it. I am not endorsed or pushed to give this review. I love it and moving full speed ahead.

Crunchy tones!

I use my Tele for recording and jamming, however, I'm considering it for my next open-mic-road-trip.The neck feels great, weight is excellent, fret board is smooth, jumbo frets are my favorite, and the lack of a tone knob really didn't effect me at all!Rolling back on the volume gives me plenty of control over my tone.Due to the active pickups, "clean tones" still have crunch to them. Personally, I love this! And again, rolling back on the volume cleans up great.I expect, however, that none of us Jim Root fans are hoping for a sparkly guitar here.That being said, turning the volume know still sounds great unlike other active pickups I've used which sound kinda choppy as you roll off the volume.If [you] like crunchy blues tones, or anything rock, or just ... MoreI use my Tele for recording and jamming, however, I'm considering it for my next open-mic-road-trip.The neck feels great, weight is excellent, fret board is smooth, jumbo frets are my favorite, and the lack of a tone knob really didn't effect me at all!Rolling back on the volume gives me plenty of control over my tone.Due to the active pickups, "clean tones" still have crunch to them. Personally, I love this! And again, rolling back on the volume cleans up great.I expect, however, that none of us Jim Root fans are hoping for a sparkly guitar here.That being said, turning the volume know still sounds great unlike other active pickups I've used which sound kinda choppy as you roll off the volume.If [you] like crunchy blues tones, or anything rock, or just about anything (slightly overdriven) I encourage you to give this guitar a try!

Excellent metal guitar

Overall:I’ve been a metal guitar player for 25 years I’ve owned hundreds of guitars . I stayed away from the Root tele because I didn’t think any tele was capable of doing metal good . I’m from Nashville around here Teles are used for Country and only country. After a couple of years I decided to give this one a shot and Wow and I glad I did !! This guitar screams and thumps doing metal!!! Plays and sounds great !! I own Gibson’s , Deans , ESPs and other well known metal guitars but this tele is the best one of them all!! It feels great playing sounds great after first playing it I felt like I was a better guitar player because this guitar sounds crisp clear and tight as I was triple picking it was so clear and tighter than any of my other guitars I believed I have ... MoreOverall:I’ve been a metal guitar player for 25 years I’ve owned hundreds of guitars . I stayed away from the Root tele because I didn’t think any tele was capable of doing metal good . I’m from Nashville around here Teles are used for Country and only country. After a couple of years I decided to give this one a shot and Wow and I glad I did !! This guitar screams and thumps doing metal!!! Plays and sounds great !! I own Gibson’s , Deans , ESPs and other well known metal guitars but this tele is the best one of them all!! It feels great playing sounds great after first playing it I felt like I was a better guitar player because this guitar sounds crisp clear and tight as I was triple picking it was so clear and tighter than any of my other guitars I believed I have gotten better . After switching to another guitar through same amp I realized no I wasn’t better it was the tele making me sound better. Don’t hesitate buy this now it’s a metal machine. zZounds is the best and shipped it to me quick.

Jim Root Tele

Sound:Heavy. I bought this for drop B and A tuning and it's immaculate. Put this through your tube amp of choice and crank up the gain and its crushing. I run through a 50w Orange Rockerverb and it's a high gain monster. The volume knob is quite responsive though. Dial back the gain and the volume knob and you have a Les Paul esque sounding blues and jazz guitar. Wouldn't be my go to for that, but definitely could work in a pinch.Features:The 12" ebony fretboard is what honestly sold me. I'm not a huge fan of compound radius fretboards and the traditional c shape is perfect. I own a couple other Fenders but this neck honesty feels like a vintage Les Paul. Toss a little mineral oil on the neck and glide like butter. The EMGs are great. I've honestly never played ... MoreSound:Heavy. I bought this for drop B and A tuning and it's immaculate. Put this through your tube amp of choice and crank up the gain and its crushing. I run through a 50w Orange Rockerverb and it's a high gain monster. The volume knob is quite responsive though. Dial back the gain and the volume knob and you have a Les Paul esque sounding blues and jazz guitar. Wouldn't be my go to for that, but definitely could work in a pinch.Features:The 12" ebony fretboard is what honestly sold me. I'm not a huge fan of compound radius fretboards and the traditional c shape is perfect. I own a couple other Fenders but this neck honesty feels like a vintage Les Paul. Toss a little mineral oil on the neck and glide like butter. The EMGs are great. I've honestly never played a set on a guitar I actually thought played well so they're a pleasant surprise. I bought this guitar thinking I may swap the pickups for some passive Seymour Duncans but there's no need.Ease of Use:Two humbuckers, 1 knob, pretty simple. You'll have to replace a nine volt battery every once in a while which takes 60 seconds.Quality:Once you dial it in, its great. That being said, it needed some work out of the box which is my biggest beef with this guitar. I had a small speck of glue beneath the 7th fret that I sanded off. I also needed to completely set it up. If you're comfortable setting up a tension rod, saddle height, intonation, pickup height, etc. it won't be a big deal. That being said, a $1k guitar should at least pretend to make an effort. The neck is straight, frets are smooth with no sharp ends, fretboard is a buttery dream. In less than a half hour I got it singing and smooth, but unless you can set it up, prepare to drop a few bucks on getting it ready to play.Value:Guitars in this price range are always kind of funky and manufacturers know it. Compared to other guitars in this range, I'd say it's worth the money and comparable to other guitars in the same boat. Are you going to get a custom-shop-playing guitar of your dreams full of unicorns and rainbows and pixie dust out of the box? If you already own a guitar like that, then no. If you don't, then maybe. But what you do get is a solid foundation that's very customizable to your touch and can be a fantastic playing and sounding guitar with just a little bit of work.Manufacturer Support:N/A. Yet anyway.The Wow Factor:This guitar is super unique. I'm not a huge Slipknot or Stone Sour fan, but I know that the sound Jim Root gets out of this guitar through an Orange Rockerverb is sublime. That was my primary motivation towards looking at this guitar. With the ebony fretboard, mahogany body, and 12" radius, I was sold. It 100% meets my expectations. If you're kinda a quirky player like me, it'll do the same for you.Overall:Fantastic guitar if you want a metal guitar but like more traditional feel.

Not even close to the quality of Ibanez prestige line...

The guitar comes in 2 boxes. The first one secures the product box, so your guitar box comes clean and undamaged. Kudos for that musicstore.de !!The American made case for the telly looks nice, but that's it...The guitar doesn't sit snugly in it like it's the case with Ibanez prestige line cases. It is held in place by the very bottom of a guitar and the top of the neck, which can put unnecessary stress on the neck in transport (e.g. when the box is upside down ).Ibanez prestige cases are perfectly suited for the shape of their guitars, so they are held in the centre, blocking them from even the slightest movement (top of the neck is not strained).Telecaster came undamaged, but it makes you worry when you think about your precious guitar standing on its neck ... MoreThe guitar comes in 2 boxes. The first one secures the product box, so your guitar box comes clean and undamaged. Kudos for that musicstore.de !!The American made case for the telly looks nice, but that's it...The guitar doesn't sit snugly in it like it's the case with Ibanez prestige line cases. It is held in place by the very bottom of a guitar and the top of the neck, which can put unnecessary stress on the neck in transport (e.g. when the box is upside down ).Ibanez prestige cases are perfectly suited for the shape of their guitars, so they are held in the centre, blocking them from even the slightest movement (top of the neck is not strained).Telecaster came undamaged, but it makes you worry when you think about your precious guitar standing on its neck while in transport.The craftsmanship of the Mexico made Jim's Telecaster is poor in my opinion.The place where the neck and the body of the guitar connects had a small space around it, which unfortunately screams LOW QUALITY~!!Frets were poorly finished as well. I have not checked them if they are at the same level, but uneven and sharp edges of the frets on the side of the neck were constantly driving me mad...Neck pickup was angled in the weird manner. Much closer to the thin E string. It might be the setup thing, but I have not seen such thing in my ESP LTD Deluxe EC-1000 or ESP LTD BW-1 both with same/similar EMGs(Indonesian made ESPs, by the way - but they scream much better quality compared to this made in Mexico tely)The guitar had a really high action from the box, and I had a trouble to get a proper intonation with the fat E string (there was not enough space to move the saddle back any more further). Factory strings and E tuning though. But still, worth mentioning.And the last thing... Rattling 9v battery compartment... The battery was just bouncing inside of it... There is no thing to hold it in place... I know, you can just put something around the battery so it doesn't bounce inside of the compartment, but should I really do that!? With the guitar at this price point?!!?Again... both my Indonesian made ESPs mentioned above, had a simple metal thing that holds them in place...Overall, I loved the guitar. It looks sick, plays well and the neck is really comfortable.I just had a hard time to swallow the price I have paid for it...Comparing it to Ibanez Prestige RG652FX-GK Galaxy Black, it just feels like a budged Squier...I liked it... despite all the craftsmanship flaws, I really like it (I may even buy it again at some point). I just wish it was made with Ibanez prestige quality...--tgchan.com

Practical for everything

Great for any kind of metal music and really good for deep bluesy stuff on a clean tone. Mixing this with an Electro-Harmonix HotWax pedal gives the best metallica tone and dropped down with a pitch shifter makes some dead on Slipknot/deftones tones. Overall a very versatile guitar and great for anything you're trying to do.

Unbelievable!

All aspects of construction are rock solid Telecaster. What you see is what you get. There are no weaknesses I can find...it is a beautifully constructed and well balanced "no frills" Telecaster with no neck dive at all. Moderately heavy, but not a rock hanging on your neck. Just very solid feeling with very nicely finished fretwork, and a modern, comfortable neck and fingerboard radius.Now about the pickups - Wow! Just wow! My style is more of the style of that melodic hard rock band that Jim Root played in, and not the more extreme metal band Jim still plays in. But I'm running a professionally modded amp for metal, and I almost always pull the pickups in every guitar I own...even in my guitars that ran 8 to 10 times the price of this Jim Root Tele. But not this ... MoreAll aspects of construction are rock solid Telecaster. What you see is what you get. There are no weaknesses I can find...it is a beautifully constructed and well balanced "no frills" Telecaster with no neck dive at all. Moderately heavy, but not a rock hanging on your neck. Just very solid feeling with very nicely finished fretwork, and a modern, comfortable neck and fingerboard radius.Now about the pickups - Wow! Just wow! My style is more of the style of that melodic hard rock band that Jim Root played in, and not the more extreme metal band Jim still plays in. But I'm running a professionally modded amp for metal, and I almost always pull the pickups in every guitar I own...even in my guitars that ran 8 to 10 times the price of this Jim Root Tele. But not this time. These pickups don't sound as brittle and harsh as most ceramics I've heard (and own), so I'll guess A5 magnets.Here are the DCR specs measured while in the guitar with a 1 foot cable. Subtract about 0.1 to 0.3 DCR for the cable, pot, and wiring...Bridge - 17.3 DCRNeck - 16.2 DCRThe bridge pickup sounds very close to a JB, but with slightly better note articulation, but not quite the extreme harmonics dripping off your single notes, like with a JB. That's the trade off - slightly better articulation, with slightly less explosive harmonics on single notes.The neck pickup is also very hot, but still with great articulation, in particular when you roll the volume off a little bit.I would describe the overall tone of this guitar as dark and articulate, but not too dark. Perfect for metal and hard rock.Bottom line: I bought this guitar as a backup, but it instantly became part of my front line, and I will not be pulling the pickups for the JB/Jazz set I already own and was intending to install in this guy.I'm on the floor, this little Tele is so nice in every way. Now I need the white one, too...lolWell done, Jim Root and Fender!

its a beast, fwyh.

Solid guitar, great feel, great sound. Volume knob is only tone knob it truly needs. Acoustics are surprising unplugged, sustain for days! Running into an Orange Micro Dark and they pair beautifully. The pups are decent, sure emgs may be they way to go for some, I myself am not a die hard active pup guy and though I love metal, I keep finding myself rolling back the guitars volume to jam because its kinda shocking how versatile this thing is with a single volume and 3 way blade. Mahogany body, humbuckers, and can still dial in that classic Tele spank. Most of all I love that when this guitar was designed Jim Root wanted it to have an ambiguous look. It doesn't scream SLIPKNOT (who I love).. Its just a mean looking and soundingblack Tele. I love mine.

not just a metal machine

Overall:I bought this for the ebony fingerboard and because I wanted a tele with chunkier pickups than the standard. As a life long classical guitarist, I have an attachment to ebony. It has been the classical luthiers' choice for the fingerboard for at least a century. To me, there is no substitute. (I found this guitar by googling ebony fingerboard electric guitar.)As a player of electric and acoustic guitars since the late 1960s, I have noticed a steady decline in the quality of fingerboards. Sadly, now we see iconic brands producing expensive, iconic instruments with fingerboards not much different from the ones that used to appear only on the cheapest no-name imports. OK, sermon over.I would have preferred if this axe came with some sort of regular humbuckers ... MoreOverall:I bought this for the ebony fingerboard and because I wanted a tele with chunkier pickups than the standard. As a life long classical guitarist, I have an attachment to ebony. It has been the classical luthiers' choice for the fingerboard for at least a century. To me, there is no substitute. (I found this guitar by googling ebony fingerboard electric guitar.)As a player of electric and acoustic guitars since the late 1960s, I have noticed a steady decline in the quality of fingerboards. Sadly, now we see iconic brands producing expensive, iconic instruments with fingerboards not much different from the ones that used to appear only on the cheapest no-name imports. OK, sermon over.I would have preferred if this axe came with some sort of regular humbuckers rather than active pickups. Nothing against EMGs, I have them on my Charvel and on a custom bass. I just don't like batteries. Now to the instrument itself. In the course of a forty-year career as a player, I have owned and/or played all the classics. After a couple of weeks of getting to know this tele, it's looking to be one of the finest electric instruments I have played.I switched out the plastic volume knob for a black steel tele nob. Other than that, I'm not making any changes.A lot of the PR and reviews and youtube videos are all about what a great metal shred machine this is. I'm here to tell you this guitar will play whatever you can play. If you have t in your hands, this thing will deliver it. Many thanks to the zZounds people for excellent service.