fender baja tele

[tomjackson]

I think they are great guitars, the Mexican 50's Tele's are also really nice.  I like the pickups on both and wouldn't go for an immediate change although I probably would get a Glendale bridge....

The CV squire's necks are too thin for me though.

All of the Baja's I've played have been of a good standard, setups vary but it's nothing you couldn't sort yourself.
I'd rather audition before I bought but if I couldn't I'd still be happy just ordering one.

I prefered the Baja to the Fender USA '52 reissue I played once, the USA guitar had a really sticky neck and was pretty much orange in colour

[Pete24v]

I was going to say something similar to that. The CIJ '62 custom teles are very, very good for the money.

thats possibly the best guitar i own, next to the Jap Kotzen Tele

[AndyR]

Bit late to this...

My Baja is my #1 tele (although my CIJ 62 custom is probably better made).

I have to admit though, I didn't reckon much to the pickups at all. I kept it stock for a good 6 months and just wasn't getting what I wanted out of it. I bit the bullet and went for Blackguard Flat 50s, and I was in love the minute they went in. In comparison to the BG50s, the Baja's original pickups were thin and weedy sounding - that might actually be perfect for other folks, but I was actually thinking of getting rid of the guitar when they were in it.

One thing I did wonder, when I was changing the pickups, I found that there's a treble-bleed capacitor in there - that makes pickups "weedy" in my experience - I ripped it out as I put the BG50s in. So I tried the Baja pups later in a CIJ 52 tele (treble-bleed checked for and removed!!) - and they were just as thin and weedy in that one, less pleasant than the pickups that were in it already. Instead I got another set of BG50s and that guitar was sorted as well - not quite as stunning sounding, for me, as the Baja, but lovely all the same.

I'd highly recommend the Baja - the only thing I changed was the pickups (and, er, the frets :lol:). The bridge stuff works for me, intonation is fine. And seeing as the bridge on a tele contributes so much to the tone (or so I understand), I'm not messing with this one now that it sounds like I want it to!

[Fourth Feline]

I have one and love it.  The neck shape / thickeness / radius / overall feel, make it the nicest Fender I have handled or owned. Even in my spate of selling gear off earlier this year, I never thought of selling that . A true 'keeper' in my book.  :)

[gordiji]

ian price&andy r, funny you mention about the jap 62 custom as this was what i was looking at knowing the build quality to be good. The only reason i looked at the baja was it shared the same page chez thoman. I've an idea the pups aren't much cop though,(on the 62) but i had the intention of bking it.
It appears theres a few differences on the baja pups vs the custom shop, apparently they have green pvc wires instead of cloth,some say they not quite as good sounding as the cs. You would say that though if you'd lashed out 2K or whatever.Fender will have their marketing strategies too.
Now someone mentioned the kotzen tele, looked at that too.ticks all the boxes with good hardware and build but the pups aren't really tele and for the price i wouldn't consider surgery.i'm sure it sounds good though.

[BigB]

ian price&andy r, funny you mention about the jap 62 custom as this was what i was looking at knowing the build quality to be good. The only reason i looked at the baja was it shared the same page chez thoman. I've an idea the pups aren't much cop though,(on the 62) but i had the intention of bking it.

Well, I should take time to try out a couple MiM and US tele at one of my local shops, but as far as I can tell and according to long time memory of other teles, the CiJ 62 (have one too... waiting for my BKPs) is indeed a pretty good guitar with close-to-cr@ppy pups.

[Ian Price]

the CiJ 62 (have one too... waiting for my BKPs) is indeed a pretty good guitar with close-to-cr@ppy pups.

I changed the stock pups in my '62 as they were not vwery good at all. Sadly I went for some Seymour Duncan quarter punders - this is before I got all fancy and started buying hand wound stuff!

I've offered to buy the '62 back - not sure what response I'll get!

[AndyR]

My CIJ 62 has Yardbirds in it, the stock ones were "OK" but nothing more. With the Yardbirds it's probably my most versatile guitar.

Try before you buy if you can though - my teles are all completely different guitars and suit different moods. There's no way I'd have bought the Baja on the day I was trying the 62, and vice versa.

My Baja suits my "old tele for playing blues and rock and roll" mood :D

[Deadstar]

I'd go for it, mines has certainly served me well. It does have a rough edge to it as AndyR suggested - blends into things well though and the s1 switching allows for plenty of different character depending on what kinda song your playing.

You should be able to get it for less than 450 though, got mine for 430 with a leather strap and gig bag - you can usually talk sales reps around to giving you it for cheaper, especially round this time of year - suppose it depends on the shop but if your a regular its normally straightforward enough.

I'd disagree with those who say its heavy and has a big neck  :? unless your all midgets with small hands - as for the pickups sounding thin this really depends on musical style again, but there never gonna be humbucker thick, but if your on here I'm guessing your gonna be replacing the pickups at some point anyway.

I'd agree the bridge, simply for the intonation, is the first obvious mod I'd do to it.

Best thing to do is just go try it out with an amp your familiar with and see if its really you.

[Frank]

I was playing a Fender Blackout Telecaster the other day, very nice piece of kit for the money. Good job I left my credit cards at home or I'd have bought it right there and then. Pickups weren't astounding but I liked the feel of the guitar, nice and light and it seemed to be acoustically "alive" as distinct from my jap tele which weighs a ton and feels a bit dead sometimes. Not played a Baja but I've heard good noises coming from them, I just like three pickups on a guitar and the Blackout really grabbed me.

I might have to check the sales next week.

[Elliot]

Late as I am to this, I love my Baja - its been modded with BG50s and a Callaham bridge but it is a sound guitar that has all the tele vibe and more.

As to the stock pickups - they are custom shop models, but made in Mexico - the winders were shown how to make them by the custom shop people.  Given that this is how Fender always worked (i.e. Mr LF would show some Mexican workers how to do it and leave them to it) they are pretty good pickups.  The BG's blow em away, though.

[Matt77]

played a baja, a highway one and a USA standard yesterday.
The highway one seemed like the best guitar to me.
nearly bought it but value my life too much