Music Monday - Guitars I Love - Fender Cabronita

Yes, yes, I know that "Cabronita" is a bad word in Spanish. It's also the name of a guitar with serious attitude.

The original La Cabronita is a variation of Fender Telecaster and is custom-made from the Fender Corona Factory as a part of their 60th anniversary celebration of the Telecaster. It uses the traditional Telecaster body, but uses a non-traditional TV Jones pickup and a unique pickguard that gives it a distinctly different look from the traditional Tele. The original has only one pickup with a volume knob. Subsequent variations have multiple changes - one pickup, two knobs, two pickup, one knob - it's all different, but simple, minimal, and at the same time, superb. Being American made, these guitars are of the highest quality. If you find them for sale, they are usually very expensive. They are also very popular among Fender and Telecaster enthusiasts (including yours truly.)

Because they were so popular, Fender decided to produce some non-American made versions, including the Made in Mexico version that was manufactured in Ensenada, Mexico. These had two in-house version of the TV Jones pickup, the Fildelitron. They differed in quality because of the manufacturing and the pickups used.

As a little side note, I think it's worth mentioning Mexican-made Fenders and American-made Fenders differ in quality, but not as a testament to the two countries' workmanship. It's just the difference between hand-made (American) and factory manufactured (Mexican). The price difference would suggest as much. So when I mention how good American Fenders are, it's not a knock on Mexican Fenders or the craftmanship.

So what makes the Cabronita so great?

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THEY GROWL

Mike Eldred, the head of Fender Custom Shop, stated that he wanted this guitar to be like "the a**hole cousin or drunk uncle that will show up to a family barbecue and kind of disrupt everything". It's a pretty good description of what this guitar is. It loses a lot of the traditional twang and country vibe, but it hits back with an in-your-face type of growl that is akin to John Lennon's guitar sound on the Beatles' track, "The End".

This is because the pickups they use are similar to the Gretsch and Gretsch-styled guitars of that time, which used a mini-humbucker design to add a definition to the distortion/gain/overdrive.

What's more, they are super easy to play. There's no tone adjustment knob like every other guitar you buy, so you don't have to fumble around the tone knob - it's straightforward. The Tele necks are easy to play. The sound is aggressive and dominant.

Here's a video of Mike Eldred himself demoing the guitar:

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Breaking the Mold

There's not a lot more to say about these guitars. It's simple, but it's elegantly simple. It's traditional and yet, far from traditional. It's a rocker, a banger, and a guitar that you'll find difficult to put down. It's the bastardized, demon child of the Fender Telecaster - it's a little cabron.