Fender T-Bucket 300 CE Acoustic
Specs:
Body style: single-cutaway Fender style dreadnought
Top: laminated quilted maple
Bracing: scalloped X bracing
Back and sides: laminated mahogany
Neck: nato
Fingerboard: rosewood
No. of frets: 20
Bridge: rosewood with compensated saddle
Machine heads: chrome, (die-cast)
Fishman electronics w/ tuner
Scale length: 25.2"
Width at nut: 1.69"
Width at heel: 2.24"
Review:
Appearance -
Gorgeous...A very pretty guitar.
My guitar, as pictured, is Transparent Black. The T-Bucket comes in the colors of Trans Black, Trans Blue, Trans Amber or Sunburst (tobacco-like). The finish is very nicely done. Simple and clean and the quilted top give the instrument a nicely rich appearance.
What surprised me were some of the other aesthetic elements to this guitar such as the inlays. For the cost of this guitar; the Fender logo, the pinstripe design on the headstock and the 'F' diamond design at the 12th fret are all mother of pearl inlays.
The pop of the inlays and the transparent maple finish, the guitar has an inherent cool.
Features -
It's an acoustic guitar so it has a sound hole, a neck and a body. They've been that way for a while now so nothing new there. There are a few extra features to discuss.
The cutaway is very nice. I always get peeved when playing a dreadnaught because I can't get much past the 12th fret. Granted, twiddling away on the high E at the 15th fret does not totally translate like it does on an electric but once in a while there is reason to go up there and I like a cutaway.
The T-Bucket also comes with an Acoustic/Electric electronics package by Fishman. It's a pretty straightforward package with a power, volume and lo/mid/hi EQ group. What's really handy is the onboard tuner. I've got a couple of Snarks and love them but really, no need to travel with a tuner if this bad boy has it built in.
I have had limited experience with the Fishman unit plugged in but I'm not sure it would be my primary go to for DAW recording. It does not have the breadth of natural sound I would like. I would rather mic the guitar naturally. That said, it's not altogether useless, it does have an ultra-clean vibe that might be useful as a texture layer to bring clarity to an acoustic mix. It has value but would not be my go to for recording. I do think the Fishman would be great for live.
The tuning pegs are nice, die cast pegs and are pretty accurate. No complaints. No, these aren't Klusen's or Grovers. They are pretty much no-names and non-desript but work just fine.
Playability and Sound -
The brass tacks for any guitar is how it plays. I love playing this guitar. I mean, love. It has a very comfortable neck. I do not have long hands. Pretty normal really and I just don't like a fat 2x4 neck. This neck has a nice taper to it and feels comfortable immediately. No buzzing or flat spots.
I had played this guitar back to back with a $1500 Martin and the Fender was more comfortable for me (note...not that the Martin wasn't fabulous...). Cost does not equal comfort. I felt like I can play this all day. The neck feels reasonably fast for an acoustic. The frets are nicely dressed out of the box too.
I have to say that the natural sound really pops from this acoustic. The sound leans to the brighter side but in a very pleasant way. My wife commented on how much she liked it almost immediately. What i appreciate about the balanced brightness is the note articulation. When you arpeggiate a chord, each note rings true and clear. However, when you go for that big strum, the chords leap from this guitar. Though on the bright side, the sound still has a nice, full, resonant body to it.
Value -
It's available everywhere for under 300 bucks...I got mine as a deal for even a good bit less. It was a steal...brand new out of the box.
The guitar is a great deal for the money. You get quite a lot of guitar for that. Very playable and very cool. However, that's all you get....the guitar. I you want a case, you're on your own. Lucky for me, my wife had bought that 'Esteban' steel string starter guitar many years ago which came with a rather nice case...So I stole the case..I should note, that Esteban guitar is not bad...just sayin'
Summary:
It seems pretty obvious that I like the guitar overall. A very enjoyable and playable guitar for the money. Does meat and potatoes acoustic work very well and would probably be a great live acoustic and solid for the home recordist. I would think that you would want the two grand Martin or Taylor for the million dollar recording studio through the two thousand dollar mic. For us mere mortals, this gets the job done very nicely and is fun to play. Isn't that why we buy a guitar?
