Review: Fender American Ultra II Telecaster

Fender released its American Ultra series in November 2019. You might say the timing was serendipitous, considering we were about to be locked away for months with nothing better to do than launch countless artistic projects and spend our tax refunds on music gear and 10,000 piece puzzles. In their tagline for the American Ultra series, Fender announced that it was their most advanced, and most modern line of guitars yet; an important venture considering the brand’s appetite and reputation for impeccably faithful vintage reissues. 

Fast forward five years. Fender has just celebrated the 70th anniversary of arguably the most iconic guitar of all time, its original contour body Stratocaster. And amid a flurry of nostalgia-tinged campaigns celebrating the brand’s roots, they’ve decided to remind us that they’re also still at the forefront of modern guitar technology by releasing a James Cameron-esque sequel: the American Ultra II. Welcome to the future.

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The American Ultra II range covers all bases, but there’s a certain mystique that draws me to the Telecaster. It’s the effortlessly cool, supremely confident older sibling. A little bit cliquey, and a little bit contrary, a little bit classic. It’s a guitar that absolutely slays in the right hands. Jonny Greenwood. Jeff Buckley. Keith Richards. Jimmy Page. Bruce Springsteen. In fact, we made a list of the top 10 most iconic Telecaster players which you can read here. They’re an elite club who make the Telecaster one of the most appealing guitars of all time. I was blessed with the privilege of trying out the new Fender Telecaster American Ultra II. Now, more than ever, I want… nay… I need to join the Tele club.

American Ultra II

The Fender Telecaster American Ultra II deserves nothing less than to be housed in Fender’s sturdiest, most secure and most luxurious case. I was very pleased to pull a Fender Deluxe Molded case out of the box. The next thing that hit me was the smell of nitrocellulose. I won’t get into the nitro vs poly debate here, but I think it’s a nice detail and makes the guitar feel just a little bit more special. Fender really likes to pile on the case candy, and this package is no exception. In the inner storage compartment there’s a very chic black leather pouch containing the warranty booklet, certificate of authenticity, Fender sticker, allen keys and strap locks. There’s also a handy control diagram sheet in the compartment to help you get your head around the electronics. But before we go there, I need to express how aesthetically stunning this guitar is.

My test-drive Tele sported an icy Avalanche finish—a glossy pale blueish-grey—with a 1-ply anodised aluminium pickguard and chrome / aluminium hardware, giving it a very Cyberdyne Systems feel. Other colourways include Sinister Red, Solar Flare, Texas Tea and Ultraburst. The American crafted body is lightweight alder, which should give you a subtle boost to the upper-midrange resonance. It’s ultra contoured to maximise comfort in any stance and flaunts a tapered neck heel to allow totally unfettered access to the high 22nd fret. Those 22 frets, incidentally, are medium-jumbo, giving the fretboard an aerodynamic sleekness that will streamline your slides and chord changes. The 10-14” compound radius quartersawn maple neck (also available in ebony) features Ultra rolled edges for the smoothest possible left hand experience from fret 1 to fret 22. To my hand, the Ultra satin finish on the neck feels like a small step towards gloss; there’s a subtle sheen, but it doesn’t detract from that smooth satin feeling beneath your palm and fingers. The Modern D neck profile feels slightly wider at the edges, almost as if you took the classic baseball-bat C profile and broadened its shoulders. It fills the palm comfortably but isn’t at all unwieldy. Along the top edge of the neck are Luminlay fret markers to help you navigate the fretboard in the darkest of settings; the first of a plethora of modern features that quickly elevate this guitar from a very nice Tele to the most advanced Tele on the planet.

You wouldn’t expect anything less than deluxe short post locking tuners and a Graph Tech TUSQ nut, and I’m happy to announce that you won’t be disappointed. The string-through-body hardtail bridge has 6 chromed brass saddles. The tone and volume pots are knurled aluminium, and, as previously mentioned, the case comes with a set of strap locks. Long story short, all of the hardware is top shelf and bleeding edge.

The Ultra II Noiseless Vintage Tele pickups deliver exactly the right amount of output with absolutely zero buzz or hum. The neck pickup is angled to accentuate the highs in the treble spectrum. The 3-way selector switch functions as you would expect (neck; neck & bridge in parallel; bridge). What you might not expect is the push/push S-1 switch (more of a button, really) hidden in the top of the master volume pot, which runs both pickups in series rather than in parallel. This combines the impedance of both pickups, resulting in a much higher output and a hotter tone. Engaging the S-1 switch added this extremely satisfying beefy snarl to low-end power chords which I could feel in the core of my chest. The master tone pot also has a locking function that snaps it into place at the highest setting, mitigating the risk of unintentional bumps and knocks dialling back your tone. 

Playing around with the various pickup configurations, I was able to achieve tones that I can only describe as iconically nostalgic. The sweet spot was higher up on the fretboard, particularly while running through the neck pickup with the S1 switch engaged, which really made the guitar purr like a full grown tiger. I get it now; that twangy growl thing Teles do.

If you’ve been looking for the next best guitar in your collection, you can stop the search. It’s here, it’s got all the bells and whistles, it’s loud and it’s proud.

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