Register To ReplyUgly, and the few vintage coronado guitars I played were not my thing. To me they felt terrible. I know they have a bit of a following, but everything about them just felt bad to me.
Guitar Pic Of The Day 4/15/2011
Fender Friday returns!
Fender Coronado XII Sunburst 1967
This Fender Coronado is a double-cutaway thin-line hollow-body electric guitar, manufactured by Fender in 1969. Designed by Roger Rossmeisl (who had previously also designed instruments for Rickenbacker, but who went on to create numerous models for Fender), the Coronado was an attempt to capitalise on the increasing popularity of semi-acoustic guitars following the high-profile use of hollow-bodied instruments, such as the Epiphone Casino by bands like the Beatles.
Three versions of the Coronado guitar were produced from 1966 through 1972. The Coronado II has an added bridge pickup.
The top, sides and back of the body were constructed from laminated beechwood, the top being slightly arched, and featuring two generous, routed and bound "f" holes. The body of the instrument was finished in a high-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer, a finish which is no longer frequently used in the manufacture of modern guitars.
The Coronado also features relatively thin 'C'-shaped bolt-on maple neck, topped with a rosewood fingerboard, and a headstock shaped similarly to that of a Fender Stratocaster.
Unusually for Fender at the time, the Coronado's pickups were made by DeArmond, and the bridge was a free-floating, non anchored, 'tune-o-matic' style bridge, with a suspended tailpiece.
Summary
Body: Hollow beechwood body with a sunburst finish.
Neck: Maple, rosewood fretboard with block inlays.
Cosmetic Condition: Very clean! A few small blemishes and tiny chips around the body edges and neck plate.
Weight: 6lbs 8oz
$1,895
Ugly, and the few vintage coronado guitars I played were not my thing. To me they felt terrible. I know they have a bit of a following, but everything about them just felt bad to me.
The body is a beauty, butter face! I don't know if I'll ever get used to the Squidward nose head stock.
I liked the first pic, that headstock looks ridiculous though, stood up playing it would look like it was melting
Too many strings...
I may or may not have completely misinterpreted my misconceptions as perceptions of misconstrued disinformation...
Headstock is goofy, but I like it anyway.
It's OK.
I kind of like it, but would have very little use for it.
Originally Posted by paulskirocks
ah, fender friday. if this is what i'm returning to, you can keep it.
as for the guitar, they look great and play like shit. no thanks.
I've never played a Coronado. Why do they play like shit?
Do not want.
I haven't either. Now I'm curious.
Thought the bolt on neck for a hollow was kinda weird, but what do I know?
EG
Hate the finish, hate the headstock, hate the price.
Proud member of the I ate a habanero and lived fraternity
Sole member of the I took a big chomp from a jolokia and lived fraternity
I guess the designer felt the need to out-Gumby the Rickenbacker's headstock, since that would have been the main competitor in the 12-string market.
Looks ridiculous, but I'd still like to try it out.
The few that I have played (although not 12 strings) had a number of problems that added to the overall shitty feel experience. The biggest problem was the neck heavy feel to them, the next was the thin C neck (both in profile, and what felt like narrow string spacing too) combined with a curvy radius an mini frets that made it very uncomfortable to play (of course some people like this, more of a preference), the third was a really poor neck fit on the body....with both examples having a poor angle, and enough gap that you could make tremolo effects by wiggling the neck. My final complaint was the pickups/sound. Not sure whether it was the pickups, the beech wood laminate, or a combo of the two, but both guitars sounded really, really bad. I know some people really love these, but I remember thinking the first one I played was probably the worst guitar I have ever held. The second one I tried was to see if the first one was a fluke or damaged...it wasn't, apparently, they all play like crap. I'm not knocking those who have well made examples and love them, but I've never felt another guitar that so very clearly indicated to me that we would not be making music together.
EG
lol.
most of the issues i had were neck related, just like tiltsta mentioned.
I dig.
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There is a guy over at HC EG who had a petition to ask fender to make a reissue of them.I guess some people really love them, or some superstar band person played one at the MTV awards or something. Anyway, every time I think of that petition arriving at fender and being discussed by the management, I see a situation where the production manager says it is impossible to do, as the new CNC machines can't be programmed with poor enough tolerances and slop to properly recreate the coronado.
Maybe if they did it again, they could get it right?
I'm an optimist.
EG
the Coronado? really? i would have thought it was for the Starcaster because Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead plays one. the Starcaster was actually a decent to good guitar, if you could find one that didn't fail from CBS tolerances.There is a guy over at HC EG who had a petition to ask fender to make a reissue of them.
I may have been confused about the coronado versus starcaster. I can't recall.
Starcaster:
No thank you. Not Interested. They have a 6 string Coronado at a used music store by my house. They have the traditional Fender headstock.
Ye old like-o-meter
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Yet another friend of Jack...
This is the first sunburst Coronado I've ever seen, just seeing the Antiqua finish, a bad medium grey with cream accents.
This is a good example of good guitar ideas being run through the corporate mill.
"Laminate" still means plywood to me, outsourcing pickups is outsourcing pickups, and going Gibson style is still going Gibson style.
Every Coronado I've tried was unfocussed within it's own acoustics, a bad kind of 335.
I don'wanna know what that fifth knob is for.
are you looking at the same picture as we are? the pickups say Fender on them and there's no 5th knob.
I had a 6 string Coronado years ago. I loved it. I had to sell it when my wife was in grad school getting her masters.
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like the finish, droopy headstock is awesome-silly, so I can dig it.
I'd love an electric 12.
but after reading the written word here, I think I'd pass on it.
okay, I'd still give it a shot.
Help!I'maRock! It says Fender used DeArmond pickups. Take it easy, you'll have lots of opportunity to comment on me today.
Something tells me you're all excited, waiting to use the dancing banana.
The Starcasters were very cool, then they ruined the name and put it on a ultra cheap line of guitars.
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sorry, i forgot that Fender didn't own DeArmond then. they do now though.
yes.
LOL
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since you've been gone I've been lost without a trace, I look for you, and I long for your embrace, post more, type more, please.
BANANAS!
Yum!
EG
What's this bent big finger I'm sticking out in front of your face mean?
Is it a banana... or a been-in-ya?
idea for a cover, maybe...
OK, John, I can generally follow you, but I confess I'm lost.
EG
it's safer that way, Elias.
this is just the tip of the iceberg.
well, that's leprosy for you...
EG
The bassist who told me that joke died last year, stuck upside-down in a sewer manhole on the corner where I lived, at the time.
The police who were looking for his wallet, after a theft, went to interview some storeowners,
and he impatiently went diving for his Canadian Tire money. His weight and bad health did him in.
He played a '62 Fender Jazz Bass with a finger guide, palm rest, adjustable mute and removable stand for playing upright.
If that explains anything.
Yes, that clears it up completely.
Thanks.
EG
Just goes to show you need to watch your weight.
I'm down to 165 now. My back and knees thank me daily.
EG
flacid phallus headstock aside, I still hate it...
...I have avoided, up to this point, reading the Watt-isms dispersed throughout this thread...
don't make me, or I KILL YOU!
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