Fender Player Telecaster HH

KEY FEATURES: Nyatoh body with
Quilted Maple top, Nitro Wizard 3-piece
Maple/Purpleheart neck, ebony
fretboard, 24 jumbo frets, Gibraltar
Standard II bridge, 2 x DiMarzio Fusion
Edge pickups, Gotoh MG-T locking
machine heads
FINISH: Black Mirage Gradation
CONTACT: Headstock Distribution
ibanez.com
aT a glance
KEY FEATURES: Mahogany body with
Flame Maple top, Maple neck with
Brazilian Cherry fingerboard, 2x G&L
humbuckers, 22 medium jumbo frets,
G&L hardware
FINISH: Trans Red (as reviewed), Trans
Black
CONTACT: Andertons
glguitars.com
aT a glance
TOTAL GUITAR AUGUST 2019
98
There’s not a huge amount of Tele involved here, right?
That’s probably fair to say. Aside from the familiar body shape,
Ibanez’s FRIX6FDQM bears little resemblance to the T-style guitars
you know and love. What you get instead is all the best bits of
Ibanez’s Iron Label series - thin neck, solid hardware, and grungey
 nishes - with a body that o ers a vague nod towards Fender’s
classic marque.
So it’s just for metal?
Aesthetically, it’d be hard to argue with that. Yet there’s a surprising
This one looks familiar...
Of the three non-Fender models we’re reviewing here, this
one bears the most resemblance to an original Tele. Where
you’ll  nd this one di ers, however, is in the two humbuckers
designed by G&L’s Paul Gagon, and in the gorgeous carved top,
of course.
Any corners being cut here, considering the price?
Well, whereas the more famous ASAT Deluxe version is produced
in Fullerton, this Tribute series is produced in Indonesia, so
amount of versatility on o er here. The  ick-switch under the
single volume knob introduces coil-tapping into the equation, so
more traditional single-coil tones are available from the sweet
DiMarzio Fusion ’buckers. A neat touch.
That’s some finish...
Yep, Ibanez continues its trend of o ering some of the coolest,
most original  nishes around. It’s listed as being Black Mirage
Gradation, with a tremendous quilted maple top, but up close
there’s a vague hint of green involved which brings to mind…
zombie  esh?
you can expect there to be certain facets which are not at the
same standard.
Who’s it for?
Clearly the humbuckers point towards this being a badass rock
machine and the inclusion of split coils via a push/pull tone pot
means there are plenty of perfectly serviceable tones which you can
coax from the ASAT. We did  nd its overdriven sounds fared less
well in comparison to the Ibanez and the Chapman, so perhaps it
has its limits. Stick to pre-halfway on the gain dial and you’ll be
 ne, though.
IBANEZ
FRIX6FDQM
When worlds collide
G&L TRIBUTE ASAT
DELUXE ‘CARVED TOP’
Have we met before?
TH
E G
AS
S
T
A
T
I
O
N
£739
£449
TGR321.gear_test.indd 98 19/06/2019 15:19