Fender "Jimmy Page" mirror Telecaster
- Khaotic Media and others
- Sep 4, 2019
- 2 min read
September 03, 2019
Jimmy Page is probably my favorite Yardbirds guitarist, which lands me in spirited conversations with Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck fans. But I have a lot of lively chats with Jimmy Page fans, too—usually because I’m faster to wax rhapsodic about his daring and reckless abandon than his more obvious attributes as a fretboard/production sorcerer. I guess what I’m saying is, I love punk Pagey. Which means I also love Telecaster Pagey.
The build quality is tip-top. I couldn’t find a manufacturing misstep anywhere. The setup was a touch higher than I prefer. (It would probably be perfect for many players.) But the higher action highlighted the ringing, rib-rattling resonance and sustain of the light, 2-piece ash body. And there was room to lower the strings at the saddles and still nail Pagey’s interstellar bends without fretting out on the period-correct 7.25" fretboard.
The Verdict
Any good Telecaster is a great blank slate, and this Jimmy Page signature model is most certainly that. Its simplicity and wide-spectrum tone profile compel you to explore the potential of the two knobs, two pickups, and the way the guitar can interact dynamically with an amp running at open throttle. At about $2,500, it’s expensive—about $500 more than an American Original ’60s Telecaster and $600 more than an American Original ’50s model. But each of those guitars have a modern 9.5" radius, which makes the Jimmy Page Mirror Telecaster one of the few ways to get a vintage-correct 7.25" Telecaster neck without jumping up to a Custom Shop model or down to a Mexico-made Vintera-series instrument. But, oh man, that neck. It’s the kind of neck that could make this the only electric you ever want to use. For a lot of players, that neck alone—and its ability to let you walk in the shoes of a punky young Jimmy Page—will be well worth the cost of admission
Comments