The new Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat acoustic: WAY better than it needs to be!

Wade Hampton · #1 08-06-2011, 01:06 AM

A guitar I played yesterday that surprised me by how good it sounded is the Fender Tim Armstrong Hellcat acoustic guitar:

In case you're more of a Goth rather than a Steampunk, here it is in "black":

As you might be able to tell from the photo, it's really more of a matte finish charcoal grey than an actual black, but close enough. (The matte finish has the additional benefit of not immediately showing every single smudge and fingerprint the way a shiny black finish will...)

It's got laminated back and sides, a solid "mahogany" top (which is actually more likely to be sapele or khaya, both African hardwoods that strongly resemble mahogany in both appearance and musical performance,) and an excellent pickup with onboard preamp and tuner.

The store where I found these had one of each, in black and in brown. It's about the size of a Martin Triple O, maybe just a hair smaller, and the two I played both sounded good played acoustically, and even better when they were plugged in.

I was impressed. I wish I'd had access to something in that same price range that was so stage-ready back when I was in my early twenties. This particular model is supposed to be a re-issue of a much earlier Fender acoustic, but I strongly suspect that this "re-issue" is actually far better than the originals were.

It has to be. If there had been a cool little bargain Triple O that was this good twenty years ago, I would have had one, had I heard about it. And I would have - I was a total acoustic guitar gearhead long before the Internet made it all so easy

The shop where I tried them had them priced at $399 USD. I was tempted, but since I already own more guitars than I can justify, it's that much harder to justify yet another.

But don't let that stop any of y'all - go check out these cute little guitars for yourselves when you get a chance. Just acoustically alone it's a good guitar, but with those electronics on that guitar at that price point, it's a killer.

Full disclosure: I have no commercial connection to the Fender Music Corporation at all. Since 1976 I've owned two Fender amplifiers, one of which I still own, and I like Fender celluloid flatpicks. But other than that, I have no connection of any sort to that firm.

I just know a good guitar when I get my hands on one.

Wade Hampton Miller

steveyam · #2 08-06-2011, 02:44 AM

Crikey, you trying to convince yourself or us? That was one hard sell.

Triumph1050 · #3 08-06-2011, 06:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

The store where I found these had one of each, in black and in brown.

Wade Hampton Miller

So Wade, seeing in person is better than these stock pics....which one looks best close up? The black is interesting but I cant decide if I like it.

Fatstrat · #4 08-06-2011, 06:46 AM

Well, ya got me curious.

bagpipe · #5 08-06-2011, 07:38 AM

Am I showing my age by asking "who the heck is Tim Armstrong?".

RiloKiley · #6 08-06-2011, 07:54 AM

Thanks for the review. The only Fender acoustic that I've ever been interested in is the Buddy Miller signature, but that's mostly because I like Buddy Miller, I haven't heard too much about the actual guitar.

I will be sure to give the Hellcat a try if I ever come across one.

Fatstrat · #7 08-06-2011, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bagpipe

Am I showing my age by asking "who the heck is Tim Armstrong?".

I didn't know either. He's a Punk Rock musician. Guess that explains it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Armstrong

bkharmony · #8 08-06-2011, 08:08 AM

I agree wholeheartedly, Wade. I played one and immediately went to the Internet to see if I could get one without all the Tim Armstrong junk. Best Fender acoustic I've ever played, by a mile. I love this guitar.

dannylightning · #9 08-06-2011, 08:13 AM

Who is tim armstrong, here is a link to his band on youtube, they have been around since the late 80's or early 90's and they have got more of a reggae or ska feel with a punk rock touch to their music these days, but back in the day thery were just a streight up punk rock band and tim comes up with some very intelligent lyrics on allot of his songs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9vB6XCSAd8

and here is my favorite song by rancid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6hU_duXzr0

I played that tim Armstrong acoustic guitar. it sounded ok and had a nice feel to it but i put it down. the gibson AJ-200 and EJ-200 are the way to go if you want a lower line acoustic guitar, but that is my opinion we all like a different sound, i think the hell cat (hellcat is tims record lable if i remember correctly) sounded nice but it was not what i was looking for, i think its a really nice looking guitar.

Kitchen Guitars · #10 08-06-2011, 09:09 AM

Wade I am confused. Its the "New" Hellcat? I tried one, it had to be 2 years, maybe 3 years ago. I thought it was a cool/different looking guitar. The particular one I picked up left me unimpressed with tone or playability. The shop I was in was more about Brass and Electric. I doubt they were worried about humidity. So, maybe the humidity level in the room killed the tone. Or, have they re-released it?

Fatstrat · #11 08-06-2011, 09:24 AM

If it's anything other signature models, his name alone doubled the actual retail price to twice that of value.

zombywoof · #12 08-06-2011, 01:00 PM

I have not played a "reissue" but I have played an original which was made for Fender by Harmony and was a rebranded all mahogany Stella (the same guitar was also offered with the Silvertone moniker).

While the new version is not made from solid wood as was the original, I am also willing to bet it does not have the same clunky bracing that Harmony threw in their guitars.

I have played a couple of new Fender acoustics and one small body guitar in particular (I do not recall the name or model number) held up remarkably well to not only guitars in the price range but those costing a bit more. I sure would have taken it over the Epi L-00 that was hanging on the store wall.

But the real lesson learned was the 1960s Fender Newporter the store had in. The thing had the broomstick running through it and was probably the heaviest acoustic I had ever picked up. But I came away thinking that it was a really nice sounding and playing guitar and for the price tag on it a real bargain. Thing is it is not that my memory of the guitar was faulty or my tastes had changed but rather that I had always turned my nose up at those Fender acoustics with the Strat headstocks so had never really tried one.

I am now thinking about going back and snagging it.

knuckle · #13 08-06-2011, 01:07 PM

I've not played one of those, so I'll shut my mouth. But every other Fender I've ever played = Major double face palm fail in all areas.

Wade Hampton · #14 08-06-2011, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steveyam

Crikey, you trying to convince yourself or us? That was one hard sell.

Sorry you see it that way, Steve. It was just my honest reaction to a guitar I liked. I don't care whether any of you get one or not, and as I wrote in my post I'm not buying one. But the two I tried were excellent guitars for the money.

Kitchen, the guitar is new to me: these were the first I'd seen in person, and I only started noticing this model in the various catalogs and magazines since about last winter. If they came our two or three years ago, I sure missed it.

Danny, something I probably should have mentioned is that I'm a long time fan and player of Triple O and OM-sized guitars, and am good at driving them to get the best possible tone out of them. A lot of players who are more accustomed to larger-bodied acoustic guitars will play these smaller guitars with the same right hand attack they use on dreadnoughts, which is only natural. But that won't get the best tone out of them, and it takes a while to get that right hand technique so ingrained that it's instinctive.

So perhaps I should amend my first post to read that these are surprisingly good-sounding guitars for those of us who like this smaller body size.

Anyway, I liked the two I played, and do believe that they deliver a lot of guitar for the money.

Wade Hampton Miller

Wade Hampton · #15 08-06-2011, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knuckle

I've not played one of those, so I'll shut my mouth. But every other Fender I've ever played = Major double face palm fail in all areas.

These were the first Fender acoustic guitars I've played that I liked since I played a couple of the Made In Tennessee all-solid wood acoustics that Fender was distributing for a very brief period maybe ten or twelve years ago now.

That was a small shop operation that Fender absorbed and kept going for maybe a year, maybe less, and I played two guitars that had come out of that shop: an OM and a dreadnought. Both were nice, not great.

The Tim Armstrong Hellcat model guitars that I tried were also nice, not great, but were priced much lower.

whm