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the american deluxe/special toronados were only made between 2002 and 2004 and only came in two colors: blood-wine red translucent and butterscotch blonde. i had the former with the stock humbuckers for years, and it was one of my favorite guitars ever. like an idiot might, i sold it when i got low on cash, and it has turned out to be the worst gear decision i've made because now that series of the model is the god damn dodo bird.

i'm on a quest to get another, but this time i want the blonde with P90s. started messaging reverb sellers with closed sales over the last couple of years, letting them know i want. also have saved searches there and ebay, so hopefully i get a hit. if any of yall hear about one of these (pictured below, black headstock preferable tho not required), please pass along!!

hlysht that’s fuckin rad

Love it. I was always fascinated by the limited run of these with P90s, Stratosonics and Telesonics

Not exactly what you're looking for, but there is a used Toronado GT with tune-o-matic and humbuckers in what seems to be CAR for $399 in Guitar Center San Jose
Lank

Link says it no longer exists when I click, but I do know the GT models are pretty sick... still, that color with the pickups are what I'm after. Plus, its Gibson scale (24.75") so pretty unique for a fender. Kick myself still every time I think about having sold mine...

Fook, somebody has just bought it - it was available one hour ago. I should probably have sent the link privately

I had about three Toronados at one point, should have hung onto them. Still one of my favourite Fender models.

^same here (except i only ever had the one). they are probably the most un-fender guitar they've produced, too, but it felt really good, balanced. in particular, i've always felt les pauls were two chunky feeling, and sg's felt too slight and thin. the toronado i played was light but felt substantial when strapping in. and i have to admit the 24.75" scale is easy to settle in and adjust to.

I loved these when I read about them in magazines as a teenager. Same with the Cyclone II.

It's just occurred to me that I'm bored witless by most of Fender's more recent rejigging of old designs. I suppose I probably like these because of the age I was when they came out, I didn't know what they were, just that they were cool.

mine ended up being the gateway into picking up a jaguar, since the toronado body is pretty much a rounded out jag/jazzy with a scale that splits the difference between those two. the ubiquity of strats and teles was also a draw to the lesser-knowns, too. i did always like finishing a gig and fielding the "what kind of guitar is that?" question whenever i played it or my jag-stang.

and yeah... would love a cyclone II while i'm at it. there's something about a triad of jag pickups that puts me in a good mood.

I remember when these were out all we wanted were affordable Jaguar and Jazzmasters. Now we're overrun by those, it'd be nice if these saw a reissue at some point.

dots wrote:i did always like finishing a gig and fielding the "what kind of guitar is that?" question whenever i played it

I like that with the Chinese MP Marauder, another guitar that's become difficult to find.

I always quite liked the MP Marauder, although think I was about the only person who did. Still half regret not picking up a blue one when they got discontinued - they were cheap as chips at one point but hardly ever come up on Island eBay.

BearBoy wrote:I always quite liked the MP Marauder, although think I was about the only person who did. Still half regret not picking up a blue one when they got discontinued - they were cheap as chips at one point but hardly ever come up on Island eBay.

Despite what I said and the current one on eBay being over £300, a sold listing search says one went in December for £150!! I must admit I hardly ever use anything but the neck "P90".

Sorry to derail your thread, Dots, but happy birthday anyway.

Damn, I didn't know about the Blonde P90 version of these; they look pretty interesting. I'll keep my eyes open and send you links if I see one.

BearBoy wrote:I always quite liked the MP Marauder, although think I was about the only person who did. Still half regret not picking up a blue one when they got discontinued - they were cheap as chips at one point but hardly ever come up on Island eBay.

I was super skeptical and dubious about them when they came out, but, when on vacation picked one up on a lark in a shop; my mind was immediately changed. It was also the LPB version, looked great, felt great, and sounded far better than I expected... still annoyed I couldn't take it home with me.

NickS wrote:Despite what I said and the current one on eBay being over £300, a sold listing search says one went in December for £150!! I must admit I hardly ever use anything but the neck "P90".

Doh. I had it on my watch list on eBay but must have deleted it at some point. No wonder I hadn't seen any coming up for sale...

NickS wrote:Sorry to derail your thread, Dots, but happy birthday anyway.

Haha.

haha indeed, and thank you for the well wishes, nick. it's probably fitting that those unique instruments from 20+ years ago are getting a more serious look these days... pity that sentiment wasn't strong enough back in the day, but i also feel fender could have done more to market them. it might have had to do with production costs for lesser known models one would imagine.

Ankhanu wrote:Damn, I didn't know about the Blonde P90 version of these; they look pretty interesting. I'll keep my eyes open and send you links if I see one.

many thanks to you, sir, in advance!

dots wrote:Link says it no longer exists when I click, but I do know the GT models are pretty sick... still, that color with the pickups are what I'm after. Plus, its Gibson scale (24.75") so pretty unique for a fender. Kick myself still every time I think about having sold mine...

If you can live without Toronado body shape and want 24.75 scale. You can order a Warmoth strat 24.75 conversion neck for around $250-270, throw it in a cheap strat and have a little rawker that you can upgrade with any pickups you want. There are various specs for their necks, I'd personally go with a 59 rounded profile, 6105 medium frets and their standard 10-16 compound fretboard radius. You can also look for used ones as they might be significantly cheaper, but at the same time their specs might be not suitable for your likings

If you took the giant Mexican toronado tort pickguard and replaced it on the pewter model it would be fuckin amazing.

This pickguard with this color combo.