Fender Cabronita Telecaster

While retaining the shape and general feel of a Telecaster, the series incorporates design elements from Fender's subsidiary Gretsch, notably the brand's Filter'Tron-style pickups.

[1] In designing the Cabronita, he cited his love of custom motorcycles as inspiration to keep the aesthetic simple, as if the guitar could be a project someone was working on in their garage.

The concept became popular though, and many Telecaster owners began modifying their guitars to imitate the Cabronita look, while parts suppliers started offering Telecaster-style bodies routed for Filter'Tron pickups.

They cost slightly more than a Fender American Standard guitar but priced at a fraction of a Custom Shop version.

Like the American version, the Mexican built (often informally abbreviated as MIM for Made in Mexico) had two pickups, a single volume control, and a three-way switch.

Around the same time, the company began production of two Cabronita models under its Squier subsidiary, which is a sister brand of Fender and features more affordable entry-level instruments.

These "Vintage Modified Cabronita" models included one that had two of the Fender Fidelitron pickups and was very similar to the Mexican built versions.

These were built in Indonesia and featured a 22 fret neck and vintage style tuners as well as single volume and 3 way toggle switch.

In most models, the pickguard has squared edges instead of beveled, is a single ply material in either black or white, and is designed very simplistically, as is the rest of the guitar.

Gretsch was the first to have a patent approved for a humbucking pickup although Gibson had filed two years earlier, but there are significant differences in their designs.

With the exception of the Squier model that uses a Bigsby vibrato, all the Fender branded Cabronitas use what is typically called a hardtail Stratocaster bridge, meaning it wasn't designed for a tremolo system.

Like the original and subsequent Telecasters, the Cabronita is an easy to modify guitar with a simplified electronics system, well suited for aftermarket modification.