Show Full Spec Comparison
| Ibanez FRM300 | Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster | |
|---|---|---|
| General | ||
| Brand: | Ibanez | Fender |
| Year: | 2020 | 2021 |
| Configuration: | HHH | SS |
| Strings: | 6 | 6 |
| Made in: | China | United States |
| Series: | PGM/FRM | American Ultra |
| Colors: | Purple | Sunburst, Green |
| Left-Handed Version: | No | No |
| Body | ||
| Type: | Solid Body | Solid Body |
| Body Material: | Okoume | Ash |
| Bridge: | Gibraltar Performer | 6-Saddle American Tele with Chromed Brass Saddles |
| Neck | ||
| Neck Joint: | Set | Bolt-On |
| Tuners: | Ibanez | Deluxe Cast/Sealed Locking |
| Fretboard: | Bound Ebony | Rosewood |
| Neck Material: | 3pc Okoume/Maple | Maple |
| Decoration: | White Dot | White Pearloid Dot |
| Scale Size: | 24.75" | 25.5" |
| Shape: | FRM | Augmented “D” |
| Thickness: | 1st Fret: 0.87'' (22.1mm) - 12th Fret: 0.94'' (23.9mm) | 1st Fret: 0.84'' (21.3mm) - 12th Fret: 0.89'' (22.6mm) |
| Frets: | 22 Narrow Tall Nickel Silver | 22 Medium Jumbo Stainless Steel |
| Fretboard Radius: | 12" | 10" to 14" |
| Nut: | Ivory Tusq | Ivory Tusq |
| Nut Width: | 43mm (1.693'') | 42.8mm (1.685'') |
| Electronics | ||
| Bridge Pickups: | DiMarzio PG-13 (Humbucker / Passive) | Fender Ultra Noiseless Vintage Tele (Single Coil / Passive) |
| Middle Pickup: | DiMarzio PG-13 (Humbucker / Passive) | |
| Neck Pickup: | DiMarzio PG-13 (Humbucker / Passive) | Fender Ultra Noiseless Vintage Tele (Single Coil / Passive) |
| Switch: | 5 Way | 3 Way |
| Knobs: | Bell | Dome |
| Pickup Mods: | None | S-1 Switch |
| Volume Controls: | 1 | 1 |
| Tone Controls: | 1 | 1 |
| Hardware | ||
| Strap Lock: | No | Yes |
| Hardware Color: | Chrome | Chrome |
Show Diagrams Comparison
Reasons to Get
Ibanez FRM300 over Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Reasons to Get
Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster over Ibanez FRM300
Other Key Differences
Ibanez FRM300 vs Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Shared Features
Ibanez FRM300 vs Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Common Strengths
- High-Quality Nut
- High-Quality Frets
- Top Pickup Brand
- Expensive Wood
Common Weaknesses
- Weight Relief
- Stays in Tune (Evertune)
- Luminescent Sidedots
- 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- Active/Passive Preamp
Price History Comparison
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Hand Size Comfortability
And after taking into account the scale length, nut width, neck profile and fretboard radius, we can conclude that the Ibanez FRM300 favors large hands more than the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Ibanez FRM300:
Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster:
Beginner Friendliness
The Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster meets 100 out of our 8 criteria items for beginner friendliness, while the Ibanez FRM300 meets only 67. This takes into account the type of frets, scale length, nut width, bridge type, fretboard radius, and neck profile to determine the easiest combination for new players.
New Player Friendliness
Ibanez FRM300- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Tall frets
- Comfortable fretboard
- Narrow nut
- Short scale
- Comfortable neck
- Locking tuners
New Player Friendliness
Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster- Comfortable shape
- Easy-to-use bridge
- Locking tuners
- Comfortable fretboard
- Tall frets
- Narrow nut
- Comfortable neck
- Short scale
Sound Quality Comparison
The wood used in an electric guitar or bass is not as important to determine the final tone. However, some people prefer specific wood types, so we'll take a look at those first. Then, we'll take a look at the electronics to determine the versatility and sound quality of each instrument.
Woods Used in Both
Maple is one of the most popular necks for good reasons. It is a strong wood that is relatively cheap to make and looks beautiful. The highest quality maple is the hardest that comes from North America. Find out more about Maple.
Woods Used in the Ibanez FRM300
Ebony is a high-end wood, so it is not cheap. It's only used for fretboards because it's also very heavy. It does an excellent job as a durable material while looking elegant. Find out more about Ebony.
Okoume is an affordable wood and one of the first to replace Mahogany when the prohibitions started. It's generally softer than Mahogany and the tone has warmer lows.
Woods Used in the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Rosewood is an almost purple-looking wood that is used mainly for fretboards since it's heavy, rare, and expensive. It's sometimes used on acoustic guitar bodies to create stronger warm tones. Find out more about Rosewood.
Ash is a type of wood that Fender used almost exclusively in the 50s, and it's still used by many brands. It's a dense wood with a light color that works well for a transparent, natural finish because of its beautiful patterns. In terms of sound, it's known for emphasizing the mid and high frequencies, but with strong low end. Find out more about Ash.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Pickup Configuration
The Ibanez FRM300 has an HHH configuration while the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster has SS pickups.
A triple Humbucker (HHH) can be intimidating at first, but it's one of the combinations that offer the most tone versatility. You'll be able to have from a lot of output for Hard Rock genres, to warm and clean sounds that are more common in Jazz.
On the other hand, SS is the classic Telecaster configuration. It's used mainly for playing clean or with low-gain distortion, and it's very popular for the country genre because of their brightness. It doesn't give you as much versatility as a Strat SSS configuration, but you might like the cleaner look of a guitar body with fewer pickups.
Pickups Quality
Both come with very good pickups from at least one of the specialized brands in the market. With pickups like these, you probably won't need an upgrade anytime soon.
However, the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster has a slight sound quality advantage when taking into account other factors like the type of pickups, magnet, position, etc.
You can purchase similar pickups to the Ibanez FRM300's and use them on any guitar:
We found the same or similar pickups to the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster's online:
Both use Passive pickups. This is what's used for most music genres. They have a regular output and will serve you for both high-gain and clean tones. The alternative (Active pickups) offer a higher output that is mostly used for heavy music.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Versatility Comparison
Some instruments offer you more ways to explore your creativity than others. Below you'll find how both compare when it comes to versatility.
Switch Options
The Ibanez FRM300 gives you 5 switch options while the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster gives you 3. This means that the Ibanez FRM300 gives you more options to find the right pickup combination for the type of sound you want to achieve
Only the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster comes with some kind of pickup modification: S-1 Switch.
An S-1 switch can do a lot of different pickup combinations. It can split them, connect them in series, parallel, add more pickups to each position, and more. Check out the diagram to know how it affects this model.
When evaluating versatility, we also take into consideration bridge and neck joint type, number of frets, switch options, amount of pickups and more.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Final Sound Quality Scores
Build Quality Comparison
When it comes to build quality, we like to take into account everything used to build the instrument. This includes materials, hardware and the quality control expected depending on the country where it was built. Let's see how the Ibanez FRM300 compares to the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Country of Origin
The manufacturing country can tell a lot about the build quality of an instrument. The Ibanez FRM300 is built in China while the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster is made in United States.
China has a bad reputation when it comes to building quality. However, times have changed and now respectable brands use China's cheap labor to build good instruments for a lower price. Don't discount a guitar only because it was built in China, but also expect more quality from countries like Korea.
The United States is considered one of the best electric guitar manufacturers in the world. A guitar made in this country is supposed to have world-class quality control. Nowadays, guitars made in other countries can beat some of the ones made in the US, but most of the time, this country offers the best you can get. Of course, that comes at a price.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
Nut Material
If you want your guitar to stay in tune and sound good, you need a well cut nut. Nut quality can be inconsistent even when comparing two copies of the same model. The best way to make sure you're nut will be well done is by getting a nut made by an expert company like TUSQ or Micarta.
In this case, both have Ivory Tusq nuts. Ivory used to be considered the best material for guitar nuts due to its beauty, durability, and the rich harmonics and sustain you could get from a guitar with it. However, the way to obtain it is simply unethical. Enter TUSQ ivory nuts, which are made synthetically to imitate ivory. Technically, it's better than ivory because it is consistent piece-to-piece, while natural materials can vary a lot, even if they're made from the same.
Fret Material
Most fret wire is made of nickel silver. This material eventually wears down after a lot of use and most instruments end up needing a complete fret replacement. However, some expensive models come with stainless steel frets. This is what you should aim for if you can afford it.
In this comparison, the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster is the only one that has stainless steel frets. These frets will basically last for the entire life of the guitar. They will never need polishing nor replacement. And not only that, but some people also notice that bending and vibratos are much easier to perform when they upgrade to stainless steel.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Bridge
The perfect bridge for you will depend on your playstyle because they all have advantages and disadvantages. However, some bridges are more expensive—like Floyd Roses and Evertunes—and thus add more value to a guitar.
Both come with a similar bridge: Fixed. It's a simple bridge that is very beginner-friendly since it doesn't require any set-up. You can swap strings easily. It might also give more sustain since it doesn't have complex moving parts that make the strings lose vibration. However, it doesn't have the same versatility as a tremolo bridge.
Since we need to be objective, the most expensive type of bridge will be the winner of this section. In the end, this doesn't matter if you're not going to use the bridge for its original purpose, so choose the bridge that fits your playing style better.
Winner: Tie.
Tuners
The Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster has the best tuners of the two because they are locking tuners. They'll help to keep your guitar in tune because they allow you to tune it without wrapping the strings around the posts. This avoids variations in the tuning due to the strings changing position at the post after a bend. They come at the disadvantage of being slightly heavier than regular tuners. Also, it makes it a lot easier to restring.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Neck Joint
Contrary to popular belief, the difference in sustain and tone that some neck joints give to a guitar is simply unperceivable—if they're all well built. However, some of them do have advantages over the others.
The Ibanez FRM300 has a Set neck joint. This neck is tightly glued to the body. They give you the least versatility because you can't swap them for a neck that fits your hand better if you want to, unlike bolt-on necks. Some people think this gives more resonance and sustain, but there's no real difference if the bolt-on joint is well built.
On the other hand, the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster comes with Bolt-On neck joint. This neck is joined to the body by 4 bolts that you can simply unscrew. This allows you to replace the neck or take it off for travel. It's the most common and cheapest way to build a guitar.
Winner: Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster.
Here is the list of features that were considered when choosing the winner in the Features subcategory:
Ibanez FRM300
- Expensive Wood
- Ivory Tusq Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- Cheap Fret Wire (NS)
- No Locking Tuners
- Made in China
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Push Knob or Extra Switch Option
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Tremolo
- No Compound Radius Fretboard
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
- No Strap Lock
Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster
- Stainless Steel Frets
- Locking Tuners
- Made in United States
- Expensive Wood
- Ivory Tusq Nut
- Top Brand Pickups
- S-1 Switch Pickups
- Compound Radius Fretboard
- Strap Lock
- No Neck-Through Build
- No Weight Relief
- No Luminescent Inlay
- No Tremolo
- No 21:1 Tuner Ratio
Final Build Quality Scores
Playability Comparison
Let's now compare their playability. Bear in mind that the instrument will feel different depending on your hand size and play style. That's why you should always test before buying. But if you can't or want a second opinion on it, we can still take a look at each of the important measurements of the instrument for you. This way, we can predict how easy a guitar might be to play, or how different it will feel compared to the other.
Remember that, even though the difference might seem small, every inch counts when it comes to feeling of the instrument in your hands. Any variation can completely change how comfortable a guitar feels in your hands.
Nut Width
The nut width will affect the separation between strings at the nut. In this comparison, the Ibanez FRM300 has the wider nut with 43mm (1.693'') vs 42.8mm (1.685''). This is a 0.2mm (0.008'') difference
This means that it will be more difficult to do bar chords on the Ibanez FRM300, especially closer to the nut. However, it's also easier to play without muting strings accidently. This favors people with big hands.
Scale Length
The scale length is one of the things that influences playability the most. This is the distance between the nut and the bridge and will affect everything from low action allowance, difficulty to perform bends, fret separation, and even tone.
The Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster has the longest scale: 25.5". The Ibanez FRM300 is only 24.75" long. This is a 0.75'' (19.1mm) scale length difference.
This longer scale means that the strings need more tension to get in tune. This is good if you want to avoid fret buzz, which can happen when the strings are too loose and touch the frets while vibrating. This is especially important when playing in lower tunings. This will also let you reduce the gap between fretboard and strings (low action) to make them easier to press down. However, this higher tension will also make it harder to perform bends and vibratos as the strings will feel stiffer.
This also means that the frets have a longer separation between each other, so this will make it harder for people with smaller hands when playing some chord positions.
Another characteristic of a longer scale is that it makes the guitar sound 'snappier' or brighter. This is due to the extra separation between harmonics and overtones produced by the tension. This influences tone more than any other factor (except the pickups).
Lastly, remember that you can also affect the tension of the strings by changing your string gauge. You can use a thicker gauge for more tension and a lighter one for less tension.
Neck Profile
No single neck shape is better than others. However, most people tend to prefer a thinner necks because it doesn't get in their way when playing fast and most hand sizes can adapt to it pretty well. However, some people still prefer thicker necks for a better grip, especially if they have big hands.
In this case, both have different neck shapes:
The Ibanez FRM300 has a U type of neck. This is also referred to as ''baseball neck'' because of its shape. It's usually thick, which is why some people with big hands like it. However, they can also be thin, similar to a C shape, but with more shoulders for a better grip.
The Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster, on the other hand, has a D neck. This is a thin and flat neck that is made for playing fast. If you prefer a neck that doesn't get in your way when soloing, this is the shape you should use. Guitarists that prefer to have a bit more grip won't like this type of neck.
Fretboard Radius
Most guitar fretboards are not flat; they usually have a curve or arc across their width. A curved fretboard will make it easier to perform chords without muting strings, while a flatter one will make it easier to play single notes, which is good for bending and soloing in general. The best fretboards have a compound radius that varies across the fingerboard, but they're not common since they take a lot more work to build.
In this case, the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster is the only one with a compound radius. This is a huge win because it will give you the best of both worlds: a more curved radius in the first few frets for chords, and flatter as you come closer to the body for soloing.
Fret Size
The Ibanez FRM300 has Narrow Tall frets, which should be taller than the Fender American Ultra Luxe Telecaster's Medium Jumbo frets.
Some people prefer taller frets because they result in more sustain since the strings get pressed cleanly without interference from the fretboard. However, if they're too tall—like Jumbo frets—, you might change the pitch of the strings accidentally if you press too hard because you won't be touching the fretboard with your fingers. This is also why some guitarists with a heavy grip prefer smaller frets. They like to feel the fingerboard to avoid pressing down too hard and getting out of pitch.
