Fender 75th Anniv AmPro Cabronita IBM

Fender 75th Anniv AmPro Cabronita IBM review

The Fender 75th Anniv AmPro Cabronita IBM has a clear appeal: familiar Telecaster-inspired styling, a pared-back control layout, and two TV Jones TV Classic humbuckers. The special edition pairs those pickups with an alder body, a maple neck and fingerboard, and an Ice Blue Metallic finish. In my experience, the look and the central idea are compelling. The guitar I received, however, needed repairs and inspection before I could trust it as a stage instrument.

This model belongs to Fender's 75th Anniversary Collection and is made in the USA. It was listed as available from March 2026, with item number 632111. The supplied price is 1855, with no currency specified. That is a substantial purchase, so the condition of the individual instrument matters as much as the design and specification.

Design and playing feel

The Ice Blue Metallic finish made a strong first impression. It looks particularly striking in person, and the details give the Cabronita a distinctive, carefully considered appearance. The single-ply parchment pickguard keeps the front uncluttered, while the sealed deluxe tuning machines have pearl buttons. The body is alder, with no separate top listed.

The maple neck is attached with a bolt-on construction and has a Modern C profile. Its satin feel was comfortable in my hand, and I found the neck easy to play. The maple fingerboard has black dot inlays, a 241 mm (9.49-inch) radius, and 22 medium-jumbo frets. The scale is 648 mm (25.51 inches), and the nut measures 42.8 mm (1.685 inches) across. A synthetic bone nut completes the setup.

The guitar arrived with a deluxe gig bag. It has a 3-saddle vintage-style fixed bridge, with strings routed through the body and polished block steel saddles. There is no tremolo. Nickel and chrome hardware and nickel-plated steel strings in.009 to.042 gauge round out the listed specification.

Pickups and controls

The two TV Jones TV Classic humbuckers are the heart of this model's sound. They occupy useful ground between traditional single-coil clarity and the thicker character associated with more forceful humbuckers. In my alternative rock and punk playing, usually with moderate gain, I heard a pleasing growl while retaining a bright, recognizable Telecaster edge. That balance is a large part of the Cabronita's appeal.

The controls are deliberately simple: one master volume knob and a three-way pickup selector. There is no tone control, so players who rely on rolling back treble from the guitar will need to account for that. Even so, the two pickups and selector give the basic layout more range than its minimal appearance suggests. I like the concept, which recalls the directness of a Les Paul Junior while retaining Fender's own shape and character.

Inspection and reliability

My experience with the delivered guitar fell short of what its presentation suggested. I took it to a trusted guitar technician for the usual inspection. The inspection revealed three problems: the bridge ground wire was missing, the volume potentiometer crackled and had to be replaced, and the fingerboard had scratches near the nut. The technician installed the missing ground wire and replaced the faulty potentiometer.

Those are not cosmetic preferences or minor setup adjustments. The missing ground wire and noisy volume control required repair, while the fingerboard damage was visible on a new instrument. Claims that a guitar is ready to take straight from its case to the stage depend on the particular example. Mine was not ready without work.

The supplied price of 1855 makes those defects harder to overlook. My purchase total also rose after import duties, though that added cost is specific to my situation and should not be treated as a universal price. Regardless, a new guitar at this level should arrive with its basic electrical connections and controls working properly. This was not my first Fender to show manufacturing problems, which made the experience more frustrating.

Verdict

The Cabronita's design gets a lot right. The Ice Blue Metallic finish is beautiful, the satin maple neck feels comfortable, and the TV Jones pickups suit moderate-gain alternative rock and punk particularly well. Its single-volume layout also gives it a direct, unfussy character that I enjoy.

My recommendation comes with a clear condition: inspect the individual guitar carefully before relying on it for a performance. The defects I found do not prove that every example has the same problems, but they are serious enough to affect my confidence in this one. Fender has created an attractive anniversary model with a distinctive sound. In my case, the build quality did not meet the standard I expected from a new instrument at this price.