The El Rio was one of the guitars in Fender’s California Series, produced from 1982 to 1994. Although I don’t have an exact build date, I’m pretty sure mine is one of the earlier models (1982-1985, built in Japan). Later models were built in South Korea. Although the El Rio model has been discontinued, the California Series acoustics are still part of Fender’s catalog. Current models include the Sonoran, Kingman and Malibu.

This guitar was purchased from Last Chance Guitars (now Crazyhorse Guitars) at their old location on 35th Street. I had been looking for a good steel-string acoustic at the time, and for $175 the El Rio was as good a value as anything else I’d seen while shopping around. If you can manage to find one on Ebay, you’ll see that they now sell for several times that amount.

It’s been to the luthier a couple of times over the years. The first time was to re-position the battery holder. Fender placed the holder inside the sound hole where the neck meets the body. This meant I needed to change the strings if I wanted to change the battery: the one and only complaint I have about the El Rio design. Guitar ER installed a flip-out compartment just under the strap peg to make the battery much more accessible.

The second repair was done at The Lutherie Shop: the El Rio had fallen off my wall and landed squarely on the strap peg / cable socket and had cracked the wood at the butt end of the guitar quite severely. I must say that the fellows at Lutherie did a great job repairing the damage, and although it’s still noticeable if you look closely, it’s not obvious from a distance.

The El Rio has a great tone, comfortable shape, and an electric-styled neck that make it an easy, fun guitar to play. The active pickup has a good balance of tone, and I feel it reflects the guitar’s natural acoustic tone quite nicely. This has been my go-to guitar since I bought it in 1995.