FENDER PARAMOUNT PD-220E £649

A new benchmark?

- Rob Laing

With all the excitement around Fender’s Acoustasonic models you’d be forgiven for overlooking the company’s extensive array of more traditional flat-top steel string models alongside those bold hybrids. The Paramount series is especially one to watch, and we feel it’s perhaps the company’s most underrated line. Back in 2017 we were impressed by the first Paramount mahogany models we tried and felt they stood up to anything in their electroacoustic £500 bracket. They even included a hard case.

Nearly five years later and a hard case is still included here on this enhanced model, but the acoustic market as a whole has gone from strength to strength; the quality you can get for your money nowadays continues to astound us. Does Fender’s latest Paramount dreadnought stand up in this contemporary context?