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I'm preparing this one for sale right now, if you are interested.
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02-20-2025 02:43 AM
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One of my favorite videos showing what a Tele can do with jazz voicings is this. It's all but impossible to tell the Telecasters from the Archtops.
As for your question, a Tele can be whatever you want and it really comes down to what brand you favor.
Do you want a "genuine" Telecaster, which means it says "Fender" on the headstock? Do you want an emulation of a historic Tele like a Nash? Do you prefer small boutique brands, of which there are dozens? Or do you want to build your own Partscaster?
It can be as expensive or inexpensive as you want. And with either custom or a very affordable Partscaster, the neck and fretboard can be anything from thin and modern to baseball bat chunky.
A lot of good suggestions have been floated. I'll add that I tune mine down a whole step. It takes a bit of tension off the strings due to the longer scale length and darkens the tone a smidge.
Nothing beats the charm of a big ol' hollowbody archtop. But beauty of a Telecaster is it's simplicity. It's based on components so swapping things out, even bolting on a new neck, is simple. Any Tele can always be a work in progress.
And of course, it can always be used as a canoe paddle.
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...or a cheese board
Originally Posted by Blkat
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I appreciate the offer but I'm not a big fan of Thin Lines. Thanks though. Originally Posted by Hammertone
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I'd say, take a page from the Tim Lerch book, most of his Tele's are inexpensive old Fender "Roadworn" model Tele's equipped with CC pickups etc... You don't need an expensive Tele model, or a boutique guitar, just a descent one with a good pickup, that it's setup right. As an old teacher of mine used to say: "It's not the arrow, its the indian".
Cheers,
Arnie..
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This is my new-old Hamadyk-Tele with humbucker at neck position , great Hosco compesation nut and Gotoh bridge with titanium saddles:
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Yes it did. Quite surprised about it, did not expect it since body and neck are cheap chinese parts, as is the bridge and bridge pickup. Pickup and tuners are Lollar and Kluson and the most expensive parts of the guitar, that totals at around $350. It is a great jazz guitar but it can rock and funk as well! Originally Posted by Al Haig
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TBH, a lot of the woodwork from some Chinese CNC mills is excellent. It doesn't cost them any more to do it right, since the same machines make the shoddy ones too. As long as the wood itself is decent, the programming determines how good the part is. It's the assembly, finishing and choice of hardware that determine whether a neck etc will be great. My Raines Tele is a Forshage design made in a contract mill in China, and the wood is superb. The shaping, fitting, and finishing are all excellent. Fortunately, the SS frets were also installed well - but they weren't properly leveled / crowned / polished. So when it arrived, it did not play as well as I'd hoped. Originally Posted by Little Jay
A perfect setup by Marc Tappan at Guitars 'n Jazz made the difference on mine. Careful assembly with decent hard parts and a fine setup bring out the best in a lot of inexpensive imported guitars and guitar parts.
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Yes, good point! Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
I do set ups and fret leveling myself and I have turned a few mediocre (low budget) guitars into superbly playing instruments.
One thing I do to all my guitars nowadays is to round off the fretboard edges. Amazing what a difference that makes for the feel. I came to this because my 1950 ES-125’s neck has very rounded fretboard edges (probably because of many playing hours and perhaps a couple of refrets) and feels great to my hands.
My other tele is a partscaster completely made out of AliExpress parts. The only made in USA parts on it are the brass saddles from Fender. Pickups are Alnico’s from Fleor and cost $15 each. The guitar cost me $250 or so, including a couple of spray cans of nitro. It plays and sounds amazing and I honestly don’t think it’s any less then a custom shop Fender (of course if you include my labour in the costs, it’s probably even more expensive than a custom shop Fender so not really a fair bash of Fender, I know). And I do play jazz on it, sounds great to my ear, instant Julian Lage ;-)
Last edited by Little Jay; 02-22-2025 at 06:13 AM.
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Anybody use the thinking? I think the Tele is a great jazz option. Lol think about it the most versatile guitar is the very first one made lol. First solid body that is. But it really is great for just about any style of music you can think of. Shit man it even works for some classical even if it's just at home. Seriously you guys ever try a Bach or Brahms piece with clean tone on the Tele? It sounds gorgeous!
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The G & L's are damn good guitars!
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My local music shop sells them exclusively or I should say instead of Fender cause obviously they sell other brands. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
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Is it just me or are guitars in general just way to overpriced?! I think part of it is because it's such a popular instrument.
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From an economics standpoint, no. Price regresses to fair market value- the balance between what the seller wants to get and what the customer is willing to pay. Overprice items don't sell, reducing demand and ultimately lowering price. Underpriced items sell out, increasing demand and raising price. If a boutique Telecaster sells for $4000, it was not overpriced. If the seller has to reduce the price to $3500, it was. A caveat here is that asking price is often intentionally overpriced as a negotiation tool- more true in private sales than in typical retail sales where negotiation is not possible. In addition to the economics of supply and demand, psychology plays a large role in the value proposition- something classical economics had a tendency to overlook.
There are many factors that can affect price over and above supply and demand. For example, Tesla sales fell in the US after Elon Musk bought Twitter and alienated much of his potential customer base (mostly urban liberals). The result was that Tesla has had to lower prices and reduce margin per car to get them off the lot- effectively making the cars overpriced for reasons that have nothing to do with the car or its practical value to the buyer.
As for overpriced guitars, I have an excellent 2008 Squier Affinity Telecaster on which I have played many gigs. US$180 new. The materials are certainly not as high quality as the US made Teles, but are good enough for 17 years of utility so far and many more to come. Since then, there are Harley Bentons not to mention Ibanez, Yamaha, the regular Squier lineup, etc., which offer inexpensive but good instruments. This is the Golden Age of low cost guitars. You could buy a $300 dollar guitar and gig with it for an entire career. With a proper setup, they will play as well as any instrument can; for electric guitars, the biggest issue is the design and quality of the pickups and electronics- these are noticeably a ~10% step down in my Squier Affinity Tele, although most of the audience and even other musicians can't tell. All of these instruments are made in parts of the world with very low wages, few worker protections, little or no environmental regulation, government subsidies in various ways... and at least in the case of China, currency manipulation to advantage exports to places like the US.
There is little to no practical need for a $10000 luthier-made archtop or $4000 Tele; those purchases are made for other reasons, notably a deep appreciation of the art of the luthier. Even then there is concession to supply and demand, but the psychological factors outweigh the practical value proposition. There is also a pragmatic aspect: if a luthier can make only one or two guitars a month, they need a pretty high margin on those sales to be able to make a living. But if the price is too unobtainable, they might only sell one or two guitars a year. Judging by the waiting lists for many archtop luthiers even at the very high end (Monteleone, for example), demand remains high compared to supply.
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Back to the OP's headline. Today I took my 2015 MIC Squier Thinline to band rehearsals for the first time for well over a year. With the amp/cab combination on the floor on my left, I just couldn't hear my playing and kept adding volume until the bassist, irritated, said I'm too loud. We ended up lifting the rig on a chair. The bass end suffered but overall audibility improved. Next time I'll try facing it against the wall. The morale: an archtop is your personal, acoustic lap monitor. Even in a loud band setting, you have a more intimate and intuitive relationship with your instrument. I've not tried one with a player port yet but like the idea a lot.
Last edited by Gitterbug; 02-26-2025 at 05:19 AM.
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I you want a primeval, original model telecaster with single coils to play jazz on, I think the moral of this thread is you don’t need an expensive luthier-build or custom shop tele. The charm of a tele is that it’s such a simple guitar that even the cheaper ones work very well. Perhaps a simple Squier with ceramic pups and a poly finish feels too simple, but with a good setup it will work. Originally Posted by 2-5Guy
Personally, I would want a nitro finish, because it feels nice and wears beautifully. Also alnico pickups, that or not too hot, in a ‘modern’ wiring configuration with a treble bleed on the volume pot (I like to darken the tone for jazz with the tone pot, and not lose highs while turning the volume down). To me, a bone nut and good brass saddles are important for the right tone and response of the instrument.
If I hadn’t already built my ideal Tele, I think a Fender Vintera or Player for around $1000 is the most I would want to spend. But probably I would go for a Squier CV50s for less than half that money, and that has Alnico pups already!Last edited by Little Jay; 02-26-2025 at 04:20 AM.
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I fully agree about the alnico pups and brass saddles. Bone nut? I have had a few of those installed on solid body guitars and I never heard any difference. Nitro? I have had (and have) Teles with Nitro and I have one with Poly and again, I cannot hear a difference. On a hollow body guitar with acoustic resonance, perhaps the nitro would make a big difference? Originally Posted by Little Jay
I think a MIM Tele with a few upgrades can get a jazz guitarist a solid gig worthy guitar. Used, that guitar can be had for way under a thousand bucks.
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@stringswinger:
I don’t hear a difference with nitro either, but I just love the way it feels and ages!
And you could be right about the bone nut. I noticed a benefit in guitars with really soft nylon nuts, but I guess any material would be fine for me as long as it’s a bit harder (my ES-333 has a tusq nut and I like it just fine).
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The first thing I want to know in picking a Tele would be the feel of the neck.
Tele's usually feel too big to me.
Radius matters too. I find 9.5 too small. I usually play 12 or 14. I couldn't get used to a 9.5 Strat.
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When I hobbyist tech'd heavily, bone was the absolute worst piece of kit I ever tried lol! I think it's funny how it's regarded as a 'quality' material because it completely destroyed the tone, resonance, and integrity of the guitar the times I used it. To me, a basic plastic nut on a Squier or Epi sounded leagues better. I know, a bit of a hot take but that was my experience.
Last edited by Al Haig; 02-26-2025 at 07:06 PM.
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I've actually found that all of my Tele's can make excellent Jazz guitars, and for different reasons. One of the surprising ones to me was a used Walla Walla that I picked up a few years ago. They are expensive new (though there are sometimes sales), but can be found cheaply USED. Made in USA, they are typically made with reclaimed wood that is laminated to a fully hollow / chambered body. You can get them with single coil pickups or humbuckers. They have a VERY woody tone, the neck is a compund radius (9.5 - 12), and 25.5" scale. Maverick Guitars – Walla Walla Guitar Company
Some of them can be a bit... wild. Here's mine (fairly sedate compared to some of them!):
I also have a CS Tele (loaded with Supertrons) that can get pretty Jazzy as well!
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I think Fender Custom Shops are overpriced. For what you're getting, I think a Suhr is more for your money. You could also look into LSL T-Bones, they are very highly regarded, "vintage-style" instruments.
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Absolutely, no question. The only thing that might send it over $1000 is if you wanted some really nice pickups. I've got an MIM Cabronita, and an MII Vintera. The Cabronita needed nothing (altho I tried a bunch of different pickups in it). The Vintera did need a couple of upgrades, namely the tuners because one was defective on mine. Originally Posted by Stringswinger
I'm always a little amazed when I get a new guitar, and out of the box it feels kind of "cheap" or something, but then I set it up with my strings, my relief, my action, and it's like a different guitar.
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Get a Fender Baja, they don't need anything and are fantastic Teles. Originally Posted by Little Jay
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To be honest…. I did not change the nut on the neck of my tele when I got it and a closer inspection reveals it’s just a standard plastic or nylon nut….. ;-) Originally Posted by Al Haig
When I hobbyist tech'd heavily, bone was the absolute worst piece of kit I ever tried lol! I think it's funny how it's regarded as a 'quality' material because it completely destroyed the tone, resonance, and integrity of the guitar the times I used it. To me, a basic plastic nut on a Squier or Epi sounded leagues better. I know, a bit of a hot take but that was my experience.
I do use bone on my acoustics and archtops and my thinline tele with Gibson neck has a bone nut as well.
I probably shouldn’t be so rigid about it…. A properply cut nut is more important than the material.
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