-
I keep hearing nice teles and Im up for a project.
I could do a partscaster but it seems there are tons of used teles, squires and such for sale. It might just be more economical and less work to start with an assembled model.
I can do my own work but starting from scratch might be a bigger hassle than I want. Id also probably tend to lean towards really nice parts so it would probably get expensive fast.
I think I really only care about the neck pickup. Whatever I get the it will likely be changed. Im entertaining a charlie christian pickup. I understand they likely will not fit without some body mods.
I dont want to spend a lot on a tele since Im not sure how much use it would get but I also dont want to buy garbage.
If the fret work finishing isnt up to par I can level and crown them. Im not a tuner freak...as long as they work thats cool.
I dont know if I need to change the bridge itself on the less expensive models or if they are just fine as is.
What say you?
And thank you.
-
04-02-2026 05:44 AM
-
Last edited by GuyBoden; 04-02-2026 at 06:17 AM.
-
Fender MIJ Teles. Custom Shop level finish and fretwork for $1000 - $1600 new. Many are basswood bodies but alder and ash can be easily found. Do what you want for the neck p/u subsequently. -Phil
-
Ok, so there are literally millions of Teles out there, but if you want something other than a single coil in the neck position you narrow the field a bit. Ideally you'd want something with a humbucker or at least a humbucker route under the pickguard. The Fender American Performer Telecaster Hum would be a very good guitar whether you were just looking for anything or a high end guitar. The play really well, have wonderful necks, and that neck humbucker. They can be found under $1000 US with gig bags on Reverb, and if doesn't float your boat you shouldn't lose a cent on it by selling it.
Tell us where you are located and you'll likely get a lot more good answers. I believe member Hammertone has a few Teles in the For Sale section as well, he might have something that would be perfect for you already, so definitely check out his thread, too. Bunch of great plank guitars I don't need - V.3 for 2026!
-
Im in France. There are zillions of teles here as well.
Im not a big humbucker fan. Im thinking a tele might be fun to try something different in terms of the pickup. A CC or maybe a gold foil. Ive got an Armstrong single coil in my archtop. I tend to really gravite towards single coils.
-
Understood, I only mention finding one with a humbucker because you can easily swap it out for a CC type pickup or a P90 variant without any routing of the guitar body, not because you actually want a humbucker
Originally Posted by Sigmund451
-
Understood... thanks and that is a good idea. No reason to work harder.
It could take a lot more pickups easily if routed for that size.
-
If I were shopping for a Telecaster* ...or, what OP seems to be describing, which is a Telecaster project ...I would do one of two things:
1) I would go around to every music store and follow-up every classified For Sale ad in a ~100 mile radius and play every single Telecaster I could get my hands on, and then buy the one that sounded, felt, and played the best...regardless of what it said on the headstock. (btw, this is the exact advice I give anyone shopping for any Fender guitar.)
...or:
2) I would buy a Sire T7 ...and then play it for a while, and then decide whether I wanted to change out any of the pickups. If so, I might find a pickup vendor who sold various brands/models and had a generous return policy, and I'd use that Sire as a test platform until I was happy.
==========
*incidentally, I suspect I will be shopping for a Telecaster eventually. But I promised myself I would complete my Warmoth Telecaster/Stratocaster hybrid project before I bought any new guitars, and at this rate it doesn't look like that will happen any time soon. But when it finally is time for me to buy a Tele, I'm almost certainly gonna go with Option #2, 'cuz I just don't have the patience to play dozens of guitars just to find the one that speaks to me...and will still only be a Telecaster when it does.
-
If you don't want to fiddle with anything, Fender does make a SH configured Tele called the Player II Modified Telecaster SH that's around $1050 here in the USA:
Attention Required! | Cloudflare
Also, Yamaha just came out with a new Tele-inspired model with a neck humbucker called the PACS+11S(M) that's about $1000 USD. I think spec wise it honestly looks perfect, but it does stray a bit from the classic tele look:
PACS+11S Pacifica SC Standard Plus Electric Guitar - Yamaha USA
A used Player (1 or 2) Telecaster will come from the factory routed for a humbucker in the neck, I can verify this. They have decent hardware and decent necks (although in my opinion the necks are a bit thin, but that's personal taste). All you would need is a humbucker and control plate with 500k pots and you are pretty much set. If you want a traditional tele bridge a GOTOH one with brass saddle will run you about $50 I imagine.
My vote would be the Yamaha although if you buy a Fender you do get a LOT of aftermarket support should you ever want to swap something out.
-
Or, you could get a recent USA Tele for less - Just a moment... Originally Posted by chris32895
-
A friend of mine has a Fender Vintage Hot Rod 50s tele, which is probably the best tele I’ve encountered. This has a Seymour Duncan firebird style mini-humbucker neck pickup and a hot bridge pickup that has similar output to the neck pickup. It also has a 9.5” fingerboard radius.
If I were buying a tele, I’d buy either one of those or put together a partscaster with those specs (though probably a different bridge and tuners since I prefer the “modern” flavors of those).
-
My 1988 American Standard is very nice.
-
The Player 2 Teles are a lot of bang for the buck and are actually pro level guitars.
-
I bought this saying that if it's bad, that'll be a good "project" for improvemant
But it's a fabulous guitar !
Harley Benton TE-90QM Trans Red – Thomann France
I was quite surprised by the pickup quality
-
I went to the shop and tried all of the teles and bought the one I liked best
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Well not quite - the one I liked best was a Suhr but was out of my budget.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
I found myself in the same position late last summer, and found a good deal on a 2015 American Standard Tele on Craigslist locally. I was doing my best to meet the following criteria:
- Universal routing so I could install a neck-position humbucker without too much drama
- Six-saddle bridge so I could intonate flat- or round-wounds
- Ash or Alder body
- Rosewood fingerboard
- And some inherent value in case I didn’t like playing jazz on a Tele
I was able to get everything but the rosewood ‘board, which wasn’t a big deal. This era of American Standard comes with a Twisted Tele neck pickup and a production version of a Nocaster bridge pickup. I liked the Twisted Tele well enough, although I prefer the Burstbucker that I recently had installed better.
I gigged (mostly roots country) with some pretty nice vintage Teles back in the day, so his was intended to be a test bed and a stopgap until I could determine the pickup configuration and string type and gauge I preferred. But I’ve ended up loving this guitar and have no reason to upgrade. I think I paid US $900 for the guitar—which was mint—and US $150 for the humbucker, and it seems like an excellent value to me.
i have no idea what the used market is like in France, but my experience may give you a few ideas. Good luck with your search!
-
Squier Vintage Vibe is a pretty reliable choice for dipping one's paddle in the water.
-
The question is what quality point are you looking for? Originally Posted by Sigmund451
You can get a used bullet or no name for $50, put in the neck pickup of your choice, change the saddles and nut, work the frets, set it up and you have a good sounding guitar for barely any money.
Some deal breakers for people are:
Cheaper models have thinner necks and frets.
The nuts can be cheap, and replacing it is the most technical part which is tough to get good.
Lowest models will have thinner bodies.
If you want everything to be basically solid when you buy it, I'd say you're looking at the $500 - $1k price range.
You can also compromise and get a mid tier model used or new, and upgrade some things, and have most things be solid and some compromises here and there. Depends on what quality points are essential to you.
-
I might just pick up a cheap one and rework it.
I have blanks for nuts. I like projects and I just dont know that Im invested enough to drop the cash.
I have one guitar I pick up all the time (carved eastman archtop w/floater). Not much else gets played so if Im not knocked out by it the thing will just sit here most the time unplayed. Thats kind of a waste of a chunk of cash and selling things in France where I live isnt super easy. The archtop came with a bad setup. Now that I have it playing like it should Im up for another project.
If Im not interested in playing it I can always sell the good pickup and just have time in the guitar. Im retired so its no biggie. If I generally dig it and want a better tele I can invest in that and drop the neck pickup in it if I ilke the pickup better than what comes in the guitar. So worst case scenario is I waste some time and sell the guitar for a 40 buck loss...or just give it away.
-
That sounds like the ticket if you want it for messing around, and you have the tech ability to upgrade it. They end up sounding pretty dang good amplified. Just not an aficionado guitar.
-
Telecaster with a CC pickup has been discussed previously on this fine forum. Maybe this will be helpful...
Charlie Christian pickups FOR TELE
-
I have a couple of opinions on this. Originally Posted by Sigmund451
1. "dont want to spend a lot" is meaningless, unless it has a number attached to it. "... a lot" could be US$300 or US$3000. I think you would do well to set a numerical budget.
2. By the other musings in your original post, other than a Charlie Christian pickup at the neck, you don't seem to know what you want. Just as one example, you wonder whether the stock tuners would be good enough, whatever that means. I guess my point is that your wish list is rather vague.
3. So set a budget and then revisit your wish list.
-
Im thinking of changing gears.
Its clear Im not chasing an exact tone and this morning my wifes tells me "Dont buy a cheap guitar".
It dawns on me that I have an upper end like new strat that has sat for years getting no love. I should pull that out and play a bit with it. If I dont like the neck pickup they CC pickups and P90s are made to drop in a strat. However, I dont know what they sound like since most the clips are of teles.
Anyway, if its a reasonable pursuit its smarter to get one very nice guitar that I own into rotation rather than spending money on something that is low rent.
-
This is not exactly for jazz players, but kinda interesting insight on telese anyway:
Reply With Quote
Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
Today, 05:20 AM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos