Telecaster Questions

[bobnes]

the necks are pretty thin on american standard teles--it might move a little, but considering you already have .11's on there, shouldn't be much. i assume you already needed to widen the nut slots to get the .11's on there?

personally, i don't hear much of a difference on a solid body guitar between .11's and .12's. i think if you really want to go jazzy, forget gauge, change type--put some flatwounds on there. you can always sub a plain G string if you really gotta bend that one.

would flatwounds be suitable for rock and blues as well? would there be much of a difference in tone between 11's and 13's? could you reccommend a decent flatwound manufacturer?

[mr. beaumont]

.11's to 13's? maybe a little. i've never been one to macho about strings...i always laugh when i talk to some stevie ray vaughanabee about strings...

now on an acoustic archtop--definitelymakes a difference, but on a solid body guitar, i just can't hear that big of one. i like elevens because i can bend the B and E no problem, but i also really like the wound G for jazz chords--better intonation. I should say that i'm not big ino bending, and that i play 99% jazz...i don't use a plain G on any guitar anymore--o you can tell that bending just isn't that important to me...

i have another guitar (another tele) set up with rounds for rock and blues, when i'm called on to do it, but most of the time, i just take my main tele with the flats. i don't think anyone knows the difference (you just can't do pick scrapes!)

i use d'addairo chromes, .11--.49. i've used a set or two of Thomastik-Infields, which are really nice, but they cost too much and my local shop doesn't stock 'em, so i go with the chromes. I've always felt tht folks who are cork sniffers about strings usually can't play for shit, so i better shut up and use what i can (but i'll say again, the TI's were really nice, and probably brighter than the chromes, so if you're worried about flatwounds being too dark, go for it)

[John C. Smith]

It's a Warmoth Eric Clapton v-shaped neck. A compound radius, it allows excellent access when playing (rarely) above the 12th fret. At the first few frets, it's nice and meaty without being cumbersome.

The body is an old solid tele, nothing special. Barden bridge. The pups are a Voodoo PAF at the neck, and Voodoo Broadcaster at the bridge. I also have a little switch hidden in a cavity that can put the pups out of phase if I want a bluesy Peter Green tone.

All around, it's very much a Swiss Army Knife type of guitar, capable of many things. For jazz, just on the neck pup delivers a warm and lush, but not muddy, tone. Easy to overdrive if required. I tend to play with just a little hair on the tone all the time.

fwiw I use a '91 Vox TBX 15 watt all tube amp.

Cheers all

John

[bluemood]

would flatwounds be suitable for rock and blues as well? would there be much of a difference in tone between 11's and 13's? could you reccommend a decent flatwound manufacturer?

I would not use flat wound for blues or rock but I do use gibson L5 pure nickle round wounds 11,14,(19/w)30,41,52 on my Hofner Very thin Classic semi hollowbody I use the wound G for Jazz, and on my tele I change the wound G for a plain 18 and it's still very jazzy deep and warm tone... I can still bend the high E ,B and G two or three steps up.

[John C. Smith]

I would not use flat wound for blues or rock but I do use gibson L5 pure nickle round wounds 11,14,(19/w)30,41,52 on my Hofner Very thin Classic semi hollowbody I use the wound G for Jazz, and on my tele I change the wound G for a plain 18 and it's till very jazzy yet I can still bend the high E ,B and G two or three steps up.

fwiw I'd endorse this approach. I use pure nickels too (11-50), and they fit blues, rock and jazz. Sometimes GHS Nickel Rockers, sometimes DR Pure Blues. One could almost call them 'semi-flats'. I use a plain G on everything (I really only use the tele....I have a strat but it's simply not as good a guitar as the tele, and so stays under the bed a lot).

Cheers, interesting thread

John

[jazzerswing]

I have a light ash body Tele with maple neck. I have a set of Joe Barden pickups in it and the guitar is very versatile. Danny Gatton got some great jazz tones out of his Tele with Bardens. Then there's Ed Bicket and who can forget Ted Greene. Bicket had a humbucker in the neck position and one of Greene's guitars it looks like he has 3-P-90s. Sounds great whatever he used.

[Russ Kapp]

I am partial to using teles for jazz from the standpoint of playing style and their sonic capabilities. I've been a fingerstyle chord-melody player for years and the tele has been the best match for what I do. Plenty of balance, articulation and the genius of simplicity ( two knobs-one switch ) yet capable of infinite sonic colorations. Also built for the trenches!