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My '52 reissue came with one. It's still in the plastic bag.
Originally Posted by jbucklin
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07-04-2016 12:24 PM
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The Nashvilles are a very good deal and the only MIM with 1 11/16ths nut and the wider spaced bridge saddles.
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I just got a second tele a couple of weeks ago too. I wanted a HB in the neck and like the fact that it's a semi-hollow mahogany body. With flat wounds I get instant 60s jazz.
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What variant is that, abelljo?
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Interesting. I got the itch about 2+ years ago and wanted to explore. Traded a guitar I had stopped playing for a Squir CV. Not being too fond of the noise of the bridge pu I switched it for a DiMarzio Area T and strung it with 12´s. I could never bond with the guitar and let it gather dust, preferring my Godin Montreal. I was discussing this with a forum member about 6 months ago who recommended stringing it with 10´s. It immediately became playable for my weak fingers and the bond has developed to a real affection.
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I note that there are often used examples of the Korean built Lite Ash Teles on eBay at very reasonable prices - does anyone have experience of this model ?
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the squire CVs are great for the price. If I had to buy another tele I would get a roadworn 50s or 60s and tweak it to taste.
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So, I have finally lost my virginity, - as it turns out, to a blond Mexican.
This is an FSR Deluxe - basically a MIM Standard neck, but with an ash body and butterscotch blond finish, plus 3 brass saddles to complete the vintage vibe. Apparently she is hotter than most Mexicans, but details of these particular HOT Tele pickups are thin on the ground.
Red Dog music have just opened a new branch in Leeds, with a good selection of Teles, so I was able to test drive a few, including the opportunity, when shown the Baja, to use the immortal phrase "yes, that's the badger". (Urban Dictionary: Thats the Badger)
Finding it "interesting" playing the 9's that she came strung with. I've managed to accidentally dislodge the treble strings from the nut a few times already with over-zealous bends, so a string swap is in order tonight - probably no more than 10's though to begin with.
So far very happy with my new post-coital Tele status.Last edited by newsense; 07-19-2016 at 03:45 PM.
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Fine business. You are going to enjoy Telecasters. If there is a guitar that can cover more ground, I am unaware of it. I have been playing Telecasters for almost 45 years now.
As I type I am soldering in a set of pickups into my newest guitar--a home-built Tele made up from a neck and body I got from Hammertone.
Play some jazz on your Tele!
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Single coils may be turning out more expensive than I thought - I find that I will need to change all the energy saving light bulbs in my practice room for conventional incandescent lamps - otherwise the hum is just beyond belief !
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newsense,
I play in a house with exclusively energy saving compact flourescent bulbs or led bulbs. I haven't noticed any problem with my Stratocaster or Telecaster. All single-coil pickups are a bit noisier than humbuckers--but they aren't THAT significantly noisier. It almost sounds as if you have a bad cord...or maybe a ground wire in the Telecaster that has come loose from the back of the volume potentiometer. The ground wire from each pickup and the ground wire from the bridge all are soldered to the back of the pot. Sometimes one or all of those wires lift off of the pot, due to the solder blob fracturing. This causes the Telecaster or Stratocaster to hum like crazy.
On your Telecaster you can undo the two retaining screws on the control plate, gently lift the control plate off of the body of the guitar and examine to see if the two or three black wires coming from the holes in the body are still attached to the round metal can that is closest to the 3-way switch that selects your pickups. That's the volume potentiometer. The tone potentiometer is next to that. The three ground wires are soldered to the volume pot.
OH! Try the easiest thing first: swap instrument cords for another one. If this doesn't help, then wiggle the cord in the instrument jack of the Telecaster and see if things quiet down. Sometimes the ground comes loose there. My experience, however, is that the solder blob on the volume potentiometer is vulnerable.
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GT - Thanks for the advice - I will check that out. However the humming stops when I turn the lights off, plus I do get a slight hum from my HB equipped guitars which also disappears when the lights are off. The hum also depends how close to the amp I am.
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Yeah, that can happen. Two thoughts: 1. Check out guitarnuts.com. They've got stuff on how to shield and ground your guitar. I did it to my strat and it made a big difference. 2. Consider LED bulbs. The light is better than CFLs (they don't strobe), and they last pretty much forever. (Plus you can get cool color-changing ones!) Originally Posted by newsense
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I should have mentioned that if you have a light dimmer switch in the room (or a nearby room), those devices are VERY radio frequency (rf) noisy. Dimmers will drive you nuts with the amount of hum they induce in your amplifiers and guitars, regardless of the bulbs you are using. I have a dimmer on the dining room lights (one room over from the den where my guitar/amp is). I keep the dining room lights off 95% time, just to make it possible to play guitar.
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Nice looking Tele!
Congrats! I'm surprised that your lights are giving you so much noise. Hum is a minor issue with my 60s Baja Tele. It really doesn't become noticeable, until I start to crank up the gain for some dirt. As was mentioned, it sounds like you might have a grounding problem - either with your Super Champ, or the guitar.
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On a Strat I did the line every thing with copper foil and wire it with a star ground circuit mod. This was with the Fender 57/62 reissue pickups that aren't reverse wound. The result is a very quiet Strat even when run into a tube amp. There are web sites that show how to do it for Teles.
The star ground wires all grounds to a common point instead of going pot to pot and eliminates potential ground loops. The copper foil builds a Faraday cage around the electronic components to minimize any RF interference. There is also a large capacitor added between the ground point and the output jack ground but some people leave that off.
But a dimmer switch or fluorescent on the same power circuit as the amp still introduces noise.Last edited by TedBPhx; 07-20-2016 at 01:20 AM.
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Thanks guys and gals, - I'll do some more digging later today. I'm concerned that if I don't solve this one, the IEEE will take away my Senior Member status !
As there was no noticeable hum in the shop (it sounded great through a new Fender Bassbreaker), I tend to think the guitar is basically OK (but not ruled out entirely). As my Quilter 101 also picks up the hum, I think it may be a more fundamental supply side problem, emphasised by the single coils which act as the antenna, and the hum being amplified by a ground loop. I am running not only my amps, but also the FX power supply, a PC and some monitor speakers off the same multiway extension cable, so plenty of scope for looping. I'll be unplugging everything later, except the amp, to see what gives.
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It seems that it is only one of the lighting circuits in the room that causes the hum. The light closest to where I play is OK - the one further away causes the problem. Fortunately they are on separate switches, so now I only have to play in half darkness. Changed the bulb in the offending fitting, but it didn't stop the hum.
Anyway - loving the tele even more now that it is virtually hum free !
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That's what I did with my Strat as well. So far, the Tele hasn't seemed to need it. Originally Posted by TedBPhx
I also have a small power conditioner that I plug my amp into. The noise floor is pretty low with all of that. I don't hear very much hum at all.
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I like the MIM Fender's great bang for the buck. The Fender Baja Tele with maple neck is one of my favorites because it has a big chunky neck. If on a budget then the Squire Classic Vibe Tele's are a solid choice.
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Any tele is good
The thinlines are not more jazz. They are carved. So it is a solidbody where you remove some wood in the side and put a top on that. There might be a very slight difference in sound, but all in all they function like a solid body tele. No reason to go for a thinline unless you want less weight (tho some thinlines can be heavy anyways).
My preference would be a used CS. It should be doable for 1600€, but can be hard to find, so a bit of patience is needed (people wanting 2000€ for their used CS is less rare, but less interesting
)
The AVRIs are great guitars .. especially the newer ones (2012-), but they have vintage specs, so 7.25" radius and small frets. But killer guitars and should be possible to find down to 1000€ used.
But tele's are cool and any tele will probably do the trick
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Nothing wrong with other brands, but for me a tele needs to be a Fender. MIA and MIM are both outstanding. I own both, and can barely tell a difference. The Squier Classic Vibes are great, the Vintage Modified are good. Steer clear of Affinity and Bullet.
Thinline vs Hollow: I own both, it really doesn't matter, finding the guitar you love is more important. However, if the guitar you love is ALSO a hollowbody... gotta' love that f-hole for jazz!
Tone will have more to do with the pickup: plenty of awesome jazz played on a standard ol' tele neck pickup. There are some models with P90s as well. The "wide range humbucker" models... they are NOT wide range humbuckers: they are simply underwound Gibson-style humbuckers in oversized covers...HOWEVER- this actually works very well for jazz tones. Personally, I'd stay away from Cabronitas (they aren't made anymore anyway) because imo Filtertrons aren't great "straight jazz" pickups, they are better for roackabilly and clean Chet-style fingerstyle... imo, ymmv, etc. That's why I put T-90s (TV Jones' version of P90s) in mine.)
So I guess what I'm saying is, buy a Fender (not an Affinity or Bullet), and it's hard to go wrong.
I own:
MIA Std.
MIM Cabronita Thinline with T-90s
Squier VM 72RI Thinline
...and am currently building a partscaster tele with 2 Gibson-style humbuckersLast edited by ruger9; 09-07-2017 at 05:20 AM.
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If fretboard radius and fret size make a difference for you, much of the traditional and recognizable sound of the tele has been played on 7.25" radius fretboards, and tiny frets, which probably are not comfortable to everybody. Personally i think these play a part to what i perceive as the tele sound and playstyle though, plus i really like the 7.25" radius. Of course there are models with all specs available.
Two things i can live without are the old school way to adjust the truss rod on the pickguard side - highly unpractical -, and the 3 way bridge. It can have decent intonation, but i 've found the 6 way bridges to be better intonation wise.
I would personally go Fender cause i like their guitars, and just go hunting for a great instrument rather than get hung up on a particular model. If actually playing many teles is difficult where you live, well, i 'd go after the best used model i could afford, 1500 you can get a killer guitar. When a tele is good you know it, just plug it in, you should strike a chord or a blues lick and go WOW!!!
Last edited by Alter; 09-07-2017 at 05:57 AM.
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My tele-clone is the Peavey Omniac JD (Jerry Donahue Model). I've had it for several years, and the 2 custom Seymour Duncan pickups and 5 position switch take you across the full spectrum of tele to strat and back again. Full range of 3 and 2 pickup sounds......
The 5 position switch brings into play some caps, boosts and filters and takes a little getting used to, but after a few weeks I was comfortable with it.
You'll only find them second hand now but they represent excellent value for money - new would have been 1300 USD a few years ago.
As the name suggests, it's built with string benders in mind, with tall frets and a lot of string between the nut and the tuners (for bending behind the nut).
The neck has a tight radius near the nut with a fairly strong V profile, and it opens out as you go further up the neck - I love the feel. I've changed the tele stlye brass bridge for one that give better individual intonation, but otherwise it was fine "out of the box"
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This
I would have thought any major UK city would have plenty of choice both new and s/h.and just go hunting for a great instrument rather than get hung up on a particular model. If actually playing many teles is difficult where you live, well, i 'd go after the best used model i could afford, 1500 you can get a killer guitar. When a tele is good you know it, just plug it in, you should strike a chord or a blues lick and go WOW!!!
Also amongst its other virtues , the tele can be modified with more ease than pretty much any other guitar.
I will say that for my own taste I prefer an ashtray tailpiece with brass saddles - some of the newer ones have the flat chrome tailpiece (not sure of the models), but they dont seem to produce the same growl as the old style ones.
Also some teles can be a bit more nasal on the neck pickup setting than others. I have an Alnico III Blackguard pickup in the neck of my home built partscaster - and its great for jazz.
The tele is the prince of guitars - it can do anything - if I could keep only one - it would be the tele.
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