Comfortable Fender Telecaster

[Stringswinger]

An alder bodied Tele with a rosewood board and a full size bucker should yield a great jazz tone. That was Ed Bickert's rig and his tone is first rate.

Jack, I hope the weight is OK on the Wood Tele. At that price point, the Asian Strats and Teles are often approaching 9 pounds. Good luck!

[jzucker]

usually it's the asian ash bodies that are heavier. I haven't seen too many super heavy alder bodies.

[mr. beaumont]

Alder teles are very consistent. Seems to make for a tele always between 7 and 8 lbs.

Ash is all over the place...swamp ash can be very light...some folks love those 6 lb. Teles...

The heaviest tele i ever played was a thinline! An Ash bodied, 72 deluxe reissue. Hadda be 9lbs. Easy...

[mr. beaumont]

Thin? Maybe a little bit. Shrill? Not at all. Ultimately the most important ingredient in the tonal receipt is the player and you did a wonderful job of committing to the tonal pallet of the guitar and making some wonderful music with it. I always like your playing. You've got a really nice touch and a well conceived approach. This recording, like most of what you've posted was a pleasure to listen to.

Thanks Jim,

I hope I didn't come off as confrontational...just as a guy who's played teles for about 20 years and owned a half dozen different ones, ash, alder, rosewood, maple, thinline, etc...setup, strings, amp and attack make a much bigger difference than wood.

[marcwhy]

I just recently scored this used RAM "curvilinear" tele from Chicago [I usually play standing, and it's pretty comfortable]:

[Jim Soloway]

Thanks Jim,

I hope I didn't come off as confrontational...just as a guy who's played teles for about 20 years and owned a half dozen different ones, ash, alder, rosewood, maple, thinline, etc...setup, strings, amp and attack make a much bigger difference than wood.

Not at all. I've always maintained that attack (or the player) is the most important factor but beyond that I would always start any discussion on the impacts of any given factor with the words "caeteris paribus" (all other things being equal) and all other things being equal, my experiences building a lot of very similar guitars made me a believer in the impact of wood and within the impact of wood, I almost certainly credit the impact of the fingerboard wood to a greater degree than most. I did say from the outset that it was a contrarian opinion but at least it's one based on a lot of very specific experience.

[sparkhall]

I got myself a Squier Classic Vibe recently, I haven't had it on the scales, but its pretty heavy since it's a pine plank. However I play sitting down and find it very comfortable and well balanced, the weight certainly keeps it in the right place. However I can see that if played standing up it might feel uncomfortable pretty quickly!

So I think what's comfortable will be a pretty personal decision.

[kris]

Neckthrubody Tele or standard neck tele? Neckthrubody has better sustain but what about atack?

[Para]

"The ESP Ron Wood is now made in korea or vietnam . It seems to be made really well and has real seymour duncan pickups in it. I decided to take a chance on it. It sports alder body, seymour duncan 59 humbucker in the neck, rosewood board, jumbo frets, 12" radius. All for $600(ish)"

The spec says 250mm radius that's just under 10"

[TH]

Neckthrubody Tele or standard neck tele? Neckthrubody has better sustain but what about atack?

I use a bolt on with a custom build. The sustain's just fine and it allows the use of combined woods that each contribute something different. I do like a chambered body with a mahogany neck, and as Jim points out the virtues of, a rosewood fingerboard. That really gives a warm jazzy sound well suited for a vocal quality on the solo lines and a warm blending on chordal work. It's a big contributing factour to those old 175 Gibsons. Also a plus is the adjustability (and gods forbid, replacability ) of a neck that long.
David

[jzucker]

"The ESP Ron Wood is now made in korea or vietnam . It seems to be made really well and has real seymour duncan pickups in it. I decided to take a chance on it. It sports alder body, seymour duncan 59 humbucker in the neck, rosewood board, jumbo frets, 12" radius. All for $600(ish)"

The spec says 250mm radius that's just under 10"

i missed that. maybe only the japanese ones have the bigger radius or maybe one of the ads I saw was incorrect. at any rate, i'm ok with a 10" radius

[GuyBoden]

Agreed.

As iconic as a Tele is, it's really not a very well balanced design and is prone to neck dive or balancing in a true horizontal position with no angle up on the neck. And the idea of an ebony fingerboard on a guitar as bright as a Tele strikes me as an invitation to a really thin shrill tone. I've owned and played bunch including one as my main guitar for several years and the one that worked the best for me had a Warmoth 24.75" conversion neck with a rosewood board. It balanced better, the lower frets were easier to reach and it sounded great. It was one of those many guitars that I sold for no particular reason and I've regretted it ever since.

I agree with Jim's comments, I play with the neckup, Classical style.

My DIY Tele, is Alder, 24.75 scale length, rosewood fingerboard, 7 string, weighted in the cavity with lead for excellent balance and the lower under body curve is cut longer, so that it rests on my knee in exactly the right balance position under the bridge pickup.

I nearly forgot, it has a great Oil City Alnico neck pickup.

Tele vintage output

I'm happy with it, but I designed it for my body size.
Guy

[rob taft]

I would recommend checking out the Larrivee Backersfield. Ash body, contoured forearm and belly cut. Great neck 1 3/4" nut width and nicely balanced. It comes with premium parts e.g. Callaham compensated bridge, Duncan pickups with their liberator pots so pickk up changes are easy. The one I purchased is natual ash with a maple neck and a rosewood slab fingerboard. At the time I bought mine it came with the standard tele single coil in the neck. I purchased an additional fingerguard from Larrivee and installed a Lollar mini-hum in the neck, and a Lolar BS Tele in the bridge. I didn't expect this but the Lollar mini-hum and the BS Tele in this guitar sound nearly identical. When I did the swap I also installed an Acme Toneshaper system so I could play around with pot values and capacitors. I also changed out the callaham bridge for a six saddle Gotah. None of the pickup and bridge changes were really necessary. I already had the parts previous guitar projects.

Larrivée Guitars Bakersfield Electric Guitar Review

[mr. beaumont]

I agree with Jim's comments, I play with the neckup, Classical style.

My DIY Tele, is Alder, 24.75 scale length, rosewood fingerboard, 7 string, weighted in the cavity with lead for excellent balance and the lower under body curve is cut longer, so that it rests on my knee in exactly the right balance position under the bridge pickup.

I nearly forgot, it has a great Oil City Alnico neck pickup.

Tele vintage output

I'm happy with it, but I designed it for my body size.
Guy

Sounds cool, got any pictures?

I remember your 7-string Jazzmaster too that was hella cool...

I'm bringin' the Jazzmaster back as a jazz guitar. I've decided!

[jazzbow]

Sounds cool, got any pictures?

I remember your 7-string Jazzmaster too that was hella cool...

I'm bringin' the Jazzmaster back as a jazz guitar. I've decided!

Yes, with you on that one...



Mix the Tele and Jazzma and get....


This is from Offset forum. I'm thinking should have used a Tele Deluxe as a start but I dig that seperate circuit.


But this is Tele practical and Jazzmaster comfortable.

If you think Teles are (un)comfortable try a Jazzmaster. The ultimate sofa guitar!

[GuyBoden]

Fantastic Jazzbow, the JazzCaster seems to be an answer for a comfortable Tele.

[mr. beaumont]

Those are so cool.

Jazzmasters really are the most comfortable seated play solidbody ever.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Do Jazzmasters have bigger bodies than Teles? Heavier?

[mr. beaumont]

Bigger and almost always heavier, yes.

[GuyBoden]

Do Jazzmasters have bigger bodies than Teles? Heavier?

In American terms, think big Ass guitar.

[jazzbow]

Jazzmasters really are the most comfortable seated play solidbody ever.

Ergonomic design before the term 'Ergonomic Design' was conceived.

[jazzbow]

In American terms, think big Ass guitar.

That big ass balances brilliantly on a strap when standing (the guitar that is and not your big ass ).

[GuyBoden]

Ergonomic design before the term 'Ergonomic Design' was conceived.

I agree, that's why I play a Jazzmaster style guitar most days.

[Greentone]

Telecasters as a group are very comfortable guitars to play. About the only exceptions are the Les Paul-heavy ones made from about 1975-1980, and the heavier-still ones--the '52RI model--made in the early 1990s. For some reason, the early '52RIs of the 80s and the ones made after the early '90s are not too heavy. It's not uncommon to pick up an example from '91-'93, however, that is ten pounds.

Those heavy Telecasters all sound GREAT and play great, but they are woo-heavy. Also, they feature slender necks. When you pick one up, you think that the neck is going to snap.

My favorite Telecasters are some of the examples from the '60s that are uncommonly light. Seven pounds, or a little bit less. They sound great, play great, and they are like nothing to hold on to.

You can get reproductions of these from Warmoth and other makers. Bill Nash turns out some really fine Telecaster reproductions, some of which are seven pounds, or a little under. They sound great. If you don't mind a 10" radius neck, as opposed to a vintage-correct 7.25" radius, you will really like the Nash.

[Gitfiddler]

I liked the idea of the custom route (USACG, Warmoth), but I didn't know who could put it together -- I couldn't -- so I ordered an ASAT from G&L and got to choose from a long list of options. G&Ls tend to be heavy (mine is 4kg even = 8.8lb) without body contours. Contours would make it more comfy, but I bet it wouldn't neck dive since you're not going to end up at 7lbs. G&L also has another weight-saving option: you can order a thinner body -- Original Leo Spec Body Depth Returns to the G&L ASAT and there's always the semi-hollow option.

For what it's worth, since I play sitting down, I don't mind the weight and I play it in sort of a classical position, and I don't have balance issues.

ps: I have an ebony fingerboard and I don't think it's too bright, but I roll the tone down on the guitar and EQ the amp to not be trebly; that's my usual setup with any guitar.

Another G&L ASAT fan here! They do a great job with their 'Blues Boy' model, and as noted, you can have them build one to your specs if desired. I owned a semi-hollow BB, but later sold it to purchase a solid body Korina model with a nicely shaped #1 (slightly chunky) neck profile. It came with a SD Seth Lover that was wonderful for dark, smokey jazz tones, but I recently swapped it out for a SD Phat Cat. Now it is an amazingly versatile instrument.

Cheers. Tim