Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[West LA Jazz]

maybe an original snakehead tele be more to your symmetrical well being

Attachment 32221

hah


cheers

WoooW! What's the history behind this? It has to be custom and not something birthed by Leo's company is it??

PS: Just before I pressed "send" I decided to Google it and VOILA! I HAD ZERO IDEA.

History of Snakehead Telecaster® neck

I actually prefer this. The head adds more balance to the lower half.

[neatomic]

bill frisell with a super cool rick kelly/carmine street snakehead

cheers

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Side topic: what's your favourite amp for playing jazz on a Tele (clean tone)?

[Headshot]

Fender Rumble 100w bass amp with Vintage button engaged, all eq knobs at 12 o'clock, and Holy Grail pedal in the effects loop. Just sayin'.....

[Guitarbean25]

Side topic: what's your favourite amp for playing jazz on a Tele (clean tone)?

A HiWatt- bass at 3 o'clock, mid at 10:30 o'clock, treble at 9....either zero or just a smidgen of presence. Pristine and warm cleans with 11s and a nice thick pick (d'andrea for me)

[Skip Ellis]

This is gonna have a single, stock wind, Tele pickup - been wanting to do it for years. The controls will be on the upper edge. The center block will have a channel to run wiring at the PU rout.

[lammie200]

...
I have one hang up about it and it's the weirdest thing. From a visual / design standpoint, something about the overall "imbalance of the guitar's shape (the body versus neck & head) just kills whatever "it" is for me. I don't know what it is beyond what what my brain perceives as a very unique but imbalanced design. I've tried to figure out what it is that stops me from digging the design but I had to give up after fruitless tries...

maybe an original snakehead tele be more to your symmetrical well being

Attachment 32221

I actually like the refinement and difference between the standard tele headstock and the strat headstock. Aesthetically they both seem to make perfect sense to me. What I can't get is the thin line f-hole shape. It should be a more modern design IMHO. I suppose that the old fashioned shape goes better with cowboy hats and rhinestones?

BTW, I am seriously thinking about a tele 24.75 scale neck pick up only build. Would it be sacrilegious to have front and back body contours? I almost don't want them, but there are a fair amount of bodies available with them.

Haha! Just saw that Skip posted a few seconds before I did. Right on with the f holes Skip!

[Boston Joe]

Side topic: what's your favourite amp for playing jazz on a Tele (clean tone)?

Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr.

[West LA Jazz]

Dr. Z Maz 18 Jr.

[Boston Joe]

That video gives some idea of the sound, but they concentrated mostly on distorted tones. It has amazing clean tones as well, and works nicely as a jazz amp. I'd put it somewhere between a Fender Princeton and a Vox AC-15. Probably closer to the vox with the EL-84 tubes.

Also, pretty affordable as hand-wired amps go.

[West LA Jazz]

Now we're talking! Telecaster clean tone... but that most unique shape!
Dig the Dr Z Maz jr 18 amp. ;-)

[jazzbow]

Now we're talking! Telecaster clean tone... but that most unique shape!
Dig the Dr Z Maz jr 18 amp. ;-)

Really nice tone.

[West LA Jazz]

Really nice tone.

The Tele consistently produces some of the best jazz clean tones that I've ever come across. An amazing guitar really. Cruel irony that the design messes with my mojo. :-)

[West LA Jazz]

Tele's for over 1K and under 700. Are they all made outside of the US?

All Telecaster Guitars | Fender Electric Guitars

[NoReply]

I prefer the Made In Mexico Fender's as good if not better plus you save money. If you Google there is a Youtube of how minor the differences are and reviewer said get the MIM Fenders.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Tele's for over 1K and under 700. Are they all made outside of the US?

All Telecaster Guitars | Fender Electric Guitars

??? The Made in the USA (MIA) Fenders all have names that start "American", like the American Standard Telecaster ($1299.99) versus the Made in Mexico (MIM) Standard Telecaster ($599.99). Health care insurance ain't cheap!

[Boston Joe]

I prefer the Made In Mexico Fender's as good if not better plus you save money. If you Google there is a Youtube of how minor the differences are and reviewer said get the MIM Fenders.

I agree. I have an MIM Strat and I think it's a terrific guitar especially at the price. My Tele is a Highway I which is American made, but I bought it from a friend. If I were getring a new one it would be MIM.

[Drifter]

If I were getring a new one it would be MIM.

Are you guys just as sensible when it comes to buying cars, food, holidays, TV sets etc.? I'd say go Custom Shop. Nothing beats a nicely flamed nitro finished Nocaster neck. MIM? Meh.

[Boston Joe]

Are you guys just as sensible when it comes to buying cars, food, holidays, TV sets etc.? I'd say go Custom Shop. Nothing beats a nicely flamed nitro finished Nocaster neck. MIM? Meh.

I can buy any kind of neck I want. That's the great thing about Fenders. Bolt-on = flexibility.

So, I could buy a custom shop model for - what? - $1500+, or I could get a MIM for $600, put $300 worth of new parts on it, and have something just as good. Cosmetics? It's a Fender. Leave it out in the rain for a couple of days. It'll look awesome.



(FWIW, I have an extremely good car that also happens to be very efficient and very affordable.)

[bohemian46]

"I agree. I have an MIM Strat and I think it's a terrific guitar especially at the price. My Tele is a Highway I which is American made, but I bought it from a friend. If I were getring a new one it would be MIM. "

I prefer the Hiway 1 models. My Tele is a 2003.

Another reason to get an American made vs MIM... other than the Nashville, the MIM nuts are all a ridiculously narrow 1 5/8ths.

Many of the American Made, and the MIM Nashville, are 1 11/16ths.

The MIM Nashville and the Hiway One models (first few years only) wide vintage spacing at the bridge.

[Boston Joe]

Another reason to get an American made vs MIM... other than the Nashville, the MIM nuts are all a ridiculously narrow 1 5/8ths.

Many of the American Made, and the MIM Nashville, are 1 11/16ths.

That seriously makes zero difference to me. I have the Highway 1 Tele and an MIM Strat, and I can honestly say that the difference in string spacing is insignificant to their playability. (For me, obv. YMMV.)

[Hammertone]

1 5/8" is the standard vintage nut width.
1 11/16" are the standard modern Fender nut widths.
Both are available on a wide range of guitars - something for everybody.
Good luck getting a 1 3/4" or wider width nut on any Fender Tele or Strat without being SERIOUSLY depantsed by the Custom Shop.

From the web:
"Fender used to use letter designations, "A", "B", "C" and "D". These were stamped on the end of the necks from the early 1960s to about 1973 and refer to the neck width at the nut. Here's what they represented:
- A = 1½"
- B = 1 5/8"
- C = 1¾"
- D = 1 7/8?"In general, the current production necks have a B nut width; The American Standard is slightly wider, somewhere in between the B and C measurements at around 1 ¹¹/₁₆"."

[Boston Joe]

Dimensions aside, though, I think the build quality of the MiM instruments is as good as the US stuff. The materials are perhaps not quite as "first choice" as the stuff the American shop gets, but they're still very good. The necks on my MiM Strat and J-Bass are lovely hunks of rock maple. They might not have quite the perfect, tight uniform grain that the MiA ones do, but that's just cosmetic.

Take an MiM Fender, slap on new tuners, a new bridge, and a set of primo pickups and you've got yourself one hell of a guitar at a bargain price.

[lammie200]

1 5/8" is the standard vintage nut width.
1 11/16" are the standard modern Fender nut widths.
... The American Standard is slightly wider, somewhere in between the B and C measurements at around 1¹¹⁄₁₆"."

Not a great deal of difference I know, but from what I have seen Fender always uses decimals with 1.650" being the standard vintage nut width. However, I have seen documentation of vintage necks with variations close to 1.650". 1.650" translates to a little less than 1-21/32".

1-5/8" = 1-20/32"
1.650" = a little less than 1-21/32"
1-11/16 = 1-22/32"

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

1 5/8" is the standard vintage nut width.
1 11/16" are the standard modern Fender nut widths.
Both are availabel on a wide range of guitars - something for everybody.
Good luck getting a 1 3/4" or wider width nut on any Fender Tele or Strat without being SERIOUSLY depantsed by the Custom Shop.

From the web:
"Fender used to use letter designations, "A", "B", "C" and "D". These were stamped on the end of the necks from the early 1960s to about 1973 and refer to the neck width at the nut. Here's what they represented:
- A = 1½"
- B = 1⅝"
- C = 1¾"
- D = 1⅞"In general, the current production necks have a B nut width; The American Standard is slightly wider, somewhere in between the B and C measurements at around 1¹¹⁄₁₆"."

I've seen that A, B, C, D comment many times but it offers up false hopes!

My T-style has a 1 3/4" nut and I kept my pants on! Because it's a MIA G&L and you get to choose the neck profile.

Or you can go Warmoth or USACG. Wait for a sale neck or get an unfinished neck and finish it yourself.