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Some folks put a premium on Crafted In Japan Teles, but I don't know if it extends to the Squiers made there.
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10-12-2016 05:40 PM
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A series Squiers are not 1984, they are 1985-1986. Really good, as per popular widespread belief, MIJ Squiers are JV and SQ series. Also good are 24 series (Gibson scale) made in Korea.
E series1986-1987 have good necks if you can stand 7.5" radius and Fender branded tuners, but Tele bridge PUs are ceramic and nasty. Neck PUs are rather good sounding, but michrophonic, literally, you speak at it and hear your self of the amp. Anyway, PUs are of the second rate interest, if you play through FX box it doesn't matter much, just like amp does not.
There's all the rage about new (since couple of years) Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe series, but when I tried them in local shop, they felt like planks.
Sent from VladanMovies @ YouTube
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I think my modded Yamaha Mike Stern Tele (1511) belongs here. Awesome guitar, which I got a pretty good deal on. It had been modded already when I got it with mixed results. Bridge saddles were string savers, but wrong sized - the tuners had been swapped for Fender basic tuners (which are crap IMO, they will go next) and the PUs were changed to Vintage Vibe Tele/P-90 set. I knew it would be modded more when I got it so...
1. It came with a MIJ Wilkinson/Gotoh bridge as an extra(!), so I swapped that in
2. I had a set of PRS McCarty PUs laying around, so I took the neck pickup from there and bought a DiMarzio Super Distortion T to the bridge. I ditched all the electronics and wired 2 Bourns pots (I like the fast action) and a .22 (IIRC) cap to the tone - 3-way switch is wired: Bridge HB/Neck Tapped/Neck HB. It was the best wiring job I've done, in it's complexity and regarding the results - Usually there's always a tone or two in guitars that I don't use but this has now 3 completely usable tones.
3. Next I'll upgrade the tuners, most likely to locking schallers.
Also, I've been toying with the idea of getting one of the new Fender Nashville Deluxe Teles.. specwise they're pretty awesome.
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Hey, do "T" style basses count? I have a fretless, custom-made version of a '54 Precision Bass that is very much in the Telecaster vein. I played a very satisfying jazz gig in a trio, backing up an exceptional singer last weekend.
The "Telecaster" bass playing into the 15" Polytone MiniBrute got an exceptional sound with the trio. (I had intended to use my upright bass, but the hurricane made it impractical to put an acoustic instrument into the back of my pickup truck.)
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Just took delivery on a new Elite Thinline. Best Fender guitar I have EVER played. The gen four pups are an exponential improvement.
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My blackie Jazz Tele got a new electronic system installed: Toneshaper
Now it has less buzz and smoother pots and I can change capacitor and resistor values with tiny switches without soldering them or swapping them.
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Originally Posted by medblues
Man, the fun you could have mixing up the tone caps without soldering.
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I put an Audere active preamp in my J-bass. Anybody know if anything like that exists for Teles? (I checked the Audere site. They only do basses).
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Originally Posted by jazzbow
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Telecaster leading the charge in an organistic trio! I humbly submit that when it comes to Jazz the guitar shines most in an organ trio format.
Thanks to Joey DeFrancesco, I discovered that the earliest organ trios had the saxophone as the 3rd part of the trio. Guitar / organ / drums came after that. Regardless, we shine the best here.
Last edited by West LA Jazz; 10-15-2016 at 08:09 PM.
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by christianm77
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Originally Posted by Lobomov
Thomatik-Infeld George Benson's (flat wound) 0.014 - 0.055
Before I used T-I Swings (13s).
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Elixer Nanoweb (rounds) .011 set. I like 'em lively and bendable.
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These days GHS Burnished Nickel 11's with slightly higher than usual action.
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I have loved teles to bits ever since I bought my first one a couple years ago, but I have only recently really appreciated that they are not just guitars “you can play jazz on”, but friggin’ great jazz guitars. For all jazz styles! Never dreamed that you could Django it with a tele, until I saw this!
For now, I am all for classic configuration teles. I love the single coil in the neck, and I am also very intrigued by the sound you get on the bridge pick-up with the tone rolled off (as also showed by Tim Lerch on his vid already posted on the thread).
I have two.
#1 has been quite a find. A “60th anniversary”, i.e. a 2011 American Standard (pre-belly cut) with a nitro “blackguard blonde” finish. Bought new in a shop lost in the Italian countryside.
Just tonight I have changed her looks to something more “mid-50s” (lovely to my eyes, although purists may scoff at the 6-saddles bridge and 3-ply guard… let them, she looks stunning in her new dress…):
My other tele (bought because I live in one city but spend a part of every week in another, and cannot live without a tele within easy reach) is a Baja ‘60s. It’s a great, great tele! She has a slightly beefier neck (a “‘60s C” profile) and sounds marginally darker (I thought it was the rosewood, but I am quite convinced now that it's the pickups – voiced differently). She also has the 4th position (two single coils in series ≈ “humbucker”), which I don’t use much but still can come handy. In this pic, with her sister the day I bought her and set her up.
I frankly don’t know which one I like best. Maybe the 60th anni, but the Baja is really almost there. A wonderful little tele, to be had for not much.
I actually think that Bajas (50s or 60s depending on your aesthetic + neck tastes) are the best bargain in the tele market for new guitars (I had done rather extensive tests before buying my 60s!!).
I don’t think I am going to tinker with their pickups, bridges etc… (I like them too much as they are, and I just want to play them) but I am certainly going to experiment with strings and action.
The blonde one has got 10s. I’ve put pure nickel 11s on the red one and I am considering to adopt them also on the other. They are better for jazz, and also great for blues… you can still bend them easily, and they have that beefy tone. Plus, I am considering raising the action a bit.
This thread is about saying nice things about teles… don’t get me started. They have a whole range of great, great tones. In fact, they are the most versatile guitars I’ve ever had in my hands – best solid bodies hands down for trad blues, blues-jazz and jazz, rhythm’n’blues, not to mention country and classic rock. They look great in their simplicity (I know, some think they don’t… to me they are GORGEOUS guitars). They are the most solid and easiest to set-up.
So Leo got it right the first time!
(And the second! Yes, I love me my strat for hendrixing and zz-topping around………)Last edited by radiofm74; 10-22-2016 at 05:20 PM.
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So I've had chrome 12's which sounder really nice but I've just put on D'Addario pure nickel 12's and they're a revelation!
Toneful yet twang.
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Check out the FlameTop on my Tele. AAAAAAA++++ w/ two humbuckers and custom wiring. Very subtle flame.
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Just added this Tk Smith CCII pickup to my telecaster, couldn't be any more thrilled with the way it sounds!
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Originally Posted by jazzbow
I too prefer roundwounds on my tele, flats on my ES175.
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Originally Posted by mitch_33
A TK Smith CC with one of his Bigsby swirly arm rests. I am jealous....
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Originally Posted by mitch_33
- Did you have to do any routing on the body to get it to fit? It looks wider than a humbucker rout.
- How is the balance, especially on the plain 3rd string? I have problems with the 3rd string being too loud.
- How would you compare it sound-wise with a standard tele neck pup?
- How's the balance with the bridge pup?
Thanks!
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This might be the worst GAS thread ever LOL
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Guys... COME ON.... 34 PAGES and not ONE mention of Jim Campilongo??? You should all be ashamed of yourselves....
'59 toploader, stock pickups rewound by Seymour Duncan when they eventually stopped working.
Last edited by ruger9; 10-28-2016 at 07:07 AM.
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