Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[radiofm74]

I was in the house band for a jam session on Sunday. My GF videoed a couple of tunes, and listening to it, I was once again blown away by how good my Tele sounded. Dark enough not to be brittle. Bright enough to cut through. Nice snap to the attack.

Yep, teles are those precious guitars that sound even better in a band setting than when playing by your own sweet self… So great!

[silvertonebetty]

My walnut tele in progress the pickguard in progress


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[silvertonebetty]

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[Robertito]

Beautifully done.

[alltunes]

Danocaster about a month old. You can hear it in Days of Wine and Roses thread.

[Mark M.]

I found this beauty last week in a local shop. It's a Partscaster with what I presume to be a Warmoth neck with beautiful bird's eye fingerboard. The body looks to me to be from a '52 RI or Tele thin skin. It has a very thin nitro finish. The pickups are from Vintage Vibe Guitars/Pete Biltoft. This is the best sounding Tele I have ever played. It has a very vintage sound and feel to it. I think I got a steal!

[Greentone]

Very nice

[wzpgsr]

Here’s my recently acquired Logan Custom with P90s:

[deke]

I have to chime in here. I have playing for decades, but never had a Tele. I figured (stupidly) they were sort of country chicken scratching and that was it. How wrong and dumb I was. I have a new Nashville Tele and while the noiseless pickups are not ideal, it is by far the most versatile guitar I have ever owned. It really does practically everything and many things very well. Until I buy an jazz box it is my go to for practicing chord melodies and standards. Roll the tone down a bit, there you go.

[Cunamara]

Yep, deke, these doggone things will work for just about anything short of a classical guitar recital... and maybe even for that!

[Greentone]

Maybe?

[neatomic]

the great ted greene (rip)

the first of 4 vids

cheers

[morroben]

My thinline is buried in this thread somewhere, but this is 'new'. I bought a body and paint and had the rest of the parts laying around. Some MIM Fender parts, some mystery parts, and Seymour Duncan 5/2's. Plays and sounds great!
It's sonic blue. Comes across a bit gray in the photo.

[Robertito]

My favorite Telecaster pickups.

[silvertonebetty]

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[Tal_175]

I have a question that I've been wondering for a while now.
I've never owned a Tele but I've owned an American Strat for many years. As I am more a straight-ahead guy, I am not too crazy about the Jazz sound from my Strat. I like it for other styles though.
I'd like to see if I can get a Tele jazz sound from my Strat before I invest in a Tele. (Ok here I go, very nervous) Would a Strat with blocked bridge and a Tele style neck pickup sound near indistinguishable from a Tele? Yes, the bridge is different and all but so is the bridge of archtops from Tele's yet Tele's can get close to the electric archtop sound.
Any thoughts? Which pickup would be best for this purpose?

PS. Technology is great. I can't imagine asking this question at a physical Tele conference and be able to maintain cellular activity for much longer.

[radiofm74]

I have a question that I've been wondering for a while now.
I've never owned a Tele but I've owned an American Strat for many years. As I am more a straight-ahead guy, I am not too crazy about the Jazz sound from my Strat. I like it for other styles though.
I'd like to see if I can get a Tele jazz sound from my Strat before I invest in a Tele. (Ok here I go, very nervous) Would a Strat with blocked bridge and a Tele style neck pickup sound near indistinguishable from a Tele? Yes, the bridge is different and all but so is the bridge of archtops from Tele's yet Tele's can get close to the electric archtop sound.
Any thoughts? Which pickup would be best for this purpose?

PS. Technology is great. I can't imagine asking this question at a physical Tele conference and be able to maintain cellular activity for much longer.

Hi. I guess it would come closer, but I don't think it would sound the same. When I play my strat with the bridge blocked, it still sounds like one 100%. Granted, the pickup contributes a lot, but I think that the way the bridge is made makes quite a difference. I even heard a significant difference between my tele with a 6-saddle bridge and my tele with a 3-saddle. SO you might probably get some of the way there but not really there.

The other thing is that in modding your strat like this, you would lose what is – to many – its key sound, i.e. the strat neck pickup, so good for blues.

It might be worth a try, but it also might end up to be a lose-lose situation.

If I were in your shoes, I think I'd save to get a used classic (or Baja) telecaster for just short of 500$. You'd then have a nice strat and a nice tele, each doing its own sweet thing.

[jazzbow]

I have a question that I've been wondering for a while now.
I've never owned a Tele but I've owned an American Strat for many years. As I am more a straight-ahead guy, I am not too crazy about the Jazz sound from my Strat. I like it for other styles though.
I'd like to see if I can get a Tele jazz sound from my Strat before I invest in a Tele. (Ok here I go, very nervous) Would a Strat with blocked bridge and a Tele style neck pickup sound near indistinguishable from a Tele? Yes, the bridge is different and all but so is the bridge of archtops from Tele's yet Tele's can get close to the electric archtop sound.
Any thoughts? Which pickup would be best for this purpose?

PS. Technology is great. I can't imagine asking this question at a physical Tele conference and be able to maintain cellular activity for much longer.

It's all in the springs with a Strat. That hollow twangy reverb tone.

Put on some flatwounds like Jimmy Vaughn and roll down the tone. That will get you close...

'Twunnk' (that's Strat twanng but with flatwounds!).

But who am I to subvert your desire to purchase a telecaster! Teles can take pickup swaps and electrical tomfoolery without upsetting the set up. Strat trems can be a uniquely problematic thing.

Cheap teles everywhere.

[Boston Joe]

I have a question that I've been wondering for a while now.
I've never owned a Tele but I've owned an American Strat for many years. As I am more a straight-ahead guy, I am not too crazy about the Jazz sound from my Strat. I like it for other styles though.
I'd like to see if I can get a Tele jazz sound from my Strat before I invest in a Tele. (Ok here I go, very nervous) Would a Strat with blocked bridge and a Tele style neck pickup sound near indistinguishable from a Tele? Yes, the bridge is different and all but so is the bridge of archtops from Tele's yet Tele's can get close to the electric archtop sound.
Any thoughts? Which pickup would be best for this purpose?

PS. Technology is great. I can't imagine asking this question at a physical Tele conference and be able to maintain cellular activity for much longer.

I think a hardtail strat might get you in the ballpark, but not one with a blocked trem. I think that the big back rout and springs affect the tone quite a bit. I am not at all a whammy bar guy, but when I got a strat, I did get one with a trem bridge, because the hardtails I've tried haven't sounded "stratty" enough.

I would see if you can find a super cheap used Squier or something. For a minimal investment you should be able to pick one up and decide if you like it enough to get a good one.

Are you familiar with the "Nashville Tele" configuration? It's a Tele with an added middle position Strat pickup. It's supposed to be good for covering Strat sounds if you need them. Just throwing that out there.

[jazzbow]

I may have posted the Cclassicort TC before but heres some other T stuff...


This is their take on a Tele on the vein of the Manson custom Matt Bellamy guitars.
These have a truss adjustment at the base of the neck.


This is the Sunset TC. A Gibson/Fender hybrid.
25.5" scale, P90 and Tele bridge Duncan designed pickups. Ash body. What's not to like?
Cool Bananas.

[jazzbow]

Strats good.
Christian mad.

Jazzy Charlie Christian pickup good.
Average O/Driven blues licks bad.

Ahwell.

[Doug B]

as per stock lookin teles…get yourself a medium wound p90 styled t- pup for the neck and some 500k pots and you are good to go…smokey as gitanes

cheers

Why the 500k pots? What would they do?

Thanks

[sgosnell]

They allow more treble to be passed through to the amp. 250K pots allow less.

[neatomic]

the 500k pots will allow more highs to come thru...since the neck pup is a p90 design (screws and bar magnets) it doesn't need the 250k pot that the "normal" tele neck pickup (magnetic polepieces and #43 wire) does

the pot change is appropriate for the pickup change



cheers

[jazzbow]

What in the Lord's name is that abomination?

It's an Ultra CC Strat maan.

You can play like- righteous big band metal.

Tunage riffocity such as...

'Swing to Blitzkrieg Bop'
'7 come 11, The Final Countdown' mash up

Etcetera. ..