Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[Skip Ellis]

Closest thing to a REAL Tele I've had in years and it sounds like one. Allparts ash body, my trusty Musikraft neck, and a set of custom shop 'No Caster' pickups. A little heavier than my chambered bodies but not bad. Playing it through a Quilter 101R head - exact speaker TBD.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

I have a broad definition of "Tele" or "T-style". It doesn't have to be a Fender or a Squier.

[Little Jay]

I have a broad definition of "Tele" or "T-style". It doesn't have to be a Fender or a Squier.

Heck, for me it doesn’t even have to have a 25.5” scale or the tele headstock with 6 in a row tuners... ;-)

But it does have to have the Tele body shape for me, that’s my minimum requirement :-)

[Little Jay]

I stumbled across Macmull Custom Guitars on instagram. No affiliation, but they make great looking Teles with a nice vintage vibe to them:

[croth]

I had this one built to order, but with playing jazz more in mind than rock or country. To that end, it has an ebony fingerboard, a 1.75 nut width but with rounded/tapered edges to make it feel narrower, and splittable HBs.

As marcwhy noted about the Macmull guitar, above, "pretty pricey" but it fulfilled an idea I had for a long time, along with a preferred liking of the Tele form.

[cosmic gumbo]

Hmm....Julian Lage requested a guitar at age 4, so his father made a plywood facsimile that could be nothing other than a....

[marcwhy]

Cedar tele by Chris Forshage:

[christianm77]

Hmm....Julian Lage requested a guitar at age 4, so his father made a plywood facsimile that could be nothing other than a....

That looks like a shot from a recent tour?

[helena]

just picked up a new G&L semi hollow blues boy asat classic for my daughter shes 18 in her last year in high school , been playing since she was about 9 and lots of jazz and into blues lite rock , she wanted a semi hollow . thin line , tele , and the g&l was about the same price as a second hand mim or a squire thine line she did not want any thing with squire on it so blip on that , we tried a lot in the shops and the g&l won for fit play ability weight etc a week on now and she really likes the low shine stain finish on the neck and finds it very smooth to play also the body is not that straight grained but not to bad i would call it a lovely looking piece of swamp ash with quite a bit of black in it she likes the sound , so still happy , i read about straight grains sounding better and that the Indonesian guitars not being up there but it is a really well finished nice guitar, does any one really think straight grain makes much difference especially in a double chambered guitar like the blues boy thin line she will be playing her tele for meany years its going to be her main jamming small gig guitar and possible the one she will use if she gets to study music at university which is what shes aiming for in the next couple of years so i think i have done ok with the G&L with what we could find in our price range here in new zealand at this point in time , we tried to get her into a strat but she was not interested the tele won she also plays arch top and nylon

[Easy2grasp]

Got some serious Tele GAS this week. I will know in about 5 days if I will be getting it. I have an SG, and a shitload of archtops, but I am totally consumed by this guitar and owning my first Tele type. I will keep you posted.
Ted

[Cunamara]

No, straight grain in a solidbody guitar is up there with paper-in-oil capacitors as far as tone goes- just internet malarky.

[Hammertone]

Despite my recent efforts to reduce my tele footprint, they seem to proliferate. Here's a quick shot of, er, ah, some of them, along with quicky shots of my two Brian Monty telecasters. I will be selling the whiteguard soon. [ed: Yikes! Once a couple of tele fans found out I had this guitar they hunted me down and demanded I sell it to them. One of them is now very happy. I will resist the temptation to sell the other one.]

[Easy2grasp]

OK I wanted to bid on a rusty well used '90's Tele type by Sadowsky that was in the auction of Walter Becker's guitars. It was a favorite of his and there is youTube video of him playing it on The Late Show with David Letterman in 1995. So I had about $2500 set aside, but it ended up selling for $20,000!

So I decided one of his other less famous guitars would be a good conciliation prize. I ended up with this '52 replica by 30th Street Guitars of NYC, who eventually created the Rust Series. I think it is pretty cool looking and can't wait for it's arrival. Not sure at this time when it was made. It has provenance that it comes from the Walter Becker estate, but full disclosure - Walter Becker had at least 650 guitars and probably over 350 amplifiers.

[jazzbow]

Ah, the Telecaster. Never has such a design been so simple but so perfect. Later improvements took it to a different level, just like sliced bread! But every now and then I hanker for a crusty farmhouse loaf that has to be cut into bite sized slices and then I'm dumbstruck at how flavoursome the original is and left wondering why I ever strayed away in the beginning!?


'62 sliced bread, perfect for club sandwich!


'52 crusty farmhouse loaf, soul food!

Of course there are artisan breads out there that follow the original recipe, but with a twist! But there's something about making your own bread at home, the smell of freshly baked bread that gets your tastebuds salivating.


Limited Edition red onion, cheddar and hot pepper, perfect accompaniment for a single shot caramel mocca latte!


Jazzbow homebaked special, kneaded, proved and baked at home using quality ingredients. The flavour is....... yum.

Now I'm not fussy, any bread will do when I need feeding. Adding layers of additional flavours can fill you up, but damn, just get that fresh bake with butter and a simple cup of tea/coffee and I'm in heaven.

Of course your tastes will differ.......

[greveost]

I just dug up my trusty old Telecaster from 72' from the basement

[QAman]

Greveost,
Fine playing and great tone - thanks for sharing. Something about a Tele for jazz that just seems right.

[marcwhy]

@jazzbow -- love the pics, and love the descriptions even more! I'm hungry now ...

[QAman]

Anyone play the new Fender Rarity Tele's. If so, which one is better for Jazz.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

[greveost]

Greveost,
Fine playing and great tone - thanks for sharing. Something about a Tele for jazz that just seems right.

Thanks a lot man! Yeah, the Tele is great, I have lots of em

[QAman]

Thanks a lot man! Yeah, the Tele is great, I have lots of em

Im looking to get one for chord melody work - do you have any recommendations for wood choices , weight - pick ups etc.

[marcwhy]

Im looking to get one for chord melody work - do you have any recommendations for wood choices , weight - pick ups etc.

Depending on your hand size, many like having a 1 3/4" nut width for that (or bigger!).

[QAman]

Depending on your hand size, many like having a 1 3/4" nut width for that (or bigger!).

I know your right . I’m finding that most Tele necks are 1.650 which is too small for me - but some are 1.685 , the later of which would be adequate.

[neatomic]

Im looking to get one for chord melody work - do you have any recommendations for wood choices , weight - pick ups etc.

talk to rick kelly at carmine st guitars nyc...hes made teles for kirchen. dylan, walter becker,etc etc...for frisells tele,he used old reclaimed pine for body & a one piece padauk neck...padauk is used for marimba bars..ie. resonant!!...and lollar cc's...nice!

have fun deciding

cheers

[greveost]

Im looking to get one for chord melody work - do you have any recommendations for wood choices , weight - pick ups etc.

As someone recommended earlier, something a bit wider in the nut would probably be preferable, in terms of wood, it depends on what kind of sound you want to get out of the guitar.

[marcwhy]

I know your right . I’m finding that most Tele necks are 1.650 which is too small for me - but some are 1.685 , the later of which would be adequate.

This post (currently) has 35 pages of tele examples and comments, many of them from "non-Fender" makers who will make whatever you ask them to make, and for reasonable prices. There's also the easy option of buying an inexpensive Squier, and then a Warmoth replacement neck with a 1 3/4" nut. The only problem here is there are too many options!