Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[shrews824]

Mine still gets a lot of love. My 2022 Whitfill Custom.

[Moita]

OK fine, here's my new Japanese 72' Traditional Thinline. I only play thinlines, they are light, look cool, sound great. This has chunky U shape neck profile, and 41mm nut width! Thank you Fender Japan for making the best necks!

I can add that teles are the best jazz guitars... but only if they have a chunky neck. Thin necks teles don't cut it for jazz tone, no matter what pickups or how much you turn the tone knob. Just don't have it.

This one is the best jazz tone guitar I ever had. I'm sure the humbuckers help too.
Attachment 115536

Are these cunife Wide Ranges? Some people seem to dislike these for jazz. How do you like them?

[Hep To The Jive]

Are these cunife Wide Ranges? Some people seem to dislike these for jazz. How do you like them?

I'm pretty sure it's not CuNiFe. It's made in Japan, they do alnico in Wide Range clothes. But it's not THAT different... I couldn't care less though, it's a great sounding pickup, and it's better for jazz than anything I've heard so far in teles. Humbucker is always a superior for jazz than a single coil (except P90s), so I wonder who'd dislike the authentic WR? Some weird people out there!

[Soitainly]

New member here, I’ve been lurking awhile though.

I just put together this kit I got off Amazon, a Bexgears Thinline Telecaster for $139. I did have to upgrade the pickups as the ones it came with were bad, I went with Fender Vintage 50’s Vintera for $100, so I am in it for $240.

The kit went together quite easily, finish is just OK, I’m no expert, I just dyed it and finished with poly. From any distance away it looks great, but close up shows flaws, (there is nothing wrong with the kit, just my lack of skill).

Right out of the gate, it plays and sounds fantastic, it may be my best guitar. The neck feels great, even though it is thinner than what I would have chosen, l got used to it in about 30 seconds.

Only problem spot is one pesky high fret that I can’t seem to level, just needs a little more work. I’ve been learning as I go, but the frets otherwise were great. I assume that the tuners won’t last, but so far they are fine. I have been wanting another Tele for 30 years, I can’t put it down.

[Little Jay]

Took my DIY 50ies inspired Tele to a blues jam. Unsurprisingly it felt right at home…

[docsteve]

Ukutele



(And no, I didn’t buy it, just saw it in the store.)


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[mr. beaumont]

Mine still gets a lot of love. My 2022 Whitfill Custom.

A 50's style white blonde body with a 60's rosewood board. Tele-blasphemy

I absolutely love it. You're making me want to piece one together like this...

[enalnitram]

A 50's style white blonde body with a 60's rosewood board. Tele-blasphemy

I absolutely love it. You're making me want to piece one together like this...

There were rosewood boards in 59.
1959 FENDER Telecaster Blonde > Guitars Electric Solid Body | Lark Street Music

The stamp on Jimmy Page's dragon rosewood neck is 58. But who knows the real story on that.

[L50EF15]

I put this in The Semester of Solo Guitar thread (thanks for starting it, Jeff), but it also belongs here.

I pulled my Tele out last night for the first time in months and improvised the way I used to do on my old gig. It’s a 1991 MIM toploader with the six saddle bridge; poplar body, maple neck, D’A Chromes. I’m playing through my Jazz 12, with everything set to noon:

[jazzloverfat]

I like to hit my pedals and amp with a hotter signal, so this is what I use:
Attachment 112867
It not only boosts but allows you to thicken up the tone if desired. Great sounding pedal.

How is it exactly, do u think having one could replace the "want" for humbuckers?

[Cunamara]

New Tele:

Warmoth neck, 1 3/4" at the nut, standard scale, 10–14" compound radius


Warmoth alder chambered body, French polished (by me, far from perfect). Being as soft as alder is, I've already dinged it up.


Tortoiseshell pickguard


Wilde Micro-coil pickups


Gotoh three-piece bridge with compensated saddles

I've had the neck for at least 10 years, if not 15; it's been on several different cheap guitar bodies. I decided, but I wanted to have a better quality standard looking Tele. So far I'm pleased. It's light, comfortable, resonant and plays quite well. Still experimenting with pickup adjustments, etc.

[Sam Sherry]

This "LP Custom Tele" has been fun.





A detailed philosophical examination of whether this guitar is a Telecaster or not has been underway over on TGP.
Feel free to snipe away . . .

Fun guitar.
Quite a decent Jazz Tele (for those who think that it's a Tele).
I think it's pretty.
Statistically I may not but the last owner but I appreciate it in the present.

[Hammertone]

This "LP Custom Tele" has been fun.





A detailed philosophical examination of whether this guitar is a Telecaster or not has been underway over on TGP.
Feel free to snipe away . . .
Fun guitar. Quite a decent Jazz Tele (for those who think that it's a Tele). I think it's pretty. Statistically I may not but the last owner but I appreciate it in the present.

That's not a Tele. It's a TSO (telecaster-shaped-object). A bit further away from a Tele than the "Tele-Gib" that started the ball rolling, I suspect. Of course, for those who might want to delve further, I recommend purchasing this fine Tele-Gib, for sale right here:
Bunch of great plank guitars I don't need

[Cunamara]

Bearing in mind that Fender also sold a TSO with dual humbuckers and a set neck. And IIRC a 24 3/4" scale.

[Flat]

Sire. Lot of Tele for the money, to my ears. Tim's playing sure helps.

[joebloggs13]

My two Teles. A 2017 Fender Elite with Fralin Blues Specials and a stock Xotic XTC-1 from their Xotique line.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=118054&stc=1&d=1732590 355

[docsteve]

Here’s my G&L tele, newly equipped with a P90 in the middle position and a five-way switch. I still have to get used to the new sounds that are available.

The P90 by itself sounds much as if it was in the neck position. The difference to the tele pup is noticeable. The P90 has a more neutral tone to my ears, not like a tele at all, but can sound a bit harsh sometimes. I have toyed with the pup height and are not quite pleased yet. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The tone pot has been replaced by a push-pull pot so that I have the neck pickup available with any other combination. Some nice stratish sounds in pos. 2 and 4. All three pups together can sound quite thin, much to my surprise. I still have to find out whether that’s a usable tone.


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[Hep To The Jive]

72 Tele Thinline conversion to filtertrons

[Doug B]

Why is it that most folk use a tele with humbucker for jazz but few use a Strat, humbucker or not.

Doug

[mr. beaumont]

Why is it that most folk use a tele with humbucker for jazz but few use a Strat, humbucker or not.

Doug

Teles are very easy to modify.

Strat neck pickups (I'm talking the single coil ones) don't sound like tele neck pickups...so I think a lot of people lookinf for a "jazz" sound would prefer the tele neck sound to the strat neck sound...strats always sound a little more "springy" or "spongey" if that makes any sense. And since it's more difficult to modify a strat, players go tele, single coil or humbucker.

Teles also have a simplicity factor that I think players who may also play an archtop enjoy.

I think there's the precedent factor too though. There were a few people who bucked the hollowbody trend years ago and happened to take the tele route...had they went strat, you might see more strats today. I play a tele for jazz a lot, originally because it was just the guitar I had when I got into jazz. But a little research led me to see there were other people doing it, and that validated the guitar for me, so I felt no need to get something else and it was years before I had the $ to try out an archtop. Now I have both, but man, I'll never stop playing my tele.

[Bobby Timmons]

Why is it that most folk use a tele with humbucker for jazz but few use a Strat, humbucker or not.

Because everyone's a follower.

[Doug B]

Because everyone's a follower.

Well there is that!

Sheeple beware!

[pauln]

Why is it that most folk use a tele with humbucker for jazz but few use a Strat, humbucker or not.

Doug

I believe the simple answer is that they have simply not yet played an LOQ (lack of quack) Stratocaster. In the beginning, there where three selection positions with the PU selector switch, and there was no "quack" either in the design, build, or sound. It would emerge later as guitarists discovered how to evoke it by jaming something (piece of tooth pick, paper match...) against the PU selector switch to hold it in one of the two unintended places that connected the middle PU with its neighbors. Some called them the "tween" or the "tweeners" because the switch did this between the design positions.

Leo Fender called the three original switch positions on the Stratocaster:

- Rhythm (the "Neck Pickup" most use for soloing)
- Normal (the "Middle Pickup" most use only to get "quack")
- Lead (the "Bridge Pickup" rarely used for soloing)

To get "quack" the middle pickup is combined with either the neck or bridge pickup, but to get the strongest quack tone, the middle pickup must be lowered way below the elevation of the neck or bridge pickup heights.

One of the results of this is that a lot of Strats have their middle pickup set for max quack, which renders the middle pickup undesirable for use when selected to play alone. This is unfortunate because the middle PU raised high and played alone actually sounds most like the older brighter tone of archtops (not the darker tones in favor later) than any other selection.

A lot of folks playing a Strat to hear if it sounds like jazz will not hear that potential if the middle PU is lowered down for quack. You must carry a Phillips Head screwdriver if you want to ensue hearing an LOQ (lack of quack) Strat.

I know this does not match the instinct to use the Neck PU for jazz, but that comes from the archtop world and should be checked when looking at a Strat. The Neck PU on a Strat is very nice, but you may find that the raised Middle PU is the real deal for approaching archtop tone.

With the middle PU elevated up with the others, and with a little attention to fingering, articulation, and range, it can actually become the central foundation for switch selections sounding like three different families of guitars.

Neck - Clarinet (pure, dense, woody)
N+M - Classical Guitar (soft, sweet, round)
Middle - Archtop Guitar (neutral body, pleasant bright)
M+B - Flat Top Guitar (dry with some jangle)
Bridge - Trumpet (articulate, liquid sheen)

[Bobby Timmons]

Well there is that!

[Hep To The Jive]

Why is it that most folk use a tele with humbucker for jazz but few use a Strat, humbucker or not.

Doug

Trad strat neck pickup the least suitable for jazz sound. With a lot of tweaking and a right amp you can get it, but it's a lot of work. And then there's the look, the vibe. It's just not there. That's my answer anyway.