Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[wzpgsr]

Out goes my 1989 Am. Std. Strat, and in comes this dead-mint 7.13 lb. roasted pine American Professional II Tele that I bought from a user on this forum.

[KingLear]

So that's a start now.

[Greentone]

Hey, wzgpsr, a Telecaster through an AMPEG Gemini II is an awesome rig. I used to play that some 50-plus years ago. Can't beat it for _many_ music genres.

[wzpgsr]

Hey, wzgpsr, a Telecaster through an AMPEG Gemini II is an awesome rig. I used to play that some 50-plus years ago. Can't beat it for _many_ music genres.

I can't stop playing this guitar. I have gone through several Tele or Tele-style guitars: Muddy Waters, a Logan with P-90s, a Baja, a G&L. This Am. Pro II bests them all (except maybe the Muddy) by a country mile. And yeah...the Gemini II is ~35 watts, but gets just a bit of hair at comfortable volumes—a perfect match for this guitar.

[jan-erik@svendsen.mail.dk]

Hi. I would like to know, what experiences you people have with the jazz-ability of the different types of G&L telecaster models

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Hi. I would like to know, what experiences you people have with the jazz-ability of the different types of G&L telecaster models

What's your take on a basic Telecaster for jazz?

[jan-erik@svendsen.mail.dk]

What's your take on a basic Telecaster for jazz?

I like the sweet tone that Ed Bickert got out of his! I'm a lefty and have thought of getting a G&L custom built, but with so many options; wood, open/closed semi-hollow or solid, pickups and hardware it would be great to know some opinions especially about how to achieve the tone afore mentioned.

[lawson-stone]

What's your take on a basic Telecaster for jazz?

For what it's worth, I got a stock "road worn" Fender Telecaster and other than half-rounds for strings, I've done nothing else to it. I love it, and I enjoy playing jazz on it. It really shines as a solo-guitar vehicle, with the single-coil pickups giving it an almost harp-like clarity. I never thought I'd be saying this btw.

[Cunamara]

I like the sweet tone that Ed Bickert got out of his! I'm a lefty and have thought of getting a G&L custom built, but with so many options; wood, open/closed semi-hollow or solid, pickups and hardware it would be great to know some opinions especially about how to achieve the tone afore mentioned.

The first half of Ed's career with his Telecaster, it was just a straight up stock Tele. In the mid 70s, he had the neck pickup replaced with a Gibson humbucker. He doesn't sound that much different before or after because so very much of his sound is his touch, fingering and voicing choices, etc.

A solid body alder Telecaster with standard pickups, rosewood fingerboard and 10–46 Ernie Ball Slinky's will pretty much give you the same equipment Ed was using. I have read that he had a Standel tube amp, later using an orange Roland Cube 60 and ending up with, as I understand it, with an Evans or something that was loaned to him. He was pretty much of a minimalist.

[Jazz_175]

[QUOTE=wzpgsr;1213857]Out goes my 1989 Am. Std. Strat, and in comes this dead-mint 7.13 lb. roasted pine American Professional II Tele that I bought from a user on this forum.

[ /QUOTE]
How nice! I used to have a Fender American Vintage 52. Maybe I posted a picture of it in this long and old thread.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

My G&l... It has a wonderful sound for Jazz on the neck pu and does some nice blues tones as well. I string her with D'Adarrio pure nickel 11-48 strings. I have the Ilitch hum reduction circuit installed and it works great. I just wish it was lighter...8.5 pounds.

I love the reversed control plate! I did that to mine for easier volume swells. Did you do that or was is made that way?

[guavajelly]

Here's my new custom made telecaster-style guitar. I was hoping for a tone in between a telecaster and a semihollow guitar and get rid of the hum. Jochen, the builder suggested a hollow pine body, mahagony top and the humbucker pickups made by Harry Haeussel. It's exactly like imagined, has the snap of a tele with the warmth of the humbuckers and the air of the hollow body. Perfect for the funk band – while I'll still prefer my ES 330 or Ibanez GB for our organ trio. The top is painted in "Kölner Brückengrün", a color that all bridges in my home town Cologne are painted with.

So my green telecaster eventually made it to the stage last night – and it was exactly what I was hoping for. Like a telecaster but with more power and mids due to the buckers and with a semiacoustic timbre thanks to the hollow body. Like a cross between a tele and a 335. It worked very well in our 8 piece funk band. Cut through but was not dominating the sound of the band.

[Little Jay]

So my green telecaster eventually made it to the stage last night – and it was exactly what I was hoping for. Like a telecaster but with more power and mids due to the buckers and with a semiacoustic timbre thanks to the hollow body. Like a cross between a tele and a 335. It worked very well in our 8 piece funk band. Cut through but was not dominating the sound of the band.

How hollow is your tele? Like a thinline? Or completely hollow? Just curious ;-)

[charleyrich99]

I love the reversed control plate! I did that to mine for easier volume swells. Did you do that or was is made that way?

I did it, for volume swells. My pinkie just wasn't long enough the way the controls were originally.

[charleyrich99]

Hi. I would like to know, what experiences you people have with the jazz-ability of the different types of G&L telecaster models

I play jazz on a G&L tele (ASAT) using D'Adarrio pure nickel 11-48 strings into
tube amp and get a really nice warm jazz tone. G&l USA makes some great instruments.

[guavajelly]

How hollow is your tele? Like a thinline? Or completely hollow? Just curious ;-)

Roughly like a thinline I think. Here's some footage from saturday's gig: https://www.pictures-classen.de/konz...vZldCjBLuTtX3E

[Little Jay]

Roughly like a thinline I think. Here's some footage from saturday's gig: https://www.pictures-classen.de/konz...vZldCjBLuTtX3E

Cool pics! Definitely looks like fun!

I got curious is thinline routings now that I am building one for a friend and my research shows there are quite a few variations going around in the degree of hollowness of thinlines. From only a small chamber under the f-hole to just a small ‘island’ of wood under the bridge.

[Sparadrap]

Got a MIJ Tele from the 80's a few years ago.
I believe it's a TLC-62, with 7.25" radius.


Changed the stock pickups that lacked character, placed DiMarzio Twang Kings, and finally swapped the bridge pickup that wasn't vintage enough to my taste, with a Seymour Duncan Vintage '54. Installed an aluminium-foil shielding, soldered everything, including a push-pull triggering a direct-through mod.


Eventually I upgraded pretty much every part: tuners (settled on vintage Gotoh tuners), string tree (Tusq), nut (Tusq), frets (narrow talls), pickups, selector, bridge (Gotoh), bridge saddles (Tusq), jack out.


I use mostly the bridge position, with the volume pot rolled off just a bit, to soften the attack, and the tone pot rolled off quite a bit, to skim highs off. Currently using 11s, which improved tuning stability and tone, overall.

[Little Jay]

I like those sunburst teles with edge binding, gives them a classy look.

All my teles have .011 flatwounds on them and it’s funny that the ones with the classic tele bridge with 3-saddles remain twangy, even my custom built with a 24.75” Gibson-neck.

My thinline P90 modern player has a 6-saddle hardtail bridge (same as on hardtail strats) and that is the darkest tele and almost sounds like my ES-333…. Mahogany body contributes as well perhaps.

So I think a lot of the classic tele sound is in the bridge design

[citizenk74]

Absolutely! All that interconnected metal just allows the tones to mingle and resonate! Changing the saddles on my '66 Custom to intonated brass (from threaded steel) just really enhanced the tone in a somewhat warming way, in addition to cleaning up the intonation. Well worth the 15$!

[Sparadrap]

Here's a pic of this modded MIJ Tele from the 80's.
Next mod: maybe I'll go for a Seymour Duncan neck pickup Hot Rails.

[Skip Ellis]

Just happened to have the 'herd' all in one place yesterday, so snapped a quick photo. Left to right: 1.) Scratch built, chambered mahogany with maple cap and AllParts neck - pickups are probably Bill Lawrence Keystones but don't really remember. 2.) Totally scratch built including neck - completely hollow mahogany with only small block under the bridge; top is maple cap with PRS type staining; neck is mahogany with ebony fretboard 1.75" nut width; pickup is Dimarzio 36th Anniversary. 3.) Butterscotch Partscaster (AllParts neck and body); pickups are Fender 'No Caster'. Next one in the pipeline is a chambered mahogany body with western red cedar top, Spanish cedar neck w/ebony fretboard, and Pete Biltoff HCC pickup. Also in the works is a cedar/mahogany electric classical with Fender style bolt on neck - it'll have JJB Electronics transducers on the bridge plate and preamp similar to Taylor.

[Little Jay]

They deserve to be upright:

[Skip Ellis]

They deserve to be upright:

Thanks Little Jay!!

[lammie200]

I’d give my right arm to get my hands on a Tele body like your hollow body in the middle. Oh wait! I don’t need any more guitars and I think that I need my arm. Never mind.