Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[Greentone]

Change 'em every year.

[MarkRhodes]

Mine has Medium Jumbo frets. I had Jumbo frets on my old Strat. Liked them. These are what came with the guitar and they seem fine too.

[Jehu]

I use D'Addario Pure Nickel 10s on my tele, and change them every few months.

[citizenk74]

I change strings when they exhibit irregularities on the old Peterson Virtual Strobe Tuner - persistent nervous jiggles as upper partials judder and shift like the Outer Limits intro. I also replace the whole set if a string breaks, but that is extremely rare. I also replace 'em when I can't remember when I replaced them last, or, more often, just for the hell of it.

[Zina]

I change strings when they exhibit irregularities on the old Peterson Virtual Strobe Tuner - persistent nervous jiggles as upper partials judder and shift like the Outer Limits intro.

What do you mean by this? Do you check their vibrating/oscillation pattern on a meter? My G-string (a plain .20, was difficult to find) has started to sound "off" even though there's no visible deterioration at all. Is that what you measure, some kind of stress damage, maybe?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

What do you mean by this? Do you check their vibrating/oscillation pattern on a meter? My G-string (a plain .20, was difficult to find) has started to sound "off" even though there's no visible deterioration at all. Is that what you measure, some kind of stress damage, maybe?

Have you tried juststrings? (No affiliation, just a customer)

Plain Steel Acoustic or Electric .020, 5 single strings, PL020

[lammie200]

Home

FWIW I use Earvana shelf nuts on all my Fender style partscasters. They usually drop right in, but may require a slight bit of filing to fit correctly. The strings slots have never needed filing, however. Might be worth a shot if you are having tuning issues. BTW, I am a big proponent for compensated nuts. I use Hosco shims on guitars that I didn't want to change the nut. I know that it is always a touchy subject, but I feel like I get better results along the length of the fret board with compensated nuts. Some makers of guitars like Ernie Ball/Musicman have used them as well.

[citizenk74]

What do you mean by this? Do you check their vibrating/oscillation pattern on a meter? My G-string (a plain .20, was difficult to find) has started to sound "off" even though there's no visible deterioration at all. Is that what you measure, some kind of stress damage, maybe?

My Peterson Virtual Strobe Tuner (best $200 I ever borrowed) is the size, shape, and weight of a brick. It is extremely accurate. A series of bands (5 or 6, I don't have it in hand) go up or down (simulating a spinning motion). Up is sharp, down is flat. As the string gets closer to the desired pitch, the spinning slows down, and the image becomes stable, you are in tune. Watching for hinky action in the upper bands is really just an excuse to get out my tools and fool around with my guitars. I'm a compulsive string buyer - I never leave a music store without something, and strings are the cheapest way to do that, so I'm somewhat over-supplied (or under-brained, but that's another subject).

PS I believe I still have a bunch of 0.020s lying around I no longer need; PM if interested.

PPS Though forum member PTChris recommends using 0.018 max and I trust his judgement.

[Zina]

Have you tried juststrings? (No affiliation, just a customer)

Plain Steel Acoustic or Electric .020, 5 single strings, PL020

Thanks for the tip; the ones I have are D'Addario too. I have to rely on musicshops though, because no bankaccount/creditcard, which is a huge nuisance.

My Peterson Virtual Strobe Tuner (best $200 I ever borrowed) is the size, shape, and weight of a brick. It is extremely accurate. A series of bands (5 or 6, I don't have it in hand) go up or down (simulating a spinning motion). Up is sharp, down is flat. As the string gets closer to the desired pitch, the spinning slows down, and the image becomes stable, you are in tune. Watching for hinky action in the upper bands is really just an excuse to get out my tools and fool around with my guitars. I'm a compulsive string buyer - I never leave a music store without something, and strings are the cheapest way to do that, so I'm somewhat over-supplied (or under-brained, but that's another subject).

I looked it up; that's a good piece of equipment to have. I really hate being out of tune, and waste a lot of time verifying and rechecking at the slightest suspicion. Btw, my first idea was that of you in a laboratory smock staring into an oscilloscope while putting strings through some torturous test, rubbing your hands and cackling!

PS I believe I still have a bunch of 0.020s lying around I no longer need; PM if interested.

That's very kind to offer, but I'm on the other side of the globe, so postage would be pretty costly, the parcel can't be bigger than a manila document envelope (not allowed to receive actual parcels), and I can only transfer money by sending cash in an envelope (disguised as an invoice reminder, because those always go through!)

PPS Though forum member PTChris recommends using 0.018 max and I trust his judgement.

Oh? I'll search for that, thanks. I don't like thin strings, but the wound G stops me from playing Brian Setzer songs, and those are not only a lot of fun to play, but are great moodlifters too. Mystery Traaaaaain...

[marcwhy]

Have you tried juststrings? (No affiliation, just a customer)

Plain Steel Acoustic or Electric .020, 5 single strings, PL020

Yep; Stringjoy also offers singles, and they have a .20.

[silvertonebetty]

What about telecaster arch tops lol


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[MarkRhodes]

Might want to look into "The Sharktooth" thumbpick. It is great crossover pick. You can even customize it with your own pick choice.

Glad that's working for you, Ted!
I have been using mine the past few days. I like it better with the Tele than with my archtop. The Tele sits differently and is narrower, so my arm hangs at a different angle. I'm liking the Crossover pick a lot. Should make a video when time permits.

[GaloDeBarcelos]

I did a thing and this thread has had a big contribution. Finally part of the telefamily!

[guga7]

Beautiful! Portugal?

[GaloDeBarcelos]

Beautiful! Portugal?

Left Portugal 8 years ago. Impossible place to start your life and get somewhere. (Unless you know the right people)

[Cunamara]

Change 'em every year.

Unless they don't need it.

[Cunamara]

Though forum member PTChris recommends using 0.018 max and I trust his judgement.

The string dilemma:

Bill Lawrence Website

[medblues]

[pingu]

Hi I'm an interloper from the land of the f hole ....

Can I get advice ...
Im thinking of putting together a cheap solid guitar
to get (mainly) a decent clean jazz sound ...
with a bit of funk too on the side

I realise I'm asking the tele crowd ....but
would a a hard tail strat do just as well for this ?

im not gonna spend much money on this project
Just get a beat up charity shop tele or strat and put some
decent hardware on it ,
or maybe I'll spend £100 on a cheap squire ... dunno

should I look for a light or medium weight body ?
light would be nice .... does light wood work for a clean sound ?
I like a dark sound generally

thank you very much

[Robertito]

I saw this for sale today and thought it might be fun to check out:

Customized F Hole Tele Electric Guitar Gold Hardware Body Binding Top Quality | eBay

[Meggy]

Hi I'm an interloper from the land of the f hole ....

Can I get advice ...
Im thinking of putting together a cheap solid guitar
to get (mainly) a decent clean jazz sound ...
with a bit of funk too on the side

I realise I'm asking the tele crowd ....but
would a a hard tail strat do just as well for this ?

im not gonna spend much money on this project
Just get a beat up charity shop tele or strat and put some
decent hardware on it ,
or maybe I'll spend £100 on a cheap squire ... dunno

should I look for a light or medium weight body ?
light would be nice .... does light wood work for a clean sound ?
I like a dark sound generally

thank you very much

Don't suppose I'm massively well qualified to answer this, but I do find that (at least for the last few years) I prefer a solid or semi-acoustic guitar for jazz. I have a (parts build) tele with swamp ash body, maple neck and nice alnico 3 pickups, which certainly works for jazz, especially with my Polytone amp, but I did once use it with a friends Deluxe Reverb, and that sounded killer too. However, if I'm being totally honest, I do find the tele slab body without a forearm contour somewhat uncomfortable - it's not unbearable or anything, but it is still a thing. I've built several strats from parts in recent years, and do find the body shape much more to my taste, not least for playing comfort, but have struggled somewhat to get what I would consider a decent jazz tone - until recently, and lately I have been enjoying playing, and gigging one I put together, with alder body and a bocote wood Warmoth neck (sourced on ebay). The pickups are a "vintage" alnico 5 set I got from E-dis pickups (he usually has an ad on ebay also, which is maybe more convenient. Anyhow, this guitar is maybe not ideal with the Polytone, but it really shines with other brighter amps, and with my Helix/powered speaker modelling setup. It's nice for straight ahead jazz, and awesome for funk or more modern jazz-related styles. I think part of the answer is experimenting with the amp tone settings, and also start with a slightly bright tone and carefully back the guitar tone down to get into the "sweet spot". And also I would say do not be trying to get an archtop sound, because it isn't an archtop - the guitar has a different character which one can learn to like in it's own right. I do now find I often miss the sustain and response of a solid body when I play my archtop guitar - surprising to me, but true.

Really an incoherent ramble I'm afraid Pingu, but just for what it's worth - I guess if there is any take home message it is that strats can work, but perhaps things like body wood (I think alder is good), neck wood and pickups should be considered. My strats do have trem bridges FWIW, but I just have them set hard against the body with 5 springs.

[Hammertone]

...Im thinking of putting together a cheap solid guitarto get (mainly) a decent clean jazz sound ...with a bit of funk too on the side ... I realise I'm asking the tele crowd ....but would a a hard tail strat do just as well for this ?...

Yes.

A real telecaster, as opposed to a guitar that simply looks like a telecaster, needs a telecaster bridge/bridge pickup. Since your jazz sound will come from a neck pickup, almost any Fender-style guitar w/a Fender-style hardtail bridge and bolt-on 25.5" scale neck will do the job just like a tele - strat or Jazzmaster shapes being the most common alternatives. The rest is simply a matter of taste.

[neatomic]

or maybe I'll spend £100 on a cheap squire ... dunno

should I look for a light or medium weight body ?
light would be nice .... does light wood work for a clean sound ?
I like a dark sound generally

you don't even need a hardtail strat..some would argue that the back trem cavity and spring system contributes to the strat tone (ry cooder said it early on!)...

look into squier bullet hh..lightweight basswood body..very resonant...standard sized humbuckers can be easily replaced



cheers

[citizenk74]

you don't even need a hardtail strat..some would argue that the back trem cavity and spring system contributes to the strat tone (ry cooder said it early on!)...

look into squier bullet hh..lightweight basswood body..very resonant...standard sized humbuckers can be easily replaced



cheers

As did Eric Clapton, and as do I. Its a subtle effect, but its there. When I got my PRS CU 24s, the first thing I did was to remove the trem arms and adjust the bridge to float about 1/8" above the body. Then I adjusted the springs to optimize ring. It's notable that each guitar, though identical in every respect save top wood, had a different resonance - E (red maple, 10 top, dense curl) G (red maple, 10 top denser curl) and B (pacific coast quilted maple, 10 top insane figure).

[neatomic]

As did Eric Clapton, and as do I. Its a subtle effect, but its there. When I got my PRS CU 24s, the first thing I did was to remove the trem arms and adjust the bridge to float about 1/8" above the body. Then I adjusted the springs to optimize ring. It's notable that each guitar, though identical in every respect save top wood, had a different resonance - E (red maple, 10 top, dense curl) G (red maple, 10 top denser curl) and B (pacific coast quilted maple, 10 top insane figure).

beautiful!


ec was also known to block the trem...with a wood block of sorts...but leave the springs intact..as it added to the resonance of the guitar

the springs are definitely part of the tone..remember springs are used in reverb tanks!

cheers