Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[christianm77]

I got a Tele. A 10 year old US tele American Deluxe. Classic configuration, neck and bridge single coils (noiseless on mine).

I plug it into my Princeton Reverb '65 Reissue

I am a very happy man. It is the ultimate gigging guitar. The neck pickup has such a great sound for jazz with just a touch of roll off. Why did I ever waste my time playing things with f-holes?

Other people are invited to say nice things about Telecasters.

[neatomic]

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

[citizenk74]

Plus one on the stock Telecaster. I have a'66 Custom Telecaster with a rosewood board, narrow neck (I usually prefer more width and depth), skinny frets, too much roll-off on the neck pup and I LOVE IT TO BITS. I did replace the original steel threaded-rod barrels with some semi-intonated brass-barrels from StewMac which I like a LOT. Generally I use the middle position with treble roll-off to taste for a jazz-like tone or more occasionally, the bridge pup with varying degrees of r/o. There is just something about a Tele....which is not to say by any means that I neglect my arch-tops, or my other solids or semis. I just find the guitar inviting. Ninety-five percent of my periodic insomniac and habitual 5am unplugged practice is on the Tee. LOVE it.

[goldenwave77]

I just find the guitar inviting. Ninety-five percent of my periodic insomniac and habitual 5am unplugged practice is on the Tee. LOVE it.

+1 on this. Handy for those of who have apt. neighbors to worry about at odd hrs. Plus the ergonomics are so nice with the neck access.

[marcwhy]

I'm diggin' my tele thinline from RAM Guitars in Chicago -- yes, it's not a "classic" tele, but it's mighty nice!

[Flat]

Tokai Breezy Sound TE-70, spaghetti logo from the "lawsuit" era around 1979.

Conceived in Fullerton, built in Hamamatsu...

[Stringswinger]

I have an American Vintage Hot Rod 52 Telecaster that I play through a vintage 1965 Princeton with a Fender Branded JBL D110F. As the amp is non reverb, I use a Tone Candy Spring Fever pedal for reverb. The Guitar is strung with Thomastic flatwound 12's.

The Duncan Mini Humbucker puts out a superb jazz sound with this rig. Jazz on a Tele? You bet! Archtops are my favorite guitars, but solid bodies have a special place as well.

[999369]

My Tele~~~

[Hyppolyte Bergamotte]

mine
tele 40th anniversary,#245/300

Fred Stuart pick-ups

[Dave70]

LOVE that neck on your Tele, 999369! Someday I hope to get one so nice.

[Jazzpunk]

Danocaster T into a Princeton Reverb has been my main (and only) rig for the past year and I've never been happier.

[wherearemykeys]

I was researching Archtops and looking to get something hollow with a piezo to blend neck and acoustic sounds when I played this tele. Middle position blending in HB and bridge is what I was looking for and the neck plays like a dream.

[Dave70]

Here's a poorly shot pic of mine from my cell phone (1989 Tele Deluxe Plus):

[MaxTwang]

Here's a G&L ASAT Classic prototype I found in the mid-90's (a dealer near G&L was selling a bunch of prototypes). Really nice player, great tone.

Double bound body, bound neck, Seymour Duncan pu's, figured body, looks like macassar ebony fingerboard. When the light hits it right there's a very fine glitter in the finish (see last pic).

[nodog]

Gentlemen,
Anyone got a sound clip of a jazzy Tele

[vernon]

perhaps this...

[999369]

LOVE that neck on your Tele, 999369! Someday I hope to get one so nice.

Thanks !
Years and years ago I see this guitar for sale ,in that time for me is very very hight price guitar
so I drive 240mi each way to buy this guitar
is Completely brand new so I ask the saller why you have this very good guitar and never play ~ why ?
guitar is It belongs he's brother and is he's friend "Danny Gatton" give to him ( he's brother he do not play guitar ) Unfortunately ~~~~he need to sale it
so I'm very luck to own this very Beautiful Tele~~~DG guitar

[MaxTwang]

Gentlemen,
Anyone got a sound clip of a jazzy Tele

How about some Wes on a Tele:

And more Frisell on a Tele.

[Stringswinger]

[christianm77]

[christianm77]

I'm not entirely sure if this counts as a tele, but it's at least half a tele ;-)]

[neatomic]

P90s on a tele are very cool, but I shall keep this one the way god intended. :-)

just for info sake..i was talking about something like this...





cheers

[christianm77]

just for info sake..i was talking about something like this...





cheers

Rich creamery pick ups.

No I don't think I'll mod my US tele. I might get a classic vibe and dick around with it though... Those guitars are seriously nicely put together.

[Cunamara]

Well, with all the Tele love, here is my current Tele and current main gigging guitar:



Mahogany back, maple top, semi-hollow. Pete Biltoft HCC pickup. Warmoth neck with 1 3/4" nut.

[Deng]

Blonde Baja and a satin Arizona Sun Standard

[nodog]

Christianm77,
The man is a jazz athlete gold standard the drummer was amazing too. Nice choice thanks.

[Cobra]

I have a nice doublebound homebuilt mahogany Tele, the Cobracaster...
It has a lightweight 1pc body, good hardware, & a neck by Ian Anderson.
The pix show a Lollar CC pickup, but it didn't match well with the bridge PU.
It's now sporting a Lollar Firebird neck PU, which is a far better match.
Tonally it sounds like a Tele should, not dark or muddy.
I use it for bluesy jump swing pseudo jazz, & it fills that role well.

[Skip Ellis]

Here's mine! Homemade from a 2x8 from Home Depot with maple cap. 20 year old Allparts neck, Bill Lawrence Keystone in bridge and Charlie Christian by somebody in Nashville whose name I don't recall. It's been my ONLY electric guitar for years - does everything I need.

[Jazz_175]

Here are my two Fender telecasters.
The celadon green is a '59 Custom Shop and the other is a '52 reissue.

[unknownguitarplayer]

This looks very similar to your guitar, Flat, but it's from 1961 and has a Jazzmaster neck of the same vintage. It's not mine, but I've borrowed it from the original owner a few times. It's a pretty iconic guitar. Anybody recognize it?

[Flat]

I don't recognize that tele, unknownguitarplayer--but I definitely can dig it.

A lot of cats here are going for the sort of perfect "jazz tele" -- modded or built from various parts. (I've got a sonic blue body and a mahogany neck in the closet waiting to get hitched someday, for example. Thinking the mahogany will roll off some ice pick trebles, maybe a Lollar CC or humbucker neck pickup, hmmm, etc.)

And yet never in a million years would I have thought of just putting a Jazzmaster neck on a tele! Too much uptown for the downtown, if you know what I mean.

But I look at your photo and think, "Now that's the jazz guitar Leo should have made. Just put a "jazzy" neck on a tele and be done with it!"

I wonder if Fender ever considered that? You'd think the Henry Ford of guitar would have been all over the idea of interchangeable parts.

Seeing neck binding on a Fender solidbody reminds me of Eric Johnson's recent signature Strats with rosewood boards. Very distinctive.



Looking forward to see if anyone recognizes your lovely frankenstein...

[MaxTwang]

I would like to try a Filtertron in the neck position on a Tele. Combined with a twangy Tele bridge pickup it would make for a very versatile guitar.

[mr. beaumont]

Lacking access to a good pic, so instead a quick video of mine...

96 Am. Std, pickups are original...not much else! Glendale 3 saddle bridge, mjnt green p/g, warmoth boatneck with ebony board, and now fender locking tuners.

[boatheelmusic]

This looks very similar to your guitar, Flat, but it's from 1961 and has a Jazzmaster neck of the same vintage. It's not mine, but I've borrowed it from the original owner a few times. It's a pretty iconic guitar. Anybody recognize it?

Is it the tele used by the Funk Brother Joe Messina on most Motown tunes?

[mr. beaumont]

I think you mean Joe, but i also think you're right.

[David B]

Fender Japan did a limited run of 'Joe Messina' Teles some years ago:

[boatheelmusic]

Nice tone, Jeff- what strings are you using?

[mr. beaumont]

Nice tone, Jeff- what strings are you using?

Chromes, .12's. I pretty much just put 'em on every guitar now.

[AlainJazz]

Ok, I'll bite. Here's my American special Tele. I just got it recently.

[unknownguitarplayer]

Yep, it's Joe's guitar. He's got another one that's identical, but pretty beat up. He switched over to an Ibanez archtop a few years ago and doesn't play the Tele anymore.

[Flat]

Did Fender make that for Joe? Or was it something he or his luthier put together? Do you happen to know?

[boatheelmusic]

Chromes, .12's. I pretty much just put 'em on every guitar now.

I tried the chrome 12's on my tele, but the tension!!!!

love them on my ES175.

[Ric Lee]

Skip Ellis, great looking git. Flame maple I feel is sometimes hard to do classy on a tele, feels like putting a suit on a 2x4 but this looks great.

[mr. beaumont]

I dunno...class up a tele too much...it kinda defeats the purpose.

[Ric Lee]

I dunno...class up a tele too much...it kinda defeats the purpose.

yeah that's how I feel about Tele's that are super duper deluxe especially some of that fender shop one-off 10's of thousands deal.

Loving your super deluxe tone with that Roland Micro-Cube. Sounds great. I accidentally had two videos playing when I clicked play in Youtube and there was some epic delayed reverb tele going on!

[entresz]

I have a MIJ '62 Custom Telecaster, Candy Apple Red. It has the stock pickups and wiring still, but it does have a very nice jazz sound. I still prefer to use my archtops for jazz, the Tele has a bit too much sustain and doesn't have the springy 'thunky' sound of the archtop. Flatwounds would probably get closer to that, but I also like the trebly snap that roundwounds deliver on a Tele. I've ordered some Bill Lawrence microcoils for it, by all accounts they are incredible pickups, it will be interesting to see how they compare to the stock pickups.

[unknownguitarplayer]

Joe had a Tele (it was a white one, not the one shown) and Fender gave him the neck after he did a clinic for them in a Detroit music store. He switched out the neck himself, and also modified the bridge by separating E and B string saddles. A bit later they gave him another Tele (the one in the pictures) with an extra neck.

As far classing up a Tele too much, or trying to make it something it isn't, Joe refers to his as a "pizza board".

[55bar]

Here's my Hahn 228

[55bar]

And here is Nate Radley playing his!

[oldwoodak]

wildwood tele with humbucker has been seeing a lot of action since I got it this year, from rock to jazz. it's just the thing