Is a Warmoth Telecaster the Best Option?

[Frank67]

It appears to me that everything you said has a good point.

Sure enough, if one goes the partscaster route one takes the risk to loose it pretty much all since nobody will go for your personal partscaster that you yourself rejected for anything close to what you have in it (but I never have and never will buy a guitar with the idea of resale value).

My personal score is four good ones out of five ... the fifth one was when I went too far astray from the classical designs without knowing what I was doing (a guitar with more than fifty different sounds ... all of them somewhat ok, none of them great). My loss, lesson learned. The others are pretty close to classic Strats and Teles and I really like them. It takes time to understand what one likes

good luck! I am out of this thread ...

[Jehu]

I stand by my original post on one of your other threads...

In my opinion, if this is a guitar he's going to keep forever, forget about the niche appointments. No binding, no f hole, no humbucker, no compound radius. Just get him a nice tele in a colour he likes, and he'll probably love it for the rest of his days.

He can make tweaks down the road once he knows what he likes.

And although many on this forum may think it is silly vanity, at his age the name on the headstock is likely to be important to him. Also, if someday he realises that he just plain doesn't like it, it will be much easier to sell/trade a good Fender than a random partscaster.

[Cunamara]

Methinks you may be overthinking this and overloading the expectations, making a choice impossible. Teles are a simole tool and they are more alike than they are different.

[Grooveline]

By the time you figure out which guitar to buy your son will have caught the harmonica bug.

[Boston Joe]

Very happy with my Warmoth.

I like Jeff's idea. Get a loaded body and add a Warmoth neck.

(FWIW, I decided to go the Warmoth route because I couldn't find a good Tele with a P-90 in it. Having built the thing, I'm now wondering why anybody would use anything else.)

[lammie200]

Very happy with my Warmoth.

I like Jeff's idea. Get a loaded body and add a Warmoth neck.

...

Definitely a good idea. Better if the seller of such a body can tell the buyer the weight.

[Doublea A]

I researched Telecasters from the perspective of the jazz musician for weeks before I first posted here a week ago. After taking into consideration all the different opinions that I read in this forum and others I thought I had reached logical conclusions about ideal specs and features for my sons instrument. Only then did I actually go to the Fender site to study their current models. To my surprise this ideal model in my head did not seem to even be produced. A little frustrated and second guessing myself, I laid it all out in a series of posts. After more than 50 great replies from people who were generous enough to take time to help, I am pretty much right back where I started. Here’s why. And please don’t tell me to just take him to play Telecasters. Because of his school and music schedule and my job, long distance shopping trips will have to wait until early June when he’s out of school. By then, if we haven’t already gone the Warmoth route I think our shopping trips will benefit from all the knowledge I’ve gained from you kind folks. Now once again I will lay out the what and the why. Best I can determine from all the replies I’ve received is that there are a couple unique things that make up the lions share of the Telecaster sound. First the bridge, second the pickups, third the relationship between the two. After provoking single coil users by expressing our desire to have a neck humbucker I began to question if I indeed even wanted a neck humbucker. Then after provoking the fans of humbuckers I regained confidence in my original desires. The simplified summary of a reply I received that seemed most sensible was this. A neck humbucker is great for jazz, but don’t neuter your Tele by putting one in the bridge. The Tele bridge and single coil is a signature part of the sound. Put a hardtail and bridge humbucker on a Tele and the main difference between it and a humbucker equipped Strat is cosmetic. It made and still makes sense to me now. I want a standard Telecaster bridge and single coil setup with a humbucker in the bridge. Next and arguably most important is the neck. We did finally find a 52 reissue to play that was owned by a music store clerk. It allowed us to rule out that neck. I had already concluded that a vintage U neck with a curved 7.25 radius was probably not what we wanted. The C neck with a 9.5 radius or even the compound radius seemed more vanilla or compromise which can sometimes be a good thing. So, armed with these two simple requirements I began to shop. And here I am, still wondering why Fender doesn’t make this seemingly vanilla compromise guitar. I’m not willing to settle for a 72 with the 7.25 radius. Or any of the other great models with singles in the neck. I prefer to buy a Fender but I’m not that excited about modding it. Once again...why is what I want so ridiculous?? Is just going the Warmoth route our best option?


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The good and bad of Telecasters is the endless number of options and combinations of options in terms of material, pickups, necks, neck woods, tone woods etc. I have built 8 Jazz Telecasters and no 2 are the same.
My best advice would be to buy something within the budget, then tweak it to serve your needs.
Sometimes something as simple as a different set of strings will change the tonal character of a Guitar.


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[jazzbow]

Mate, cut through all the niff naff and trivia, Fender Baja Telecasters.

The maple fingerboard has a wide nut/fingerboard.
The rose wood fingerboard has a narrower nut/fingerboard.

Choose the one that's comfortable.

Loads of switchable tones, there's even a mode that turns both pickups into series for a louder humbucker tone.

One day I'll get me a maple necked Baja.

Don't over think. That just clouds the mind.

Expensive teles don't always equate to value.

[joe2758]

I have a Baja tele that played so nice I put a barrel bridge, bone nut, 4 way switch, and texas specials in it.

[LtKojak]

I researched Telecasters from the perspective of the jazz musician for weeks before I first posted here a week ago. After taking into consideration all the different opinions that I read in this forum and others I thought I had reached logical conclusions about ideal specs and features for my sons instrument. Only then did I actually go to the Fender site to study their current models. To my surprise this ideal model in my head did not seem to even be produced. A little frustrated and second guessing myself, I laid it all out in a series of posts. After more than 50 great replies from people who were generous enough to take time to help, I am pretty much right back where I started. Here’s why. And please don’t tell me to just take him to play Telecasters. Because of his school and music schedule and my job, long distance shopping trips will have to wait until early June when he’s out of school. By then, if we haven’t already gone the Warmoth route I think our shopping trips will benefit from all the knowledge I’ve gained from you kind folks. Now once again I will lay out the what and the why. Best I can determine from all the replies I’ve received is that there are a couple unique things that make up the lions share of the Telecaster sound. First the bridge, second the pickups, third the relationship between the two. After provoking single coil users by expressing our desire to have a neck humbucker I began to question if I indeed even wanted a neck humbucker. Then after provoking the fans of humbuckers I regained confidence in my original desires. The simplified summary of a reply I received that seemed most sensible was this. A neck humbucker is great for jazz, but don’t neuter your Tele by putting one in the bridge. The Tele bridge and single coil is a signature part of the sound. Put a hardtail and bridge humbucker on a Tele and the main difference between it and a humbucker equipped Strat is cosmetic. It made and still makes sense to me now. I want a standard Telecaster bridge and single coil setup with a humbucker in the bridge. Next and arguably most important is the neck. We did finally find a 52 reissue to play that was owned by a music store clerk. It allowed us to rule out that neck. I had already concluded that a vintage U neck with a curved 7.25 radius was probably not what we wanted. The C neck with a 9.5 radius or even the compound radius seemed more vanilla or compromise which can sometimes be a good thing. So, armed with these two simple requirements I began to shop. And here I am, still wondering why Fender doesn’t make this seemingly vanilla compromise guitar. I’m not willing to settle for a 72 with the 7.25 radius. Or any of the other great models with singles in the neck. I prefer to buy a Fender but I’m not that excited about modding it. Once again...why is what I want so ridiculous?? Is just going the Warmoth route our best option?


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Wow... overthinking much?

[El Fundo]

Razorback, I count at least 3 people that say you’re overthinking this. Count me as the 4th. The general consensus is: get a new or used American Tele and swap the neck pickup out for a humbucker. If you buy from Sweetwater you’ll be assigned your own personal sales rep who will be more than happy to pick the best one out for you. They may even do the pickup swap—wouldn’t hurt to ask. Only make sure to not get a vintage Tele, as it will come with the 7.25” radius. I happen to believe that starting last year Fender is producing some of their best guitars and basses in a long time.

[Razorbackjazz]

I Don’t want to talk you out of a warmoth build but thought you may want to look at a 52 hot rod reissue. This is different than the 52 avri. It has a neck humbucker and a 9.5 radius u shaped neck. There are too many telecaster choices.

You can search reverb. There are usually a couple. I don’t own one but I have played them and they are versatile and nice.

Disclaimer: do not know anything about the seller or guitar but something like below.

Fender Telecaster 52 Reissue Hot Rod 2008 Butterscotch Blonde w/ Maple Fretboard Fender Telecaster 52 Reissue Hot Rod 2008 Butterscotch Blonde | Reverb

Thank You to everyone who has offered assistance to me over the last week. I always suspected that eventually It would work out. After a second round of playing a friends Tele with a U neck we went ahead and bought a 52 Hot Rod. I was a little hesitant since I’m not used to big necks. My son however, the one that really matters, plays a P Bass and upright every day that have much bigger necks. He really likes the guitar so hopefully it will work out. Thanks again to everyone who replied to my questions. Hopefully someday either I or my son will be able to contribute. It should arrive soon and I’ll post some photos.


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[mr. beaumont]

Great choice.

Tell him to play the hell out of it!

[El Fundo]

Thank You to everyone who has offered assistance to me over the last week. I always suspected that eventually It would work out. After a second round of playing a friends Tele with a U neck we went ahead and bought a 52 Hot Rod. I was a little hesitant since I’m not used to big necks. My son however, the one that really matters, plays a P Bass and upright every day that have much bigger necks. He really likes the guitar so hopefully it will work out. Thanks again to everyone who replied to my questions. Hopefully someday either I or my son will be able to contribute. It should arrive soon and I’ll post some photos.


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Yay!!! That’s exactly the one I thought you should get. But the Hot Rods I found were really expensive. But there is that one on Reverb for $1250. Is that the one you bought?

[Boston Joe]

Thank You to everyone who has offered assistance to me over the last week. I always suspected that eventually It would work out. After a second round of playing a friends Tele with a U neck we went ahead and bought a 52 Hot Rod. I was a little hesitant since I’m not used to big necks. My son however, the one that really matters, plays a P Bass and upright every day that have much bigger necks. He really likes the guitar so hopefully it will work out. Thanks again to everyone who replied to my questions. Hopefully someday either I or my son will be able to contribute. It should arrive soon and I’ll post some photos.

Excellent! Good choice. I hope your son likes it a lot!

[Razorbackjazz]

Excellent! Good choice. I hope your son likes it a lot!

Here’s a photo of my son’s new guitar.
The good man on Reverb came down from $1475 to $1275. Now we wait.



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[Longways to Go]

That otta get you into the ballpark ---- ish. LOL

Hopefully your young son won't be too into stickers, custom paint, relic-ing and such . . .

But seriously, I'm sure it's going to be a great telecaster. So many of them are

[mr. beaumont]

Razorback--

1. I hope we're never driving around together and I ask you "where do you want to eat?"



2. You did well, that's an outstanding guitar. I hope we helped more than confused in the process.

[Razorbackjazz]

Razorback--

1. I hope we're never driving around together and I ask you "where do you want to eat?"



2. You did well, that's an outstanding guitar. I hope we helped more than confused in the process.

You know someone could have suggested I buy a Hot Rod on my very first post and that may very well have done it. But I’d have been robbed of a lot of pointers that will come in handy down the road. As you know, I’m new to Telecasters and I just had no idea this model existed!


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[Razorbackjazz]

Yay!!! That’s exactly the one I thought you should get. But the Hot Rods I found were really expensive. But there is that one on Reverb for $1250. Is that the one you bought?

There were actually 4 or 5 on Reverb and a couple on Ebay. I knew I was going to make an offer so I had to pick one. You can only stare a photos so long. I hope I picked the best one but I guess I’ll really never know. This was my very first online instrument purchase. A little nerve wrecking.


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[Jehu]

Sweet... nice axe! That's the classic look, so it will never go out of style.

You might want to spring for some nice, compensated saddles at some point. I like the Rutters straight-comp saddles, but I know a lot of people like Glendale.

[El Fundo]

Fender’s Vintage Hot Rod Series was just too good to be true. I remember thinking something was up when they jacked the prices up to over $2000 a couple of years after I bought my Hot Rod Strat (I paid $1500 for it). They really are more in the area of a serious boutique instrument. I have a student who has several custom shop Strats and Teles that I’ve never been that impressed with. None play and sound like my Strat did. I’m sure there must have been some head-butting going on at Fender over that series. I’m confident that you need not worry about it being anything less than stellar at all points. That is absolutely the best choice you could have made and I’m sure your son will be ecstatic!

[Cunamara]

That looks like a bullseye! Congratulations!

[BeBob]

The quickest way would really be to buy a "loaded" body on ebay or reverb, spec out the perfect neck on Warmoth, and be done with it. Super simple.

I can't say enough good about Warmoth necks.

That's what I did with my partscaster strat. I started off with a loaded body on ebay and bought custom W neck. But it's not been without headaches:

The Strat body that I got on ebay from a guy whose name is analogous to "telosphere" was advertised as being brand-new American Special, but it arrived with body scratches, a dented-up neckplate (where it looked like a power tool had skipped out of the neck screws at least 3 times) and some of the parts had been swapped-out. (!) When I contacted him he proceeded to ignore all of my emails, and was uncooperative when ebay stepped in. I would proceed with caution when it comes to buying a fully populated body on ebay. My experience with one of the biggest purveyors of loaded fender bodies on ebay was bad. He isn't someone I'd recommend.

The custom W neck that I bought was nice -- very nice. It had only one flaw -- the last fret wasn't installed properly. When it was pressed in, it looks like it was pressed in too hastily, as the tang deformed a bit and the body of the fret seated closer to the headstock on the treble side than on the bass side. The result was that the fret spacing was unequal between the E and e. It's plainly visible, and it measures significantly different with calipers, but I didn't worry about it because I doubt hat I'll ever need the last fret, and if I'm up that high then I'll probably be bending. Other than that, the neck was flawless. I'd highly recommend W.

Of course, putting everything together is a bit more complicated than just bolting the neck to the body, installing a nut and installing tuners. I had to drill indexing holes to mount my tuners, and I had to file the nut. There will always be some fine-tuning when it comes to fitment and setup, so if the OP isn't experienced in doing this then he'd be well advised to get some help to assure the best possible result. It would make for a great father-son project.

edit: fixed a typo

[Bach5G]

Buy a Fender Standard Tele. Rosewood or maple, your son’s preference. Drop a noiseless pickup into the neck. A J. Barden will do it. Have a tech level the frets and set it up properly. Done.