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Christian Miller is shooting you straight, here. Get what you think you want/need. (Now, that can work either way, IMO. I enjoy my parts-caster and my luthier-made guitars each, greatly. It all works. As Tim Lerch shows, you can get serious mileage out of a regular, production Fender, too.)
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08-20-2018 11:43 AM
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Oh and last thing - ask other professional, working, players what their experiences are with gear. They will run into problems that amateur players couldn't conceive.
For instance almost everyone uses AER for acoustic amplification. There's a reason for that.
(One gig, the bass players Acoustic Image actually burst into flame due to a power spike. My AER blew a fuse and was fine. I'm not saying it wasn't bad luck and AI's are great, but also I'm kind of not surprised the AER was fine...)
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During my years in the boutique guitar business, I heard nothing but good things about the quality of Michael Tuttle's guitars. That being said, the high end Tele market is embarrassingly rich with outstanding builders. That is not to suggest that you should not get a Tuttle but I would suggest also looking at several other well regarded sources including Suhr, Tom Anderson, the Fender Custom Shop and lots of others.
I would also suggest that there is an appropriate process to follow and it doesn't start with selecting a builder but rather with features and design philosophy. Traditional or innovative? What sort of neck profile and width do you want (not all profiles and widths are available from all builders)? Do you want a traditional body or would you prefer a body with more modern contours like a belly cut and contoured neck joint. What pickup configuration do you want? What bridge? What woods? Solid body or chambered? Standard four bolt neck joint or something more innovative (Tom Anderson uses a wonderful proprietary wedge-shaped neck joint) ? What woods and construction for the neck? Are you interested in roasted/backed/torrified wood for the neck (It would probably be on my list of most desirable features given the added stability and climate resistance). Nickel-silver or stainless steel frets? etc.
Answer all of these questions and then find out who are the well regarded builders who will accommodate all of the decisions you've made (and at these prices it should be all of the features. There is no need to make any compromises. And take your time. There's no real rush and the search should be as much a source of pleasure as the acquisition.Last edited by Jim Soloway; 08-20-2018 at 12:56 PM.
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A confusion between "Buttle" and "Tuttle" is how the very fine movie "Brazil" begins...
Originally Posted by Thelonious1
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Perhaps you could also consider to take a different road. The Japanese brand Momose (from the Deviser Company) makes excellent Telecaster models. Their price/quality is difficult to beat. Their craftmanship can compete with the best made in the U.S. Several shops in Japan export them all over the world.
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It's all true and stuff, but somehow teles can be an exception IMO. The only reason I won't buy cheaper budget models because they don't have the specs I'm looking for. Originally Posted by christianm77
As a rule, cheap teles are always on a heavier side, and the first thing I check before I even play it is weight. Nothing over 7 lbs would do.
But I can perfectly find something pro level in $1000- $1500. Even partcasters. In fact I prefer partcasters, because I can get EXACTLY what I want. And now since I learned how to solder electronics and do a good job, there's no need to buy anything stock.
Just my personal experience with teles. As far as any more serious guitars or amps, yeah better invest good $$ in a good reliable gear if you're a pro.
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That’s all well and good, but I just thought the Suhrs were better guitars than the other ones. The one I tried was around 2k ish. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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Maybe, there's always something better. But I'm content with 'good' Originally Posted by christianm77
Plus headstock on Suhrs is weird, doesn't suit my character.
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I know what you mean... They aren't sexy guitars to me at all. Danocasters are sexy tho. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
Maybe, there's always something better. But I'm content with 'good' Plus headstock on Suhrs is weird, doesn't suit my character.
I didn't buy the Suhr, didn't have the coin. So I ended up buying a used (2005) Blonde American Deluxe which was second best of the guitars I tried for under a k and my favourite of the Fenders (didn't try any custom shop stuff).... It's a pretty nice guitar, but the electronics seem to have a few crackles and so on and it has that annoying input jack problem. I'm sure I could sort it for not too much.
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Oh I played a Postmodern Tele recently and liked it.
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I was a bit confused as to whether Postmodernism in Fender's understanding was pop-culture shorthand for messy looking buildings, the dominant cultural logic of late capitalism, something to do with 'cultural marxism' or just a old style guitar with some mod cons.
In the end I chose not to buy, because I don't need that kind of epistemological confusion in a solid body guitar.
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Change the pots, that solved the crackling on mine. Input jack, prolly need electrosocket, it will fix it for the lifetime, or so they say... Originally Posted by christianm77
Learning a bit how to service your guitar helps. I can't do anything on hollowbodies, but on teles basic electronic stuff I can do. I've learned how to solder thinking I'm gonna save me money on occasional pickup switch and what not... Turned out it opened a can of worms- since I don't have to bother calling tech everytime anymore, I ended up going on pickup buying frenzy. Went through maybe 15 different humbuckers in my tele, only to find single coils sound better, and ended up with where I started! Well the noiseless kind, anyway.
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Oh god, stuff that for a game of soldiers, I have enough trouble finding time to practice as it is. Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
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That's a line that should be memorialized somehow. It's the sort of thing you'd find in a Terry Pratchett novel. Originally Posted by christianm77
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That'd be easy. New pots, switches and wiring. Fairly cheap, and pretty quick if you're handy with a soldering iron. Originally Posted by christianm77
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I hear ya man, I can tell by the number of posts you're a busy man Originally Posted by christianm77
I'm a tone chaser I guess. That's what I like about electrics, endless possibilities. The new sounds inspiring me to write cool shit sometimes
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Haha, I have to make sure I keep enough hours a day for my talking shit on the internet schedule. (TBF, there are often stretches of time where I can't practice but have a bit of downtime.) Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
I hear ya man, I can tell by the number of posts you're a busy man
I'm a tone chaser I guess. That's what I like about electrics, endless possibilities. The new sounds inspiring me to write cool shit sometimes
Yeah, I guess I don't really get that interested in that side of it. I just go to the guitar shop, or to a friend who's selling, and buy the guitar I like best for the budget. Now I have a couple of good amps I'm pretty happy too.
The thing is I plug my ES175 into the Princeton and it sounds really really good. I kind of don't really have much to add apart from that. Tele sounds great too.
The one thing I am really anal about is STRINGS. I'm kind of obsessive about that.
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I'm all settled with strings. Pure nickel for the tele, Thomastik flats for the hollowbody. But yeah, it's a bit cheaper obsession. Originally Posted by christianm77
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Whittle your own!
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Grosh makes an awesome T style.
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Hahaha!
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I honestly dont want to build anything. I dont wamt to solder anything, i dont want to repair or maintain anything. I want to gig the shit out of a nice guitar (that has no glue) and when it needs a new neck, be able to buy one from the guy who made mine, and have him deal with it. I just want a solid body that could hang in the world of jazz and do it well.... but ive had a hard time finding an instrument that feels more at home than my 175... its really hard to get me away from it.
Rhasaan roland kirk said - its good to be in a place that feels like youre in your house, ya know?"
I could be on mars, but that particular 175 makes me feel like im in my living room. Stage, theater, or dinner gig. I want that from a solid body too, especially if im going to drop semi-hollow money. You guys have all given me a lot to think about. I appreciate all the feedback.
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Well, there you go. You're not just looking for a great guitar- you're looking for something else besides, something to celebrate a milestone. If I was in your shoes with that wish list, I'd probably be looking for a Danocaster. In my case a blackguard style in butterscotch. Loves me the blackguards. Originally Posted by Thelonious1
FWIW my main Tele is one built up with a body I bought from Skip Ellis (semi-hollow, mahogany back with flame maple top, self-finished with hand-rubbed boiled linseed oil), Warmoth neck, and a single pickup (neck position Pete Biltoft Charlie Christian style). Does not sound like a typical Tele, as would be obvious from the description, and it's pretty much a one trick pony for jazz. But then I am pretty much a one-trick pony...
My other Tele is a $180 Squier Affinity with the pickups replaced with Dimarzio Area Ts. I initially bought it to dip my toe in the Tele waters after finding out about Ed Bickert. Spent more on the pickups and electronics than on the guitar, I think. Dead silent with no buzz at all, very playable (the neck is a bit too narrow and quite thick, not really my favorite but I adjust quickly) and virtually no one has ever looked askance at the headstock at a gig. It sounds quite good, more Tele-ish than the other one, and a very creditable jazz sound. But I take something of a perverse pride in bringing a cheap guitar that plays and sounds great- but it is not at all a memento of a success in life. It's a cheap pocket knife rather than a benchmade artisinal blade.
Another option, if you have some handiness with tools, soldering, etc., it so put your own together from a neck and body from Warmoth, USACG, etc. I have a Strat partscaster as well as the above mentioned Tele and feel a certain amount of pride in putting together guitars I really like that have the particular features I wanted. But it's a lot of work to do right and more than a lot of people will want to mess with. But you get a unique instrument and get to pick every component.
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I don’t think jazz musicians look askance at people for playing whatever guitar they want btw.
I do think in the session/pop world it’s more of an issue.
That said it’s a little chicken/egg - the theatre guys have very high end gear but they have the money and it’s a tax write off. Also bear in mind that pop players get deals.
That said I think if your gear sounds awesome and has no issues on gigs it doesn’t matter either.
Personally now I’d rather get industry standard equipment and do it that way. It has the bonus that people can see that you have good gear at a glance. But I’m sure people more experiences than me in the commercial realm might have exceptions.
Depends what work you want. A tele and a good amp is a great start, but modellers are increasingly standard for commercial work.Last edited by christianm77; 08-21-2018 at 08:03 AM.
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Interesting issue with attitudes to gear. I really like the New York City jazz scene thing of having one guitar that you play all the time, and that’s your sound. On the other hand I think many players in London have this concept that if you are playing a jazz gig say you bring the jazz guitar and so on.
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Recommandations for Hollowbodies for $600 and under?
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