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For the life of me, I have never understood WHY Telecasters work out so well. They are just bread boards, for crying out loud. Absolutely nothing fancy, nothing to love.
Having said that, I freely admit that they are the overall BEST sounding, best playing electric guitars ever designed. My current Telecaster, which I just built up from parts, for goodness' sake, out-performs virtually every guitar in the house. For a pure tone machine (and a pure playing pleasure), you simply cannot beat a Telecaster--regardless of model.
BUT! The good ones are very, very good.
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09-14-2017 11:33 AM
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Lol, a funny comparison for me, as I bought a large cutting board at a garage sale this summer, which my wife thought was DISGUSTING...but I had no intention of ever cutting food on it
Originally Posted by Greentone
Alas, it was just a little to small in one dimension for a true tele cut, but I might still try something with it down the road...
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Did someone order a Tele cutting board??
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Used my Tele at a rehearsal last night - currently strung up with 13-53 TI flatwounds.
Had it going through my Quilter Aviator Twin Ten running through a Boss '63 Fender Reverb pedal, had an incredibly lush sound. The Boss pedal puts a bit of 'something' other than reverb to the sound too. It really put a smile on my face. It really is amazing how such a simple instrument can sound so good.
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What are peoples preferences for maple necks vs rosewood fingerboards?
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On a tele I prefer maple. To ME, teles should have maple necks. But it's just a preference. I have a tele with a rosewood fingerboard as well. I like rosewood- on my PRS. I like ebony- on my Gretsch. But to me, the whole "cutting board with a neck" thing screams MAPLE.
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Love both the maple and rosewood board Telecaster. If you really want to be like Steve Cropper--THE MAN--get a rosewood board and an Olympic White body.
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Yep, aftermarket suppliers like Warmoth, Musikraft, USCG, Guitar Mill, MJT, Wildwood, Allparts and more all owe a great debt to Fender for being so remarkably tonedeaf to the needs of their consumers. I've had the good fortune to use Fender-style necks and bodies from Brian Monty and Erik Hansen, two excellent builders in Ontario. FWIW, Nash doesn't make anything - they buy finished necks and bodies from Allparts and other suppliers and scuff them up. Originally Posted by Greentone
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Thanks GT. After going through all 48 pages of the "love" thread, methinks one of each, configured slightly differently
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woolyhair,
I have an olympic white MIJ Telecaster/rosewood board with US '52RI electronics (actually I have given it to my son and he uses it as his main guitar, these days, but we live in the same town--so I have playing rights, still) and a blonde double-bound body with a maple neck. As you say, one of each.
FWIW, I don't really notice much difference in the tone of rosewood and maple necked guitars. It's a mental thing, IMO. I just slightly prefer playing the maple ones because for the longest time it's what I've played with Telecasters. No biggie, though. Put a rosewood Tele in my hands and I'm happy, too.
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My workhorse G&L Bluseboy came with a beautiful Pau Ferro (aka Morado, Brazilian Ironwood or Bolivian Rosewood) fretboard.
So did my '96 SRV Fender Strat. Great wood for Teles, Strats or any guitar in my view.
Pau Ferro/Morado Fingerboards
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Fender is moving ALL guitars now to Pau Ferro. I like it- I like that's it's lighter than RW. It's more "brown", with higher figuring, whereas RW is "almost black" and very uniform, alot closer to ebony.
They're all good, of course. Just waiting for the prices on RW necks to skyrocket because "they don't make them anymore"
Because, you know, if it's no longer available, it MUST be better than anything that IS available
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FWIW, and this is highly subjective, I have always thought Fender's old rosewood boards to be beautiful in their darkness. To me, they are worth more than the new stuff.
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I received what was advertised as a 2007 American tele today. The G&G case is like new.
The neck is 2007 (Z7....) Made in USA and seems to have a Satin finish.
The body says October xx, 2013 and appears to be an American Special body.
The pups and pickguard were changed to a 5 screw black guard, Lollar CC Neck, and Curtis Novak Bridge, with a Callaham Tele Bridge and Brass angled saddles, not sure of the brand.
The Neck plays "OK" after I polished the frets, replaced the very cruddy strings and performed a setup. There's a very slight bump in the area above the 15th fret. To play as good as my Indonesian Squier Cabronita Neck it will need a minor fret dress and crown, which I don't have the files to do, so the seller's written dialogue to me that it "plays great" isn't accurate and there's no way it played great with a bow that needed adjusting, cruddy stings, and tarnished frets.
To me it's NOT a 2007 American Telecaster it's a Fender parts guitar because the Neck is 2007 and the body is 2013.
The seller says it's not a parts guitar because the parts (body and neck) are both Fender and the guitar was sold "As Is" and he didn't know the body was not made in 2007.
It's kind of a toss up. I hate being deceived, even by omission, but then there's the upgrades of Lollar CC, Curtis Novak, Callaham, and of course the crappy solder job on the controls. LOL
Thoughts?
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Telecasters should have rosewood FB's, NO! they should be maple! , ROSEWOOD!!! NO WAY! MAPLE. This conversation has gone off inside my head on a few occasions :-) Originally Posted by ruger9
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Both! Any self-respecting Steve Cropper fan has rosewood. But, you just need a maple board...because.
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The board makes little difference--but the neck MUST be maple.
I have an ebony board on my telecaster, and so far, no lightning bolts when I play.
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I know it heresy around these parts (and this thread), but I think the best playing electric guitar ever designed is the Strat. At least for me, it's ergonomically perfect, moreso than any electric I've ever played. It hangs on a strap perfectly, is comfortable sitting down, all the knobs are in reach of a pinky while playing, plus, it goes boing! when you pluck the strings hard. Can't beat that, even if you prefer a Tele's tone (which I admit tends to be better for straightahead jazz). Originally Posted by Greentone
John
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John,
I've always been a Strat player. I agree with everything you said--and I have always had a Strat around, with the exception of one year a bit ago.
OTOH, if you held a gun to my head and said, "Give up either your Strat or your Tele," I would unhesitatingly hand over the Strat. The Telecaster is _even_ more universal and more "Fender-y." Is it as comfortable? Nope. Can I do everything I do on the Strat on the Tele? Yep. Other way around? Nope.
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Greentone makes a good point there. If I was in the ''gun to head'' situation between my Les Paul Recording and the Telecaster, it pains me to say that I probably would hand over the Les Paul.
My Les Paul has what looks like hundreds of switches and knobs, yet my Telecaster will cover nearly all those sounds with the most basic of controls.
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Not even close to a 1 11/16" or 1 3/4" nut width "Fat C" or Boatneck" from Warmoth/Musikraft/USACG/GuitarMill/Monty/Hansen/etc. Originally Posted by Greentone
But it's really nice neck, big with a '60s as opposed to '50s feel. Made in Japan.
Reminds me of the feel of the neck on the (made in USA) Fender '62 Hot Rod Strat, despite the different frets, FB material and radius.
Purpleheart all the way. Originally Posted by GNAPPI
Last edited by Hammertone; 09-29-2017 at 07:08 PM.
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Hooray for strats AND teles!
Last edited by Hammertone; 09-30-2017 at 01:25 AM.
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This should be a fun topic..... slightly driven by G.A.S. but lately I’ve been contemplating about a new Telecaster. I love my ES-125 but I am very charmed by the small format and convenience of my Modern Player P90 Thinline Tele. But I like the sound and feel of the ES-125 better. Which - naturally - makes one wonder if it would be possible to catch more of the ES-125 vibe in a Telecaster design.
So I came up with this:
Specs would be:
- thinline or even completely hollow body design
- mahogany body material
- mahogany 24.75” scale neck with Gibsonesque headstock
- single P90 (Lolar underwound or SD Antiquity)
- 1 volume, 1 tone
- small tortoise pickguard
- hardtail bridge
Most practical (as in easiest to assemble) would be a thinline body design with hardtail bridge, bolt on neck and soapbar P90.
But I am looking into possibilities to go even more ES-125 and do a trapeze tailpiece, wooden bridge and dogear P90. Just haven’t figured out how to fit that into the Tele-design.
Now since I have several P90s laying around, as well as a mahogany bolt on Les Paul neck, I am seriously looking to realize this this guitar. But I am no luthier and have very limited resources and space for wood working and paining/finishing, so I would like to use as many readily available parts as possible.
Any thoughts/suggestions? Where can I find a body as described?
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I have a heavily chambered mahogany jazzmaster-shaped guitar with 24.75” scale length, mahogany neck, tele hardware, a Pete Biltoft-built Charlie Christian pickup in the neck and a P-90 in the bridge. Two points:
1) It sounds great
2) It is a very different sound and feel than my mid-50s ES-125.
I’d recommend you do it, because “moar guitarsz!!!” with the understanding that they are different beasts.
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