Help Me Choose a Tele

[MD1983]

Any suggestions for what Tele I should look at given my following desires:

(1) I'm primarily an acoustic player, and only want an electric to play fingerstyle with clean tone
(2) My budget can go up to about $3k, but are those custom shop Teles worth the price increase, especially considering that I only care about the clean tone?
(3) any amp suggestions for great clean tone? Need something for living room/small gigs.

Thanks all

[51 Relic]

I personally would look to a Jerry Donahue Telecaster either Fender S/H or FretKing ( JDD ) . Then a Fender Blues Junior, if money is no object go for a Custom shop Tele but I wouldn't part with my FretKing great clean tones

[Steel and wood]

I' don't think that you can go too wrong with any version of the Fender Telecaster. (Any of the Telecasters including Mexican made guitars will do the job and like others have said, the Fender Blues Junior will give you a great Fender all tube clean tone).

Your choice on colour and rosewood or maple fingerboards. (I would play a few examples at your local music shop just to make sure you are happy with the neck profile in particular).

Good luck!

[dchristo]

if you're going to only play finger style why a tele ?

why not try something like a gibson or epiphone 339, still a smaller body but a warmer sound

[MD1983]

Originally Posted by dchristo

if you're going to only play finger style why a tele ?

why not try something like a gibson or epiphone 339, still a smaller body but a warmer sound

Because I don't really know what I'm doing?

I have a repertoire of about an hour of classical/ragtime music that I've taught myself on acoustic (Kottke/Chopin/Bach etc.), and sometimes I play house parties or other small venues. I just wanted to have an alternative to using an acoustic live, and also for late-night noodling at home that didn't wake neighbors up (so I'm thinking I need an tube amp with a headphone jack, which I doubt exists).

Anyway, I always liked the look and tone of Teles, and I like the long scale because I usually play a whole step down. But I don't really know. I'm not very good at battling the local stoners at Guitar Center for experimenting space.

[dagobert]

IMO, a Mexican Telecaster and Fender Vaporizer amp are a great combo.......its what I run.

[blue]

I would suggest a G&L ASAT Classic Alnico with the "classic C" neck in a 12 inch radius. though 9.5 and 7.5 are available. and different nut widths too.

The classic C is a beefy neck. It's custom shop special order beefy. Not to be found on normal Fenders. you may appreciate that coming from the acoustic world.

The Alnico ASAT classic uses "normal" tele pickups, not the G&L MFD pickups. You may like them stock, but if you don't standard pickups are drop in.

The best of both worlds.

Here's a new three pickup "nashville" one with a belly cut, a more modern neck profile, 9.5 radius (gibsonish) and a 1 11/16ths nut (again comfy for an acoustic player) for $1,400 or best offer http://www.ebay.com/itm/G-L-USA-ASAT...gAAOSwZ1BXeZHm The belly cut and wide nut are pretty much custom shop options. You can't beat that...

[Paleolith54]

Originally Posted by MD1983

Any suggestions for what Tele I should look at given my following desires:

(1) I'm primarily an acoustic player, and only want an electric to play fingerstyle with clean tone
(2) My budget can go up to about $3k, but are those custom shop Teles worth the price increase, especially considering that I only care about the clean tone?
(3) any amp suggestions for great clean tone? Need something for living room/small gigs.

Thanks all

You're asking for opinions, so here goes.

If you're just playing clean, I honestly think any Tele will do the job well. There are some advantages to going with an American Standard or American Special, but they aren't overwhelming ones. It honestly sounds to me like a nice Standard Tele (which is Mexican) would do fine. I would NOT spend money on a Custom Shop instrument in your situation (and if you really want an expensive one, I'd strongly suggest you look at Suhr, Anderson, or any number of smaller builders before the Custom Shop.)

Amp? I don't have the reverence for the Blues Junior that many do, but it sure sounds like a great choice for you. You should also consider the Bugera V22 as an alternative, as one of the posters here (Steve De Rosa, I think) consistently points out.

I don't own a tele, but I can't think of a better choice for a good all-around clean electric that can go in any direction you want later on.

[ataylor]

Fender Classic Player Baja Telecaster. Made in Mexico but designed by one of the custom shop master builders. Has custom shop pickups and four-way pickup switching which gives you some great tones. Has a really nice, full neck with a slightly flatter fretboard (9.5) and slightly bigger frets -- perfect for someone who plays a lot of acoustic.

It's a fantastic guitar regardless of price.

[rmp]

perhaps a thin line with humbuckers would be the way to go for what you're looking for.

like
http://www.zzounds.com/item--FEN137402

[jwp2]

I'll put my 2cents in. I'd buy either an American Standard or an American Special Tele. I'd chose one of those depending on the one I liked the best.

[Wengr]

Most American Telecasters are fine. Imo the custom shop is not worth it when you can get a good G&L for much less. I almost always prefer the right G&L, and currently have two.
Mexican Fenders I rarely like, and actually much prefer the Squier Classic Vibe series.
My current favorite clean setup is my 1998 G&L Asat Classic Three played thru my new Vintage Sound 20 amp made by Rick Hayes. It's a 20 watt blackface Princeton clone with some nice updates.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by MD1983

(1) I'm primarily an acoustic player, and only want an electric to play fingerstyle with clean tone
(2) My budget can go up to about $3k...
(3) any amp suggestions for great clean tone? Need something for living room/small gigs.

My tuppence worth:

Since you're coming over from acoustic and looking for a fingerstyle-friendly guitar with clean tone - and I think I have a fair idea of what you're after as I have much the same requirements in a pick-style instrument - you might want to look into a hollow/semi-hollow instrument. The relationship between body size/weight (considerably more than a typical acoustic) and neck length (you're talking a neck/body joint at the 16th fret or higher) gives solids have a totally different feel; for a first electric I'd go with something closer to what you're accustomed to - minimize the learning curve - and move to a solid later on if you feel the need (many players don't)...

With a $3K budget you've got a wide-open field when it comes to a guitar/amp combination; advances in technology and internationalization of production have resulted in a level of quality in the low-to-midrange bracket that would have been unthinkable when I started playing in the early-60's - simply put, you don't need to spend $2K or more on a guitar to get top-shelf tone. One of my favorites is the Godin CW II @ $995 street, a single-cutaway/twin-P90 pickup electric in the mold of the early-50's Gibson ES-175; if you've ever played a Seagull mini-jumbo you'll find it identical in terms of both playing feel (same body size and neck profile) and on-the-strap weight (around five pounds - 2-3 pounds less than even the lightest solidbodies), with a quicker/livelier response than most instruments of this type - if you like Scotty Moore's tone on Elvis' "That's All Right, Mama" (he used a Gibson ES-295 - a fancier version of the 175) you'll have an idea of what to expect...

If you're a fingerstylist looking to go electric, I would be remiss if I didn't also recommend Gretsch - if they were good enough for Chet Atkins they're good enough for anyone; they're doing some amazing things with their Korean-built Electromatic lineup, and speaking as a lifelong Gretsch fan and owner since 1964 the level of quality control, fit/finish, and tone are so high - actually far above many vintage pieces I've played over the last 50+ years - that I personally see little or no reason to pay three times the price for one of their Japanese-built Professional Series models. I'd focus on the 5400/5600 Series of hollow and semi-hollow instruments @ $700-900 street: they've got versions of just about every classic Gretsch design covered (single- and double-cutaway 6120; Country Club; the ultra-rare cat's eye 6117; double-cutaway Country Gentleman and White Falcon; "Mike Nesmith" Country Gent 12-string) as well as a couple models that never-were-but-could-have-been (semi-hollow Duo-Jet/Jet-Firebird; three-pickup cats-eye Viking - I own one of the latter, BTW), nearly all of which come equipped with honest-to-Chet Filter'tron pickups - clean, crisp, and clear with a capital "C"; frankly, I'd play as many of these as I could get my hands on before making a final decision...

When it comes to amps, as Paleolith stated I'm a major fan of the Bugera V-Series - there's nobody else producing that kind of tone for that kind of money. For $399 street the V22 is an unbeatable bargain by any stretch of the imagination, and the new Infinium self-monitoring/self-biasing circuitry take a lot of the expense of routine maintenance out of the equation - just plug in a new set of tubes and wail away; since we're on the subject of tubes, you may not be aware that they really do make a difference in your final tone - a little extra money spent of some good glassware puts this little tone box in the same league as many boutique amps at three and four times the price. The only drawback here is that there's no headphone output - although it does power down for low-volume practicing via a switch on the back panel; should you still need the headphone capability the V5 practice amp has a dedicated output, as well as an attenuator that lets you power down to 0.1W - and you can have both amps for the price of one tweed Blues Junior, and a lot less Benjamins than a '65/'68 Princeton or Deluxe Reverb Reissue...

Hope this helps...

[the architect]

A 52 reissue should get you everything you could want in a Tele at a reasonable price (Sub 2k)

[muscmp]

play all of them you can get your hands on and, play them thru one amp at first. then play the one you may like thru several amps. that will narrow it down for you.

play music!