NGD : Fender AO 70's custom

[darylcrisp]

nitro, vintage blonde, wide range humbucker in the front, snappy vintage-style single-coil pickup in the bridge, 2 vol, 2 tone controls, modern c shape neck profile and 9.5" FB radius, 7.6 lbs, truss rod adjustment at the headstock(yea!), tuners work smooth and feel very well made

sounds and plays wonderful. came with a very low setup, spot on intonation on every string. my intention for it was slide, and its really neat for that. If i put it there for sure, i'll need to raise the action slightly and may put flatwound 11's on it, but i'm thinking i may keep this as is and just build another one dedicated to slide-i'll give it a few days, or weeks before i decide fully.

the only other thing i plan to do is drill 6 holes in the rear bridge so i can string it as a top loader and see how that sounds/feels.

i really like this, it sits extremely well while playing seated, balances excellent, and the neck fits me like a well worn pair of jeans.

[guitararmy]

Congrats! That sure is a looker.
Does that have the new Wide Range Humbucker with the fancy magnet?

[Steel and wood]

Yep, beautiful guitar indeed!

[airborne1]

What a sweet looking Tele! Enjoy it in good health!

[redir]

Sweet! Nice way to set up a Tele.

[ch willie]

I'm a big fan of Teles. I have a Strat and Les Paul, the holy three, but I go to the Tele first.

I'm a lefty, so I can't get one of those, but I sure do like looking at it.

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by guitararmy

Congrats! That sure is a looker.
Does that have the new Wide Range Humbucker with the fancy magnet?

yep, or so they say-lol. it is very different tonality wise from the other past years of the AO 70's. That humbucker, the cunife material that supposedly has not been available for 40 years, does make a deeper, smooth, thick tone. the bridge pickup likewise has something going on that is just a thicker tone, not "twangy" like you typically hear from a tele. All that may or may not make it the guitar for the traditional tele afictionado, but its what captivated me towards it immediately.

the 4 controls allow that 2nd position to be very flexible as well, you can dial up or down either pickup to blend what you want.

its an excellent slide machine , but a whole lot more.

d

[KevWind]

Very cool congrats

[Chickee]

Originally Posted by darylcrisp

the only other thing i plan to do is drill 6 holes in the rear bridge so i can string it as a top loader and see how that sounds/feels.

Hey Daryl,
Instead of drilling, drop a few bucks and just screw on a top loader bridge plate. Fender sells every part to every guitar they have ever made. I don’t think you will have any trouble finding one new or used.

[Glennwillow]

Wow, Daryl!

What a pretty Telecaster! I have never played one with a humbucker in the bridge position. It would be fun to play that!

Good for you!

- Glenn

[darylcrisp]

Originally Posted by Chickee

Hey Daryl,
Instead of drilling, drop a few bucks and just screw on a top loader bridge plate. Fender sells every part to every guitar they have ever made. I don’t think you will have any trouble finding one new or used.

its not a big thing for me at next string change to just remove this one and drill the holes, if i do string up the 11's and raise the action, i'll need to reintonate the strings anyhow. I would want to keep it as a dual loader so i could change back at will(i've heard of a few folks who string a few top and the others thru). I had looked around earlier and found a real nice one from Gotoh, the steel plate was thick and solid looking , the saddles were brass and had a deep trough for each string-it had the sides removed as well. nice looking unit.
another one that looks good is the wilkinson, its a dual loader also. i would have to make sure of the string spacing as i want to keep it what it is. Not sure if either of those are different.

in the end though, i'm saving up for one of the new tonemaster deluxe reverbs, so i'll just use the bridge thats on it.

thanks for the suggestion though
d

[Chickee]

Originally Posted by darylcrisp

its not a big thing for me at next string change to just remove this one and drill the holes, if i do string up the 11's and raise the action, i'll need to reintonate the strings anyhow. I would want to keep it as a dual loader so i could change back at will(i've heard of a few folks who string a few top and the others thru). I had looked around earlier and found a real nice one from Gotoh, the steel plate was thick and solid looking , the saddles were brass and had a deep trough for each string-it had the sides removed as well. nice looking unit.
another one that looks good is the wilkinson, its a dual loader also. i would have to make sure of the string spacing as i want to keep it what it is. Not sure if either of those are different.

in the end though, i'm saving up for one of the new tonemaster deluxe reverbs, so i'll just use the bridge thats on it.

thanks for the suggestion though
d

That guitar is so pretty, I couldn’t bare the thought of drilling holes into any part of it! Enjoy your beautiful new axe!

[Rev Roy]

Nice! Congrats!

[Dru Edwards]

Congrats Daryl! Let us know how the top loader goes.