Which Telecaster?

[Yanto]

Hi
Looking to add a Tele to my guitars. Love the look and sound. I play mainly Springsteen, Tom Petty, Hootie, but some AC/DC etc too.
Never owned a Tele but I'm assuming that they can easily handle these types of sounds.
My questions therefore are which model should I be looking at? And secondly is it worth considering a Squier or should it be purely Fender?
Cheers
Ian

[muscmp]

since you are across the pond, you'll have to refer to your wallet but, i'd like to recommend that you try as many different makeups of tele that you can find. if you plan on doing mods then get the best squire piece of wood(body and neck) you can find. then you only have to change the pickups, pots, bridge, jack and tuners.

otherwise look for a true tele but remember that even they come in very different makeups. buy the one that sings to you.

play music!

[BarryR]

Originally Posted by Yanto

Hi
Looking to add a Tele to my guitars. Love the look and sound. I play mainly Springsteen, Tom Petty, Hootie, but some AC/DC etc too.
Never owned a Tele but I'm assuming that they can easily handle these types of sounds.
My questions therefore are which model should I be looking at? And secondly is it worth considering a Squier or should it be purely Fender?
Cheers
Ian

American Standard Deluxe....(I have one on lay-away !!)

[johnnyp]

Nothing wrong with the regular Fender Am Std Tele either.
It is a solid investment. I would avoid a Squier, it is more like a 'tribute' to the real thing.

[stonedtone]

Originally Posted by Yanto

Hi
Looking to add a Tele to my guitars. Love the look and sound. I play mainly Springsteen, Tom Petty, Hootie, but some AC/DC etc too.
Never owned a Tele but I'm assuming that they can easily handle these types of sounds.
My questions therefore are which model should I be looking at? And secondly is it worth considering a Squier or should it be purely Fender?
Cheers
Ian

Look at used G&L ASAT's. Much better quality and feel. Same price ball park, bu you're getting a custom instrument. I found this one for less than $800 and it's what I play out most of the time. oh, I guess you can't post pic from your pc here. bummer

[s2y]

G&L's radius make them a heck of a lot easier to play. I'm a fan of the Nashville pickup config with 7 way switching.

[moon]

The Squier Classic Vibe Tele is definitely a good guitar.

The Squier Cabronita with Bigsby sounds good in this demo. I'd probably go for the CV though.

Not sure if a Tele would have enough low end grunt for AC/DC but they're certainly great guitars for a lot of types of music.

[Davis Webb]

American Standard. You gotta play it. Try it with a bit of reverb and no gain in all pickup positions and really play with the tone knob. This is where the real one shows its stuff, the sheer magnitude of sounds you can get with a tweak of the tone and pickup selector. A and B it with the Squiers and the copies. Then decide. Teles are more than twang. They have a lot of depth and the real one will just mesmerize you for hours. The copies, not so much, at least for me. They were just..twangy. Try some jazz sounds with the neck pickup, some strumming with the middle and turn down the tone with the bridge pickup.

Then there is real tele fretboard. Be aware the neck on the tele is wide and not friendly to all hands. Its on the big side. But it just flows like butter. Bends are something else. So different from a Strat.

$1100 bucks should get you there.

[Yanto]

Thanks for the replies guys.
moon - I played a Classic Vibe in Manchester this week and really liked it. Build quality and tone seemed excellent. They are available over here for £300 ($500). Also looked at Fender Tele Baja which was available for £600 ($1000). I liked that too but didn't feel that it was twice the guitar that the Squier was. I'm sure that as an investment the Fender would be better, but I'm only looking in terms of playability and quality
Ian

[catdaddy]

The Squier Classic Vibe Telecasters are very much real telecasters and quality instruments. They also happen to be a great value. And for anyone who thinks you'll need to mod the guitar to get a decent Telecaster sound I suggest you watch and listen to this video of a stock Classic Vibe Telecaster Custom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDjxKQYmEy8

"No Mods, No Upgrades, or other funny business..."

[Yanto]

catdaddy - thanks. That's how I found the CV too. I've seen that video before, and while I'm not a Stones fan, it does give a great idea of the tonal qualities of the guitar. He's a talented player too!

[Steely Glen]

The standard (Made in Mexico or MIM, for short) Teles can be pretty nice too and with a few cheap mods, you can have a real player. The Baja Telecaster is--I believe--MIM and they can be had here in the US for around $450-500 used. I'm keeping my eye out for one; they're really nice for the money.

[Yanto]

Steely - used Bajas are going for the equivalent off $700 over here, which makes Classic Vibe such an attractive proposition. Good luck with your search by the way

[imwjl]

I suggest delaying your gratification long enough to try different ones. That explained by: I've had the '52 AVRI, modern with big frets and modern neck radius, hotter pickups, vintage wiring and modern wiring. I've also tried different pickups and saddles.

Keep in mind a vintage type might have original wiring where treble is cut from your neck pickup. That's an easy change if you don't like that.

I can't explain exactly why but for playing I like the traditional bridge and resting hand on that metal tray vs the flat one on a modern type.

My buying, selling, parts swapping stopped with one that aside from Thinline body is toward classic - vintage style neck, 3 saddle bridge, CS Nocaster pickups but modern wiring. That also ended up complementary to my other electric with humbuckers, 12" radius, and more modern fret size.

I've also had Squire through US made FSR with Custom Shop parts. I can't put any of them down but say there was no need or desire to upgrade hardware with the better models. The time and money I sent upgrading a Squire was fun but not that cost effective or such a bargain when considering cost of parts, time and resale value.

Have fun shopping and tweaking and playing!

[moon]

Originally Posted by Yanto

I'm sure that as an investment the Fender would be better, but I'm only looking in terms of playability and quality
Ian

It's a great little guitar. The vids speak for themselves.

If I can free up some gear money later in the year, it'll be a toss up between buying a CV or building another amp. Some of the best tube amps ever made are actually very simple circuits which aren't hard to build.

The amp is going to be a crucial factor in getting a good sound.