Fender Telecaster question

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Jaden

As for the ‘hunt’, I know what you mean. This time I’ll have to be careful as I had four family members die in the last few years, and am due for an inheritance. Haven’t done any grief counseling so don’t want to make that fateful trip to my retailer and walk out with a truckload of equipment due to feeling deprived from past loss, but it could happen.

This was a brother, sister, father, mother loss, so all close family, and the brother and sister were 57 and 63 respectively; older siblings who grew up in the Beatles era.

I really bonded with a Classic Vibe 50s Telecaster due to alnico vintage clean pickups with ashtray bridge, so I’ll be looking to replace it with a MIM w/similar specifications but with individual saddles; also going back to a Blues Jr IV wheat grille special edition.

[Jerry D]

Originally Posted by Jaden

This was a brother, sister, father, mother loss, so all close family,.....

Wow, that's tough. My sympathies.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Jerry D

Wow, that's tough. My sympathies.

Thanks. Taking care of mum at home the last 4 years was tough, she was the last one to go. My eldest brother was the first one though - the song ‘My Generation’ by The Who sure carried some weight then and now.

PS. Impressive list of instruments & equipment

[RareBird]

I bought a G&L ASAT made in Indonesia which is a nice piece of swamp ash in natural finish. I know you said you don't want to deal with a bunch or changes but FWIW, I put the Fishman Fluence Greg Koch signature system into the G&L--Actually I paid a dude $50 to handle the soldering work and everything else was a simple drop-in. When I took it to Guitar Centere technician with 35 years of experience said that mine was one of the best sounding Tele type guitars to come through there in years. Between the G&L guitar (purchased as a Musician's Friend "Stupid Deal of the Day" for $325 and the Fishman system which includes replacement pickups, a replacement for all the stuff that goes in the cavity, and a new jack which has a USB port on it to recharge the internal battery--all for about $350 or a little less and the axe (I put Sperzel locking tuners on it too)is a state of the art monster that can do anything a Telecaster can do. The neck position pup deliver amazing sounds--including an authentic Strat sound in which I can get an authentic Hendrix "Wind Cries Mary" sound and flick the pickup switch and be "chicken pickin' Johnny Hiland style the next moment. I would trade or sell it for the world.

[Br1ck]

I've been rolling my own for decades now. I'll never own another factory made strat or tele again.

USA Custom and Warmouth, heck even Allparts make fine necks and bodies. I've painted several dozen necks and a dozen or so bodies with ReRanch nitro. You can buy the finest parts from the likes of Glendale, and pickups from Don Mare, Lollar, Frailin and Duncan.

You end up with custom shop quality for about $800.

Tweed Fender designs are problematic in that they operate in a sweet spot that is fairly close to 7 or 8. That is loud even for the little champ. So your volume control is to have a Champ, a Princeton, a Deluxe, a Bandmaster, and a Twin.
I know a blues player that does that. Takes whatever matches the room.

Heresy I know, but I bought a Tech 21 used for $300. Has real spring reverb a great Fender clean tone that can get tweedy dirty, and a high gain Brit channel, plus an XLR out that has a cab sim built in. I'm pretty tube die hard, but tech 21 stuff is good.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

I've been rolling my own for decades now. I'll never own another factory made strat or tele again.

USA Custom and Warmouth, heck even Allparts make fine necks and bodies. I've painted several dozen necks and a dozen or so bodies with ReRanch nitro. You can buy the finest parts from the likes of Glendale, and pickups from Don Mare, Lollar, Frailin and Duncan.

You end up with custom shop quality for about $800.

Tweed Fender designs are problematic in that they operate in a sweet spot that is fairly close to 7 or 8. That is loud even for the little champ. So your volume control is to have a Champ, a Princeton, a Deluxe, a Bandmaster, and a Twin.
I know a blues player that does that. Takes whatever matches the room.

Heresy I know, but I bought a Tech 21 used for $300. Has real spring reverb a great Fender clean tone that can get tweedy dirty, and a high gain Brit channel, plus an XLR out that has a cab sim built in. I'm pretty tube die hard, but tech 21 stuff is good.

I think you’re right about factory made due to large price point and quality spread over the product line.

[M Sarad]

Ditto on the Tech 21. I bought mine around 1999. Still working strong. They don’t make the combos anymore.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by RareBird

I bought a G&L ASAT made in Indonesia which is a nice piece of swamp ash in natural finish. I know you said you don't want to deal with a bunch or changes but FWIW, I put the Fishman Fluence Greg Koch signature system into the G&L--Actually I paid a dude $50 to handle the soldering work and everything else was a simple drop-in. When I took it to Guitar Centere technician with 35 years of experience said that mine was one of the best sounding Tele type guitars to come through there in years. Between the G&L guitar (purchased as a Musician's Friend "Stupid Deal of the Day" for $325 and the Fishman system which includes replacement pickups, a replacement for all the stuff that goes in the cavity, and a new jack which has a USB port on it to recharge the internal battery--all for about $350 or a little less and the axe (I put Sperzel locking tuners on it too)is a state of the art monster that can do anything a Telecaster can do. The neck position pup deliver amazing sounds--including an authentic Strat sound in which I can get an authentic Hendrix "Wind Cries Mary" sound and flick the pickup switch and be "chicken pickin' Johnny Hiland style the next moment. I would trade or sell it for the world.

Nice guitar and description of versatility with the upgrade. Thanks for sharing

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by davidd

I've been through a bunch of Tele's over the years and you don't need to pay much to get a good one. They were designed to be relatively inexpensive straight ahead guitars for working musicians. The CV's are fantastic values IMO. The only negative if there is one is that the necks are somewhat slim compared to some of the Fender offerings. I agree that the Classic series are great bang for the buck with very nice neck profiles and vintage appointments. Whether it is made in the USA, Mexico, Japan or China makes no difference for me. A tele is a tele is a tele. I own 3 right now and non of them cost more than $350 used. I've owned Esquires, MIM Classics, USA Std and Squier CV's. My favorite is a beat up old MIM that I have maybe $250 max into with tuners, pickups and bridge swapped out. It's as good as any I've played or owned. Yes, I'd love a Nocaster, but I doubt it would sound any better than my $250 old dog. My buddy just bought a Squier CV Custom used for $150, put some Fender CS pickups and a new wiring harness and it sounds like a million bucks, although the stock pickups (Tonerider) are fabulous any way. He's got $300 into it.

P.S a nice Fender amp is the key to getting the most out of a Tele. A Fender guitar into a Fender is amp is it for me. Get yourself a PR or DR and a decent Tele and that's all you'll ever need.

I’ve been reading all your posts with interest especially considering your experience with Fender equipment (excellent). I kind of just stumbled into the Fender ‘sound’ with nice & clear single coil pickups and a Fender tube amp. Can’t beat it.

[Jaden]

Went Telecaster hunting today at my local retailer and located the new Player Telecaster by Fender, MIM, in polar white and this particular model has a 3 ply wbw mint pickguard w/ pao ferro fretboard (this sample very light brown almost approaching walnut). Also looked over two butterscotch blackguards each with ash body, one MIM and the other American professional. All three guitars had fine fretwork (no doubt pleked) but also each had nice flat fret crown no jumbo curvature to invite lax intonation.

PS. Among some other guitars of interest there was also another American Professional in Mystic Seafoam with maple fretboard and a Sherwood Green Metallic American Special with rosewood fretboard and mint green pickguard - nice!

[Jaden]

In my continued browsing in store at Telecasters I’ve been taking a look at the wood grain on the back of the neck and notice almost all the instruments have a cathedral v plainsawn figure on the treble or bass half of the neck while the opposite side has tighter parallel grain, no matter the price of the guitar, whereas the classic vibe model has tight straight grain along the entire neck, so despite reservations about jumbo frets, I just might go Squier again and upgrade the input jack.

[paulp1960]

The CV range is a cut above the other Squier guitars.
I also have an Indonesian made Vintage Modified telecaster and the CV is simply a better guitar. I had to pay £100 for a fret level to get the Vintage Modified to be as playable as my CV 50s guitar.

The CV stock pickups (made by Tonerider) are miles better than the Duncan Designed ones on my Vintage Modified guitar.

Also the CV Teles are built to the same spec as USA guitars in terms of the dimensions of the guitar so genuine Fender parts fit better such as scratch plates and necks should you wish to modify your guitar.

Of course you have to like the neck profile and my CV is heavy at 9 pounds.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by paulp1960

The CV range is a cut above the other Squier guitars.
I also have an Indonesian made Vintage Modified telecaster and the CV is simply a better guitar. I had to pay £100 for a fret level to get the Vintage Modified to be as playable as my CV 50s guitar.

The CV stock pickups (made by Tonerider) are miles better than the Duncan Designed ones on my Vintage Modified guitar.

Also the CV Teles are built to the same spec as USA guitars in terms of the dimensions of the guitar so genuine Fender parts fit better such as scratch plates and necks should you wish to modify your guitar.

Of course you have to like the neck profile and my CV is heavy at 9 pounds.

Yes, you’re right, and thanks for the info on your VM. My Joe Trohman 3 pickup monster Tele Deluxe I think could be grouped in the vintage modified camp under artist signature model. I bought it new at discount price and it looks like it had fret level work and setup but the truss nut got stripped in the process thus the reduced price. It has the large ‘68 strat headstock like all Tele Deluxe should, and it has the most beautiful perfectly centred cathedral v plainsawn neck. Sustain and volume unplugged is unbelievable, almost a magic instrument that way.