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  #16  
Old 09-26-2021, 09:53 AM
Dadzmad Dadzmad is offline
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For the OP - that's a real nice Tele and truthfully does not need any mods. It's a quality instrument as is. If you really want to change the feel and tonality put a set of flat wounds on it and either love em or hate em and move on.

Other than that all I can add is that a Tele is a very simple and responsive instrument and I found it takes a while to warm up to some. Anyone who plays guitar has along the way had someone who is a good player pick up their guitar and do things and get a sound they did not think was possible with their guitar. Add a couple of zeros to this experience with a Tele.
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  #17  
Old 09-26-2021, 12:11 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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For the OP - that's a real nice Tele and truthfully does not need any mods. It's a quality instrument as is. If you really want to change the feel and tonality put a set of flat wounds on it and either love em or hate em and move on.

Other than that all I can add is that a Tele is a very simple and responsive instrument and I found it takes a while to warm up to some. Anyone who plays guitar has along the way had someone who is a good player pick up their guitar and do things and get a sound they did not think was possible with their guitar. Add a couple of zeros to this experience with a Tele.
Thanks Dadzmad. I definitely agree, though in the future I may swap out the pickups for something along the lines of:

https://www.buyanalogman.com/Product...M%2DBIGTPICKUP

It does take time to adjust to a new guitar, and I won't make any such decisions until I am completely comfortable with this guitar and know that I am not making changes to adjust for deficiencies in my own technique on it.

As an example, I am finding that I need to adjust some of my fingerings of certain chords because I have a tendency to pull some of the strings out of tune since the strings are so much lighter than those on any of my acoustic guitars.

Also, I am working on getting used to using a thumb pick so that I can work out single string runs while maintaining my normal fingerstyle approach to playing.

These things take time to work through and get completely comfortable with, so I am just relaxing into that process as I get to truly know this guitar.

I am glad that I spent the money to get a good guitar to work with so I am not looking around for something better and can instead focus on playing.

Tony
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  #18  
Old 09-26-2021, 02:09 PM
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dnf777 dnf777 is offline
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Yep. I see folks spending extra to soup-up their tele with hot-wound pickups….and others pay extra to get vintage under-wound pickups for that true tele tone …. I think we all have a little Greener Grass Syndrome sometimes.
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  #19  
Old 09-26-2021, 02:18 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Tony, That's a really nice Telecaster--I Hope You Enjoy It As Is!
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  #20  
Old 09-26-2021, 02:58 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Tony, That's a really nice Telecaster--I Hope You Enjoy It As Is!
Thanks SpruceTop!

Tony
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  #21  
Old 09-26-2021, 02:59 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Originally Posted by dnf777 View Post
Yep. I see folks spending extra to soup-up their tele with hot-wound pickups….and others pay extra to get vintage under-wound pickups for that true tele tone …. I think we all have a little Greener Grass Syndrome sometimes.
Yessir! Titanium bridge pins for acoustic guitars is the tip of the iceberg.

Tony
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  #22  
Old 09-27-2021, 11:54 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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...As for chord melody, I don't consider myself a true jazz guitarist. That is a lifestyle that requires real dedication and it would be disingenuous of me to pose as something I am not.

However, I enjoy studying jazz guitar and the vocabulary. For me, arranging chord melody is something akin to working out crossword puzzles or playing scrabble where you are looking for just the right harmony and texture to bring out the melody.

Though I enjoy listening to fingerstyle players, whether in open or standard tunings, especially the really accomplished players such as Satashi Gogo, I personally find playing that music rather boring as a steady diet. I enjoy the mental challenge of nice extended lush harmony and the Great American Songbook tunes are perfect for that. That is a rabbit hole I enjoy going through.

Tony
Hi Tony,

This is where I have been enjoying my time lately, too. I have really enjoyed working through the puzzle of figuring out some of the Great American Songbook classics of the past on the guitar, just as you describe. I am certainly not a jazz guitarist, either...

And when I try to do this on an acoustic guitar, I find that I just don't seem to have the strength to do these songs well. Maybe I never did, who knows... Instead, I can do a much better job on an electric guitar.

I do have a Tele, but I also have an Eastman archtop, a model AR910CE, that I enjoy just plugging straight into an old Fender 410 Blues DeVille that I have from the 1990s. Just a little reverb and it sounds very rewarding. And this has the advantage of not encouraging me to spend more money.

I did change the preamp tubes from 12AX7 to 12AT7 to reduce the gain a little and that seems to help make the amp a lot more forgiving and not so ridiculously loud.

- Glenn
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  #23  
Old 09-27-2021, 12:30 PM
Tom60 Tom60 is offline
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I rarely regretted swapping pickups for better ones - and it does not have be always for the boutique ones.. it depends on a guitar too, sometimes the swap doesnt work quite like you´d expect.

But never a rabbit hole for me.. the sounds I like are always best delivered with unpotted Alnico (II or III) pickups. and V in gibson bridge.. nor always tho

Now unpotted is almost out of question with Fender.. but I once ordered a nitro lacquered (instead of wax) strat pickups.. gorgeous sounds, but when played thru El-84 amps... clanky madness

Most stock pickups these days are from the lowest bidder.. cheap.
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  #24  
Old 09-27-2021, 01:37 PM
rmp rmp is offline
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I've been playing for many years, I've had MANY guitars,

I've only modified a few..


that guitar needs no changes.

leave it be.
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  #25  
Old 09-27-2021, 05:59 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
Hi Tony,

This is where I have been enjoying my time lately, too. I have really enjoyed working through the puzzle of figuring out some of the Great American Songbook classics of the past on the guitar, just as you describe. I am certainly not a jazz guitarist, either...

And when I try to do this on an acoustic guitar, I find that I just don't seem to have the strength to do these songs well. Maybe I never did, who knows... Instead, I can do a much better job on an electric guitar.

I do have a Tele, but I also have an Eastman archtop, a model AR910CE, that I enjoy just plugging straight into an old Fender 410 Blues DeVille that I have from the 1990s. Just a little reverb and it sounds very rewarding. And this has the advantage of not encouraging me to spend more money.

I did change the preamp tubes from 12AX7 to 12AT7 to reduce the gain a little and that seems to help make the amp a lot more forgiving and not so ridiculously loud.

- Glenn
Glenn,

Maybe my struggle playing this material on an acoustic is not as unusual as I had originally thought. That makes me feel better, though not about the fact that you have similar issues but instead that I am not alone in this.

I do have an archtop that I bought from Robert Conti. It is a Peerless Conti model and is surprisingly good. However, I am really taken with that chimey sound that Tim Lerch gets and Ted Greene got, along with the warmth that Ed Bickert got.

As for amplifiers, I have not had a tube amp since I stopped playing out. My last tube amp was a Mesa Mark IV. Back in the late 1970s when I was full time as a musician, I had a Fender Concert amp with 4 10" speakers. It had a tan tolex case and those little brown knobs. Of course, I was a lot younger then.

My current amp is the Acoustic Image Coda Series III, a great little amp with a lot of power with its class D output section.

Tony
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  #26  
Old 09-27-2021, 06:02 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom60 View Post
I rarely regretted swapping pickups for better ones - and it does not have be always for the boutique ones.. it depends on a guitar too, sometimes the swap doesnt work quite like you´d expect.

But never a rabbit hole for me.. the sounds I like are always best delivered with unpotted Alnico (II or III) pickups. and V in gibson bridge.. nor always tho

Now unpotted is almost out of question with Fender.. but I once ordered a nitro lacquered (instead of wax) strat pickups.. gorgeous sounds, but when played thru El-84 amps... clanky madness

Most stock pickups these days are from the lowest bidder.. cheap.
I like the pickups that came with my Tele. The pickups in the American Showcase are not typical Tele pickups, but instead have more windings, giving higher output and a warmer tone.

It may well be that some months down the road, I decide to get some of those third party boutique Tele pickups.

Tony
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  #27  
Old 09-27-2021, 06:04 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Originally Posted by rmp View Post
I've been playing for many years, I've had MANY guitars,

I've only modified a few..


that guitar needs no changes.

leave it be.
Good advice, and it reminds me of a tune...



Tony
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  #28  
Old 09-27-2021, 06:13 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Originally Posted by tbeltrans View Post
... I am really taken with that chimey sound that Tim Lerch gets and Ted Greene got, along with the warmth that Ed Bickert got...

Tony
I will have to play around with my Telecaster using the neck pickup to see what it sounds like as a jazz guitar. I have heard plenty of people use a Tele for jazz playing but I have never tried it myself. I don't know why... But I will pull out my Tele and give it a try.

- Glenn
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  #29  
Old 09-27-2021, 08:23 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
I will have to play around with my Telecaster using the neck pickup to see what it sounds like as a jazz guitar. I have heard plenty of people use a Tele for jazz playing but I have never tried it myself. I don't know why... But I will pull out my Tele and give it a try.

- Glenn
You might be pleasantly surprised. I think I like it better than my archtop, especially for size and playability (i.e. comfort).

Tony
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  #30  
Old 09-28-2021, 02:08 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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I've bought a dozen (a baker's dozen if IIRC) pickups to put in my guitars. Mostly Seymour Duncan but also the Zakk Wylde EMG 81/85 set, SRV Fender pickup, a few DiMarzios, a custom Vineham pickup (out of Newfoundland) as well.

All my Gibsons are stock because I think they were fantastic as they are but I did upgrade some other guitars that had Duncan Designed pickups or other. I liked the change in all of them. I also enjoyed learning to solder and hearing the different tones that a pickup swap can do. I haven't done that in a few years though.
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