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Old 09-20-2018, 10:50 PM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Default Fender Telecaster question

I’ll be out looking at Fender Telecasters to buy one soon, hopefully in the next month or so, and am interested if anyone can give input on the quality of the output jack. I used to own a Classic Vibe Squier 50’s Telecaster and was very happy with the Tonerider built pickups but not the cheap output jack. This time I’ll be looking to buy Fender - do I have to spend $2000 to get all quality components?

PS. Don’t want to have to do modifications, want to keep it all original.

Last edited by Jaden; 09-29-2018 at 01:31 PM.
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Old 09-20-2018, 11:32 PM
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raysachs raysachs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaden View Post
I’ll be out looking at Fender Telecasters to buy one soon, hopefully in the next month or so, and am interested if anyone can give input on the quality of the output jack. I used to own a Classic Vibe Squier 50’s Telecaster and was very happy with the Tonerider built pickups but not the cheap output jack. This time I’ll be looking to buy Fender - do I have to spend $2000 to get all quality components?
You’d probably hate the output Jack on the $2000 model as well. It seems to be a flawed design that Fender has stuck with for nostalgia sake. The first and most common mod that people do with teles is to replace the standard output Jack with an “electro-socket”, which you can find for less than $10 on Amazon or Reverb or wherever, and can almost certainly replace yourself without having to do any soldering.

I think the $700-$900 Mexican teles are the value sweet spot for both teles and strats, without much improvement until you get up to the custom shop stuff selling for 4-5 times as much. And everything from the Classic Vibe (best $400 value on earth!) to the custom shop uses the same output Jack that’s guaranteed to come loose.

-Ray
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Old 09-20-2018, 11:53 PM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Originally Posted by raysachs View Post
You’d probably hate the output Jack on the $2000 model as well. It seems to be a flawed design that Fender has stuck with for nostalgia sake. The first and most common mod that people do with teles is to replace the standard output Jack with an “electro-socket”, which you can find for less than $10 on Amazon or Reverb or wherever, and can almost certainly replace yourself without having to do any soldering.

I think the $700-$900 Mexican teles are the value sweet spot for both teles and strats, without much improvement until you get up to the custom shop stuff selling for 4-5 times as much. And everything from the Classic Vibe (best $400 value on earth!) to the custom shop uses the same output Jack that’s guaranteed to come loose.

-Ray
Thanks Ray, awesome info. I may have some more questions later on. PS. Long & McQuade in Canada has a special run of Mexican assembled Telecasters/ FSR Deluxe with hot ceramic single coil pickups but output jack is cheap as usual.

Last edited by Jaden; 09-20-2018 at 11:58 PM.
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Old 09-21-2018, 12:07 AM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Just to add: I had no intention of going with hot ceramic pickups due to common high frequency roll off (cheap quality) but the model I mentioned above called a ‘Deluxe’ with Ash body has been getting good reviews for bright and articulate high frequency response.

Last edited by Jaden; 09-22-2018 at 01:44 PM.
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Old 09-21-2018, 12:18 AM
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Having owned my fair share of Teles (ranging from squire CV, which are indeed a great value, to US made versions...and everything inbetween...) I’d recommend the Baja Tele. VERY high quality and an outstanding value imho.

Enjoy the “hunt”. It’s half the fun

Last edited by PTony; 09-21-2018 at 12:42 AM.
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Old 09-21-2018, 12:26 AM
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Having owned my fair share of Teles (ranging from squire CV, which are indeed a great value, to US made versions...and everything inbetween...) I’d recommend the Baja Tele. VERY high quality and outstanding value imho.

Enjoy the “hunt”. It’s half the fun
Thanks, I’ve read lots of good things about the Baja but have not seen any on every visit to my local retailer. I’ll have to ask the store manager about them.
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Old 09-21-2018, 12:39 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PTony View Post
Having owned my fair share of Teles (ranging from squire CV, which are indeed a great value, to US made versions...and everything inbetween...) I’d recommend the Baja Tele. VERY high quality and outstanding value imho.

Enjoy the “hunt”. It’s half the fun
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.
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Old 09-21-2018, 01:18 AM
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Fender makes the hunt for an amplifier particularly interesting with a variety of wheat grille Princeton reissues, either the ‘68 (nice review on this by Bob Womack) or ‘65 sonic blue cabinet w/12” Alnico Gold speaker. Reading reviews, I have no hesitation about going with these reissues.

Last edited by Jaden; 09-21-2018 at 03:36 AM.
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Old 09-21-2018, 06:58 AM
MikeBmusic MikeBmusic is offline
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Never had the jack come loose - ever - on my 72 Tele. But it did 'loosen up' some a few years ago - the spring of the contact wasn't as good as when new, but that's nothing unusual. I did replace it a couple of years ago when I swapped out the original pickups and controls.
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Old 09-21-2018, 07:09 AM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is online now
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I had 2 Teles, both purchased as MIM when the quality of the US version was a bit iffy at best. I built custom thin line bodies for both, one blue stained birdseye maple and one natural flame maple. I kept the stock pickups on one and replaced the stock pickups with Texas Specials on the other. Since I made custom bodies I also made replacement control plates and installed Switchcraft output jacks on the control plate.

My point is that the Tele platform is great for modding and ending up with exactly what you ultimately want. The Lectro-socket (also available from StewMac) is a common fix for "loose output jack" syndrome.
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Old 09-21-2018, 07:32 AM
J Patrick J Patrick is offline
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..a Squier CV tele is a perfect guitar for modding...I bought one used a few years back for 200 bucks and spent another couple hundred upgrading it...best sub 500 dollar tele i ever put together...I sold it to a bandmate who still uses it as his number one...
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Old 09-21-2018, 08:58 AM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Yes, the Classic Vibe 50’s Telecasters are unbeatable value with vintage style ashtray bridge and excellent vintage style pickups by Tonerider.

Last edited by Jaden; 10-06-2018 at 08:04 PM.
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Old 09-21-2018, 09:21 AM
Jaden Jaden is offline
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Just a quick word about Fender amps - I had a Blues Junior III for a few years and hated it for the first couple or three years - cold, flat, ice picky - all those attributes that some Fenders have - and then one day I found a ‘pocket’ on how to make it sound smooth just by refining my touch on the strings, and then it all came together and I’m a much better musician for the demands of precise touch. If I had more money in those days I would have traded that amp for something that sounded ‘better’ but would have been the lesser for it. Sometimes the equipment teaches the musician.
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Old 09-21-2018, 09:50 AM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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There's an argument that the "Leo got it right the first time" statement about the Telecaster overlooks the traditional jack cup. For those not in the know, here's the scoop:

The jack itself, the thing your chord plugs into and make the electrical contracts, is the same design and (long) lifetime as any other guitar jack. But the metal cup that surrounds it has a friction/prong fitting that is supposed to hold it into the body. That sometimes comes loose, and it's not super easy to fix a loose one. Of course it doesn't always come loose. I've got 20 to 40 year old Telecasters with the original design jack cup without a problem. I've probably had a dozen Teles over the years, and one where I had the issue--YMMV.

Yes the Electrosocket eliminates that particular issue. So does a "Les Paul style" jack plate fitted onto a Tele. Of course conventional mounting (where a nut screwed on the jack barrel itself, screws down onto the pickguard or a jack plate) can come loose too. And it's not super easy to fix a loose nut there either, although there are tools that make tightening one much easier.
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Old 09-21-2018, 10:20 AM
DukeX DukeX is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaden View Post
Fender makes the hunt for an amplifier particularly interesting with a variety of wheat grille Princeton reissues, either the ‘68 (nice review on this by Bob Womack) or ‘65 sonic blue cabinet w/12” Alnico Gold speaker. Reading reviews, I have no hesitation about going with these reissues.

The reissues are very popular for good reason. Great quality/price ratio.

Another option is to go boutique hand wired from a respected builder like Jim at Lil Dawg or Rick at Vintage Sound Amps. There are a lot of other great builders as well. I'm only mentioning these two because I have a Tweed Deluxe from Jim and a Princeton Reverb from Rick.

Jim will build anything from just a bare head chassis model, to a head lunchbox, to a combo with a Mather cab. For example, Jim will build a hand wired bare chassis 5e3 Tweed Deluxe (complete with tubes) ready to plug into a cab for about $580 US. He will custom build to your tastes and needs--and his reputation is stellar, both as a builder and person.

Rick builds a completely finished head cab or combo with lots of covering options--very cool (I went with the standard Fender Blackface look). He also has a stellar reputation.

No matter what direction you go, take your time and enjoy the hunt!
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