Telecaster Shopping ($500 or less)

[roylor4]

I have 2 TSO's (Tele shaped objects) - a G&L Bluesboy, and a Squier '72 Thinline w/wide range HB's. I also own 2 SSO's.

The Bluesboy's hardware is more solid and of higher quality than on either of my Squiers, as is my G&L Ascari.

The Bluesboy was my first decent electric. After adding to my collection over the years, I have to say that I find the Humbucker to be muddy sounding and that mud seeps into the middle position a little too. If I had to do it over, I would have bought the ASAT.

Classic Vibe Teles and Strats get great reviews. I would check them out as well as the MIM Players.

[PAPADON]

[IMG]

Originally Posted by roylor4

The Bluesboy was my first decent electric. After adding to my collection over the years, I have to say that I find the Humbucker to be muddy sounding and that mud seeps into the middle position a little too. If I had to do it over, I would have bought the ASAT.

That's why I went ahead and changed over to a "Seth Lover" on mine. It turned out to be a bit of a pain since the G&L (Paul Gagon) pickup is reverse grounded.
In the end even my tech couldn't figure it out so I threw in the towel and redid the whole thing using a solderless Tele control unit and threw in a "Jerry Donahue" and a Gotoh 6 saddle bridge to boot. As a mod platform it's turned out to be a lot of guitar for reasonable bucks."

[RussL30]

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender/...SABEgK5gfD_BwE

I’m thinking this seems like a good buy. My local GC has one in stock that I’m going to go tryout this week. I’ve never bought from GC but $550 for a players series seems like a great deal.

[martinlover]

I recently acquired a Squire Contemporary HH Telecaster in a trade deal, and I’m very impressed with the build quality and playability. Some very cool features like a 12” radius neck, strat style bridge and belly cut, and a gorgeous Metallic Red (not sparkle) Finish. All Hardware seems solid and The factory bucker pickups sound pretty good too! Some of These Pac Rim guitars are a great bang for the buck IMO.

Worth a look

[RussL30]

Originally Posted by martinlover

I recently acquired a Squire Contemporary HH Telecaster in a trade deal, and I’m very impressed with the build quality and playability. Some very cool features like a 12” radius neck, strat style bridge and belly cut, and a gorgeous Metallic Red (not sparkle) Finish. All Hardware seems solid and The factory bucker pickups sound pretty good too! Some of These Pac Rim guitars are a great bang for the buck IMO.

Worth a look

Thanks for the heads up. I ended up buying a Player Series, but they had a Squier CV thin line there that I liked a lot. I agree that Squier is making some really good guitars right now.

The cool thing about electrics, is you don’t have to spend as much for great quality like you do with acoustics.

[gimme789]

I picked up a used 72 tele reissue semi-hollow thinline (MIM) for 450.

It has proven to be a great workhorse for any style, and it is now my number 1 go to
guitar for almost all gigs.

[Jaden]

Originally Posted by gimme789

I picked up a used 72 tele reissue semi-hollow thinline (MIM) for 450.

It has proven to be a great workhorse for any style, and it is now my number 1 go to
guitar for almost all gigs.

The demo sounds good - clear & articulate to start with as a base is a huge advantage, and from there any tone and colour can be added. I’ve read some criticism of the current Fender widerange pickups not being equal to the originals which had an additional element in the magnets (maybe cobalt/ can’t recall at the moment), but I think that kind of criticism can get a little pedantic - the modern reiteration here sounds good, plus I’ve read the originals could sometimes be weak and brittle.

Good score, thanks for sharing

[Daveyo]

Look into a used Logan Tele on reverb or eBay
Made in USA and great quality guitar
I have one and its fantastic
Good luck
Dave