hot rod tele

[VonBonfire]

twin twins has a catchy ring to it and was a stereo go to for no namers like ej and holdsworth…
that danny gatton secret love chord melody always inspires me to play more clean linear stuff and veer away from gainier tone and shreddy bendy world.

Your tele is pono!

The last strat I had was a partscaster with a sunburst Fender body that I painted taos turquoise and gave it the sand thru treatment so I dig the vibe you have going on there. I was living in Florida at the time so it seemed to make sense. I called it the driftwood special. I sold it when I switched to 335's for a big loss but I'm a bendy guy for life since I am a dyed in the wool blues player.

 

[mentoneman]

i was on a mission today at GC to play as many fender amps as i could in hopes i might find a cool pairing with my indo.
had to play 5 teles from $900-$2000 to find one that would stay in tune, was roughly intonated, and had playable action. honestly they were all horrid except for this one

but after modifying the pickups, intonating and setting up my action with 9s, my $550 tele plays and sounds miles better than all those i played today ala:



tried burgundy reissue blackface Princeton w/jensen, tweed hot rod deluxe, bassbreaker, and the 94 twin which is still on top tonally in fenderland and the second lowest price at $799.

non fenders-
tried a 2 ch recto combo (liked the twin clean/dirty better) fillmore 1x12, and reverend that unfortunately wouldn’t turn on nor would the mesa transatlantic. last amp i tried was this:

it totally stole the show. amazing sounding 64 bf Princeton clone and top shelf reverb and trem. $2.2k is more than i want to spend but it’s a killer.


in other news,
my friend (who i personally believe is currently one of the top 2 players in Hawaii) demoed another killer tele rig for me a few weeks ago worthy of sharing:

 

[mentoneman]

besides Danny Gatton, another reason i’m so inspired by the tele is this legendary unbelievable hero of a player-



the way he shakes his head when he plays is like he’s creating his own chorus/trem in his ears!

pre internet i bought his chord chemistry book at this place
https://www.theguitarshoppe.com/

and asked if they knew how to get his rare out of print album. the guy at the counter knew Ted as he would visit the shop on occasion and had given some lessons there. He gave me Ted’s number to ask him.
Called the man himself, he thanked me for my interest in his music and told me to look up the publishing company listed on the book (CPP Beldwin?) and that they might have info on who would have any copies remaining. I asked if he had plans to play but unfortunately he didn’t.
he definitely had an eccentric vibe of genius/ social awkward/ on the spectrum like his mind went a million miles an hour.

i did eventually find a copy of the album on cassette, but his live video performances are really where it’s at.

Soooo bummed i missed my only chance to see him perform at the NAMM show—he had just finished playing and i got to the room as people were filing out and he was wrapping up his gear

 

[* velcro-fly *]

a tele needs its own space and i’m thinking the gtr will lead me to the amp it wants to be paired with. so far the leading candidates are twin and princeton.

Braddah Cuz, would also highly recommend a MESA California Tweed, either a 20 or a 40. Yeah, going be more than the Princeton, but I went deep down that rabbit hole, the Princeton and a Deluxe were strong contenders, but the MESA was a clear winner. Loves loves loves all things Tele you can throw at it.

 

[VonBonfire]

 

[mentoneman]

Braddah Cuz, would also highly recommend a MESA California Tweed, either a 20 or a 40. Yeah, going be more than the Princeton, but I went deep down that rabbit hole, the Princeton and a Deluxe were strong contenders, but the MESA was a clear winner. Loves loves loves all things Tele you can throw at it.

been playing the tele through the mark III set for cleans to blues fusion lead tones and digging it.

i played the fillmore and cal tweed when they first came out and thought they were cool and totally get what you’re saying. but then i played the VII and thought if i ever get the urge to spring for another boogie it would be that amp.

but the cali running 6V6s and a jensen does sound great and right up the alley i’m interested in!