Telecaster for..........metal?

  • Thread starter Thread starter thiswaythatway
  • Start date Start date
thiswaythatway

thiswaythatway

Well-known member
Anyone play a Telecaster loaded with a bridge humbucker and play metal or hard rock? I was going through a couple of strats in GC yesterday, didn't like any of them, then pickup up a tele and sorta liked it. There was something about the neck I liked better. But I could never live with a tele with stock single coils, well maybe in the neck but not the bridge.
 
Sure! I have a Bill Lawrence Swampkaster T. I swapped the bridge to one that's not a wraparound, and cut a pickup ring out of pickguard plastic for the bridge pickup which extends right to the bridge another few mm (to cover up that part of the rout). I wasn't that picky about how the wraparound bridge sounded, but I swap pickups a lot, and removing the bridge every time got on my nerves.

Anyway, slap a neck onto a 2x4 and it's a guitar as long as you line things up. And it's good for metal if you have the right pickups installed. :)

Most of the "tele twang" comes from how the stock bridge pickup has a metal base (and it connects through the screws to the metal wraparound bridge). Change pickups to one without a metal base (single-coil sized humbucker for instance) and most of that twang is gone. Change the wraparound bridge to a non-wraparound type (and add a plastic pickup ring) and that's pretty much the rest of the twang removed. If it's a particularly bright sounding guitar it'll have some inherent "pop" and/or "twang" left (with the ratio of that being dependent on how dense the woods are), but it won't really sound like a tele at that point. Bright guitars work well for metal anyway.

Oh keep in mind standard tele neck pickups are smaller than strat sized ones. If you plan to swap that as well (to a strat-sized pickup), you might end up having to modify your pickguard (and I guess depending on the exact guitar, the rout might need a bit of expansion although it's probably fine).
 
You have many options there. There is a huge selection of mini humbucker for the bridge that can turn the Tele into something else... the most insane is the SD Hotrail T. Fender does some HH telecasters, both made in USA (but the price is crazy here in Europe IMO) and made in Mexico. I used to have one from the Blacktop series, and that needed a pickup swap right away, I don't know if the PU in the new HH series is any better.
Fender also does a Custom HH serie made in Korea, hardly a Tele, set neck, SD humbuckers, jumbo frets... then there is the EMG loaded Jim Root signature made in Mexico.
LTD also has some EMG loaded teles called 406 and 407 (seven string)... the you have the carved tops Chapmans that can come already with mini humbuckers.
 
I played a tele copy with a cheap kahler trem knockoff and one humbucker way back in '88. Total thrash machine. Didn't give a fuck how retarded it looked,I loved it.
 
Wasn't Steph Carpenter (Deftones) rocking a 7 string tele build from ESP for a while?? Or still??

He throws down.

And yep - Jim Root - straight up brootz on a tele.
 
There are a couple USA Charvel style 2 tele copies on GC.com last I looked, 7-800 I think.
 
Check out the Charvel Joe Duplantier signature. It's a cool "metal" tele and loaded with dual humbuckers.
 
I've been doing this for years with a MIM Cabronita tele. The pups aren't hot at all (fidelitrons) but they sound great for hard rock styles with a high gain amp.
 
All I play is metal. This is the one I picked up. I got this one because I wasn't going to spend a lot of cash on a guitar I wasn't sure I was going to like. I changed out all the pickups and gave it a bit of a set up. Plays awesome and sounds great. I really like the coil split switch that makes it a bit more versatile. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TelePLMPCT
 
Jari Mäenpää from Ensiferum/Wintersun made the tele look cool for metal for a bit there, he had this Tokai Tele seen in the clip below he used a lot in the early days and supposedly it was not a hot single in the bridge. The heaviness was mostly in his hands and some crushing Mesa tone (couldn't quickly find a better clip to show more the riffing side with this guitar). He later moved to mostly Ibanez shredder axes, but I know he got more than a few of us rethinking teles for metal.

 
I think any regular tele will do. I especially like how tight they sound on high-gain rhythm due to the nature of their bridge pickup tone. What I hate is the single coil noise.
 
Mine really thickened up when I changed from the standard 3 barrel bridge to a GOTOH 6 saddle. Lost most of the "twang".
 
-is there any guitar in the universe that is as ANTI-METAL as a tele?

-ya can dress up a pig with all the lip stick, dresses & heel's,.... but at the end of the day,... its just a pig,...
 
sg guy":39a2dl3r said:
-is there any guitar in the universe that is as ANTI-METAL as a tele?

-ya can dress up a pig with all the lip stick, dresses & heel's,.... but at the end of the day,... its just a pig,...

355, 335
 
JamesPeters":267r04h7 said:
Sure! I have a Bill Lawrence Swampkaster T. I swapped the bridge to one that's not a wraparound, and cut a pickup ring out of pickguard plastic for the bridge pickup which extends right to the bridge another few mm (to cover up that part of the rout). I wasn't that picky about how the wraparound bridge sounded, but I swap pickups a lot, and removing the bridge every time got on my nerves.

Anyway, slap a neck onto a 2x4 and it's a guitar as long as you line things up. And it's good for metal if you have the right pickups installed. :)

Most of the "tele twang" comes from how the stock bridge pickup has a metal base (and it connects through the screws to the metal wraparound bridge). Change pickups to one without a metal base (single-coil sized humbucker for instance) and most of that twang is gone. Change the wraparound bridge to a non-wraparound type (and add a plastic pickup ring) and that's pretty much the rest of the twang removed. If it's a particularly bright sounding guitar it'll have some inherent "pop" and/or "twang" left (with the ratio of that being dependent on how dense the woods are), but it won't really sound like a tele at that point. Bright guitars work well for metal anyway.

Oh keep in mind standard tele neck pickups are smaller than strat sized ones. If you plan to swap that as well (to a strat-sized pickup), you might end up having to modify your pickguard (and I guess depending on the exact guitar, the rout might need a bit of expansion although it's probably fine).

Thanks. Great info.
 
messenger":2fztwnlh said:
sg guy":2fztwnlh said:
-is there any guitar in the universe that is as ANTI-METAL as a tele?

-ya can dress up a pig with all the lip stick, dresses & heel's,.... but at the end of the day,... its just a pig,...

355, 335


-good point,.... it-(the tele)-have that "wolf in sheep's clothing" thing going on,.. aka JOHN 5
 
I picked up a Tele out of curiosity after reading Soundgarden used them for tracking rhythm. I thought it'd sound thin and weak, but it was thick as shit with great attack. Surprisingly great with high gain.

I think it has a Twisted Tele single coil in the bridge.

The trick I was told was to search for one that exploded midrange.
 
Suhr made Andy Wood a 24 Fret Tele with HH. Be interesting to see whether they'll build them for the public.
 
Hell yeah I do.

This is a custom Shop Tele Custom. From the looks it appears like a early 60's Tele but I have a chunky compound radius neck, 22 frets and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge and Duncan QTR pounder 3 in the neck. The think kills it on 80 early 90 hard rock and melodic metal.

12512776_10207820294640788_8941876129023963281_n.jpg


This is the first Tele I ever owned and got back in early January. it looks like basic tele but its a hot rodded shredder!
 
When I was a young child I had a reoccurring nightmare that I was playing a telecaster. I really hate the look of a telecaster, it looks like a bad looking girl, not sexy at all. It truly is the antithesis of a metal guitar.
 

Similar threads

W
Replies
8
Views
405
Wrong-answers-only
W
mentoneman
Replies
44
Views
2K
dcburn
dcburn
Dimebag11
Replies
15
Views
944
Dimebag11
Dimebag11
JackBootedThug
  • Poll Poll
Replies
9
Views
203
innogator
I
Back
Top