Teles - what should I know?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob Savage
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AmpliFIRE":8bkelxxk said:
You can't beat the Classic Vibe Tele's for the $$$
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+1 If you want to dip your toes in and get the flavor, Fender has a million models that will do the trick under a grand. Get a traditional 3-saddle bridge and pickups for the "true" experience (IMHO, YMMV, PDQ, FBI, etc....)
 
The Fender 3-saddle bridge actually intonates ok if you get one that is compensated/not just a round barrel for each string. I was surprised, thought I'd need to replace it on mine. I don't care how good a guitar sounds or plays, if it won't play in tune up and down the neck you're kinda screwed.

Best thing I ever did was get a replacement neck. Didn't affect the 'tele tone' so much, but made it playable for me... smaller frets and round radius fingerboards aren't my cup of tea. For right at $200, I bought a Warmoth neck that had ginormous stainless steel frets, a compound radius from 10 - 16", and what I really dig - a Gibson scale length for easier bends and lower string tension. Kinda a 'super tele' if you will. I also swapped the bridge pickup - WAY too bright for me, but I'm leaving the neck alone. Even when I have both pickups on at once, it still gives a nice tele 'snap' to the tone and doesn't sound like a strat.

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If you want a "classic" Tele, I like Nash better than anything Fender is putting out these days, including high-end Custom Shop relics.
 
I recently joined a new country/country rock band, and got one of the American Standard Teles with the custom shop pickups from Sam Ash for $799. For that style of music, it's perfect. It'll get really fat and crunchy, with huge singing, sustaining leads, but still stay really clear and biting, without being harsh or painful at all. It'll twang nicely on clean amp settings too. I was in a rock band before where I used humbuckers and went for a wall of guitar kind of sound. I don't think the Tele would do as well in that situation because it doesn't compress the way the humbuckers do, but the Tele has a clarity that the humbuckers lack.

Bottom line, the American Standard is a fantastic guitar for styles of music that call for that unique Tele sound.
 
The G&L tribute ASATs I've played have been very impressive too, especially considering the cost.
 
Teles rule - the original Single Cut design...known for their sustain and punchy tones.
 

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GCDEF":3az87187 said:
I recently joined a new country/country rock band, and got one of the American Standard Teles with the custom shop pickups from Sam Ash for $799. For that style of music, it's perfect. It'll get really fat and crunchy, with huge singing, sustaining leads, but still stay really clear and biting, without being harsh or painful at all. It'll twang nicely on clean amp settings too. I was in a rock band before where I used humbuckers and went for a wall of guitar kind of sound. I don't think the Tele would do as well in that situation because it doesn't compress the way the humbuckers do, but the Tele has a clarity that the humbuckers lack.

Bottom line, the American Standard is a fantastic guitar for styles of music that call for that unique Tele sound.
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So did you talk them down from $1000+ or were they already on sale for that price?
 
Bob Savage":3kxth0yq said:
Another classic that I feel should be in my arsenal, despite their sheer ugliness.

So, what should I know about them? What's a fair price for a used USA model?

Gimme the skinny.
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yeah, they are ugly... so don't look in the mirror when you are playing one :lol: :LOL:

I just bought a used American 60th Anniversary telecaster ($1000 CAN) for the exact same reason you are looking for one. I'm not going to change a thing on it because it is great the way it is... fun to play, light to wear and punchy and toneful as all hell! The single coils drive my amps harder than I thought they would which was a pleasant surprise.

No points deducted from my rig-talk mancard because I didn't sell any of my humbucking monsters to acquire it!
 
Teles are ugly? Well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so no argument from me.
I used to think they're ugly, until I started using them. I owned 3 and currently one is my go to guitar.
Here's what I love about them:
1- Single coil- great tone, works surprisingly amazing with high gain. Not as compress as humbuckers but open up and has more bigger sound.
2- A tele to me a the middle ground between a Strat and a Les Paul. It has the toughness of a LP with the twang and sweetness of a Strat.
3- extremely versatile, not just a country guitar. :rock:
 
I keep going back and forth between making a tele my next guitar or a Gibson ES335/ES339 my next one.

I have a Fender contemporary tele with a locking tremelo and 2 humbuckers, so its not a 'true' tele as far as sound. I think if I get one if would probably be a Squire Classic Vibe tele. https://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/ ... ric-guitar
 
Hard to beat those Mexicasters. Great bang for the buck. The P90 versions are solid. I keep wanting a P90 guitar.
 
Thanks guys. I'm covered on the P90 front right now with the Viper and really want the classic tele tone.
 
I dig my Anderson Cobra/single cutaway guitar, but I don't think for one second it's a tele. Nor are the Suhrs or Charvels I see in this thread. My 'Hemi' tele is pushing it, but the bridge really influences the tone IMHO and gives it the tele thang.

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The old saying "sum of the parts...greater than the whole"

Tele tone is from the design:
Typically Ash body, Ashtray bridge, Brass Saddles, pickups of course, and body shape - even neck thickness. I love Tele's - the shape, the bite, the punch, the Fender Tele headstock etc...fantastic guitars all around.
 
IMHO the best deals are MIJ Fenders and USA G&L ASATs. Both will be in the $600-1000 range but are nearly perfect as is. I have a MIJ Fender tele custom that just rocks, cleans up like a tele should, and hit the bank in the $700 range. Tough to beat that for value.

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Creston makes some killer, killer Tele clones. I recommend a single coil bridge and P90 neck. Get a B-Bender too! If you can get one with a body contour, do it - mine digs into my body something awful because it is a trad Tele shape - can get painful...

Here's mine - 1-pc sugar pine body and a 1-pc , 10"-16" compound radius maple neck, Lollar 1950's-wind P-90 in the neck and Special in the bridge. Custom Hipshot palm-lever B-bender, Sperzel locking tuners, reverse control plate.

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Steve
 
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