Teles - what should I know?

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Bob Savage

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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.
 
I've been hooked on my buddy's Classic Vibe tele lately. Nice and inexpensive. Great bang for buck and a good intro to teles IMO to see if you dig em.


Always wanted a tele myself but never went for it. I would love to get a G&L ASAT Deluxe or one of these MIM Cabronitas:

DV016_Jpg_Large_1337269347773_A.jpg




Nothing ugly about a tele!!
 
There are hundreds of tele variations.

I owned a half dozen and ended up with a cherry sunburst Fender USA Deluxe used or 999 at GC, and Sam Ash gave me a sweet deal on a used G&L ASAT Deluxe. Tele bodies vary wildly. The G&L is a hunk of mahogany capped with matched flamed maple top, Birdseye maple neck, rosewood plank, Duncan buckers, 59 & JB. It is a tele shaped 80's LP. The Fender is maple neck plank, alder body. The sound is in there.

A tele fender authentic type likes a different amp than a Humbucker guitar IMO. One of the best Tele amps that is somewhat cheap is a Zinky Velvet. Old Fenders are not cheap IMO. Bruce Zinky designed the little beast and it wails.... YT search it. Amazing little amp. High gain side is the weak spot though. Dr. Z is another tele amp. I use a Bogner New Yorker with mine and love it. Lots of people use high gain amps, but I think you miss part of what makes a tele great. Jimmy Page worked much magic with them though.

A good compressor is part of the magic. Some swear by the Barber Tone Press, parallel circuit with a mix level, Keeley, or Wampler. I have a Barber and Wampler. Wampler is in use.

The fender tex mex tele with the Strat pup in the middle was a great cheap tele. I think 599 new. A buddy has a P90 tele, but that's in a hot rod class to me. A used tex mex 3 pup is a solid bang for he buck. The Strat middle pup in a tele is money.

Nash has some sweet ones. They use the Lollar bridge pup. Those are just slightly overwound and don't mess up the tele vibe. I have the Strat special set in my old Strat. Good close to vintage pups.

I think the tele is the most under rated guitar out there. The P90 version is the toss up with the LP Junior for that P90 type of guitar I want to get. Steve Morse had a Franken-Tele back in the Dixie Dregs days.

The Anderson tele looks nice. Suhr as well. Fat coin. I have played a few custom teles, the fit and feel was awesome, but the basic tone is in the 600$ tele too. Seems one of the guitars the mex versions are pretty stellar.

Good luck on the quest. So many good players on the cheap to be had.

YMMV

:cheers:
 
Just got one a few weeks ago and looking for another one now. Really surprised me. Simple and luv to play it all the time. :yes:
 
Something about teles, even cheap ones can have that vibe. Look around for a Fernandes te model. MIJ, supposedly at the Fender factory. Usually around $400.
 
glassjaw7":2b5u3eki said:
I've been hooked on my buddy's Classic Vibe tele lately. Nice and inexpensive. Great bang for buck and a good intro to teles IMO to see if you dig em.


Always wanted a tele myself but never went for it. I would love to get a G&L ASAT Deluxe or one of these MIM Cabronitas:

DV016_Jpg_Large_1337269347773_A.jpg




Nothing ugly about a tele!!
Click to expand...

I been thinking of getting a Classic Vibe myself one of these days. I was curious if they had that fret hang on the edges.
 
Mines a 52 re issue, warmoth neck (original met a horrible demise)
Stock pups and my number one. I would look at ACME guitar parts,
They sell Tricked out Mex Strats and Tele's for a decent price
 

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Heritage Softail":275a3t6b said:
There are hundreds of tele variations.

I owned a half dozen and ended up with a cherry sunburst Fender USA Deluxe used or 999 at GC, and Sam Ash gave me a sweet deal on a used G&L ASAT Deluxe. Tele bodies vary wildly. The G&L is a hunk of mahogany capped with matched flamed maple top, Birdseye maple neck, rosewood plank, Duncan buckers, 59 & JB. It is a tele shaped 80's LP. The Fender is maple neck plank, alder body. The sound is in there.

A tele fender authentic type likes a different amp than a Humbucker guitar IMO. One of the best Tele amps that is somewhat cheap is a Zinky Velvet. Old Fenders are not cheap IMO. Bruce Zinky designed the little beast and it wails.... YT search it. Amazing little amp. High gain side is the weak spot though. Dr. Z is another tele amp. I use a Bogner New Yorker with mine and love it. Lots of people use high gain amps, but I think you miss part of what makes a tele great. Jimmy Page worked much magic with them though.

A good compressor is part of the magic. Some swear by the Barber Tone Press, parallel circuit with a mix level, Keeley, or Wampler. I have a Barber and Wampler. Wampler is in use.

The fender tex mex tele with the Strat pup in the middle was a great cheap tele. I think 599 new. A buddy has a P90 tele, but that's in a hot rod class to me. A used tex mex 3 pup is a solid bang for he buck. The Strat middle pup in a tele is money.

Nash has some sweet ones. They use the Lollar bridge pup. Those are just slightly overwound and don't mess up the tele vibe. I have the Strat special set in my old Strat. Good close to vintage pups.

I think the tele is the most under rated guitar out there. The P90 version is the toss up with the LP Junior for that P90 type of guitar I want to get. Steve Morse had a Franken-Tele back in the Dixie Dregs days.

The Anderson tele looks nice. Suhr as well. Fat coin. I have played a few custom teles, the fit and feel was awesome, but the basic tone is in the 600$ tele too. Seems one of the guitars the mex versions are pretty stellar.

Good luck on the quest. So many good players on the cheap to be had.

YMMV

:cheers:
Click to expand...
Interesting Joe ...
 
outside of pickups/wood/hardware which have been mentioned watch out for neck specs/radius

their vintage spec 7.25" radius ones are cool for chording, but you have to set your action fairly high to stop fretting out on bends higher up the neck

the 9.5" modern C type necks are pretty cool, had a am.deluxe for a while, great guitar

g&l seem to make some great teles, they have a 12" radius neck on some of the models

if sticky/glossy neck ain't your thing be prepared to get the sanding paper/scotch brite pad out =)

and single coils really seem to love boosts/compressors
 
Hamer U.S.A. T51's from the 90's are great bang for the $$$ with top notch build quality
 
How about a Charvel San Dimas style 2?

SanDimas2BK-xlarge.jpg


you get the FR you missed with the LP as well?
 
I think for me, besides the shape/pickups/neck/brand/etc, what makes a tele a tele is their string-through nature coupled with a fixed bridge. One of those "no assistance" sort of things. I'm just stubborn nowadays, but I'm skeptical of most guitars without a stringthrough hardtail. :lol: :LOL: Then again, I'm far from a tele purist. I don't even have a single coil tele! :rock:
 
The new American Deluxe teles have compound radius fretboards (10-16"). My American Deluxe strat has a compound radius fretboard and I love it! Every guitar I buy from now on will have one. They are awesome. Go try one out
 
Good stuff guys. If I end up buying a Tele it will likely be traditionally styled from the pickup perspective (single coils). I'm covered in the super strat territory so hot rodded teles aren't really interesting me at the moment.
 
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