Tele Players I need your help.

[ZMAN]

A guy locally has a natural with maple. I think it has the Tort gaurd. KInd of a dark picture. 2003 so it is Korean. As I mentioned there are not a lot of them to be had around here. The new Classic is 1300. This guy wants 525 Can, and I am offering 450. The natural is probably closest to the Butterscotch anyway. That ASAT of yours looks like a sweet guitar.

[wingsdad]

My ASAT Special was natural w/ tort guard, but with rosewood board. Couldn't get it w/maple, my Tele preference; it was an '04. I think your 450Can offer is OK. 1300 Can for a new USA Classic sounds OK, too.

But if you prefer the 9" radius to a 7.5, and considering you dig the Squier CV you just got, I think you'd be pleased with the Tribby and put the $850 under the mattress for the next GAS wave...or until what happened to me happens to you: it hooks you on the G&L pickups' sound & vibe and you start Jonesing for one just the way you'd like it, all around...and you do as I did: go all-in and have your dealer order you one to your specs.

And since you obviously dig LP's and Strats, you might be looking along the lines of a Bluesboy Semi-hollow...yes, she's sweet, alright. I've got the sanp & bark of the Tele bridge pup, and the silkiness of the SD Lover neck pup...they combine especially well...

[ZMAN]

WD: I never was much of a tele guy. I don't know why but I they just never spoke to me. Of course I love the tone Albert Collins got from his. I am liking the feel of this new CV.
I tried maybe 30 to 40 teles over the last two or three years. I am always turned off when I try them. They all seem to have way too much string height. Also with the higher action they fret out really easy on the 7.5 radius necks.
The only one that actually felt nice was a 52 reissue but again the fretting out bugged me. The funny thing is that Leo made the 7.5 radius on his necks and for some reason Fender us using a 7.25 radius on theirs. Maybe I am wrong but that is how I see it.
I guess being used to the LP Gibbies with the 12, the 9.5 is my favourite.
Also I could never bring myself to pay more than a 1000 bucks for a Tele.
So if I do buy one I am sure I will not pay more than 5 to 6 hundred max.
I will make it a point to try one of the G&L Classics when I drop by the shop that deals in them. Not many dealers for them up here either.
I am a sucker for the Cherry Burst though, and the neck on your Asat looks creamy. I was able to get my action on the CV to look very similar to yours, and it is, as you say effortless. Those A5s on the CV sound pretty amazing as well.
Being a Tele guy you probably have heard of Joe Barden pickups. A friend of mine has them in a MIM Tele, and they are probably worth more than the guitar. I would love to swap in a set of them into a decent Tele. He appartently has a spare set.

[wingsdad]

Z,
I'm actually more a Strat guy, and at that, mine's a 12" almost D profile. I'd played Teles mainly, LP's 2nd fiddle, before landing on a Strat. Tele moved to 2nd place.

Yep, heard of the Bardens. I love the G&L pups because....well...Leo designed them and they (at least used to) hand wind them on an old POS winder Leo invented from spare parts of things. They vary the number of winds. Why? Because they can. They've got humanity.

I think Fender went away from Leo's 7.5 as the Tele neck (which he maintained with G&L) because he invented the Tele when G's were still wound strings and 12's were 1st's. 9's are so popular, you need to use at least 10-47's on a Tele, IMO, to keep it right and not fret out. You also have to play with a loose, feather-light touch left and right hand, preferably hybrid pick or no pick. Lighter than you can with LP's or Strats. That's why you hear the speed pickin' from James Burton to Brad Paisley.

The neck on my ASAT Classic Bluesboy is 'Gun Oil Tint Gloss'. They match the tint tone to the body's tone. They picked up the golden heart of the Cherryburst on mine. On this other one, ASAT Special Semi-Hollow,that's now cb's, they picked up on the gold hardware:




when they assembled the guitar, the guy doing the neck/body marriage and dating the assembly in the neck pocket (like Leo did with his Fenders) got into the vibe of the black & gold:

[ZMAN]

Funny I had a 12" on my Deluxe player, and didn't really like it. I traded it for a Gibson LP Goldtop.
I just noticed that you had the 6 brass saddle bridge on both of your teles. How do you like that? Does it affect the tone compare to the 3 saddle?
I am a huge fan of vintage tinted necks. I really don't think there should be any maple boards made without it.
Haven't heard back on the Asat but I will keep a heads up now for any more I might see. Thanks for the info.

[wingsdad]

As for the necks...yeah, not just tinted, but glossed. Done right, not cheaply, it's the only way to fly with a maple board, IMO. It has to do with that 'light' touch I described. Fingertips slide n' glide more easily. Besides, they're a snap to clean and maintain.

The 6-saddle brass on the Bluesboy is more like a vintage 3-saddle; besides more precision in setting intonation by string, I think that with less 'mass' under the strings vs. a 3-saddle, where 2 strings share more brass, there's probably a tad less sustain per string. It also strings thru-body like a 'vintage' Tele. My first Tele as a kid in HS was a pre-BS '65. 3-saddles, pure Tele.

On the black Special, though, the six saddles are locked together by an allen-keyed set screw on one side of the bridge (you can see it in the tight shot, on the control side), thereby forming a unified mass of brass under the strings. Combined with the heavier bridge assembly, and stringing like a stop tailpiece vs. thru the body, and the Soapbar pups comparable to P-90's in character, this guitar rings and sings with power and sustain unlike typical Teles. But it still 'twangs'.

If you can find both types of G&L's, Tributes for your budget points, you really oughta A-B them thru the same amp, setup the same. You'll hear what I'm talking about. And you'd know in aheartbeat which you prefer. Being an LP/335-type on one side of your personna, I'd bet the Special buckles your knees more than a Classic.

[ZMAN]

I am pretty sure the local dealer has both in stock. I usually don't go to his place because it stocks a lot of pointy guitars, I found out by accident that he also sells the Vintage Icon Series by J Hornby Skewes of England. They have a lot of really cool Gibby,Fender knock offs with all Wilkinson hardware and pickups. I purchased a P90 Gold top from him last year. I did notice the G&Ls on the wall but was not in the "Tele" mode at the time.
Thanks for all the help.