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Thread: Found the Tele I want!

  1. #1
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    Default Found the Tele I want!

    I've never owned a Tele, indeed I've never owned a solid-body at all and I've decided to rectify that. Having looked around at a lot of options, I've decided a Tele is the way to go both for the music I play and for something different to what I currently have (semihollows - a Dot with humbuckers and a Wildkat with p90s). I was thinking about a build project, and I may still do that, but I'm thinking it's time for a new guitar.

    Only problem is that there are about 572 million varieties of Tele available, so how (being a very inexperienced Tele player) do I choose? Of course I needed to play a bunch, so I went down to the local Fender dealer on the weekend and asked them to help out. I got the guy to line up all the Teles (Fender only, there are plenty of options there) ranging in price from $500 to $1200. In Australia (cos everything's so much more expensive here) that means a range including the Blacktops, Modern Players, Standard Tele, Nashville, some re-issues, Highway One etc, so a range of Chinese, MIM and MIA.

    I told the guy not to tell me how much each of them cost, and not even to say which model they actually are so I could have no bias (I don't know the Teles well enough to identify which is which by sight). I played them all through the same amp (Mustang on a clean channel and a gain channel). I was looking for playability, tone, and to a minor degree looks.

    After playing each of the Teles for 5-10 minutes I came up with some very surprising results:

    1) Even though I have very little experience with Teles, I could hear significant differences in tone from each different guitar. I was really surprised that the tones varied so much, and that those differences were so obvious to me.

    2) The guitar I liked least for playability and tone was the Standard Tele (MIM) which I would have expected to be the one I liked most! They go for around $700 here.

    3) The ultimate verdict - of all those Teles across a significant price range and across three different countries of manufacture, and based on playability, tone and looks, I liked the Modern Player Tele Plus more than anything else! Turns out it's the cheapest of the lot ($585 in Aus) and I liked it much more than any of the others, no question. When the guy told me which model it was, and how cheap it was, I couldn't believe it.

    I liked the tone of the position between the neck and middle pickup best. I found the neck beautiful to use (never owned a maple fretboard before), the body felt super comfortable (with belly-cut), and the thing looked great. In reality it's much more red to honey coloured than the pics on the Fender website, almost like a cherry sunburst Gibson finish. I was so glad to have decided what I like with a "blind" test of lots of Teles, and to find that what I want I may actually be able to afford! And when I do get it, I'll honestly be able to say that I tried a whole bunch and got the one I liked the most. Very pleased!

  2. #2
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    I really like the way that you approached that, Sada,. So many psychological factors/biases otherwise play into instrument preference. Glad that you found a Tele that you like!

  3. #3
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    Congrats!

    Only, basic rule of teh internets: if no pic, guitar does not exist.

    Just sayin', mate.

  4. #4
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    Nice way of demo'ing. Yes, there is much truth to your observation: "I could hear significant differences in tone from each different guitar. I was really surprised that the tones varied so much, and that those differences were so obvious to me."

    My favorite tones came from the American Special, followed by the Baja Tele.

    I was playing my Hell Guitars tele style last night using the neck pickup, with the Fender Super Champ X2's Vox amp model, driven fairly hard. The classic wood like tones were awesome!

  5. #5
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    Thumbs up

    Quote Originally Posted by Tig View Post
    Nice way of demo'ing. Yes, there is much truth to your observation: "I could hear significant differences in tone from each different guitar. I was really surprised that the tones varied so much, and that those differences were so obvious to me."

    My favorite tones came from the American Special, followed by the Baja Tele.

    I was playing my Hell Guitars tele style last night using the neck pickup, with the Fender Super Champ X2's Vox amp model, driven fairly hard. The classic wood like tones were awesome!
    I live on the Vox channel of my SC XD! By happenstance (a tube bass amp I was going to let my rhythm guitarist use ended up being used for bass after all because the engineer did not like going direct), all my guitar tracks on our current album were done on that ittybitty thang! Despite that live I use a 50W Sovtek (that's what I let my rhythm guitarist use on the album) into a 4x12.

    OK, back to bizness. Pics mate?

  6. #6
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    At the end, Sada noted "when I do get it" which means no pics until guitar is in hand.

    PS - That sounds like a great way to approach guitar selection.

    Also, I noted that Modern Player jazz bass is an extremely nice playing bass. Seems a good series for Fender.
    Last edited by NWBasser; July 2nd, 2012 at 02:36 PM. Reason: typo correction

  7. #7
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    Nice! Looking forward to full review and pics when you get it !
    Steve Thompson
    Sun Valley, Idaho


    Guitars: Fender 60th Anniversary Std. Strat, Squier CVC Tele Hagstrom Viking Semi-hollow, Joshua beach guitar, Martin SPD-16TR Dreadnought
    Amphs: Peavey Classic 30, '61 Fender Concert
    Effects and such: Boss: DS-1, CE-5, NS-2 and RC20XL looper, Digitech Bad Monkey, Korg AX1G Multi-effects, Berhinger: TU100 tuner, PB100 Clean Boost, Line 6 Toneport UX2, Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi, DuhVoodooMan's Rabid Rodent Rat Clone, Zonkin Yellow Screamer Mk. II, MXR Carbon Copy Delay


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  8. #8
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    I always love Telecaster, and in spite of it would the last guitar on earth to be played, I would still be a big fan of that guitar and For me this is the most versatile guitar I ever heard even some rock use it, including Jims roots of sklipnot.


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    Last edited by Spinshred; July 14th, 2012 at 01:04 AM.

  9. #9
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    A friend of mine (excellent player) did the same with Strats but also blinded for real (a mask on his eyes) and came up with a Japanese model up from all American series so I guess they're not really any rules just take what sounds the best in your hands is a great criteria

    Did you had any Thinline in your collection of Tele's ? To me since I'm playing a Thinline Custom 72 (a year or so) I have hard times to go back to any other guitar even to my loved MIJ Esquire
    Guitars:
    1978 Fender Telecaster Thinline Custom USA, New Nash TL-72 Thinline Telecaster, 1965 Harmony Meteor, H71, 1986 Fender Telecaster Esquire MIJ, New Martin J-41 Special, 1933 National Duolian, 1941, New Eastwood Mandocaster 12 strings

    Amps:
    Tweed Vibrolux Custom Denis Manlay, 1976 Fender Deluxe Reverb Silverface

  10. #10
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    I didn't include Thinlines, no. Main reason is that I have a Dot and a Wildkat - I want a solid body, that's the point of looking at a Tele in the first place. I did look at the Thinlines before I bought the Wildkat (not long ago) but went with the Wildkat instead. Now I'm after a solid body cos it's different to what I have (and I also want single coils for the same reason).

  11. #11
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    Cool Sada I was just curious to hear why you didn't mention the Thinlines
    Guitars:
    1978 Fender Telecaster Thinline Custom USA, New Nash TL-72 Thinline Telecaster, 1965 Harmony Meteor, H71, 1986 Fender Telecaster Esquire MIJ, New Martin J-41 Special, 1933 National Duolian, 1941, New Eastwood Mandocaster 12 strings

    Amps:
    Tweed Vibrolux Custom Denis Manlay, 1976 Fender Deluxe Reverb Silverface

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