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Thinking of a Tele. Help!!!


adamlovesgin

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Posted

I'm a die hard Gibson/Epiphone fan. I've tried Fenders, strats and tele's and always found them underpowered, too thin/sterile sounding....

 

I've played a 335 for a while now, but GAS has kicked in again and I'm starting to hanker for a tele again, apparently I need to put more effort in to reap the rewards are something..

 

Please please please try to convince me otherwise, I have twins on the way :(

Posted

Every serious electric guitar player should have at least one Gibson, and one Fender, in their arsenal. For me it's a Les Paul and a Stratocaster. A 335 and a Tele sounds like a good combination also.

 

Go for it!

Posted

No.

 

Reality Check.

 

You are going to need all the money.

Those kids are much more important - already - and you're going to need extra/emergency cash anyway for the unforeseen stuff.

 

Plus you won't have time AND....you'd probably only sell it again. :-k

Posted

...

 

Please please please try to convince me otherwise, I have twins on the way :(

When about Fender, they make great amps, too, and you might be in need of a Twin Reverb. [scared][rolleyes]

 

Sorry, just kidding. [blush]

 

Telecasters are great guitars, but I did 33 years without them and most other builds I play now as an old guy. The two of my kids always were top priority. In case you decide some day in the future you might need some more guitars, they pretty likely will still be making Telecasters, or whatever style guitar you desire. In my case they made better ones than they did then.

 

Children are the greatest treasure of our lives. I wish you and your family all the best!

Posted

Dont do it. At least not yet.

 

Reconsider after the twins appear.

 

 

 

 

If the GAS wins, consider a cheaper option. A very experienced player I know has just got a Yamaha Pacifica Variax (line 6 hardware onboard). He's in love with it. Plus it sounds like anything he wants it to sound like.

Posted

I'm a big 335 and 330 fan but I do have a Tele - they're great guitars and they compliment a 335 very well.

 

The good news is you don't need to spend anything like 335 money to get a great Tele. Mine is a Japanese Paisley with a few changed parts and cost me about a fifth of the current UK street price of a new 335. The Baja Tele is a Mexican made model that is insanely good for the money. Even the Squier Classic Vibe models aren't at all bad if you need to scratch an itch.

Posted

Pretty well covered so far.... [thumbup]

 

For the budget conscious, Squiers are VGI(very good indeed).... :blink:

 

And as mentioned, the Yamaha Pacifica is equally desirable and well priced

 

Enjoy the agony.... [biggrin]

 

V

 

:-({|=

Posted

Get the Telecaster.

 

Your kids will grow up enjoying the prestige of being the cool kids, the ones whose dad owns a Gibson ES-335 and a Fender Telecaster.

 

Nobody will beat them up on the playground, and they will be considered the most bad-a$$ kids in the neighborhood.

 

And years later, when you are gone, they will have at least two seriously valuable heirloom guitars that they will either enjoy playing themselves, or that they can sell to buy groceries for their kids.

It's a win-win situation in my view.

 

:)

Posted

Maybe now is not the best of times for this with your family growing, but...

 

Everyone should have a good telecaster at some point in time in their life.

 

IMHO a very versatile instrument, you can do just about anything on one.

 

While it may be that they are not for everyone, they are a different animal entirely from what you've got now.

 

I cycled thru three or four of them before I finally realized I was just wasting time and tossing money away, cuz at the end of the day, after selling the "current" one, I soon realized I missed having one.

Posted

No.

 

Reality Check.

 

You are going to need all the money.

Those kids are much more important - already - and you're going to need extra/emergency cash anyway for the unforeseen stuff.

 

Plus you won't have time AND....you'd probably only sell it again. :-k

 

Sound advice...

 

I've already sold one tele....

Posted

When about Fender, they make great amps, too, and you might be in need of a Twin Reverb. [scared][rolleyes]

 

Sorry, just kidding. [blush]

 

Telecasters are great guitars, but I did 33 years without them and most other builds I play now as an old guy. The two of my kids always were top priority. In case you decide some day in the future you might need some more guitars, they pretty likely will still be making Telecasters, or whatever style guitar you desire. In my case they made better ones than they did then.

 

Children are the greatest treasure of our lives. I wish you and your family all the best!

 

Thanks for your kind wishes..... yeah it's all on hold, for now !

Posted

I'm a big 335 and 330 fan but I do have a Tele - they're great guitars and they compliment a 335 very well.

 

The good news is you don't need to spend anything like 335 money to get a great Tele. Mine is a Japanese Paisley with a few changed parts and cost me about a fifth of the current UK street price of a new 335. The Baja Tele is a Mexican made model that is insanely good for the money. Even the Squier Classic Vibe models aren't at all bad if you need to scratch an itch.

 

The last tele I had was a CV. Just couldn't get he action down low enough (tried adjusting the truss rod and everthing) and it all felt a bit 'Plastiky'

Posted

Pretty well covered so far.... [thumbup]

 

For the budget conscious, Squiers are VGI(very good indeed).... :blink:

 

And as mentioned, the Yamaha Pacifica is equally desirable and well priced

 

Enjoy the agony.... [biggrin]

 

V

 

:-({|=

 

Yeah, I have a Pacifica, it's a 1997 and yellowing nicely. I'll never sell that.

Posted

Nothing wrong with Tele; if you want one but money is possibly on the light side; maybe consider a Mexican Standard? Great quality at a lower than American price, and as with Fenders they're easy to modify later should you need or want. A humbucker in the neck looks awesome, IMO. msp_thumbup.gif

Posted

Great Telecasters can be had for little money. I have a newer MIM FSR Ash Telecaster and it is a great guitar. Plus it sits on the stand most the time my Gibsons and Guilds are in their cases.It also makes a good travel guitar.

Thanks John

Posted

I've never had one.

Come to think of it. I cant recall even ever having played one?!

 

 

you should try to correct that! :)

Posted

You're right. I should.

 

Can I confess something here though? I find them ugly.

 

A lot of people do but I'm not one of them

 

I think the part of the lure of the telecaster is in it's raw/understated design.

 

My very first "Good" electric was a blonde telecaster with a maple fretboard. I got it in 1970, but it was made in 1969.

THAT'S the one that got away... I traded it for a 73 strat, which was not a great example, by then fender had switched to the three bolt neck verses the four, and change the size of the headstock..

 

I should-a kept that 69... it would have been worth a fortune today. ******..

 

this is my 98 USA Standard. I think it's pretty sweet looking..

1998Telecaster-sm_zpsdd628b7f.jpg

Posted

You're right. I should.

 

Can I confess something here though? I find them ugly.

I also find them ugly. My wife hates the look of all Fenders, I can buy any Gibson I want but She won't let me bring anything that ugly into the house (sometimes I'm surprised that I get in!). This causes me something of a dilemma, so I guess I'll have to make do with Gibson's. Ah well, the sacrifices one has to make to keep a happy household [biggrin]

 

 

Ian

Posted

 

Can I confess something here though? I find them ugly.

 

I get that.

When I was a much younger fellow, I found Telecasters unattractive as well.

The headstock seemed small and feeble-looking to me (compared, I guess, to the larger and more pronounced shapes of the Stratocaster's), and the layout of the pickups seemed odd and archaic.

Particularly the location of the bridge pickup in the metal tray.

 

I thought to myself, "What a silly-looking guitar that is. Compared to the Les Paul or the Ovation Breadwinner, that is one second-rate instrument!"

 

Over the years though, and as I traveled around the world, I came around to the Tele.

I have nearly always had a Les Paul (and currently enjoy owning one for sure), and as I acquired and divested myself of various guitars here and there, I began to crave a Telecaster.

 

I found them more and more interesting, and I came to appreciate the tones that certain players managed to eek from them.

G E Smith, Danny Gatton, Waylon Jennings, and The Boss.

 

Finally, back in 2012, while on a flight test trip to Yuma, Arizona, my telecaster and I found each other.

I sat in the Fretworks guitar store there on a tall padded stool, plugged a brand new honey-burst into a Carvin amp, put the pickup selector on the 2nd position away from the neck, and noodled on some 12-bar blues in F#, B, and C#.

The tones were magical, and I got lost for the longest time.

(And for once, I was in a music store where nobody was playing, loudly and poorly, Sweet Child O Mine on an ESP 'Paul copy. Thank you, Jesus.)

The place was fairly quiet, and I felt free to make some beautiful music.

And that tele felt just right in my hands.

 

After awhile, one of the guitar techs came over stood next to me.

He listened for a bit, and finally spoke.

"Say, you two really ought to get a room. This public display of affection is downright naughty, truth be told."

 

I said, "Yeah. I want her. Can you ring me up, and throw in a strap and some Dunlop medium picks?"

 

"Don't you want to know what it costs first?"

 

"No, not really. Just ring me up."

 

"Okay, man. You need the Fender gig bag too. I really don't have a proper case for that one, not right now."

 

"That's cool. I'm flying American Airlines home. They are guitar-friendly, and they will stick her in the Captain's coat closet for me."

 

Anyway.

Between the Tele and my Les Paul Studio copper-top, I'm pretty well set for my work-horse stage electrics.

 

Sure, I have other solid-body electrics, and they rotate into the mix fairly often, but if I had to survive off just two main axes, those two would do me just fine.

[crying][unsure][mellow]

 

H76265000002001-00-500x500.jpg

Posted

It's funny, ask someone who's into teles why they like them so much, and almost every time they'll come up with....

 

"They're easy to mod",

"You can remove the neck",

"It makes you work harder"

 

etc etc.

 

Of course, qualities like "sound" and "playability" are of no concern.

 

I'm sorry, but if I'm spending $500 + on a guitar I want it to sound and play great with no mods.

Posted

Thanks for the story Sparquelito. Your stories are always good.

 

I love the way they sound. A proper classic single coil fender sound cannot be beaten IMO.

 

And yes, looks are not so very important. Or shouldn't be anyway.

 

 

 

To give me this sound I have just ordered a pair of single coil pickups for the recently acquired Squier Elite.

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