Richard Hawley

Right, I have made my mind up, all things considered I will be buying a fender tele. I am close to saving the necessary cash and will spend up to £600. Most importantly have had the purchase sanctioned by 'er in doors following a lucrative wedding gig. Problem is, the murky waters of tele buying. ie there seem to be millions of types and some of the ones at the lower end of the price scale sound a bit scratchy. Any advice on what to go for or avoid from anyone would be appreciated.

Why a tele? well I sing as well and they seem dead straight forward, and they look good and should hold their price so when I throw a seven my kids can sell it.

Oh, and don't tell me to get a Gretsch, they look and sound great but my mates will just think I'm showing off.

If you can push a little further with the cash, try and get a second hand U.S '52 reissue. I have a Fender CS Relic Nocaster which is an unbelievable guitar - the '52 reissue tele is cast in the same mould, although the neck isn't as fat as on mine.
To my ears, Fenders always sound best with maple fingerboards - the '50's Stratocasters and Telecasters were made from 1 piece maple and they are quite punchy, plus I believe that Leo Fender absolutely nailed the perfect solidbody guitar design first time - '50's type Telecasters and Stratocasters every time for me. Sadly there's no way I can stretch to an original one


Tele's have been criminally underrated for years - get a good '52 RI and you'll be surprised at how fat they can sound. They can go from a spitty twang to Les Paul sounding tones just by messing with the volume control.

If not a '52 then get a second hand American Standard and put Seymour Duncan vintage type pickups in.

I'd nearly always advise against buying new - walk out of the shop and its value has been slashed by at least a quarter. Many of my guitars are mint but got them in private sales.

_________________
Twang is, as Twang does.

http://www.myspace.com/stevebillybuckley

http://www.myspace.com/thewagontrain

I couldn't recommend one of these enough, although your mates might still think you're showing off cos of the bigsby i picked one up about 18 months ago when they first brought out the reissue



GAK have got it listed for £650 but if you could get into the shop or speak to them on the phone I'm sure they would work out a nice price for you

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/fender-62-tele-bigsby/67230

Hey, cheers guys!

A whole load of information about the joys of Telecaster ownership can be found on the Telecaster Discussion Page at www.tdpri.com

I love the TDPRI forum, and as a player and collector/maker of Teles, it is a great online community full of advice, info, pics, music appreciation and sometimes some very strong opinions too. They'll certainly help you choose a Tele!

Pay it a visit or two. You can end up staying for hours. And theres some folk on there with some beautiful guitars both ancient and modern. Theres a few celebrity posters there too.

Sollophonic

_________________
Maker and converter of Sollophonic solid bodied resonator guitars. Guitar repairer and renovator. Guitar teacher.

My mate has got one of those new Classic Players Tele's. They're made at the Baja factory and are absolutely fantastic! They are custom shop designed and have custom shop pickups. His is a blonde with black scratchplate, looks just like a '52. It is way better than what normally comes out of the Mexican factories. The Guitar mags all gave them ace reviews when they came out (about 8 months ago I think). And they are about £395!!! An absolute bargain. They do strats as well.

I used to have an 80's japanese 62 RI Tele Custom, with the edge binding, that too was a fantastic guitar, better than my USA standard tele!

I recently played a Hot Rod '52 Tele, it's basically the USA 52 RI but with a Seymour Duncan mini humbucker in the neck position, Keith Richards style and that was good. Couldn't justify the £1200 price tag though!!!!

I think that you have to play the Bajas and the Highway 1 teles before you buy. I was looking for a tele to augment/replace my world weary mid 70s one, and I tried quite a few Bajas, and was fairly impressed, though they varied a lot in tone, weight and playability. I then tried a couple of Highway 1 Teles and was seriously underwhelmed. This is after being blown away by a mates Highway 1 Strat, and given that I'm not that keen on strats anyway, is a bit of an achievement.

Wanna know what I got in the end? I bought a bargain price Squier Standard Tele, and to be honest it plays better that any of those Highway 1s and IMO as good as the Bajas. It has Alnico pickups too, and a slightly wider neck width than usual Squiers. So I would say, dont dismiss the upmarket Squiers either.

Mind you the one that blew away all the Fenders was the G & L Tele that they had next to the Bajas. Not a truly faithful tele repro, but a superb guitar.

It doesnt have to have Fender on the headstock!!

_________________
Maker and converter of Sollophonic solid bodied resonator guitars. Guitar repairer and renovator. Guitar teacher.

Go buy a Grestch and be a show off...

You know you want to...

I'm an avowed tele fan. I personally love the '72 custom thinline - mine's a Japanese (CIJ) reissue, but it has the electrics swapped out with Fender USA custom shop equivalents plus a pair of Tom Holmes PAF pickups. All in all, one hell of a lot of guitar for under $800.

Think creatively would be my advice... there's more to a tele than a badge as someone here has said.

_________________
There was a young man from Sri Lanka
Who refused to take part in limericks

the end.

CB,
I've always been worried that a Tele with a Bigsby woundnae stay in tune. Do you ever have any problems with that?
Thanks,
Tommy