Which Tele would suit me best?

[j_m_s]

Alright, I'm looking for a tele.

Some background info, my main guitar for 2 years has been a MIM Standard Strat HSS in Chrome Red. I'm looking to expand and get a tele for a coupla reasons, I want to use it to expand my tonal palette, and also use it for heavier tones (Ive seen teles do fantastic at this), I considered a les paul, but it didn't feel right. The neck felt too short, hence I decided to take a look at teles.

I play all genres of music. Basically almost anything except metal. I do have to get heavy and gainy tones like Fireflight, Kutless and John Petrucci at times. but thats the heaviest I'd go. Other stuff I play are the usual Praise & Worship stuff like Hillsongs, Delirious, Planetshakers, Chris Tomlin and the like. I also play blues alot, like Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Jonny Lang and hendrix. I;ve also taken a liking to Explosions in the sky and U2.

My secular band's main genres are punk rock/rock/pop rock. Bands like Paramore, Relient K, The Afters, All Time Low, Anberlin, Audio Adrenaline, The Cab, Creed, Alter Bridge, Coldplay, Daughtry, Day Of Fire, Mayday Parade, Nickelback, Switchfoot, Lifehouse, The Fray and Goo Goo Dolls.

Now I know I've listed a heck load of my influences, but I'm not looking to cop all their tones.. Some thing that would get me in the rough ballpark would do. I listed them out to give you guys an idea on what I'm looking for.

Here are the models I'm currently considering.

The Baja Tele
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0141502389

The Baja's neck is the same specs as the one from my MIM fender, so thats a plus. I've read about Baja's being heavy. So yeah, I wouldnt want a real heavy guitar.

'72 Tele Thinline
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0137402321

I think humbuckers might be better for what I'm playing. But I'm afraid I might not like the tone of a thinline. Plus, I might not like the feel of it too.

'69 Tele Thinline
http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0136902300

Same as the above..

Yeap thats about it. One question tho, on the 72' tele thinline, what size are the buckers, can I switch them out with normal buckers if i dont like the tone?

Lookin forward to some answers! haha

Thanks guys.

 

[Cupholders]

'72 TELE THINLINE DEFINITELY!!! I LOVE TELECASTERS!! AHH. GET ALL OF EM!


hahahaha. ok.

 

[subversion]

any considerations to acquire the American Std & swap the pickup for your distortion-incline needs? i did with mine (but mine's a 1998 model... the current Am Std Strat/ Tele are on promo: $1.5K which is a fairly reasonable tag):

 

[j_m_s]

I'd actually prefer one with tele style saddles..

 

[subversion]

you actually mean the ash-tray bridge type saddle (my H1 Tele with brass saddles):

all bridges in a Tele are Tele bridges, yes?

any considerations for the Highway1 model?

 

[j_m_s]

yeah the ash tray style. with the 3 barrel saddles lah. haha

Hmm, Ive been reading up on those, my bro has a H1 strat.. hmm.

 

[subversion]

i bought the H1 Tele this year, i do own a H1 strat also- great guitars, mind the quirks.

 

[kerplunk182]

Paramore? '72 tele la! Hahaha. Ok but i have to admit, they sound really good too! They were going for $2000+ during the sale but they weren't thinlines... The black one that Josh Farro uses and the walnut that Meg and Dia's guitarist use. Hahaha.

 

[j_m_s]

the one that josh has is the one with the strat headstock! haha. abit no point right! LOL.

 

[nabeelmashren]

I'd say the '69 Thinline. But i think you really have to sit down and test it to get a real feel of it. It's quite a different feeling from the other Teles.

 

[lightice]

Have you considered the MIJ offerings?

I'd have a look at them as well.

Comparing a 62 MIJ , the neck is the same shape, but the fingerboard radius is 7.5 instead of 9.5 on a MIM/ MIA.

Its also a glossy finish, but that can be rough sanded to a satin finish.

Personally I have no problems shifting from MIA/MIM/MIJ but that can be a very personal thing.

I suggest trying the lot to see which sound you're after. Don't let the humbucker thing stop you, you can mod it anyway. I'd be more concerned about the feel, cause the tele does dig into the ribs a lot more compared to a strat. Especially when sitting down.

That said, I advice testing the guitar both standing up and sitting down. Good luck finding the one, I'm sure any choice you make with regards to tele will bring you lots of playing pleasure.

 

[j_m_s]

mmm noted.

Hmm,the humbucker thing stop me. Im only worried that if i get a single coil tele, that i cant put a bucker in it! After all they'll be routed for SCs and not HBs right?

 

[teleholic]

if you're worried about not getting heavy enough tones on two true single coils try 4 way switching..have a tele with two singles and i dig the 4th position sound a lot..thick and heavy..granted it won't have the exact same properties as a humbucker..

 

[kahuna]

perhaps you could try the craftsman if you dont mind not really branded stuff haha! i actually bought one for a project with the intention of changing pickups but they were good enough, thick sounding and good enough for metal. Or maybe its just mine haha

 

[lightice]

There are some teles that are routed for HSH actually. If I recall correctly, the am standard should be routed for HSH.

The 2007 early 08 pre upgrade am series teles have HSH routing. But you want the traditional 3 saddle bridge, so I guess thats a no go.

Another option is SD's stacked single coils or rails for ur humbucker needs.

I'm going a lil off topic here, but how about some of the reverend offerings?

The P90s sound great. They have the same scale as fender, roughly the same price. The P90s will give you more grind than fender's stock SCs on their teles.

Another option is....

Get a SC based tele first, if you don't like how the SCs sound in heavy gain settings, maybe get a HSH routed tele body off ebay, there's a seller Stratosphere you can get them off from.

 

[MrBukka]

I do agree that P90s sounds great especially if u r looking for a in between tone of single coil and a humbucker!

I tried an MIK special edition custom tele fmt (flame maple top) hh, that is loaded with seymour duncan humbuckers which was a real sweet guitar, fyi it has a built in push/pull split coil knob. Plays superb, looks great, and sounds great. U shld check it out at sweelee. Here is the fender webby link, http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0262000520

 

[Ized]

just get a john 5 tele and burn those frets with some crazy chicken pickin'.

 

[mero]

Yeap thats about it. One question tho, on the 72' tele thinline, what size are the buckers, can I switch them out with normal buckers if i dont like the tone?

Hey bro, the humbuckers on the thinline are Fender Wide Range humbuckers, they're wider and larger than conventional humbuckers so you won't be able to switch them out. You could switch the pickguard for one with conventional humbucker routing though, that's what I did for mine. It's routed for the fender humbuckers but pickguard's routed for gibson sized humbuckers.

If you do swap the pickguard, the bridge humbucker ideally has to be a f-spaced/trembucker though, if you want the pole pieces to align. It's due to the larger string spacing on the vintage strat hardtail.

 

[gsonique]

http://www.vinetto.com/

*runs away*

 

[j_m_s]

Ized, me no likey. hehe.

Mero, thanks for the reply. Noted!

Goose, you buy for me la! No money to afford that kinda stuff.