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A little back story. About 3 months ago, I decided to completely purge all my music gear. I sold everything but my #1 Strat. And I mean everything. Guitars, some recording gear, and my Axe Fx rig that I'd had for almost a decade. I needed a change, and that's kind of how I am like that. Start from scratch.
Over the 27 years I've been playing guitar, I had many different guitars, but never had a Tele. I had recently bought an Ibanez AZ224F and after multiple attempts to gel with it, I just couldn't. I even changed out the bridge pup to something that sounded a whole lot better, but I just couldn't get into it. I then realized that I just needed to simplify. I guitar with 9 different pick up options just wasn't doing it for me. The neck was also a little thick for my little hands, and somehow or other, I could never get it to stay set up properly. The truss rod was constantly needing adjustments, which seemed to throw off the bridge all the time. Couldn't keep it in tune either. So I got rid of it.
Back to the Tele. I got the Maple Neck version in Tidepool, and I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up. It is the closest neck feel to my #1 Strat (A 2000 American Standard RW Fingerboard) that I've ever found. Sounded great unplugged and the body was nice and resonant and it was actually set up well at the shop I went to. It helped that this wasn't a big box store, so I could actually listen to the guitar unplugged without some ear screeching racket going on in the background. The frets were well dressed, the neck socket was firmly in place and in the right place and the nut seemed to be cut to the right slot depth. Didn't even plug it in at the store.
Brought it home and plugged it into a little Blackstar HT-1R I had just bought (which is a killer little amp, btw) and it sounded great. Really nice twang on both pickups. No drop out or scratchiness when toggling the pick ups and no unearthly noises when adjusting the tone or volume knobs. I was very impressed all around. I find the bridge pickup much more "Tele like" than the neck pickup. The neck pickup seems a little dark to me, but I also noted that the bass side screw for the neck pickup didn't have that plastic tubing to hold it firmly in place, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. I have the new tubing on order, so I'll mess with that before making my final determination.
Truthfully, this is going to be a project guitar. For what it is and the price I got it for, it's a stellar guitar. I was thoroughly impressed, as 25 years ago, you could not get close to the quality in this guitar without paying 3 times the price. Even though the Player Series is built in Mexico and some of the parts *may* be lesser quality, it is a hell of a way to get into the Tele market.
I intend to change out the tuners to locking ones, as I hate winding strings when changing them, get a new perloid pickguard, as I love the look of those on Teles, and eventually change out the pickups. Once I fix the issue with the neck pickup and re-evaluate, I'll be on the hunt. Looking hard at the Greg Koch Gristle Tone set, but haven't made up my mind yet.
All in all, I haven't put the guitar down since getting it. Which is the most important thing to me. Thanks for reading.
Over the 27 years I've been playing guitar, I had many different guitars, but never had a Tele. I had recently bought an Ibanez AZ224F and after multiple attempts to gel with it, I just couldn't. I even changed out the bridge pup to something that sounded a whole lot better, but I just couldn't get into it. I then realized that I just needed to simplify. I guitar with 9 different pick up options just wasn't doing it for me. The neck was also a little thick for my little hands, and somehow or other, I could never get it to stay set up properly. The truss rod was constantly needing adjustments, which seemed to throw off the bridge all the time. Couldn't keep it in tune either. So I got rid of it.
Back to the Tele. I got the Maple Neck version in Tidepool, and I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up. It is the closest neck feel to my #1 Strat (A 2000 American Standard RW Fingerboard) that I've ever found. Sounded great unplugged and the body was nice and resonant and it was actually set up well at the shop I went to. It helped that this wasn't a big box store, so I could actually listen to the guitar unplugged without some ear screeching racket going on in the background. The frets were well dressed, the neck socket was firmly in place and in the right place and the nut seemed to be cut to the right slot depth. Didn't even plug it in at the store.
Brought it home and plugged it into a little Blackstar HT-1R I had just bought (which is a killer little amp, btw) and it sounded great. Really nice twang on both pickups. No drop out or scratchiness when toggling the pick ups and no unearthly noises when adjusting the tone or volume knobs. I was very impressed all around. I find the bridge pickup much more "Tele like" than the neck pickup. The neck pickup seems a little dark to me, but I also noted that the bass side screw for the neck pickup didn't have that plastic tubing to hold it firmly in place, so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it. I have the new tubing on order, so I'll mess with that before making my final determination.
Truthfully, this is going to be a project guitar. For what it is and the price I got it for, it's a stellar guitar. I was thoroughly impressed, as 25 years ago, you could not get close to the quality in this guitar without paying 3 times the price. Even though the Player Series is built in Mexico and some of the parts *may* be lesser quality, it is a hell of a way to get into the Tele market.
I intend to change out the tuners to locking ones, as I hate winding strings when changing them, get a new perloid pickguard, as I love the look of those on Teles, and eventually change out the pickups. Once I fix the issue with the neck pickup and re-evaluate, I'll be on the hunt. Looking hard at the Greg Koch Gristle Tone set, but haven't made up my mind yet.
All in all, I haven't put the guitar down since getting it. Which is the most important thing to me. Thanks for reading.
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