52 tele reis

[blake da teleman]

im looking into getting a 52 tele reissue and want to know if its worth the cash and if any one hear played it id like to know how well it plays, i have not been able to find one in my town so i havent been able to play it myself just yet.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: 52 tele reis

Okay, I had one, loved some of it, hated a bit of it.

Likes: the finish on the body, the figured maple that was the neck, wow! the overall look of this axe kills. All the toys in hte case, the ashtray bridge was nice.

Dislikes: the pickups were too vintage, no bass to the neck pup at all. The fantastic tones I get out of my Hwy 1 with the Alnico 2 Vintage Duncan in the neck is the bomb. I also disliked the 7.25" radius of the neck. Too round for all my bends and stuff. It came wired in the old vintage style, where the front position of the 3-way was a bass simulation like they used to use. There is a kit that lets you swap it back if you like.


Overall, the cosmetics tripped me up when I saw it at GC. I negotiated a good price for a new one ($1100 total). Then I spent a lot of time with it and decided that I could put new pups in it, but I'd never get used to that radius.

I don't want to discourage you at all. There are thousands of folks that love that old radius. I like my necks a bit flatter.

 

[tone4days]

Re: 52 tele reis

if you have the money for the real-deal fender, and if you intend to play it and keep it forever (meaning no concern for resale value retention), then i'd recommend you have a tele custom built for yourself for less than the cost of the production fender ... you can get the exact size frets you want, the exact bridge you want, the exact pups you want, the exact type and 'look/weight' of wood you want, etc ...

all that being said, you should really play one before you buy one ... the necks are not everyone's cup of tea and neither are the frets ... and you'll probably need to install the (included) wiring upgrade to get 3 usable pickup combinations out of the switch

good luck
t4d

 

[FenderBoy]

Re: 52 tele reis

a friend owns one. the bridge was updated to the 6 saddle bridge. He got it for $700 about 4 years ago. quite a few little dings in the body that explains the low price. He still got a really good deal on it. I have played it about 10 times.The Tele definitley grows on me.
PROS: great neck, fun to play, probably has great resale value, classic styling.
CONS: Bright sounding, this could be easily fixed with better amp set up (My friend usually plays a Takamine acoustic so he doesn't have the proper gear for the tele. He bought this guitar because he's a huge Springseen fan)