Favorite Tele Build...

BS123

BS123

New member
I know everyone here either owns a Telecaster or 2 or maybe 2 or 4. Some may not own one but it's on the "plate". Some are just interested or curious about Teles. I remember when I used to hate Teles. They were so simplistic that they couldn't be any good. :smack: I hated the look too. That was back in early 80's. Then I found Albert Lee and I also found out that Alex Lifeson loved Teles. My outlook and opinion of Teles changed forever. How could something so simplistic be so versatile.

Some folks use the standard build and some put a 4-way switch in to get both pickups in series (very cool). Some folks like a Strat pickup in the neck and some like humbuckers all around (Tele-Gib). Some like to "Nashvillize" them and, well, there's all kinds of builds and mods out there and it seems to me that the Telecaster is the absolute most "moddable" guitar made.

So, tell me your favorite Tele build; whether you actually own one like that or not. Do a Kisekae build too. I'll start. I guess I like a alder or ash body with a vintage type bridge. A maple fretboard and a black guard. My favorite pickup config is a good vintage-type pickup in the bridge. It can be a little hot but not high output. I like a good Strat pickup in the middle and a mini-humbucker in the neck. For the switching, I like a 5-way super switch so I can have Strat-like switching; but in the #3 position, I like the bridge and neck pickups together in parallel. Here's my Kisekae version....
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

My tastes are similar: vintage 3 saddle bridge, ash or alder body, white pickguard, mini humbucker or strat pickup at the neck, and a low to medium output bridge pickup with standard 3 way switching.

And I'm seriously thinking about getting a Hipshot B-Bender on mine. :)
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

i like all kinds of teles i raelly couldnt just pick one to have.... currently im planning on building an 53 style esquire reproduction. ash with a butterscotch finish and a single duncan antiquity with 3 way switch

most important to me on all teles i consider are high quality brass or steel compensated saddles and a 9.5 radius
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I like '51 - early '54 Teles: lightweight swamp ash body and one piece maple neck with a rounded boatneck shape.

Medium Jumbo frets are a must for me and my '54 has been refretted with medium jumbos.

I like the vintage style three saddle bridge design and brass saddles...I think that sounds best. The angled/compensated brass saddles are on most of my Teles.

There are several sets of pickups I love:

Duncan alnico 2 Antiquity
Duncan Custom Shop alnico 2 Tapped Tele Hot
& alnico 5 Tele ala Strat neck
Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge and Fralin Tele Stock neck
or Fralin Blues Special neck
Fralin Tele Stocks
Fralin Tele Blues Specials

I do use the 5 way switch with my Custom Shop set and get:

1. Hot Bridge
2. Hot Bridge and Neck
3. Neck
4. Vintage Bridge and Neck
5. Vintage Bridge

I have four Teles and will be using my James Burton to test some Duncan neck pickups very soon. I have some Vintage Tele neck pickups and Hot Tele neck pickups from Duncan that I've never heard in my own guitar and I'll be trying them soon to see how they compare to the Lindy Fralin Tele Stock neck and Fralin Blues Special neck pickups I've been using for a long time now.

Lew
 
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Re: Favorite Tele Build...

Lew...we even have our Tele's with the tapped bridge pup wired the same!

I'm pretty much in to vintage style Tele's...even though my current one has an alder body! My next one is gonna be a swamp ash/maple neck done just like Jeff Beck's Tele-Gib, and after that my next Tele is gonna be a swamp ash, maple neck, bound Esquire. I also like the big fat 50's style necks, and large frets are a MUST as is at least a 9.5 radius in my book. I think a good Tele will have kluson keys and a box bridge with 3 brass saddles, and a maple fingerboard. I will also say that compensated brass saddles and the Electrosocket are 2 of the best things to happen to a Tele since Leo!!!
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

Great stuff guys!! Keep'em comin"....
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Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I'm about to build one from warmoth parts, mahogany body, modern 6 saddle bridge, string through, tummy and arm contours, hot rails bridge, vintage mini-bucker at the neck, ebony fretboard, standard thin neck back shape, somewhere between a 10-14" radius for the fretboard. Standard 3 way switching, probably with a coil split switch wired in. A modern hot rod tele.

My other tele is standard vintage style, with rio grande tallboy neck and muy grande bridge. As much as I love SD pickups, these things blow me away, I highly recommend them to anyone. I find in ANY guitar I own I like a vintage pickup at the neck and hotter pickup at the bridge, like my ESP with the '59 neck and JB bridge.
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

A few newer Fender CIJ '62 reissues would be my choice. As for pickups, an Antiquity (in Esquire set up), a set of Hamels, a Voodoo 60, and a BG1400 in Esquire format.

Oh yeah...and one would have a Parsons/White bender (installed by Gene, natch), and one would have a Bigsby. Finally, a CIJ '52 reissue with an Antiquity humbucker at the neck and an Antiquity bridge, set up as a five-string for open-G.
 
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Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I'd like one with a humbucker in the bridge, single in the bridge and minihumbucker in the neck.

Use the middle single coil alone for cleans, humbucker in the bridge for distortion, minihumbucker for jazz/blues.
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I now have 5 American Series Teles. I could enjoy a slightly chunkier neck, but all of the ones I've bought are chunky enough. The 9.5" radius is pretty much ideal for me, as are the medium jumbo frets. Two of them have one-piece maple necks, and 3 have rosewood fingerboards -- I like the looks of both, the feel of maple, and the better endurance I seem to have when playing rosewood. Three of them have ash bodies, two have alder -- I like the lightest ones the best I guess (one ash, one alder), but there's really not a big difference overall.

One of them was a limited edition done up like a modernized 52 RI with a set of Nocasters from the factory, but the other four have new pickups. I prefer just two pickups on mine: in addition to the one with the Nocaster set, I have one with a Nocaster lead and a SD SM-3 mini-HB neck, one with a set of Antiquity I flatpoles, and one with a Jerry Donahue lead and Phat Cat neck. The newest one is a Tele HS with the stock Atomic II HB at the neck and a SD STL-2 Hot Tele lead.

I like all of these combinations, and the flexibility of combining a good Tele bridge pickup with so many possibilities at the neck is just one reason why Teles rule. I'm not sure which one I would duplicate if I added a sixth Tele. Since I think the Antiquity I flatpole Tele lead pickup is narrowly my top choice in the bridge, I guess the best option at the neck overall would be the SM-1 or SM-3 mini-HB, although an Antiquity I Texas Hot Strat pickup at the neck might be cool. Anyway, I agree that Teles are among the best guitars to hotrod.
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I'm at the beginning of my love affair with the Tele, so the only mods that I have made so far, other than pup swap, has been adding a 4 way switch. And so far it's been an interesting mod adding an extra bit of twang and perceived compression to the tone. Next on the block will undoubtably be a new neck pup and then a 3 saddle bridge. But for now, I just love everything about my tele! I would love to pick up another good MIM and add a pair of Phat Cats to the mix.
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

JumpMarine said:
I'm at the beginning of my love affair with the Tele, so the only mods that I have made so far, other than pup swap, has been adding a 4 way switch. And so far it's been an interesting mod adding an extra bit of twang and perceived compression to the tone. Next on the block will undoubtably be a new neck pup and then a 3 saddle bridge. But for now, I just love everything about my tele! I would love to pick up another good MIM and add a pair of Phat Cats to the mix.
Click to expand...

Yeah...my MIM James Burton is routed for a neck humbucker size pickup and I've been wanting to try a Phat Cat in there for a long time. Soon as my mid 80's MIJ Tele Custom shows up I'll probably pull the Custom Shop pickups from my MIM James Burton and put those in the Tele Custom. Then do some experimenting with the James Burton.

The MIM James Burton Teles are very nice Teles BTW!
 
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The JD lead and Phat Cat neck ought to be sold as one of the new SD sets. It would be one of the few Tele sets that is RWRP as standard. They sound great together! :burnout:
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

Kelsey said:
The JD lead and Phat Cat neck ought to be sold as one of the new SD sets. It would be one of the few Tele sets that is RWRP as standard. They sound great together! :burnout:
Click to expand...
Hmmm.....that's another set that I'd like to try out! Major GAS comming on!
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

i like a tele with a 6 saddle moden bridge. I have a standard tele, with a hot rails, and am thinking about putting a 59 in the neck. i also wanna get one of thes lite ashe teles, they look pretty nice
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

Great thread, as I'm finding myself getting more interested in Teles. I think if I could have anything I wanted, I'd like a Phat Cat or mini-HB in the neck, and, quite honestly, a bridge pickup that sounds as good as the model they have for the Tele Custom in the Line 6 Variax (sorry). A friend let me borrow his Variax for a couple of nights, and that setting absolutely killed the (albeit stock MIM) Tele we had around the practice room. I guess it probably doesn't stack up to a properly set-up genuine article (obviously, I'm not a true Tele guy), but that was the sound I always associated with a good-sounding Tele.
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

My Hwy 1 is like a Relic waiting to happen. You hear about them having really thin, satin nitro finishes. Well, the finish fades and chips really easy. You can just about look at it and laquer will fly off. The cool thing is it's in the right places....
 
Re: Favorite Tele Build...

I like my Teles so basic there's barely any parts on them, in other words, an Esquire :)

Gonna be converting my custom built to an Esquire as soon as my new soldering station gets here! Imagine this guitar with a parchment Esquire pickguard.

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