drew_half_empty
Looking for Real Life
okay, so after months of searching, listening to clips of pickups, talking to people, playtesting, all that good stuff, i decided to get a Fender Telecaster HH blackout, which is only really a telecaster because of the body shape, but nonetheless i was more than pleased with it. Before i go on to talk about playing it, here's a rundown of the specs;
BODY Basswood, with Carved Top
NECK Maple, Set Neck
MACHINE HEADS Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
FINGERBOARD Rosewood, 15.75” Radius
FRETS 24 Jumbo Frets
PICKUPS 1 SD ‘59 Humbucker (Bridge),
1 SD Pearly Gate Plus Humbucker (Neck)
CONTROLS Master Volume, Master Tone
BRIDGE 6-Saddle Strings-Through-Body Hardtail Bridge
PICKUP SWITCHING 3-Position Toggle
STRINGS Fender Super 250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-0250-003 (which i switched out for DR mediums (.11 to .50)
PICKGUARD None
now onto the rest. I had a local shop order it, costs $599. The first thing i noticed was, well, its a ****in hot looking guitar, no stupid dot inlays (except on the top), all black, they even took the courtesy of raising the 59, which i was planning to do anyways to get a meaner sound. So i took it over to a friend's house, and plugged it into his marshall avt150. First off, the pearly gate, on clean with the tone all the way up, is the prettiest sounding pickup i have ever heard, even compared to my acoustic, it's definately everything i wanted from a clean channel, and then some. However, the more you distort it, the less you can hear the individual notes, with a little fuzz, you get this sound that's almost identical to clapton/hendrix, depending on levels & FX, almost like it has a built in strat that sounds better than a vintage strat. The middle position is a little weird, as the 59 is a reverse polarity humbucker. It's kinda...quacky sounding, sounds really good on sour notes & pinch harmonics, but other than that i don't use this position much. The 59, damn, i knew i'd like this one, casey (local guitar hero) reccomended them, i guess thats what he has on his telestratapaul, with the distortion all the way up, it was mean as hell, and i could STILL hear every strum & note. With light distortion...i dunno, pretty standard sounding. I wouldn't say either pickup has the all-out bottom end that you need for metal, but myself not being a metal fan, i was kinda glad about that, i mean it still sounds heavy, but a hardcore punk sound is about as heavy as you can get. I'd say it'd be perfect for anything BUT metal. Actually come to think of it, i think i did see a schecter with 59's in it, so i guess with the right tuning & settings (and player) it would do good on metal.
onto other specs, behind the nut bends are comforterable, the neck is a little thicker & longer than a regular tele neck, which is good, the regular tele necks kinda hurt my hand after awhile. One thing that's great is the weight, it's LIGHT AS ****, I'd say it weighs about 5 pounds but thats just a guess. Even after puttin on new strings it stayed in tune perfectly, my friend greg had to tune his les paul more than we had to tune the blackout at practice. The thing that i found most ammusing was that everyone at practice liked my guitar more than greg's les paul, which made him bitter, to say the least, i mean...his DOES retail for about twice the price of mine. Even if you hate fender i'd reccomend atleast playing one of these, it's unlike anything I've ever played before, it's incredibly diverse, you don't get any of the feedback that you do with teles & strats (not to mention it costs WAY less than a fat strat) it's light, i mean what more could you ask for?
bottom line - my favorite guitar in the whole world. Feel free to ask questions
BODY Basswood, with Carved Top
NECK Maple, Set Neck
MACHINE HEADS Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
FINGERBOARD Rosewood, 15.75” Radius
FRETS 24 Jumbo Frets
PICKUPS 1 SD ‘59 Humbucker (Bridge),
1 SD Pearly Gate Plus Humbucker (Neck)
CONTROLS Master Volume, Master Tone
BRIDGE 6-Saddle Strings-Through-Body Hardtail Bridge
PICKUP SWITCHING 3-Position Toggle
STRINGS Fender Super 250L, Nickel Plated Steel, (.009 to .042), p/n 073-0250-003 (which i switched out for DR mediums (.11 to .50)
PICKGUARD None
now onto the rest. I had a local shop order it, costs $599. The first thing i noticed was, well, its a ****in hot looking guitar, no stupid dot inlays (except on the top), all black, they even took the courtesy of raising the 59, which i was planning to do anyways to get a meaner sound. So i took it over to a friend's house, and plugged it into his marshall avt150. First off, the pearly gate, on clean with the tone all the way up, is the prettiest sounding pickup i have ever heard, even compared to my acoustic, it's definately everything i wanted from a clean channel, and then some. However, the more you distort it, the less you can hear the individual notes, with a little fuzz, you get this sound that's almost identical to clapton/hendrix, depending on levels & FX, almost like it has a built in strat that sounds better than a vintage strat. The middle position is a little weird, as the 59 is a reverse polarity humbucker. It's kinda...quacky sounding, sounds really good on sour notes & pinch harmonics, but other than that i don't use this position much. The 59, damn, i knew i'd like this one, casey (local guitar hero) reccomended them, i guess thats what he has on his telestratapaul, with the distortion all the way up, it was mean as hell, and i could STILL hear every strum & note. With light distortion...i dunno, pretty standard sounding. I wouldn't say either pickup has the all-out bottom end that you need for metal, but myself not being a metal fan, i was kinda glad about that, i mean it still sounds heavy, but a hardcore punk sound is about as heavy as you can get. I'd say it'd be perfect for anything BUT metal. Actually come to think of it, i think i did see a schecter with 59's in it, so i guess with the right tuning & settings (and player) it would do good on metal.
onto other specs, behind the nut bends are comforterable, the neck is a little thicker & longer than a regular tele neck, which is good, the regular tele necks kinda hurt my hand after awhile. One thing that's great is the weight, it's LIGHT AS ****, I'd say it weighs about 5 pounds but thats just a guess. Even after puttin on new strings it stayed in tune perfectly, my friend greg had to tune his les paul more than we had to tune the blackout at practice. The thing that i found most ammusing was that everyone at practice liked my guitar more than greg's les paul, which made him bitter, to say the least, i mean...his DOES retail for about twice the price of mine. Even if you hate fender i'd reccomend atleast playing one of these, it's unlike anything I've ever played before, it's incredibly diverse, you don't get any of the feedback that you do with teles & strats (not to mention it costs WAY less than a fat strat) it's light, i mean what more could you ask for?
bottom line - my favorite guitar in the whole world. Feel free to ask questions
