Talk Tele's to me!

Aceman

Aceman

I am your doctor of love!
I'm jonesing for a Tele lately. No reason.

Never really a fan - but sometimes a new shape is inspiring, or maybe the mystery of the unknown, etc....

I'm always on the lookout for a basic Natural Tele. Something like Bruce/The Boss would play. But I always thought I
'd like a hard rock pickup in it.

So - what would you do?

Keep neck? Swap it for what?
And add what bridge in single coil size?
NO double Humbuckjer Tele's. Not a Tele to me.

I think a simple 59 might work great for this....
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

You can do very heavy with fairly standard teles.

Just disconnect the tone control from the neck for less muffled tone. Maybe something less twangy than a 6k bridge if you're wanting rock......JD maybe, or a stack of some sort for noise cancelling. RATM I think was a fairly stock Tele initially.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I think I wound need a belly cut, and a bridge that doesn't cut into my wrist. And a better angle for the switch.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I really like my modernized Warmoth Tele. I ordered it with the forearm contour, belly cut, and contoured heel options, along with a bright metalflake finish to really set it off. The result is a body that is much nicer to play than the traditional Tele body, but still looks the part of a good ol' T-caster.

Being a rocker at heart like you, I opted for a Wilkinson tremolo bridge and a Warmoth standard "C" profile neck on mine, which is more like a Strat profile than a traditional Tele, but the guitar overall still has a very "Tele" vibe to it, especially compared to my other guitars.

For pickups, I went with a Bill Lawrence L90 (8.0H) humbucker in the bridge and a Kinman Big-Nine-O single-coil sized P-90 in the neck. If I ever swap out the bridge pickup, I'd probably go for a 4.8H or 6.0H version of the L90 just to give it a bit more spank and sparkle, but the 8.0H model has just enough heat to make a metal-head smile with all that classic Lawrence clarity on top!

If I build another Tele style guitar at some point, it'll be another fully contoured Warmoth body and standard "C" shaped neck, but with more traditional pickups, pickguard, and bridge (look at the Gotoh modern tele bridge). There's something very sexy about an overwound Tele single coil bridge pickup and that unique twang from a classic Tele neck pickup.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I just keep thinking a Tele with a lil' 59 in the bridge would just be great for "Rock"
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

The Little 59, however, at 17k and a Ceramic magnet looks like a Distortion, and the EQ looks like a SuperDistortion...RAWK!
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

Aceman said:
The Little 59, however, at 17k and a Ceramic magnet looks like a Distortion, and the EQ looks like a SuperDistortion...RAWK!
Click to expand...

Dimarzio makes a Tele version of the Super Distortion. You might want to look into that.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I had the same itch last summer, and my god am I glad I scratched it!

I now officially love teles, even though I used to – and still kind of do – think they look ugly / derpy. I'm a higher-gain guy, so also wanted a tele that could rock.

I ended up going for a "black guard" style tele, with a bridge single coil and a neck humbucker, a la Keef Richards' Micawber. I put Duncan Quarter Pounder in the bridge, and a Gibson 490R in the neck, and I was FLOORED. The tele bridge sound with the Duncan is HUGE. It so much bite to it, and you can nail that raunchy, early Zeppelin tone, since a lot of it was recorded on a tele anyway
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

zizyphus said:
I had the same itch last summer, and my god am I glad I scratched it!

I now officially love teles, even though I used to – and still kind of do – think they look ugly / derpy. I'm a higher-gain guy, so also wanted a tele that could rock.

I ended up going for a "black guard" style tele, with a bridge single coil and a neck humbucker, a la Keef Richards' Micawber. I put Duncan Quarter Pounder in the bridge, and a Gibson 490R in the neck, and I was FLOORED. The tele bridge sound with the Duncan is HUGE. It so much bite to it, and you can nail that raunchy, early Zeppelin tone, since a lot of it was recorded on a tele anyway
Click to expand...
Funny I'm the same - bought one early last year to scratch an itch that came about for some SC bite and I've never been big on Teles.

@Aceman check out Godin Stadium 59. It's a slightly hotter bridge SC they call the Custom Cajun, it's got a 59 humbucker in the neck, a 5-way switch for more sounds and an active revoicing switch that adds a lot more snarl and snap. GREAT under gain in any setting and it can rock hella hard, but still be sweet and polite.

Plus it's got more body contours on it instead of that (IMO) boring flat slab.

Sounds to me like you want a hotrodded tele and I think this would be right up your alley!

Sent from my SM-N975W using Tapatalk
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I love teles, but never really liked stock tele neck pickups. I'd go Fender Twisted Tele neck (essentially a strat) pickup if you want to look "normal", a mini humbucker (my favorite), Firebird style or a full size humbucker in the neck if you want it to be a little less traditional.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

TheViewFromVenus said:
Esquire style with a Chopper T.
Click to expand...

Aceman said:
With a series/parallel/split on the switch...I am NOT against this idea! Love the Chopper.
Click to expand...

I did this very thing on my Esquire build (that slowly morphed in a to a Strat build...LOL). The Broadcaster I had in it originally was nice but I needed more so I got a Rumplestiltskin Black Rope, slightly overwound. Sounded killer. After a while I was intrigued with the Chopper so I threw that in there and wired the 3-way for series/parallel/split using the Duncan diagram. That was a great setup for a single-pickup guitar. Some twang, some rawk and all in between.

The only reason I sold everything (started with the body fully loaded and later the neck) was because it would neck dive and want to go straight across where I'm more comfortable with the neck up a bit. Just about every Tele I had did that and that was number 4. While I like the basics of one, I prefer how basic I can make a Strat.

But yes, the Chopper T wired in such a fashion is a wonderful thing. You would not be disappointed.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I am a big fan of the tele and it is an itch that must be scratched! I just finished assembling a new on (warmoth neck MIM body) and have the little 59 as well as a regular 59 in the neck. I am really enjoying the combo, I mainly play clean but when I do add the gain it gives a nice full classic rock sound. My #1 tele has a twisted tele set and a 4-way switch that I just love as it is a very full sounding combo. I doubt you would regret scratching your itch.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I always like hearing other guys play teles. I'd had one in the past and didn't love it. But I got the itch again a while ago and got one. I have just a standard series fender. I like the neck, 9.5 radius and a good depth. The couple of classic vibes I've played were pretty nice, but the necks seemed a bit shallower, and I didn't care for that. If I were going to replace the neck, I'd go with a warmoth standard with the conical radius. I like that on the strat I have.
For pickups and bridge, for me I like it vintage-ish. the uncomfortable one with the raised sides and 3 saddles, otherwise what's the point?
I've been happy with the tex-mex tele pickups. They're pretty vintage-vibed, but a tad hotter - and very affordable. A few days ago there was a post of a guy comparing the Jerry Donahue to a lil 59. I thought the lil 59 still sounded pretty tele-esque, so depending on what you're looking for, that one might not be it.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

I always loved Steve Morse and Albert Lee. But man, I can't make a Tele sound like that at all. I'll just enjoy them.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

Aceman said:
The Little 59, however, at 17k and a Ceramic magnet looks like a Distortion, and the EQ looks like a SuperDistortion...RAWK!
Click to expand...
The specs of single-coil size humbuckers cannot be compared with regular size humbuckers. They mostly use a ceramic magnet because the magnetic field is narrower and an A2/A5 magnet is not strong enough (but I think the Red Devil is A5). The 'Lil '59 seems good as is the Chopper T (check Richie Kotzen).
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

My aforementioned tele, when I bought it used, had the Hot Rails for Tele in it. In my opinion, not very tele-esque, but nice sounding pickups. and hot. Not crazy sounding, but just a good "modified" humbucker sound.
 
Re: Talk Tele's to me!

donaldr said:
The specs of single-coil size humbuckers cannot be compared with regular size humbuckers. They mostly use a ceramic magnet because the magnetic field is narrower and an A2/A5 magnet is not strong enough (but I think the Red Devil is A5). The 'Lil '59 seems good as is the Chopper T (check Richie Kotzen).
Click to expand...

I know this...yet it allows me to dream. I don't want anything actually as hot as a SUperD or Distortion. But those numbers make me feel good about it rocking!
 
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