The science of the telecaster

[Quencho092]

i just got my first telecaster and am blown away by the tone and feel. In lots of spots on the neck, i can command a clean, pure waily bend with the right touch, it's just really rewarding. It's a 70's one, the custom telecaster with the humbucker in the neck.

Does the big bridge plate help transfer vibration to the body?

I guess since it was the first solid body electric, leo wanted to over design the ability for the guitar to resonate and produce a strong sound so he incorporated lots of solid parts and wood to do it. Just incredible tone!

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The science of the telecaster

Teles are great....I've not stopped playing my own now since the Tele posts of about 2 weeks ago...It's just a simple guitar design that works and sounds great because of the sum of it's parts..

 

[jeremy]

Re: The science of the telecaster

cool! where did ya find it? what color?
the tele is a simple guitar with the strings thru the body which leads to a pretty simple but resonant guitar.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: The science of the telecaster

its faded down to a light amber color. You can see the grain and it has a smooth woody feel to the finish. it has the large black pickguard, one fender nickel covered humbucker and the telecaster bridge pickup

My uncle and my dad have been playing in a latin rock, jazz, traditional son cubano band since 1968 in new jersey and new york until he moved down here to miami. My uncle is pretty much a spanish guitar virtuoso-he's been playing since he was 12 and even received lessons from a student of Andres Segovia.

Well, acoustic style latin music is in greater demand in south beach right now so he has no use for it any more. So he gave me his telecaster (its a 72 i think) and his ibanez blonde lawsuit strat. Both guitars have been played hard and he's refretted them 3 times.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: The science of the telecaster

Thank you so much guys for re-igniting my Tele GAS. :firedevil

 

[Hoss]

Re: The science of the telecaster

its faded down to a light amber color. You can see the grain and it has a smooth woody feel to the finish. it has the large black pickguard, one fender nickel covered humbucker and the telecaster bridge pickup

My uncle and my dad have been playing in a latin rock, jazz, traditional son cubano band since 1968 in new jersey and new york until he moved down here to miami. My uncle is pretty much a spanish guitar virtuoso-he's been playing since he was 12 and even received lessons from a student of Andres Segovia.

Well, acoustic style latin music is in greater demand in south beach right now so he has no use for it any more. So he gave me his telecaster (its a 72 i think) and his ibanez blonde lawsuit strat. Both guitars have been played hard and he's refretted them 3 times.

now those sound like some serious mojo-fied guitars man...that was pretty cool of him?!?!

and yes Simon....you should buy a tele! :laugh2: :burnout:

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: The science of the telecaster

Teles are great....I've not stopped playing my own now since the Tele posts of about 2 weeks ago...

No... you are STRATdeluxer... don't throw away your strats for teles...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: The science of the telecaster

No... you are STRATdeluxer... don't throw away your strats for teles...

I'll never throw away my strats for teles,but lately the Teles are getting all the attention....This week anyway.. :laugh2:

 

[Tony_H]

Re: The science of the telecaster

Thank you so much guys for re-igniting my Tele GAS. :firedevil

LOL. I believe you said you had an old Telecaster sometime in the past. Care to comment?

Tony

 

[Tony_H]

Re: The science of the telecaster

its faded down to a light amber color. You can see the grain and it has a smooth woody feel to the finish. it has the large black pickguard, one fender nickel covered humbucker and the telecaster bridge pickup

My uncle and my dad have been playing in a latin rock, jazz, traditional son cubano band since 1968 in new jersey and new york until he moved down here to miami. My uncle is pretty much a spanish guitar virtuoso-he's been playing since he was 12 and even received lessons from a student of Andres Segovia.

Well, acoustic style latin music is in greater demand in south beach right now so he has no use for it any more. So he gave me his telecaster (its a 72 i think) and his ibanez blonde lawsuit strat. Both guitars have been played hard and he's refretted them 3 times.

Sounds like you have a very nice guitar! Congratulations!

 

[FELIX57]

Re: The science of the telecaster

ive noticed a lot of bands that play les pauls have telecasters as their back up

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: The science of the telecaster

The Tele has the metal base plate on the bottom of the bridge pickup and the metal Mounting plate. I wonder which one contributes the most to the full Tele tone. I'm sure that both have significant impact on it's tone. Do you think that the bottom plate does more than the metal mounting plate or is it a 50/50 collaboration from both metal plates as well as the Tele's larger pickup bobbin.

 

[Simon_F]

Re: The science of the telecaster

LOL. I believe you said you had an old Telecaster sometime in the past. Care to comment?

Tony

I had a black 1980 Tele with rosewood fingerboard that I owned between '83 and '86. Not a special model or year, but it played beautifully, sounded great and was the most versatile guitar I've ever owned. I am a complete dork for selling it. :smack:

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: The science of the telecaster

I had a black 1980 Tele with rosewood fingerboard that I owned between '83 and '86. Not a special model or year, but it played beautifully, sounded great and was the most versatile guitar I've ever owned. I am a complete dork for selling it. :smack:

fftopic:
May I answer? um...yes. :laugh2:

Just like I was a dork for selling my Hamer Special and Gibson Explorer. It takes one to know one. :yell: :sad:
How much did you get for it?

 

[Simon_F]

Re: The science of the telecaster

How much did you get for it?

£200 I think. :crying:

 

[Tony_H]

Re: The science of the telecaster

£200 I think. :crying:

Sorry, I didn't mean to be mean. It's just that I seem to have had more Teles than any other guitars. The first was a communist Czechoslovakian knockoff. More like a toy. The next was a Czech-made clone (late '90s) - played and sounded good but the neck warped. So I got an Indonesian-made Squier Std. Had to sell it later, but couldn't live without a Tele, so I got a custom neck and body. The neck went bad... so I got a Keen clone and put its neck on the custom body. But these cheap necks, you know... so I got ANOTHER Indonesian-made Standard, took its neck and put it on the custom body. The Std body got the Keen neck ... are you with me? Then I got my Hwy 1, sold the Std body with Keen neck ... and I'm swapping the custom body with the Std neck for an SG clone tomorrow.

The moral of the story is, I could have bought the Hwy 1 AND a good used REAL Gibson SG Special for all that money. Sometimes I can't believe I'm 32...

 

[ErikH]

Re: The science of the telecaster

I told my wife that there's a real nice Merle Haggard signature Tele. She just looked at me like "NO, you just got a new one." Which I did, but it's a Les Paul. But that Tele is just georgeous.

 

[Kelsey]

Re: The science of the telecaster

Teles are my favorite style of guitar. I've thought a lot about what contributes to the unique bridge pickup tone that seems to define a Tele. It seems to be the sum of the parts, but not all of them seem to be critical. Some people go on about whether the bridge plate is steel vs. brass, 6-saddle vs. 3-saddle, brass vs. steel saddles, base plate on the pickup vs. no-plate, etc. Yet, you can come up with examples of great Tele players with unmistakably Tele tones who use all of those various combinations. After playing 2 different Antiquity I Tele lead pups, 2 different Nocaster lead pups, the JD Tele lead, the 5/2 Tele lead, and the STL-2 Hot Tele lead, I now think that the characteristic size and geometry of the lead pickup combined with the rigid mounting to a metal bridge plate is the critical combination of features that define the fundamental Tele lead tone.

 

[tone4days]

Re: The science of the telecaster

She just looked at me like "NO, you just got a new one."

" i'll remember that when you come in here with your N-hundreth pair of shoes "

 

[ErikH]

Re: The science of the telecaster

" i'll remember that when you come in here with your N-hundreth pair of shoes "

Tried that one already. Got told that all her shoes cost as much as one of my guitars. And since she doesn't have many to begin with, she's probably right. Maybe I just need to give her more :flowers1: to butter her up. :laugh2: