Our Telecaster Love Affairs.

Hootsmon

7lbs 2 oz CS 52 ^

Voxman

I have a 1988 USA Fender Telecaster Standard, rosewood board, alder body. I came to Telecasters very late but instantly liked its no frills, no nonsense 'it does what it says on the tin' approach.  Lovely low action, liked the ballsy bridge pickup,  but I blew hot and cold 're the neck pick up, nice with some things, too bassy on others.  Good workhorse but never really got my pulse racing. 

Then during Covid I saw some vids raving about the Harley Benton TE152NA. Ash body, maple neck, black guard, Roswell pickups. So I bought one..and I just loved it.  It not only looked terrific, but the tone was utterly amazing.  Tons of great Tele spank, great sounding neck pickup, chunky but very comfortable neck. Bit on the heavy side but a lot lighter than some of the weights reported.

I had to do a little work on it including lowering the action, fixing loose ferules, polishing the frets, smoothing a couple of the fret edges, swapping out the meh ( but serviceable) tuners for same style Wilson 15:1 vintage tuners, and swapping the perfectly ok chrome 3 piece saddles for Wilkinson brass compensated saddles.  Had a slight microphonic problem that I first thought was the bridge pickup but turned out to be the bridge plate vibrating that was fixed with some blutac.  

For £139 plus £22 for tuners (a very kind Fretboarder gave me the brass saddles) I now have an absolutely stonking Tele that sounds better than any Telecaster I've ever played and I'd gig with in a heartbeat.  It's my go to guitar that's always on my guitar stand...and I just love it! 

Gassage

@Hootsmon Is this your new one?

Teyeplayer

Shared it before, but my heavily modded (has had more pickups than triggers broom has had handles), psychedelic paint job US standard tele from about ‘00. Gigged to hell and back for its first decade and then routinely returned to, because nothing else quite does ‘that’.
https://www.flickr.com/gp/157224850@N02/51R0H1

Wazmeister

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Mattharrier

@Wazmeister that is really cool. I'm not one for a relic, but if I was to spec out a Tele, I would consider it for some reason.

JJ72

HAL9000 said:

JJ72 said:

I currently have a parstcaster thats the best tele I've owned ( I've had Jap 62 custom. Mim72 Road worn, cv classic vibe, mij JD tele + quality partscasters) and the body is an affinity  married to a Mexican 50s neck.
IMO, the thinner affinity body is great and sounds as ' teleish' as any I've heard

Does that then mean that your Tele is a top-loader? Or have you changed things in the bridge department?

I did get ferrules installed to make it a string through a couple of years ago but I've recently fitted a bigsby to it so I suppose you could say it's back to being a top loader of sorts!

GavRichList

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Cannot argue with the purchase of an anniversary broadcaster! 

robgilmo

Ive often found if a Tele isnt set up properly it wont sound like a Tele, and its easier to make a Tele not sound like a Tele than it is to make a Tele sound like a Tele. And thats what I think.  

robgilmo

GavRichList said:

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Cannot argue with the purchase of an anniversary broadcaster! 

If I owned that I would have to sell it, it looks way way better than I can play. If I pulled that out people would be expecting me to be able to play it like I had owned it for a hundred years and played it every hour of every day for ever.

GavRichList

robgilmo said:

GavRichList said:

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Cannot argue with the purchase of an anniversary broadcaster! 

If I owned that I would have to sell it, it looks way way better than I can play. If I pulled that out people would be expecting me to be able to play it like I had owned it for a hundred years and played it every hour of every day for ever.

That’s why I only got a journeyman relic for mine

SPECTRUM001

GavRichList said:

robgilmo said:

GavRichList said:

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Cannot argue with the purchase of an anniversary broadcaster! 

If I owned that I would have to sell it, it looks way way better than I can play. If I pulled that out people would be expecting me to be able to play it like I had owned it for a hundred years and played it every hour of every day for ever.

That’s why I only got a journeyman relic for mine

Whilst I genuinely strive to advance my playing ability, these are more than just guitars, they are beautiful works of art.

So f&ck that, if they are gorgeous they are gorgeous and I would be proud to own ‘em !

@GavRichList - I really liked your 30 second piece. In fact I just learned it !!

notanon

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Wow, some guitars have the smallest of dents and "price adjusted accordingly".

Then there is this, . . . why is that so frigging cool?

GavRichList

@SPECTRUM001 blimey, cheers! Was just a little doodle. 

markj

I know it’s a personal thing for each individual guitarist but what pickup height do all your owners like?  I’ve got a Jason Isbell signature tele and I’m trying to find the sweet spot for the pickups.

springhead

It was many years of playing before I tried and loved the Telecaster.  I built a cheap partscaster (known in our band as "The Doncaster") and then got the Tele bug even stronger after playing a real 1952 blackguard.  I toyed with getting a Baja, or Roadworn and swapping out parts but eventually settled on getting Graham as GSPBasses to build me a swamp ash body, roasted maple neck with rosewoord board.  Paint job from Rich, final woodwork and setup from Feline, pickups from OilCity, neck oiling and wiring by me.  It's lovely. 

Voxman

Wazmeister said:

I feel very fortunate to own this... it remains the best Tele Ive played.

Yeah, but it's a bit beaten up...maybe time to get a nice new shiny one?!  lol

Voxman

markj said:

I know it’s a personal thing for each individual guitarist but what pickup height do all your owners like?  I’ve got a Jason Isbell signature tele and I’m trying to find the sweet spot for the pickups.

On most Teles I've played Inc my '88 Standard I found the neck pickup to be very sensitive to pick up height adjustment and trial and error to find the sweet spot. Bridge pickups are generally much more forgiving with a much wider height range where they sound good. 

Offset

springhead said:

It was many years of playing before I tried and loved the Telecaster.  I built a cheap partscaster (known in our band as "The Doncaster") and then got the Tele bug even stronger after playing a real 1952 blackguard.  I toyed with getting a Baja, or Roadworn and swapping out parts but eventually settled on getting Graham as GSPBasses to build me a swamp ash body, roasted maple neck with rosewoord board.  Paint job from Rich, final woodwork and setup from Feline, pickups from OilCity, neck oiling and wiring by me.  It's lovely. 

Dear Lord, that's just gorgeous.  Love the colour too.  Yummy...

chris78

springhead said:

It was many years of playing before I tried and loved the Telecaster.  I built a cheap partscaster (known in our band as "The Doncaster") and then got the Tele bug even stronger after playing a real 1952 blackguard.  I toyed with getting a Baja, or Roadworn and swapping out parts but eventually settled on getting Graham as GSPBasses to build me a swamp ash body, roasted maple neck with rosewoord board.  Paint job from Rich, final woodwork and setup from Feline, pickups from OilCity, neck oiling and wiring by me.  It's lovely. 

That neck is so pornographic, the picture should block itself before 10pm