The right Telecaster for me...

I've always preferred strats or Les Pauls but after all those years, I think I may have found THE right Telecaster for me. Replace the pick guard w/ a regular one and add the typical hardware (all black of course) and and I'm sold!  

(Also - I wonder whow cool it'd look w/ a reversed/leftie neck on it. hmmm...)

I can't believe I'm actually considering a Tele as my next guitar. :s

I don't trust my own abilities, but I have a friend in San Diego who builds them, and this particular Tele would probably be the inspiration.

I bought a 2012 American Tele not so long ago and it's turned into my all time favorite guitar. It just plays so well and feels so comfortable in the hands. To be honest it's my first all-single-coil guitar. I almost went with the '72 Deluxe reissue with humbuckers but changed my mind at the last minute. I'm glad I did...I am loving that single coil twang. It just cuts through any mix! This guitar has been the creative kick start I needed to explore new styles and it's really revolutionized my playing. 

I worked my way through the Warmoth "Build your own" and decided it would be cheaper to go to my local guitar shop and buy another Gibson...

ampfixer

Karyn


I worked my way through the Warmoth "Build your own" and decided it would be cheaper to go to my local guitar shop and buy another Gibson...

Waddya mean $2,000 and "some assembly required" ?!?!?!?!

Yeah,  plus $150 shipping + >$400  "import duty".   I thought the idea of self build was to make it cheaper!

Yeah,  plus $150 shipping + >$400  "import duty".   I thought the idea of self build was to make it cheaper!

Seems so strange...............


I grew up 2 miles from Lynn's shop.


I drive by at least 2 times a week just during the work day.

It's nice isn't it?

My buddy in SD confirmed he would be ready to build one like this anytime w/ the minor alterations I had in mind.

Probably won't be before a while but I'm just glad that I've finally found a Tele that looked just right for me. I know it's a bit silly to judge a guitar on looks solely, but I guess that's what it took to make me want one, unlike Les Pauls or strats, which I just dig so much. And since it'd be custom build, I trust I could get it to my liking, anyways.

A few things I'm also considering - my first idea was that a reverse headstock, but the more I think about it, the more I'm inclined to go for something as traditional as possible - since it'd be my first tele, I'd probably want it to be as standard as possible in terms of hardware and setup.

Another consideration would be a B-bender, something I've wanted for years - I mentioned it here before. Although that would probably ruin the all-black concept.

 Here's how you can tell a real guitar player, " I had me a 65 tele"...starts to tear up...mouth quivers" I had to sell her"...outright bawling now." Man what a mistake".

 Hope this isn't offensive Rain, just finding some humor in it;)

Rain... I'm not familiar with that Tele yer lookin' at, but if it's anything like a conventional one, you will love it!  I am continually amazed by the tones I can coax out of mine.  I can go from Allman Bros to Conway Twitty in 2 seconds flat with that thing!  And just so easy to play.

I hope you get it and love it!

I sold a 1972 Les Paul Custom and a 1993 Les Paul Classic to help pay for my studio stuff.  Now, my Tele is my go-to guitar, followed closely by my new Prestige Heritage Hollow (check 'em out!) and my Fender Robben Ford.

The thing w/ telecasters and the reason why I never bought one... Well, growing up and picking up electric guitar in the 80s when I was 12, as a heavy metal fan, the tele were about as uncool as those old Gibson ES type of guitars. 

I mentioned it before, but anyway, I was stuck w/ a cheapo sunbusrt Les Paul copy, and that wasn't too cool either. It was the era of Jackson, Kramer, BC Rich and Charvel and Telecasters were pretty much associated w/ country music, something any self-respecting metalhead didn't want to be associated to. 

Of course I eventually outgrew those narrow minded views, but, I don't know - I got my strat, which was THE guitar for me and when the alternative scene took over and following the success of bands like Radiohead, it's like every one was playing tele. Any way, I eventually became totally disinterested in guitar oriented music. 

Wasn't it Radiohead who sang Anyone Can Play Guitar? That was my impression at that time. I didn't know how to approach the instrument anymore - the stuff that I used to love seemed boring to play, but if I tried to play something a bit more challenging, I felt like I was trying to show off or being too self-conscious.

So guitar pretty much vanished from my songs, w/ a few exceptions. I needed time away from it. I wasn't making any progress and I had no interest in the possible directions I could have ventured in.

I think what brought me back to the instrument was that I started writing for my wife. That's when I could just throw all the rationalizing out there and just play the guitar and enjoy it. Almost as if I had to earn the right to play whatever I wanted and not worry.

And I'm having such a blast - the time away from the instrument definitely brought back the passion. Stuff I'd never dared to try like trying to learn some Yngwie stuff or those insane country riffs or good old rock n roll and the things that first made me want to play guitar like those old Ace Frehley solos. 

It definitely broaden my horizons and, incidentally, I guess that's why I got curious about maybe getting a Telecaster, at last.

 I can certainly inderstand the attachment to a guitar. My first electric guitar was a Laguna HSS . I would have a difficult time selling it. I would compare the feeling to a tool that you always use and become accustomed to using on a regular basis. If anything happened to it there would be a feeling of loss. In my case I believe the feelings associated with the guitar were more an attachment and not that it was phenominal in any way. 

  My most recent guitar is a modeler and pragmatic is about how I would describe my decision . I didn't go for the appearance although I like how it looks and plays. I don't plan on buying many more guitars so this one guitar needed to cover a lot of bases. I guess I approached it like a keyboard player lol.

I like my stock American Standard Tele but I don't play it out so I can be happy with basically a two trick pony.

A friend had a Nashville Deluxe Tele that he had someone put in a Floyd Rose whammy set up.  The Nashville set up has the three pickup Strat configuration.  I imagine stacked humbuckers in the neck and bridge with coil tapping set up as well as a Strat pickup switching configuration with some way to turn off the middle pickup.  That would be a Jack of all trades guitar.