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.

Rain,

That  Tele looks great!!!

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.

 It's funny how you never hear much of this kind of talk from keyboardists. " Man I really loved that there Roland, replaced the knobs,she looked good in the sunlight"

 How about tuba players?" The bell on that baby shined forever...and she could make the ear rings on Mrs. Roberts head vibrate."

 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;)

Starise

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

Not at all. :)


I wonder why, indeed. I'd think of synths in a much more pragmatic way - though there are exceptions - those old Moogs come to mind. 

But guitars, I don't know, they become an extension of your body. The more you play them, the better they get, the more comfortable... I know mine are. I can't tell you how many times I fell asleep with the guitar in my hands, laying on the bed or on the sofa, and strumming until I passed out. Or then, spending hours rehearsing scales and stuff while watching movies and stuff. It gets to a point where the guitar is a part of you. 

My old strat, Marianne, is an example. It's MY guitar, it is home to me. It also reminds me of the one time in my life where I didn't settle for less and allowed myself to spend as much as it took to get exactly what I wanted. And it's the only material thing I've kept w/ me through all those years.

Though the guitar itself contributes to the actual sound, I think that a better comparison to keyboard players would be to compare our approach to pedals and amps - that's where a lot of us tend to become more pragmatic. Sure an old Marshall Plexi or an beaten '59 Bassman look cool and may become an integral part of your sound, but, for me at least, it's nothing close to the actual guitar. 

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.

My first electric guitar was a Japanese POS called a Telestar. It was NOT one of the Telestar guitars that came out in the last decade or so... it was circa 1965 and it was crap (I wish I still had it though). I also had a SS suitcase amp with maybe a 6" speaker.

Then my dad bought me a Telecaster. I am not sure the year but it was a 1967 or '68. Rosewood board, vintage white... I traded it in on a Hofner acoustic 12 string because I wanted to be Jim McGuinn (later Roger McGuinn). Mercifully the rod in the neck finally came loose and I junked it. I cannot tell you how many times I have wished I had kept that Tele... hindsight is 20/20 as they say. I also had an all tube Silvertone 1485 amp, like Jack White uses... That amp has two output transformers, one for each pair of 6L6s.. so when I used a "Y" plug to run both channels, it actually doubled the sound. The cab has 6x10 Jensens... You could hear it a half mile away easy. Probably why I have tiniitus now...

Anyway... Teles are magic and I wish I had that one. I have a Suhr all mahogany Tele, chambered, with P-90s, mahogany neck too... it is nice and sounds great. I still almost always reach for a Strat though...

You need the Tele you like... get you a nice black one... flat black would probably look great!

J

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 agree about the Telecaster Rain, and as far as Tele's go, that one looks awesome!

I have never been much into telecaster, I've always looked at it as a bit grandpa-ish (sorry) but some bands have over the past couple of years changed that view - this being one of them: http://www.reverbnation.com/beatentodeath