• Coffee House
  • 1)Telecaster 'Deluxe' - worth the extra money over a 'Standard'? 2)New p/up from Spacey! (p.2)
2015/08/31 01:15:51
tlw
There's a great deal to consider with the modern range of Teles. Back when Leo Fender had the bright idea of crossing a lap-steel with a guitar and a plank things were simple, you just went out and bought a Telecaster. Nowadays the choice of models is ridiculous.

The first question has to be what kind of sound do you want? The sound that made the Tele famous or a more modern thicker, higher output but less touch-responsive and middier tone?

The N3 noiseless pickups in the Deluxe are actually a kind of humbucker, they are quiet but they aren't the same sound or feel as the single coil pickups. They seem to be regarded as an improvement on Fender's earlier generations of noiseless "single coil" pickups, though that's not necessarily saying much. The old Seth Lover "full range" humbucker that went in the 70s Custom and Deluxe had a unique and noiseless sound that was still "Fender" but despite looking the same on the outside the modern "reissue" pickup in the thinline etc. is quite different on the inside, or so I'm told.

The "twisted" and "Texas Special" pickups have more output, bass and mids than the vintage pickups. I've not tried a "twisted", but one of my Teles has a Texas Special in the bridge and a PAF in the neck. The Special works with the PAF well enough not to unbalance the volume or require major tone control turning when switching pickups. It's loud and aggressive with a hint of P90 and can compete with my SG but isn't the sound that made the Telecaster famous.

A big part of what makes the Telecaster what it is is that you have a huge range of dynamics and tone just by setting the amp right then changing how hard you play each string or how much you damp with your left hand. Far more variation than most humbuckers are capable of. To get that response means vintage output pickups, not souped up ones.

So if you want absolutely classic Tele tones you probably won't easily get them from either the US Standard or Deluxe. On the other hand, many people obviously like them, they're aimed at being a flexible modern style guitar, and hotter or noisless pickups do have their uses, though high output Tele single coild can be anazingly noisy anywhere near a computer.

Not that vintage pickups mean a quiet guitar. They're quite a bit more powerful and full sounding than a Strat and unlike a Strat the bridge pickup is the one usually used most, not the one to avoid.

Then there's the fingerboard material and radius debate, the neck profile question, ash vs alder as body wood and small vintage split-post tuners vs. big conventional 70s onward ones. Actually that's an easy decision, the smaller split-posts just look much better on that thin headstock.

I nearly forgot - there's also standard tone control vs. "no load" or whatever Fender are calling it this week, S1 switching, vintage 3 saddle vs vintage 6 saddle vs modern bridge, brass vs steel saddles......

If you've never played a Tele then unless you are sure what you want and why that particular one it probably an idea to take a trip to a guitar shop and try every Tele in sight to get a feel for them because the range available is ridiculous.

Don't rule out the Mexican-made Teles either. Some are very good, especially the Mexican "vintage" range. I've half a dozen Teles ranging from an 83 US one I got when I graduated to current production. Two US, three Mexican and one Korean (a blonde Lite Ash, has S Duncan pickups, sounds very good and has some nice birdseye maple on the neck but the final assembly and setup was done by foot not hand).

The best of my lot for feel and sound is a 2014 limited edition Wilko Johnson Signature, which is a Mexican rosewood-board alder 60s vintage one painted black with a red plate and which retailed for less than the ordinary version. Being a very long-term Wilko fan I couldn't resist it, and the bonus is it turned out to be a much better guitar than I expected. It's also the only Fender I've ever set up where I didn't need to start by replacing a very poorly cut or poor quality nut.
2015/08/31 08:11:37
SteveStrummerUK
Wow!
 
Thank you all so much for the information and help with this.
 
@Tim, thanks for going into so much detail! Where are you in the West Midlands if you don't mind me asking? I'm in sunny Worcester.
2015/08/31 14:57:25
tlw
Oh, that's just scratching the surface :-)

The tdpri forum, where I'm a lurker far more than a poster, is the place for all things Telecaster. As I said, the sheer range of Telecaster models means they cover a huge range of ground and there's a lot to consider. The "standard vintage", if there is such a thing because they changed a lot between 1949 and 1964, instruments alone can (and until the 70s did) cover a huge range of music from Page using one to record much of the first four Led Zep LPs to clean country pedal-steel impressions and jazz.

Any guitar kind of takes you down certain roads and ways of playing them and cork-sniffing and focusing on what might appear to be nuances is as much a part of Tele playing as it is Les Paul. Even the bridge plate material - the old ones were a steel plate and the modern US ones are chromed brass - makes a difference. As I keep saying, like most Fender instruments, the variety on offer is unhelpfully huge.

If you are interested in the kind of sound and feel the pre-CBS instruments had and want US production, I don't have one but I'd suggest the US vintage models might be a place to start from, perhaps the 1958 or 1964 ones which cover the big change from ash body to alder. Or a custom shop equivalent if you want to pay a lot of money to have a guitar ready beaten-up for you.

But I strongly recommend listening to a lot of recordings and videos of Tele players then a trip into somewhere like PMT in Birmingham and just start pulling Teles off the display and trying them where with any luck you can crank the volume a bit.
2015/08/31 15:08:46
batsbrew
i think you would dig the compound fretboard radius on the 2010 deluxe....
 
the 'less than 12" radii' bunch (closer to 7.5 to 9.5" would be more like the original dimensions) has the 'wrong' feel for me...
but that's really dialing in what you like.....
 
 
2015/09/07 05:40:37
ston
This is quite a good guide to the somewhat bewildering array of tele's on offer today, along with the history of the guitar:
 
http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/guitar-buying-guides/buying-guide-the-fender-telecaster
 
After reading all that, I went for a plain-vanilla telecaster standard.  I definitely didn't want humbuckers; I have humbuckers for days and I wanted something that was reasonably faithful to the original.  The difference in cost between this model and its more expensive brethren is far greater than the difference in guitar quality imho.
 
£419 for a brand new Fender Telecaster is a steal, I got mine in 'Lake Placid Blue'.
2015/09/07 09:14:27
rcklln
Last year I was looking for a new tele and after seeing what they wanted for a deluxe I decided to just get a MIM standard during a MF sale. Added a cheap case, some fender locking tuners (direct replacement) and strap locks and I couldn't be happier with the guitar.
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