Telecaster folk - lend me your ears

McToot

I'm obsessing again (as @PonchoGreg, who sits on the bank of desks behind me at work will wearily confirm). 

Once again, I have a burning desire to try a Telecaster. I have had four and only one lasted more than a year.  That was a Mexican Classic 60s and once it had new BKP pickups in it, it was great.

I'm not sure why they don't last - maybe because my go-to music style is more AC/DC and heavier rock than Tele-style stuff, but I now find myself listening to a lot of Americana, so that's that sorted 

I know what I definitely do want and that's a second hand guitar with a RW board. I also reckon I'd like a slightly fuller neck (not a baseball bat, though) and I think I want the vintage-style bridge, though I suppose that could be retrofitted even if I end up with a more modern affair.  I've been thinking about buying a candidate for a refin so colour is less relevant. Budget should be conservative - well sub-£1k - given my history with these wretched instruments and re-sale potential will be a strong consideration.

I've seen a nice Inca Silver USA Standard from around 97/98. Are the necks on these very slim? 

I've also seen a scruffy, already-refinned Baja which is relatively local and would most certainly need to be stripped and sorted again. The neck on this is likely to be more meaty right?

Any other sage words from you bloody Telefans?

noisepolluter

I have a 60’s Baja. It has a slimmer neck and flatter radius than the 50’s but I wouldn’t call it skinny as such.

digitalkettle

McToot said:

I'm not sure why they don't last - maybe because my go-to music style is more AC/DC and heavier rock than Tele-style stuff, but I now find myself listening to a lot of Americana, so that's that sorted 

I've got a 52 reissue which often accompanies me on gig duties playing two solid sets of Bon Scott era 'DC

Funkfingers

@McToot What amplification are you using?

stickyfiddle

the blonde Bajas generally have lovely big necks, but a lot weigh tonnes and are a bit dead, in my experience. 

I actually quite like the dreaded Fender "modern C". The only issue with USA teles tends to be dull pickups and "meh" modern bridges, though I don't reckon the bridge has as much to do with the Tele sound as people would have you believe, though iirc the mounting holes for the modern USA bridges are different to the regular vintage ones, so you have to be careful if thinking about a bridge swap. Inca Silver is also a fantastic colour, if that helps. 

That said, my go-to cover-all-bases guitar is an SG, so I say buy one of those - it'll very happily do ACDC and Americana

McToot

Funkfingers said:

@McToot What amplification are you using?

I have just sold my Fender Blues Deluxe [rolleyes] so all I have at the moment is a Marshall Origin 20 running through a 1x12 with G12-H30. Oh and a super hi-gain Jet City...

But hey, if the purchase of a Tele require a little 5E3, then so be it 

@stickyfiddle - thanks for the warning on the modern to vintage bridge issue Mike. I sold my SG (incidentally a guitar that my colleague I mentioned in the top post sold me and we bother regretted it). But I now have a Feline LP and it's a dream so my rockier moments are very much catered for. 

McToot

I should say - the guitar I'm really tempted by is this one.  It's about an hour away from me and although it has a really dodgy refin I will be sending it ot our very own @lamf68 ; for him to work his magic so that side of it doesn't worry me. At first I was worried because I didn't think the Baja came in CAR but I have been corrected I think so it could be legit, just in need of some TLC. 

57Deluxe

Teles go with any amp and any style. Just bang the bollocks out of it and it will be happy to oblige with required tone.

munckee

If you can be arsed to drive to the south coast you can try my home build with filtertron neck and single coil bridge. Refined by @iamf68. It's not for sale but if you want a go with no sales pressure it would be good to see you. 

Winny_Pooh

If you keep buying and selling teles then what you probably really need is a filtertron Gretsch.

Iamnobody

Not quite ticking all your boxes but these look interesting:

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-2016-deluxe-telecaster-thinline-3-colour-sunburst

McToot

munckee said:

If you can be arsed to drive to the south coast you can try my home build with filtertron neck and single coil bridge. Refined by @iamf68. It's not for sale but if you want a go with no sales pressure it would be good to see you. 

Thanks mate. I'm thinking of taking a punt on the the horridly refinned Baja in Kent. The vendor seems very much above board and has sent me the serial number, which checks out. The only risk that remains is that body could be non-fender...

scarry67

Speaking as someone who bought your old MIM 60s Tele...

scarry67

Speaking as someone who bought your old MIM 60s Tele...

Adam_MD

Why not go the whole partsacaster route Jules and order everthing you want to your exact spec send it to Lamf68 for a kickass paintjob then down to the guys at Feline to turn into a wicked guitar?

I did that with my strat and ended up with a pretty special guitar.  I'll be doing the same thing with my tele build once I get the time to tske it down to Jonathan.

scarry67

Oddly, rest of my eloquent posting has disappeared. What I was saying was that having bought & sold lots of Teles, it’s easy to get bogged down in hunt for perfect one. I’ve ended up with another Classic 60s, also with BK pups. Your old one had had a refret with medium jumbos I recall? The neck & simplicity of the MIM 60s is hard to fault and pleasantly cheap used. (I also have soft spot for the MIJ JD Tele.)

Keefy

McToot said:

I should say - the guitar I'm really tempted by is this one.  It's about an hour away from me and although it has a really dodgy refin I will be sending it ot our very own @lamf68 ; for him to work his magic so that side of it doesn't worry me. At first I was worried because I didn't think the Baja came in CAR but I have been corrected I think so it could be legit, just in need of some TLC. 

Who in their right mind paints over Candy Apple Red?

PonchoGreg

A wee trip to Andertons or similar could be a good idea to try a few different neck profiles.

Beyond that it depends how amenable the Baja vendor is to do a deal outside eBay, and if not what offer he'd take. 500+ might be a bit much, but closer to 400 and you could be onto something. If he's not willing to take the neck off and provide a body serial number, you could always do that first thing and if it doesn't match, send it back. Mind you, chances are the sticker in the neck pocket (if that's still where the serial is for mex fenders) might have been removed during the refin...

What the vendor could definitely do is take the pickguard off (doesn't require removing anything else, even the strings). A round tooling hole in the body underneath the pickguard will be a good giveaway that it's indeed a MIM fender body.

munckee

Keefy said:

McToot said:

I should say - the guitar I'm really tempted by is this one.  It's about an hour away from me and although it has a really dodgy refin I will be sending it ot our very own @lamf68 ; for him to work his magic so that side of it doesn't worry me. At first I was worried because I didn't think the Baja came in CAR but I have been corrected I think so it could be legit, just in need of some TLC. 

Who in their right mind paints over Candy Apple Red?

I have to say I like that in yellow. Telle’s of course should be 3tsb or a see through brown that’s the law I think?

PonchoGreg

Actually, given the TLC needed on the electronics (and the refin) I think £400 tops is much more realistic. Mint Bajas go for 450-550, so the guy should know he can't be too greedy.

Saying that, if you do get it, I'd be more that happy to clean up the electronics for you, sounds like easy/cheap fixes.

Adam_MD

munckee said:

I have to say I like that in yellow. Telle’s of course should be 3tsb or a see through brown that’s the law I think?

Only if you want to be dull as fook.