In praise of my favorite Tele ... just because I love it really!

OilCityPickups

This guitar has been one of my longest serving Teles ... my personal gigging guitar, that is about to go into service with me in what may hopefully turn out to be my new band.

I mostly play rockabilly these days ... and it's a little appreciated fact that the Tele was at least as big a part of early rockabilly as various Gretsches. 

This old girl is a total mongrel ... the body I bought cheap online years ago. its quite weighty, but not in boat anchor territory. The neck is a one piece maple one canabalised from a Squier Telecaster Custom. It's got four way switching that includes 'pickups in series' and has a tapped bridge pickup with a big mid shove called up on the push/pull tone control. 

Why do I love it so much? Aside from it being a Tele ... well the neck is a total peach: matt finished, chunky enough to let you know it's there, but not a telegraph pole. And well ... it all just came together and worked ... sometimes partscasters just do that. 
It's a guitar that feels as comfortable as an old pair of slippers ... yet growls and snarls like no other Tele I've had when you dig in.

tony99

when you say the neck's a peach; matt finished, it's nothing to do with Matt from Peach is it or am I reading it wrong?

tone1

Yeah, looks great but what pickups are in it?

OilCityPickups

tony99 said:

when you say the neck's a peach; matt finished, it's nothing to do with Matt from Peach is it or am I reading it wrong?

Lol no nothing to do with Peach ... more to do with an old Tele Custom both me and my business partner Tim bid for on e bay without realising we were both bumping up each other's prices! 

Freebird

tone1 said:

Yeah, looks great but what pickups are in it?

They look like BKP to me 

OilCityPickups

tone1 said:

Yeah, looks great but what pickups are in it?

I didn't mention that as I'm a trader ... and they are my own brand ... and it'd be a lovely guitar with any good pickups installed.
But as I only do two tapped tele bridge pickups ... it's a Wapping Wharf in the bridge, and a HonkyTonk Angel in the neck: so very much early Broadcaster spec.  

tone1

Sorry Ash, i was only pulling your leg...If I made pickups I’d only use my own. After putting your Masterwounds in my Strat, I’m definitely a devotee

OilCityPickups

tone1 said:

Sorry Ash, i was only pulling your leg...If I made pickups I’d only use my own. After putting your Masterwounds in my Strat, I’m definitely a devotee

Lol that's fine ... but I do actually have guitars that don't have my pickups in :-) ... vintage DiMarzio Super Distortions to be exact. 

Funkfingers

OilCityPickups said:

I didn't mention that, as I'm a trader ... 

You might want to rephrase that. There could be fans of Withnail And I reading this.

ThePrettyDamned

OilCityPickups said:

This guitar has been one of my longest serving Teles ... my personal gigging guitar, that is about to go into service with me in what may hopefully turn out to be my new band.

I mostly play rockabilly these days ... and it's a little appreciated fact that the Tele was at least as big a part of early rockabilly as various Gretsches. 

This old girl is a total mongrel ... the body I bought cheap online years ago. its quite weighty, but not in boat anchor territory. The neck is a one piece maple one canabalised from a Squier Telecaster Custom. It's got four way switching that includes 'pickups in series' and has a tapped bridge pickup with a big mid shove called up on the push/pull tone control. 

Why do I love it so much? Aside from it being a Tele ... well the neck is a total peach: matt finished, chunky enough to let you know it's there, but not a telegraph pole. And well ... it all just came together and worked ... sometimes partscasters just do that. 
It's a guitar that feels as comfortable as an old pair of slippers ... yet growls and snarls like no other Tele I've had when you dig in.

My red strat is like this. I fairly rushed putting it together, pine body, weighs very little... So I used a wudtone bridge and block to add some mass and balance it. Strung it up, tuned it, quickly set the action and it's pure vintage-modern strat! 

Calibre 53s helps  

noisepolluter

I sold my US ash tele (which looked a lot like yours and was also a weighty beast) with diesel tap/Thames Delta combo in it - I do miss those pickups and may well re-buy a set for my classic player 60’s tele at some point. The extra mid oomph on full output was awesome.

OilCityPickups

Funkfingers said:

OilCityPickups said:

I didn't mention that, as I'm a trader ... 

You might want to rephrase that. There could be fans of Withnail And I reading this.

Ha ... 

It's actually got a lot of my favorite touches on it ... the eagle eyed might notice it's sporting all slot head screws, like early Teles ... a single layer scratchplate, and up the other end is a bone nut. Strings are 10-52 ... my favorite Tele gauge.  

Matt_McG

Those old-ish Squier tele customs (and the one that had the P90s) had great necks. Chunky and nice to play.

Matt_McG

The Squier VM/CV Mustang has a similar neck, I think, based on the one I tried. Nicer than the guitar overall.

markj

Out of interest what’s your rig, pedals amp etc.

springhead

That looks proper.  Brass or steel saddles?, can’t quite tell.  

equalsql

Nice. It does have a strong Kirn Barnbuster vibe to it.

OilCityPickups

Matt_McG said:

Those old-ish Squier tele customs (and the one that had the P90s) had great necks. Chunky and nice to play.

Yep that one came from a P90 equipped Tele. The Duncan Designed P90s were okay but a bit uninspiring, and the body was smothered in very VERY thick poly ... so the rather excellent neck survived the rest. 

markj said:

Out of interest what’s your rig, pedals amp etc.

Gigging: my Laney LC30 ... we've been a long way together, and it has one of the best clean sounds out there. I tend not to use the LC30's gain channel, as I find it has a slightly different EQ to the clean channel and always sounds darker. 
I use cheap as chips Joyo delay ... set to slapback for rockabilly ... and a Joyo American pedal ... equally as cheap and used to add grit after the delay if I want it. Both pedals count as the best purchases I've made in many a year ... the delay does just what it says on the tin. In fairness it doesn't have to be versatile for my 'sound' and all that ever really gets varied is the volume of the repeat on slapback. The 'American' has a very authentic 'Fender' sound and can even double as an amp simulator in an emergency and let you go straight into the PA. Both pedals cost me under £70 the pair!
 
Of late I've been using a Boss Katana amp a lot, and have been super impressed with how it takes pedals (as well as it's own sounds) so I may end up using that to save my back at smaller gigs.
springhead said:

That looks proper.  Brass or steel saddles?, can’t quite tell.  

Steel saddles ... I prefer the tone.