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Do I need a tele? Why? Which one?

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nickpnickp Frets: 182
sooo - I have a Lester, a really nice superstrat with the sexiest after market neck I have ever caressed, and a prs custom.  love em all (now that I have replaced the PRS pickups with something from Ash)

why would I want a telecaster, which one has a nice handful of neck (not baseball bat but not the modern thin things either - I like the wide fat on the prs and the fairly chunky les paul neck) and nice chunky fretwire.  

what pickup combination - rock, jazz (I wish), blues, funk, and anything else that I can't play properly.

I'd never ever buy new again, and I don't think the budget would be huge - maybe  500 tops but perhaps less depending on how the sales of other stuff go

talk me into or out of it - and what's the tele with the f-hole thinline business all about????

confused of guitarland

:)
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Comments

  • Yes you do. Because they’re unlike anything else and hence nothing else sounds like one. 

    Not sure on what model. The old Baja Tele was the standard recommendation for the last decade, but I don’t know if it has an equivalent in the latest range
    The Assumptions - UAE party band for all your rock & soul desires
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  • phil_bphil_b Frets: 2010
    nickp said:


    why would I want a telecaster,
    why do you want a Telecaster. Is it just a case of the GAS
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  • elkayelkay Frets: 77
    Yes you do. Because they’re unlike anything else and hence nothing else sounds like one. 

    Not sure on what model. The old Baja Tele was the standard recommendation for the last decade, but I don’t know if it has an equivalent in the latest range

    Yep, that just about says it all. If you're buying used, Baja definitely one to look out for, as there're still many coming up on fleabay. Got mine for £350 last year.
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  • I thought I needed a Tele until I got a Jazzmaster.
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  • TheMarlinTheMarlin Frets: 7743
    Everyone needs a Telecaster
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  • TenebrousTenebrous Frets: 1332
    You need a Telecaster so you can ask "why do I need anything else?"
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  • KeefyKeefy Frets: 2272
    TheMarlin said:
    Everyone needs a Telecaster
    I don’t need one. I need 3 apparently!

    To the OP, you can’t go far wrong with a used Mex Tele. That will tell you whether you’re going to like the whole Tele thing and give you a convenient modding platform once you’re hooked.
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  • andy1839andy1839 Frets: 2197
    Bajas are nice, good sized neck and decent pickups.

    I've just bought a roadworn player tele with the Duncan 59 in the neck.  It's a lot of guitar for the money. Great feeling neck on that one too, slightly smaller neck than the Baja.

    Both can be had used for less than £500 each.

    I also think the Squier classic vibe thinline teles are great, if you want the double humbuckers, and the tele FMT is outstanding, but that might be drifting too far from tele-ness.

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  • I remember the first time I played one and I instantly wrote about 5 songs.  It made me think completely different about the guitar. It was a revelation to be fair.  And that was a cheap top loader Squier. 
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  • Why do you need a Tele? Because you don't yet have a Tele.

    (also, seconded recommendation for a Mex, mine does me proud)
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  • I mostly play bass in a cover band these days and have been thinking of down-sizing my six-strings. I had thought of replacing my Gordon Smith Gypsy and Peavey Rockingham with a Telecaster.

    On one hand I think a Telecaster could be a great all rounder, but on the other I think the Gypsy already is.
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  • WhitecatWhitecat Frets: 5378
    Teles are amazing and you almost can't go wrong with anything because problems are so easy to sort. As long as the wood is sound then just about everything else can be sorted.

    Mexican stuff is where you need to go if you want "true" vintage spec unless you're dropping a fortune on the Custom Shop. But, they also have the "modified" variants which are brought up to current spec (fretboard radius, etc).

    I think decide what kind of neck you want and go from there... the Baja was a superb-sounding instrument but the neck was big. If you're not into that you can possibly find a used USA Tele for your budget - American Special or Highway 1 anyway, and change what you want, but the necks on those err to the thinner/smaller side.
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  • LebarqueLebarque Frets: 3755
    Just be aware they're like playing an ironing board and the neck pickup is often shite. I'd be after an offset telecaster, then hack it up to fit a Firebird pup in the neck. Job done. 
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  • Lebarque said:
    Just be aware they're like playing an ironing board and the neck pickup is often shite. I'd be after an offset telecaster, then hack it up to fit a Firebird pup in the neck. Job done. 
    Tele neck pickups are great.  Especially nowadays with modern wiring.  The Nocaster neck pickup is one of my favourites. 
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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8773
    Lebarque said:
    Just be aware they're like playing an ironing board and the neck pickup is often shite. I'd be after an offset telecaster, then hack it up to fit a Firebird pup in the neck. Job done. 
    No contours, agricultural as guitars get (except, perhaps, the Bear Guitars thread).  I appreciate it's all v subjective but I've had about 8 or 9 and never clicked with any of them.  Found them uncomfortable to play and endlessly shrill, unless tamed by amps, pedals etc.  

    I accept I'm in a minority, and await public stoning.
    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • WhitecatWhitecat Frets: 5378
    Versions exist with body contours... just saying...
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  • lysanderlysander Frets: 574
    I like the look, love the (good) bridge pickups, find the non contoured ones uncomfortable to play, don’t like most neck pickups, and hate narrow nuts that are very frequent on teles.

    So I would say definitely go try a few on a couple of occasions to see if you really need one.
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9549
    edited February 2020
    Keef got it right when he described the Tele as ‘everything you need and nothing you don’t’. Apart from (or perhaps due to) this simplicity, there’s a directness and rawness to them which seems to set them apart.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • hermannkymnhermannkymn Frets: 23
    edited February 2020
    I quenched my Tele thirst via a purchase of a G&L USA ASAT. IMO, better value than than the Big 'F', and the MFD p'ups are near-humless + without the icepick attack.

    Either way, I concur on the notion of a limp Tele neck pick up as outdated and a no longer apt reputation in this day and age. 
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  • The original rock ‘n’ roll guitar, need I say more? I can’t believe I’ve only got two of them!
    250+ positive trading feedbacks: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/57830/
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