Getting a Telecaster! Yay, me!

[Huckleberry]

Man am I excited! My current arsenal of mayhem is a G&L ASAT Special, a PRS McCarty Standard, and a Hamer 25th Anniversary. I used to own a Mexican-made Telecaster, and played the heck out of it for years. Played it to death, actually...


Anyhow, I've wanted a Chrome Red Tele with a rosewood fretboard for a long while. Last year, my local Fender dealer unpacked...a chrome Red Tele with a rosewood fretboard. I've been playing it in the store ever since. Apparently: I'm the only one! Yep, it's still there. Loads of Strats have come & gone, but "my Tele" just hangs there!

Not anymore, that is! They gave me an amazing price, and a six month layaway (I won't need that long, but they really wanna move it)! So I put my money down. I have Leo's "last version" of the design (the ASAT)...so now I have a more "traditional" version!


Boo-ya!

[SteveB334]

very cool!! We need pics and a tone report as soon as you get it.
Congrats!!

[melody]

Tele's rule!Enjoy..

[Huckleberry]

If everything goes according to plan, my Tele will be home on Father's Day weekend. Woo-hoo!

[Huckleberry]

Took longer than I thought, due to an attack of "do I need a 4th electric guitar?", but I brought her home this past Monday.
Attached is a pic of what she looks like, though the guitar in the pic is not mine. Seems the digital camera is dead. I've buried it in the back yard next to grave of the original Larry the Wonder Hamster. Larry lived a long full life attending wine tastings and legimate theater. Seems he had other interests as well, according to the massages listed on his last AmEx bill. Ah, Larry...a true swinger. And a gentleman.


My Tele seems to occupy the sonic space directly in between the brasher '52 RI, and G&L's "hi-fi" tele, the ASAT Special. My favorite sound thus far is notching the tone knob (engaging the "Delta Tone" feature, which takes the tone circuit out of the loop), and overdriving a non-master volume Fender amp with the bridge pickup. Though no hum cancelling is available, she's not so noisy that you can't riff on "Highway to Hell" convincingly. And really, what else is there? The clean tones are great. Less "refined" that a Strat, which is right where I wanna be. This may not be a "truly vintage" Telecaster tone I'm getting from this guitar, but you know it's a Tele when you hear it.

Fit & finish is excellent. the color really has to be seen in person to be appreciated. This is my favorite Fender color that isn't white or sunburst. Fender QC is a hot button topic at times. Whoever's vandalising their current offerings must have had the day off when this baby squeaked by. I think Fender is listening to folks, and making some improvements. This is the finest under $1,000 US-made mass production instrument I've run across in a long time.

Really much more of a "lead" guitar than the '52RI and other "vintage-type" clones. Fender's found a good compromise with this neck shape & the 9.5" radius.

5 out of 5 on the Huckleberry Awesomeosity scale.

[Skip]

:yay cool beans and may Larry the Wonder Hamster RIP

[Huckleberry]

:yay cool beans and may Larry the Wonder Hamster RIP

Don't cry for Larry. Little *#%@! owed me money.

Not as much as the penguin, but still...

[Huckleberry]

Update:


Although I had tried this combo in the store, I got around to plugging the new Tele into my DRRI yesterday (I use my Champ at home, usually). I had a TS9 in the path as well, switching it on an off, twiddling knobs and whatnot...


This is a really versatile set-up. No heavy metal available, but that's fine with me. This is about as basic a set up as you can get (minus the TS9), and I wish I'd had it 10 years ago.

Oh: and I do not own one guitar with a whammy bar. LOL!

[95strat]

Congrats on the new tele. Who needs a whammy bar anyway?

[Huckleberry]

Congrats on the new tele. Who needs a whammy bar anyway?

Not me. Not with a guitar this fine! Anyone else try a TS9 with a Tele? Probably everyone, but man what a sound!

[Huckleberry]

Finally, some actual pics:

[gibsonjunkie]

Nice one, Huckster!!!

I wanted a red Strat, but settled for natural Ash - which is my favorite color (or lack thereof).

[melody]

Its Red thats for sure..

[Stonefreefuzz1]

Congrats! It looks mighty fine to my eyes!

[Huckleberry]

Its Red thats for sure..

How much more red could it be?
None.
None more red.

[Stratlover]

I love it! Congrats!

[cooltone]

Congrats!! Very nice. I did the TS9 w/tele for years..never once let me down.

[Vics]

Congrat's!!! New guitars rule!

By the way, my Tele looks identical to yours except mine has the all maple neck.

[madmark]

Nice color.. Congrats...

[Blue Light]

Funny how people get attached to a certain color guitar. Me, I want a white one. And I have no idea why.

[jjthinline]

steve cropper that's why!!!

[95strat]

Looks nice.

[Huckleberry]

Looks nice.

Thanks. She's set up with 10's now and has the rhythm sound ever.

[flintpunk]

That's a pretty color Huck! Looks great!

[jerryjg]

Play the bejesus out of it!

[frank thomson]

well you've been playing it almost 3 years now.

is the honeymoon over?

[Huckleberry]

well you've been playing it almost 3 years now.

is the honeymoon over?

No, actually. It's really one of those guitars that you can't get sick of. Lately I have been playing the Telecaster into a stock Blues Driver, and plugged into my Dr. Z MAZ 18. I settled on the Blues Driver because of all the OD pedals I have it was the one that allowed my Tele to peek through the dirt unaltered.

[frank thomson]

i can TOTALLY dig it.
I'm DOWN to 20 teles....lol
i lub, lubb, lubbb my teles.

i just said that b/c this thread is almost 3 years old.
lol

*viva la telecasteur*

[Franklin]

On my short list is an American Tele w/ rosewood neck and a Reverend Jetstream 390. Nothing beats a Tele into a cranked amp!

[Huckleberry]

It keeps coming back around to the Telecaster for me. I could lose all the other guitars, and just have my Tele & ASAT Special and be very happy.

Today was American Series Telecaster-> Fulltone OCD-> Dr. Z MAZ 18 NR.

Best tone I have ever had!

[Vics]

A man of obvious good taste. I also own a chrome red Tele, but mine has a maple neck. (Although one day I wouldn't mind getting one with a rosewood neck). I just play at home and have been doing so much recording with it that I actually had to take it in last week for a partial re-fret!! Goes to say that I've been using that guitar more than any other!

Congrat's!!

[Huckleberry]

A man of obvious good taste. I also own a chrome red Tele, but mine has a maple neck. (Although one day I wouldn't mind getting one with a rosewood neck). I just play at home and have been doing so much recording with it that I actually had to take it in last week for a partial re-fret!! Goes to say that I've been using that guitar more than any other!

Congrat's!!

Wow. How long did it take to get to "I need a refret"?

[Vics]

Wow. How long did it take to get to "I need a refret"?

Lets see......I bought it used in 2006......had to take it in about a year and a half later to have the frets smoothed out......went thru a brief period of not playing for about 6 months......started back up in early 2008 and that brings us to today. Fact is the tech called me up yesterday and said he has to replace the first 9 frets and that the rest just need a light going over. Said I should have it back mid-week.

I'm really rather amazed that I've wound up using my Tele as much as I do for my songs. Just really seems to hit the spot for so many things. Put a set of DiMarzio "Noiseless Area T's" in it and while each to his own I'm very happy with that set.

Hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

[Huckleberry]

Oh, I sure do enjoy it. Winter's been cruel, and the marginal set up has devolved some. She needs to get a good going over. The guy I use is great. I just got my Martin back from him, and it's the perfect combination of "action low enough to blaze" and "action high enough to get great tone".


The Tele is getting the same treatment soon.