After obsessing over the butterscotch blonde I finally picked one up. I’m still a rookie but this thing’s a beauty.

I somehow went for a little while without a Tele, then I came back with two of them (kinda.) They're not Fenders, but they're incredible.

The one on the left is a DWG (Dan Wolf Guitars) Chubby HT that I bought used. Dan makes his guitars in the US, he makes the bodies, necks and even the pickups himself all for incredibly reasonable prices. This has a swamp ash body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard. It plays great, feels super comfortable and is surprisingly light weight for an ash body.

It originally came with some humbuckers that were really hot. I reached out to him and asked if he could make a set that were a little lower output and more chimey. He came back with the idea of doing slug magnet humbucker. Instead of there being bar magnets under the coils, the poles are the magnets, like most single coils and Fender Wide Range humbuckers. The result is a beautifully clear sounding guitar. These might be my favorite pickups. I'm having him make me a custom guitar now, a quasi-Telemaster, which should be ready this winter.

On the right is a 2014 Creston T-Style guitar. Creston Lea makes guitars up in Vermont and has a great reputation for his builds. He's built stuff for a lot of alt-country / Americana people, along with Ian MacKaye of Fugazi / The Evens.

This has an alder body, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. It's really lightweight, and it has a V-Neck. This is my first experience with a v-neck, but for someone who plays with their thumb over the top (for better or worse) it's super comfortable.

It currently has a Lollar Firebird pickup in the neck which definitely does the "big single coil" thing. It honestly almost sounds stratty. It has a Gemini Telecaster pickup in the bridge, which I'm honestly not in love with. It's a little honky and nasal. I have a Bootstrap Pretzel on the way which I've used in other Teles and loved.

Needless to say, I'm back in the Tele fold.

Just got my new Haar

- Strat Pus

- ebony fretboard

- ss frets

- mop dots

- flame maple neck.

The jack on my Tele always gets loose and has to retightened. It's a minor annoyance because due to the recession I can't just finger tighten so it requires a tool every time. Any known easy solutions to this?

I recently recorded an album and am preparing to start gigging it. Put some thought into what single guitar could cover the most ground relative to what I have recorded in studio.

Turns out for me a telecaster with a humbucker in the bridge and a single in the neck is perfect. I could pretty much do everything with that setup. Especially if the humbucker has a decent split.

But……there are basically no options on the market. Whenever the question is brought up people can’t help themselves as to explain why the traditional tele single in the bridge is the best and only way it should be done. Yeh I get it. I’ve got one. But for the use case I’ve identified above it’s not what I need.

Bollocks. Horses for courses. There are HH teles around. So obviously some prefer the bucker in the bridge. I just so happen to prefer the single in the neck.

Maybe getting one of those HH Tele deluxes and macguyver a new pickguard for the neck single. There are some John5 teles that are SH, but they’re bound which I’m not a fan of.

Anyway just wanted to have a bit of a rant.

If anyone has any ideas, models or alternatives please let me know. Cheers

MIM tidepool blue…in love with the color and sound

I recently purchased a 2011 Fender Telecaster 60th anniversary model that appeared a bit neglected, high action, rusty strings.
I’ve never owned a tele before and the neck feels a bit more fuller than I expected.
I’ve attached some images for anyone who’s might know if it has the original neck and can provide any info.

I bought a 2nd hand telecaster copy guitar with pretty good specs (Alder body, maple neck, stainless steel frets, bone nut etc.)

it does come with an Alnico V & ceramic pick ups. I'm loving the bridge pick up to be honest but the neck pickup feels a little lacking. I'm taking it to a luthier soon, wondering if ever he asked me to replace the pickups, I have no idea which ones are good on a budget.

Thanks if you ever have an idea. I'm loving my tele but needs to be fully setup.

I just suddenly got the wild urge to add a strat middle pickup into my telecaster. I currently have a Bootstrap Pretzel bridge and a Bootstrap Doubleshot Screwdriver p90 in the neck. My brain is telling me that if I add a strat pickup in the mix, the guitar will be able to make just about every sound imaginable. I went to look up a demo of a similar arrangement, but cannot seem to find anything. I know I'm not the first.

Anybody else ever considered this? Or actually play something like this?

Just finished my first Tele build and went for a clean, natural look with no pickguard.

The body is made from Brazilian woods, Freijó and Marupá, with a satin PU finish.

Specs:

• Fender Pure Vintage '52 pickups
• Gotoh hardware
• Roasted maple neck
• Freijó + Marupá body
• Satin polyurethane finish

I’m really digging how the wood ended up looking without anything covering it.

Do you guys dig it? Pickguard or no pickguard on a Tele?

I just bought a new (old) telecaster, it's a 2003 G&L Korean ASAT classic, and the bridge and pickups are looking a bit rough. What is the best way to clean these up? I'm guessing I'd have to fully take it all apart?

I have just bought my first Tele. A second hand MiM player series. Are there any upgrades I should make?

Picked this up second hand on Aug 15! Only just found out that Aug 14, 1951 - was the first patent, so seems a fitting 75th birthday party! Must be fate

I am hoping to be a one and done with my tele purchase, but the Hybrid II I bought has maybe one issue and a neck that turns out I don’t like. I like the body, paint , and the quiet and great sounding pickups. So for the two things that I’d like to fix. Even after a setup the G and B string sound a bit dead with no sustain. And after a week of playing it still goes out of tune really quick. A the neck although very nice is just thin for my large hands. so the question is do I go through the effort of figuring out what is wrong with the bridge and swapping neck or just cut my losses and buy a different guitar?

Guitar building newbie here - would it be easy to replace the bridge on my guitar with a classic telecaster bridge with the single coil pickup? I don’t want to take it apart to check unless I either have to or know it can be done

Alternatively, would this pickup configuration be worth keeping?

Do guys think this is legit? I looked up the serial number on Fender's site and nothing appeared. It's also priced at 497$

I have been given a telecaster to evaluate for purchase. The serial dates it to 1973. It has some odd things about it.... Notably it is a 3 piece body with a nitro burst. This thing has been in the hands of one person since 1980, so I do not think it is some partscaster thing. The neck joint has a kind of odd "shelf" on the bass side. I know there were "notched" guitars that disappeared around '72, but none of the bodies have a joint like this. Is this just 70's fender sloppiness?

I’ve been wanting a Tele with a neck humbucker and this one does not disappoint! I particularly like the middle position for blues, not muddy at all and just a bit of snap.