Forgot how much I love Teles, AKA Tele Appreciation Thread

[Gordon]

Wouldn't that be where you install a neck pickup in an Esquire, remove the bridge pickup, and cover the hole with black tape?

Bit like that?

[Chippertheripper]

I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.
This is some cats and dogs stuff.

[JSett]

Did an anti-Johnny to my squier cv

You kept it longer that a week? That’s the anti Johnny

Only just saw this. Shots fired...

...but accurate ones I'll admit.

[JamesSGBrown]

Got a double treat for this thread incoming…

[JamesSGBrown]

Bit of a double NGD then. I've been after a bound Tele for ages, but was lusting after one in black. MIJ prices on them have gone insane recently (thanks Gas Station Guitars you wankers), people asking over £1k for them. But seeing Pat from Wilco use one the other week (with a Bisgby, gasp shock horror) tipped me over the edge.

So shortly after seeing our Johnny's NGD and clearing the drool from my phone screen, I saw a newly listed '86 on Reverb. A bit beat, just as I like Tele's, and at a smashing price. Someone has sanded off the 'Made In Japan' from the back of the neck but fortunately the serial number for these is on the bridge plate, and he had photos of the neck heel up too. So I made an offer, and £600 later it was mine. And it's absolutely fantastic- I don't know if the neck has been lightly sanded or owt, but it feels like an old, proper vintage guitar. So smooth. Scored with it having big pots and a proper switch, but the pickups were predictably crap. So I've had a pair of handwound Broadcaster pickups put in and it now sounds fantastically raunchy. This'll be my main gigging guitar for a while I think...

And then ofc Johnny did me an OSG solid. Always a pleasure to do business with. The OTM '62 AVRI landed before I'd even seen my other purchase. Like buses I tell thee. It is absolutely fantastic- light, the PV '64 pickups from his AO Tele sound great, and the non-threaded saddles allow for better string spacing. It's more acoustically resonant than the MIJ one, and sounds more 'classic'. More wiry, snappier, less grunt to it. It's so nice that I probably won't take it out until I've fully paid Mr Branson the balance on it. But a nice way to treat myself after finally getting some job security and being nearly 6 months off the booze and gear. All in all, a good week! (Funnily enough, this one was in my watch list on Reverb for months too. Thank you Johnny for lowballing the guy haha).

[BoringPostcards]

They both look great. I’ve owned a bunch of Teles, but never a custom.
The binding is so classy. Someday I’ll get one.

This thread spans 13 years and counting. Wild. We love our Teles around here, it seems.

[sal paradise]

Glad that OTM went to a good home. And you got a bargain with the sunburst tele. I've been watching a lefty old lake placid blue custom for a long time. Funnily enough gas station guitars had 2 of them in @ £1800 & £1900. The more expensive one has sold. Stupid prices. If Japan's economy collapses for a brief moment, I'll have to get a double bound tele for myself.

Not sure I need another Tele though. I've already got 2, & building a '72 Deluxe... Not sure that really counts as a Telecaster though, right?

[JamesSGBrown]

Glad that OTM went to a good home. And you got a bargain with the sunburst tele. I've been watching a lefty old lake placid blue custom for a long time. Funnily enough gas station guitars had 2 of them in @ £1800 & £1900. The more expensive one has sold. Stupid prices. If Japan's economy collapses for a brief moment, I'll have to get a double bound tele for myself.

Not sure I need another Tele though. I've already got 2, & building a '72 Deluxe... Not sure that really counts as a Telecaster though, right?

Not to derail, but GGS's prices are fucked. Same goes for In Bloom Guitars. Proper by-product of the COVID online sales boom, but they've also fucked the market for affordable, decent Japanese stuff by claiming nearly everything they get in is 'rare'. Get to fuck.

I DO however, recommend Guitarzilla in Leeds. They specialise in Japanese stuff, have great prices and have been awesome every time (4) I've bought from them.

[JSett]

Not to derail, but GGS's prices are fucked. Same goes for In Bloom Guitars. Proper by-product of the COVID online sales boom, but they've also fucked the market for affordable, decent Japanese stuff by claiming nearly everything they get in is 'rare'. Get to fuck.

I DO however, recommend Guitarzilla in Leeds. They specialise in Japanese stuff, have great prices and have been awesome every time (4) I've bought from them.

Gas Station have been overpriced since WAY before covid. I bought one off him and it wasn't as good as the photos made out. Pleasant enough transaction though. Wouldn't do it again unless he let me haggle.

Guitarzilla are great. I've had two from them. 100% would recommend.

[MechaBulletBill]

yeah GSG has been gouging prices since like 2012 i think, misselling bad refins as "FSR", that sort of thing.

[JamesSGBrown]

Just gave the OTM '62 its first proper workout- absolutely fantastic!!

[alvinstraight]

Found this Guitar Mill/Mario Martin build at a very fair price here in Scandinavia, and finally found a good replacement for the AV ‘64 I regretfully sold a couple of years ago. Didnt’t know I was going to be that into a relatively huge neck, but actually very comfortable to play.

[Kinx]

Sooo I bought another tele.

a mostly stock '78

See, I have a bit of a problem. Since 2023, I went through five different telecasters:

a minty 81 tele identical to the one above - it way too clean, sold to a friend after a week of being frightened I might scratch it
a well played sienna burst 82 - was kinda heavy and I couldn't live with the color. sold after couple of months.
'05 trussart steelcaster - kept that one, light and super resonant. here is a quick comparison video of Trussart and the '82
'88 american standard - I bought that one on impulse in while on a trip in berlin this summer . one of the best telecasters I've ever had, and it was THE EXACT SAME ONE Tom Morello plays (I used to be a diehard RATM fan). A friend of mine kinda cajoled me into selling it to him, because it is his birth year guitar. I wasn't playing it as much as expected, so I sold it to him.

aaaand the next day after the sale, I hopped on a flixbus to berlin and bought ANOTHER BLACK TELE WITH MAPLE BOARD IN BERLIN.

but this one is somewhat way more fun. Sounds somewhat less balanced, but more alive. think of Andy Gills meets Wilco Johnson type of sound. amazing sustain too. I'm gonna do some demos soon. Only think I liked more on the 88 american standards was the fretwork, I've always preffered the flatter radius with bigger frets compared to smaller frets 7.5 , but that is a matter of taste. I have to work more on the 78, but it is certainly worth it.

[MattK]

It sure is pretty. And seems mint, is that gonna be a problem?

[Kinx]

It actually isn't mint, I gotta dig up the pictures of that 81, that was like new. This one definitely got some mileage, although it is in a very nice shape.

What's very interesting on this guitar is the top coat - it looks like nitro and it definitely isn't a refin based on all the markings inside.

EDIT: oh and the bridge isn't original but probably an AVRI part with brass sadles. I consider it a upgrade tho. One thing that bugs me about these late 70s teles is that the pickups are always super microphonic. This is due to the fact, they are coated in thin layer of laquer instead of traditional wax insulation - over the years, the laquer dries out and the pickups become super microphonic. I'm having this addressed right now and I put spare set of '51 Broadcaster pickups in it for now and it SCREAMS.