Teleguy
02-19-2005, 03:07 PM
Lately I've been screwing together a couple of tele clones. Tele's are simple and direct, and USED to be inexpensive!
I remember decades when old Tele's were just old planks for $200.
I gather parts from a variety of sources, sometimes just buying a cheap used guitar for the neck, etc.
I was in a store yesterday and fancied that those new Squire 51's had a Tele neck I could use, though I consider $150 dollars for just a made in Indonesia neck a bit pricey.
Anyway I picked it up to check it out and played it a bit unplugged, and dang if it didn't ring acoustically as if it had a little something to bring to the party! It seemed just a touch cheesy, but the neck was cool enough to work with and I was sorta struck by the concept: it's a basic Affinity thickness Strat style basswood body with no trem, and just two pickups (a bridge humbucker and neck position Strat pu).
So I bought it.
Once home I A/B'd it with my favorite parts-o-tele, through my amp, and this lil' ol' Squire 51 is a pretty cool guitar!
It held its own pretty well against my "skronky sounding" tele, even though it's not quite as rude sounding, and sounds about between a Tele and a Strat.
There's no real Strat "quack" (no middle pickup), and even in single coil mode, the bridge pu does not quite get to Tele-land, but it sounds good by itself in all pickup combinations.
Basswood has an airey sound, to my ears, which this guitar has, and I like it.
There is no tone control: just a push-pull vol pot and coil splitter, and a three way rotary switch. I can hear the magnets are ceramic, and probably they use a bar magnet under the polepieces in the neck pu, ala Squire Strats, some MIM Strats, etc.
But the bridge humbucker has some spanky brightness.
The bridge itself is a top loader with cheap diecast Strat saddles. No string-through (yet). :innocent
I bought it as a possible basis for a project, but I'm gonna leave it alone for a while and see how it plays in a live setting or two, as a spare to my tele's. It's kinda a gas to play with its tones (all the tones are good and usable).
The neck is ok: has sorta squared off (top) medium/jumbo frets on a maple neck. 9.5radius I'm guessing. Not real sophisticated polished maple neck feeling, but not uncomfortable either. I've played much worse feeling, and it has a little tint to it, so it's not stark white like some MIM's I've seen (with teeny little vintage frets). :banghead
They "roll" the edges slightly, which takes off the finish on the neck edges, but I doesn't feel near as comfy as say, an American Series Tele or Strat. The fret-ends are ok, nothing stellar by any stretch.
Mine's black & white. Here's a link/pic:
http://www.squierguitars.com/gear/show_product.php?product=0325100&feature_id=0:0
I remember decades when old Tele's were just old planks for $200.
I gather parts from a variety of sources, sometimes just buying a cheap used guitar for the neck, etc.
I was in a store yesterday and fancied that those new Squire 51's had a Tele neck I could use, though I consider $150 dollars for just a made in Indonesia neck a bit pricey.
Anyway I picked it up to check it out and played it a bit unplugged, and dang if it didn't ring acoustically as if it had a little something to bring to the party! It seemed just a touch cheesy, but the neck was cool enough to work with and I was sorta struck by the concept: it's a basic Affinity thickness Strat style basswood body with no trem, and just two pickups (a bridge humbucker and neck position Strat pu).
So I bought it.
Once home I A/B'd it with my favorite parts-o-tele, through my amp, and this lil' ol' Squire 51 is a pretty cool guitar!
It held its own pretty well against my "skronky sounding" tele, even though it's not quite as rude sounding, and sounds about between a Tele and a Strat.
There's no real Strat "quack" (no middle pickup), and even in single coil mode, the bridge pu does not quite get to Tele-land, but it sounds good by itself in all pickup combinations.
Basswood has an airey sound, to my ears, which this guitar has, and I like it.
There is no tone control: just a push-pull vol pot and coil splitter, and a three way rotary switch. I can hear the magnets are ceramic, and probably they use a bar magnet under the polepieces in the neck pu, ala Squire Strats, some MIM Strats, etc.
But the bridge humbucker has some spanky brightness.
The bridge itself is a top loader with cheap diecast Strat saddles. No string-through (yet). :innocent
I bought it as a possible basis for a project, but I'm gonna leave it alone for a while and see how it plays in a live setting or two, as a spare to my tele's. It's kinda a gas to play with its tones (all the tones are good and usable).
The neck is ok: has sorta squared off (top) medium/jumbo frets on a maple neck. 9.5radius I'm guessing. Not real sophisticated polished maple neck feeling, but not uncomfortable either. I've played much worse feeling, and it has a little tint to it, so it's not stark white like some MIM's I've seen (with teeny little vintage frets). :banghead
They "roll" the edges slightly, which takes off the finish on the neck edges, but I doesn't feel near as comfy as say, an American Series Tele or Strat. The fret-ends are ok, nothing stellar by any stretch.
Mine's black & white. Here's a link/pic:
http://www.squierguitars.com/gear/show_product.php?product=0325100&feature_id=0:0