Your next guitar?

[ksandvik]

Chinese made guitars have a wide spectrum of quality. MusicMan did this Sterling Silo 30 some time ago in China, well-made guitars and tons of good quality hardware such as locking tuners and pretty much the same tremolo as in the US made Silhouettes. Alas they stopped producing this specific model after a year, ripped out the locking tuners and otherwise put in cheaper HW .Suspect the manufacturing costs went up due to salary levels increasing in China.

[Uncle E]

To start with, I'll probably just put in pickups that I already have, but, that said, any suggestions?

Fender S-1 switching might be worth checking out if you want a lot of pretty useful tonal options.

[hibidy]

@ghetto: That is awesome! Never let anyone tell you what color to get! I would have a tendency to lean to the orange, that's just me. Welcome to pickup madness btw! What I mean is, your options are as close to limitless as possible. You'll have a choice of price/tone/style......btw I like tele's too. By "american standard" bridge you mean the one with the 6 adjustable saddles??

@China fenders: Is my squire a china? I don't know, I'll dig it up and look later. I decided to keep it as it's really a nice bass. I think I only paid about 250 for it and it's really amazing how good it sounds (I do think the frets need to be leveled though)

[ghettosynth]

@ghetto: That is awesome! Never let anyone tell you what color to get! I would have a tendency to lean to the orange, that's just me. Welcome to pickup madness btw! What I mean is, your options are as close to limitless as possible. You'll have a choice of price/tone/style......btw I like tele's too. By "american standard" bridge you mean the one with the 6 adjustable saddles??

Yes, 6 adjustable saddles. I know that many purists prefer the vintage style with three.

[hibidy]

Well, the barrel bridge is really cool IF it's compensated. You gotta go with what you like, which you have

[tapper mike]

I'm so excited, I get to join this thread in earnest.

Ok, so here's the scoop, I like teles, full stop.

And I'm trying to decide between the orange and yellow bodies, or, perhaps something else?

, any suggestions?

Yes,,,,
Nashville,,,Brent Mason and James Burton Tele's are all different.
IMO the James Burton wiring method is superior.




Scott Grove gets into the details of this but he meanders quite a bit.

The Five position switch
Bridge
Bridge and Middle
Bridge and Neck
Middle and Neck
Neck

Notice no middle only position. So you get all your tele combi's and the sought after strat ones.

The S1 isn't a bridge always on its a series/parallel switch for the middle pup.
This means you also get a humbucker bridge sound or a humbucker neck sound.

I'll be honest I'm not a fan of the gold lace sensors (new or old ones) I've got golds on my strat and they seem to resonate a more "acoustic vibe" without any punch to them. Although I do like the blue ones he has installed on the video.

I've been thinking about the same thing with my... Furrian SX. The fretwork is crap on it but other then that it's a very solid tele.

[Hink]

I'm so excited, I get to join this thread in earnest.

Ok, so here's the scoop, I like teles, full stop. By that, I mean the style, not necessarily the brand. I have wanted a nashville style tele for some time now and have been debating how to go. I basically hate the look of all of the fender nashville teles as they choose boring colors. And really, when I say that I like teles, I mean that I like the bridge pickup and the body shape/style. I actually prefer strat style switching.

Today I picked up a cheap parts-caster squire. It's nothing to write home about, but I like the neck. It's a vintage squire maple neck and it has a little fatness to it like the early eighties tele that I sold long ago. I've been eyeing the xavier guitars, but, except for their new style neck, I hate their neck design, but, I really like the color choices.

So, my solution, I'm going to buy one of their bodies, route it for the middle pickup and use the guitar I picked up today along with some other parts, to build the guitar that I want.

I have an american standard bridge which I plan to put on. I really don't like vintage tele bridges at all. I've chosen the pickguard:



And I'm trying to decide between the orange and yellow bodies, or, perhaps something else?






I prefer the orange as a color, but I think that the yellow will pop more against the pickguard.

I get that this is way too obnoxious for many of you, but it has my name ALL over it.

To start with, I'll probably just put in pickups that I already have, but, that said, any suggestions?

well it depends completely on what tone you are going after, there was a time where teles were bought for the tone of a tele with it's single coils but today a tele can be that and a lot more so instead of assuming you just want the tele tone let me ask...what do you want for tone?

As for wiring I would highly suggest you go to the diy forum and check out the sticky on guitar wiring because today a tele can sound like a tele or a screamin metal ax...you can even have both.

So what is you're after for tone?

[Uncle E]

The Five position switch
Bridge
Bridge and Middle
Bridge and Neck
Middle and Neck
Neck

The Megaswitch E is a simple, elegant way to get that combination. The best is when the bridge is hum canceling, then 4 of the positions cancel hum.

With that said, my very favorite switching system is a standard 5-way switch with a blend pot for the bridge and neck, especially when every pickup is hum canceling.

[Hink]

The Five position switch
Bridge
Bridge and Middle
Bridge and Neck
Middle and Neck
Neck

The Megaswitch E is a simple, elegant way to get that combination. The best is when the bridge is hum canceling, then 4 of the positions cancel hum.

With that said, my very favorite switching system is a standard 5-way switch with a blend pot for the bridge and neck, especially when every pickup is hum canceling.

I haven't tried a blend yet but I agree and would add that if GS is looking for the tele tone I would not go with the Burton concept (just me)...It's not the 3 pups, but it's the fact that the bridge is not a tele bridge and the pup is not IN the bridge...I would go with 6 saddles of course, but if I wanted the tele sound that's what I would go with a tele bridge.

[tapper mike]

Fair enough the Burton model uses Lace "Blue" pickups but I'd still like the concept with fender tex mex.

The thing I don't get about fenders new "noiseless vintage" is there is nothing vintage in the tone. It's not a 50's, 60's, or even 70's fender pup sound.

[Uncle E]

The thing I don't get about fenders new "noiseless vintage" is there is nothing vintage in the tone. It's not a 50's, 60's, or even 70's fender pup sound.

I love them in the bridge position for the same reason Yngwie loved the Dimarzio HS-3, they're smooth and full sounding, like a cross between a single coil and a double coil. What they don't sound like are vintage Fenders.

[hibidy]

I was thinking about the Richie Kotzen tele, but it doesn't have the contour on the heel. I can't get on with guitars w/o some form of contour. Then for the sake of the hell of it I looked at some others only a couple of them have the contour.

Luckily, it's going to be while before I buy anything so it doesn't matter

[Dean Aka Nekro]

hibidy have you ever had a look at Halo custom guitar's offerings? They do a T-type body called 'Salvus' which you can have almost any way you like plus the headstock options are way less ugly than the odd squashed looking telecaster for example:




Headstock options which are nice I think except the naff BC Rich OTT type 'demon' thing:
You get the idea, As they are based over your side you won't pay much either, I've seen a Salvus 6-string baritone for $349:99 as an example. So regular scale would be cheaper I imagine. Might be worth looking into as I'm sure they'd do pretty much what you want for less than your ideal next 7ender would/might cost within reason. Imagine how good a neck-thru, string-thru t-type could/would be with a simple Tune-O-Matic bridge...Always get wood myself just looking at building a guitar with everything how I really want it from the off. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy/content with what I have but you know there is ALWAYS room for one more

After I have gotten the Warmoth jack-1 neck (which is a lot like John's except the headstock and John's seen my specs too) for the frankendean 29" 6-string Jackson I've had in mind/mentioned too much already but not got the pocket for yet (Got the Jackson, Had it years but the new Ibanez RGD320Z cost me a bit less than the neck I want for the Jackson for example), For a good year or two now, I will be probably go for a Halo so long as import duty/tax is not at rape prices which is how it usually is Halo's ship over here for less than £100 most of the time but that doesn't take the import crap into account.

To my sheer sadistic delight I keep hammering pics and throwing in the "can you imagine?" scenarios over the Salvus t-style to my mate Paul and watch in glee as it eats away at him, He is a tele man, Not brass 3 barrel bridge sort nor single-coils (a dirty word in frogzland) but all the rest loves it. I am such a good friend to him He bloody well deserves it mind! So its all good friendly verbally abusive fun or payment in kind if you will

[hibidy]

It looks good! I'll look into it

[Dean Aka Nekro]

I'm so excited, I get to join this thread in earnest.

Ok, so here's the scoop, I like teles, full stop. By that, I mean the style, not necessarily the brand. I have wanted a nashville style tele for some time now and have been debating how to go. I basically hate the look of all of the fender nashville teles as they choose boring colors. And really, when I say that I like teles, I mean that I like the bridge pickup and the body shape/style. I actually prefer strat style switching.

Today I picked up a cheap parts-caster squire. It's nothing to write home about, but I like the neck. It's a vintage squire maple neck and it has a little fatness to it like the early eighties tele that I sold long ago. I've been eyeing the xavier guitars, but, except for their new style neck, I hate their neck design, but, I really like the color choices.

So, my solution, I'm going to buy one of their bodies, route it for the middle pickup and use the guitar I picked up today along with some other parts, to build the guitar that I want.

I have an american standard bridge which I plan to put on. I really don't like vintage tele bridges at all. I've chosen the pickguard:



And I'm trying to decide between the orange and yellow bodies, or, perhaps something else?






I prefer the orange as a color, but I think that the yellow will pop more against the pickguard.

I get that this is way too obnoxious for many of you, but it has my name ALL over it.

To start with, I'll probably just put in pickups that I already have, but, that said, any suggestions?

well it depends completely on what tone you are going after, there was a time where teles were bought for the tone of a tele with it's single coils but today a tele can be that and a lot more so instead of assuming you just want the tele tone let me ask...what do you want for tone?

As for wiring I would highly suggest you go to the diy forum and check out the sticky on guitar wiring because today a tele can sound like a tele or a screamin metal ax...you can even have both.

So what is you're after for tone?

Personally ghettosynth man I highly recommend this fine small company for any/all pickup needs, They really go that extra mile to painstakingly nail what their intent/target is per pickup and then each one scatter wound by hand so you get what you pay for IMveryhumbleHO:
https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/p ... ?cat=teles
I'm not saying there are plenty of other fine options around because there is but adding to the 'any suggestions?' part. They have a few decent sound clips of each plus some youtubing should yield even more results FWIW

All the best