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I have a '52 reissue blackguard that sounds amazing. It took me longer than it should have, but I finally figured out how to squeak some quality tones out of the 'ol cutting board. This got me thinking...
What does everyone think about the various Tele configurations for jazz?
- Is the concensus standout ash/maple/single coils?
- Is the thinline something to consider?
- Does the 60's style alder/rosewood/steel saddles make some woolly jazz tones?
What do you think; what's everyone's favorite tele for jazz?
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06-13-2024 10:16 PM
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Just about any of them will do fine, even the ones I build still sound like Teles although I experiment with different woods, chambering, pickups, etc. Neck pickup, roll of a little tone and you're good to go. Listen to Ed Bickert - he used the stock single coil and later humbucker in the neck position and still sounded like himself. There's a gazillion different models out there but the basic ol' plank with a couple single coils (I prefer 'No Casters') will do the job.
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Yes.
Originally Posted by Prof Silverhair
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This topic has been broached before. There's a thread called "Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed" with 2255 entries as of 2024 06 13. There are other threads as well. Search for "telecaster jazz" to find many of them. That having been said:
The best Tele for jazz is the one with strings on it.
There's no particular consensus. If you're a jazz player, just about any Tele will do. If you're not, then even an ES-175 won't.
My own prejudice favors the later Ed Bickert style - but there's also the Bill Frisell style(s), the Julian Lage style, the Mike Stern style, the Tim Lerch style, the Terry Kath style, the Kingfish style, and the other Ed Bickert style.
See, for example,
Your current question is so open-ended that just about any Tele ever made by anybody would serve as an answer.
My best advice is to SET A BUDGET, then play all the models in your price range and buy the one you're most comfortable with.
If you really need a specific, budget-free answer, then any color is fine. But that's just my answer, there are a zillion others. Set a budget first.
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The Tele is just a great platform to build on. Really depends on being lucky and finding a body and neck that work together and have acoustic resonance. From there it’s just a matter of choosing presence for electronics to hardware.
Play a bunch until you find one that speaks to you unplugged!
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The easiest thing to try is to slap some flat wounds on it.
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That might be the second easiest thing to try. Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles
The easiest is rolling the volume knob down a little bit and the tone knob off about halfway. Flatten out the amp tone stack. Pick lightly near the end of the neck.
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I prefer a p90 in the neck. And I like lighter weight.
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BAHAHAHA.
Point taken.
Originally Posted by Cunamara
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I don't think any one particular flavor of Telecaster is necessarily superior for jazz given the vast expanse of sonic terrain that is the genre.
Take most any Tele, roll off the tone knob and you're most of the way there.
Everyone's individual taste varies. But no one's version of ideal is necessarily better.
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"jazz" is in the players fingers talent and attitude..the equipment is secondary
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To me, a Telecaster is so great because it's cheap and easy to produce. For that reason, I really shy away from the expensive models. MIM Fender's, Squier Classic Vibes, G&L Asat Tributes, and cheap partscasters really exemplify the Telecaster design, at least to me. I know some will die for super nice custom shop models, but shelling out tons of money for a slab of wood with strings...I kind of don't see the point. I'd rather put that money towards a good archtop. Anyways...
The things that I have found DO matter when making a good playing Telecaster are:
1) The neck (honestly, if you can get this squared away everything else is kind of secondary. In this category is also the fretwork. Seriously, it's funny how you can see a guitar in a weird color and a configuration you would hate if looking at it online and then you play it in person and it has a nice neck and you forget all the other stuff)
2) The pickups (tag along pots and such in here. If you get a Squier ditch those cheapo linear taper pots, yuck)
3) The bridge/saddles (3 barrel compensated brass, aka Glendale for me, please. Steel is too bright)
I just took delivery of a Fender Player Tele with a maple neck and 3-tone sunburst 2 days. The quality on these is really wild and the neck just feels perfect. Fender has really learned over the years and this guitar feels a lot better than the Standard MIM line of years prior. Granted, I have a ton of saved up Tele parts from years of partscaster building so I was able to swap the tuners, bridge, pickguard, and pickups to make an outstanding instrument. Stock, the instrument is still great. I was really surprised how good of a sound I could get out of the stock pickups and they are surprisingly really quiet. With a little work the MIM Player series (or at least mine) feel like what I would expect from an American Standard from years before.
A Fender Player w/ some upgrades is and has been my pick
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To build on what I typed before, if you want a Jazz centered telecaster I would choose any Tele you can find with a good neck and proper body routings (MIM Player do have these which is another reason I like them so much) and fit a humbucker in the neck position and make sure you have some good pots and switch. Then, make sure you have brass saddles of some sort, steel can be too bright. Then I would put on some thicker strings, like 11's, with a wound 3rd. Flats will sound stereotypically jazzy but it's subjective...I kinda go back and forth on what kind of strings I like but I ALWAYS choose thicker strings. That's typically what I've done if it matters at all to anyone
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Google "Ted Greene Telecaster" and the first line of the first result reads, Originally Posted by wolflen
"With guitar, it is not always about setup, but about touch."
That has stuck with me ever since I first read it.
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Could be a reason my post made you think of that line..I studied with Ted. Originally Posted by chris32895
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Lucky man Originally Posted by wolflen
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So, more seriously. I have owned two Telecasters; my first one was/is a Squier Affinity which was about $200 new, no case. Even dead stock it was a pretty good guitar for jazz; rolling off the volume a touch, rolling the tone to about halfway, picking softly over the neck and adjusting the amp got me about 95% of the way there for a really inexpensive out-of-pocket cost. This was to see if I would like a Telecaster. Originally Posted by Prof Silverhair
I did improve it by switching to Dimarzio Area T pickups which were great for jazz. A ham-handed screwdriver adjustment and I killed the neck pickup, ended up replacing those with Bill and Becky Lawrence Wilde Microcoils, which are really an excellent pickup. Recently, I put on brass saddles and liked how they warned the sound up just a little bit. I've had that guitar a good 10 or 12 years now, maybe longer. The perfect instrument for gigs where there might be a bit of risk to the instrument involved.
My second Telecaster was built from parts; I bought a body from Skip Ellis which was a semi hollow mahogany/maple top. It came with a Pete Biltoft CC rider PAF-sized Charlie Christian pickup, which sounded great but in my old house with bad wiring was really noisy. I ended up selling that pickup back to Skip. Currently it has Wilde L280 pickups in it, which are really fantastic- a little bit of compressed quality to the tone that I really like. It's rounded out with a Warmoth neck. This one has graphite saddles, which I find really take the "ping" and "twang" out of the sound since I'm not looking for either of those. In combination with the semi-hollow body, the tone is distinctly different from the Affinity and I do like it better. However, the body is very light because it's *really* hollowed out and so it has to be played sitting down due to neck dive.
My other guitars include a Gibson ES-175, Ibanez GB10 and a Matt Cushman 17" carved arch top with floater. The Telecasters sound just as good although each instrument has its own unique qualities. If I could only own one guitar would probably be the GB10, although my current favorite guitar for playing jazz is the Gibson.
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I just got frets placed on this guitar, which was originally fretless. (REALLY STUPID move for anyone who aspires to play chords!). Gold EVO. 8 string, fanned fret Telecaster made by Victor Baker. With frets, it’s an absolute revelation, my god. The perfect jazz guitar, easy to play, the best jazz sound I’ve found, and I owned (and sold) many Gibsons (L5, 175s, etc). This guitar is something else.
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Appreciate the response, helped me realize that my post title is a bit confusing. I'm really interested in everyone's experience with different tele's for jazz. It's precisely because there are SO MANY tele variations, I posted the question/thead. I'd love to hear about folk's trials and successes with different Tele configutations.
Originally Posted by Blkat
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Awesome, thanks for the reply. Coulnd't agree more - a guitar really has feel right to me and that's all in the neck. I've swooned over the look of a guitar, picked it up, and within 30 seconds knew I'd never play it. FWIW, my 52 reissue has about the best neck of any guitar I've every played. Loved it from the moment I picked it up. I have no idea about what shape Fender would label it (C, U, etc) or how deep it is at the first or twelth fret. I just know it feels perfect to me.
Originally Posted by chris32895
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Wow, agree again.
I love thicker strings (and a wound G). All my guitars are currently strung with D'Addario EJ 21st 12-52s. A real pro player introduced me and I've never looked back.
I am very curious about about a humbucker but love my Tele too much to mess with it. I'm thinking about doing precisely what you describe - find something that feels great and route the neck for a 'bucker. I have a few good friends with full woodshops who can help me do a proper routing job.
Originally Posted by chris32895
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That's amazing. I love hearing Tim Lerch talk about studying with Ted. It's Tim's playing that introduced me to the idea of using my Tele for jazz. Love all his music and make a point to buy his books, if only to support him making more great music.
Originally Posted by wolflen
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I'm kicking around the idea of a second telecaster, specifically one with a humbucker in the neck. I'm a bit curious about the difference between mape/rosewood/ebony in the neck vs ash or alder in body. But perhaps the genius of the string through design is ... it doesn't matter. I'm sold on brass saddles and thick comfortable neck, everything after that is up for debate, lol.
Originally Posted by Cunamara
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If you need neck specs, Fender specs their Player necks as .82” at the 1st and .87 at the 12th with a nut width of 42mm and the back is Satin finished. Even C shape. There is something about Fender string spacing at the nut because it feels wider than my archtop with 43mm nut width. There is a little variation as my player neck is .84” at the first and overall feels wonderful with great fretwork. Keep in mind if you get an all maple neck they put poly on the whole thing after the frets are on so I took 0000 steel wool to buff that off the frets. Originally Posted by Prof Silverhair
Oh and the stock single coils are really surprisingly good. I was going to swap them out with Dimarzio Area T pickups but decided not to. The instrument does benefit from a good shielding job, fyi.
I swear I don’t work for Fender I’m just really impressed with the Player Telecaster I have.
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