ezbass

There is just something about an ash Tele that makes me go, “Ooh!”

Fortunately, on my return to GG to purchase a pedal, the above, bling-tastic guitar was gone. However, I’m now considering the slightly more subdued and somewhat cheaper...

You’re welcome. Let us know the outcome.

Sounds like it might be a faulty jack socket not recognising that the lead has been removed.

I foolishly tried one of these today in GuitarGuitar. For the money, they're brilliant. I tried it alongside a Setzer signature and it wasn't a million miles away from being as good. Damn, it was only the mega bucks for a Setzer that was stopping me having Gretsch GAS in the first place!

In answer to your question, YouTube is often your friend here, given that a picture paints a 1000 words, etc. Here’s a link to one, I’m not saying it’s the best, it’s just seems short and to the point, but you could also check out Gibson’s own LP set up measurements, there’s bound to be a set up guide on their website.

You’re fine, these things are held on/down by string tension, next time you change strings, do them one at a time. I would point out, however, that the height of the stop tail should be low enough to create a decent break angle behind the tune-a-matic bridge, in the same way the headstock creates a break angle behind the nut.

This thread had me playing my Tele again yesterday (it had been residing in a gig bag and not easily picked up for a quick noodle) man alive that neck pickup is an aural thing of beauty! Shame about the monkey playing it .

My rebuilt Tele. It was originally a Squier CV '50s, but then it evolved. The neck is original, but I changed the body for a contoured, ash body. I added DiMarzio pickups (a heavy blues Strat neck pickup and an Area Hot T in the bridge, painted to match) and a chromed brass bridge. I have also fitted a Stesbar tremolo, but I swapped back to the hardtail recently. The body was coloured with water colour paint and then Danish oil and waxed, I then added a faux binding courtesy of Humbro model paint. It sounds great, very P90 like. Here it is in both trem and hardtail guises.

Just wanted to share a little discovery I made. I've been playing my Epi EJ200 a fair bit lately, but I found that the Elixirs that I had on there were making my fingers tired and any string bending (especially the G) was a Herculean task. Therefore, I did a bit of research and discovered Optima Vintageflex, low, equal tension strings. I just fitted a set of 11-47s and they're great, easy on the fingers and easy to bend with just 19lbs (ish) on every string. There was a problem, however. You can buy these from Germany or the Netherlands, but both retailers want to send them via Fedex at a cost more than the strings themselves! I contacted Optima and they replied saying the UK distributor would be in touch, that was two weeks ago and so far, nothing. In the meantime, I ordered a set from Strings By Mail in the US for $20.73 including carriage, as opposed to €25.99 from Europe. This means that a set of strings that were manufactured in Germany, sent to the US and then sent to the UK are cheaper than a set which just went 'up the road' to a European retailer and thence to the UK. Madness! Anyway, if you've been struggling with acoustic guitar string tension, give them a go.

I’m a big fan of Tokai and have owned at least 3 of their guitars in the past (2 of which were LPs IIRC). However, Epi make a nice guitar for the money too.

The RG series has such good credentials, it’d be hard to go too far wrong there (I know nothing of the Ergodynes, but probably just aesthetically different). When looking to keep cost low but quality high, I’d always be looking at a Yamaha. However, there’s nothing better than actually getting you hands on a batch to choose what plays the best (pickups can always be upgraded).

There are plenty of multi fx that have amp sims, headphones and line outs. However, if you’re feeling flush Line6 Helix products seems to be very de rigueur at the moment.

GLWTS

This thread has me visiting YouTube and reminding myself how much I like this track. And this one.

Obviously not Charlie Tumahai because he died a fair while back. Robert Bryan (he played bass on Axe Victim)?

Nice, I like the understated circuitry.

Probably best known for his work with the brilliant Bebop Deluxe in the 70s (Sunburst Finish is one of my top albums of all time). However, he has recorded 100s (I think that’s right) of solo albums since. His solo stuff can be quite avant-garde IIRC.

Good call. However, if you do want to spend a good amount and with the chance of wanting to change in the future, the Tele will be a potentially easier sale if you do want to try something else.

Individually is the way to go, IMO. Slightly more hassle, but I think more folks will be certainly more attracted to pedals they’re after if they see them in the thread title.

No, I’ve not tried them, but when I was looking into HBs (quite some ago) these are the ones whose description seemed to fit my requirements at the time. DiMarzio’s descriptions seemed to be very accurate and not just sales speil.

At least you received an answer, there was just tumbleweed for me. As for recommendations, it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. I wanted to give my Tele a P90 tone, so I asked the nice chaps in NY and they came back with the Area Hot T for the bridge and Heavy Blues Vintage for the neck. I remember the SDHBs being absolute monsters that ate Gibson PAFs with ease. If I was retro fitting a humbucker fitted guitar these days, I think my start point would be the Air Nortons as I like the description of them.

I’ve always liked DiMarzio, from my first SDHBs that I fitted to my Aria LP back in the ‘70s, to the Heavy Blues and Area Hot that I have fitted to my current Tele. Not only are their products top drawer, they are also the most helpful company to deal with. They answer email enquires quickly and really thoroughly (even the top guys there who deal with the likes of Satch, Vai and Johnson get involved), which is more than I can say for my experience with a well known, California based company.

There are so many variables viz: porting; cab size; voicing; efficiency; etc, that it’s probably best just to use your ears. I used to use 4x10” speakers in my bass rig, then 2x12, now I use 10x5. All have been tone and weight decisions. The best sounding guitar amp/combo I ever had was a Fender ‘59 Bassman reissue, a 4x10, small, open backed enclosure (loved those Jensen Blues).

Welcome aboard. It’s hard to go wrong with a Tele, so a good choice made there (for the sake of transparency, I’m a huge Tele fan and therefore biased). A lot of the guys here are also bass players who are also Basschat members so you might see a bit of crossover. Here, as there, photos of your guitar/s are always welcome/positively encouraged.