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Post subject: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 3:27 am
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So a month ago I bought an American Special Stratocaster and it's a love affair, it wasn't my first Strat, now I gotta have me a Telecaster, since I really like those twangy slabs. Tried some yesterday at music store and really enjoyed the MIM Standard and it's in Midnight wine.
Image
Since my main guitar influces reach from Knopfler, SRV...to Waylon Jennings and many other country artist a Tele is next step.
I liked the rich sound of MIM.
So any thoughts on MIM Teles?


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 5:29 am
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WaymoreProta wrote:
So any thoughts on MIM Teles?

Great guitars.
QC can be a bit shoddy with MIM and newer USA guitars, so go over it in detains afterwards, checking for things like screws not screwed in all the way, or fastened to tight, tuner nuts being loose and buzzing, metal burrs on metal parts like bridge saddles or string trees, sprouting fret ends and such. And get it set up.
Once any and all out-of-the-box problems are taken care of, MIMs are generally great. Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

One of my two goto guitars is a MIM Standard Telecaster. I admit I changed the pickups on it to N3s (humbuckers in single coil package) because I prefer the deeper sound, but it played well before then too.

As for twang, that's 90% player and 10% guitar. Pick hard close to the bridge, and you'll get a tone that start off sharp and quickly decays to the right tone with the overtones dead. That's twang. The cap in a tele helps a little bit by rolling off, but it's almost all player technique and not the guitar - a good player can make most guitars twang.


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 6:18 am
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I love my MIM Telecaster.

It's the best-playing, best-sounding, best-bang-for-the-buck instrument I own. I have done a few modifications to it over the years, but it's my main go-to guitar for everything--recording, performances and jamming.

Image

Image

Image

Originally this was an hecho-en-Mexico Tele Special, which had a coil-tapped Special Design Humbucking Pickup in the neck position. That went away rather quickly.

Eventually I installed a Mighty Mite P-90 (in the leftover neck route) and a four-way switch---and voila! Big Texas Tone, that could Rip (bridge pickup) or Roar (neck). Installing a Fender No-Load Tone Pot completed the electronics.

A few aesthetic flourishes were added along the way.

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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:09 am
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Screamin Armadillo wrote:
I love my MIM Telecaster.

It's the best-playing, best-sounding, best-bang-for-the-buck instrument I own. I have done a few modifications to it over the years, but it's my main go-to guitar for everything--recording, performances and jamming.

Image

Image

Image

Originally this was an hecho-en-Mexico Tele Special, which had a coil-tapped Special Design Humbucking Pickup in the neck position. That went away rather quickly.

Eventually I installed a Mighty Mite P-90 (in the leftover neck route) and a four-way switch---and voila! Big Texas Tone, that could Rip (bridge pickup) or Roar (neck). Installing a Fender No-Load Tone Pot completed the electronics.

A few aesthetic flourishes were added along the way.


Oh so nice,.such a nice colour and I like the pickguard very much!

As soon as I recover a bit financially from AmSpcl Strat.gonna get a new MIM Tele!


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:24 am
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arth1 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
So any thoughts on MIM Teles?

Great guitars.
QC can be a bit shoddy with MIM and newer USA guitars, so go over it in detains afterwards, checking for things like screws not screwed in all the way, or fastened to tight, tuner nuts being loose and buzzing, metal burrs on metal parts like bridge saddles or string trees, sprouting fret ends and such. And get it set up.
Once any and all out-of-the-box problems are taken care of, MIMs are generally great. Nothing to be ashamed of at all.

One of my two goto guitars is a MIM Standard Telecaster. I admit I changed the pickups on it to N3s (humbuckers in single coil package) because I prefer the deeper sound, but it played well before then too.

As for twang, that's 90% player and 10% guitar. Pick hard close to the bridge, and you'll get a tone that start off sharp and quickly decays to the right tone with the overtones dead. That's twang. The cap in a tele helps a little bit by rolling off, but it's almost all player technique and not the guitar - a good player can make most guitars twang.


If guitar sounds good and it's setup well and the finish is good nothing to be ashamed of no matter if its made in mexico or US.
I like buying new guitars, that no one fiddled with before me, so I set em up as I like and I'm pretty good in doing setups. Also like to check the guitar out in person, take a good look at every detail and of course play it trough few amps to see how I like it and I really liked this MIM Tele, great sound for $$$
Luckily I have an fender authorized dealer nearby so I can check it all out.

As for twang I play finger style as Knopfler picking, thumb and first two fingers, so plucking comes naturally to me, so does twang with it. I actually played with a pick for most of my guitar years but after the comeback to guitar after a few years brake I just naturally gravitated to finger picking...
Well, long story short I'm in process of curing my index fingers, both with tendinitis, fortunately its not rheumatism...It's getting better day by day...and will be cured in time for this Tele I got my eyes on :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 7:53 am
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WaymoreProta wrote:
Oh so nice,.such a nice colour and I like the pickguard very much!

Thank you so much!

The reddish-brown tortoiseshell pickguard really makes color (or colour, if you prefer) POP.

(The original pickguard was black, which looked nice but somewhat pedestrian).

This hue is called Vintage White (which is slightly see-through towards the center of the body). It's not quite Blonde, not quite aged Olympic White, definitely not yellow...it's a really cool shade of whatever you want to call it...

Image

Pic is a bit grainy, but you can see the nice contrasts present.

At some point soon, I'm going to add some subtle hot-rod pinstripes highlighting the colors/colours of the pickguard... 8)

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Texas Roadhouse Music at It's Finest...


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:04 am
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WaymoreProta wrote:
As for twang I play finger style as Knopfler picking, thumb and first two fingers, so plucking comes naturally to me, so does twang with it. I actually played with a pick for most of my guitar years but after the comeback to guitar after a few years brake I just naturally gravitated to finger picking...
Well, long story short I'm in process of curing my index fingers, both with tendinitis, fortunately its not rheumatism...It's getting better day by day...and will be cured in time for this Tele I got my eyes on :wink:


I play mostly fingerpicking myself. Five-finger style (pimac), though, as I also play flamenco classical guitar (amateur level), and have found that my ring finger is my fastest finger. The Tele is nice for fingerpicking, because the pick guard extends past the bass strings and gives a thumb brace and tap plate for the thumb. The Strat doesn't have that. And for a standard Tele, only two pickups and string-through-body means more sustain, which is nice for fingerstyle.


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 8:29 am
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arth1 wrote:
WaymoreProta wrote:
As for twang I play finger style as Knopfler picking, thumb and first two fingers, so plucking comes naturally to me, so does twang with it. I actually played with a pick for most of my guitar years but after the comeback to guitar after a few years brake I just naturally gravitated to finger picking...
Well, long story short I'm in process of curing my index fingers, both with tendinitis, fortunately its not rheumatism...It's getting better day by day...and will be cured in time for this Tele I got my eyes on :wink:


I play mostly fingerpicking myself. Five-finger style (pimac), though, as I also play flamenco classical guitar (amateur level), and have found that my ring finger is my fastest finger. The Tele is nice for fingerpicking, because the pick guard extends past the bass strings and gives a thumb brace and tap plate for the thumb. The Strat doesn't have that. And for a standard Tele, only two pickups and string-through-body means more sustain, which is nice for fingerstyle.


Yeah, when I tried the Tele it felt right for my style of picking, though I don't have problems with Strat.
As for sustain yeah Tele should be able to hold it longer, but didn't seam to notice any more sustain compared to my AmSpcl that truly has a ton of sustain, but then again Tele was factory setup and on 9's my Strat is on 10's and I set it up...


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:23 pm
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Thicker strings help with sustain, for sure.

BTW, here's what my goto MIM Tele looks like:

Image

(Seagull S12S in the background)


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Mar 18, 2016 12:28 pm
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arth1 wrote:
Thicker strings help with sustain, for sure.

BTW, here's what my goto MIM Tele looks like:

Image

(Seagull S12S in the background)


Nice one!


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:11 am
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I have a Classic 50's MIM tele. Great guitar!
It's' one of the few on my "I'll never want to sell this one" list.


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:19 am
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Nerd wrote:
I have a Classic 50's MIM tele. Great guitar!
It's' one of the few on my "I'll never want to sell this one" list.


Oh I'm definitely getting that MIM midnight wine Tele, at the moment bills and kids clothes got in the way but soon...can't wait to be honest, I'm like a child, no patience when it comes to guitars that I click with, just focusing on that till I bring it home.
Gotta be just a bit more patient till I grab it :oops:


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 4:48 pm
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I have a 2000 MIM that's great. The previous owner changed the pickups to SC1s and added locking tuners. But the body, neck and bridge and nut are the originals and I can find no fit or finish issues at all. In terms of quality, I'd put it up against (and have) my two AmStd Teles.


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:09 pm
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philipk wrote:
I have a 2000 MIM that's great. The previous owner changed the pickups to SC1s and added locking tuners. But the body, neck and bridge and nut are the originals and I can find no fit or finish issues at all. In terms of quality, I'd put it up against (and have) my two AmStd Teles.


Just yesterday they called me from the shop to let me know that Midnight wine Tele arrived if I wanna take a look, they unpacked it, and bam, it's perfect, I looked at it from every angle possible, under three kinds of light...no flaws in finish, neck nut etc...
Played like a dream!
Still didn't buy it but soon...damn bills!


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Post subject: Re: Gonna buy MIM Tele
Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 8:11 pm
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If you are getting a MIM Tele; with out discussing pickups, I will suggest that you need one of these"
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Ty ... _File.html

You will in all likelihood eventually find that the fret ends need to be dressed.
This is not necessarily the case with a MIA Telecaster.
This is one of the reasons that MIM Teles are less expensive.


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