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Post subject: Can you help me with some Telecaster set-up basics?
Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 4:46 pm
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Hi, I just bought my first telecaster - a very nice 2000 MIM standard in what appears to be Cobalt Blue... though looking at the color chart here in might be Violet. Really nice looking tho!

My questions are about set-up and string gauge. I've been playing acoustics for nearly 40 years, but I find there's more to playing electric than chords and scales and stage ears...

1) On my acoustics the rule of thumb is: The heavier the string, the better the tone. Is that true of Telecasters? I'm thinking of setting this up to begin with using a set with .11 at the high E. Is that recommended?

2) When I got it, several of the individual string height adjustments were terribly out of whack, and I've solved that problem for the most part, but was not able to actually measure the heights per the guidelines here on this website because the previous owner has tweaked all of the curve out of the neck, and I don't want to tweak the truss rod until I have whichever strings I'm going to be using on a regular basis on the guitar.

Also out of whack though not as bad was the intonation fine-tuning positions on the bridge for each string. I'm thinking it would be OK to go ahead and make an adj here as this is a measurement thing as well as a pitch thing - and if changes when I go to the next set of strings - I can tweak it again then. Is my thinking on the right track with all of this?

Finally, I have one really neophyte question about playing: which pickups are generally used for which jobs? Is the neck the "lead" and the bridge the "rhythm" position?

I have other questions about pickups and the switches, potentiometer size, etc - but I'll hold off on those until a later date.

Thanks for helping a proud new owner get his Telecaster properly dialed in!

`alton


:wink: [/b]


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Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 7:31 pm
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Thicker strings will generally give you a fuller tone. I use 11-52's on mine and I like the tone much better than the 9's or even the 10's I used before. As far as your setup goes, I'd pick the strings and get my action/neck set pretty much where I want it before adjusting the intonation. You'll be chasing your tail for a while otherwise.
I generally use the neck for rhythm and the bridge for lead unless I am playing blues which I do predominately with the neck. The middle position is also good for rhythm with higher gain stuff.

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Posted: Sat Apr 18, 2009 11:44 pm
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Hi There. Congrats on your Tele.

As the previous poster said, get the strings you'll use onto the guitar then do the setup. At the top of this screen, goto "support". There you'll find a setup guide for Telecasters. If you've never done a setup before it's pretty easy to follow. I even managed to do it myself on my Tele when I changed string gauges.

I generally use the middle position for rhythm and the bridge for lead. I find the neck pickup a bit too soft on it's own unless I want to play some really soft, mellow leads. That's another thing you can play around with after you have the string action all setup. You can fiddle a bit with the pickup heights and that will also alter your sound.

Cheers and good luck!

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Posted: Sun Apr 19, 2009 10:05 am
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SonOfIAm wrote:
Thicker strings will generally give you a fuller tone. I use 11-52's on mine and I like the tone much better than the 9's or even the 10's I used before. As far as your setup goes, I'd pick the strings and get my action/neck set pretty much where I want it before adjusting the intonation. You'll be chasing your tail for a while otherwise.
I generally use the neck for rhythm and the bridge for lead unless I am playing blues which I do predominately with the neck. The middle position is also good for rhythm with higher gain stuff.


+1 and you'll get more "twang" using the bridge pup with the heavier gauge strings too.

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