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Post subject: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:16 pm
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Obviously, new to the forum. As a teenager I bought a Yamaha acoustic FG420 and played for a while. Fastforward a few decades and I have kids who are getting old enough to shun me. I have picked up the guitar again and have now decided I need some electricity. After reading lots of reviews, dozens of threads, and watching lots of youtube, I think a Telecaster is what I need. But on reading about single coil, noiseless, humbucker, vintage, Tele and Strat pickups, I am a little overwhelmed.

I know what I need to do is try out a bunch of guitars at the local GC, but I need to try to narrow it down a bit. What do I like? I know not one guitar set up can do all this, but I think you might get the idea:

Credence Clearwater Revival (Bad Moon Rising)
Led Zepplin (Fool in the Rain)
The Cars (All I can Do)
Elvis Costello (everything... and I know he played a Jazz Master)
Green Day (American Idiot)
Lou Reed (New Sensations/Turn to Me/I Love You Suzanne)
Lone Justice (Shelter)
REM (Strange Currencies)
Ryan Adams (again, almost anything)
Tom Petty (Free Falling'/Mary Jane's Last Dance)
VU (Sweet Jane off Loaded)

It seems to me that super-twangy is not what I am looking for, but I am not sure how much of the sound difference between a Tele and Strat comes from the body shape and how much comes from the pickups. Will any Tele sort of fit the bill or do I need to look at something like the Nashville with the middle Strat pickup? I'll be practicing a lot at night when everyone else is asleep (with headphones tied into an amp), so do I need humbuckers or noiseless pickups?

I am mainly looking under, say $800 and since I (at the moment) am still working with chords, I should probably stick with a 7.25" or 9.5" radius. Aesthetically, I gotta say I can deal with a lot, but I really could pass on the 1970s headstock or the sunburst color schemes (I love the natural finishes best) or anything that is trying to look old or worn.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:13 am
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Many question.

Like you write you are better to try a bunch of guitars before


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:31 am
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Agreed, but there is a problem with this. I have read a lot of good reviews of the Tele Blackout (not Blacktop) and the Baja, but my local CG has neither in stock. Is it worth it to try to find these elsewhere? Or are they not likely to be what I am looking for anyway? Also, with so many models to choose from, I'd like to have some sense as whether the Tele is even the right ballpark. Or given how I'd like to use the guitar, should I be focusing on a Strat or elsewhere. If humbuckers are definitely going to push a Tele to sound like a Gibson LP, but I try a Blacktop HH and like it, maybe I should look at the Gibsons. I guess there is something to be said for going into a GC completely open-minded and ignorant, but that is not my personality.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 9:31 am
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Begin to try any guitar first , this will reduce your choice. You could like neck feeling of Fender and hate neck of Gibson , or reverse. They are not the same scale too.

After you check the sound / tone .

Step by step you'll find a guitar you like. If you arei love with Fender brand/ guitar , after trying many , you can do some search on the web about Fender's guitar dealer don't have in stock to see if you have chance to like these .


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:27 pm
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Just an fyi, the new Amer. Standard Tele has the same pickups as the Baja Telecaster.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:32 pm
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Best thing to do, take yourself to GC (not on the week-end) and spend as much time as you can with all the guitars that may be calling to you. That visit should help you find what you don't like and focus more on the others.

Just my .02,
John.E


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:43 pm
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LOL, my first visit was on a weekend and I was wondering how you could tell anything with 10+ guys in the room playing.

I guess I need to work on picking a combo amp at the same time, right?


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 2:20 am
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ScreamingBlueMessiah wrote:
LOL, my first visit was on a weekend and I was wondering how you could tell anything with 10+ guys in the room playing.

I guess I need to work on picking a combo amp at the same time, right?


If too many guys playing , you can just begin to how feel some guitars, how the neck feel, the weight... Later you could try amp when is more quiet.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:36 am
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i would always prioritise a guitar over an amp, especially if you have neither at the moment. if you dont 'bond' with a guitar, no super expensive amp is ever going to change that. the guitar has to feel right, look right and play right, or else you just wont get into it.

once you find the guitar that feels like an extension of you, then take it back to the shop and try it through whatever amps you can, and buy the one that makes your guitar sound pukka.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 12:33 pm
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Sounds like a plan (pun intended). I have started to compile a short list of different brands and models I'd like to try, but the more I check out demos on youtube, the more I find myself liking the Tele. But knowing me, once I get into the store, I may well end up going home with a Gretch!!!

But one more thing I might not be able to figure out at the store. If I am going to be doing a lot of practicing at night when everyone else in the house is asleep, do I need to look only at models fitted with humbuckers or noiseless pickups? Is the single coil hum something that should be a deal-breaker (even playing my acoustic quietly isn't quiet enough for my wife at times). Yes, we need a bigger house, but humbuckers might be a cheaper option.


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 12:46 pm
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Finding the right guitar is so suggestive, no one, not even your influences can tell you what is right for you. Took me many years to find what I like and I'm still working on it. You're gonna be like most of us, buying and selling a lot of guitars :)


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 12:47 pm
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Single coil ( with little hum ) is not a problem for me, this the real Fender and love is stronger than the hum. But you may like noiseless, if you don't are a fan of Leo pure desing.

IMO hum is only a problem in studio, not at home or gig.

Tele is a very nice guitar. I have 2 . But more "difficult" to play than Stratocaster ( I have 3 )

I play more of the time on my Strat.

Electric guitar with headphone make me playing very early in the morning , wife sleeping.......


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:23 pm
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Ok, this is a new one on me... given the same neck length, fret spacing and fingerboard radius, what makes the strat easier to play?


Oh man, I joined a baseball glove forum and now I own 14. I am not sure I can afford 14 guitars, but sure do understand how moving that direction could happen!


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:35 pm
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ScreamingBlueMessiah wrote:
Ok, this is a new one on me... given the same neck length, fret spacing and fingerboard radius, what makes the strat easier to play?


Strats in general aren't easier to play.. it's his preference. So go find YOUR preference.

No one on the internet can tell you what the right guitar is for you.

(FYI teles and strats share the same scale length. Differences in neck shape, fret wire, and fingerboard wood and/or finish are what make each individual guitar unique. You might hate a U shape neck but like C shape, for instance. Or you might prefer once of the variances of a V shape. Again, the only way you can find out which you prefer is through personal experience. Just some things to think about while you're in the store and not here. :lol: )


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Post subject: Re: Need help adding electricity to my life.
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:50 pm
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Toronado wrote:

Strats in general aren't easier to play.. it's his preference. So go find YOUR preference.



First time I hear that . IMO this is the ( one of ) most easiest guitar.


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