What's your biggest Tele buying regret ?

[riolux]

I recently bought a used Squier Tele Custom II. It's a nice enough guitar, I had just tried a brand new one out in a store and I really liked it. A couple of days later I visited the guy who had an ad out for a used one. I think I played three chords (which sounded good) and I got the price lowered with about 15%. When I came home I noticed that
* The pickguard had been modified
* The edges of the pickguard had been "modified" with a black marker - from 3-ply to 1-ply...
* The bridge had been moved by 2mm, on ONE side (it was slanted).
* The pots were a mix of solid and split shafts
* The knobs where a mix of different brands and two of them were chipped
* The nut was loose and chipped
* The neck look like it had been sanded down on the edges, probably a poor atempt to adjust the fret ends.

but most importand of all
* It didn't sound as good anymore
* I didn't like the way it felt and it made me miserable.

I'm not sorry about the price I paid, but that I could miss all the flaws above. Actually, I didn't miss some of them, but I just thougt "Hey, I've come this far, I'm going to buy it". I also bought 4 new 500k pots and 4 knobs which I never had time to install.

But anyway, I had it for about two months and then I put an ad out for it with most of the not so obvoius flaws described and a guy came and saw it, played it, liked it and bought it for the asking price.

[revertigo]

biggest tele regret was not buying a squier tele when i started.

[Staggered Mag]

Selling a nice 55 tele in the 80's for under a thousand buck$

[garytelecastor]

Losing my 69 to a low down slimy thief.

[Alex W]

I regret not ordering a MIJ Telecaster direct from Fender Japan/Ishibashi Music when I had the chance, not to mention a very favorable dollar-Yen conversion rate at the time.

[Louthunder]

Originally Posted by drgonzo2

Buying a Baja, sight unseen. Lovely guitar, but the neck's too darn big for me...

... G

Same thing happened to me! Sounded great, couldn't get used to the neck.

[mrothacker]

Buying regrets -none
Selling regrets - Letting my 68 paisley go , doh !!!

[mistermullens]

Originally Posted by Ira7

I regret taking the family to Key West this upcoming weekend instead of ordering the new pine Squier.

Oh, man I love Key West! That is a tough one. New Tele or Key West? Right now I'm leaning toward Key West.

My biggest Tele regret? Not removing the neck pup sooner.

[jspeter51]

...Telecoustic
action is HORRIBLE out of the box. Shimmed the neck and still didn't like the way it played or sounded, plugged in or acoustic. Now it sits in a gig bag in a corner never to be used again I suppose. I take it out every 6 months or so to see if my mind changes, and I get the same feeling about it. I guess it may be time to get rid of it.

[Telewilly]

My only regret is that I didn't buy one 40 years ago.

[Tim Armstrong]

Never regretted buying a Tele...

Deeply regretted selling them, though!

Tim

[PaisleyIsGod]

Really regret not buying a gorgeous Thinline I came across about a month or so ago.

[Surfabilly]

So far, my only regret has been that my Strat collection managed to outnumber my Tele collection, and being one to profess that "I prefer the Tele twang over the Strat quack."

Matt

[AjayTele]

You'll have to rectify that problem...

[leonard d rock]

Originally Posted by csapo

is that I didn't discover the joys of the Telecaster earlier in life.

I had always been a Strat guy...young and naive

+1. i always thought the tele was a country guitar too.

ldr

[zoppotrump]

the only regret connected with telecaster i have, is when i bought my first fender usa standard tele in 2003. pickups were horrible, neck was uncomfortable flat, but the worst were the frets. after 15 months of normal playing, say 1-2 hours a day, i had to do a refret. i complaint at my local dealer, but the only info they got from fender was, that i had just bad luck to have an extremly weak and soft fret wire. nothing more. i was glad, that i got a fair prize when i sold it , due to it being rather new and without any scratches.
my next tele was a crook custom..........

zoppotrump
:O)

[TeleDrifter]

Not buying a Thinline in the 70's I saw in a pawnshop in Virginia...Went back and it was gone............Oh well

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by Louthunder

Same thing happened to me! Sounded great, couldn't get used to the neck.

Yeah, but you guys can sell the neck for $ 250 on a Baja any week of the year.

Except the 6 weeks after this coming Christmas, of course!

********

I passed up an NOS B-Bender at Guitar Center for $ 450 about 5-6 years ago.
Just a tad heavy.

But who is to say if the storm would've gotten it, too.

[castpolymer]

I bought a '72 Thinline reissue brand new ( I do not do that often ). Beautiful Tele with those horrible Reissue Widerange Humbuckers. I ended up modifying it to a pair of SD '59's and now it is a gem. I guess it was a case of hoping the pickups would grow on me. They didn't.

[kelnet]

In 1982, I was playing a gig in Kelowna, BC, and I went into Paramount Music (anyone remember them?). I tried a semi-hollow body Telecaster. I really knew nothing about guitars back then, so I had no clear idea of what it was. I just loved the way it felt and sounded. It was natural wood, maple neck, two humbuckers. I'm guessing it was a Thinline. I have no idea what year.
Anyway, it was on sale for $400, which I didn't have at the time. I gave the guy $50 to hold it for me until I came back in three weeks for another gig that was booked. Unfortunately, I never was able to come up with the $400 and I had to let it go.
I've regretted that ever since.

[pengipete]

[Nighthawk]

Originally Posted by whitebread

I regret not buying a '78 black/maple tele custom for $500 back in 1991-92. I've been jonesin for one just like keefs for years now and the prices just keep going up and up. The RI's are starting to look real nice these days.

Man, your avatar is killing me... And itself apparently... Make it stop...

[Nighthawk]

I regret not buying more than one the first time.

[stevieboy]

I regret that my parents didn't buy me one for my first birthday.


Which was in 1952.

[Radspin]

In 1980 I sold a 1963 sunburst-WITHOUT-binding Telecaster--yes, a custom-color '63 sunburst, not a Telecaster Custom--for $400. I needed the money to buy a 1965 Strat at the time. I still have the Strat and it's a great guitar, but in hindsight, I wish I would have kept the Tele.

[stevieboy]

Originally Posted by Radspin

In 1980 I sold a 1963 sunburst-WITHOUT-binding Telecaster--yes, a custom-color '63 sunburst, not a Telecaster Custom--for $400. I needed the money to buy a 1965 Strat at the time. I still have the Strat and it's a great guitar, but in hindsight, I wish I would have kept the Tele.

Much as I love teles, I don't think you came out all that badly!