help me decide - Gibson SG Faded or Highway One Telecaster

[Seminole90]

I have an '05 Highway 1 and my son has an SG that I have played on. Between the two the Highway 1 is the better guitar - more versatile and more comfortable to play IMHO. Best way to decide though is to try them out and see which one feels better in your opinion.

[Mightyaxeman]

I have both and you should too. The highway one is a great guitar to mod. New pickups and bridge saddles for mine. The faded sg is as good as any other sg and has a nice fat neck.

[teleo]

Had a Hwy 1 and an SG Classic (P 90s)..both gone now...only kick myself about letting one go..........Tele.

[Al Watsky]

If you get a good one, either will do for your first E-guitar.
Depends on which sound you like.
Go to youtube and do a search for bands that guys use SG's in, then check the Tele
clips.
Which one do you love with your eyes closed ?
Then think about what your used to.
Have you been playing an acoustic ?
Was it long scale 25 1/2 inch or short scale 24 3/4 inch ?
If it was long scale the Fender might be more to your liking.
Don't buy on line go to the store and try em'.
Good luck and have fun !

[twangstick]

I recently owned an SG Faded and I was walking on egg shells when I played it. Such a delicate instrument. My Tele is so strong and it's a better instrument all round really. Oh yeah... its a Squier too!

[Joisey]

Originally Posted by Teleblooz

I always thought that "Jerry Garcia Tone" was just another way of saying "out of tune"...and you can do that with any guitar.

Thems fightin' words. Being a Jerry mark I will have to say SG but it would have to be the standard. Concentrate on copping his feel and style. The gear should be secondary.

[Thin69]

My personal experiences:

My first good guitar was a 60's Gibson SG. After several years of playing it I went to look at a Tele. Got to play the guitar with an excellent local band whose lead guitarist was selling the Tele. I played the very best I had ever played that day at that point in time. I was astonished at how well I could listen to music and how I could so clearly hear the notes coming out of the Tele.

I found out that natural style of playing was well suited to single coils and continued to play a Thinline for years before I touched another guitar.

Today I play both humbuckers and single coils on different guitars and love them both.

If I am having any trouble hooking up the first thing I do is go straight for the Tele to get my ears back on.

Yeah I guess this is a Tele forum but I honestly would recommend a Tele as a first guitar to anyone wanting to learn electric. Great for rock & roll, blues, country, jazz (especially thinline), etc. It's just easier to hear what you are doing on a Tele.

I do love Gibsons by the way!!!!

[degsycaster]

For the last 7 years I have alternated between Tele's and SGs. First of all it was a Tele to back up an SG, but it soon became an SG to back up a Tele - and then another Tele to back up my number one Tele.

Both of those guitars you mention are of a similar level of quality, but, with the Tele you will get a lot more tonal options. I don't want to say that the SG is a 'one trick pony', but it's certainly at it's best when driven hard for a rock sound.

I think you ought to set aside an afternoon, go in to a guitar shop that carries both models and compare, compare, compare.

What a nice dilemma to have

[ADK Teleman]

I have a HWY 1 and it is my main guitar!!! I recommend the HWY 1 Tele...don't be afraid of the jumbo frets..it might seem strange at first but man I absolutely love them now!!!

[Oldgitplayer]

The transition from acoustic to electric playing can be interesting. For example, with more of my time having been spent on acoustic, I find an es 335 the ideal guitar. But guitars feel different and play different.

Acoustic playing tends to be fairly precise and exacting, whereas electric playing can be easy to fudge with humbuckers, distortion, etc. A Tele on the other hand demands a level of accuracy similar to that of an acoustic guitar, so I think a Tele might be the better transition guitar.

Plenty of time for GAS experience as the years roll by.
Despite what others say about jumbo frets on a Highway 1, they are different, and you might prefer the smaller fret size on the Am Std Tele.
I agree with the advice to try both before buying.

Have fun with your new baby.

[BGTele]

You should get A Telecaster, any Telecaster rather than the SG. Here's why.
The Tele is the ultimate electric guitar! Right now you are into Jerry. If experience is any indication, six months from now after you've explored Jerry's style, you might be on to another style, maybe another genre. The Telecaster does it all.
Muddy played one when he came up from Mississippi and virtually invented Chicago
blues.
The Tele was there at the inception of electric country guitar.
The Tele was there at the inception of soul guitar (Steve Cropper and Cornell Dupree)
The Tele was there at the inception of surf guitar.
Jimmy page used one to invent arena rock....
Jerry was very much into blues and country and soul guitar. (and bluegrass)
Not to mention Ted Greene and Jimmy Bryant when they were innovatin'
The SG has a certain specific sound and you may want one down the road but if you want to embrace American electric guitar music, you have to get a Tele. The
sounds of a Tele are in your head and in your hands from when you were a baby.
A Tele is the standard for all guitars that came after it. Telecaster baby!!

[BGTele]

Two more: Dylan used one when he was leading the folk rock movement.
Mike Bloomfield used one to invent white boy blues way before Clapton.
Ultimate versatile guitar.

[Retro Rocker]

I agree with BGTele and several others on here. Tele all the way brother I love the Hwy 1 series, I really dig the fat frets. I suppose that's a matter of preference though.

[timmer114]

Play them both and get the one that works for you. I love Teles, they are my favorite, but I took a long road getting here. I have had strats, LP knock offs (some really good ones) super strats from the hair band era, and I finally got a tele on a gear trade a couple years back quite by accident and fell in love with it and haven't played anything else since.

Still though, your wanting to play some Jerry, your not sure which way to go here. You need to play them both and pick the one that works best for you. Both guitars can make the music you want them to make, but you gotta get the guitar that really speaks to you, a guitar that you identify with, a guitar that at the end of the day, if you ask yourself if you could only have one guitar, which would it be?

With a Tele, your holding history, a guitar that can play anything you want with the right setup, a guitar that has been used by some of the coolest players of all time. It just beckons to you to thoughtfully abuse it..With the SG your holding..well... err...oh hells just get the tele man =)

[drift]

thanks guys - you'll be happy to know that i was the high bidder on ebay for a highway one telecaster - 2006 sunburst. i'm sure one of you were probably selling it (white plains, ny) - see you friday to pick it up.

next question - what amp should i get - dont think my fender frontman will cut it anymore.

ps - ovations are great guitars. i really like ovations....

happy thanksgiving!

[Gary in Boston]

Well lets see SG's and Teles are so far apart it's hard to even be objective.

I will say I believe Teles are the ground zero of electric guitars. They are one of, if not THE palce to start to learn, understand, play or control an electric guitar.

That's all,

Gary

[BGTele]

Get thee to Guitar Center on Black Friday and pick up a (depending on your finances)
a Fender tube amp. Teles sound best through a Fender tube generally. The new
Tweed NOS Blues Jr. sounds pretty good. And I don't mean the other stupid one with the hole in the screen and torn edges. Please!!!

[dburns]

Originally Posted by BGTele

Get thee to Guitar Center on Black Friday and pick up a (depending on your finances)
a Fender tube amp. Teles sound best through a Fender tube generally. The new
Tweed NOS Blues Jr. sounds pretty good. And I don't mean the other stupid one with the hole in the screen and torn edges. Please!!!

That is a great amp for a tele or any other guitar (but not an SG )...and I agree, gotta draw the line at relic'd amps.

[HOBBSTER01]

Tele.

[nadzab]

Originally Posted by teleo

Had a Hwy 1 and an SG Classic (P 90s)..both gone now...only kick myself about letting one go..........Tele.

Au contraire! The SG Classic is a great guitar, IMHO, and those P-90s rock!

But the SG and the Tele are really apples and oranges, in almost every respect...the SG has miles of neck without anything to get in the way, and if you like a fat neck profile, most of the new ones have that. I don't have any experience with the faded series, but I have a Classic, and I love it. But you may find the Tele a bit more versatile...

You need to play 'em both, and see which one has the feel and sound that suits you best. Both good choices, but very different guitars.