What do you dislike about the Telecaster ?

[Chester P Squier]

too many models of tele, hard to keep track ,

The fact that there are so many models means you can't not like a Tele. My new Tele has two humbuckers, a 6-saddle bridge, and a belly cut.

Those are probably the three reasons why Fender doesn't offer the Player HH Tele in butterscotch blonde. The lack of a butterscotch blonde in the model I have is the only reason not to like it.

Which is really not a reason.

 

[loopfinding]

-Rotate the control plate so the Volume is up front, then Tone, with the Switch to the Rear (Fender needs to add just one more inch to a couple of wires in the stock wiring harness to enable more owners to do this without soldering extra length).

i've played teles like this and i'm not sure it is an improvement. i need access to the switch more than the tone knob. and it also makes it so you can't use the tone knob easily with your pinky. i don't really mess with the knobs with my index/thumb unless it's set-and-forget.

the original layout should have had the volume spaced further from the switch, or use an LP style switch and go vol-switch-tone. the former hasn't been worth the effort for me yet, the latter would just be too un-tele for me.

 

[Skyhook]

That utilitarian farm equipment mojo aesthetic.

LOL!!!
Reminds me, as I've stated elsewhere, of Glenn Fricker who said Telecasters look like they came off of a tractor!

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hi.

…but what is it about them that bugs you ?

As has been pointed out, Telecasters come in many forms / models, with a wide range of configurations, from subtle variations to major differences. So, I can’t really say anything bugs me about “them.”

But, like many, I have my preferences* and I have my dislikes. But that’s about specific models / spec combinations, not about ’the Telecaster.’

Pax/
Dean
* basically, anything spec’d pre CBS.

 

[oregomike]

I’m a big bound guy lol. Well it depends. I’m picky about it.

And really? I’ve played teles from the get go pretty much. I’ve never had a issue with switch tips falling off. Actually kinda shocked to hear so many people have.

I definitely wouldn’t turn down a bound tele, just not something I’d purchase over unbound. Again, no logical reason. Ha. I’ve alway had switch tips fall off initially after buying a strat or tele. But after making a tweak, I’ve had no issues. I have a top hat on now that hasn’t loosened yet.

 

[Lotek]

The assumption by non Tele players that if you chose to play a Telecaster you only play Country music on it. Otherwise its nearly perfect!
Not an actual Tele issue, Just bugs me sometimes.

 

[haggardfan1]

I dislike that when I'm playing my Telecaster, the women in the audience throw themselves at me.

It's hard to make music and finish the gig when all these girls are frantically wanting to have intimate relations with a humble, hard working guitar player.

Sheesh, ladies.
Have some dignity for gosh's sake.

Aside from this, (eye roll), the saddle screws on my Lite Ash hurt my hand sometimes. I rest my palm on the bridge, and I should replace the screws or saddles but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

[Short on cash]

To answer the question : I don't know.
(Hope I don't get banned for the following !)
I have owned a few through the decades and for some reason I
can't get along with them.
Owned one in the 70's for a while. Just couldn't bond with it.
Same thing in the 80's. 90's.....etc....
They were all new nice guitars. Nothing wrong with them but for
some reason I just can't get along with them. ( Maybe the fingerboard
radius. I don't think Fender offered a larger radius until later.)

I look at them all the time. That Nashville with 3 pickups looks really interesting.
I love the look of the single pickup jobs.
I remember 60's Fender adds with a sunburst body with a rosewood
fingerboard.....man, that thing was beautiful ! Just won't work for me.

I will add that I haven't tried any with the cutaway bodies. Maybe I should
try one.

I don't know what it is.....I just can't put my finger on it.

I have several Strats and a Duosonic, so it's not that I don't like Fender
guitars because I do. Just can't get along with the Tele for some reason.

Love the forum, just not the guitars.

 

[daddyplaysbass]

"

What do you dislike about the Telecaster ?"​

Nothing

 

[MatsEriksson]

We all love Telecasters and we’re all keen to express our love of them ... but what is it about them that bugs you ?

(I’ll go first) ...

• I dislike 3 barrel ash tray bridges.
• When the upper bout of the body goes above the 17th fret (eg. 70’s Fender body shapes).
• When the screws on the pick guards protrude, especially the one nearest to the bridge that keeps catching my fingers and nails when picking.
• Hidden heel truss rod access.
• When the string tree is too close to the nut thereby eliminating the possibility of behind the nut bends (eg. Brent Mason model).
• 2 string trees.
• Fender American Standard string trees (that scratch and ping whenever you move the string behind the nut).

Not too many but you're right on a few things:

1. 3 barrel bridges. Made for old day gauge strings, 012 with spun third. That's about the only thing.
2. Upper bout goes above 17th fret? Perhaps, but not exclusive to Telecasters as number 1 above is.
3. Screws on the pickguard, is so with strats also. I used to be irked by this but got used to it.
4, Hidden heel truss rod access. Definitely not exclusive to Teles, and there are variants on them today. As well as variants on the 3barrel bridges. You seem to bring up only original, old, vintage, first run Telecasters, and even them did not have any truss rod at all. There are quite as many with truss rod access at the headstock, and they even have adapted the Music Man spoke wheel on certain models.
5. String tree too close. Well then, that's not my problem with bending behind nut bends. My experience is that if the trees are too close, you'll detect sharper notes on first fret, especially the plain G-string that goes up to G# and plus extra sharp at that one. Remove the string tree, and you have a too shallow angle and it will buzz around in the nut slot, but the first fret G# note ain't too sharp, you nail it. If you have to facilitate behind the nut string bends you have to work on the nut on any guitar. Otherwise they go very much out of tune while doing bends behind the nut a la Jerry Donahue and the like. They don't go back to their former position.
6. I have succesfully removed any string trees on strats with floating trem, and on Teles, and had the tuners wrap the string DOWWARDS so the are close at the bottom of the tuner shaft. They don't buzz, and you can whammy all day on strat with floating trem without going out of tune. And do behind the nut bends on Tele (or strat if needed), too, without the pinging kink sounds from the trees.

The problem I have the most is the hum from SC pickups and that you can't buy them copper shielded from the get go no matter the cost. However this is not Tele specific at all. Other suffers from this too.

Yeah, OK the last one is a stretch and a little too snobby manicure but the bridge pickup should be angled/slanted the opposite way. High e-string should have its pickup pole further IN along the length of the string. Better balance and no ice-pick shrill when playing high up on the highest strings. But I think this with strats too...

 

[Maguchi]

We all love Telecasters and we’re all keen to express our love of them ... but what is it about them that bugs you ?

(I’ll go first) ...

• I dislike 3 barrel ash tray bridges.
• When the upper bout of the body goes above the 17th fret (eg. 70’s Fender body shapes).
• When the screws on the pick guards protrude, especially the one nearest to the bridge that keeps catching my fingers and nails when picking.
• Hidden heel truss rod access.
• When the string tree is too close to the nut thereby eliminating the possibility of behind the nut bends (eg. Brent Mason model).
• 2 string trees.
• Fender American Standard string trees (that scratch and ping whenever you move the string behind the nut).

It's a Tele! What's not to like?

 

[radtz]

One thing: The pointy shoulder that digs into my forearm.

 

[Midgetje94]

I definitely wouldn’t turn down a bound tele, just not something I’d purchase over unbound. Again, no logical reason. Ha. I’ve alway had switch tips fall off initially after buying a strat or tele. But after making a tweak, I’ve have no issues. I have a top hat on now that hasn’t loosened yet.

One thing is some bound guitars are sharp. So have to round those out. But no biggie.

And I actually put Strat tips on my teles. Maybe that’s why? Idk. 1. Keef does it. So it’s kool. Lol but 2. I find it allows a bit more clearance between that and the volume knob in the bridge position

 

[rdjones]

The lack of contours.

My background includes Hagstroms and SGs (beveled) and, eventually, Stratocasters (contoured).

Why Leo never created a contoured variant of the Tele after the Strat caught on remains a curiosity to me.

 

[Neptical]

When it doesn't have a humbucker.

 

[msalama]

It does metal perfectly well in standard config too. You just need a little more gain saturation and a noise gate.

I'd still use a HH axe, a Jim Root or some such. The single coils may feed back at the SPL and gain settings metal requires, and you'd want HBs for their beefier overall tone anyway.

 

[Toast]

There isn't much I don't like about them, but there are times when a tele, to my ears, can sound overly shrill. Unfortunately, that shrillness can also sound lusciously twangy to me. I suspect it's my inexperience with getting the guitar to sound the way I want it to all the time. In other words, it's me and my note choices that's the problem and not the guitar.

 

[drmordo]

The only thing I don’t like is the position of the pickup selector.
I prefer it “up top”, like on a 70s Tele Custom, DeLuxe, or Les Paul.
It’s more of a preference than a fault, though.

This is my one complaint as well. It's also about 1/4" too close to the volume knob so it's not as easy to switch PUs as it should be.

I should get one of the plates with the angled PU switch, but I'm also kind of a purist so I don't love them.

 

[dlew919]

The assumption by non Tele players that if you chose to play a Telecaster you only play Country music on it. Otherwise its nearly perfect!
Not an actual Tele issue, Just bugs me sometimes.

They haven’t heard mike ‘tex’ stern, Julian ‘hoss’ lage or ‘Shotgun’ Tim Lerch?

 

[fushifushi]

- I've only recently (past 6 months) been playing Teles. I had been playing a Strat, so the lack of contours on the Tele felt strange. Then I got used to it and don't think much about it anymore. But every time I pick up my Strat I immediately realize how much more comfortable it feels to play. I wouldn't be opposed to a contoured Tele body down the road. Then again, there's a charm to the simplicity of the slab of wood on the Tele.

- The closeness of the switch to the volume knob was the first thing that bugged me on the Tele. I kept running into the volume knob whenever I switched from the bridge to the neck positions. Fortunately, I picked up an aftermarket control plate that moves the volume knob down a 1/4". Problem solved, and to the untrained eye it looks just like a traditional plate.