Classic Tele: Suhr v Anderson v Grosh v Tuttle v R Kelly

[wrxplayer]

I'm contemplating a boutique classic tele purchase. I have experience w/ S styles from Grosh, Suhr and Anderson, but no experience with their teles or the Michael Tuttle guitars.

I play classic rock, rhythm and some lead.

Not interested in a relic.

Are there any generalizations that apply to some of these builders on their tele styles or anything special to know? They're hard to try. I'll be buying used and taking my chances. Or is it "they're all great and you can't got wrong w/ any."

 

[mabley123]

Suhr probably have the best setups you can get straight from ANY Builder or Factory. I cant say after its used. But it Can be RePleked. I believe ALL of Suhrs guitars are Pleked.

Joe Glaser Mentions 2 Guys as The Premier Set Up Fret guys..

John Suhr and Dan Erlewine.

Joe Glaser is considered the best set up fet x nut job guy in Nashville. He does almost All of the big Names there along with Tommy Emmanuel.

Glaser was also the guy that was procured to try and save all the guitars that got mucked up in the flood in 2009 I believe it was. He also assembled a big team to help him. He was also Gruhns Repairman/Luthier

I believe they are ALL great guitars though. But it just depends if you like the Specs of a Particular Guitar.
Or if you know what specs you might like ???

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[GCKelloch]

Personally, I think the amount of money being charged for solid body guitars is ridiculous. I have ~$350 polyfoam semi-hollow guitar that sounds and sustains better than any semi-hollow guitar I've ever played. The neck feels great, and the fretwork is good. It just took some cleaning and fret polishing to make it play well. A good player doesn't need any kind of super-fine fretwork. There's really not all that much to getting it right, anyway.

I think the biggest mistake when getting an expensive guitar is to get an oily Indian Rosewood FB. The neck is the biggest factor in tone/sustain. High oil or resin woods do nothing but dampen vibration. If you are going to spend that kind of money, consider looking into a Carbon Fibre neck and Stainless Steel frets. It will almost never need maintenance, will provide the best sustain, and be much less prone to phase-cancellations with the body because it has a much higher transmission speed than wood. There's no way to tell in advance how two pieces of wood will interact, and a builder is very unlikely to throw out a guitar that doesn't sustain well. They will likely just hype it as having a “vintage” tone. The body wood really doesn't matter much because of the thickness, and that thick metal bridge saddles don't transfer very much vibration. Any solid low oil/resin content wood will be fine. Lighter weight will generally absorb more highs.

I've heard that Parker guitars might be willing to make a Carbon Fibre neck for under $1k, but it would need the correct radial body joint to attach to. You could probably use wax paper and molding clay on the neck heel as a form for a pro to make a body for it. My Parker NiteFly has a Carbon Fibre piece between the joint, so ask about getting that if you go that route. In either case, the neck joint is crucial to tone/sustain. Neck angle also affects attack character and sustain. Fenders are straight. I believe my NiteFly has a 14 degree angle. That means the bridge is higher, so it would complicate matters. Finally, rigid dual truss rod systems apparently allow more sustain than single rods. It makes sense, but Carbon Fibre likely supersedes that factor.

Electronics are perhaps the biggest tonal factor. It's really only the rated values of the components that matter, including the capacitance value of any cabling before the first preamp stage. Everything interacts to form the tonal character. That's something you really should grasp before making any purchases. The most sensitive, dynamic, and versatile low-noise passive pickups I know of are Wilde MicroCoils. They can be adjusted for any kind of response character using the pole screws and your component choices without the limits of typical magnetically inefficient, high-inductance, high-capacitance, eddy-current ridden designs. Here's a really good demo of them: https://soundcloud.com/niels-winther/lefka-ori
You can hear the full clear harmonics in the clean rhythm track, and strong fat fundamental tonal character in the lead track. Again, that character can be tailored by you in several ways, and more than with any other pickup. There is lot's of help available about it, too.

 

[Doug 54]

If you can -play IN PERSON! Central Jersey? Yea, you can then.

You will know then that $$$ for these type of gtrs melts away when you hear the 'it' one!


(well, if not melt away, at least look hard at your bank account and thinkthinkthink about it!)

 

[mabley123]

"Quote"

A good player doesn't need any kind of super-fine fretwork. There's really not all that much to getting it right, anyway.



If good players don't need good fret work then why does Tommy Emmanuel have a youtube video Expousing how good Joe Glaser is with his fretwork and set ups on his guitars ?

I think the Better the player.

The more you need to have things 100% in order or you will outrun the abilities of the guitar. Especially frets.

 

[tlagosh]

I agree that good fretwork makes a huge difference. For the record I have a USA G&L ASAT classic that is every bit as good as the Suhr and Sadowsky guitars I played when looking, at about 1/3 the price. As far as I know the US G&L's are pleked, too

 

[GCKelloch]

"Quote"

A good player doesn't need any kind of super-fine fretwork. There's really not all that much to getting it right, anyway.



If good players don't need good fret work then why does Tommy Emmanuel have a youtube video Expousing how good Joe Glaser is with his fretwork and set ups on his guitars ?

I think the Better the player.

The more you need to have things 100% in order or you will outrun the abilities of the guitar. Especially frets.

As long as the fret ends don't cut your fingers, and they are properly leveled and crowned, super-fine polishing is just a luxury. It does feel and maybe sound better for bends, but having the fret dimensions you like is much more important. Players espouse many things that are more a psychological matter. If it makes you feel good, maybe it's worth it?

 

[Doug 54]

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