Help me pick my first Tele?

Just play as many as possible until you find the “one”. Then when you get tired of it, sell it and repeat if necessary

 

American Performer or Vintera range are good if buying new.

Second hand American Standard(Professional)

All more than good enough and you can grow old together.

 

Don't overthink it (I know, too late). Just try a few from your whole price range and pick the one u like best. More $$$ doesn't necessarily mean a better guitar. Let your ears & fingers decide.

 

Since...

• vintage-correct is not at all critical to you
• flexibility is very important to you
• you play with some high gain

then I recommend you look to older used versions of Fender's top of the line production models (Deluxe, Elite, not sure what they call them now...Ultra?)

These are the models that came with noiseless pickups and a lot of things that seem like bells and whistles to the traditional crowd (locking tuners, more flexible switching, belly cut, 6 block saddle bridge, etc.) and take the feel and tone in a slightly different direction.

I haven't looked recently, but in the past I'd see them selling for less than the reissues or even the American Standards. Seemed like resale value wasn't as good on them, so they represented a great buy for an instrument that had a lot of design and manufacturing care put into it.

 

You want a Telecaster? Play them until you find one that sounds and feels right. Look first at very good or better condition used and save some of your money. You’ll find similarities but not overlap between a Telecaster and a Strat and you’ll want another Strat sooner than you think. Shop for a Stratocaster in the same price range and then start saving for an amp.

 

Welcome to the forum, nice to have you here.

Lots of solid input above. I'll second the "go play'em and decide" votes. You presented a very good, detailed written description of what you're looking for but only you know that sounds like. I know, it's hard to try out guitars these days but it's the only real way to get what you want. With your budget you can obtain an excellent instrument. Enjoy the search and as already mentioned try not to over think it.

 

Since you mentioned higain the noisekess

+1 on this. You mentioned highgain and Jazz. Both things that noiseless is a good solution for. You can always swap pickups if they don't do it for you, but many people find they work well as all rounders.

Deluxe, Elite, Professional. Some of the older ones with Lace Sensors are stunning guitars that literally do it all. There's a few artist models in those ranges worth keeping an eye out for.

Those guitars are made of nice/r woods with more figure in the necks. Plus the fittings and assembly is usually very good to excellent. And they came in upscale colours like pearls and metallics and FSRs with ash or classic custom colours.

What was once $2000 is now a grand. Great buys with much versatility.

 

A used American standard/performer the two single coil model. You can do just about anything with a regular spec Tele. And if you aren’t into it you can probably sell it for what you bought it for.

 

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Get a Player Series and install a 4-way switch so you can put both pickups in series humbucking mode when you want.
Then you'll have a stealth Les Paul when you need it.

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Generally I would agree to try as many as possible but times are different. The good news is prices have been stable for a long time so you will have no trouble turning the guitar if you don't bond with it. I would buy used, if you can find an American Standard for under a grand just buy it. For me I would buy an Eighties MIJ, I really like the quality of those and within your budget.

 

Just buy a used player or mim standard that you like the neck. There’s always time and money to mod it. Then you can decide on your dream tele or just stick with it. Be prepared to be underwhelmed. Most teles feel like driving a Honda Accord. You just have to find a good one. And even then you’ll spend the first month or two fighting with it until it clicks. They don’t take you lovingly into their arms and melt into your body like strats and offsets.

 

Unless you’re convinced you need a “new” guitar I think you’d be best looking at the second hand market. You’ll get a lot more for your money and the hard work of setting up and getting it sorted will most likely be done.
I don’t pretend to understand the current model range so no specific recommendations.
I’ve set up a few Teles for other people, and the noiseless pick ups seem to have a lot more grunt about them - not really matching my traditional ideas but perhaps good for your needs.

 

My first Tele I bought back in the 70's was a Custom with the 2 volume and 2 tone like a Gibby. And I have a couple of Gibbies and a Fender Flame Elite which has the 2x2. I wore out the neck on that one and then it became FrankenTele and then sat in the closet for years as I acquired a couple of other Tele's with standard master volume and tone. Quite frankly I can get more tones out of the simple Tele configruation than my others. I pulled out the old Custom as my COVID project with new neck, ebony, and converted it to a standard setup. I did do the reverse the control plate and installed a Freeway switch but again I can get more out of it than the 2x2. It's just something about how the Tele circuit interacts. So try out the traditionals and spend some time exploring all the subtle to full tonal variations you can get.

 

While you're at it don't forget to check out G&L.

 

American Performer Telecaster Hum. A little over $1,000 but the the neck humbucker can give that mellow jazz/blues thing but can be split for single coil.

 

It's hard to go wrong with any of the options.. I can only speak on a used American Standard from the 90s, which was great, although a little worn out feeling. And a newer 2018 American Pro model, which was also great, but I didn't like the VMOD pickups and switched them out for Original Vintages.

I would say that neck radius matters. The Standard had a thinner neck at 7.5, and the new one has a 9.25, and is a bit chunkier. I adapted and overcame, but you might prefer one over the other.

Try various models, and find the neck size you like before you pull the trigger. Also, test out different pickups, because the neck and the pickups determine the feel and the sound.

But like I said, you really can't go wrong with most of the telecasters out there. They are all mostly great quality professional offerings IMO.

EDIT: Forgot a biggie, make sure you find out what fretboard you prefer. Rosewood or Maple. It makes a huge difference...

 

Also look into G&L telecasters, they call em' ASATs.. I heard they are great, but haven't tried one yet.