I prefer an "inferior" Telecaster

[Burn Yesterday]

This is why I tell people not to have a guitar custom made for them. If you need, say, a Jazzmaster or a Telecaster, or a Junior or a Special, go to a big music store with a trusted companion, put a paper bag over your head, and get handed all the Jazzmasters or Telecasters, or Juniors or Specials, one after the other, until you find the one that likes you.

 

[JonnyDee]

Referring back to the OP's post.

One of my favourite guitars is my CV 50s Tele. But I'm having to move it on for a really annoying reason. Despite it playing brilliantly and sounding fantastic... it is just too darn heavy - body is pine and it tips the scales at 9.00lbs +.

I have used it a lot lately this past week and found it so hard to carry through a whole gig and several 3-hour rehearsals. Also I now have permanently aching neck and shoulders. I Knew it was heavy when I bought it a year ago but thought I could hack it. Seems my body has different ideas.

I'm going to be really sad to see it go... but it's gotta be done. I don't use it a lot in the studio so it will only be sitting in its case from now on.

 

[fozhebert]

Referring back to the OP's post.

One of my favourite guitars is my CV 50s Tele. But I'm having to move it on for a really annoying reason. Despite it playing brilliantly and sounding fantastic... it is just too darn heavy - body is pine and it tips the scales at 9.00lbs +.

I have used it a lot lately this past week and found it so hard to carry through a whole gig and several 3-hour rehearsals. Also I now have permanently aching neck and shoulders. I Knew it was heavy when I bought it a year ago but thought I could hack it. Seems my body has different ideas.

I'm going to be really sad to see it go... but it's gotta be done. I don't use it a lot in the studio so it will only be sitting in its case from now on.

I'm not affiliated with the company, but have heard good things about these straps for your issue: Zero Gravity Strap

 

[AquariumRock]

Referring back to the OP's post.

One of my favourite guitars is my CV 50s Tele. But I'm having to move it on for a really annoying reason. Despite it playing brilliantly and sounding fantastic... it is just too darn heavy - body is pine and it tips the scales at 9.00lbs +.

I have used it a lot lately this past week and found it so hard to carry through a whole gig and several 3-hour rehearsals. Also I now have permanently aching neck and shoulders. I Knew it was heavy when I bought it a year ago but thought I could hack it. Seems my body has different ideas.

I'm going to be really sad to see it go... but it's gotta be done. I don't use it a lot in the studio so it will only be sitting in its case from now on.

That is an unholy weight for a tele, jeez!

I’ve come to the belief that the body of a guitar is one of the most replaceable parts. In that the identity of the guitar is tied up more in the neck and how easy it is to play. The body has some bearing but it’s minimal.

With that in mind have you thought about just buying a new body, maybe with an extra chamber in it, and swapping everything else over? It would probably run you about the cost of a new CV but if you have the special sauce, it’s almost a crime to give that up. I could see myself spending extra money to keep a neck and electronics setup I like. (In fact, I’m debating doing that because I don’t like the color on my AmPro, but that’s a whole nother thing.)

 

[RaistMagus]

This is why I tell people not to have a guitar custom made for them. If you need, say, a Jazzmaster or a Telecaster, or a Junior or a Special, go to a big music store with a trusted companion, put a paper bag over your head, and get handed all the Jazzmasters or Telecasters, or Juniors or Specials, one after the other, until you find the one that likes you.

This is the way

 

[RaistMagus]

I've learned that the hard way... Selling my first jazzmaster because I thought all JM 's sound like that, I never found one like it. Currently jazzmaster -less. Wasted money on Gibson Les Paul's with major defects : / The only guitar I'm 100% happy with is my strat, which I picked after playing many starts in the same store.

It's funny how I often see ppl posting on Reddit something along the lines of "I have a (insert cheap guitar) that I love but now that I'm more serious with playing I'd like to sell it and upgrade to (insert similar guitar but higher tier)". It's normal to think like that but they're often better off with the great cheap guitar they have.

 

[fender4life]

Not surprising at all Its all about design and wood. Not just species, but there are times where 2 different examples of the same guitar will vary a lot due to one having a dud piece of wood and one the opposite. And design. hardware material, design, tons of reasons. I have seen it a lot and i really would never consider the price to be the determining factor. It probably is most f the time but certainly not all I don't know how many guitars i've owned but gotta be around 150. the #1 best sounding guitar i have owned cost me $370 out the door new, a 2020 epiphone LP special, the first run of the inspired by gibson series. Paint job is at best mediocre, but the thing sounds phenomenal and plays like butter. I recently pickup up a gibson studio session thats a beautiful guitar that is over 4 times the price of the epiphone's list at the time ($450) and i really love it. But that epiphone kills it. Very different tones and feel which is why i still love the studio session, but the epiphone is magic. I've had andersons and vintage stuff and all sorts of great guitars but none were better and most not as good. I had the CV tele custom too but mine wasn't great sounding. Not bad but nothing special. I mainly sold it because the neck was the thinnest i'd ever felt, more so than the other CV models i had and thats just too thin for my likes. By the way, out of curiosity which one do you have, the older chinese one with alder body and rosewood board or the newer indonesian like with nato body and laurel fingerboard? Since the indo line came along i always wondered what they now sound like compared to the chinese version. Aso wonder if the necks are as thin.

 

[Sparky2]

I absolutely love inferior Telecasters.

I think it's the "wow, this thing plays great and didn't cost all that much" wonderfulness.

We expect that if we pay top dollar for a US made Fender Telecaster, or even a posh custom shop one, that it will play, feel, and sound utterly fantastic. And we get really butt-hurt when it doesn't. And we don't end up bonding with it. And we ultimately sell it.

But when we pick up a pawn shop prize for a couple hundred bucks, and it feels, plays, and sound fantastic to us, we feel understandably jazzed. We got lucky. We found that rare, inexpensive jewel that punches way above its weight class.

I'm gonna shut up now.

 

[Greenmachine]

I think any guitar of any quality needs to be played and inspected first. I’ve picked up some big-name guitars that weren’t that great to be honest.

That said, I think almost any guitar can be improved with a bit of luthier care. That is, proper set up, fret dress, good nut and saddle, perhaps a neck reset if it’s an old acoustic.

 

[Memphis Soul]

I had the same guitar but sold it to fund something else. I put some Fender Pure Vintage 64 pickups in it and it sounded amazing. I didn’t sell it because I didn’t like it I just wanted something else more. You should try a set of those pickups in yours. It will really make it come alive.

 

[Gary in Boston]

Maybe Teles are like dogs........ you know some dogs are beautiful, obedient, perhaps a more pure bred. Then there is the mutt. And that mutt just worms their way into your heart and you just love, no cherish them. In spite of their "short comings"

 

[MrBassmans]

Mr. Bassmans statistics:

1 out of 10 strats will be good.

9 out of 10 teles will be great.

 

[ThatTele335Guy]

This post really speaks to me. I have 5 teles and additionally 9 other models guitars. My player telecaster ( upgraded bootstrap pickups, 3 barrel plate and obsidianwire 4 way) is by far my best playing, sounding and feeling guitar.
I got it second in order, and kept chasing "better ". I've played tons of others in stores and none are as good.. wouldn't you know you it, I paid damn near the least amount of money for it too, compared to my others.
Sometimes you pay for a butter knife and end up with an Excalibur

 

[Beast_of_Burden]

You notice that a lot of the most famous instruments of the stars aren't these amazing special instruments, but rather just what they had at the time that they continued to use ever since. You get used to an instrument, how it feels, how it sounds, etc. And if you like something that's all that matters

 

[gimmeatele]

Reminds me of the Springsteen lyrics " I got this here guitar and learned how to make it talk"

 

[masey poos]

It is the individual instrument that counts - not the headstock decal.

Yeah, until you come to sell it when all that matters is the decal; secondhand buyers, including myself are that shallow.

 

[SuprHtr]

I've bought more guitars than I ever had any business doing. The second one I purchased, probably 6 years ago, was an Affinity HH that I thought I would modify. It has always felt the most comfortable of any of my guitars. I put better tuners on it but it is otherwise unmolested. The set-up was perfect right out of the box. I tend to force myself to play the costlier guitars since I want my expenditures to be justified, but... Every time I plug in the Affinity, it's a pleasant surprise.

 

[ChXpensiveVintage]

Just wondering which me my 100% non-Fender teles prefer, the inferior me who uninspiredly goes through the motions or the better me that wrings the best out of both/either?

 

[fozhebert]

There should be a spinoff thread:

" I prefer a "lowly" Esquire " ...

 

[sonvolt2]

There should be a spinoff thread:

" I prefer a "lowly" Esquire " ...

Love my Telecasters of course, but my fave for the past year has been my Nash Esquire RW board
.