IF you could order the perfect Telecaster from Fender parts...

[IrishBread69]

Fender should do this.

They could call it, I don't know...the Custom Shop or something like that.

Fun thread.

Ultra body, 50's maple U neck with 7.25 radius, vintage noiseless pickups, nitro flash coat. Seafoam sparkle finish.

 

[tele12]

Does it have to be current production parts?

 

[boris bubbanov]

Interesting premise, and I am choosy about certain specifications like fretwire size, but so often I assume as I assemble a project, that it will get CS No-Caster pickups but when the basic guitar is roughly assembled, I can tell that something else (maybe Keystones) will be a better choice. Meaning. You don't know what is "right" for a specific guitar until you're set up and you plug in and stuff comes out of the speaker. Also. Two guitars can have the precise same specifications on paper, but one is too stiff and one isn't.

As for Strats, I've always admired the features and lack of "lard" on the Jimmie Vaughan model. There's no model on the Tele side that is so economical but wise in the features the company has chosen - maybe the Classic Player 50s Baja, altered to a set of RWRP pickups and just the 4 way. No out of phase stuff.

 

[Wildeman]

Fiesta red Alder body Esquire, green guard,Bigsby B16, chunky rosewood slab board, trad Esquire wiring, Don Mare Staggered pickup.

 

[archetype]

From parts? I'd get a '51 Nocaster, take it apart, and put it back together with a 4-way switch.

 

[AAT65]

Neck:
- American Original 60s (if that’s allowed, I think they are just out of production. Deep C with 9.5” radius would do as a fallback) with matching headstock (Sherwood Green)

Body: I liked those two-tone limited edition Teles from a year or 2 ago. So I’d want a two-tone body, Sherwood Green front with Olympic White back and sides (and black binding, front only)

Pickups: none! I want a GK-3-equipped Tele, so I would have a chopped Tele bridge with a Roland GK-3 hex pickup mounted just in front of it, the GK-3 Kit electronics tucked into a rout under the Esquire-style scratchplate, and the control plate would have Volume and a momentary Up / Down toggle switch.

 

[RhythmFender]

I’m pretty happy with my new American Professional II. That’s good enough. Too much choice paralyzes me.

 

[JDB2]

I went to the mod shop and this is what I came up with

 

[horseman308]

Well....

Ash Thinline body with fat "C-profile" neck, 22 fret rosewood board and contoured heel.

72 Custom wiring and pickguard - WRHB neck pup with 1 Meg pots; not super picky about the bridge, just a good match with 250k pots, 3-way toggle.

Tort pickguard

Bigsby B5 with rocker bridge.

 

[Tom Grattan]

Just my guitar made exactly as mine was first made in 1958 ( now has a compensated bridge and stainless small frets) and maybe one with a rosewood board.

 

[Hodgo88]

Like so many guys here, I've got something just like this cooking up right now. The short answer to your question is: A Tele Custom that sounds and feels more like a 50s Tele than a 60s Tele.

- Fender AO 50s Neck
- Fender 51 Nocaster pickups
- Fender '62 Tele Mint Pickguard (Also pictured: Warmoth Mint 5 hole. I'm undecided on how many holes I want.)
- Fender "J Mascis" Toploader bridge w/ Glendale intonated threaded saddles
- Fender "Roadworn" hardware for everything else (tuners/neck plate/strap buttons/control plate)

The body and the wiring components aren't Fender because frankly, Fender charges too much for capacitors. I also didn't see any bodies they sold that fit my bill, so instead I am having MJT do a double-bound 2 tone sunburst.

I'm also building this from mostly LEO Fender parts:

- 1986 Fender Contemporary Strat neck
- Squier CV 70s Tele body
- G&L MFD pickups + pots. 2 vol + PTB circuit.

 

[AquariumRock]

It would look suspiciously like my MIJ HybridII. When I saw the spec sheet on these things I felt like I was being spied on.

Rosewood board, 3ts body with black guard. THE telecaster look. I am willing to fight over this.

Locking tuners and compensated brass saddles. 4 way switch. Narrow tall frets, rolled fretboard edges, and satin neck finish. First guitar I’ve ever had where I literally cannot think of anything I want to change on it.

But for funsies, I’ve always wanted to see a tele deluxe with a 72 Thinline control scheme.

So tele deluxe body with the angled selector switch and just a master control and tone, not pickup specific. Three barrel bridge.

Rosewood board, soft V. Classic tele headstock shape.

Already have number 1 up there in sunburst so I don’t need to have another one. Go crazy. My dads guitar when I was a kid was a metallic purple telecaster that I didn’t realize was unconventional at the time. Always liked purple Teles since. Throw that on there, why not. Black guard, it’s the only way to do business.

 

[srblue5]

Ooh boy, this is a tough one.

In a nutshell, if I could get a cross between my Vintera Modified '50s Tele and my G&L ASAT Classic, that would probably be "perfect". Or maybe it'd fall between two stools and be a jack of all trades, master of none.

I guess, spec-wise, I'd want pickups that sound a bit more early '50s-ish -- I love the mids of the Broadcaster-style bridge pickup in the Vintera Modified Tele. Not sure if I'd want a Wide Range humbucker or a traditional Tele neck pickup -- I like both but would probably use the latter more for my style of music. Also a thick V-ish neck with a maple fingerboard like the Baja/Vintera Modified but with gloss. Nitrocellulose finish, ash body, 3-saddle bridge. I wouldn't care if it had a 7.25" or 9.5" radius, but I would prefer taller or medium-jumbo frets.

I guess, essentially I'd want a Baja Tele.

Finish-wise, I'd be torn between the early '50s blonde, a 2-tone sunburst, or a black with red tortoiseshell pick guard (in a Wilko Johnson-meets-Russell Javors style).

 

[Wound_Up]

Easy peasy.

I'd build a Double Esquire with a baseball bat neck. I'd be fine with the pickups in my current T-style, a 62 Custom neck & 52 American Vintage bridge. Those are the only real Fender Tele pickups I've ever used so I don't have any opinions of any others.

 

[stratoman1]

I already have it. A 2016 AmStd with the Twisted Tele/Nocaster pickups. Smooth satin neck, belly cut and six saddle bridge. A set of 9-42 strings and thats all the Tele I can ask for

 

[Peter Random]

Let's play a game. Let's assume you've been given a gift card where you can order the perfect Telecaster. The catch is that you have to use Fender parts for the important stuff--the body, the neck, and the pickups. Please, feel free to mix and match. You can improvise on the other parts of the build. What would you choose to order?

I'll post a similar question in the Stratocaster forum here.

This seems to be a Standard Telecaster Clapton plays in concert 1987. Its suprisingly How few guitars he has. One Telecaster and maybe 2 Stratocasters. And its for a big tour and in 1987.

 

[Full-Tilt-Tele]

Blackmore, you're on to something BIG! You could build your own 'Reality Game' and you could model it on 'Fantasy Football'... Get started, I'll sign up as a 'Player' myself...

 

[getbent]

 

[Tele Plucker]

Let's play a game. Let's assume you've been given a gift card where you can order the perfect Telecaster. The catch is that you have to use Fender parts for the important stuff--the body, the neck, and the pickups. Please, feel free to mix and match. You can improvise on the other parts of the build. What would you choose to order?

I'll post a similar question in the Stratocaster forum here.

This would be it. A brand new vintage spec’d Fender Telecaster Custom from the early 1960’s.

 

[David Menke]

For a perfect Fender, all Fender parts, I have to vote for American Standard Stratocaster 1987 model.
It is the only one of a few guitars, that I have not changed a thing on it.
Had another neck made, for a Telecaster and took my Strat to the builder and they made a neck almost the same as the 1987. Again great neck. I also like to build guitars, and use a lot of Fender parts, but Warmoth bodies and necks, are licensed by Fender and if you find the type you like, they too are a great value. I would have purchase an 87 Tele but at that time, I had a Telecaster from 1982 which is pictured in my icon, on the Left. This is the Neck I had copied from the Strat, pictured below. USA Guitars Neck, made by a Fender Tech that went to Washington to work for the company back then, and the body is Swamp Ash, Fender is very sparse on Swamp Ash now. Bridge and other options are Fender made parts. By the way this is a Telecaster on a Strat Body. Seymour Duncan 59' no hum stacked pickups. On the guitar in the icon to the right, this has Fender No Caster pickups if I had to choose just Fender. I have multiple guitars and try to install different pickups in each guitar. Bridge, I like to have the Fender Individual saddles for the best setup and intonation.