James J LaRue
Tele-Meister
Haven't been on here in a long time. Teles have come and gone, and I've whittled it down to 4 favorite Teles.
Here's my current gigging T. It's a partscaster technically, built from brand new genuine Fender neck and body (MIM).
Roasted Maple 22 fret neck. Jumbo frets. The flatter fretboard and "flat oval" profile. (The more modern of the 2 styles of neck they offer). Logo was removed and new one applied in different position and re-cleared in order to move the string retainer to the 50s spot. In reality I had the headstock masked off when I drilled the string retainer hole, copying the position carefully and exactly from my 1985 MIJ TL-52. Took off the masking tape and realized the hole was right over the logo, as this headstock was meant to use the modern retainer position, couldn't live with how that looked so Martín at Bravo's Custom Guitars did pro work applying a new logo kind of in the 50s position.
Classic Series 60s body, candy apple red, but looks a bit orange depending on the light.
Gotoh bridge
Fender locking "F" logo tuners
Electrosocket/Switchcraft jack
250k pots, orange drop cap with a value I forgot
Threaded metal inserts installed in neck for the neck bolts
Schaller strap locks
Black graphite nut
Seymour Duncan Hot Stack bridge and Hot for Tele neck with cover swapped to black.
It worked well on its first gig, but neck PU was really noisy. I just received a DiMarzio Area Hot T and Area T (black cover) set to swap in. I love true singles but need the hum cancelling for these dive bars. Hot for Tele neck PU sounds great, but lots of hum.
I first put a Lil 59 in the bridge slot and considered this kind of a blues guitar, but it was actually darker than the neck position. So I swapped to the hot stack which is much snappier and brighter and I'm mainly playing Country on it now. Well see how the DiMarzios go.
Here's my current gigging T. It's a partscaster technically, built from brand new genuine Fender neck and body (MIM).
Roasted Maple 22 fret neck. Jumbo frets. The flatter fretboard and "flat oval" profile. (The more modern of the 2 styles of neck they offer). Logo was removed and new one applied in different position and re-cleared in order to move the string retainer to the 50s spot. In reality I had the headstock masked off when I drilled the string retainer hole, copying the position carefully and exactly from my 1985 MIJ TL-52. Took off the masking tape and realized the hole was right over the logo, as this headstock was meant to use the modern retainer position, couldn't live with how that looked so Martín at Bravo's Custom Guitars did pro work applying a new logo kind of in the 50s position.
Classic Series 60s body, candy apple red, but looks a bit orange depending on the light.
Gotoh bridge
Fender locking "F" logo tuners
Electrosocket/Switchcraft jack
250k pots, orange drop cap with a value I forgot
Threaded metal inserts installed in neck for the neck bolts
Schaller strap locks
Black graphite nut
Seymour Duncan Hot Stack bridge and Hot for Tele neck with cover swapped to black.
It worked well on its first gig, but neck PU was really noisy. I just received a DiMarzio Area Hot T and Area T (black cover) set to swap in. I love true singles but need the hum cancelling for these dive bars. Hot for Tele neck PU sounds great, but lots of hum.
I first put a Lil 59 in the bridge slot and considered this kind of a blues guitar, but it was actually darker than the neck position. So I swapped to the hot stack which is much snappier and brighter and I'm mainly playing Country on it now. Well see how the DiMarzios go.
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