Telecaster88
Friend of Leo's
Well, I doubt anyone has noticed much, but I've been posting around the forum in various threads for the past six months, looking for advice, because I screwed up my strumming arm in April playing a dreadnought sized acoustic that I wasn't used to. I only played it for like an hour, but resting my forearm on the edge of the body while playing left me with ulnar nerve damage in my right arm that's been lingering.
I can play my Strat with no discomfort/nerve aggravation, but even ten minutes on my Tele left me with pain, soreness, numbness and/or tingling that lasted for days. I tried occupational therapy, and that helped a lot, but the Tele still hurt to play. I love my Strat, but I'm a Tele guy at heart, my Am Std has been my #1 since 1989.
I considered carving contours in my Tele, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Then I considered getting one of those Paranormal Tele/Jazzmaster hybrids, but I didn't like the one I tried at GC. I considered building my own Strelecaster from parts, but once I realized how much it was gonna cost to do it right, I balked.
Well, long story short, this arrived last week! It was a floor model that hung out unsold for three years, so it's got some mild cosmetic blemishes but I got a sweet deal. Just got done playing it for a couple hours with no forearm discomfort, so I'm very pleased.
The 51 Nocaster pickups are a lot different than the Alnico 5's in my American Standard, but I'm figuring out how to dial them in. Through my '75 Champ this guitar is Fender Heaven.
Specs say they're Narrow Tall frets, but they feel a lot shorter than the NT on my MIM Strat. I have to trim my fretting hand nails short to fret properly on this one. The body (ash) and neck are "nitro," or whatever passes for nitro on factory Fenders nowadays. Has a little neck gap on the treble side, which panicked my OCD for a moment, until I looked closely at my beloved Am Std Tele, and sure enough it has some neck gap on the bass side that in thirty-three years I'd never noticed. So I'm good.
It's been a crazy journey with this nerve pain, but I finally have a guitar I can get Tele tone out of without discomfort, so it's a much needed tool in the box. I'm happy.
I can play my Strat with no discomfort/nerve aggravation, but even ten minutes on my Tele left me with pain, soreness, numbness and/or tingling that lasted for days. I tried occupational therapy, and that helped a lot, but the Tele still hurt to play. I love my Strat, but I'm a Tele guy at heart, my Am Std has been my #1 since 1989.
I considered carving contours in my Tele, but couldn't bring myself to do it. Then I considered getting one of those Paranormal Tele/Jazzmaster hybrids, but I didn't like the one I tried at GC. I considered building my own Strelecaster from parts, but once I realized how much it was gonna cost to do it right, I balked.
Well, long story short, this arrived last week! It was a floor model that hung out unsold for three years, so it's got some mild cosmetic blemishes but I got a sweet deal. Just got done playing it for a couple hours with no forearm discomfort, so I'm very pleased.
The 51 Nocaster pickups are a lot different than the Alnico 5's in my American Standard, but I'm figuring out how to dial them in. Through my '75 Champ this guitar is Fender Heaven.
Specs say they're Narrow Tall frets, but they feel a lot shorter than the NT on my MIM Strat. I have to trim my fretting hand nails short to fret properly on this one. The body (ash) and neck are "nitro," or whatever passes for nitro on factory Fenders nowadays. Has a little neck gap on the treble side, which panicked my OCD for a moment, until I looked closely at my beloved Am Std Tele, and sure enough it has some neck gap on the bass side that in thirty-three years I'd never noticed. So I'm good.
It's been a crazy journey with this nerve pain, but I finally have a guitar I can get Tele tone out of without discomfort, so it's a much needed tool in the box. I'm happy.
