Sun bursting out today...

[jack.plugg]

For no particular reason, other than it being a beautiful sunny day here, I thought I would line up and photograph my three sunburst Teles together, (well to be more exact, a 2006 Esquire, a 2003 Nashville and a 2013 Cabronita - all three are Mexican-built guitars).

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

Beautiful!

 

[olewaylonfan74]

Really liking the sunburst!

 

[JeffBlue]

Three beauties on a bench.

 

[schmee]

Cool, I always liked the old school two tone burst better than the 3 tone.

 

[burntfrijoles]

That's a right pretty collection.
The prices on Cabronitas is through the roof, particularly a thinline like yours.
I remember when Fender was blowing out Cabronitas (non-thin line) for less than $400.

 

[el cheapo]

Nice Esquire!

 

[jack.plugg]

Thanks folks.

The different pickup configurations on the three guitars provide plenty of variety of tones and they're all equally nice to play.

The weights do vary a bit though and I'm at an age now where an instrument's weight has a big effect on how often I'll feel like playing it. If a guitar is too heavy, I'm not inclined to want to play it very much.

These three are fine though. I have a couple of other Telecasters that are in the seven-and-a-half pounds region, (which I find pretty much ideal), but of these three sunburst guitars, the Esquire is the heaviest at 8lb 10oz, whilst the Nashville is 8lb 6oz; the Cabronita is a real lightweight at about 6lb 5oz.

I've got two gigs later on this week and one of them is an outdoor event, so I expect that at least one of these guitars will soon be having another day in the sunshine.

Choosing which to take and which to leave at home might be the hardest thing!

 

[blue metalflake]

Nice collection, each with their own attractions. That Esquire does it for me!

 

[Fretting out]

Good way to turn that 3 tone into a 2!

 

[knopflerfan]

For no particular reason, other than it being a beautiful sunny day here, I thought I would line up and photograph my three sunburst Teles together, (well to be more exact, a 2006 Esquire, a 2003 Nashville and a 2013 Cabronita - all three are Mexican-built guitars).


View attachment 1014752 View attachment 1014753

Very nice trio of Teles. Love the wood grain.

 

[ponycar]

Nice. Could you comment on the filtertron neck pickup sound in the thinline? I'm gassing to install one in one of my Telecasters.

 

[brookdalebill]

Neato!

 

[JesterR]

That Ash grains on esquire are just gorgeous.

 

[jack.plugg]

Nice. Could you comment on the filtertron neck pickup sound in the thinline? I'm gassing to install one in one of my Telecasters.

 

[jack.plugg]

Hi ponycar.

I've just been playing the Cabronita, so to try and answer your question I have just done an A/B test with it and the Nashville, to compare neck pickups.

Firstly of course, it isn't a true Filtertron pickup in the Cabronita. It is what Fender called their "Fideli'tron". I'm not sure what pickups Fender fitted in the USA Cabronita models, but my one is Mexican-built and it has Fideli'trons.

I don't own a guitar with actual Filtertrons, so I can't say what they would sound like in a Telecaster, but to my ear the Cabronita with these Fideli'tron pickups doesn't sound quite as beefy as a standard Tele, but it has a nice bright, crisp tone, with a fairly clear bass end too, yet when both pickups are selected, it still has a very full sound, (possibly like a Tele would do if it had twin humbuckers).

It isn't very easy to try and describe the difference in sound between the Cabronita and the Nashville Telecaster - and of course, apart from the actual pickups, there's other stuff that needs to be taken into consideration too.

For instance, the Cabronita doesn't have a tone control, so if the neck pickup isn't sounding quite mellow enough, you have to find the tone you want in other ways, maybe by knocking back the volume a little, or my preference, by playing over the fingerboard a bit more - and then if you want the sound to cut through a little more, you need to pick closer to the bridge.

Also of course, with the Cabronita being something of a hollow-body guitar, there is a definitely a touch of woodiness to the sound, (though obviously not as much as a jazz-type hollow body guitar).

Being a light guitar, even how you hold the Cabronita might be slightly different than how the heavier Nashville hangs on a guitar strap, so that might have an effect too; (and then of course, there's the whole maple/rosewood fingerboard thing).

Then, if my memory serves me, I think that the Nashville Telecaster also has slightly hotter pickups than a standard Tele, so that's another variable.

So, in short, my Cabronita's Fideli'tron neck pickup has a good degree of bass end and a pleasing clear tone, though maybe it is not quite as warm-sounding as the neck pickup on my Nashville.

I hope this helps!

 

[Danb541]

picked up this Gibson Les Paul Studio for $500 two days ago then proceeded to take the pickup covers off. I think I'll put them back on, not sure what I like better.

 

[jack.plugg]

picked up this Gibson Les Paul Studio for $500 two days ago then proceeded to take the pickup covers off. I think I'll put them back on, not sure what I like better.

View attachment 1016231
View attachment 1016232

 

[jack.plugg]

Hi Danb541.

Initially, on seeing your first photo I thought your Les Paul looked perfectly fine with its chrome pickup covers.

Then , scrolling down, I saw the second photo and I liked the way the black in your guitar's sunburst was accented by the black coils and the black pickup surrounds. So, I think I prefer the look of it like this.

I have a sunburst Les Paul too, (though mine is tobacco sunburst). It has P90 pickups with black covers - which I like a lot - both in the way it sounds and in the way it looks.

I do like a sunburst guitar!

 

[Fenderdad1950]

It is a fine looking bunch. Looks like all you need is a standard sunburst MIM Tele to complete a foursome.