Texas Tele Ash body

[dagger4]

Hello to all at TDPRI,
I have a Highway 1 Texas Telecaster.
Last week I compared it with another copy of the Texas Telecaster.
To my surprise the body wood was made of 3 piece’s North American Ash.
(strait dense wood grain, relatively heavy)

My Texas Tele has an 3 piece Swamp ash body.
(Swamp grains and small swamp ash marks). My Tele is only 3,2 kg (7 Lb)
The Guitar is acoustic very loud with plenty of sustain.

Amplified, the Sound is something different than the normal Tele sound, more Rock than Twang. (works fine for me)
The PU’s are very similar in appearance to the 52 Vintage of the US reissue (but over- wound). I am not sure of the PU’s origin, US or Mexico.
Who checked the metal base plate?

The other Question is, does Fender use all kinds of Ash for its (Texas) Telecasters?
Or is this a one of a kind.

The Texas Telecaster has the same Gotoh Tuners, Bridge and pots as the 52 US reissue
(see the fender parts list) so for the price it is a bargain. (compared to the 52 US reissue).
The Paint is sensitive for scratches and dents, no problem Nitro will to (and look cool).

The finish of the telecaster is easy to clean with regular car-wax.

Best regards
Chris

 

[fenderrookie]

Your tone is because these pups are very overwound. I pulled mine and put them on a meter. After noting the resistance of the leads, the neck measured 9.8k and the bridge was 10.45k.

 

[moonshiner]

Some will say there is only one kind of ash... where it grows doesn't make a difference... Ash is ash...

That being said... no 2 guitars of the same, or similar specs will sound the same. The could sound similar, but more than likely they will sound completely different... The list of variables is too long...


Then again... pickups make a big difference in sound too..

 

[dagger4]

Thanks for the input.
The Pups on my Texas Tele easy drive my Koch valve amp. The sound is surprisingly fat for a single coil.
But far away from my Les Paul’s 40th anniversary P100’s.

In fact the Texas Tele fits better in the bands mix, the other guitarist play’s a standard Les Paul. The sound of a Texas Tele is great but the Pups don’t have that bell like “rinkel” that the standard Tele’s have.

As for the wood, the density of the wood makes a great difference in sound.
In general the Swamp ash of the south US, sounds a bit brighter and more resonant than the dense slow growing ash in the north. The dense ash give a bit more sustain, and sounds a bit darker to. Good swamp ash is harder to get, the production losses are higher to. Because of greater inconsistencies in the tree (fast growing tree).

The big plus for us players is, that the Fender (US) body’s most of the time are made of high quality wood. It’s up to the player to choose the one that fits the players style best.

Another reason to buy at your local shop and not on the internet.

The Pups question remains, are they over wound US 52 Vintage pups with the metal base plate, or Mexican?

Best regards
Chris

 

[weelie]

It use to say on the Fender Sweden site, in the Q&A section, that Fender hasn't used Northern Ash for sometime anymore.

But each trunk will be different of course. Soem heavier, some lighter etc. It's a living organism, of course.

 

[yegbert]

Hwy 1s

dagger4,

Did you buy this Tele new, or used but with some confidence that it still have the original factory pickups? It would seem that the most reliable way to know whether yours has the baseplate, is for you to pull it and check it yourself. Take pics, disconnect it from the pot and measure the DC resistance while you're at it.

The same pots are used on a range of models, including I believe the MIM standards.

Does your Texas Tele have a serialized bridge plate? It looks like that on the (link removed), I didn't realize any Teles other than the '52 RI had that exact plate, until I read your comment and checked the pics. I know some of the others like the Classic Series' '50s and '60s have what seems to be a functionally identical plate, but it is cosmetically different in that it is not serialized; while the regular (non-Texas) Hwy 1, '69 Thinline and '72 Custom have ones that are reportedly thinner, made by Ping and have the FENDER stamped lower and parallel to the plate bottom, not parallel to the pickup hole.

The Texas Tele has a 12" radius neck, how do you like that?

I have an '03 '50s Classic that I like a lot, also a '98 Squier Standard with maple fretboard. The Hwy 1s seem like nice Teles. I fancy having one of the Hwy 1s with the 9.5" radius neck in sunburst and rosewood fretboard, although those Fender/Gotoh vintage-style tuners on the Texas Tele are just a tad more appealing than the Fender/Ping standard ones on the other.

 

[dagger4]

Yegbert,
Thanks for you reply.
The Texas Tele is brand new, just 2 months old.
The Tele was still in its cardboard box with all the stickers and plastic film on the pick guard.
So I think that the guitar is original.

I am quite confident that the parts mentioned, are from the US 52 reissue.
This is the parts list of the Texas Telecaster:
(link removed)

This is the parts list of the 52 reissue:
(link removed)

This is the parts list of the Highway 1:
(link removed)

A friend of my has an us 52 reissue, so I have compared them:
Several parts like the, tuning key set, bridge plate an other hardware are exactly the same.
The only reason that the bridge plate part number is different, is that the only place for the serial no. on the 52 reissue is on the bridge. (so don’t lose it).

The pots are identical (us 52, HW1, and HW1 Texas), according to me these (electro) parts are the same for the Mexico and the US Teles.
The Pups output wiring of the ’52 reissue is waxed and wound with cotton tape.
The pups output wiring on the Texas hot Vintage is plastic (vinyl).

The pups of the ’52 reissue are wound in the same way (construction same, Texas PU = more wirings). The pups of the Mexican and standard HW1’s have a kind of tape over the windings.

The neck of The Texas Tele is big C and fat, and play’s like a dream. It is smutch similar to my 50th’s neck of my Gibson Les Paul. Big hands come in handy, definitely not for small hands.
The fret wire is Jumbo size, but not extremely high. But a lot bigger than the standard fret wire of the Mexico and Highway series’.

I would take the pups out, but not this week. I have two gigs this weekend.
I don’t know how to post the pictures, so I will send them today on your PM mail.

To be continued

Best regards
Chris

 

[yegbert]

This is the parts list...

Excellent resources for figuring out what parts come in various Teles!

The only reason that the bridge plate part number is different, is that the only place for the serial no. on the 52 reissue is on the bridge. (so don’t lose it).

Hmmm, I guess I was confused by the pics, the one Fender has of the Texas Tele (link removed) (click on guitar for close-up) looks like it has a serial number too - what do you make of that Fender pic?! But the parts lists show it's different than the '52, and the same as the Classic Series '50s and '60s.

The Pups output wiring of the ’52 reissue is waxed and wound with cotton tape.
The pups output wiring on the Texas hot Vintage is plastic (vinyl).
...
pups of the Mexican and standard HW1’s have a kind of tape over the windings.

Looking at a '50s Classic, I thought it had white tape. Turns out to be cloth string, I took a dead one apart recently.

 

[dagger4]

Yegbert,
Here are the first pics, the picture's of the pups will folow later. If you want a more classic sound, change de pups of the Texas. Or buy the standard HW1 tele.
If you want The Jimmy Page/Black Crows sound, don't change a thing.
image removed
image removed
image removed
image removed
image removed
image removed






Best regards
Chris

 

[fenderrookie]

dagger4

Very, very sweet. Really nice wood grain.

 

[dagger4]

Yegbert,
I did a little research on the parts list and some Fender Tele’s in the shop.

On the delivery tag of HW1 Texas Tele:
-US Vintage hardware. !

I have compared the following Tele’s hardware:
’62 Custom Telecaster, (American Vintage series)
Muddy Waters Telecaster (Mexico)
’50 classic telecaster (Mexico)
’60 classic telecaster (Mexico)

All of the bridge baseplate’s are the same (0054162000)
And all of the baseplate’s are used in these models.
It is a possibility that all of the base plates (and other hardware like the Gotoh’s) used by Fender are made outside the USA. I suspect “made in Japan or Germany”. One way or the other, the quality of the materials is excellent.

I have checked the bridge baseplate’s of the standard HW1.
The feel and used bolts and nuts are different. It is possible that they are made by PING in China. The quality is good, and the material is not “thin” or “sharp”.
Time will tell about the chromework and the used metal.

The Korean Lite Ash Tele claims the same bridge as the classic ’50.
I have tried them (Lite Ash) and I prefer the hardware of the standard HW1.
The bridge of the Lite Ash has sharp edges, and it was hard tot get it in tune, not to mention to keep it that way. Possible it was set up poorly, but I was not impressed by the overall result.
The wood was nice, but every other HW1 and US/Mexican classic Tele sounded and played better.

Something about the price of the Texas Tele.
It is not cheap, the price in Europe is (SKB case included) more or les the same as the American standard model (case standard included).

Best regards Chris