THE COURAGE TO TELL MYSELF THE TRUTH. I DISLIKE MY CURRENT TELE.

[Kandinskyesque]

It came as a sense of relief last night after dismantling my guitar yesterday to give it good clean, service, set up and order new parts, that I realise I'm polishing a turd.

They only thing I like about my current Telecaster is that I saved hard and bought it when I was a year sober, other than that, I don't like it and have been looking up and buying parts to mitigate my dislike for this guitar.

It's a 72 Custom Reissue (MIM), in black. I've added a Bigsby B5 with the Callaham upgrades and Chet bar; a Duncan bridge pickup; Schaller Da Vinci tuners; a Graphtec nut and I have an array of pots, knobs and a rotary switch sitting in a box waiting to be installed.
It's had umpteen full set ups in the 9 years since I bought it.

What I dislike about it is:
1. The fat neck; I like the 7.25" radius and rosewood board but I prefer slim/skinny necks like my old Ibanez 1984 Roadstar or my MIJ Tele (sold in 2005 to pay for a weed bill).
2. The unbound body. I prefer a double bound. I'm a klutz, the double bound bodies I've had gave more protection from the inevitable bumps.
3. It's black. Black is for clothes IMHO.
4. The 4 pot layout and position, however I like the switch position.
5. The stock WRHB pickup. It sounds awful even though I mainly play in the middle position.
6. I hate the pickguard shape too. Aesthetically it irritates me.

It's never lived up to the MIJ I had, the ESP Tele from the early 90s nor even my friend's Jimmy Moon Tele that I looked after for 18 months when he was on tour.

There isn't anything off the shelf that I can see that meets my spec, so it looks like I'll be sourcing parts over the next few months. From the parts, I'll either get my friend to build it when he's back from tour (currently tech-ing for Placebo) or get another luthier/tech of which there are plenty in Glasgow.

My current Tele, "Cecilia" (all my guitars are called Cecilia after the patron saint of music, my sister, my mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother) is now resigned to being a stopgap guitar until I get the guitar that I'm looking for. Probably in early 2023.

Life is too short for turd polishing.

 

[northernguitar]

Life is too short for turd polishing.

I tend to agree…but when you have time on your hands, results can be fabulous!

The Turd Polish Guitar Owners Club

Hey there! This thread is dedicated to those who took a guitar destined for the dump, and against their better judgement and advice or opinions from others, decided to fix it up. ;) My contribution is my Turdcaster©. I was lured into buying a Yamaha Pacifica that was listed as MIJ. Dumb me, I...

www.tdpri.com

 

[Alex_C]

Sometimes it isn't possible to make a guitar work for your style in the way you prefer. Food for thought, there are non-Fender Tele styles that are every bit as good as a Fender Tele. It may be blasphemous, but it is true.

 

[scrapyardblue]

Love the Cecilia part of your story. Doesn't sound like the '72 has earned the name.

I was fortunate enough to buy a new AV52 back in 2006 and to this day is the sweetest sounding guitar I've ever played.....and just as easy as my '68 fretless wonder Custom LP (which is stunning in black, by the way).

I hope you can figure out a way to get you a proper Tele. When they sing and growl at the same time, nothing can top 'em.

 

[Kandinskyesque]

Sometimes it isn't possible to make a guitar work for your style in the way you prefer. Food for thought, there are non-Fender Tele styles that are every bit as good as a Fender Tele. It may be blasphemous, but it is true.

Yes, I'm not going to chain myself to a headstock decal, albeit I love those oversized 70s Strat headstocks.

 

[runstendt]

It can be tough when you get or have a guitar that you really like for non-music reasons, or that you wanted for a long time, but are just not happy with how it sounds or plays. I've been there, as I bet quite a few of us have, so kudos to you for realizing it and being able to move on. It's easy enough to succumb to the "sunk-cost fallacy" of keeping something because of the time, money, and effort that you have already invested into it instead of for any current or future benefits of ownership.

For me, my biggest let down with a guitar, and it pains me to say this, was a Rickenbacker 620 I owned for about a month. I love Ricks, and I loved other 620's that I played, but I just couldn't make this guitar do what I needed or wanted it to do, so it didn't stay. It was a shame, because it certainly was a looker; if only it were also a player.

 

[Tele-friend]

My current Tele, "Cecilia" (all my guitars are called Cecilia after the patron saint of music, my sister, my mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother)

Wow, that is awsome.

Anyway, if you dont like your guitar, you dont like it. No need for keeping it, let someone else appreciate it and you will find a new one.

 

[985plowboy]

It happens.
You did your best.
I’d move it along and start thinking about its replacement.
I have a self imposed “one in one out”rule. Therefore, I have sold guitars that I absolutely loved after a few years of playing them because there’s something else I would absolutely love to play.

Turds are for flushing.
Go for it.

 

[drmordo]

Yeah, some guitars are just never better than ok.

 

[nickmm]

Dave Gilmour played Reissue Fullerton Guitars.
Thin Necks.

I guess he didn't read forums.

 

[bgmacaw]

A few observations...

First, I'm not a fan of buying ultra premium parts to "improve" a guitar. I don't think they're good value. There are plenty of mid-priced and even low priced options available that, in reality, are just as good as those expensive ones made from unobtainium and polished with a fancy unicorn fur cloth.

Getting the neck feel right is the most important thing. If you don't like the neck, you won't like guitar, no matter how much you spend on other parts. Don't throw more money at a guitar when you dislike the neck. But, if you like the neck, you'll like the guitar even if it's an inexpensive brand.

 

[nickmsmith]

Depends on your situation.. what I would do:
Sell it, if you are sure you’ll never love it.

Or

Put it away. Guitars I’ve hated became guitars I loved with a little time away, then rediscovering it, giving it a good setup, and trying it again. So much of the feel of a guitar is in the setup. There has never been a neck I have not been able to get along with, when set up well. That’s just me though.

In the heat of a song/gig, most of these details stop mattering, I’ve noticed.

 

[Dismalhead]

Personally I don't get along with humbuckers in Teles. They make it sound like - not a Tele.

 

[schmee]

Well, change guitars! or change necks. But what you have (I think) is a Tele labeled guitar that's more of a Gibson really. HB's, 4 controls etc.

 

[FSRCustomTeleHHGT]

Personally I don't get along with humbuckers in Teles. They make it sound like - not a Tele.

I own multiple Teles, including the one in my avatar. I certainly do not want them all to sound the same. I can't even imagine why I'd want two guitars that sound the same. Therefore I absolutely want pickups in (all but one of) my Teles that don't sound like a Tele. And given that the Deluxe is 50 years old and still being sold, I think the market has spoken.

But I agree that no guitar or bass should ever be black again. The world has far too many of those. That goes double for sunburst/tobaccoburst, white, and vintage blonde. "Me too! Me too!" Must every guitar look the same?

As for the OP, I've never owned a guitar long enough to hate it as much as you do your Deluxe, because I'd have returned it or sold it long before I posted about it. But to be fair, I have almost all Squiers, and they are easy to sell for more than I paid for them so it's easy to move on from them.

 

[Burlington Dave]

It came as a sense of relief last night after dismantling my guitar yesterday to give it good clean, service, set up and order new parts, that I realise I'm polishing a turd.

They only thing I like about my current Telecaster is that I saved hard and bought it when I was a year sober, other than that, I don't like it and have been looking up and buying parts to mitigate my dislike for this guitar.

It's a 72 Custom Reissue (MIM), in black. I've added a Bigsby B5 with the Callaham upgrades and Chet bar; a Duncan bridge pickup; Schaller Da Vinci tuners; a Graphtec nut and I have an array of pots, knobs and a rotary switch sitting in a box waiting to be installed.
It's had umpteen full set ups in the 9 years since I bought it.

What I dislike about it is:
1. The fat neck; I like the 7.25" radius and rosewood board but I prefer slim/skinny necks like my old Ibanez 1984 Roadstar or my MIJ Tele (sold in 2005 to pay for a weed bill).
2. The unbound body. I prefer a double bound. I'm a klutz, the double bound bodies I've had gave more protection from the inevitable bumps.
3. It's black. Black is for clothes IMHO.
4. The 4 pot layout and position, however I like the switch position.
5. The stock WRHB pickup. It sounds awful even though I mainly play in the middle position.
6. I hate the pickguard shape too. Aesthetically it irritates me.

It's never lived up to the MIJ I had, the ESP Tele from the early 90s nor even my friend's Jimmy Moon Tele that I looked after for 18 months when he was on tour.

There isn't anything off the shelf that I can see that meets my spec, so it looks like I'll be sourcing parts over the next few months. From the parts, I'll either get my friend to build it when he's back from tour (currently tech-ing for Placebo) or get another luthier/tech of which there are plenty in Glasgow.

My current Tele, "Cecilia" (all my guitars are called Cecilia after the patron saint of music, my sister, my mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother) is now resigned to being a stopgap guitar until I get the guitar that I'm looking for. Probably in early 2023.

Life is too short for turd polishing.

Good for you. I’ve had several guitars that just didn’t work for me, including several Teles. Neck size, shape, and playability are very important. I had a high end hand made guitar that despite being perfect on paper didn’t work for me. I sold it and bought a 2011 Taylor GS8, put a K&K Mini pickup in it, and I LOVE the guitar! So keep looking, the right one will come along.

 

[4 Cat Slim]

As scheme mentions, the guitar has a few appointments that are not
usually associated with a Tele. It may be time to sell it and move on.

Things don't always work out.

 

[drumtime]

Sounds like the main value in the guitar is the connection with a major life accomplishment for you. Not to be underestimated, but still... If it were me, I'd probably keep it as is - no more polishing - as a touchstone kind of thing, and get another one that checks the boxes.

I bought a MIM Tele that looked exactly like I wanted and I never liked it. My CV50s blew it out of the water on every count except the MIM body was a very nice natural ash, which I prefer. Regardless, I just sold the MIM for more than I had in it, but less than I probably could have made. Life's too short...

 

[Toto'sDad]

It came as a sense of relief last night after dismantling my guitar yesterday to give it good clean, service, set up and order new parts, that I realise I'm polishing a turd.

They only thing I like about my current Telecaster is that I saved hard and bought it when I was a year sober, other than that, I don't like it and have been looking up and buying parts to mitigate my dislike for this guitar.

It's a 72 Custom Reissue (MIM), in black. I've added a Bigsby B5 with the Callaham upgrades and Chet bar; a Duncan bridge pickup; Schaller Da Vinci tuners; a Graphtec nut and I have an array of pots, knobs and a rotary switch sitting in a box waiting to be installed.
It's had umpteen full set ups in the 9 years since I bought it.

What I dislike about it is:
1. The fat neck; I like the 7.25" radius and rosewood board but I prefer slim/skinny necks like my old Ibanez 1984 Roadstar or my MIJ Tele (sold in 2005 to pay for a weed bill).
2. The unbound body. I prefer a double bound. I'm a klutz, the double bound bodies I've had gave more protection from the inevitable bumps.
3. It's black. Black is for clothes IMHO.
4. The 4 pot layout and position, however I like the switch position.
5. The stock WRHB pickup. It sounds awful even though I mainly play in the middle position.
6. I hate the pickguard shape too. Aesthetically it irritates me.

It's never lived up to the MIJ I had, the ESP Tele from the early 90s nor even my friend's Jimmy Moon Tele that I looked after for 18 months when he was on tour.

There isn't anything off the shelf that I can see that meets my spec, so it looks like I'll be sourcing parts over the next few months. From the parts, I'll either get my friend to build it when he's back from tour (currently tech-ing for Placebo) or get another luthier/tech of which there are plenty in Glasgow.

My current Tele, "Cecilia" (all my guitars are called Cecilia after the patron saint of music, my sister, my mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great-great grandmother) is now resigned to being a stopgap guitar until I get the guitar that I'm looking for. Probably in early 2023.

Life is too short for turd polishing.

Here's what you can do to "fix" the turd. The very first thing is BLACK guitars are universally hated, no matter how many people say this is not true, they are lying. Just pull the hardware, and paint it ANY color but black, it doesn't have to look professional, just use a whisk broom to spread ANY color on top of the black. (House or boat paint will do) Even a few streaks of black is to be avoided since they are turd producers. The pickguard, that be on you bro, you could see that when you bought it.

 

[lammie200]

Sounds like a nice guitar. Ya sure you don’t have issues with yer famly?