This was harder that I thought it was going to be

[Burn Yesterday]

So I figured after 50-plus years of trying to play guitar and never really getting good, I probably ought to have a Telecaster. At that time Rondo was selling very nice guitars for very little money, so I got one of their Teles.

Not really a Tele, it had a contoured body and a beautiful sunburst finish, but everything else was regulation. Really really beautiful.

I hated the neck. Hated it hated it hated it. Frets the size of railroad ties and a thick coat of polyglop.

So it sat for a long time until I thought I'd just screw on another neck and it'll be fine. And the sunburst would look better against a dark fingerboard anyway.

I bought a discounted Mitey-Mite neck on ebay, only to discover that every feature I was looking for, they lied about. The nut wasn't wide, which a klutz like me needs, and the frets were the size of railroad ties. And it was coated with a ghastly apparently waterbased sealer, making it look like a basement-dwelling vegan in the process of starving to death.

Well, following a year of spraying different stuff on it and stripping it off and replacing the frets and all like that, on Christmas I had it dialed in.

It's different. It's like driving a truck. Some of the notes were in different places. But all along the time I'm getting acquainted with it, I'm digging it. I'm digging the directness of it. I'm not right there yet with strings but I am getting the point.

I am getting the point.
.

 

[wabashslim]

Some of the notes were in different places.

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[pippoman]

So I figured after 50-plus years of trying to play guitar and never really getting good, I probably ought to have a Telecaster. At that time Rondo was selling very nice guitars for very little money, so I got one of their Teles.

Not really a Tele, it had a contoured body and a beautiful sunburst finish, but everything else was regulation. Really really beautiful.

I hated the neck. Hated it hated it hated it. Frets the size of railroad ties and a thick coat of polyglop.

So it sat for a long time until I thought I'd just screw on another neck and it'll be fine. And the sunburst would look better against a dark fingerboard anyway.

I bought a discounted Mitey-Mite neck on ebay, only to discover that every feature I was looking for, they lied about. The nut wasn't wide, which a klutz like me needs, and the frets were the size of railroad ties. And it was coated with a ghastly apparently waterbased sealer, making it look like a basement-dwelling vegan in the process of starving to death.

Well, following a year of spraying different stuff on it and stripping it off and replacing the frets and all like that, on Christmas I had it dialed in.

It's different. It's like driving a truck. Some of the notes were in different places. But all along the time I'm getting acquainted with it, I'm digging it. I'm digging the directness of it. I'm not right there yet with strings but I am getting the point.

I am getting the point.
.

You’re determined - I’ll give you that! But, hopefully it paid off, and sounds like it did. Congrats on your first telecaster!

 

[pippoman]

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Yah, he lost me on that one too? Hey Burn, you just gonna leave us hanging?

 

[wabashslim]

My guess is high or low frets? Strings weren't packaged in sequential order? Low battery in tuner?

 

[dogmeat]

buy a real one

 

[Jupiter]

FWIW I also sometimes find that the notes aren't where I expected em to be!

 

[Recce]

Buy a real one.

 

[BamaSurf]

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Intonation?

 

[kafka]

OP should switch to dulcimer. Not nearly enough dulcimer players these days.

 

[arlum]

?

Did you note that when you tighten the strings you don't just twist until they look nice and tight?

 

[trev333]

Do MMite neck heels match up with Rondo pockets/bridge location?..

 

[Orpheum]

It's the eternal curse of the guitar: the random arrangement of notes ...

 

[Quexoz]

So I figured after 50-plus years of trying to play guitar and never really getting good, I probably ought to have a Telecaster. At that time Rondo was selling very nice guitars for very little money, so I got one of their Teles.
*snip*
I hated the neck. Hated it hated it hated it. Frets the size of railroad ties and a thick coat of polyglop.

"notes were in different places" - New neck scale was wrong/different?

Ah the good old SX Furian neck. I also had one around 2014, and it also had railroad ties. I didn't hate it as much though because the rest of it was pretty good, even the baseball bat with 1/4 inch orange plasti-shine poly neck, other than that not being my preference, and played it a fair bit, then eventually sold it to get something else. Then promptly regretted it. So ~7 years later, I got the Monoprice Indio Classic. I am finding that one to be very nice. Thinner neck, "vintagey" frets, and I upgraded the rest to my liking. I'll be keeping this one.

 

[tomasz]

Do MMite neck heels match up with Rondo pockets/bridge location?..

The specs on SX guitars (rondo) are off compared to fender standards. Their neck heels are deeper and a bit wider, so youaould need a side shim around 1 mm and a bottom shim of 2.5-3mm

 

[trev333]

maybe that's why OP's notes are out?....

 

[Martocaster]

I thought the OP was just getting a bit poetic. If he’s successfully stripped, refinished and refretted the neck, then I’m sure he knows when the notes are in ‘the right places’!

 

[Telekarster]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this thread! LOL!!!

 

[Chicken Curry]

It took me decades to be inspired and motivated to continue learning guitar, what did it was an expensive guitar purchase that made me say "that's not allowed". You know what they say, you get what you pay for.

 

[57joonya]

FWIW I also sometimes find that the notes aren't where I expected em to be!

That exactly what he meant IMO