Which non Telecaster guitars can sound most like the genuine traditional Telecaster?

[FenderLover]

I have an Asian built Tele that has a neck-thru body, and basically not a Tele except for the shape. I put Fender Noiseless pickups in it, and it sounds every bit Tele as my '68.
It's the pickups. Not that what was in there didn't work, they did. But anything other than single coils will give you something different, which ain't bad either. That's why I have 7.

 

[TX_Slinger]

My Cabronita pushed my avatar Tele out of the #1 spot.
It sounds like a Tele, but it’s a little clearer, and fuller sounding.
It doesn’t looks as cool (IMO), but it out-Teles everything I’ve played so far.
View attachment 976159

This. Closest thing is a Tele bridge or half bridge with filtertrons. BUT, I have to admit, was farting around with some Dwight Yoakum tunes the other day and while it's close, I had to set my Tele with 'trons aside and grab my import Tele with the Tonerider Hot Vintage set in it to get that full Tele mojo...

 

[thegaijin]

yeah for all intent and purpose it is a telecaster.

There's also those Jazzmaster shaped telecasters.
View attachment 976151

Is it just me, or do offset guitars make anyone else feel ill?

Pretty sure it’s just me.

 

[Brad_1]

I don't have any Telecaster guitars at all now. But I have a Samick Humbucker guitar LK-45, and an old Strat copy and a Yamaha PAC012.
I read somewhere that some guitars can mimic Telecaster tone. So I tried with my Samick LK-45, and some effects on my GX112 amp.
And it kinda sounded like a Tele on the bridge pickup, but not quite. I might be just mishearing it from the hypnotic mental state.

But wondered, is there non tele guitar that would sound like real tele both for the bridge and neck pickup - the growl?
Which make and model would it be? Could it replace Telecaster and make believe people that it could be a real telecaster?

Here is one that can. There are others as well.

 

[alex1fly]

Love my 2 Teles but they aren't some magical formula. It's two single coil pickups, 3-way switch, 250k controls. Bridge pickup is slightly overwound. Folks wax on about the magic of the baseplate and the bridge but at some point you're talking about maaajor subtlety.

Take a Strat type guitar and block the bridge with a piece of wood and it's instantly slightly more Tele-like in response.

 

[alex1fly]

Love my 2 Teles but they aren't some magical formula. It's two single coil pickups, 3-way switch, 250k volume pot, 250k tone pot. Bridge pickup is slightly overwound. Folks wax on about the magic of the baseplate or the bridge but at some point you're talking about maaajor subtlety.

Take a Strat and block the bridge with a piece of wood. Take a 2 HB guitar and wire both pickups for splits or parallel. Take a P90 guitar and turn the guitar volume down a bit. Wire up a treble bleed. Cut 250 khz and below. Any of those things will add Tele-like characteristics to other guitars.

 

[nojazzhere]

Is it just me, or do offset guitars make anyone else feel ill?

Pretty sure it’s just me.

Offset guitars don't necessarily make me "ill"......but I just don't get that "tingle in my loins" that I do a traditional Tele.

 

[FenderLover]

^^ I'm happy I can't tell the difference. Not one that matters anyway.

 

[David Barnett]

I worked a Bottle Rockets show once with Brian playing a reverse Firebird, he called it "the best Telecaster Fender never made".

 

[Hodgo88]

The Steve Morse bridge HB sounds very Tele like split, and Steve himself makes that EBMM sound pretty Tele-ish!

 

[theleman]

Maybe I should have asked this question first.
What is the genuine traditional Telecaster sound?

 

[Vermoulian]

This is a hard question to answer because there are degrees of what sounds like a Tele. In many contexts I would argue that a Strat sounds like a Tele. (Yes, Teles do have their own tone that differs from a Strat, but is the difference that much if you're comparing it to a Les Paul?) On the other hand, there are people out there who can apparently tell, by sound, the difference between bridge saddles made of different metals or whether the pickup has a metal plate on the bottom or whether the strings go through the body. The same model of guitar varies from instrument to instrument due to variations in wood. How do you define "Tele sound" if you can draw those kinds of distinctions? Is it whatever is common between an original Broadcaster and a brand new American Ultra? Or an American Professional and a Squier Affinity?

 

[THX1123]

Every problem is a nail when all you have is a hammer Tele.

I'd answer the question with a decent Squier or old Peavey Tele or having fun building one from parts or something.

 

[theleman]

This is a hard question to answer because there are degrees of what sounds like a Tele. In many contexts I would argue that a Strat sounds like a Tele. (Yes, Teles do have their own tone that differs from a Strat, but is the difference that much if you're comparing it to a Les Paul?) On the other hand, there are people out there who can apparently tell, by sound, the difference between bridge saddles made of different metals or whether the pickup has a metal plate on the bottom or whether the strings go through the body. The same model of guitar varies from instrument to instrument due to variations in wood. How do you define "Tele sound" if you can draw those kinds of distinctions? Is it whatever is common between an original Broadcaster and a brand new American Ultra? Or an American Professional and a Squier Affinity?

All my strats sounds like strats - they don't sound like Tele's middle and bridge pickups. But all my tele types neck pickups sound like strats, but the middle position and the bridge pickup of tele types sound unique. Yes it is a bit difficult to describe in words accurately, but I would say they are more twangi and gritty.
Strats cannot make that Tele middle and the bridge sound. In that sense, I would say Telecasters are more flexible guitar in terms of different types of tone it can produce.

Of course, if one uses effects and pedals and sound modelling boards, then it is again different story. I have only a couple of old analogue amps which can give blues crunches and overdrive sounds, and that is as far as I would go with the effects. And many times I just use clean sounds overdriven or crunched by playing the guitar hard.

Having said that, each and every Tele type guitars all sound a bit different too. But they are unmistakable tele sounds to my ears.

 

[theleman]

Strats do have twangy tones too especially if whammy bar was used, but they are different type of twang to Tele twang.

 

[Ascension]

Can think of 2 that would give a high end custom shop Fender Tele a real run in every way.
The 1994 Washburn USA Larado built in Chicago while Grover Jackson was running that shop is one. These will bury any Fender of that time. But there are very few of them out there.
the second is the new Kiesel Retro Solo. Complany is older that Fender is still owned by the founding family and all of us who follow them were stunned when the released this one a few months back. For real vintage Tele vibed killer here guys.

Kiesel Guitars: Retro Solo

The Solo line expands with a traditional t-style guitar that pays homage to one of the most iconic designs. Equipped with an Ashtray bridge, pickguard, and a classic control layout, the timeless look takes on an endless combination of options offered from Kiesel Guitars.

www.kieselguitars.com

 

[JeffBlue]

These get me pretty close. Do a build around a tele bridge pickup.

 

[bettyseldest]

@bettyseldest What is the pickup situation in that instrument in the photo in post #4 above?
Or I suppose the first question should be "What IS that guitar?!???"

I'm interested hidden pickups, like Brad Paisley's stealth neck pickup in his Esquire

As to Telecaster tone from a different type guitar ... I got nuthin'

It's a Line6 Variax 600. There are no strealth pickups, just a fishman bridge with a load of fancy electronics. It has a model selector knob which. One of the selections is T-Model. The 5 way pickup selector givs the options shown below;

Guitars used to create options;

With the workbench software you can create your own custom guitar options, and also save alternate tuning variants.

If you like the feel of the guitar, it can give you a decent approximation of a wide range of guitars. A lot easier than carrying a bunch of guitars around if you need a range of tones. Nice to have a Rickenbacker 12 string sound, and have the neck width to play cleanly.

I think that they were prodced for around ten years from 2000ish. A later James tyler range followed, which has both magnetic pickups and the fishman system.

 

[tomoff]

I have one of these;
View attachment 976121

Call the Police . . . . . Some idiot stole your pickups!