Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Nadz1lla on May 19, 2012, 02:46:40 PM
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A few months ago my Mrs watched The Runaways and decided she wanted to maybe have a go at playing guitar, so I started teaching her the basics. She's been borrowing my old Bronze series Warlock to practice on.
A couple of weeks ago I walked into the living room to find her watching my "It Might Get Loud" DVD, and that was it. She became obsessed after hearing the kinds of tones that Jack White was getting out of his old rustic guitars, and so I got her listening to some old blues.
We decided that it was time for her to get her first guitar, so I told my mate who works in a music shop the kind of sound and feel we were going for. He had a think about it and we went in today to see what he had picked out for us in our price range. We tried out a second hand LTD Xtone, but that was a bit muddy. Tried a Squier Tele, another Squier that looked like a Mustang but can't remember the name of it now, an Ibanez AF75, and loads of other stuff in that kind of £300 - £320 range. Then I saw this Fender Mexican Tele in Copperburst, it had been reduced to £365 from just over the £400 mark because people weren't buying that colour, and I could see why because from one angle it just looked like a brown burst.
I didn't want to like it, I didn't want my girl to like it. It was more than we wanted to pay (we are going halves because we are skint as it is...) and I've never been a fan of the Tele shape, for much the same reasons as Roo :P
I plugged it in....
HOLY $*!7!!!
WHAT a sound! For that price, nothing in the shop could touch it! I sat there and twanged out a few notes before looking up to see her reaction, and the look she had on her face, I just KNEW that this was her guitar. She just had this look of pure joy and, to be honest, I was falling hard and fast in love with this thing. it was ugly as sin when I first looked at it but, christ on a bike, it sings like an angel and wails like a fallen banshee when you need it to.
Strumming it normally it played like a dream, but when I went a bit harder on the strings it just came out with this earthy, woody growl that I really wasn't expecting and it hit me somewhere in the centre of my heart.
We put a deposit down and will pick it up next week after our holiday in Cornwall, but my Mrs is so made up and excited about it, it's hard not to go and put the rest on my credit card right now.
This is what we went for:
http://www.gak.co.uk/en/fender-fsr-telecaster-copperburst-black-plate/56428
Even now, the more I look at the pics, the more I think that actually it's a bloody beautiful thing.
We were only going through a Fender Mustang II in the shop, so I can't wait to go over to one of my mates houses and put it through something with valves. ^_^
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I like it - at that price, I would buy it if I had the space....
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I think it's a crazy cool guitar (I like Teles) and that is one of the loveliest, most heartwarming stories I've read in an age. I'm glad she's found her weapon of choice!
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Cheers! Yeah it has really grown on me in the few hours since, heh. I can't wait to get it home!
It really was quite a magical moment when I saw the look on her face, she seems to have developed a really strong ear for tone in such a small amount of time and really knows the kind of thing she wanted in her first guitar, so when I watched her reaction change from all the other guitars to this one it was a really exciting moment. Just wish I'd got it on camera, hah! :D
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Another Tele convert- nice one.
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Nice score. I went through years of not trying a Tele. As soon as I got my first one I thought it was the guitar for me from then on.
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very nice :D
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Bravo for the Mrs. and another one for the tele!
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It gets us all in the end! :lol:
Nice choice, good story.
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I love this story :D
Don't let the wait for the tele over-shadow the holiday! (Mind you, if you're both waiting for it, it won't matter.)
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Excellent choice and cool that you have a better half who is into guitar! Sounds like you'll be making even more music now! :lol:
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Very few guitars can beat a good Telly - and that's from a definite gibbies guy. Congratz and enjoy 8)
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Ah yes, when you find a Tele with "that" sound and "that" feel then it's a near-religious experience. New Fenders are as good as they've ever been and £365 for a great quality instrument is an absolute steal.
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i love the tele tone. still somewhat put off by the look, but maybe i just need to find 'that' guitar.
the colour scheme sounds pretty unusual, is it in any way metallic?
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Just played a friend's new (to him) guitar, it's a 60th anniversary Tele. First Tele bridge pup that I really really liked. So much so I'm second guessing the humbucker bridge I'm using on my newest build.
The neck pup is blah though. He's ordering a hb scratch guard.....
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Nice Tele :) You do need different guitars if you like playing different styles of music. Teles are part of the toolbox!
Pimp it with some nice new pups and don't forget the 4 way switch either, eh Steve! :lol:
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I feel physically sick. :(
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i love the tele tone. still somewhat put off by the look, but maybe i just need to find 'that' guitar.
the colour scheme sounds pretty unusual, is it in any way metallic?
It is metallic, but it's like a dull metallic, so it's not too "out there". This is the best pic I can get of it at the mo...
Roo...I did say I was sorry. :P
The pups actually sound really, really good! They're stock Fender ones, not very knowledgeable about them, but they sound sweet as hell so don't think we'll be changing them any time soon. Plus it's my girls guitar so no ripping the guts out unless she makes the decision to want something different. What I might do though is get a set of the adjusted intonation saddles if I come across any intonation problems, but so far so good!
We also got her the Fender Mustang II amp to play it through, pretty good sounding thing for the cleans and crunches, but the "metal" stuff is pretty naff. Still, that's not the kind of thing she wants to play, so all the other models and effects on it are perfect for her! :)
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Looks good!
I like the reverse control plate too - such a simple mod, but it always makes me think "wow, cool!" :lol:
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Yeah I really dig the reverse controls, really easy to get some smooth volume swells going!