Author Topic: New Guitar Day - Fender Baja Tele (Read 9554 times)

_tom_ · « **Reply #30 on:** September 17, 2007, 09:49:52 AM »

Wow hunter that sounds bloody awesome :o Seriously making me re-consider even owning a strat, that just sounds like my strat +1 but with that additional 4th position that sounds huge! I may have allready asked you about this, but what do you use for your drums? They sound much more realistic than EZ Drummer.

Deadstar · « **Reply #31 on:** September 18, 2007, 12:56:24 PM »

Ok, I went out and bought it, fell in love :P damn you and your magical influence

Plays great and the addition of the S1 switch is a great idea, makes the guitar have much more versatility.

Oh and I got a little bogner 1x12 loaded with a celestion V30 for my Tiny Terror, sound is absolutely brilliant now :D

hunter · « **Reply #32 on:** September 19, 2007, 07:50:34 PM »

Quote from: Deadstar

Ok, I went out and bought it, fell in love :P damn you and your magical influence

...so which BKPs are you gonna throw in there?

Quote from: Deadstar

Oh and I got a little bogner 1x12 loaded with a celestion V30 for my Tiny Terror, sound is absolutely brilliant now :D

Full of envy hunter now is

Twinfan · « **Reply #33 on:** October 25, 2007, 09:38:46 AM »

Quote from: Deadstar

Ok, I went out and bought it, fell in love :P damn you and your magical influence

Join the club :roll:

I chopped in my Epiphone Casino for a Baja Tele at the weekend. I wanted a Tele for my new band and my Baja is a cracker. They have to be the steal of the century?

Tele's are the Fender for Gibson guys ;)

Mr Ed · « **Reply #34 on:** October 25, 2007, 10:16:53 AM »

What makes the Baja Tele so special? Anyone?

:D

Twinfan · « **Reply #35 on:** October 25, 2007, 10:50:16 AM »

Quote from: Mr Ed

What makes the Baja Tele so special?

It's the spec versus the price:

* Vintage correct "ashtray" bridge with brass saddles
* Ash body (mine is three equally sized pieces)
* Chunky one-piece maple neck (full U shape, mine is lightly figured in a couple of places)
* Fender Custom Shop pickups that really suit the guitar (sorry Tim, no BKPs for this one...)
* Four way selector switch with S1 phase switching too

It's basically a great sounding traditional tele with all the twang you need, (and without the brash ice-pick treble), with the additional tone options of the S1 and four way. For £400-ish. Look on it as a Mexican version of the US '52 Hot Rod Tele. 95+% of the guitar for around a third of the price.

I played mine at rehearsal last night as was blown away by the tone. Awesome through my Tiny Terror and G12H/V30 2x12.

Mr Ed · « **Reply #36 on:** October 25, 2007, 11:08:40 AM »

Aces mate. :D

I've got the parts at home for building a Tele but I just can't see me getting round to it so I wanna sell them and buy a Tele but I don't think that "regular" Tele twang is for me... but a hot rodded one? Well that sounds just about perfect for moi seeing as I'm a gain whore!

One thing that always bugs me... I hear two different sides of the 3 or 6 bridge saddles argument for Teles:

1. Some say that 3 increases sustain and stability (as there are two strings worth of pressure on each saddle).
2. Some say that 3 don't stay in tune as well as 6 do.

Huh? :(

Also, so this position 4 with the S1 engaged, is that gonna be like a 'bucker tone?

_tom_ · « **Reply #37 on:** October 25, 2007, 12:36:22 PM »

Quote from: Twinfan

Quote from: Mr Ed
What makes the Baja Tele so special?

It's the spec versus the price:

* Vintage correct "ashtray" bridge with brass saddles
* Ash body (mine is three equally sized pieces)
* Chunky one-piece maple neck (full U shape, mine is lightly figured in a couple of places)
* Fender Custom Shop pickups that really suit the guitar (sorry Tim, no BKPs for this one...)
* Four way selector switch with S1 phase switching too

It's basically a great sounding traditional tele with all the twang you need, (and without the brash ice-pick treble), with the additional tone options of the S1 and four way. For £400-ish. Look on it as a Mexican version of the US '52 Hot Rod Tele. 95+% of the guitar for around a third of the price.

I played mine at rehearsal last night as was blown away by the tone. Awesome through my Tiny Terror and G12H/V30 2x12.

According to the Fender and Thomann websites the Baja has a soft v-profile neck :? These teles seem like such good value for money, only about £400 from thomann! I really want to get one, hopefully the prices on them stay low until I can afford one!

I'm guessing the neck feels like the strat neck I bought off Philking a while ago, only with a flatter radius which was the only reason I didnt like that neck!

Mr Ed · « **Reply #38 on:** October 25, 2007, 12:41:14 PM »

I want one of these so badly... I need to see the vids/hear the soundclips but it sounds to me exactly like what I want in a Tele - the ability to hotrod the $%&# out of it and get some extra juice to suit my gainy style.

Twinfan · « **Reply #39 on:** October 25, 2007, 01:20:47 PM »

Quote from: _tom_

According to the Fender and Thomann websites the Baja has a soft v-profile neck :?

Soft V or U? Same thing innit ;)

And yep, it's got the more modern flatter radius fingerboard.

Philly Q · « **Reply #40 on:** October 25, 2007, 01:40:34 PM »

Quote from: Mr Ed

2. Some say that 3 don't stay in tune as well as 6 do.

Huh? :(

They stay in tune fine, but it's harder to get the intonation correct. There are a number of manufacturers who make replacement saddles for better intonation, either by simply slanting them or by contouring the tops of the saddles. Callaham, Wilkinson and Joe Barden spring to mind, but I'm sure there are others too.

The 6-saddle ashtray bridges always feel a bit flimsy and fiddly to me. The more modern Gotoh bridges with thicker baseplates and 6 saddles are fine, but they definitely take away some of the traditional Tele tone (if that's what you want).

Quote from: Twinfan

Soft V or U? Same thing innit

Dunno, I think a soft V should be a V with a rounded bottom (oo-er) but a U should have straighter sides. Like a deeper D-shape I suppose. That said, my American Ash Tele neck is supposed to be U-shaped but there's a hint of V, in my opinion. Whatever, I like it.

Ratrod · « **Reply #41 on:** October 25, 2007, 01:51:31 PM »

Tele GAS is getting to me again. There's so many nice and affordable Tele's around. The Baja Tele in this thread;

the Lite Ash Tele. Tried it a while ago. Great guitar. Ash body, 3 brass saddles, birds eye maple neck and SD AII pro pickups. It screamed ZZ-Top;

the Squier standard Tele. Our bassist bought one. Agathis body in a walnut stain (gorgeous!), 6 saddle alumium bridge, maple neck with rosewood board. I haven't heard it through an amp yet but I was surprised by the excellent fretwork and super comfy and playable neck.

badgermark · « **Reply #42 on:** October 25, 2007, 04:04:00 PM »

Well I bought a pristine MIM Tele off a friend at Christmas, and fell in love. Whap some 11s on it, followed by some Country Boys and a 4-way switch and it's godly. Such a great tone machine, and can even cope with chunky gain from my well loved Big Muff. I loves teles I do.

THIS is an awesome Baja review, check out his other videos, takes the piss out of the shitety gearwire stuff out there.

hunter · « **Reply #43 on:** October 25, 2007, 04:16:10 PM »

Quote from: Mr Ed

2. Some say that 3 don't stay in tune as well as 6 do.

Huh? :(

Also, so this position 4 with the S1 engaged, is that gonna be like a 'bucker tone?

Mine stays in tune rather well, depending on how extreme you go with those behind the nut bends.

Pos 4 with S1 in is more of a wah mid honk thing, but more subtle than a wah, where overtones jump out of the cab with ease and the sound is more about harmonics than teh actual base frequencies. Quite awesome if you up the gain.