Yeah it's got 14-70s on it at the mo, Wez, will try the 13s at some point, but for now I'm happy with the 14s! It's fine for lead, you just need proper fingers (although you like Telecasters, so I'm guessing yours are a bit limp) :)
How rude, though probably quite apt :D. I don't think Mr Roots tele is all that limp mind you, all told it's a bit of a monster. Here's my Feline monster doing its thing!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PrIeDrxOsWU
let me know what you think? 8)
Hi Pauldem,
Really liked the video, some good writing and playing there, which is always of primary interest. I also really liked the fact that the top bulbous horn of your tele was kept mostly invisible in the video - thank God for that!
There was just one problem for me in that video: at 2:50, you lift up the axe and the top horn is visible - now, to put the next statement into perspective, I'll first have to outline why I hate telecasters:
I hate the top bulbous horn. It looks wrong, teletubby meets guitar. I also hate teletubbies, so you can see why this would be an issue.
I hate the stupid bridge with ugly metal backplate. Most 'metal' teles have done away with this, and that's to their credit.
I hate the metal strip behind the control knobs. Again, most 'metal' teles don't suffer from this hideous addition.
I hate the small headstock. It makes it look as though the guitar is in fact invented for shoving into people's arseholes. Never mind, eh.
Most of all, I have yet to see a telecaster player who looks cool with the guitar. In every single picture/video I have seen, bar none, the telecaster makes the player look like a c***muncher. It's not the player, necessarily, the vast majority are very good guitarists, and likely very nice people (as I'm convinced you are from your posts here, besides you obviously have at least some semblance of good taste, because you're on the BKP forums, right? :D). It's the guitar at fault, and it's a sad fact of life. :(
So, back to my previous statement, unfortunately, at 2:50 in the video, you have been afflicted, at the hands of the guitar, I might add, by the same problem faced by tele players the world over. It's a shame, because otherwise it's an excellent vid (and I really did enjoy it, thanks for sharing!!), and I reiterate again, good playing and good song-writing!!
Nothing personal, you understand :)
Of course, no-one else loses out by my dislike of teles, in fact, neither do I because I'm a 1-guitar man and I have the perfect guitar for me (see avatar, WezV custom baritone).
So, anyway back on topic, I think articulation is the absolute key for baritones. It's important to have an increased scale length (and I think everyone should own a multiscale instrument, too!) for the better string tension, and in this case you do need lower output pickups to cope with the increased mass of strings vibrating in the magnetic field. For your kind of music, clarity and articulation is definitely key for those fast low riffs, and I think that you'll struggle to maintain that with a high output humbucker like those in the contemporary range. As has already been said by Wez above, you can probably get away with a bit more than the black dog, but the extra gain coming from pedals/amp does give you more tonal flexibility in any case, so if it were me, I'd go for something like the black dog, or VHII. Have you asked Tim at BKP, yet? Give him a call, he's very helpful! :)
Like the others say, it's all part of the banter, and I can take a joke as well as I can give them out (better, because my jokes are rubbish...). Don't take my tele-hating ways to heart, although I'm afraid they won't change. I hate telecasters about as much as I hate the Beatles...
:D
Roo
