NGD Amazons cheapest

I have the blonde with rosewood fretboard.
I did upgrade to Bootstrap pickups and the 6 modern saddles to brass.
The pickups were just very bland.

The nylon nut I could not get to work well.
I fabbed up a bone nut.

The fretwork was not horrible, and had some sharp ends. I did a fret level.
The tuners, hardware, and electronics work well enough.
It is a really good playing and sounding guitar.
All in all worth the $90. I paid before upgrades of about $75.
I like it a lot.

I bought a blue with maple fretboard with the vintage 3 saddles, with the intention to put the maple board neck on the blonde body.
It was very much inferior to the first one. The neck was bare wood and rough feeling like they never finished building it.
It had a slight twist so I sent it back, with no problems.

It may be QC hit or miss.
 
jtcnj said:
I have the blonde with rosewood fretboard.
I did upgrade to Bootstrap pickups and the 6 modern saddles to brass.
The pickups were just very bland.

The nylon nut I could not get to work well.
I fabbed up a bone nut.

The fretwork was not horrible, and had some sharp ends. I did a fret level.
The tuners, hardware, and electronics work well enough.
It is a really good playing and sounding guitar.
All in all worth the $90. I paid before upgrades of about $75.
I like it a lot.

I bought a blue with maple fretboard with the vintage 3 saddles, with the intention to put the maple board neck on the blonde body.
It was very much inferior to the first one. The neck was bare wood and rough feeling like they never finished building it.
It had a slight twist so I sent it back, with no problems.

It may be QC hit or miss.
Click to expand...
That’s a shame about the twist

Glad mines ok and mine at least sounded really twangy Telecastery
 
ninjaking67 said:
That’s the only problem with Teles. They sound “twangy Telecastery”! :LOL:
Click to expand...
I've never understood this attitude, because I don't think a Telecaster is doomed to only one sound.
I believe the Telecaster is a very versatile instrument. You can crank one into twang if that's what's needed
for the song you're playing. But you can EQ a Telecaster and play blues, rock an roll, Punk, Country chicken Pickin'
...I'll bet the right player could play credible Jazz on one. Just turn the knobs a bit IMHO.
Am I wrong? I don't think so. But I only own ONE Tele, and mine is a unique instrument sporting
a pair of Fender "Wide Range" Humbuckers. So of course I feel this way.Snow White with blue bottleneck.jpg
Telecaster aficionados will often glance at my Tele, and then look away as if in embarrassment. As if I'd left polite company
and ventured out beyond the pale. Fine with me. My whole life seems to have been dedicated to the confounding of purists of
all stripes. Including Telecaster purists, of which the world is plagued with many. *laughs

Sorry to derail the cheap guitar thread. There's no substitute for excellence, even what passes for excellence in some seamy
sweatshop in some third world hell, where all the misery the workers endure is embedded in the products they make...

Do I sound preachy? Sorry again. My Telecaster above was made in Mexico so I only paid about $700 for it USED...
(that's ten times the price we're talkin' about above...)
The original '72 Tele Deluxe (made by Mexicans in California) are a lot more expensive now. But I really like my replica...
And I hope the workers in Fender's Mexico plant are paid well and given good health care benefits.
Maybe they are. Mine had no bad vibes that I could feel when I picked her up. Mexicans like good music, and make some
excellent music of their own. I bonded with this telecaster instantly, and had to have her.
I named her Snow White after this poster I saw in an amp repair shop in the seventies.
My Tele has the same p'ups as this original '72 Starcaster.
Fender Poster Starcaster.jpg
I confess this is "technically' not true. The original Fender "Wide Range" Humbuckers were designed by none other than
Seth Lover... I mean THE Seth Lover. Fender had lured him away from his workbench in Kalamazoo after Norlin busybodies
had taken over management of Gibson. He might not have suffered fools too well.

So he went to work for Fender, and designed them the "Wide Range Humbucker" which sported CuNiFe magnets.
Talk about a unique sound. For those who never studied Chemistry, CuNiFe means Copper, Nickel, Iron alloy
Here's Fender's blurb on this small stitch in the Telecaster timeline...

"As popular music roared with the fatter tones of humbuckers at the dawn of the 1970s, Fender hired acclaimed pickup designer Seth Lover to create a distinctly Fender-flavored take on a higher-output dual-coil pickup. The resulting Wide Range pickup used large bobbins and threaded CuNiFe-rod magnets to achieve its distinctively brilliant sound, as heard on that era’s Telecaster® Custom, Thinline and Deluxe guitars. Sought after by musicians of all genres for decades, the original-era real CuNiFe-magnet pickups disappeared when the Telecaster Custom was discontinued in 1979."

Mine I believe are "replicas" and not real CuNiFe pickups, but I'm glad to have what I have. Now that I've paid off my credit card bill,
I don't fuss about the cost of my Tele. I've had mine since 2009.

May all seekers of third world guitars have this joy.
 
Last edited:
Col Mustard said:
I've never understood this attitude, because I don't think a Telecaster is doomed to only one sound.
I believe the Telecaster is a very versatile instrument. You can crank one into twang if that's what's needed
for the song you're playing. But you can EQ a Telecaster and play blues, rock an roll, Punk, Country chicken Pickin'
...I'll bet the right player could play credible Jazz on one. Just turn the knobs a bit IMHO.
Am I wrong? I don't think so. But I only own ONE Tele, and mine is a unique instrument sporting
a pair of Fender "Wide Range" Humbuckers. So of course I feel this way.View attachment 89314
Telecaster aficionados will often glance at my Tele, and then look away as if in embarrassment. As if I'd left polite company
and ventured out beyond the pale. Fine with me. My whole life seems to have been dedicated to the confounding of purists of
all stripes. Including Telecaster purists, of which the world is plagued with many. *laughs

Sorry to derail the cheap guitar thread. There's no substitute for excellence, even what passes for excellence in some seamy
sweatshop in some third world hell, where all the misery the workers endure is embedded in the products they make...

Do I sound preachy? Sorry again. My Telecaster above was made in Mexico so I only paid about $700 for it USED...
The original ones (made by Mexicans in California) are a lot more expensive now. But I really like mine. And I hope the workers
in Fender's Mexico plant are paid well and given good health care benefits. Maybe they are. Mine had no bad vibes that
I could feel when I picked her up. I bonded with this telecaster instantly, and had to have her. I named her Snow White
after this poster I saw in an amp repair shop in the seventies. My Tele has the same p'ups as this original Starcaster.
View attachment 89315
Click to expand...

A dual humbucker is not really a traditional Tele, regardless of body shape. A Tele is easier to dial in to twang than into hard rock.
A Les Paul is hard to dial into twangy. Thus the reputation for being twangy.
 
Col Mustard said:
I've never understood this attitude, because I don't think a Telecaster is doomed to only one sound.
I believe the Telecaster is a very versatile instrument. You can crank one into twang if that's what's needed
for the song you're playing. But you can EQ a Telecaster and play blues, rock an roll, Punk, Country chicken Pickin'
...I'll bet the right player could play credible Jazz on one. Just turn the knobs a bit IMHO.
Am I wrong? I don't think so. But I only own ONE Tele, and mine is a unique instrument sporting
a pair of Fender "Wide Range" Humbuckers. So of course I feel this way.View attachment 89314
Telecaster aficionados will often glance at my Tele, and then look away as if in embarrassment. As if I'd left polite company
and ventured out beyond the pale. Fine with me. My whole life seems to have been dedicated to the confounding of purists of
all stripes. Including Telecaster purists, of which the world is plagued with many. *laughs

Sorry to derail the cheap guitar thread. There's no substitute for excellence, even what passes for excellence in some seamy
sweatshop in some third world hell, where all the misery the workers endure is embedded in the products they make...

Do I sound preachy? Sorry again. My Telecaster above was made in Mexico so I only paid about $700 for it USED...
(that's ten times the price we're talkin' about above...)
The original '72 Tele Deluxe (made by Mexicans in California) are a lot more expensive now. But I really like my replica...
And I hope the workers in Fender's Mexico plant are paid well and given good health care benefits.
Maybe they are. Mine had no bad vibes that I could feel when I picked her up. Mexicans like good music, and make some
excellent music of their own. I bonded with this telecaster instantly, and had to have her.
I named her Snow White after this poster I saw in an amp repair shop in the seventies.
My Tele has the same p'ups as this original '72 Starcaster.
View attachment 89315
I confess this is "technically' not true. The original Fender "Wide Range" Humbuckers were designed by none other than
Seth Lover... I mean THE Seth Lover. Fender had lured him away from his workbench in Kalamazoo after Norlin busybodies
had taken over management of Gibson. He might not have suffered fools too well.

So he went to work for Fender, and designed them the "Wide Range Humbucker" which sported CuNiFe magnets.
Talk about a unique sound. For those who never studied Chemistry, CuNiFe means Copper, Nickel, Iron alloy
Here's Fender's blurb on this small stitch in the Telecaster timeline...

"As popular music roared with the fatter tones of humbuckers at the dawn of the 1970s, Fender hired acclaimed pickup designer Seth Lover to create a distinctly Fender-flavored take on a higher-output dual-coil pickup. The resulting Wide Range pickup used large bobbins and threaded CuNiFe-rod magnets to achieve its distinctively brilliant sound, as heard on that era’s Telecaster® Custom, Thinline and Deluxe guitars. Sought after by musicians of all genres for decades, the original-era real CuNiFe-magnet pickups disappeared when the Telecaster Custom was discontinued in 1979."

Mine I believe are "replicas" and not real CuNiFe pickups, but I'm glad to have what I have. Now that I've paid off my credit card bill,
I don't fuss about the cost of my Tele. I've had mine since 2009.

May all seekers of third world guitars have this joy.
Click to expand...
CuNiFe that's MU metal.
That would have been expensive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top