Happy New Guitar Day—Telecaster Custom!

Somebody found out about my new Tele Custom and said something pretty clever…

“Hey! Since you have three Telecasters, you have a Telection!” (Collection)

I told him that just like a group of crows is called a “Murder” and and a group of lions is called a “Pride” and a group of geese is called a “Gaggle”…

…a group of Telecasters is called a “Twang”
 
Fiesta Red said:
Somebody found out about my new Tele Custom and said something pretty clever…

“Hey! Since you have three Telecasters, you have a Telection!” (Collection)

I told him that just like a group of crows is called a “Murder” and and a group of lions is called a “Pride” and a group of geese is called a “Gaggle”…

…a group of Telecasters is called a “Twang”
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Good to know! Since I have three I guess I'm in the "Twang Gang"?
 
gball said:
Those Klusons won't work. The parallelogram shape of the base is reversed from the stock ones.

Looks like its going to be these (which is fine, they are technically better quality model anyway:

Kluson 6-In-Line Revolution Series F-Mount Tuners for Fender Guitars - StewMac

Lightweight diecast tuning machines are designed to directly retrofit the stamped "F" tuning machines that Fender uses on reissues of models from the CBS/Fender era.
www.stewmac.com www.stewmac.com
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Fiesta, ordered the revolutions yesterday. Will report back once I get them installed.
 
Fiesta Red said:
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them…

If they work well, I have two guitars with the janky F tuners—the Telecaster Custom and the Telecaster Deluxe—and they would correct my main complaint about the guitars.
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The tuners really are the weak link. These guitars have the exact same bridge as the US-made guitars, and the electronics are excellent so no issue there (I just need to work out the ice-pick of the bridge, probably need to lower it), but there is so much slack in the stock tuners its hard to nail it. The Revolutions are 19:1 ratio so super-precise. I have a set on one of my Les Pauls and they are spectacular.

EDIT: OK, so spent a little time this morning dialing in the bridge pickup and, just like that...lowering it and screwing in the exposed pole pieces really helped tame the sharpness in the tone. I think maybe those unusual pole pieces are part of the puzzle. Anyway, really sounding nice now, mellowed the edge out significantly, and I think I will still go back to the stock saddles and I am guessing the extra mass of the Revolution tuners will also help. Will let you know, they should be here in a couple of days.
 
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Fiesta Red said:
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them…

If they work well, I have two guitars with the janky F tuners—the Telecaster Custom and the Telecaster Deluxe—and they would correct my main complaint about the guitars.
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Fiesta Red:
Got them installed. Probably the best upgrade one could do to this guitar. Revolutions are some of the best tuners on the market to begin with and these are one of the few options that fit perfectly on the odd screw placement. You do have to use the bushings that they provide with the tuners though, the shafts are ever so slightly larger than the stock ones, and be careful installing as they are staggered - 3 lengths. I kind of like the shape of the keys better too. Definitely highly recommend.

IMG_20250305_142632950.jpg

I did change the saddles back to the stock ones at the same time I put these on, so not sure 100% what the mix is but the guitar sounds livelier in the midrange and does seem to resonate better. Plus, obviously, tuning and tuning stability is much better.

Also, interesting to see aging of a poly finish on a 13 year old guitar that has spent most of its life in a case

IMG_20250305_095827802.jpg
 
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gball said:
Fiesta Red:
Got them installed. Probably the best upgrade one could do to this guitar. Revolutions are some of the best tuners on the market to begin with and these are one of the few options that fit perfectly on the odd screw placement. You do have to use the bushings that they provide with the tuners though, the shafts are ever so slightly larger than the stock ones, and be careful installing as they are staggered - 3 lengths. I kind of like the shape of the keys better too. Definitely highly recommend.

View attachment 105315

I did change the saddles back to the stock ones at the same time I put these on, so not sure 100% what the mix is but the guitar sounds livelier in the midrange and does seem to resonate better. Plus, obviously, tuning and tuning stability is much better.

Also, interesting to see aging of a poly finish on a 13 year old guitar that has spent most of its life in a case

View attachment 105314
Click to expand...
Thank you so much.

I guess I need to order two sets (dangit).
 
gball said:
Fiesta Red:
Got them installed. Probably the best upgrade one could do to this guitar. Revolutions are some of the best tuners on the market to begin with and these are one of the few options that fit perfectly on the odd screw placement. You do have to use the bushings that they provide with the tuners though, the shafts are ever so slightly larger than the stock ones, and be careful installing as they are staggered - 3 lengths. I kind of like the shape of the keys better too. Definitely highly recommend.

View attachment 105315

I did change the saddles back to the stock ones at the same time I put these on, so not sure 100% what the mix is but the guitar sounds livelier in the midrange and does seem to resonate better. Plus, obviously, tuning and tuning stability is much better.

Also, interesting to see aging of a poly finish on a 13 year old guitar that has spent most of its life in a case

View attachment 105314
Click to expand...
Those really look nice…I’m really excited about trying them out—it will probably make me more comfortable about taking out my Deluxe (and my new Custom) for a gig; I hesitated due to the fact that those stock tuners seemed ready to just implode at any minute. I used the Deluxe a couple of times at gigs and never had a problem, but dangit it was always in the back of my mind.
 
gball said:
Fiesta Red:
Got them installed. Probably the best upgrade one could do to this guitar. Revolutions are some of the best tuners on the market to begin with and these are one of the few options that fit perfectly on the odd screw placement. You do have to use the bushings that they provide with the tuners though, the shafts are ever so slightly larger than the stock ones, and be careful installing as they are staggered - 3 lengths. I kind of like the shape of the keys better too. Definitely highly recommend.

View attachment 105315

I did change the saddles back to the stock ones at the same time I put these on, so not sure 100% what the mix is but the guitar sounds livelier in the midrange and does seem to resonate better. Plus, obviously, tuning and tuning stability is much better.

Also, interesting to see aging of a poly finish on a 13 year old guitar that has spent most of its life in a case

View attachment 105314
Click to expand...

Look good!
 
chilipeppermaniac said:
When I researched the Jim Root Telecaster, I found some interesting info.

Did you know that it has a Mahogany Body?

  • Mahogany body
  • Flat White satin finish
  • Ebony or maple 12"-radius fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets
  • EMG® 60 (neck) and 81 (bridge) active humbucking pickups
  • Single control knob (volume) and three-way pickup switch
  • Hardtail strings-thru-body bridge
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The mahogany will give it much better sustain, and better mid and low end, compared to poplar or ash etc.
 
Session 5 said:
I guess we will have to agree to disagree.;)
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I've seen EMGs on a Tele, on one hand they have higher output and lower microphonics / feedback squealing.
On the other hand, there's the battery that needs to be replaced.
They sounded pretty good on the guitar that I tried.
That's the drawback to anything active that you put inside a guitar....the battery. If you forget to UN-plug the guitar the battery runs down.
 
I hate batteries to but i also think its a personal choice of what people want in a guitar.Or amp far as that goes. I might like what somebody else dont and vise versa. There is no right or wrong answere here. Its called personal choices.Same reason they make more than 1 model of car.
 
I just don’t like the sound of the EMGs I’ve played through for the music I like to play.

EMG undoubtedly has some models that would work better for my style than the ones I’ve played, but I don’t know what they are and I’ve already loaded my guitars with pickups I like (or they came loaded with pickups I like).

But being told I’m wrong in a blunt manner, like I have no experience or clue whatsoever is rude, IMHO.
 
Fiesta Red said:
I just don’t like the sound of the EMGs I’ve played through for the music I like to play.

EMG undoubtedly has some models that would work better for my style than the ones I’ve played, but I don’t know what they are and I’ve already loaded my guitars with pickups I like (or they came loaded with pickups I like).

But being told I’m wrong in a blunt manner, like I have no experience or clue whatsoever is rude, IMHO.
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No ruder than stating flatly that EMGs are “terrible.” I’ve used them on my main guitar for 25 years and have received nothing but compliments on my guitar sounds. They are objectively not terrible.
 
Seamus OReally said:
No ruder than stating flatly that EMGs are “terrible.” I’ve used them on my main guitar for 25 years and have received nothing but compliments on my guitar sounds. They are objectively not terrible.
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I generally try to say “terrible for me” or “they don’t work for me” or “I haven’t had good results with this or that device”

For example:
People love Klon (and the various Klones) overdrives, paying thousands for the originals and a lot of time and energy on the klones…they don’t work for me at all…I don’t get the sounds I want out of them.

Are they useless?
Well, according to the hundreds of people who love them, no.
But to me, it doesn’t add anything useful to my signal path/rig, so…yes. To me, it’s useless.

It’s all conjecture and opinion and experience…so saying EMGs are terrible is based on that guy’s (and my) experience.

I have devices and pieces of my guitars and pedals and amps and my harp rig that other people don’t like…I don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t like P-90’s or the faux non-CuNiFe WRHBs or my MXR Carbon Copy—I just quote ol’ Sly:

“Different strokes for different folks…”
 
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