Stratocaster vs. Telecaster

like everyone who started playing in the 90s i learned on a cheap solid state practice amp, and i remember getting some fender solid state that was loud enough for gigs and knowing in my heart that this was not the tone that would make anyone fall in love with playing electric guitar. i'm very attuned to the high frequencies and the highs on a solid state amp are so brittle and spiky and bad. i spent a bunch of my high school job cash on a fender prosonic and i remember plugging into it for the first time, and even strumming it clean and at low volume i was thinking oh yeah this makes a lot more sense.

Ugh, I was actually just thinking recently about my early years playing on a solid state amp (lower end fender, not terrible but not great) and how much I disliked the sound of my electric but couldn't understand why. I'm sure the 90s digital multi-fx processor I was using didn't help much either. Glad it seems like nowadays there are many more reasonably priced, well made tube options. Finally playing through a tube amp was such a revelation for me, and even there it wasn't really the right tube amp (Fender hot rod deluxe when I was playing jazz) and it took me even longer to find out how good the tone could really sound with the right amp.

mattttt otm -- amp is AT LEAST half the instrument. Would rather play my chepo Johnson Solara through the Fender Princeton I have now than play a $3000 ES-335 through my old solid state amp.

Just one of many things that makes me a little jealous of young guitarists today - in the youtube era it's so easy to figure out how to sound the way you want to. When I was playing it was basically the knowledge of your guitar teacher plus maybe a couple of friends who barely knew more than you.

yeah we wasted so much money on garbage digital effects back then

I've learned so much just in the last couple years, from youtube videos, about how to get a better sound. I honestly don't even think I realized that amps had "sweet spots" I thought you just turned them louder or softer. I only had a vague idea how to get a good natural amp overdrive sound just from cranking (probably because I spent years with a hot rod deluxe that was too loud to crank and had a separate drive channel), and I had also never really tried the trick of turning the amp higher, guitar lower, and picking softer for tone.

also a golden age for affordable, lower-power tube amps. even 10-15 years ago pickings were pretty slim.

I've heard some modeling amps that sound pretty damn good but I'm still bothered by the concept somehow. It's like the impossible burger of amps - "we used all this hyper-advanced technology just to recreate something we already have." I mean yeah yeah, I get it, the whole save your back/save animals thing.

Amp-wise, I have had a bunch of Fender combos over the years but have decided that really all I need is a Blues Junior. If there's a venue I can't fill with it, I assume it will be mic'd anyway, so there is no point (for me) in anything bigger.

(Speaking purely for electric guitar, there.)

When I am doing the multi-instrumentalist thing, it's a different picture. Then, I like to go direct to PA or use a keyboard amp, which will amplify anything. Electric guitar goes through a Sansamp Blonde; mandolins and basses and electronic drums and acoustic guitars go through a Para Driver.

save animals?
I’ll give a small shoutout to my Vox Pathfinder 15R which actually sounds as good as a small tube amp. No modelling or anything digital, just good design and some LEDs for clipping.

(save animals = impossible burger)

Is the Pathfinder a hybrid? There was a vogue for hybrids in the Oughts - like a tube in the preamp stage with a solid-state power amp.

I have had a Fender Performer that was like that, and briefly a Vox Valvetronic with the same deal.

Nope, it’s all solid state. No idea how it’s done. It does have an actual spring reverb tank which is pretty tiny.

My Pathfinder 10 has been holding it down for me for about a decade. The clean channel has kinda died in the past year or so. Can't seem to get much volume out of it unless I've got the overdrive engaged, which is a little disappointing.

I have a little Fender Champion with an upgraded tube and speaker, pretty good for a little low-watt amp. super simple though, just one switch and volume which may be a dealbreaker for some

The one I got recently is the Princeton Reverb 68 Custom "reissue" (it's not really a reissue because it's modded, but it's a silverface style princeton). I like it a lot, but so far more for a "dirty clean" sound -- I haven't found the best way to overdrive it yet. Part of that is because I need to keep the volume down most of the time.

I have a Plumes and a Maxon Tube OD, just need to spend more time messing with the settings.

Pathfinder 15R is great, they made a mini “stack” version that’s hard as hell to find but I want one.

Sade from LA Witch had an Instagram video playing Vox’s Mini Superbeetle (nutube + solid state) and it sounded pretty good.

Dirt is so personal and subjective.

Clean is universal and forever, though.

Lots of the time I feel like I can do anything I want by using a clean amp, but getting the dirty and weird sounds from pedals. YMMV

Getting dirt through dynamics is exciting though, like when you’re trying to light a fire and you’re not sure if it’s gonna take. I also think the top 5-10% of the clean zone is the sweet spot, everything gets a bit of hair and sounds much more alive.
btw I think Feist’s usual stage rig is two Pathfinder 15Rs.

Worth noting that Jason Pierce played a H+H solid-state amp throughout Spacemen 3 and early Spiritualized tours. It's the one with the glowing knobs.

There are some people who are really into solid-state and hybrid MusicMans. Also loads of people who like the Roland JC 120. A friend of mine keeps wanting to sell me his, but it's simply too big and heavy for me. If I see a good deal on a JC 90 I would be sorely tempted.

so, as you know, that dude with the Cabronita Squier flaked on me, but been looking around and found an even more oddball Squier Tele...always wanted to try out B and G benders (love if anyone has experience) and for this price why not?

https://reverb.com/item/40860058-squier-classic-vibe-50s-telecaster-w-b-and-g-benders

I just cleaned up my '93 Strat plus and I'm thinking I'll sell it. It's in pretty great condition other than a few dings on the neck. Advice on unloading this thing? I'd like to replace it with another electric... should I go to a shop and look for a trade in?

You’d probably do better listing it locally for cash but sometimes shops will surprise you.

I traded a Mexican strat recently and was able to negotiate a bit more, they said they were having trouble keeping stocked with standbye models during covid

if youre not in a hurry, try selling on offerup and craigslist first. local shop 2nd. reverb 3rd.

on reverb, looks like 93s are selling from 1200 to 1700, depending on condition

ums, I have also had really good luck with Mexi Fenders holding their value.

Like, if I lose my job or need a new kidney or something I know I can sell a coupla guitars

on reverb, looks like 93s are selling from 1200 to 1700, depending on condition

dang i think my parents paid like $400 for this back in the day

Yeah the American standard tele that I bought for like $350 in 1997 is now selling for four times as much. I had no idea.

I'm really conflicted the more I fix up this '93 strat plus. It's sounding really good. Still don't love the action and I haven't had much luck fixing it myself so I'm thinking I'll get someone to set it up. It has a warmth that I don't get from my Gretsch.

Two critical factors for setting action. 1: make sure the neck relief is right. Looking up the neck from the body, does it slope down from the nut ever so slightly and straighten out, without raising into a hill before it reaches the body? If not, give the truss rod a cautious quarter turn to hollow it out (anticlockwise) or straighten it up (turn clockwise). If it's angled up overall, or down overall, you may need to shim it at the heel. The nut is probably cut well being a US made Fender. 2: adjust saddle heights to match neck radius, with a very slight angle toward you as you look down from the playing position (i.e. bottom screw is a hair longer than the top screw). Meaning, the middle strings should sit a bit higher than the thickest and thinnest strings. But Strats are a pain in the ass because of the floating bridge. If you can find a good luthier it'll be a night and day difference. The Tele I posted upthread played like shit until I did this stuff and now it's great.

yeah a few of the set screws for adjusting the saddle height are stripped so I just ordered some more. i've had this guitar for for 26 years now (jesus!) and this is the first time i've touched it with a screw driver. it's fun learning this stuff

If the stripped screws are frozen in place, one way to get them out is to turn the saddle over, grip the protruding part with pliers and twist it out that way. A shot of WD40 and an hour or two to allow it to penetrate will help a lot.
Also if you need a hex/Allen key to adjust them, nearly all of the ones I've seen use 1.5mm size, but that's probably because most of my guitars are Japanese. 0.050" seems to be the size for US parts.

Finally got my long lost ‘93 American Standard strat back. It’s in the shop right now getting checked out / set up and then I’ll probably sell it and buy a tele. Never liked the thing.

Incidentally, why is Fender's naming scheme so damned confusing? Player series, Modern Player Series, Deluxe Series, Classic Series, American Professional Series, American Elite Series, American Original Series, American Performer Series. Yeesh.

The amps are bad too - for years they made the "princeton chorus" which was a solid state amp having nothing apparently to do with the "princeton reverb." Then of course there's deluxe reverb, pro reverb, twin reverb. There's the Fender Champ (5w tube amp) and the Fender Champion (40w solid state) and many variations on each (vibro champ, super champ is actually 15w, etc.). Then there are the "reissues" except that while the 65 series is literal reissues and the 64 series is handwired reissues, the 68 Custom series is not actually reissues but "modified" reissues.

Trying to sell solid states by copying tube amp names is nothing new - CBS did it across the line around 1970 (run away if you find one). And even the Custom Telecaster and Telecaster Custom are a source of perpetual confusion.

big reason is they already have the naming rights to those and its a lot easier to rehash something you already have/own

we were all confused when they chose to name the new amp line 'mustang' cos well... they already had a fender mustang. but thats how it was explained (still dumb to me)

If I wanted a very classically nashville-sounding telecaster, what would be the reach option, the midrange option and the budget option? Or should I be looking for older? MIJ? Some other brand?

- 52 american vintage (used) or the now titled american original (50s or 60s)
- classic series baja 60s tele
- squier classic vibe tele

haha of course the clasically nashville tele is called baja.

I like the look of the body on this one a lot
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/lKoAAOSw1PdgonmY/s-l1600.jpg

perhaps also subliminal because my music room has the exact same crappy grey faux-wood flooring.

If it wasn’t a particularly relic the metal flake Brad Paisley signature would be cool.

Particularly ugly*

2 thoughts about a Nashville sounding Tele - "Nashville" often refers to the practice of installing a Strat middle pickup (below). and of course Nashville tuning replaces the low wound strings with plain strings tuned an octave higher. Never tried it myself but now that I think about it ...
https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/LgJpg/10002/0147502301_gtr_frt_001_rr.jpg

yah they do have a 'nashville tele' but who wants to look at three pickups in a tele!?

amen

Def don’t mean that, just want something bright, spanky and twangy

I would like a Syd Barrett Esquire - ‘60s style with rosewood instead of butterscotch or blonde with maple.