Telecasters are so solid, that when Keith Richards belted a stage intruder with one, he went back to playing after intruder was detained by security, and it was in tune!
Leo Fender did so well with the Telecaster design because he would build a prototype and go up the road to a dance bar that was popular with the displaced Oklahoma farmers. They would play the prototypes all night and tell Leo what they did or did not like. These are farmers who were used to being practical. Modern Corporate Markeing teams would call this "focus groups". More than anything, the bolt on design would have come from those farmer-players who were tired of all other guitars having to wait at a busy local guitar tech's back log to replace frets, repair broken headstocks, and so on. Like buying a tractor part and bolting it on to get back in the field, a bolt on guitar neck would allow a player to self-repair and be back on stage that night. Super important when you've got to make rent with that playing. Contrast that with Les Paul who made a studio guitar for himself (weight is not an issue sitting down) and the Gibson Committee-designed SG with it's oddities conceived by non-players in an office (and carrying over a Mandolin headstock with higher electric guitar tension) only trying to be guitar shaped and cost less to compete with that Fender guy soaking up all their sales. Leo didn't have Guitar Ego involved with the Tele design, he needed something to help sell more of his amps since amps were his real business. Kind of like buying an amp like a box of cereal and getting a free guitar inside.
Maple necks with no brake angle don't seem to have the breakage issues Gibson has. I'm not a fan of having to disassemble the guitar to adjust the truss rod, or swap pickups. My other complaint would be that fender necks don't always stay in place. You get the usual body crack near the neck. Regardless, I have one because there is only one way to get that sound.
little tip for anybody wanting to adjust the rod on a vintage tele: _don't_ loosen the strings and _don't_ take the neck off! the whole point of the body-mounted neck pickup was that you could just take the pickguard off and reveal a channel between the neck pickup and the truss rod nut; adjust that with a right-angle screwdriver and you're done. in a way those old tele pickguards were really just giant truss rod covers! (same with the original single coil P-bass)
@sweet Actually Leo's first attempt lacked a truss rod and was a big failure but that was corrected fairly early on, many of the first Fender guitars had to be replaced due to the necks not staying true. Once that bump in the road was fixed it did take a bit of time for large numbers of players to realize that a solid body guitar was a cool thing. Not exactly hitting it out of the park on the first swing but clearly a gigantic win in the long game.
He did not really hit the home run. He made the first truly usable solid body guitar and the guitarists decided this was it and didn't want anything better even as countless people, most notabley Leo himself on numerous occasions, tried to offer it to them. It's like if we'd all still be driving model T Fords thinking anybody who created something better just ruined it. And so people can't even make a guitar usable without a thousand guitar nutters crying out in rage. The guitar world is truly bonkers, and no other instrument world an even come close to it in terms of superstition and lunacy.
I think Syd's was an Esquire. Just to be pedantic. And third option to the saddle issue: get remanufactured replacement saddles and screws, and put the originals in a bag in the case.
My guess on the dip in the tele body is that if they sanded it with an orbital disk sander if and when they stripped off the old finish, they may not have factored in the extra amount taken off in the areas that were routed for the pickups, making those areas lower than the broader parts of the top of the body, which sand away at a slower rate when using any aggressive sanding technique
Ooo Beck's Esquire too! And, years ago read of Roger Mayer saying that Jimi's white Strat didn't show up on the session for Purple Haze and they borrowed a Tele from a friend of Noel Redding. There's a whole book about tracking that Tele down, "The Grail Guitar" by Chris Adams.
Always great to have a Ted video to watch.! My 69 tele. (All original) also has pot codes for1966, Fender must have bought a large amount then for stock…. Cheers Ted,Rob from England.
the life cycle of the old guitar player. In our youth, we dreamed of flying Vs, firebirds and 59 les Pauls. In our 20s and 30s, we had the income and bought our Gibsons and realised they were rubbish, sounded muddy and wouldn't stay in tune. As we reached middle age, we moved to Strats but then someone lent us a Tele and we put everything else behind us and now worship at it's utter perfection. Twangtastic.
@@ileutur6863 what sounds good is subjective obvs, but I've never come across a Gibson that easily tunes and stays there - it's telling that Gibson don't fit and cut their nuts properly in the 1st place when they charge such ludicrous prices for their very ordinary instruments
Great stuff! Your love and care for these great old guitars really comes through in your work and presentation. I especially appreciated your explanation of neck geometry and shimming. Thanks!!
While I don't like that zebra pickup replacement I have to say its really nice to see guitars that come on your channel that are clearly players guitars that have wear and tear and clearly loved and used to make music since they are played so much and worn. While I understand people want vintage instruments want to be kept pristine to retain the value, The whole point of these things was to be played, hard and rough and for many many years so its always great to see a old workhorse come into your shop for some work.
@@manysnakes I play my '55 ES-125 every day...but am kind of happy about the fact that whoever owned it before me apparently left it in a closet for decades. The fretboard is in beautiful shape still with what appear to be original frets with moderate wear. The finish is quite good and wasn't beat up and abused over the years. Lucky me...
Gotta go with what the customer wants but YIKES that brand-new zebra humbucker is like tits on a bull. Of course Ted, being a boss, made it reversible in case the guy comes to his senses and wants to put that sweet old P90 back where it belongs. Always great watching this guy work.
I was waiting for the April Fools punchline that never came when that humbucker was produced. My heart was kicked in the nuts. Thanks for the sticker Ted. The cardboard will make an excellent bookmark.
imagine walking up to the plate for your first at-bat in the majors and on the first pitch you nail a grand slam. that's the broadcaster/esquire/nocaster/telecaster. the stuff of legends.
I've watched every single one of your videos on here and I'm not gong to go through them all again to figure it out but I do believe you've NEVER played the same thing twice at the end. As much as I enjoy watching you work I always look forward even more to the playability test when you're finished. Well done, yet again.
I own a '52 ES125 and it's a really cool looking and sounding guitar. It looks exactly like the one you worked on. I bought it nearly 20 years ago for a measly $700.00!!
Ted - got my stickers in the mail. Love them, AND you need to make some headstock recapitation merch with the stamp on the card! Love the Gibson Glare!
Hey Ted, nice job on those guitars. And the Arch Top sounds great. I saw Alfie perform with it at the Moonshine on the weekend. It growls just like his singing.
I'd like for Ted to discuss his time in bands. I know he said there's no time to play anymore. I can tell that at one time he must have played constantly. He's played several styles on his guitar demos.
I have a Mario Matin tele that looks almost exactly like this one, with a Brazilian rosewood veneer and blonde finish. Saddles are traditional brass though, and the pickguard is single ply.
I consider the weekend uploads as a clinic because Ted brings up issues regarding so many things I have never even considered. I always look forward to the knowledge that is shared here! Long live the "Telecaster"!
Loving the Gibson which is as old as me! 1953 was a good year for some things! PS thanks Ted for the sticker, which came to the UK quicker than if it had been posted in the UK!
I got my 2 t-shirts and my 5 stickers on Thursday, same day from the supplier and from the man himself! Bonfire was fast. Thanks Ted! (The card was a nice touch. 🙂)
Love the 'veneer' style boards. A small comment, if I may. They were not bent around the maple for the joint. A matching concave radius was dished out of the fretboard. The entire purpose for moving to the veneer style board had to do with complaints of 'instability' in the slab board necks, and less effective truss rods. Folks in the R&D department felt that a thinner board would help by giving the maple a better chance to resist forces from the thicker boards, and at the same time, making the joint radiused allowed them to move the truss rod anchor higher up in the neck, which allows for more pre-bend and thus a more effective rod. They made the thickness such that the rosewood reveal on the edge of the fretboard was roughly equal to what it was on the slab boards at the end of the neck - comes out to about 0.1".
I bought a 1957 ES125 from my brothers 90 year old father in law for $1000, it sat in its original case for many, many years and is in really good shape. I love how it plays and sounds, it totally amazes me how nice it is.
I had a Martin second brand acoustic. The guy I was jamming with at the time had a '54 ES 125. I don't think he appreciated what he had because he asked to trade guitars one-for-one. I traded and have had that guitar since the late 70's.
Another excellent all-around production, and another excellent comment for the algorithm. Your viewer’s comments are as sophisticated as the content, thanks everyone.
I know you've mentioned this before, but I do smirk at the lengths people go to keeping these Tele's "original" (i.e. the grub screws) when Leo made them to be working guitars where everything was supposed to be replaceable!
I don't know if you read the comment section, but just so you know, I received my sticker on Wednesday, in California. I appreciate the extra effort of individually signing each card, which must have been at least bothersome.
Not sure I like the zebra look on this guitar, but kudos to the owner for doing what he wants with it. Used cream and black zebra humbuckers on a matte burgundy Grote 335 and they look great. I have both the classic and new style stickers on my guitar room door! Polishing, polishing...
The removal of the telecaster pick guard exposes the ability to adjust the truss rod nut. Stewmac makes a truss rod wrench for that.Or you can use the paint can opening tool you get at the hardware store. Adjustments can be made with strings at tension.
I'm not sure where Ted finds all the time he needs. Do they have more than 24 hours in a day in Canada?!? On top of all the work he gets through, I ordered a sticker on Tuesday and it arrived in Liverpool, England on FRIDAY! Don't you ever stop, Ted???
The strat and the tele were specifically designed to simply switch the neck out after frets are done. I heard that Fender almost implemented a core charge system where you send your neck in and pay half price for your new neck. It wasn't ever implemented via Leo's departure..It truly is the tank of guitars. And probably the most recorded model,.....with Les Paul's coming in a close second.
What a nice and dark colored ES125. Surprised to see that the pickguard is still in good shape. About the "Impure thoughts leading to juvenile delinquency" comment 😂, Check out Scott H Biram, he has several of these ES125 and hes a little on the rowdy side 😉.
As discussed on many forums the radiused overlay fingerboard was Fender's way of combating neck warp-age the slab boards were returned for warranty due to the board having not been cured This was confirmed many years ago by Tom Walker former Musicman founder...He told me Fender were made use traditional fingerboards due to players and dealers complaints of the maple discoloration... It is more labor intensive to laminate the radiused boards,but it worked to some degree!
