Telecaster: if I have to explain what a Fender Telecaster is, what are you doing in this thread?? One thing to point out, is that Tele’s have a pickup and control layout that is an essential part of its design, from the unique bridge pickup based on a lap steel pickup, to the 1 Volume, 1 Tone + pickup selector, to the famous 3-Barrel bridge (each saddle supports two strings - can make intonation a hassle, but many Tele fanfolk think it is essential like me!)
Jazzmaster: later Fender design. Most important for this story, Jazzmasters have what is called “Fender’s Offset Waist Design” - the narrow part of the guitar is at the same spot on either side of a Tele or a Strat. On JM’s it is not as symmetrical. Y’all know this one. If you look at a JM’s on-board controls, there are WAY too many!! just a bunch of switches that turn pickups on or off, or change the tone circuit. Silliness to a simpleton like me.
Telemasters: In this age of Parts-o-Casters (replacing parts on a guitar or building one outright from parts), it is no surprise that folks mix and match design features. One of the ones that caught fire is the Telemaster - Offset Waist Jazzmaster body, with a simple Tele pickup/control layout. So cool! And the relic’d ones look like the actually got built back in the day.
So, Fender has slowly been trying to get out in front of the Telemaster trend. They just released a new guitar called “an offset waist Telecaster.”
OMFG, clutch your pearls my friends!!!
In this thread on the Gear Page: But is it really a Telecaster... | The Gear Page we have guitarists of all stripe arguing the fundamentally ontological topic of being and identity. Fun times!!
So - whaddya think? Personally, I am assuming that, rather than Fender trying to win the Ontology Wars, they simply couldn’t copyright the phrase “Telemaster” for some reason, so went in a different direction. It’s Telemaster to me.
The Telecaster is prolly my least favorite guitar, so this news means nothing to me. I’m glad for the info, because I like to keep abreast of things, but that’s all this is to me: info.
The Jazzmaster, however, was a nice guitar. I have a guitar that was given to me long ago by friends in Tallahassee that is comprised of a Jazzmaster neck and a Jaguar body; it’s one of my punk rock guitars.
What about the Esquire? They are LOVED by their fans. Simply a Tele with no neck pickup. The thing with them is that fanboys are convinced that the absence of the neck pickup changes the magnetic pull of the strings so that Esq’y’s sound different from Tele’s. Oh, man, the snake oil I would have to digest for that to sound plausible. But that doesn’t impact this Tele/Jazzmaster anecdote. Snowboarder Bo - and here I thought we were friends. Why do you hate America? Dead to me, I tell you. What don’t you like about Teles?
The neck, mostly. It’s slow and sluggish and too thin. Feels like someone gummed up the fretboard to me. FWIW, I feel the same about most Strats.
There’s other aspects of the Tele that I find less than optimal, but the neck and fretboard are the thing(s) I dislike most.
My first guitar (I still have it) was a '72 Les Paul Custom (cherry sunburst with gold hardware, just like Frank Zappa’s) and the neck on that is stout and beautiful, the fretboard smooth like glass. It unfortunately set a high bar for me early on and so I’ve always selected guitars based mostly on how much I like the feel of the fretboard; every other detail is negotiable.
So it’s not about the shape, the layout or the basic Tele tone? It’s the neck? But you know I have huge necks on my Tele’s - one’s a Tele Fat neck from Allparts (Fender Japan parts sold in the US). It is 1" deep at the nut = chunky as hell.
Now, a 70’s LP Custom does have a different feel, no question.
No, the tone is part of it, too: I find the thin, uh reedy tone of a Tele less attractive than other guitars. But I know that tone can be changed easily with effects and amps and EQ and new pickups, etc. so it’s not the main part. The guitar just doesn’t feel good in my hands.
The shape is fine. Boring but fine. The layout is fine, too; I have guitars with much different layouts than the standard 1-toggle 2-knobs setup and it never bothers me (or is anything I even think about, to be honest).
Keep in mind that subtlety isn’t really what I’m going for, eh.
They both do. The JM has a standard Fender long scale (25.5") and its JM-specific whammy bar (the one that Kevin Shields puts to such brilliant use in creating the wobbly, super distorted sounds of My Bloody Valentine), the Jag has a stop tailpiece and a short scale 24" fingerboard. But both have messes of switches.
Bo: yep, whatever keeps you playing. Funny that a Les Paul and Tele are the ballsiest sounding of the Big Four: 335’s are semi-hollow and Strats have the floating bridge. LP’s and Teles are the ones that deliver the big low end. Again, the thing I love about a Tele is rolling off the Tone Control to get as thick of a sound as on a humbucker - different, but thick.
My new Telecaster is a fantastic guitar. Its 8 1/2 lb. redwood body is livelier, with more sustain, than any Les Paul I’ve owned - including an 11 plus lbs. Black Beauty. And the tones, OMG, beautiful. But it’s still a Telecaster - which for me, means having to sacrifice some comfort to play it, whether sitting or standing.
Not so long ago, Fender competitor Ibanez re-introduced the Talman series of guitars, including a model which directly copies the Telecaster layout, but with a much more ergonomic body shape - the best of both worlds, I thought. So it doesn’t surprise me that Fender has finally seen the light.
Still, I’m glad they gave this new guitar a new name. If it isn’t shaped like a Tele, it shouldn’t carry the Tele moniker, sez me.
I hope this new model sells well enough that they don’t drop it.
I’m still partial to Jazzcaster. I’m mulling building one with a SD 'Lil 59 and a P-90 with a blend pot. I played a Fender “Pawn shop” special in that config and the tones I could pull out was pretty amazing. Personally, I like the design and it’s pretty comfortable to play. I’m not a traditionalist by any stretch.
And that’s what I love about my ASAT Bluesboy. It takes that thinking and brings it to its ultimate conclusion; adding the humbucker to the neck position.
But all that misses the real question. What kind of amp did Theseus prefer? And did he replace the tubes, the speaker and rewire the tone stack?
Wait, what? This has been out for quite some time. A year? Not sure.
Anyway, I approve of the trend, very cool mashup. I don’t think I want one, I’d be afraid of losing tone with such a small body, and the design doesn’t tweak my WANT reflex really. I just think it’s cool Fender is finally piling on and hope it continues.
Also no need to invoke Theseus: it’s not a telecaster. It’s cool on it’s own, but Theseus would tell you it’s just not the same boat.
One thing to point out, is that Tele’s have a pickup and control layout that is an essential part of its design, from the unique bridge pickup based on a lap steel pickup, to the 1 Volume, 1 Tone + pickup selector, to the famous 3-Barrel bridge (each saddle supports two strings - can make intonation a hassle, but many Tele fanfolk think it is essential like me!)
