Are Fender Custom Shop Telecasters Better Than Other Telecasters?

In this video, we compare all of our Telecaster guitars to see if the Fender Custom Shop guitars are better than other Fender Telecasters and a Reverend Gristlemaster. James has recently bought a Fender Japan 70s Thinline and decided to bring that and his USA 60th Anniversary over so we could complete the battle of the Telecaster series. The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.

[@kenhaas7905]

Thanks for the kind words gents!

[@themayor6836]

Didn't realize how great of a session drummer James is/was. I listened to many of your recordings with Abi and was blown away by your feel and groove. And Paul well studio ace guitarist all day long!

[@glennevans5824]

Enjoy yr channel..being a older guitar geek…I’ve been playin long time have 15 guitars lol..I’m 66…had a lot of awesome guitars through my journey....yr channel you guys are giving good tutelage…on the variables…watch it in morning with my coffee..keep ‘em coming..Retired but love guitars..🤙🏻🤙🏻🇺🇸nyc

[@glennevans5824]

This tele comparison is interesting…u tend to think they wud sound almost the same..I liked the thin line…sounded airy if that’s a term..picked up recently a fender vintera road worn..blonde 50’s I’m impressed only have it 2 weeks..I may change pups to a set I have of Don mare Nancy pickups ..they are spot on for that “Roy Buchanan…bite..that transistor type bridge pick up sound…Don examined Nancy and the bridge pickup was broken in a sense..that’s why it’s so cutting and different…..Love yr channel guys🤙🏻🤙🏻

[@faridh2999]

Telecaster is definitely going to be my next purchase, I quite like the look of the Gordon Smith options…

[@lazvt8469]

Picked up my 9th Tele...now the range is from $150 HB TE52....to a Cu$tom $hop...and all in between (FGN, G&L, TeleMex, Pro 2, LSL TBone1, Squiers). All great...but all have upgraded pups (Fralin, MFD, Lollar, McNelly, Suhr, TimShaw, Chicago Specials, LSL Handwound, Seymours). 62, lifelong player...only recently became obsessed with Teles. My son has a great Tele partscaster with those GristleTones...wonderful tone! I have a Reverend Double Agent...amazing quality, tone, and versatility. ..same Korean factory Duesenberg uses.

[@GuitarsAndSynths]

Once you get to the American made Telecaster the law of diminishing returns applies. I mean under 2k for an American made tele versus 5k plus for custom/masterbuilt.

[@j_freed]

When people say “a light and more resonant body” a heavier body may be just as resonant in other ways, but a light body often vibrates against the player holding it, and people associate that with “resonant sounding.” Some slightly heavier ash bodies ring out much better in the high frequencies, for example and has a puncher low end string resonance. It’s rare that one guitar covers everything. Planks of wood are unique.

[@toploadtele]

The guitar that started it all!

[@neilevans6229]

I agree they all sounded different and they all sounded great 👏👍🍀🍻

[@MrBossei]

Could you please tell me what the pickups in the custom shops are? In my experience the pickups are most important, then wiring, then wood. Thank you for your great videos!

[@hollywoodactress]

To me all the telecasters sounded great in this video. Btw it would be good to know how heavy pinky is in kg, as I have heard you say it a few times the pink telecaster is light. I always wonder how light is light? Also perhaps the white tele 60th which had a low output bridge could have needed the bridge pickup raising a bit. How do you find the revered tele as it has a bigger body than a normal fender tele? I sometimes struggle with the non comfort cut teles

[@chickenlickin3820]

Yeah cool enjoyed the content thanks x

[@rosspetrie]

When does an Esquire become a telecaster?

[@SergioFigaroa]

They all sounded great, the pink one had something special to it though.

[@alexb4913]

Out of curiosity, I have a 60th anniversary telecaster as well and mine has a different bridge and saddles, and I checked online and the ones I see have the same bridge and saddles as mine, did you change yours out?

[@boatingforbeginners7949]

All tele's sounded good but the Custom shop models just had that extra quality tone edge i feel, Fab playing & tone too

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers

[@attillal4821]

Paul… i hear you play that riff a-lot, any chance you could show us how to play it? Quality stuff guys.

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

The Esquire has no tone caps between bridge pickup and the cable. That makes a huge difference

[@cubano100pct]

What is the weight of each Telecaster or what weight is considered a light Telecaster?

[@kmichaelp4508]

Hogwash. Very southern US also. But then again we are mostly of British decent. With a lot of Viking mix (ME). One cannot go wrong with a tele.

[@horrifyinggelatinousblob]

PROTIP: buy a decent quality middle of the road Made in Mexico fender, and a set of luthier tools, a wiring harness by ObsidianWire and then do a full luthier setup, fret polishing, rewiring etc. You'll have a guitar that performs just as good as something that costs 3,000 for 1500 or less. The fact people still spend over $2k on a guitar in 2020 blows my mind, expecially on fenders where you can get an amazing neck to throw on for like $500 and the body is fundamentally just a piece of wood to hold electronics.

[@drainaudio]

But the body isn't just a piece of wood to hold electronics is it.. ;-)

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

Tone caps make a lot of difference. A 60’s Strat sounds different than a 50’s maple neck sound different because they have different tone caps and different pickups. Black bottom vs grey bottom

[@harrybee3093]

You should try the MAYBACH TELEMAN RED ROOSTER CUSTOM SHOP!!!

[@mike1967sam]

I just subbed your channel today (March 2022) and I have had the pleasure to get to know quite a few luthiers of quite a reputable standing in their field and every single one says that in an electric guitar the influence the type of wood has in the sound of said guitar varies between 5 to 15%. That means that at best the pick ups and electronics are responsible for at least 85% of the way the guitar sounds. Now I am not a beginner guitarist I've been around and done a few things in the 39 years I've been a musician (BTW it doesn't mean I play well) nevertheless I can play a few licks and the only reason you'll get luthiers in Fender's Custom Shop and other places saying nonsense such as "O but of course the type of wood makes a tremendous difference in the sound of an electric." is purely for marketing reasons so they can say: "I would choose alder over basswood because it's more resonant" ... and may I also add is double the price of basswood. Cheers. Mike.

[@ianmartens5286]

to answer the question above: yes they do sound better in my opinion

[@gben2457]

They all sounded fine to me, but I'm watching on a phone. Maybe it's different in person.

[@aljuric5887]

Yes they are.

[@bsbrooks455]

First, I'd like to address the "tonewood issue". While I am not an expert, as some people like to tell me, I do know quite a bit. The pickups on a guitar pick up the vibrations of the strings. The string is simply a piece of metal vibrating over a magnet, converting the waveform into an electrical signal which is then amplified. The construction of the guitar has no effect on the electrical properties of the pickup whatsoever. So now we get into the tonewood. The physical characteristics of the guitar (type of wood, type of bridge, shape, etc.,etc., determine how much of the mechanical portion of the strings vibration is transferred and absorbed from the string into the body. What is left is what the pickup actually "hears" and amplifies. So it should seem obvious at this point that the tonewood of course plays a role in what the guitar will sound like when played through an amplifier. This is somewhat of a simplification, but I hope it makes a point and ends this silly argument. IF THIS WAS NOT TRUE, three identical guitars with identical necks, hardware, shape, and electronics, except one had a body made from rock, one made of wood, and one made from dried oatmeal would theoretically sound identical. We know this is not true, so TONEWOOD MATTERS!!!!!. Second, I have the same Thinline Tele and I love the way it plays and sounds (Paul, stop reading the rest of this), but the neck is just a bit too chunky for me. Just love those modern C necks.

[@j_freed]

We just have to popularize the rounded off top and back contour, possibly also the lower edge back thigh contour. == It’s dumb how blocky and uncomfortable these guitars are when they could easily stand to lose half a pound of weight.

[@jeffroq]

Even before watching - I'm saying yes they are. Ask if Telecasters are better than any other guitar ?? Same answer - yes. !!

[@mvl902]

Yes they are better. Playability, weigth, tone, balance.

[@Atttuner]

Define better 😂

[@butterscotchtele]

As soon as these knobs started talking about “tone woods” I knew I couldn’t believe anything they said beforehand or afterwards.

[@TheStudioRats]

And yet you still commented. Cheers for the uplift on the KZbin algorithm.

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

Why you never change the body and always the pickups for tone ?? Maybe that’s why a guitar sounds bad🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ 😂😂

[@marka6414]

No

[@vintagepipesnightmares]

Da. electro guitars are not made of wood. Plexiglass guitars are not made of wood. Trousard guitars are made of metal. They all sound like wood guitars. Why ? I am only talking about electric guitars 👍👍

[@lets_measure_it]

the word "custom" seems to have lost its meaning. it used to mean something build specially for you. now "custom" guitars hang on racks in guitar shops.

[@TheStudioRats]

Yes agreed, but they are spec’ed by the guitar shops. Still not a custom order but you can spec yourself.