Which Fender Telecaster is right for you?

[@Mike.Mendes]

My best sounding strat has a huge neck. I get tired trying to shred but the sound is beautiful and full. Fun fact: I started playing a lot more with it after coming across your music and trying to come close to your tone. The Rock is strong with you 🙌

[@hkguitar1984]

I started playing guitar back in 1974. I progressed from a Fender Mustang to a 1976 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe as well as some early Ibanez (Artist and IC-400). I even purchased a new 25th Anniversary Stratocaster in 1979. For years my main guitars were a Custom Stratocaster and a custom ordered 1986 Les Paul Custom. I didn't give the Tele any serious consideration until 2018, and wow am I sorry I waited so long, shame on me. The Tele has proven to be my all time favorite due to the wider string spacing at the bridge (easier to hybrid pick). I've now a solid rosewood Esquire and a '52 Spec Tele (with a Broadcaster pickup). Part of gives the Broadcaster pickup a little edge is that they are lacquer potted, not wax potted. All of my guitar pickups are non-potted, just a preference on my part. Great content, Thanks for sharing your playing.

[@keithboynton4831]

Love your videos. Keep em coming

[@DadRockAndGuitars]

Had a Squier Classic Vibe 50's for 6 years. Excellent guitar! Got a Fender Am Pro II because I wanted a rosewood fretboard, I liked the neck shape and feel better, and a few other minor details. Zero regrets getting the Am Pro II, but if I'd liked the thinner neck and maple fretboard of the Squier, I would have been perfectly happy just keeping that and not even looking at the Fender.

[@moreorlesslikeso]

I can absolutely relate to that. I've got a first run Squier Classic Vibe 50s in early 2009 and it's been arguably the best value for money purchase I've ever made as guitars are concerned. It's a guitar I've really felt at home on from the beginnig and it's been my "workhorse" ever since, even though it's almost stock after 15 years - after changing from the original 009 string set to 10s it needed a little correction of the neck setup and at some time I changed the standard saddles to compensated ones, but that's about it. Up to now I've only been seriously tempted by another Tele when I had the opportunity to play a few notes on an original Tele from 1952 whose true vintage feel and tone I really liked. Although I don't feel uncomfortable at all on the Classic Vibe's "modern C shape" neck, the fat neck of that 52 original definitely had something to it... And yeah, I almost forgot: I've sanded down the glossy laquer on the Classic Vibe's back of the neck from that high gloss which I found a bit sticky to a much more pleasant satin finish.

[@DadRockAndGuitars]

@@moreorlesslikeso The Classic Vibe is a great guitar! I put 10s on my Teles too. That's awesome you got to play a 1952! Sounds like you should just buy one of those 🤣

[@19VikingHero74]

Joey, My custom made Tele called a Jazzblaster Z was made In Pennsylvania and has a C shape neck which works perfect for my needs. My specs are as follows. Has a 2 pc hard Maple body with a beautiful grain that glows that is 1 & 3/4" thick. Chubby "C" profile 12" radius 22 fret neck. Medium Jumbo frets with low & fast action. Black Tombstone tuning machines. It has a double stack Reid humbucker pickup in the bridge @ 15K and a milder 7.5K Artec LAS-II-N neck humbucker. 250K quarter sized pots with a .047 orange drop, treble bleed cap & resistor & a cast body 3 way switch. Solid brass 6 saddle bridge. 8 lbs 4 oz. This is a great tone machine with an extremely wide sound capability.

[@Gaslight.Guitar]

Great video man. Love teles! Chunky necks and simplicity are the key. :)

[@joeyjooones]

Thanks man! It sure is confusing out there with all the different options you have. Hope that video helps people narrow it down to a couple and choose from them. :-)

[@MrTonyed5150]

Hi Joey. Some constructive feedback on your video and to help any viewers looking for this type of advice. The Fender Player guitars are good and great value for money. But are the Professional II series guitars better? Absolutely they are better in many ways. Having played and owned both I can say that with confidence. In my opinion the gap between USA Fender guitars and the very expensive custom shop offerings are where the gap is smaller in terms of sound and playability.

[@joeyjooones]

Hey Tony, totally agree! The gap becomes smaller in the higher price ranges for sure! And yes, an AM Pro will probably be better than a Mexican Tele - however, I just wanted to clear up that even with a smaller budget, you can absolutely get a Tele that deserves that name. Maybe I didn’t make the gap between Mexican and AM Pro clear enough. Thanks for the feedback! I do fully agree though that the AM Pro is a spectacular guitar, and like I said, can probably hold its own against any custom shop fender pretty well. Nobody needs to spend 3-4 grand on a CS to get a good Tele tone. 🤘🏻

[@ryanturner9509]

I too totally agree with your points and that difference that costs the most, US to Custom Shop is a huge point of contention for loads of us however, it is almost always the owners of the US/Pro type that claim the difference is negligable, with the opposite being true for the CS owners. The thing is, theres a very special magic that, 99% of guitars just dont have. Its something that makes a guitar irreplaceable to a player its something that fills a little void in a players mind that until its felt is something most are unaware of. The problem of that extra, and i do agree, absurd amount of cash is that if you dont have it spare then it seems far more than it does to someone who wont miss it. What i do have a slight wibble about is when that guy who cant play more than 3 chords and has never even heard of Steve Cropper or Buddy Guy or even John Frusciante goes out and gets himself a 4k strat and a 3k boutique amp then stands them in the corner of his lounge to impress the orange-skinned sharpie-eyebrowed, Friday night conquest and then promptly moves on to shopping for a equally expensive set of golf clubs because he's bored of not having a hobby. 😤 Anyway, nuff said, peace out ✌

[@joeyjooones]

@@ryanturner9509 couldn't have said that better, Ryan. To each his own, but I guess those passionate about guitars want them to be played and not standing around so the living room looks better. ;-) I also do agree that the CS Fenders "can" have that 3% more "magic", and thats exactly why I love my Tele so much. However, I'd confidently say I could get a similar tone out of an AM Pro. Not the same feel, but a similar tone.

[@donnix1192]

@@ryanturner9509 It might be different for the basses I don’t know. I recently got a Fender Vintera 50s Precision Bass and it was the best $1100 I have ever spent. It is better playing and sounding than my American professional. The Mexican and American factories are only 100 miles apart. I feel like the largest difference that I have noticed is between North American production instruments and custom shop, at least with the custom shop examples I have played. Just my personal experience, I’m not saying that it is set in stone.

[@Jeremya74]

I have a V shape and it looks just like that it is not exagerated..it smaller(picture) and it just looks exagerated

[@stipeur]

Great advice, great video Joey!!!

[@1911acolt1]

It’s interesting to me that.Back when I was going to guitar shows back in the 90s. There was a lot more really wore old fenders..Nowadays I see all these pre cbs guitars looking mint..I played a 57 strat once that was so yellow it was brown,The whole thing was checked..A lot of refinished guitars nowadays.

[@ChuckWasHere]

Tried both maple and rosewood. They both felt right, so bought both. Problem solved.

[@RichLopp]

Some of them have honest wear, some of them have been deliberately destroyed so someone could try to create the illusion that they put forth more work and effort than they actually have…

[@guyg2005]

Is there a system out there that you input your hand size and we receive suggestions on what neck size, radius, should work the best.

[@savagefab]

What makes a huge difference for me is the fret wire. Just compare a guitar with small vintage fret wire and a guitar with stainless steel jumbo frets. It feels completely different.

[@hussamjamil4980]

To be very honest and direct, i have terrible experience with both squier and fender products, at least the ones i tried out and played-/tested this year. It really makes me wonder, why spend so much money on specific brands, where out of the box there are serious playability QC issues. Maybe a few years ago, things were different, but there are many budget brands that are releasing some seriously good instruments these days....it makes one think.

[@joeyjooones]

Hey Hussam, thanks for the feedback! I agree QC sometimes is a head scratcher, but that goes for most brands I have ever played. Indeed there are small brands that also release solid products! However, since I am only knowledgeable with the Fender products, I didn’t want to recommend anything else. I‘d feel uncomfortable recommending products I have never played. :)

[@guitarnerd_luke]

Mhhh...no, just buy a Suhr Classic T Antique. Thank me later. ;-) Beside that, yes the Richie Kotzen Tele ist awesome. Played them for years and really loved them. Super chunky necks.

[@joeyjooones]

Suhr is a good choice too. However, I can’t recommend them as I have never played one and will obviously only recommend what I know is good. ;-)

[@andropaolos.matias8848]

is player plus tele ok? thanks

[@patterry730]

All these videos out there are good for “what’s new on the market?” But face it there’s really no substitute for playing it yourself and hearing it in person! Problem is just about all the music store options are zero now for hearing any of todays vast options in gear! We’re not teaching musicians how to discern for themselves by doing it all for them only to find out when they get the product they can’t execute/play like the pro on You Tube! 😮😂 It’s all about smoke & mirrors, people need to sell, musicians need more money for more gear, so most sell out for plan “B” -> BECOME A YOU TUBER! 😉🤣$$$$ This is the conundrum we’re dealing with today! 😊

[@jjjddd231]

That relic job just looks so fake to me.

[@dmoni2837]

I’m a firm believer in playing the guitar until it relics itself

[@7171jay]

@dmoni While I'm not a fan of the fake relics myself, how a guitar really relics is very different depending on the type of paint used. Modern poly doesn't wear much at all unless it takes a really hard hit at which point it simply chips or cracks while nitro will actually wear down which is the kind of wear that fake relic-ing tries to simulate. Clear coat over relic-ing always looks particularly fake to my eye as well as extreme stuff that looks like it was done with a belt sander. Also if all the parts don't show some sort of cohesive amounts of wear it looks weird. Shiny metal parts and a brand new looking pickguard along with a very worn finish isn't very convincing.

[@zues2013]

800$ for a Mexican tele or strat is 🤮