What's the deal with pine body Telecasters?

[bosstone]

I just heard of them recently and after seeing and hearing a You Tube video of Arlo West doing "Cowboy Song" I think I want one. What should I know?

[tmuka]

I just read about pine teles today on section 2.1.3 of the tele faq posted in another tele thread...
http://home.cfl.rr.com/amathews/telefaq.htm

[gkoelling]

Arlo smokes!

Pine threads here...

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=370889&highlight=pine

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=394758&highlight=pine

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=391398&highlight=pine

I'm lovin' mine. :cool:

They're light weight and very musical/resonant.

[playon]

I find them overrated...

[wingwalker]

I find them overrated...

ME TOO!!!

The oldest prototype Tele's were pine and in recent years they have started being made again by one opff makers, small builders and DIYers. I played one a while back and was left very unimpressed overall with it but assumed it was simply a turd guitar so I went in search of another pine Tele, found 2 more and they were very ho-hum as well...not bad really I guess and I could see how some guys coudl dig it but I ain't one of them...they just have a real midrangy tone w/o a lot of twang...

[DonM]

got 3 of em - ones a turd - two are exceptional -- its the good ones that are special - pine is a soft weak wood - not the best for guitars - but sometimes when all things come together - they have a acoustic overtone that is heard at the amp - nothing like it - you can hear it on Arlo West's Piney with ease!

[mojocaster.com]

Arlo is kick ass, ain't he? I have had the pleasure to hang out with him many times, and I always love his tone. He's a great guy, too.

since his name was brought to this thread, how about visiting his site at www.pinecaster.com (http://www.pinecaster.com) :)

[in a little row]

Goes to show that 'tonewood' means alot of things...lot of snobs out there!

[8Painting]

got 3 of em - ones a turd - two are exceptional -- its the good ones that are special - pine is a soft weak wood - not the best for guitars - but sometimes when all things come together - they have a acoustic overtone that is heard at the amp - nothing like it - you can hear it on Arlo West's Piney with ease!

At least theres an honest answer from someone!

Good to know that someone will admit that something that they own isnt "a tone monster"

[gkoelling]

I have three parts tele's.

One is a ash bodied black guard, the second is a sonic blue ash body and the third is a pine.

The black guard and pine are magical. The sonic blue, not so much and I've had two different sets of pups in it and two bridges on it.

8Painting is right. Everyone admits there are dud guitars out there but no one seems to own any. I wonder where they all are?

[trisonic]

Everyone admits there are dud guitars out there but no one seems to own any. I wonder where they all are?

This is "pete's theory" - They are all sourced from mail/internet order companies.
Unless you have a pet luthier who you trust implicitly you should always try before you buy.
But then you get people who do try before they buy and then discover something amiss (like a ton of dead spots) when they get home - I'm at a loss about this; the only thing I can think of is that in store they are playing their favourite licks instead of trying every string at every fret acoustically before plugging in. I'm only guessing though.
Best, Pete.

[daddyo]

TDPRI is the place to learn about pine teles.

[big mike]

Arlo is kick ass, ain't he? I have had the pleasure to hang out with him many times, and I always love his tone. He's a great guy, too.

since his name was brought to this thread, how about visiting his site at www.pinecaster.com (http://www.pinecaster.com) :)

Wow He's got some great youtube vids. a great listen!

[big mike]

This is "pete's theory" - They are all sourced from mail/internet order companies.
Unless you have a pet luthier who you trust implicitly you should always try before you buy.
But then you get people who do try before they buy and then discover something amiss (like a ton of dead spots) when they get home - I'm at a loss about this; the only thing I can think of is that in store they are playing their favourite licks instead of trying every string at every fret acoustically before plugging in. I'm only guessing though.
Best, Pete.


Probably accurate. I also think that in some cases, one man's dog is another's grail.


But there are those that should be tossed in the woodchipper.

[Clutch21286]

Arlo is a badass player no doubt. I still don't know how he gets such great tone with a Line6, but he sure as hell does!

[Ogre]

Hit and miss in my experience. Just recently played a Masterbuilt Fender w/ a pine body that was mid-rangey, with very little low end. Greg Vs pinecaster, on the other hand, sounded super. Especially when he played it. Hmmmm....

[57special]

about pine- there is old growth pine found in the bottom of lakes, and on old barns. It is much denser than the White or Ponderosa Pine found today, which is very light stuff. I've never tried it, and i'm not into building teles, but I do plan to try some a set neck design soon.
One of the problems with this old Pine is that it might be too heavy- love the look of those old knots, though.
I can generalize about what i think sounds good, but hell, some plywood guitars can sound amazing. Although then you get into what kind of ply... it never ends.

[rhinocaster]

Pine is not a miracle wood. I own a Glendale and now having played a couple of other nice pine Teles I'm comfortable in saying that pine tends to have a super sweet and midrangey tone. It is not the be all and end all of guitar body wood. Just a choice with its own pros and cons.

My Glendale came with Bardens and I think that this combination created a guitar that I wouldn't like if it weren't for all of the elements combined. The pine would probably be too sweet without the Bardens and the Bardens would probably be too strident without the pine.

I 'think' that my pine Tele would be my choice if forced to pick one guitar to keep, but I'm not 100% sure.