How do you get the best tones out of your Telecaster?

Having played Gibson or similar humbucker equipped guitars all my life I have now, at age 64, got my first Tele. Actually, a Japanese made Tokai Breezy Sound. Any tone tips would be most appreciated.

 

Audio or linear taper pots?

My Telecaster with linear likes the volume rolled back about a quarter turn + the tone rolled back a bit depending on the pickup being used.

 

For me it is fret with the left hand, strum and pick with the plectrum in the right hand.

 

11s or 10s with heavy bottom

 

Make sure you bridge is comfortable for palm muting, some have that annoying (read period correct...) corner that bites into your hand.

 

By plugging it into an AC30.

 

How do you get the best tones out of your Telecaster? Really??? ya really wanna know....

to get the best sound from your tele,, or any guitar, . . . work on your fingering technique... both hands.... many use FX which distort the sound, creating a "smear". . . that conceals sloppy fingering.... practice with a clean amp, or through headphones, so you can hear when you "miss" a clean fret... or if you are not picking a clean concise note... do that, and your guitar's voice will sound considerably better....

I mean, I trust you guys do know, you cannot buy tone..

 

Don't avoid the middle position.

EMBRACE the middle position. This is where the classic Tele sound lies.

 

I just play mine. YMMV.

 

I'm a 24 3/4 Les Paul player. I love my Tele tuned down a 1/2 step with the action not too low. Same goes for my Strat.

 

A Tele is the electric guitar in its purest form and there's nothing to hide behind...garbage in, garbage out! Teles make you work a little harder but are very rewarding, especially when one day you'll squeeze out that perfect note and think to yourself: "Where did that come from?". I call them the "Roy Buchanan notes"...but I have trouble putting enough of them together like he could! Just keep digging in, with a clean amp, and you'll figure out how a Tele does what a Tele does, which is pretty hard to verbalize. Forget about your other guitars and just let the Tele do what it does.

 

I tend to play more on the bridge pickup than anywhere else, regardless of whether I’m using a Fender or Gibson. When I’m switching from a Gibson to a Tele, I don’t find that I need to adjust too much at the amp. I just roll back on the tone knob until I get in the Gibson humbucker ballpark tone wise, though I usually have to account for the lower output of the Tele.

 

Playing a tele is like driving stick, I'm constantly working all three controls. Just like stick shift, I find it a fun and interactive experience.

I do like an always-on boost/comp with all my guitars, but especially with the tele. Goosing those single coils and fattening it up a bit really takes tele tones to the next level...

 

For teles with an overly-bright bridge pup (at least when you compare it to your neck PUP), you can put a small value capacitor from the bridge hot wire to ground. This can filter out the icepick. I have this in one of my teles (1000pf is the value I settled on, but 470pf is another popular option), and it works great. Now I don't have to tweak the tone knob when I switch from neck to bridge and vice versa.

 

I typically set it down and pick up a Les Paul instead. I swear to God I can't make a Telecaster sound good no matter what I do. They sound so good when other people play them though!

 

How do you get the best tones out of your Telecaster? Really??? ya really wanna know....

to get the best sound from your tele,, or any guitar, . . . work on your fingering technique... both hands.... many use FX which distort the sound, creating a "smear". . . that conceals sloppy fingering.... practice with a clean amp, or through headphones, so you can hear when you "miss" a clean fret... or if you are not picking a clean concise note... do that, and your guitar's voice will sound considerably better....

I mean, I trust you guys do know, you cannot buy tone..

Can tone be rented for a while?

 

I normally play humbucker guitars and I have had a love hate relationship with Tele's. I love hearing someone else play one but me? Too thin and too bright. Persevere....because the magic in a Tele is in that bright bridge pickup...now I am addicted. It can be tamed with the tone and just roll it back up for the neck but once you get used to it "you will get it"...persevere.

 

The best thing I did to my ‘71 Tele tone wise (the only mod on it) was to swap the pots for 250k.

 

I leave mine mostly on the neck pickup, crank the treble and shut down the bass on the amp, and control the tone from the guitar.

 

Having played Gibson or similar humbucker equipped guitars all my life I have now, at age 64, got my first Tele. Actually, a Japanese made Tokai Breezy Sound. Any tone tips would be most appreciated.

It's a fine guitar. Play it for a while. Do not change anything. Decide what you like or don't like about the guitar. After that look into options.

 

TL;DR of this thread - Do anything. Anything at all. Tone up, tone down, volume up, volume down... neck, bridge, middle. Pedal between it and the amp. Just the amp. High gain. Low gain. Doesn't matter. Tele is Good tone naturally