Tele Playability?

[stratmansblues]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Is it just me or do Strats with 10's play easier than Teles with 10's? I have my trem blocked on my strat and I have been noticing that it is a little harder to play the tele. I have an american 52 reissue tele. I have my action set to 5/64 at the 17th fret on the outer strings and my bridge radius set to 10". My neck relief is .11". What's going on here or is it my imagination. There are alot of variables I have considered. The neck material (maple), vintage fretwire, nut height, etc.[/FONT]

 

[gunnar1104]

Tele's usually seem a little stiffer to me, if that's what you're noticing.

 

[gkoelling]

I have a hard tail strat and a bunch of tele's all strung with 10's. The tele's all play easier.

 

[PlexiFuzz]

I switch back and forth from a Les Paul to a Tele on a daily basis and notice no difference in playability. The difference associated with scale length is, to me, negligible.

And my point is that the tiny difference going from a strat to tele has never even registered for me. I always hear this stuff about a tele forcing you to play it or making you work at it and that's just something I've never experienced.

I do notice a difference going from an acoustic dread with 13s to a tele, but that's about it.

 

[teleman55]

I find Tele's easy to play. Try 9's on your Tele.

 

[Tone_Terrific]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]. My neck relief is .11". .[/FONT]

You do mean .011, the thickness of a high string?
This topic comes up here quite a bit and nobody can pin it down to one factor but, guaranteed, if you drop even half a gauge in string size it makes a diff.

 

[devilrob1979]

My guess is he means as measured at the 12th fret with the a capo on the first and a fretting the last fret as measured at the low E string.

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

Since each piece of wood in a neck and body have differing amounts of compliance, some necks, some bodies will lend themselves to a slinky quitar and others to a more stiff guitar. Which some guys like, by the way, for the same reason some guys like quartersawn necks and others don't.

Guitars can be set up a little different to compensate for too much stiffness, you can swap the neck or body out - but just as sure as different guitars sound different, so will they feel different. Regardless of model, altho I "like" a stiff Tele more than I do a stiff Strat, for some reason.

 

[strumminsix]

I'm a newbie to the world of Tele's but found them to be very similar to SGs in that I can goto a store with a dozen of either and out of that dozen find 1 maybe two that plays like a dream and the rest I wouldn't even consider buying!

(okay, might find 3 SGs )

 

[Gas-man]

What kind of frets are on your Strat?

I think that is the biggest thing you are reacting to.

The vintage frets on the 52 make bending a chore. Plus, the fretboards have tons of poly goop on 'em.

 

[84Bravo]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial]Is it just me or do Strats with 10's play easier than Teles with 10's? I have my trem blocked on my strat and I have been noticing that it is a little harder to play the tele. I have an american 52 reissue tele. I have my action set to 5/64 at the 17th fret on the outer strings and my bridge radius set to 10". My neck relief is .11". What's going on here or is it my imagination. There are alot of variables I have considered. The neck material (maple), vintage fretwire, nut height, etc.[/FONT]

Shim the neck. Depending on how the neck pocket is cut, you may have to shim at the front or back, but when you find the sweet spot, your Tele will play like butter. Neck angle is everything. Good acoustic builders set their necks so that if you put a straight edge on the end of the fingerboard it will land on the bridge--proper neck angle, and why some acoustics are not as stiff as others. Best of luck.

 

[jcoggins7]

In my experience, my brother's Tele plays much worse than either of our PRS guitars or my Strat. I have played some Telecasters (Tom Anderson and Suhr, mind you) that played impeccably, and occasionally have found a Fender that plays well.

 

[stratmansblues]

My strat has vintage frets also but with a rosewood fingerboard. For the record I have an american 62 reissue strat and an american 52 reissue tele.