Which Tele?

[aaronmarkson]

I am looking to get a Tele or Tele style guitar. The obvious thing to do would be to simply get a Fender Tele, but I thought I'd see if you all knew of other brands or Luthiers making amzing Tele's for a decent price. I can't spend any more than 1,200, and in fact I would like to keep it less than that. I am very interested in Used as well.

 

[derekd]

I would suggest you poke around here abit. There are tons of small builders who do a much better job than Fender for less $. To get you started you might search her for:

Danocaster
K-Line
KingBee
Rice
Lentz
Suhr
Melancon
Grosh
Anderson

I am sure I left several out. Another good way is to peruse the emporium for used teles. Happy hunting.

 

[mbargav]

Check out some of the Teles in the used section of Wildwood: http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/used/electric.php
Some good deals there within your price range.

 

[rawkguitarist]

Lentz would be at the top of my list.

Although, I'm eventually going to try to talk Saul Koll into building me a custom one... quarter sawn maple neck, light Ash body in powder blue nitro, Glendale bridge, stainless steel frets, Dimarzio Area pickups.

 

[shark_bite]

Also look at Burtone (TGP member superlead) - he'll probably build you something for around that much and his work is pretty impressive looking.

Also... haha... Lentz? Danocaster? Great guitars for sure but you'll never see one for $1200 or less.

 

[lonejackrd]

Ron Kirn makes an incredible custom tele that is priced like a Fender

 

[Zeon45]

Michael Tuttle
Tom Anderson

 

[jads57]

At $1200 , I'd definitely look into buying used, especially w/ all the great guitars going for well below market value! Some suggestions would be Gadow, K Line, Nash, even Fender, LSL, etc. It really depends on what specs you're looking for!
Best of luck!

 

[teleamp]

Did anybody read the whole post by the OP... I'm starting to think that some of you recommend higher than ones stated budget will allow on purpose, I see happen way too many time here.

Aaron, with a $1200 budget I suggest that get a used Fender AVRI 52. They are great guitars, some are better than others (I've seen them go for $900- $1200). I had one that smoked a lot of high dollar boutiques, but I foolishly sold it.

If you can get along with a thinner neck the Squire, yes Squire CV tele is probably the most bang for the buck that you will find.

If your handy with a screwdriver, you could build a partscaster.

K-lines used to sell new for $1200, but I'm not sure what he is charging now.

Check the classified over at tdpri, always a good deal to be found over there.

But, if there is a Squire CV in stock near you, it's definitely worth a try.

Lastly, play as many as you can, there's always a treasure of a guitar waiting to be found if you take your time... Fender MIJ's, MIM's USA HWY1 (which are going to be discontinued.. watch for blowout sales at the online big box stores)

 

[MikeVB]

Check out some of the Teles in the used section of Wildwood: http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/used/electric.php
Some good deals there within your price range.

Not that I could find. Nice guitars, but perhaps you mis-read his spending limit.

 

[Srvwannab]

I have owned some killer Nash Teles that I bought in that price range.

I would also keep an eye out for the Fender Thin-skin models. I bought a thin-skin tele custom in the emporium in that price range ( the guy got it from Wildwood) that is a killer guitar.

IMO you can find a ton of Tele tone for that price, but some of the boutique builders mentioned above might be outside of your budget.

Enjoy the hunt!

 

[jackthecat37]

Don't know the seller but this looks like a good deal in your price range:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/653586

 

[AJ Love]

At $1200 I'd look for a used K-Line... got to try one out and it smokes every one of the dozens of USA Fenders I've played over the years in playability but especially tone (in my opinion)

 

[bluesguitarist8]

I have a killer telecaster from this independent builder named Peter Gebhardt. I love it.He is just this guy who makes really cool teles and strats with weird pickup configurations and cool hardware. I got mine for around 600$ pm me if you would like the link to his photo bucket page.there are some really cool ones in his gallery.

 

[cherrick]

One way to go is to get an unfinished body and neck (I got mine from Tommy at USA Custom Guitars) and add a parts kit from Callaham Guitars with the pre-wired control panel, etc. Then order the pickups you want (I got a pair of Don Mare 2324 Nancy). Have all these parts along with a nice Tele guitar case shipped to a good painter/builder/luthier and have him finish the Tele and ship it to you.

I used Rob Oliveira in Crowley Texas and I ended up getting a Tele dialed into precisely what I wanted, from the start. My Oliveira built Tele can be seen here:
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/650001&highlight=oliveira

The great deal about taking this route is that you can specify the details about frets, fretboard radius-of-curvature, choice of wood, choice of color and pickups along with first class workmanship and top of the line parts.

Just the way you want it, down to the nat's ass as they say.

And for what it's worth, I made it under your budget ceiling.

 

[derekd]

Did anybody read the whole post by the OP... I'm starting to think that some of you recommend higher than ones stated budget will allow on purpose, I see happen way too many time here.

Perhaps you haven't seen some of the prices the above mentioned guitars have sold for on ebay. There was a thread here within past month or so of a Danocaster going for less than a grand used.

Deals can be had if one knows what to look for and where. Fender isn't the only answer.

 

[pinner]

I am looking to get a Tele or Tele style guitar. The obvious thing to do would be to simply get a Fender Tele, but I thought I'd see if you all knew of other brands or Luthiers making amzing Tele's for a decent price. I can't spend any more than 1,200, and in fact I would like to keep it less than that. I am very interested in Used as well.

I agree with checking out the used K-Lines and Nashes. I recently picked up a Mark Jenny Reliced Parts Tele for around $750 which I think is a great deal. I really like it! I would check out used parts teles with parts from Allparts, USACG, Musikraft, or Warmoth.
Good Luck!

 

[billasher]

Check this out: the Asher T-Deluxe reviewed by Guitar Player 2009.

http://www.asherguitars.com/pdfs/guitar_player1009.pdf

 

[A-Bone]

Asher does make beautiful instruments. Welcome to the board, Mr. Asher! Someday I will purchase one of your Hawaiian Acoustic Lap Steels...

 

[billasher]

Thanks A-Bone. I look forward to building one for you!