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November Birthdays
The Telecaster ~ Surf Guitar?
Joined: Feb 02, 2008 Posts: 4427 Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ. 
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Posted on Mar 11 2015 05:00 PM
tubeswell wrote:
Fantastic! Of course, Roy Clark could play anything and make it sound good. —The artist formerly known as: Synchro When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar. |
Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Posts: 523 Walkersville, MD
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Posted on Mar 18 2015 08:48 PM
Fun thread! Here is my surf standard Tele with a couple of my JMs. This Tele has a Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pound Jazzmaster neck pickup, Seymour Duncan Broadcaster bridge pickup, chunky D All Parts neck (the stock neck is a maple neck with matching surf green headstock), and a Vibramate/B5 Bigsby.
Here with the JMs, a now sold American Standard Strat, and my '57 RI Precision bass (refin'd in Daphne Blue).
Definitely handles surf tunes fine. The doofus formerly known as Snorre |
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Joined: Feb 02, 2008 Posts: 4427 Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Mar 18 2015 08:57 PM
Lovely and colorful collection. —The artist formerly known as: Synchro When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar. |
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Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Posts: 523 Walkersville, MD
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Posted on Mar 18 2015 09:08 PM
Thanks! I have a few more guitars to round up for my annual spring photo shoot. I'm hoping to get either a AV 59 or AV 65 Strat before then...need to try them out first! The doofus formerly known as Snorre |
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Joined: Feb 02, 2008 Posts: 4427 Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Mar 18 2015 09:11 PM
I love the choices of colors in your collection. It has a great '50s/'60s vibe. —The artist formerly known as: Synchro When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar. |
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Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Posts: 523 Walkersville, MD
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Posted on Mar 19 2015 06:27 AM
Thanks! I love the classic car colors - still have a few more to add down the road. —The doofus formerly known as Snorre |
Joined: Mar 09, 2014 Posts: 83 The Monadnocks, NH
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Posted on Mar 20 2015 08:13 AM
A Tele for surf? This, being a Tele lover since about when I first stopped playing in surf in the mid-`60s, has been a question I have been pondering since I returned to it a year or so ago. Two thing, to me, stood in the way. One, the lack of a fullness in tone to meld with the Tele's 'twang.' The other, lack of a vibrato system. Both of these were resolved for me with Squier's Vintage Modified Cabronita w/ Bigsby model. Here's a quickie video of made right after getting the guitar. Since then I have replaced the slightly thin sounding stock bridge PUP with a custom one from Rose Pickups which improves its surfability significantly... -don —Still rockin' after all these years! |
Joined: Jul 09, 2010 Posts: 1153 Lillian Alabama
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Posted on Mar 20 2015 09:34 AM
One can play anything on a Tele. The tremolo bar isn't mandatory, it helps but it's not necessary. —Enjoying the surf,sun and sand!! |
Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1275 San Pedro, CA
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Posted on Mar 20 2015 11:04 AM
I guess I never put a pic of my surf Tele in this thread so here it is -
MIM '69 Thinline, Vibramate/Bigsby, Churchill Custom pickups —Bill S._______ |
Joined: Dec 25, 2012 Posts: 101 Mänttä-Vilppula, Finland, Europe 
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Posted on Mar 21 2015 07:42 AM
Telecaster suits in for almost every genre of music there is! Versatile guitar and I wish I had me one!! —Twang & Bop til You Drop! |
Joined: Jul 15, 2014 Posts: 7 Toowoomba 
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Posted on Mar 21 2015 05:03 PM
The Phantom Operators use a Tele |
Joined: Mar 14, 2006 Posts: 2230 Kiev, Ukraine 
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Posted on Mar 22 2015 05:05 AM
My main guitar for may years and its offspring))) Very surfy as for me. Bigsby and twang kings) Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki Lost Diver https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com |
Joined: Apr 14, 2015 Posts: 148 
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Posted on Apr 14 2015 04:14 AM
Hi!Of course Tele can surf!The best surf band from Greece,The Invisible Surfers use a Tele.Check this out: |
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Joined: Apr 14, 2015 Posts: 148
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Posted on Apr 14 2015 04:18 AM
Samurai wrote: — |
Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan 
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Posted on May 08 2015 09:15 AM
Seeing a lot of Teles with Bigsby vibrato tailpieces here and raves from their players. Closest I've come to the experience is with a Japanese copy from the 60s. I wasn't trying to play surf then so I have idea. I was told country players didn't like my guitar because it didn't sound like the Tele it appeared to be. A guitar I built from a Teisco (thin piece of plywood in the 'tulip' shape) is flat as Kansas and the Wilkinson Tele 3-saddle bridge installed is also very low-profile. I even put a 1/4" block of rosewood under the bridge to raise its profile, but still the Teisco knock-off whammy tailpiece needs to be waggled really hard to get much vibrato out of it. Another build (Teisco again) has a tall Mosrite knockoff bridge+tailpiece, which generates lots of string-tension change with very little muscle. I wonder if break angle across the bridge is a big factor in the differences I experience. — |
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Joined: Mar 09, 2014 Posts: 83 The Monadnocks, NH
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Posted on May 08 2015 09:59 AM
Bigsbys come in several forms. The ones commonly used on Teles have a 2nd cross bar under which the strings pass on their way to the bridge. This give a good, steep, break angle. Steep enough to even work well with light strings on the Jazzmaster/Jaguar type bridge with the multiple shallow string grooves. -don
Still rockin' after all these years! |
Joined: Oct 16, 2008 Posts: 549 Madison, WI 
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Posted on May 08 2015 12:02 PM
Here's one I have (unstrung in this picture). |
Joined: Mar 30, 2011 Posts: 388 Copenhagen 
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Posted on May 09 2015 05:54 AM
Half of Dirty Fuse leads are played with a tele. Our tele guitarist had one of the best tones I've ever heard, he just sounded huge and cutting through nomatter what amp he played through. He sounded huge even through a miked 10W solid state Marshall. Often during soundchecks people come to see what pedals he's using and see how he gets that sound but it's all in his fingers and in the telecaster. Maybe it's not a 100% classic surf tone but it's one of the best I've heard and it fits instrumental rock perfectly imho. —https://zakandthekrakens.bandcamp.com/ |
Joined: Feb 15, 2014 Posts: 5 |
Posted on May 13 2015 02:16 PM
Here's a shot of my surf Tele...Its from my Instagram...
Last edited: May 13, 2015 14:18:19 |
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Joined: Jul 24, 2012 Posts: 2762 Finknabad, Squinkistan
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Posted on May 13 2015 08:01 PM
Duce,
Maybe I'll go this route and swap out the Teisco/Hofner tailpiece for a more expensive Bigsby. —Last edited: May 13, 2015 20:05:38 |
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