Members dughaze Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 It is not really a telecaster, though. Doesn't feel like one, doesn't sound like one. I feel like it almost has more in common with a Gibson SG. I'm sure it is more like an SG than a Tele and I would think it does this in spades. What a beautiful guitar and I would love to have an SG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members washburndean Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I love that guitar. HNGD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lewzer Posted February 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Thanks everyone. I'm really enjoying this thing and I'm already scheming to get another one, however, if I did I would want one with a bit more of a tele feel to it. This one def. feels and sounds closer to my explorer than anything, and half the weight! I may just go with the standard fender case. Probably couldn't go wrong with that. Does anyone know where I could get pickup covers to fit these dimarzio if I choose to get some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jewel Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 that's purdy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Karma1 Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Congrats! I have that exact same goldtop HH Tele. I got mine about two years ago when Musician's Friend was blowing them out for $399 including a tweed hardshell case and free shipping - a great deal, and an awesome guitar. You were wondering about the pickups - when I got mine I asked someone at Fender about them and they said they were specially wound for that guitar and were based on the Air Norton and Tone Zone. However others believe that they are stock Air Norton/Tone Zones. I use the neck a lot for rhythm and tend to use the single coil split sound much of the time. Many humbuckers don't sound that great in single coil mode, but this one gives a nice Fender chime. I pretty much only use the bridge for high gain lead sounds and keep it in humbucker mode. The sound I go for is early Santana- influenced and I never thought I'd get that out of a Tele, but this nails it. The Tone Zone is darker than a lot of bridge pickups, especially in mahogany bodies and I get this thick creamy tone out of it that is just what I'm looking for. Great sustain too despite the thinner body and light weight. I tend to swap out pickups on almost every guitar I own eventually, but I can't imagine changing these. Even though it's not a traditional Tele, by any means, it's probably the most versatile guitar I've ever owned and covers Fender and Gibson territory surprisingly well. Have fun with it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I watched the deal on that guitar very closey. I don't ever remember them going down to $350 plus case. I remember I paid $399.99 for mine. Later I do remember them going down to $399.99 with case, but any lower than that? I say pshaw, pshaw I say! I really did watch the prices, but I'm not saying there might have been a SDOTD type of blowout I didn't see, but basically, $400 + case was the best deal that ran for any length of time, even during the bulk of their clearance days. As far as the specs go - The early ones were called a Custom Telecaster Special and had the DiMarzio Air Norton (N) and Tone Zone (B). Which is the one I got. Then later on when they added the free case they changed the name slightly to a Custom Telecaster Special Limited Edition. At that point it was even more of a MF exclusive and they started adding the free case at the end of the run on that deal. At that time they also changed the specs from saying "Air Norton and Tone Zone" to "Custom Wound DiMarzio Pickups" without ever specifying a DiMarzio model name. Now one can only assume that for whatever reason they changed the specs, the pickups were most likely a similar wind to the Air Norton and Tone Zone. In any case, I wouldn't sell mine for a dime under $400 used, so if you got yours for anywhere near that, you did fine. They definitely are a cool guitar. I had one slight mod done to mine. Instead of one master coil split pot, I had it changed to two separate coil split pots so I could add the H-S and S-H configs to the palette. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Volitan Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I was in 9th grade when those came out, and I wanted one SOOOOOOOO bad. Never got one, now I can't find them anywhere. Which may or may not be for the better. I'm mostly into single coils, but who knows what my dream tone would've been if I got one of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I was in 9th grade when those came out, and I wanted one SOOOOOOOO bad. Never got one, now I can't find them anywhere. Which may or may not be for the better. I'm mostly into single coils, but who knows what my dream tone would've been if I got one of those. Keep an eye out for them. They do show up, even on our SPAM threads here, from time to time. The pickups on them are fairly phat and hot, but with the coil split feature, they also turn in a decent single coil tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Volitan Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Keep an eye out for them. They do show up, even on our SPAM threads here, from time to time.The pickups on them are fairly phat and hot, but with the coil split feature, they also turn in a decent single coil tone. Never tried the split coil thing, but I hear it doesn't really sound like a single coil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vrm Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 HNGD! Just don't care for the cream pickups and rings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Never tried the split coil thing, but I hear it doesn't really sound like a single coil. Never (in my experience) gets right on the money, but it can get close. The thing that works well with that guitar is that they are both pretty hot pickups, so cutting them in half still leaves enough pickup left to make a decent single coil output. The Tone Zone is not everybody's favorite pickup since it is full ranged and pretty phat, but that also compliments its character when chopped in half. And that's the hardest part to do with coil splitting, i.e. still having a round, full, punchy tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lewzer Posted February 10, 2009 Author Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 I had one slight mod done to mine. Instead of one master coil split pot, I had it changed to two separate coil split pots so I could add the H-S and S-H configs to the palette. Great idea. That would be killer. Could you PM me instructions on how to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Great idea. That would be killer. Could you PM me instructions on how to do that? Sorry, I'm an electronics retard. My schematic was to drop it off at Randy Parson's in Seattle, a luthier with a shop right next to a large GC store, and pick it up a week later. It wasn't that pricey though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Volitan Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Never (in my experience) gets right on the money, but it can get close.The thing that works well with that guitar is that they are both pretty hot pickups, so cutting them in half still leaves enough pickup left to make a decent single coil output.The Tone Zone is not everybody's favorite pickup since it is full ranged and pretty phat, but that also compliments its character when chopped in half. And that's the hardest part to do with coil splitting, i.e. still having a round, full, punchy tone. Interesting....I had read in some places that split humbuckers just sound like a weakened version of a humbucker....but this may be something I may have to look into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted February 10, 2009 Members Share Posted February 10, 2009 Interesting....I had read in some places that split humbuckers just sound like a weakened version of a humbucker....but this may be something I may have to look into. Yeah, and that IS mostly true, which is why I'm saying I think you have better luck starting with a particularly hot HB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Minnie The Moocher Posted December 17, 2010 Members Share Posted December 17, 2010 Bought one in 2005, and sold it two years later - don't even remember why, probably to get money for another axe. Anyway, I was missing it - so one month ago I bought another one from ebay . Very nice guitar, amazing sustain, F.A.T. tone, decent pickup split tone, and extremely comfortable (both neck and body). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members smorgdonkey Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 I guess one would argue that it's really only a proper "Tele" by name. This one has a Mahogany body and neck with a rosewood fretboard. It's also got 2 Dimarzio pickups that were apparently made for this guitar. I don't have much info on it, but rileykill said it was a Musicians Friend special, so theoretically there may not be a whole lot of these out there. I have one of the Fender Custom Telecaster FMT guitars and it is in the same world with the set neck, H/H, mahogany body (with maple cap) and mahogany neck with neck binding. It is a Tele that wants to be a Les Paul I always say. Great guitars. I have kicked around the idea of selling it but I ended the auction that I had up on eBay and I have rejected every offer that I have had for it...it's just a great guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 Bought one in 2005, and sold it two years later - don't even remember why, probably to get money for another axe. Anyway, I was missing it - so one month ago I bought another one from ebay . Very nice guitar, amazing sustain, F.A.T. tone, decent pickup split tone, and extremely comfortable (both neck and body). Yeah, they are a nice guitar. When I've played mine, I found nothing to complain about, but yet it was an easy enough guitar for me to put down. Maybe that's why you sold off your first one. I had mine altered slightly by a luthier to give me individual controls for coil splitting so I've now got 8 different modes for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SGRocker30 Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 Yeah, don't be fooled by the MIK part, I'm a big fan of the lite ash tele they used to make in korea, which came with duncan pickups I believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhorne Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 I watched the deal on that guitar very closey. I don't ever remember them going down to $350 plus case. I remember I paid $399.99 for mine. Later I do remember them going down to $399.99 with case, but any lower than that? I say pshaw, pshaw I say! They were $399 and MF was also running a Fender promotion at the time I bought mine. $100 off all US Fenders and $50 off all non-US Fenders, so mine came to $350 with case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 They were $399 and MF was also running a Fender promotion at the time I bought mine. $100 off all US Fenders and $50 off all non-US Fenders, so mine came to $350 with case. Great deal. I was kinda of kidding around on that post from '09 since I had to pay $399.99 for mine sans case. I remember that when I bought mine earlier on, they were spec'ing it to be an Air Norton and Tone Zone. Later on they changed the specs at MF to only say "Custom Wound DiMarzios". I figured they kept the same models, but wondered about it. Did yours come with a hang tag for which p'ups they used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bisticles Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 Congrats! An excellent guitar. I had one a while ago, and it always got compliments. Rock it out like nobody's business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jhorne Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 Great deal. I was kinda of kidding around on that post from '09 since I had to pay $399.99 for mine sans case. I remember that when I bought mine earlier on, they were spec'ing it to be an Air Norton and Tone Zone. Later on they changed the specs at MF to only say "Custom Wound DiMarzios". I figured they kept the same models, but wondered about it. Did yours come with a hang tag for which p'ups they used? That part I do not remember for sure, but it seems like they were the 'Custom Wound Dimarzios'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rchiav Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 I've never been a Tele fan and I couldn't see myself ever owning one until the first time I saw one of these. I've had some serious GAS for one and you guys aren't helping any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted December 18, 2010 Members Share Posted December 18, 2010 I never took any good pics of mine, but I wanted one from the time I first saw them... Ended up buying one used two or three years ago. I got mine for $200 with the HSC. Kept it for a while and sold it for $300 and kept the hard case. Honestly... nothing to complain about. Mine had the Fender-branded pickups. As noted, they also came stock with Duncans or Dimarzios at different times. The Fenders split really well and when run full HB are reasonably hot, but not crazy. Funny thing I bought that guitar and traded into a Fender Twin II (the amp in the background) on the same day. I left them in the garage for quite a while. In fact, I literally just brought the Twin yesterday afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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