Post by LeoThunder on Mar 6, 2020 15:11:57 GMT
I don't like Telecasters. Did I ever tell you that?
I don't hate them but they never had much attraction on me. I sort of like their square look, I remember noticing them for this in Keith Richards hands long ago, but not the stringed plank aspect so I never wanted one.
Until I decided I wanted a 12-string.
I toyed with the idea of getting a Harley Benton RB-612 for a while, but I never really liked them either. They're a bit ugly. Besides, they have two drawbacks: intonation on a course basis and humbuckers. And a short scale. That's three. If I want a 12-string, it has to be single coils. I want clarity. Then I didn't want to spend much on one so when I saw Gear4music had 12-string Telecaster and Stratocaster copies, with single coils and that marvelous Fender bridge with intercourse adjustment for £90 to £100, I was interested.
I didn't want yet another Strat. Not a black one. I have too many sunbursts already and I like wood so I went for a natural Telecaster copy. If it's ugly I can return it. If the pick-ups are junk, I can get replacements for little extra on ebay. I got mine for 114€ shipped.
It came fast. Ordered on Wednesday evening, delivered on Friday morning.
So this is how I got a Telecaster. Because of its pure functionality. I guess it's fitting. Spoiler: it's not ugly. Not really.
Unboxing
First surprise jumped up when I opened the inside box. The guitar was covered by a gigbag. One of those thin dust covers with two handles, a pouch on the front and even straps to work as a backpack.
Underneath were more basic goodies: Allen wrench for truss rod and bridge adjustment, a cable, two black medium picks and even one of these nylon straps. Seriously, at that price I was not expecting extras.
To most, the gigbag is junk but I would disagree. It protects the guitar from scratches, from dirt, from the rain if it has to and even from looks. Better than nothing. And the cable is of the practical angled sort. The picks are matching the pickguard. Nice touch
Taking the thing out it looks pretty good. The product pictures show a four piece body which is what I got. Joints are clearly visible but since all parts have abundant figurations, it looks ok. I have seen expensive Squier I liked less than this.
Protective foil is still on the pickguard and the neck pick-up. Not so nice are the CE mark, "don't dump in the trash" and RoHS logo on the back under the screws. This is engraved in the finish, not a sticker. Lovely rounded neck joint, though. I like curves in the right places.
High gloss finish. You can see me in it. Extra bonus points for that
No edges around the bridge plate (no ashtray to hold). That's better. This is maybe the thing I dislike most in Telecasters. I just wish the control plate were angled.
Very glad I got a rounded neck joint (yes, I'm saying it again). Not even Fender can do that unless it's at the American Ultra top of the price range. I wish it had a rib cut on the back but the body is 43mm thick, as my CST-24HB and it's not uncomfortable. The 50+ mm plus archtop of a Les Paul or SC-450 seem to make a difference in this regard.
Weight is… yes, sort of weighty. Roughly 4.25 or 4.33Kg. I can't tell, my bathroom scale shows no decimals. I guess it could have been worse.
The fingerboard, laminated poplar, looks a lot like Harley Benton's roseacer. Nothing beautiful but it looks like wood. Side dots are centred. The back of the neck is pale, apparently not finished. Or is it "satin"? No, probably not. It feels alright. Fret ends don't bite.
How about playing it?
1st impression: fingers feel strange on string courses. It's nice, comfortable, doesn't dig into your fingers, I like it. Beginners should start on this, it wouldn't hurt so much.
2nd impression: there's no way I can play this. How do I pick these things? Higher probability of hitting "something" is no consolation. Looking at the strings up close I see three per course. Or are there four? I'm getting old.
Taking a step back, I see only two. Good.
3rd impression: strings are loose. I usually receive guitars with strings under tension, either close to pitch or just a little below but the guys at Gear4music have decided to avoid risk on a 12-string. I'm going to have to deal with 12 tuners in a moment…
4th impression: the neck is not a baseball bat. I'll measure it later but it's thinner than that of the ST-62. I was expecting something substantial because it's cheap and has to take twice the tension.
EDIT: Neck thickness: 22.3 mm at 1st fret, 22.5 at 12th - fingerboard radius ~14" (maybe)
Nut width 47.7 mm, Neck width at 12th fret: 52.2 mm, Frets: 2.6 mm wide, 1.2 mm high
Tuning: tuners have a 19:1 ratio. That's a surprise. I was expecting the usual 15:1 fare, this is luxury. They work ok too, smooth enough and there is an adjustment screw. They're better than those of my ST-62's which are sometimes hard.
Tuning is an iterative process, as on bass. Twice the tension of a 6-string, or even more I guess. It takes ages. I'm being careful, I know of the high G string. If it's a 10 tuned up to G it just wants to break. I won't let it. I'll get a couple of 8's as a replacement but I don't want an 11-string on the first day.
Done. Bling! C chord. It sounds funny. I like it. No I can't play it. Can I use a pick on this? I suppose so but my thumb wants to pluck downwards to get the thin string. Oh, I think I'm going to learn fingerpicking on this. Now I have an incentive. Strumming's a blur. Not nice.
I haven't plugged in yet.
Action is not terrible. Could be worse, especially when I see the saddles are quite high on their feet. Neck relief is good. Surprising. But 1st fret action looks high. Not good but fixable. Anyway, I'll do the bridge first. Intonation's going to be finicky. It's quite off. I don't want to tune up that high G more often than I must.
Plugged in. Sounds… good? Yes, clear enough. The bridge is not as ugly as I would expect but that sound is unusual to me anyway, so I don't know. I can't really judge the pick-ups yet. They'll have to do until I know better. Maybe they're even good. I'll need a fingernail on that thumb. On the other fingers too. This comes in conflict with playing bass. Or does it? Maybe there's a middle ground.
It's hard to play, even hard to fret. I'll have to give this thing a set-up. Strings are higher than they should, which was to be expected, really.
I'll write more after I'm done. No idea what I'm going to play with this. Some medieval sounding chord stuff, I guess. That's what the sound bring to mind.
I still can't believe there's a Telecaster in my house…
I don't hate them but they never had much attraction on me. I sort of like their square look, I remember noticing them for this in Keith Richards hands long ago, but not the stringed plank aspect so I never wanted one.
Until I decided I wanted a 12-string.
I toyed with the idea of getting a Harley Benton RB-612 for a while, but I never really liked them either. They're a bit ugly. Besides, they have two drawbacks: intonation on a course basis and humbuckers. And a short scale. That's three. If I want a 12-string, it has to be single coils. I want clarity. Then I didn't want to spend much on one so when I saw Gear4music had 12-string Telecaster and Stratocaster copies, with single coils and that marvelous Fender bridge with intercourse adjustment for £90 to £100, I was interested.
I didn't want yet another Strat. Not a black one. I have too many sunbursts already and I like wood so I went for a natural Telecaster copy. If it's ugly I can return it. If the pick-ups are junk, I can get replacements for little extra on ebay. I got mine for 114€ shipped.
It came fast. Ordered on Wednesday evening, delivered on Friday morning.
So this is how I got a Telecaster. Because of its pure functionality. I guess it's fitting. Spoiler: it's not ugly. Not really.
Unboxing
First surprise jumped up when I opened the inside box. The guitar was covered by a gigbag. One of those thin dust covers with two handles, a pouch on the front and even straps to work as a backpack.
Underneath were more basic goodies: Allen wrench for truss rod and bridge adjustment, a cable, two black medium picks and even one of these nylon straps. Seriously, at that price I was not expecting extras.
To most, the gigbag is junk but I would disagree. It protects the guitar from scratches, from dirt, from the rain if it has to and even from looks. Better than nothing. And the cable is of the practical angled sort. The picks are matching the pickguard. Nice touch
Taking the thing out it looks pretty good. The product pictures show a four piece body which is what I got. Joints are clearly visible but since all parts have abundant figurations, it looks ok. I have seen expensive Squier I liked less than this.
Protective foil is still on the pickguard and the neck pick-up. Not so nice are the CE mark, "don't dump in the trash" and RoHS logo on the back under the screws. This is engraved in the finish, not a sticker. Lovely rounded neck joint, though. I like curves in the right places.
High gloss finish. You can see me in it. Extra bonus points for that
No edges around the bridge plate (no ashtray to hold). That's better. This is maybe the thing I dislike most in Telecasters. I just wish the control plate were angled.
Very glad I got a rounded neck joint (yes, I'm saying it again). Not even Fender can do that unless it's at the American Ultra top of the price range. I wish it had a rib cut on the back but the body is 43mm thick, as my CST-24HB and it's not uncomfortable. The 50+ mm plus archtop of a Les Paul or SC-450 seem to make a difference in this regard.
Weight is… yes, sort of weighty. Roughly 4.25 or 4.33Kg. I can't tell, my bathroom scale shows no decimals. I guess it could have been worse.
The fingerboard, laminated poplar, looks a lot like Harley Benton's roseacer. Nothing beautiful but it looks like wood. Side dots are centred. The back of the neck is pale, apparently not finished. Or is it "satin"? No, probably not. It feels alright. Fret ends don't bite.
How about playing it?
1st impression: fingers feel strange on string courses. It's nice, comfortable, doesn't dig into your fingers, I like it. Beginners should start on this, it wouldn't hurt so much.
2nd impression: there's no way I can play this. How do I pick these things? Higher probability of hitting "something" is no consolation. Looking at the strings up close I see three per course. Or are there four? I'm getting old.
Taking a step back, I see only two. Good.
3rd impression: strings are loose. I usually receive guitars with strings under tension, either close to pitch or just a little below but the guys at Gear4music have decided to avoid risk on a 12-string. I'm going to have to deal with 12 tuners in a moment…
4th impression: the neck is not a baseball bat. I'll measure it later but it's thinner than that of the ST-62. I was expecting something substantial because it's cheap and has to take twice the tension.
EDIT: Neck thickness: 22.3 mm at 1st fret, 22.5 at 12th - fingerboard radius ~14" (maybe)
Nut width 47.7 mm, Neck width at 12th fret: 52.2 mm, Frets: 2.6 mm wide, 1.2 mm high
Tuning: tuners have a 19:1 ratio. That's a surprise. I was expecting the usual 15:1 fare, this is luxury. They work ok too, smooth enough and there is an adjustment screw. They're better than those of my ST-62's which are sometimes hard.
Tuning is an iterative process, as on bass. Twice the tension of a 6-string, or even more I guess. It takes ages. I'm being careful, I know of the high G string. If it's a 10 tuned up to G it just wants to break. I won't let it. I'll get a couple of 8's as a replacement but I don't want an 11-string on the first day.
Done. Bling! C chord. It sounds funny. I like it. No I can't play it. Can I use a pick on this? I suppose so but my thumb wants to pluck downwards to get the thin string. Oh, I think I'm going to learn fingerpicking on this. Now I have an incentive. Strumming's a blur. Not nice.
I haven't plugged in yet.
Action is not terrible. Could be worse, especially when I see the saddles are quite high on their feet. Neck relief is good. Surprising. But 1st fret action looks high. Not good but fixable. Anyway, I'll do the bridge first. Intonation's going to be finicky. It's quite off. I don't want to tune up that high G more often than I must.
Plugged in. Sounds… good? Yes, clear enough. The bridge is not as ugly as I would expect but that sound is unusual to me anyway, so I don't know. I can't really judge the pick-ups yet. They'll have to do until I know better. Maybe they're even good. I'll need a fingernail on that thumb. On the other fingers too. This comes in conflict with playing bass. Or does it? Maybe there's a middle ground.
It's hard to play, even hard to fret. I'll have to give this thing a set-up. Strings are higher than they should, which was to be expected, really.
I'll write more after I'm done. No idea what I'm going to play with this. Some medieval sounding chord stuff, I guess. That's what the sound bring to mind.
I still can't believe there's a Telecaster in my house…