Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
As I mentioned that I was going to do in another thread, I went to the local GC on Saturday to demo whatever Telecasters they had hanging on the wall. I went to the one on Hulen St. in Fort Worth. It's not as large a store as other GCs but they still manage to have about a zillion guitars and amps stacked up to the top of the 15' ceiling.
There was an excellent selection of Telecasters. I was interested in comparing the MIMs with the MIAs.
I lucked out and ended up with a young salesman who was knowledgeable about the Telecaster line, and had plenty of patience and time.
They had a MIA '52 Reissue which is absolutely gorgeous with its butterscotch finish. After playing it I was very disappointed. For starters, the neck is finished with a high-gloss poly that slows the action to the point of unplayability. Also, the neck pickup, which is said to be built to '52 specs, is muddy, bassy, and toneless. The bridge pickup sounds about like you'd expect - very bright, biting tone. Another thing I don't like about the '52 reissue is the bridge - faithful to the original '52, it uses three bridge saddles rather than six. This means that the intonation will always be a compromise (and I don't care if it's a reissue - it still looks cheap on an expensive guitar). The neck on the '52 reissue is one-piece maple with a U-shape profile. It's a very broad and chunky curvature but very substantial looking.
What I like about the '52 reissue is that it is drop-dead gorgeous, and seems to be a fairly accurate statement of the state of the art in 1952 (finish aside - I doubt that they were spraying poly in 1952). After I had demo'd a few of the other Teles, I commented to the salesman that I could not imagine anyone selecting the '52 over the others. He said that that seems to be the concensus among players, and that the '52 is regarded as a collector guitar rather than a player's guitar.
Next on my plate was a MIA Deluxe Ash. This model looks identical to the '52 reissue with the exception of the bridge saddles (six) and the satin finish on the neck, which helps it play nicely. Again, a drop-dead gorgeous butterscotch finish on the body and neck. The pickups are noiseless selenium cobalt and the guitar has great tone. This model also has a button switch in the middle of the volume control that, when the pickup selector is in the middle position, allows you to have the two pickups either in series or parallel. This is a nice feature and adds flexibility to the tone. The neck is identical to the '52 (one-piece maple, stained butterscotch to match the body, U-shaped profile). Very nice piece of work.
Up next was a MIA Ash, which looks a lot like ermghoti's MIK Light Ash. The switching is standard. The pickups are alnico. The neck is a thinner profile than the '52 or the deluxe ash, and it was unstained maple with a satin poly finish. The neck felt about identical to my '91 Strat Plus, which is a good thing. The body is natural-finish ash with beatiful graining. This model sounded very similar to the Deluxe Ash but it was a bit brighter overall. Excellent playability, and a very nice guitar.
Next I played a couple of MIM models - a Standard and another variation that I can't remember exactly. They were both very impressive. Lighter weight than the MIAs, with good tone and playability. Not quite as hot as the MIAs, though? There was a tonal difference that I noted, not that they were at all bad, just different. These had opaque color finishes. Very nice guitars for the price.
I would like to mention here that I had familiarized myself with the on-line seller prices of all the models I looked at. To my surprise, GC had them tagged at almost identical prices as the on-line sellers. My experience with GC in the past has been that they mark their merchandise a bit high, and it's up to you to be an informed customer to negotiate a fair price. So I was again surprised when the salesman immediately offered to negotiate on price on the model in which I expressed interest.
In the end I left the store to think about it. But Sunday afternoon found me driving home with an American Deluxe Ash in the back of the SUV. It's a beauty, and has wonderful, rich, clear tone - a tone I've been looking for for years, and that the Strat just can't quite get. I got a reasonable deal, getting out the door (including tax) for less than I could have gotten it for on-line.
Here's the picture from Fender's web site:
There was an excellent selection of Telecasters. I was interested in comparing the MIMs with the MIAs.
I lucked out and ended up with a young salesman who was knowledgeable about the Telecaster line, and had plenty of patience and time.
They had a MIA '52 Reissue which is absolutely gorgeous with its butterscotch finish. After playing it I was very disappointed. For starters, the neck is finished with a high-gloss poly that slows the action to the point of unplayability. Also, the neck pickup, which is said to be built to '52 specs, is muddy, bassy, and toneless. The bridge pickup sounds about like you'd expect - very bright, biting tone. Another thing I don't like about the '52 reissue is the bridge - faithful to the original '52, it uses three bridge saddles rather than six. This means that the intonation will always be a compromise (and I don't care if it's a reissue - it still looks cheap on an expensive guitar). The neck on the '52 reissue is one-piece maple with a U-shape profile. It's a very broad and chunky curvature but very substantial looking.
What I like about the '52 reissue is that it is drop-dead gorgeous, and seems to be a fairly accurate statement of the state of the art in 1952 (finish aside - I doubt that they were spraying poly in 1952). After I had demo'd a few of the other Teles, I commented to the salesman that I could not imagine anyone selecting the '52 over the others. He said that that seems to be the concensus among players, and that the '52 is regarded as a collector guitar rather than a player's guitar.
Next on my plate was a MIA Deluxe Ash. This model looks identical to the '52 reissue with the exception of the bridge saddles (six) and the satin finish on the neck, which helps it play nicely. Again, a drop-dead gorgeous butterscotch finish on the body and neck. The pickups are noiseless selenium cobalt and the guitar has great tone. This model also has a button switch in the middle of the volume control that, when the pickup selector is in the middle position, allows you to have the two pickups either in series or parallel. This is a nice feature and adds flexibility to the tone. The neck is identical to the '52 (one-piece maple, stained butterscotch to match the body, U-shaped profile). Very nice piece of work.
Up next was a MIA Ash, which looks a lot like ermghoti's MIK Light Ash. The switching is standard. The pickups are alnico. The neck is a thinner profile than the '52 or the deluxe ash, and it was unstained maple with a satin poly finish. The neck felt about identical to my '91 Strat Plus, which is a good thing. The body is natural-finish ash with beatiful graining. This model sounded very similar to the Deluxe Ash but it was a bit brighter overall. Excellent playability, and a very nice guitar.
Next I played a couple of MIM models - a Standard and another variation that I can't remember exactly. They were both very impressive. Lighter weight than the MIAs, with good tone and playability. Not quite as hot as the MIAs, though? There was a tonal difference that I noted, not that they were at all bad, just different. These had opaque color finishes. Very nice guitars for the price.
I would like to mention here that I had familiarized myself with the on-line seller prices of all the models I looked at. To my surprise, GC had them tagged at almost identical prices as the on-line sellers. My experience with GC in the past has been that they mark their merchandise a bit high, and it's up to you to be an informed customer to negotiate a fair price. So I was again surprised when the salesman immediately offered to negotiate on price on the model in which I expressed interest.
In the end I left the store to think about it. But Sunday afternoon found me driving home with an American Deluxe Ash in the back of the SUV. It's a beauty, and has wonderful, rich, clear tone - a tone I've been looking for for years, and that the Strat just can't quite get. I got a reasonable deal, getting out the door (including tax) for less than I could have gotten it for on-line.
Here's the picture from Fender's web site:
