# Thoughts on Telecaster 72 deluxe reissue. buy or not to buy?



## zackkynapalm (Oct 27, 2009)

I've been having major major GAS for Tele's lately, and I've never owned a fender so I kind of would like to try one and have something totally different than what I'm used to, so as any regular gearhead would do, troll ebay and craigslist. 

I've been finding some really badass tele's, but one that always catches my eye is the 72 deluxe reissue:







I like the humbuckers, which I would have a single coil splitter installed as well, but I didn't notice the fact that it had a Strat headstock until now. 



but my question is, for those of you who have played this guitar, or any telecaster, what is your opinion on them? Are they all they are hyped up to be? am I having a bad case of the GAS? and what do you think of the headstock?

I'd be selling a Schecter c-1 plus to purchase this (I'm planning to buy used)
do you guys think it's worth it?


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## JohnIce (Oct 27, 2009)

I own a MIM Tele of some upper-level special edition type. I also own an MIJ Strat from '83 and have played several others in varying price-classes (including american ones). 

Fender's are, in my opinion, overpriced and annoyingly clinging to a lot of seriously dumb old habits (21 frets, bulky neck joint etc. that is totally unnecessary, they should've fixed that by now), and I've found the tuners to be pretty lacking in most cases. My tele was also horribly set up from the factory, the trussrod was bent in all kinds of ways.

However, tonally, they do the part. They do know how to make a great sounding guitar with very minimalistic means. You're not gonna get a bad guitar, but you'll end up paying a lot for upgrades and spend plenty of time tweaking it to get it anywhere near the Fender "hype".

- edit - In short, good sounds, but the playability and gig-readiness is questionable.

All in my opinion/experience, of course.


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## technomancer (Oct 27, 2009)

Well, you're not going to get a "telecaster" tone out of that model... it's HH with a normal fixed bridge. Just strikes me as sort of silly to buy a telecaster that's not really going to have that distinctive tele tone 

Fenders are unfortunately somewhat hit or miss on QC. I got lucky with my used American Standard tele, but ended up dumping an American Deluxe strat because it didn't sound that good and had some issues. I'd suggest hitting your local music stores and playing a few until you find a good one.


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## JeffFromMtl (Oct 27, 2009)

I had a '52 Tele Reissue until recently. I loved it - the tone, the simplicity, the playability and the look. But when it came down to it, I paid way too much money for a guitar that simply didn't fit into any sort of band context for me. It was great to have and play at home cuz it was awesome, but yeah, I needed to sell it to put cash into something a little more useful to me.


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## JohnIce (Oct 27, 2009)

I'd recommend something like a Carvin Tele or Schecter PT for a more ergonomically thought-through guitar with a similar sound. Might want to look into Agile aswell, but I can't personally vouch for them.


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## Koshchei (Oct 27, 2009)

Not worth it IMHO. Try this instead: Carvin.com - Custom Shop :: tl60

$719 for a base model puts it in the same ballpark as the Fender.


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## zackkynapalm (Oct 27, 2009)

technomancer said:


> Well, you're not going to get a "telecaster" tone out of that model... it's HH with a normal fixed bridge. Just strikes me as sort of silly to buy a telecaster that's not really going to have that distinctive tele tone



I was thinking about that. I saw a tele that was identical to that except it had single coil pickups and the headstock was the normal tele headstock, and the bridge was tele as well.

I'm getting to thinking this is just me wanting some guitar that looks cool and may sound like a good idea right now.


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## JohnIce (Oct 27, 2009)

Nothing wrong with a tele with humbuckers if that's what you want, but if you're unsure of what pickups you want in it, then yes you should definately wait.


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## Justin Bailey (Oct 27, 2009)

these things are awesome, I say go for it. Although personally i'd try and find a used one, better pricing. If you're gonna go new then I'd personally rather get the Carvin.


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## zackkynapalm (Oct 28, 2009)

Justin Bailey said:


> these things are awesome, I say go for it. Although personally i'd try and find a used one, better pricing. If you're gonna go new then I'd personally rather get the Carvin.




DEFINITELY buying used. buying new gear is too damn expensive-especially since I could get this for half the price of a brand new one in good used condition.

I dunno. I mean, if I don't like it I could just turn around and sell it-I could lose what, 10 dollars? not a big deal at all.

I don't like the look of the carvin really-the finish is kickass, but for some reason the fender is more appealing. 



Koshchei said:


> Not worth it IMHO. Try this instead: Carvin.com - Custom Shop :: tl60
> 
> $719 for a base model puts it in the same ballpark as the Fender.



I'm buying this used. I would never pay 900 dollars for a fender. Used it goes for a pretty good deal, around 300-500 which is good and in my price range right now.



JohnIce said:


> In short, good sounds, but the playability and gig-readiness is questionable.
> 
> All in my opinion/experience, of course.



I could see why...also I don't like the whole 21 fret thing. I actually use frets 22-24, ESPECIALLY for what I planned on doing with a tele.


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## Sang-Drax (Oct 28, 2009)

technomancer said:


> Well, you're not going to get a "telecaster" tone out of that model... it's HH with a normal fixed bridge. Just strikes me as sort of silly to buy a telecaster that's not really going to have that distinctive tele tone



This. My co-guitarist plays one almost exclusively, and it sounds nothing like what you'd expect from a Telecaster.


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## zackkynapalm (Oct 28, 2009)

Sang-Drax said:


> This. My co-guitarist plays one almost exclusively, and it sounds nothing like what you'd expect from a Telecaster.


 
How are the cleans on it? I am fine without it sounding complete 100 percent telecaster, but I need a guitar with nice cleans. I know the guitarist of Isis uses a guitar similar to this-I believe his is a 76 so it has the regular tele headstock, but I love isis' clean passages, and the tone. but who knows, he could be using a single coil tele for the recording of Panoptocon.


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## -Nolly- (Oct 28, 2009)

I had a '72 Deluxe RI until recently. Not a bad guitar at all, but you should know that the pickups aren't proper Wide-Range humbuckers as on the original, rather they are standard humbuckers under a massive cover, with the space filled with wax. If the guy from Isis is using an original '76, it will have proper Wide-Range humbuckers, and will sound fairly different.
The guitar comes with 250k pots, which aren't suited to use with humbuckers, so the sound is very muddy. Putting 500k pots in is something you should do straight away upon getting the guitar. 
Bear in mind that if you want to change pickups at a later date, you'll need to get a custom scratchplate done with the correct size pickup holes. I did this in order to fit some humbucker-sized P90s, which improved the sound considerably.
This was mine after the mods:






If I were to want a similar guitar again, I would get this one instead:






Product Spec


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## ellengtrgrl (Oct 28, 2009)

It's not a bad guitar, but as Nolly said, a proper Tele Deluxe, Tele Custom, or Tele Thinline, has wide range humbuckers in it, and Fender hasn't made those in decades. Wide range humbuckers (which were designed by Seth Lover - the same guy who designed Gibsons PAFs) sound different - nothing like a standard humbucker. They have less output, and more high end chime (shades of a Rick, or a Gretsch). They're also a bit microphonic at high gain. 

I'm also not a fan of the 3 bolt necks used on Tele Deluxes (they have a tendency to work loose over time, if you mistreat the guitar). But, I will say this, the originals, certainly had their own sound. It's too bad that so many indie rock players snapped up the originals. I remember back in the early 90s, when you could still get them cheap. Nobody wanted them. I went with my boyfriend at the the time, to Minneapolis. Like me, he was also a guitar player (we played in the same band at the time), so we checked out the music stores in the Twin Cities. They must have had about a dozen or two dozen 70s Tele Deluxes, and Tele Customs in the shops. Most of them were beat up, and the pickups squealed like a pig, when the guitars were played through a jacked up Marshall. The one decent one I tried out, was over priced at the time IMO.

Today's Tele Delxes are much better quality then the CBS era ones IMO. If you're really looking for the sound of an original 70s model, you can get close. Reissues of the wide range humbuckers are available, and they'll get you there, but they aren't cheap.


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## zackkynapalm (Oct 28, 2009)

Nolly-I'm pretty sure it was a Reissue. I could be wrong though.

ellengtrgrl-Yeah, I thought the three bolt neck was a little odd...and unnecessary as well. I would imagine the reissues would sound much different.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Oct 28, 2009)

One of my best friends plays that exact same Tele. He's had a few different guitars but he still swears by that instrument. 

Check out the sounds from his band and see what you think:

dora mah on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Obviously not in a metal context, but you get the idea.


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## zimbloth (Oct 28, 2009)

I just got a Fender American Deluxe Tele in Aged Cherry Burst and honestly it's one of the best guitars I've ever played or owned. Worth every penny. It's amazing how heavy it can sound without humbuckers. A Bare Knuckle Piledriver will be going on shortly though. The neck and overall response feels sooo right...


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## yellowv (Oct 28, 2009)

See I told you Teles were fun Nick


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## -Nolly- (Oct 29, 2009)

zimbloth said:


> A Bare Knuckle Piledriver will be going on shortly though.



Have you tried one yet or is the first? If it's the first, you may be somewhat shocked.


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## budda (Oct 29, 2009)

shocked by what?

and yeah, tele's can sound brutally heavy w/ single coils - the texan 7 is proof of that!


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## -Nolly- (Oct 29, 2009)

budda said:


> shocked by what?



The total ridiculousness


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## budda (Oct 29, 2009)




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## zimbloth (Oct 29, 2009)

-Nolly- said:


> Have you tried one yet or is the first? If it's the first, you may be somewhat shocked.





-Nolly- said:


> The total ridiculousness



Yes Nolly, I installed a Piledriver in one of Machine's (producer for Lamb of God, etc) studio guitars a few months ago and loved it. I know what I'm getting myself into 



yellowv said:


> See I told you Teles were fun Nick



I always knew they sounded great Joe, I just never played one with such an awesome neck and feel. It's sweet


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## 74n4LL0 (Oct 29, 2009)

Well an interesting alternative for a tele with humbucker is to put some filtertron style humbucker.
I'd go with the TV Jones

This way you'll still have lot of twang in your tele


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## Sang-Drax (Oct 29, 2009)

zackkynapalm said:


> How are the cleans on it? I am fine without it sounding complete 100 percent telecaster, but I need a guitar with nice cleans. I know the guitarist of Isis uses a guitar similar to this-I believe his is a 76 so it has the regular tele headstock, but I love isis' clean passages, and the tone. but who knows, he could be using a single coil tele for the recording of Panoptocon.



Oh, don't get me wrong - it's a great guitar, very versatile. It just doesn't feature a tone we expect from a tele.

As far as clean goes, you could check it out at my band's myspace - Planar on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads. The cleans on the third song, I think, called "Até o Som Acabar" were recorded with a tele deluxe through a Vox AC30. I don't really expect anyone on this forum to like the song, though


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## -Nolly- (Oct 29, 2009)

zimbloth said:


> Yes Nolly, I installed a Piledriver in one of Machine's (producer for Lamb of God, etc) studio guitars a few months ago and loved it. I know what I'm getting myself into



Sick, good stuff.


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## zackkynapalm (Oct 29, 2009)

UPDATE:

I found this telecaster in Brown (which I like better) with 500k pots and a push pull single coil split option ALREADY installed! (For the same price used as it would have been w/o the upgrades)
I think am going to go for it-it's too good to pass up.


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