Paul Neff responded to a thread on our Facebook page about the attributes of a new line of vintage inspired guitars from Fender (the American Vintage series). We thought we’d let Neff elaborate on his dream Fender instrument. Take it, away, Paul…
My “Ideal” Telecaster…
In my life there have been two Telecasters that have engrained their “souls” deep into my DNA, permanently cementing my love for the model. Sadly, neither one is still in my possession. I really only ever owned one of the two: The first one was a chance encounter at the Boston Guitar Center back when I was in my late teens or early twenties, but it was such a profound experience that the memory of that guitar sticks with me to this day. The second, a regular ol’ American Standard model in Candy Apple Red with a maple board bought by me at Sam Ash on 48th St. in Manhattan, was the best guitar I’ve ever owned. I’ve felt bad for all subsequent and future guitars as it’s unlikely any will live up to that one’s mojo. I really wish I still had it.
The First Tele
One day, I’m in Guitar Center just shopping around, this is some time in the mid to late ’90s, and the clerk I usually dealt with comes up to me and says he has something he wants to show me. He takes me to a worn old Telecaster hanging on the wall and tells me to look at it, carefully. I looked the guitar over and after a second or two my eyes land on the headstock and the decal… with no model name. “Holy *expletive*, it’s a Nocaster!” I said. He then picked it up and and flipped it over to show me the Fender Custom Shop logo stamped into the wood on the back of the headstock (not the decal they use these days). It was one of the very first “relic” guitars to come out of the Custom Shop (aka a “Cunetto” Nocaster).
I loved the concept, which was new at the time. He asked if I wanted to plug it in and despite not being a “Tele guy” I said, “Hell yeah!” I sat down and started playing. Not long before this I’d seen Tom Petty playing “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” on some award show, slinging a very similar looking Tele (made by Taku Sakashita, if I’m not mistaken) and the sound he got out of it was still ringing in my ears. What a pleasant surprise that that very sound was now coming out of the amp in front of me! I’d never head a guitar growl and squawk quite like that one. It had balls and bite, and that was all just on the clean channel! After a bit of playing, I gave the guitar a good once over. The relic’d finish was so convincing. It was completely spot on, at least to my eye. I also noticed that it had compensated saddles, which apparently not all examples of these early relic Teles have. This was before I’d discovered Danny Gatton and I’d never seen anything like those saddles before. Cool! I was smitten… and broke. No guitar for me. I left a bit heart broken, but with that SOUND permanently embedded in my brain.
The Second Tele
Years after my first encounter with that Nocaster, I was on a trip to New York state. Manhattan wasn’t the main destination but I’d planned a side trip to appease a need… Well, two really. I visited the burb of Manhattan several times before and was of course enamored of 48th St., which at the time was still an incredible place to go to with Manny’s, Rudy’s, 48th St. Custom Guitars and a few more, including a very scaled back Sam Ash still rolling out guitars by the truckload. I’d always wanted to buy a guitar at Manny’s but had somehow always left empty handed. Not this time! I was determined and I had my eye on one target, a TELECASTER. The plan was to take a train in and do the tourist thing and hit 48th St. along the way. Well, the train got delayed. VERY delayed and it rolled in quite a bit latter than planned. I rushed to Manny’s, which was still open for about another 20 to 30 minutes. I looked around, up and down, in every corner (something hard to do in that store in the time allowed). NO TELECASTERS. Not one, not even a G&L! I was crushed. Things were getting ready to close and I resigned myself to another empty-handed trip to the sacred street.
I walked out of Manny’s and noticed Sam Ash, across the street was advertising a big sale and extended hours. Hmmm… I walked in and the place was packed. I worked my way over to the spot where the Fenders were hanging on the wall and there were two American-made Teles on the wall. One was an American Vintage model in “Copper” and the other was an American Standard in Candy Apple Red with a maple board.
I’d had my hopes set on an American Vintage model so I picked that one up first. I got to plug it in and was almost a bit disappointed right off the bat. The big growl I’d had ringing in my ears for years wasn’t quite there. Granted, the place was loud and the amp was pointed at my feet so I could barely hear it. In fact the security guard kept telling me to turn it down. The guitar hadn’t really sold itself to me. It was kind of a shadow of the Nocaster: it felt different, sounded different and was quite a bit heavier, too (the Nocaster I’d gotten to play before was a feather-weight).
I picked up the second guitar, the red Standard and it was completely different. It didn’t have the old growl, but it did have SOMETHING… something. Then, I was booted off the amp by the clerk who was assisting me so that some one else could test run it. I was taken over to another amp, this one at head level. It was solid-state and sounded like it.
It was late, I was tired, hungry and, after being bumped to this POS amp, I was agitated. I caught the clerk’s eye and gave him a look that basically said, “You have five minutes to get me back on that amp or I’m outta’ here.” He read me loud and clear and told me to hold tight and assured me he’d plug me back in to the good amp ASAP. After getting plugged back in and having another back and forth about my playing volume – was I the only one having trouble hearing myself in this place? – the clerk finally pulled the amp out from the wall and tilted it back. Finally! And there was a sound that spoke to me. It wasn’t just the sound, it was the neck… and the weight. Aside from a small nick on the treble side of the fingerboard (which I came to love as a blind place marker), it was perfect. I bought it. On sale, I believe it was around $600.
I was very into Danny Gatton at the time so eventually that guitar got a set of Barden pickups put in it, a set of heavy knurled Vintique knobs (dome top) and the pickup selector switch bent over. I LOVED that guitar, it just played so well. I remember I could get the action so low on that thing it was almost stupid and the neck almost never needed adjustment. It just WORKED. Then it happened… I’d started to play bass quite a bit and eventually started to take it quite seriously. At some point, the Bardens came out. This was during the period when he was out of business and I got about $400 for the set on eBay. Then, I did it. I put my prize Tele and my only guitar amp up on consignment at Music Unlimited in Kingston, Mass. I’d decided to concentrate all my energy on playing bass. A silly thing for a non-pro player…
The guitar, along with the amp, sold almost immediately, to some mother looking for a guitar setup for her kid’s birthday. It was gone. It took about a year for me to realize how dumb I’d been. I missed my Tele, badly. I looked around for another one just like it, but nothing lived up to it. I acquired a Gretsch that had a bit of the twang and growl, but I never bonded with it. Other Teles just didn’t seem to swing with my quite right. I gave up and ended up with a Gibson SG (not even CLOSE, but with its own thing). To this day I still hope against hope that me and that guitar will cross paths again. I even posted a plea for help finding it on Facebook a few months ago. I’m not holding my breath.
Bill Kirchen’s Telecaster
My Ideal Tele
As odd as it may sound, my ideal Telecaster isn’t really that much like my old American Standard. I think I’ve reconciled with myself that I’m not going to find a match for that one. Instead, my longing has turned back to that old Nocaster and its growl. Most of the specs I want are from that era: the look, the feel, the sound. Still, there’s a little of my old friend in there.
What my “ideal” Tele would have: I love a nice, thick neck with a bit of “V” to it. Despite having an SG, I tend to find I play better with a thick neck (maybe that explains my playing of late…). The best playing Les Paul I ever tried was a ’57 Reissue gold top with a massive neck and the old CS Nocaster had one, too. So, BIG neck. The body would have to be ash, nice light swamp ash. After trying many Teles over the years I know this is a key ingredient to the growl. As much as I love a good alder body, with those sweet singing highs, I’d NEED ash to get where I want to go.
The pickup would have to be reminiscent of those early pickups with the 43-gauge wire and extra windings. I’m not trying to be Steve Cropper here, more like Keith Richards. I’d want a good ferrous bridge (containing iron) like the old ones, maybe a bit thicker, like the ones Glendale and Callaham offer. A ferrous bridge is so important in my mind. Being that it’s magnetically reactive, it acts like a big transducer laying on the guitar’s face with the pickup right in the middle of it, adding to that growl I’m so longing for. Of course I’d want three brass bridge saddles… compensated, naturally.
For tuners, I’m torn. I’ve always wanted to put Sperzel locking machines on everything, as I love the idea of saving time and hassle when changing strings. Unfortunately, the low gear ratio is kind of a turn off. Yes, other brands do make locking tuners, but they are all much heavier, which is something I don’t want. Consider this detail still up in the air: I’ve toyed with the idea of a completely chambered guitar (neck included), like Billy Gibbons slings, but I’m not sure I want to go that far of the beaten path. Not with a Tele, any way. As far as frets go, I’d love to have jumbos. I like to dig in and bend. I’d probably swing for EVO fret wire, too, for greater durability.
As far as finish goes, it’d have to be Candy Apple Red for the body, in honor of my old friend. The neck I’d want to be all clear laquer with maybe a satin or “sanded-back” finish on the back. All nitro of course and NO tinting. For the pickguard, I’ve been sold on the idea of gold anodized aluminum. I have a picture of an old late-’50s P-Bass with one of the first custom finishes that Fender ever applied, a brilliant red (Dakota?). In keeping with the specs of that period, that bass had an anodized pickguard. The combo of colors just knocked me out. Other hardware: heavy-knurled, dome-top knobs and bent over switch; traditional “modern” wiring, no zero-load pots or anything, just two 250k pots and a .022mdf cap.
I’ve been toying with the idea of actually putting this guitar together for quite some time. No matter how much I deviate from these specs – with neck humbuckers, Barden pickups, etc. – I always come back to these basic specs. Maybe some day I’ll get the opportunity. –Paul J Neff, Mills River, NC
