The Official Guitar Thread

I'm considering buying some old ass guitar, an original 1973 Fender Telecaster Deluxe. I'm willing to buy it because I had a MIJ Telecaster Thinline before and I like that particular humbucker sound on a Fender guitar. Though some people say these old guitars require maintenance. Is that true ?

All guitars require maintenance

Noodleface_sl said:

All guitars require maintenance

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Yeah I wasn't being clear enough, sorry. I meant maintenance as more maintenance than a 2014 guitar. Like, if I'm buying a 1973 guitar, what should I check, etc. I've never bought vintage stuff hence my question. I'm talking aboutthis guitar(I can have it for less than the original price).

Bondurant_sl said:

Yeah I wasn't being clear enough, sorry. I meant maintenance as more maintenance than a 2014 guitar. Like, if I'm buying a 1973 guitar, what should I check, etc. I've never bought vintage stuff hence my question. I'm talking aboutthis guitar(I can have it for less than the original price).

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Well, it depends. Some models have changed dramatically over the years. The Tele's didn't, but the deluxe models are a different item from normal Teles. IIRC, the Tele Deluxe models had Humbuckers, but there you are looking at sound preference versus more 'maintenance'. Your primary differences between a '73 and modern is going to be styling (CBS era headstock), 3 bolt vs. 4 bolt neck plate (not sure if this matters, really), pickups (probably lower quality in that era compared to recent ones) and finish quality could go both ways depending on care and what modern models you're comparing it against. Wood handles itself, but obviously the older it is the more you have to be looking for obvious abuse and unexpected wear. Tuners won't hold as well as modern locking ones, obviously, but people have been using vintage for decades still and have no issue, YMMV. Bridges haven't changed (much), though you may elect to replace it or the saddles to set and keep intonation easier. I'm not sure if the '73 had already gotten away from the 'dual' saddles (3 per bridge) the original Teles had.

The way you'dtypicallyrun into more 'maintenance' issues, aside from parts that haven't been well preserved (IE, left in a moisture-rich environment, with an object laying on top warping the neck, etc.) are with the old bridges. A LOT of Fender models have really, really shitty saddles and/or bridges. Doesn't mean they don't work, but you will be monitoring your tuning a lot if you bend. Strats are obviously worse, but if you're used to modern tuners on a bridge with graphite saddles now it will feel like a huge leap backwards. Plus at some point you don't want to replace any of the 'vintage' stuff because of value and what not. I don't think a Tele is as much of a worry, add some nut lube or carefully replace the saddles with graphite ones (not exactly a huge part) and just keep the originals.

You may very well need to get frets leveled or replaced, however that's true with any used guitar it just depends how much you want to put up with. Hell, my 2011 Strat probably needs some fretwork done...

My 2c anyway.

Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll go for a 2014 American Deluxe Telecaster instead.

Bondurant_sl said:

Thanks for the advice, I guess I'll go for a 2014 American Deluxe Telecaster instead.

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Ah, the '73 did have the modern bridge. The unfortunate truth is the CBS era Fender guitars are generally known to have been much lower quality compared to all the earlier models as well as the post-CBS Am Deluxe and CS models. Doesn't mean you won't find amazing ones (like modern Gibson's really...) but it's funny when you see a $3000 CBS-era 'vintage' guitar in a shop and it plays worse than the 'vintage classic' Squire sitting next to it.

I've had various guitar - 1976 Gibson LP Custom, 90-2000's RG550, 2002/3/4 RG3120, brand new Jackson V, brand new ESP M-II as well as playing my father's very vintage guitars and the amount of maintenance on all of them is roughly the same.

My LP still has original hardware that hasn't required anything extra in terms of maintenance. Sure, there's some tarnishing on the hardware, it needs a fret replacement but aside from polishing it, performing setups on it, and keeping it in a temp/humidity controlled environment that's it. Every guitar will need a fret dressing every few years, and will need replacement frets after a long time. All the hardware on the guitars will last as long as you aren't smashing it around. Keep it in a controlled environment and you shouldn't have any problems.

If I were buying an old guitar I would look for things that aren't repairable or at least not with any fiscal responsibility - things like neck joint cracks, warped necks, cracked head stocks, etc.

Amazon.com: Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC012: Musical InstrumentsThe Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC012 is finally on sale through amazon, cheapest I have seen it since I inquired about them 6ish months ago currently at 179.99

Grabbed one in blue for my daughter(bundle with everything for 199.00) and one in sunburst for me.

Hatorade_sl said:

Amazon.com: Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC012: Musical InstrumentsThe Yamaha Pacifica Series PAC012 is finally on sale through amazon, cheapest I have seen it since I inquired about them 6ish months ago currently at 179.99

Grabbed one in blue for my daughter(bundle with everything for 199.00) and one in sunburst for me.

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I don't remember, do(did) you play much at all or just getting started? If you aren't comfortable doing a guitar setup and making sure it 'feels' right to play, try and get someone to check it out to make sure you don't have to return it before you break them in and waste your time. Those Yamahas aren't bad strat copies, but man if I had a dollar for every strat copy that had just enough twist in the neck to not be able to fret an open F chord or the neck had too much back-bow and no truss adjustment left or something else dumb... I can tell you from experience when I first started it sucks ass trying to learn proper string pressure and how to fret properly, thinking you are a complete fuck up for weeks until your guitar teacher lets you try a $2000 dollar guitar and the same shit becomes easy just because it is higher quality and doesn't have a manufacturing defect you can't notice when you first start.

Zero experience, but good idea. My uncle's guitar skills are insane so he can tell me I am sure.

Heriotze_sl said:

That first $1200+ guitar that you try out is always the point where things get dangerous. All of the weird quirks with all of the right technique that you were doing on your starter carry over and it feels like the thing is playing itself and it feels great. Get a good setup from your uncle or a pro tech at a local shop like Palum said and it will make the beginning part exponentially easier. It's the poor carpenter that blames his tools but there are some bad 'carpenters' out there making guitars and that is the largest reason why people give up on it before they even realize if they like the instrument or not, out of frustration.

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All of this is true.

A good setup is something you don't realize you've been missing all your life until you get or do one

Any tips on transcribing guitar pieces with a lot of effects? MXR-90 and autowahs make things hard to tell for me.

How do you tell the difference between a plateau and just plain sucking?

Learn harder stuff.

Some people go through phases from absolute comprehensive suckage, through excruciatingly painful sucktacularity, onward to horrendous suckitude, before permanently plateauing at just plain sucking.