Glaser Bender Guitars, the first Super-Telecasters and the birth of the Nashville Tele - Ask Zac 74
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- Опубліковано 12 кві 2021
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The 3 pickup Tele is commonplace now and is often referred to as the "Nashville" Tele setup. Joe Glaser pioneered it in the early 80s with the help of test pilots, Brent Mason, Ricky Skaggs, and Steve Wariner. For Mason, it was hot-rodding his 1967 Tele, for Skaggs and Wariner, Joe made the equivalent of formula one racers from the ground up with eye-catching finishes, flame maple necks, the aforementioned middle pickup, and his patented string benders. These were the very first Super Tele's, made to cover a wide variety of tones and get you noticed. Today, we have the rare opportunity to look at a pair of these extremely rare Glaser-built birds and see and hear what makes them so special that they almost never come up for sale.
Special thanks to Joe Glaser for his valuable input, and to John Thompson and John Stokes for the use of their Glaser guitars.
Gear for this video:
1986 Glaser Bender guitar. Fiesta red. Duncan vintage neck, hot strat stack, and Lollar 52 bridge
1986 Glaser Bender guitar. Purple. Duncan vintage neck, hot strat stack, and Duncan Alnico II bridge.
Pick: Fender Medium
Amp: 1965 Deluxe Reverb with Celestion Vintage 30 speaker, and bright cap clipped on the vibrato channel.
Effects used:
Amp Verb. #askzac #guitartech #telecaster
Had my first Glaser refret when he was still working out of a small garage in Franklin. Of course he went on to do all my work for the next 20+ years. Great guy, great friend. I can still call him just for guitar advice when needed. Pretty cool. Love him.
Very cool!
I was a teenage guitar player when Ricky Skaggs had his weekly TV show At the Ryman. Oh how I lusted after that Purple guitar!
Glaser was huge! I couldn’t get Brent mason’s tele sound until I learned he was using an out of phase strat pickup to blend in and EQ the back tele pickup. Such genius! His bender design is killer n so much lighter than parsons/ white.
Way back, on a squier tele, I laminated the famous image of grinning Theodore Roosevelt's face to my pick guard. It was my Teddycaster.
Ha!
That purple is one of my jams!
This was an exceptional episode. Than you!
Thank you!
I just saw Joe at his shop last week. I used to hang out at his Leipers Fork shop on my way home from working in Franklin back in the late 70's-80's. I'd sit and watch him making guitar stuff, and then one day he handed me a mini-strat ash body blank (Glaser Mandocaster). He said someday you'll maybe make a guitar. Always a neat thinker, and a Renaissance Man. I am so glad he's still in Nashville, and he's a legend.
I had joe put a bender in my tele in 1986 and it still work's perfect after a 100.000 miles!
That's alot of oil changes & tire rotations on that guitar!!
That's a good testament to Joe's work!!
I will watch this episode over & over. I grew up with those sounds & Skaggs 'purple tele that sounds like a strat' that i have tried to emulate my whole life & still nowhere near it. thanks again Zac, made me feel like a kid again.
My favorite 3 pickup tele is Tim Lerch’s that has 3
Lollar Charlie Christians in it. Love those pickups! Benders are a pretty crazy thing though!
You've got all this stuff up your sleeve! I love it! And I'm with Bill S. Joe would be great on the lounge.
I am doing my best to make it happen!
Ask Larry
@@nicko6710 Uncle Larry?
I would love to hear about how the 5 watt world, Ask Zac, Rick Beato, etc, are all connected...
@@rickeaton3085 Keith is a friend and mentor. Keith is a longtime friend of Rick.
First time is saw a guy live using a b-bender was the late 80s…. I didn’t know there was such a thing at the time. I’m watching this guy do bends without moving his fingers and was just mystified at how this was done. Few years later I read about them in a guitar mag and had an “aha” moment.
Always look forward to these episodes. Thanks Zac!!
Zach with another great video. Your videos have really inspired me to play different styles of music and learn new techniques. They also helped me utilize my gear differently and try new things such as a bender. Keep up the great work.
What beautiful guitars those are.
If lived close to Nashville I would get Glaser Benders put on both of my tele's, maybe someday :)
king zac i owned a the heritage h 137 tele flame top set neck ordered with gilmour3 emg set he then sent the guitar to george gruhn who sold him a parsons white bender set and then sent the guitar to parsons'white and had the bender installed i found it for sale later and eventually sold it crazy great bender adventures as a lap steel and pedal steel player
your video uploads line up perfectly with my before work noodling. awesome, educational, inspirational stuff Zac
Perfect!
Thanks Zac for another amazing post.
I was lucky enough to be at the Live in London show. That guitar changed my life. I was only interested in learning B bender Tele. In 86 I was able to buy a Tokai Breesysound with a bender. I think they were a custom add on and possibly only available in UK. Works via a cable connection between the strap button and a small lever behind the bridge. Pretty rare and not available for long. Have heard it referred to as a Brooke bender. Last September I got a Brent Mason Tele after seeing you play one so many thanks for that.
Very jealous that you saw that gig, and yes, those Tokai benders are quite rare!
That was totally cool Zac... it was cool to see the joy in your eyes and your laughter. Plus very educational as well.
Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the great review Zack! Super informative
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks Zac, I love those guitars too! I have been wanting a Glaser bender for a long time. Now you have motivated me to start my next Tele build!
Go for it!
Thanks, Zac. Another informative and fun episode!
Wonderful video. Thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed it
This is a great channel. Thanks to the guys at casino for letting me know about it. Thanks for the great content.
Another great video! Those guitars are gorgeous!!!! Had Joe do a bender install on my graffiti art Tele this summer,and he wired in the three custom Oc Duff pickups I had made for it and the work he and his crew did was just spectacular!Amazing customer service and Joe was a pleasure to deal with.would love to see him on your channel!
Cool episode on a couple of cool guitars. And the flame on those necks and fretboards!
Great story of tele innovation from the 1980s. Any chance of doing an interview with Joe Glaser on Truetone Lounge? I bet he has some good stories . . .
Yes. That is likely.
I'm a huge Steve Wariner fan..
I'm friends with his brother Terry! We live in the same town in ky.. I've known him for years....
I have a Nashville tele I outfitted with a Hipshot bender.2003 seafoam green USA.Love the sound.
A fantastic episode Zac!!!! Thanks for what you do.
My pleasure!
Fascinating discussion....I confess I didnt know alot about the Nashville tele . Never even seen a b bender in person. You took me to school
Great video, love the sound of those telecasters!
Me too!
Fantastic, Zac. You must really have a good rep and standing in the community for these guys to loan you these 'one offs' as it were. Beautiful guitars and playing as per with you, Zac. Good vibes from Australia. You're a real bloke.
I appreciate that!
This was so much fun Zac, thanks! I didn't know anything about Joe Glaser - which is kind of shocking because he really is such an innovator and really cool. I also just watched a cool mini feature on him on Marty Schwartz' channel and I love all the stuff he was talking about in that video too.
Great Episode . love those axes. I was and am a huge steve Wariner fan as well as Ricky and I guess Joe Glazer for that matter
Another wonderful episode sir. Thank you.
Very welcome
Man Zak
You sound fantastic
Too often many guys can’t play that well
But you sound fantastic
Love it
Thank you
I got my Deluxe circuit Tee in the mail yesterday. Love this shirt and it feels great. You struck gold there my friend!
Thank you for supporting the show!!!!
"The guys that own them don't sell them." They are obviously happily married and intend to stay that way! I heard Ranger Doug taking about his divorce downsize on his guitar collection!
I was surprised to hear you mention Kubicki. I got the honor of speaking with him just before he passed away from cancer. He helped me confirm that a Fender prototype I owned was indeed built by Roger Rossmeisl, who you probably know, Phil was assistant to at Fender in the late 60s. Search for "Fender Banjoline" and you'll see my old instrument - it's the "other" banjoline, and is now owned by a former member of RHCP.
Thanks for the shout out to Bill Hullett! His son Clay and I are former coworkers and friends, and Bill/Clay had a Glaser B-bender at their gig this past Friday night and we talked about Bill working with Joe on these great guitars. Keep up the great work, Zac!!!
Very cool!
My favorite episode to date! The majority of my favorite country players have one thing in common... Joe Glaser! Thanks, Zac.
God Bless Joe !
Very cool guitars. I too listened to that Skaggs Live In London on cassette back in the 80s. I thought it was a Fender and was wondering how Ricky was doing those bends , not knowing anything about b-benders of course. The same with Steve Wariner’s Midnight Fire which was also his Glaser b-bender tele or that red Glaser b-bender Strat with the vine fingerboard inlay. Which I also thought was a Fender custom Strat! I thought I read at one time that they were slightly thinner and hollowed out but that could be totally false.
I love the fact that they were all handmade too which I love because it makes them very personal. I own 3 handmade guitars from a builder in Newfoundland which are that were made specifically for me and I love them. I think those Glaser guitars deserve a place in country guitar history for their connection to such famous players. Looking forward to the next episode!!
Great video, Zac.....I wish you'd made this 10-12 years ago, when I added a middle pickup to what was then my #1 Telecaster. I had seen a Tele or two with middle p/ups, but never knew how they were configured. I wanted to keep the "standard" three-way selector switch for neck and bridge, so I added a mini-toggle (like the Glasers) for the MIDDLE......that way I could get the middle with neck OR bridge (for that Knopfler/Richard Thompson sound) or "normal" Tele sounds. What I couldn't get was the middle by itself, but in years of playing Strats, I never played middle alone. (just me) As far as location of the middle p/up, I had bought a generic "Nashville"-style pickguard online, and used that to dictate where to route. I guess I was lucky, 'cause it sounded great. That guitar is currently back to normal two pickups, and occasionally I miss the "quack"-sound, but I found the middle p/up got in the way of my pick......so it's a trade-off. Anyway.....keep 'em coming.....and thanks.
I got the Fender 1985 MIJ RI of Burton’s famous ‘68 Pink Paisley Telecaster & had a Custom Shop ‘57 Strat p/u put in the middle & it sounded anemic. so I got rid of the paddle selector & went with 3 mil-spec switch-crafts and 3-Seymour Duncan Antiquities and I can throw the Strat p/u in n out if phase...it is a great guitar & when I moved to DC the tele snobs sniffed and muttered it was made with a basswood body...
Best episode you’ve done so far! Super Teles-that’s a good way to put it. I’ve got one; not a Glaser-mine’s a Bremer, from Tom Bremer in the Minneapolis area. I don’t know if he’s still in business. There’s a Parsons-White B-Bender in it-I’ve never played a Glaser so I didn’t know whether it would change the balance point of the guitar. Mine hangs just like a regular Tele. It’s got a quilted maple top on a swamp ash body, with a flame maple neck and ebony fingerboard, Hipshot Extender key (D-tuner) on the low E, the neck and top are done in what Tom called Orange Burst, but it looks to me more like a slightly muted cherry sunburst. White pearloid pickguard, Byrdland-style top binding, and three Van Zandt pickups. Tom put vintage Fender pickups in at first, but the bridge pickup, which came out of a Broadcaster from what Tom told me, fed back something awful, so I got Tom’s recommended EMGs. I didn’t like them; it didn’t sound like a Tele anymore, so I got the Van Zandts, which work fine. It’s my country hot rod, and anyone who remembers me with David Statzer and Latigo back in the early ‘90s will remember that guitar-it was my main guitar for years. I got it around ‘89 or ‘90, and I’ve still got it! First guitar I ever had custom-built, and if I had to replace it, it would cost way more than I have in it!
Awesome guitars, my old band mate has a Glaser, it’s a double bender with a b and d bender. Awesome guitars.
Damn those guitars sound great in your hands, Zac. Another great episode.
I actually bought an 80's sunburst Glaser Strat back in about 2003. I got it from a guy that used to play for Dolly Parton. Unfortunately, like a complete fool, I sold it a couple years later. Then, in about 2008, I bought a Glaser Tele from a guy here in Nashville. I think he used to work for Patty Loveless. I took it to Joe to get him to refret it, he told me it was stolen years ago lol. I eventually sold it back to the original owner that lost it. I knew that was the right thing to do even though it broke my heart lol. It was a miracle that I found those. Because, you're right. These never come up for sale.
That was all you! Your thinking of an ideal when you were young(er)... Those asides were worth the show. I’m not a Fiesta Red kind of guy, but I’m even less of a autograph person... Very innovative guitar and seemingly well put together. I had a Fender James Burton Signature Tele once, couldn’t make it sound less Strat, so I gave it up, sadly. Your story made me smile!
Wow, thank you!
Thanks, man.
No problem!
Very cool episode. I been wanting one of his benders. I have one made by someone else which does pretty good job..
Great stuff, as always!
Thanks, Tom
I love your channel
I’m trying to find some examples of players who were using strats and LPs during the 80s! I’ve been getting into that era of country music most recently.
This is so freaking interesting. Subscribed
Welcome aboard!
Super enjoyable, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Nice! Great material!
Thanks!
Lovely guitars you have there, as a Tele player myself if I want a Strat sounding guitar in the future I'd opt for a Nashville Tele, they sound great!... 🙂
Joe Glaser is awesome! I sent my Anderson Hollow T to him for a B Bender install. People thought I was wasting my time since the guitar is mahogany with a maple top with an H pickup at the bridge. A little attention to tone adjustments and a very old amp and 👍
Just wondering if he still has his “people with Keith” photos display? Took my gold top in there for one of it’s three (! 2 airline, 1 stand fall) headstock repairs... Reggie Young was checking out a re-fret that had been applied. I. Bout. Died. Those days when one must leave the great ones alone are tough!!!
As ALWAYS, thanks SO much for the great data Maestro!
I went in one day and Bernie Leadon was there. Another, Vince.
I think I bought one of the first series of Fender 3 pickup custom deluxe Tele’s in the 80’s; I saw it and had to have it, especially with the rear contour cutout. Adding the mid-Strat pickup, coil-tap, just really made it for me. About 25 years old now
No, maybe 90’s, now I need to look 👀
90s
So very interesting Zac. Thank you and keep up the great work. I’m eyeing off a Fender Brent Mason Tele. Cheers Marty from Melbourne 🇦🇺
Go for it!
There is something about a Fiesta red Tele/Strat style geeters that seem to "have" it just by that beautiful vintage color......Bound too boot too!! That Purple one shown is about the same color as my Jeff Beck Strat. Thanks Mr. Zac for this info
Tele's are the proto platform. Bob Bain, Clarence White, Andy Summers... Ted Greene Keith's guitars.
Middle pickup sounds lovely.
I love it!
Great episode maybe a Marty Stuart episode ? Thank you zac
Great vid thank you Zac.
My pleasure!
I LOVE THE 3-pickup-on switch! sound Gretsch-esque!!!!
agreed
@@AskZac do you know where I can get a pickup locating guide and wiring scheme if I want to replicate this feature?
@@galeliyalevi Joe made a guitar with a sliding pickup. I did post shots of the guitars and the wiring on my site, askzac.com
That purple is just 🤩.
badass guitar
Another great video! 👍
Thank you! Cheers!
Yeah, Bill Hullett! That would would be a great Ask Zac & Truetone! Two Lane Blacktop is a classic!!!
Very interesting and informative. How about doing one on Hahn? I am the proud owner of a one of a kind Hahn Tele that he put together for me using the body from one of his personal guitars and a new neck. It plays and sounds amazing.
I find the middle pickup on any guitar interfere's with my hybrid picking. Lowered the middle pickup as low as it would go and discovered a great sound when used in conjunction with bridge or neck pickup.
Still waiting for 2 hours with G E Smith in the basement showing off his guitar and amp collection
Need a little time for that!
That GE sig model Tele is pretty rad.
@@IvorThomas ya I agree his model is like a lap steel with a bigger body....definitely another authority on all things vintage fender....and cool as..f¿¡° lol
I am all in on a GE Smith episode
Love this!❤🎸❤🎸
My pink paisley is now a Nashville tele with emgs. Oh man, oh man, oohhhhh man, is it fun!!!
With the circuit toggle switch too.
Another great 👍 video, so much great information. Thank 👏
Glad you enjoyed it!
I've never heard "super tele" before. That's a great description for these nashville teles. .....come to think of it I pretty much like all types of guitars with 1, 2, &3 pickup combinations. I guess that means I like everything.
that was a question answered who made the necks! Impressive cause that's the hard part!
Got the schematics tee. Quality shirt. Thanks!
Thank you so much. I like a good feeling shirt.
Ha, I was pretty sure you hadn't plugged in the "purple one" yet. 😀
My question... There's talk about how important the position of the middle pickup is. I get that geometry is important for phase cancellation /addition... But, say you set it up for optimum sound on an open string. But, soon as you fret it all the geometry changes. Fretting changes where the harmonics lie, etc in relation to the fretted note. I've heard the same thing when others talk about the neck pickup on a 22 fret guitar doesn't sound the same as a 21 fret guitar when they have to move the neck pickup a little. Again, seems like as soon as you fret, you're changing the geometry. If the harmonic rings at a certain distance from the bridge because of the string length, soon as you fret, you are changing the effective string length it's vibrating at.
You are right, the geometry does change. But where do we play the guitar the most? Also, the neck pickup on a Tele is in a bad spot to capture harmonics no matter where you fret. I don't understand the science here either.
Zac check out Certano benders. I have a G&B bender on my Esquire and they are great. Easy install that uses paddles like a lap steel. Jimmy Olander is who got me into the whole bender thing.
cool l love that guitar .
Really interesting thanks though I would really miss that classic Telecaster middle position
The nice thing about the Reverend Eastsider Pete Anderson model is that when you pull up on the tone knob you get the bridge and neck together. Great guitar where you get the start benefits and don’t lose the tele characteristics.
I got to play a friend's Glaser B/G bender guitar years ago. I don't think I'm coordinated enough to play it properly, but would like to have one!
I love Teles with binding
How do you like the switch for the middle? My Tele uses Memphis wiring with the blend knob I love all three pickups on for side.
I like the 3 pickup sound. The switch is fine
I just had Joe put a bender in my guitar and love it. Also were I could find the wiring diagram for these? Also GREAT job as always
I don't have a wiring diagram, but there are shots of the wiring here. www.askzac.com/post/glaser-the-first-super-tele-ask-zac-74
Yeah love a Hot Rod Tele..Will Rays is mad as is his playing!just crazy off the wall stuff,just listen to what he played on Wylie and the Wild West album...stay well..
Hey Zac! How do you secure your strap to the Glaser arm? Is there a method or product that easily latches/unlatches?
via a dunlop strap lock
The most famous player of a 3 p/u tele with a bender is Clarence White IMHO
Are you kidding me?
What a cool video!
I’m a sucker for hot rodded guitars. I would be very happy owning only two guitars: Glaser tele Nashville style and a James Tyler Strat from the 80s, with all the switches, Floyd rose and preamp.
What are the radius on the Glaser teles?
The hardest thing with bender was trying to retrain myself not to bend with my fingers. LOL
Wow, that is so cleanly built compared to Clarence White!
Reminds me of Rory Gallagher's Telecaster with a Stratocaster pickup added.