If anyone makes a negative comment here they are not paying attention. Six telecasters that have so much thought put into the parts and playability. There are many guitar enthusiasts and players on UA-cam but if you are looking for a guy that knows telecasters and how to get the most out of them look no further. You have a wealth of knowledge about tele pickups, wiring, saddles, bridgeplates, etc. I love all of these guitars and each occupies a necessary place in your collection. What you have done is not excessive imo (all respect to your wife and wives everywhere), and you make a living playing and talking about them. I have appreciated very much what I have learned from you and hope to learn more in the future. God bless you, your family, and your channel!
I like you Zac. I am not a tele guy nor do I care much for anything country music, but your relaxed, friendly personality and gentlemanly courtesy brings me back again and again.
Hey Zac I love your show. This was great. I am a 74 year old guitar newbie. Started on acoustic in March. Plan to go electronic ala Dylan. Lol! In December. Probably going to buy a Nashville player plus model. Unfortunately can’t spend more than 1,200. Then borrow an amp from my grandson. Hope to learn a few outlaw country tunes before I go belly up. Appreciate you. Keep up the good work.
Guitarist to spouse: 'I need more Teles!' Spouse: 'Nope.' Guitarist: 'But listen to Zac's Teles, they all have their own sound and purpose - proof reasoning!' Spouse: 'Nope.' (Worth a shot...!) Best sounding vid so far, simply because we get to hear ALL of them!
Here's how to fool the old wife. Order from a dealer who uses FedEx home delivery. My driver delivers at 7:00 AM, before the wife gets up. It takes 10 minutes to unbox, and I rush the case & guitar to my man cave. The box can be taken to our storage locker.
I just moved this past week and a friend of mine who helped me wanted to know why I needed 10 guitars and I told him it’s not about need. BTW he has 3 boats at his house and 1 in the lake 😮. We all have a sickness with something 😉. Great video Zac!
Well , i have 1 tele and that is enough for me , i had an strat and lp too , but i wanted to downsize to one solid body guitar and for me the tele is the most versatile solidbody guitar there is , together with my ES 335 guitar ( with bigsby ) and my martin DM acoustic i have all the guitars i will ever need .
I have a MiM Tele, a Chrissie Hynde Telecaster, a B Bender and GAS. Interesting story how I got CH Telecaster. A while back I ordered an Albert Hammond Jr. Stratocaster from Guitar Center. When I went to pick it up I told the GC employee where I had a dream where I was talking to the manager about getting the wrong guitar. In the dream the GC manager told me I really should keep it because it was worth more money. I told the Guitar Center employee maybe I should open it up in case there is the worng guitar inside - jokingly. And it blew our mind, inside the factory sealed box & gig bag marked AH Jr. was a Chrissie Hynde Telecaster. I don’t know how often Fender makes those mistakes. I thought 'what are the odds that happenkng?' So I kept it, instead of returning it. I guess if you meant to own a Telecaster it will find its way to you.
Thanks for this video. I tortured myself for the last two months. Because I bought my third Telecaster and thought I have to sell at least one of the older ones or resell the new one. But I couldn’t decide. All three sound different and all sound great. Now I will keep them all for the moment. 😊 Could you make a video about the difference in tone between your blackguard an the 57? Would be interesting.
My favorite Tele concert was put on by Fender in support of the Nashville NAMM show in the late eighties. It was Danny Gatton with Scotty Anderson and Brent Mason. Also saw the Hellacasters 3 Tele line up at the Exit Inn NV where I sat with Ray Flacke, who said Ritchie Blackmoor was a snake charmer on the guitar because he played so well. Kentucky Woman by early Deep Purple is one of my favorite solos. The Hellacaster show included a G and L Tele give away. My friend who owned over 30 Teles won another one !!! He who has gets sometimes. Good job Zac !!!
ZAC..a king.. a potentate(ck spell) true inspiration to millions..thanks for years of breathing life into an old geezer (50 plus years of playing ..lap,pedal,dobro..i played live at herb remingtons 4th of july party back in the 80's) but a proud fan and follower..THANK YOU
I have 3... Two are exactly the same model made a few months apart...one is a custom build nocaster that beat a real Fender 50 Nocaster 2020 RI in a blind taste test...but they are all Maple necks, and now I want a 60 rosewood cap tele two-tone Sunburst with double creme binding...hey, a guy can dream can't he?
Late to this party. Mostly because I’ve kinda been saving this episode so what little “focus” I got left could be put to use. As always, Zac you’re a great hang. You make doin dishes and folding laundry something to look forward to! Again, THANK you for your time and tales. They are treasures!
Hi Zac! the pickup that spoke to me the most is the bridge in the 67! Sounds fantastic! Your 67 is my favorite! Reggie is Tele royalty! :) When Redd speaks, the smart guys listen! Great collection!
I just picked up my BrownBox from AmpRx thanks to watching your podcast from the folks in Mount Joliet. I am presently waiting for my tele to return from Gene Parsons, who is currently about 80% finished installing his original patented Parson-White b-string bender in his shop in Caspar, California!!!!!! I love your Glaser Bender and your humble yet talented tele playing. I’m a former banjo player trying to learn the guitar stylings of my hero, Clarence White both as a flat picker with The Kentucky Colonels and a tele player with The Byrds. All the best from Franklin, TN
Zac, your Tele enthusiasm is absolutely infectious! It's by far my favorite guitar type. I know you decouple the bridge pickup from the tone control on your instruments, but what value volume and tone pots do you prefer for Teles with a humbucker neck and single coil bridge? Thank you!
There’s a certain genuine quality to your videos that kinda blows the whistle on a lot of other ones that are really just corny, it’s nice to see people who are equal parts enthusiastic and knowledgeable, (thinkin bout the big al episode too!)
I have 8 Fender Telecasters! Lol! Vintera 50s, Esquire, Noventa, Cabronita, ‘72 Custom, American Special and two Highway One! And a Squier Custom Esquire making it actually 9! The Tele us the greatest guitar ever.
I really like the 6th guitar. A humbucker on the top and the single at the bridge, with a Bigsby like vibrato. I've always wondered why Fender didn't just put one of those 2 coil pickups at the bridge with a switch. Thanks for the review of your teles!
You’ve not only inspired my passion but you’ve challenged my ideas of tone and style. He’s a question if you were building a thinline what would put in it? Pups?
I resisted getting a tele until I had already been playing for over 30 years. Put together half a dozen and kept the best 2. Easy to acquire and easy to sell.
By the way, if anyone should read and be curious… the winning formula is so simple. Find the lightest nitro finished ash body you can with moderate wear, buy a great Mexican fender neck, source decent hardware and pickups and research setup. My 2 keepers are basically a 57 and a 68
I can appreciate your love of Tele's Zac, my first electric was a Kent. My second guitar was a real 70's Tele which I played for a couple of years but the ground humm from those original Fender pups drove me crazy on gigs. Next a Gibson LP gold top...too heavy and that had to go. In 83 I bought a brand new Strat which I still use on gigs today. The original pups, I replaced with EMG's as I am a rock player. Unlike others here though, I love CW guitar pickers like yourself, the finesse on the instrument and the great licks are fascinating to me as a guitar player. I can fake it a bit when required but nothing like you guys! I share your love of your Tele's but in my case, it's my Strats!
Fantastic episode. You are a fantastic historian and guitar player. I always want to pick up my Tele’s and play after watching your show! It’s definitely an addiction!
This seems like a good place to ask you a question, Zac… In my Tele tinkering I have found that tone capacitor values and types make bold differences in the sonic character of my guitars. It’s easy to explore by soldering in leads with alligator clips and swapping different caps in rapid succession. Have you ever delved into this with your collection? I’d love to hear what discoveries you may have made. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing - great stories and great guitars. And thanks to Joe, Nick and the Glaser Mafia - the nicest and most professional guitar guys anywhere. Fly here for Glaser. You will be glad you did.
Hey Zac, as tele owners and always looking for another of interest, lets talk price for models we might want , its not scary, we all have bought expensive cars and trucks, so a 10k tele is not the end of the world if you can find one you want. Better a guitar of value than a depreciating 60k junker pickup truck.and by the way good job ZAC!
I’ve got a Black 2022 MIM Tele w/S/D pickups ,a Custom Build Don Rich SilverSparkle Dbl-White binding w/SD pickups ,Custom Build Baritone Tele. They’re like my children. Crum Customs is the builder.He’s just outside of Waco Texas Tele’s.Strat’s,Baritones,PBass or Jazz,built to your specs. All shielded and Plek’d. All are Pro Models. He’s a lead guitar player previously with Doug Stone,& is now a Fill-In Lead player for Gary P Nunn. He built a Knock out gorgeous Blonde 1pc. SwampAsh that’s for sale.
I love your collection. It has lots of mojo. What is your ideal tone of the tele? Do you like big clean tone with full body, round, and smooth? Or do you like lower output, chimney and tight low end? I feel that some tele are great for jazz trio while snappy bright and articulate are great for country and blues. What is your take?
I've learned more about Telecasters from you than any book could provide. What about the Fernandes Telecasters? Are they any good? The JV TL-62, if you can find one, is expensive.
Bill Crook used to get his guitar parts from USACG. I went into USACG before they went belly up. I took a Tele neck into there that I got in pawn shop Tele that had a Warmoth body and they told me it was made in 2005. I bought a Warmoth neck and I picked up a USACG Basswood Tele Master body which was on close out. My favorite pickups are DiMarzio Twang Kings.
Hey Zac, that's one fine collection, I've been following your channel for a while and there is just something about the 67 that has always appealed to me, I love the cream body against the white pick guard and that bridge pickup sounds perfect. Is that a 7 1/4 neck radius? Glad that you enjoy them so much.
Excellent video Zac. It's so entertaining to me to see how guitar players shape their collection. We all play guitar, but the instrument choice can be so idiosyncratic. One of my favorites is my all Rosewood Tele with a humbucker in the neck position. What do you think of the all Rosewood Teles?
I play wildly different music to you, but for both of us the Telecaster really works. How did Leo get it so right? It’s such a versatile sound and can really fit into so many places.
Always a great informative channel. I'll fully admit that youre style and discussion of sound has helped me reorient my sound, on top of helping me decide to take up that country fingerpickin'! Best wishes as always.
I’ve got a Tele problem too. ‘98 Telesonic (w/ Dynasonics), a ‘20 Revelator Swamp Ash/Maple Whiteguard, & a Black Paisley CS TL Double Esquire w/ Mod 51 Wiring
Hey thanks for the tour through your Tele collection Zac!They look and sound excellent, all personalized to your spec! Some really fascinating touches. I might give that middle position 3rd Duncan Strat pickup with only one pole active a shot on one of my Tele’s! And when I get a B/G bender it will definitely be a Glaser! As always my sincerest thanks!❤🎼🎸👍🙏
Bought my first Tele used in the late 70’s, recall about $350. Let’s see about 45 years later, how many Tele’s can one man acquire, let’s just say a lot. Still working on possible variations. A bit of a nylon string resurgence this year but there still a smell of tubes in the air. It all got bad when our electric player left and I went from acoustic to fill the void. Tele’s do take less space than acoustics.
All those Tele's are real winners! Yes, Music City stuff is really good, I have several of thier products and may buy that new fret dressing tool whick looks amazing. I'm fortunate enough to have a set of Ron Ellis Telecaster pickups too which I love!
So interesting to see the body thickness difference. Other than weight do you hear a tone differences with the thinner body? Nice collection that all sound great
That's a nice varied stable of Teles you have there Zac! Looking forward to seeing what your next one will be. ;) I think the most Teles I've ever had at one time was four or five. But my sickness these days (guitar wise) is acoustics. I guess I have ten of them at present. Most recent acquisition there is a Waterloo WL-S Stella model, it is truly stellar. I think I saw you have a Waterloo too? I love 'em, have three at the moment! :) I only have one Tele now and it's a real oddball parts guitar that I built around 15 years ago: TL 'hog body with a 27" bari neck, 50s Rickenbacker horseshoe pup on the bridge and a 60s Teisco goldfoil on the neck; topped off with a Bigsby. Boy, that guit has a LOT of sounds in her; truly a Tele on steroids... That horseshoe has a '3D' kind of tone that is just uncanny. I recently saw a vid where Ry says he originally had a horseshoe in mind for his very first build in the 70s, and just didn't have one on hand so used a Valco that Lindley supplied; but lately he's been seen playing a Strat with a horseshoe, so I guess he finally got it out of his system...
@@AskZac thanks Zack, I really need to do a short UA-cam vid showing it off. I just haven't been up to the task for quite a while, but it needs to happen. Everyone that sees / here's it is blown away.
Love it! The second tele, the blond one, looks like it has a really thin neck. I have a similar one, Fender Japan neck with Haarguitars lightweight body. Love it.
Your “numero uno” is a sweet-sounding guitar, and it dates back to when they had big chunks of lumber lying around the shop. I bet you and Dan Strain had a celebration when you took off that old finish. The pick guard is simply cool…😎 The Bigsby is a gift in so many ways, a gesture of appreciation for being you, I’m pretty sure, and I’m sure he just wanted to see it live on in appreciative hands, getting some TLC along the way. It’s like Joe Bonamassa said: for now, these are in my possession. Who knows what happens after I’m gone.😎😬
Both uncle Larry and Zac have extremely light touch- no pick attack and no out of tune pressure for chording and soloing- all professional needs for secession/live rhythm playing- so different than “a frontman” for a band
Love this! I modded my Brent Mason tele with the Music City Bridge kit just like your first one, but I honestly do miss the tone control. Once I rig one up, it will be what I've wanted. Great video.
I know you use the reverb on your Deluxe, but you've also mentioned some of your favorite reverb pedals. Can you remind me what some of your favorites are?
Just a suggestion, I personally would love a Waylon Jennings episode. My girlfriend and I listen to the Wanted album 6 nights out of ten just brushing our teeth before bed. Could be fun to explore that 70's phase 90 coolness that I love so much. For my money that little lick that kicks off the electric/rocking part of "Honky-tonk Heroes" is my favorite guitar lick of all time. There's something about it. Its elusively simple. Peace.
SIX Tele's and NONE set up Keef style with a humbucker in the neck??? What on Earth were you thinking?!? 😅 You are fortunate to be working with Dan Strain - I have a '63 sunburst Danocaster double cut (S type) made in 2014 and I like it even better than my Custom Shop '52 Thin Skin Tele. And I like the Tele better now that I've installed a Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucker in the neck. I also installed Seymour's Jerry Donahue Tele bridge, which I prefer to the Custom Shop pickup (I think it's a Nocaster). Well made guitar but I didn't play it much until I changed the pickups.
I have 2, a Hot Rod 60th anniversary reissue of the 52❤ A nice MIM 72 reissue of a Thinline with the fake full range humbuckers. I actually like the humbuckers. If I had the money there's one at the store that I would love to get.
Great tele collection Zac. Speaking of accidentally hitting that microphonic neck pickup…I always have that issue when playing my Brent Mason telecaster. But I love the tone so I don’t want to change it out. I try to pick further in between the two pickups but it’s hard to break old habits. Lol
Man I know what you mean. After playing a Strat for 30 years, I've had to adjust to that neck pickup on my Brent Mason as well.. still hit it occasionally.
Great video again. I’m sure I’m not the first to ask, but any intention to put hands on the PRS Tele answer if you haven’t already? Really curious what you think of it!
The guitar at 19:00 where did you get the V neck ? I want to put a tele together soon, I don’t think I wanna put a U neck on it. That guitar sounds amazing.
Hi Zac, I've really become addicted to your two UA-cam channels. Thanks for sharing your six Teles with us. I wish that I could post a picture of my collection. I have approximately 16 or 17 including 3 Esquires. Half of them a legitimate Fenders. The other half are assembled from mostly Fender parts.I do also use Rutter and Glendale parts mostly their knobs. Your favorite Tele, you forgot to tell us what year it is. I rewound the video to see if I missed it. Next time I watch the video, I'm going to take notes so that I have a reference other then rewatching the video. Thanks again.
All of those tele’s/esquire are amazing, and would be a dream to own. As for the tone across all pickups, I like the 57 esquire the most. I can see why it would be your favorite.
![Pimp Your Vintage Guitar? [Dan’s ‘65 Fender Tele or Custom Shop?]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EwBXaq72jQI/mqdefault.jpg)
If anyone makes a negative comment here they are not paying attention. Six telecasters that have so much thought put into the parts and playability. There are many guitar enthusiasts and players on UA-cam but if you are looking for a guy that knows telecasters and how to get the most out of them look no further. You have a wealth of knowledge about tele pickups, wiring, saddles, bridgeplates, etc. I love all of these guitars and each occupies a necessary place in your collection. What you have done is not excessive imo (all respect to your wife and wives everywhere), and you make a living playing and talking about them. I have appreciated very much what I have learned from you and hope to learn more in the future. God bless you, your family, and your channel!
Wow! Thank you so much!
I agree!
They're not all supposed to be alike, are they?
We’ll said! This is THE BEST UA-cam channel for all things guitar!😊
I concur .
I like you Zac. I am not a tele guy nor do I care much for anything country music, but your relaxed, friendly personality and gentlemanly courtesy brings me back again and again.
This was the Tele crack that I needed. Thank you from one Tele junkie to another.............
Hey Zac I love your show. This was great. I am a 74 year old guitar newbie. Started on acoustic in March. Plan to go electronic ala Dylan. Lol! In December. Probably going to buy a Nashville player plus model. Unfortunately can’t spend more than 1,200. Then borrow an amp from my grandson. Hope to learn a few outlaw country tunes before I go belly up. Appreciate you. Keep up the good work.
That's awesome man keep on playing
That neck pickup @ 7:35 sounds great.
Rookie! I just bought tele #11! They all sound different to my ears…and you can never have too many teles…
Guitarist to spouse: 'I need more Teles!'
Spouse: 'Nope.'
Guitarist: 'But listen to Zac's Teles, they all have their own sound and purpose - proof reasoning!'
Spouse: 'Nope.'
(Worth a shot...!)
Best sounding vid so far, simply because we get to hear ALL of them!
Here's how to fool the old wife. Order from a dealer who uses FedEx home delivery. My driver delivers at 7:00 AM, before the wife gets up. It takes 10 minutes to unbox, and I rush the case & guitar to my man cave. The box can be taken to our storage locker.
I just moved this past week and a friend of mine who helped me wanted to know why I needed 10 guitars and I told him it’s not about need. BTW he has 3 boats at his house and 1 in the lake 😮. We all have a sickness with something 😉. Great video Zac!
Wow, my favorite is the 50's Telecaster but the paisley sounds good and the Bigby has surprising sustain and tone!
Well , i have 1 tele and that is enough for me , i had an strat and lp too , but i wanted to downsize to one solid body guitar and for me the tele is the most versatile solidbody guitar there is , together with my ES 335 guitar ( with bigsby ) and my martin DM acoustic i have all the guitars i will ever need .
Hey Zac nice collection.. your 67 Tele sounds AMAZING that guitar has very unique tones warm and woody what a beauty.
Only six?? Those are rookie numbers! You gotta pump those number up, baby!!!
You killed it with number one; that thing is absolutely incredible.
I have a MiM Tele, a Chrissie Hynde Telecaster, a B Bender and GAS.
Interesting story how I got CH Telecaster. A while back I ordered an Albert Hammond Jr. Stratocaster from Guitar Center. When I went to pick it up I told the GC employee where I had a dream where I was talking to the manager about getting the wrong guitar. In the dream the GC manager told me I really should keep it because it was worth more money.
I told the Guitar Center employee maybe I should open it up in case there is the worng guitar inside - jokingly. And it blew our mind, inside the factory sealed box & gig bag marked AH Jr. was a Chrissie Hynde Telecaster. I don’t know how often Fender makes those mistakes. I thought 'what are the odds that happenkng?' So I kept it, instead of returning it.
I guess if you meant to own a Telecaster it will find its way to you.
You did good!
Love this video! What a cool collection.
Incidentally, “rattle can blue” is one of my favourite shades 😂
Thanks for this video. I tortured myself for the last two months. Because I bought my third Telecaster and thought I have to sell at least one of the older ones or resell the new one. But I couldn’t decide. All three sound different and all sound great. Now I will keep them all for the moment. 😊 Could you make a video about the difference in tone between your blackguard an the 57? Would be interesting.
My favorite Tele concert was put on by Fender in support of the Nashville NAMM show in the late eighties. It was Danny Gatton with Scotty Anderson and Brent Mason. Also saw the Hellacasters 3 Tele line up at the Exit Inn NV where I sat with Ray Flacke, who said Ritchie Blackmoor was a snake charmer on the guitar because he played so well. Kentucky Woman by early Deep Purple is one of my favorite solos. The Hellacaster show included a G and L Tele give away. My friend who owned over 30 Teles won another one !!! He who has gets sometimes. Good job Zac !!!
ZAC..a king.. a potentate(ck spell) true inspiration to millions..thanks for years of breathing life into an old geezer (50 plus years of playing ..lap,pedal,dobro..i played live at herb remingtons 4th of july party back in the 80's) but a proud fan and follower..THANK YOU
Thanks brother from Warren in England. 😎
I see Zac and an abundance of Telecasters and I click. ❤🎉
It’s ok. No problem. You are alright. You are normal. No problem. Mine went from one to thirty in 10 years. I made 15 of them. The others are Fenders.
I have 3...
Two are exactly the same model made a few months apart...one is a custom build nocaster that beat a real Fender 50 Nocaster 2020 RI in a blind taste test...but they are all Maple necks, and now I want a 60 rosewood cap tele two-tone Sunburst with double creme binding...hey, a guy can dream can't he?
Late to this party. Mostly because I’ve kinda been saving this episode so what little “focus” I got left could be put to use.
As always, Zac you’re a great hang. You make doin dishes and folding laundry something to look forward to! Again, THANK you for your time and tales. They are treasures!
THANKS!
Yea I recently bought a Nash t-63 and a valley arts Brent mason model. It’s all your fault Zac 😂
Love the tele content brotha!
It’s also Zac’s fault that I bought a 67 DR!
Absolutely love your infectious enthusiasm for the tele!
Hi Zac! the pickup that spoke to me the most is the bridge in the 67! Sounds fantastic! Your 67 is my favorite! Reggie is Tele royalty! :) When Redd speaks, the smart guys listen! Great collection!
I just picked up my BrownBox from AmpRx thanks to watching your podcast from the folks in Mount Joliet.
I am presently waiting for my tele to return from Gene Parsons, who is currently about 80% finished installing his original patented Parson-White b-string bender in his shop in Caspar, California!!!!!!
I love your Glaser Bender and your humble yet talented tele playing.
I’m a former banjo player trying to learn the guitar stylings of my hero, Clarence White both as a flat picker with The Kentucky Colonels and a tele player with The Byrds.
All the best from Franklin, TN
Great video, really enjoyed listening and learning the history of the Zacasters!
Awesome, thank you!
Such a simple guitar, yet so many ways to configure them. Options are the epitome of freedom.
Such a fun episode of showing all of these together!
Thanks, Jay!!!
Zac, your Tele enthusiasm is absolutely infectious! It's by far my favorite guitar type. I know you decouple the bridge pickup from the tone control on your instruments, but what value volume and tone pots do you prefer for Teles with a humbucker neck and single coil bridge? Thank you!
Still decouple the neck pickup, and use 250k pots, even with a neck bucker
There’s a certain genuine quality to your videos that kinda blows the whistle on a lot of other ones that are really just corny, it’s nice to see people who are equal parts enthusiastic and knowledgeable, (thinkin bout the big al episode too!)
I greatly appreciate this.
Love the 67, but the Bigsby is so fantastically funky!! Great tour👍
I have 8 Fender Telecasters! Lol! Vintera 50s, Esquire, Noventa, Cabronita, ‘72 Custom, American Special and two Highway One! And a Squier Custom Esquire making it actually 9!
The Tele us the greatest guitar ever.
I really like the 6th guitar. A humbucker on the top and the single at the bridge, with a Bigsby like vibrato. I've always wondered why Fender didn't just put one of those 2 coil pickups at the bridge with a switch. Thanks for the review of your teles!
You’ve not only inspired my passion but you’ve challenged my ideas of tone and style. He’s a question if you were building a thinline what would put in it? Pups?
I resisted getting a tele until I had already been playing for over 30 years. Put together half a dozen and kept the best 2. Easy to acquire and easy to sell.
By the way, if anyone should read and be curious… the winning formula is so simple. Find the lightest nitro finished ash body you can with moderate wear, buy a great Mexican fender neck, source decent hardware and pickups and research setup. My 2 keepers are basically a 57 and a 68
I can appreciate your love of Tele's Zac, my first electric was a Kent. My second guitar was a real 70's Tele which I played for a couple of years but the ground humm from those original Fender pups drove me crazy on gigs. Next a Gibson LP gold top...too heavy and that had to go. In 83 I bought a brand new Strat which I still use on gigs today. The original pups, I replaced with EMG's as I am a rock player. Unlike others here though, I love CW guitar pickers like yourself, the finesse on the instrument and the great licks are fascinating to me as a guitar player. I can fake it a bit when required but nothing like you guys! I share your love of your Tele's but in my case, it's my Strats!
Fantastic episode. You are a fantastic historian and guitar player. I always want to pick up my Tele’s and play after watching your show! It’s definitely an addiction!
Thank you for sharing your cool collection!
They all sound fantastic….but that number one is just perfect!
13:00 That’s such a great restoration - it couldn’t have found a more sympathetic custodian 👍
This seems like a good place to ask you a question, Zac… In my Tele tinkering I have found that tone capacitor values and types make bold differences in the sonic character of my guitars. It’s easy to explore by soldering in leads with alligator clips and swapping different caps in rapid succession. Have you ever delved into this with your collection? I’d love to hear what discoveries you may have made. Cheers!
Thanks for sharing - great stories and great guitars. And thanks to Joe, Nick and the Glaser Mafia - the nicest and most professional guitar guys anywhere. Fly here for Glaser. You will be glad you did.
Hey Zac, as tele owners and always looking for another of interest, lets talk price for models we might want , its not scary, we all have bought expensive cars and trucks, so a 10k tele is not the end of the world if you can find one you want. Better a guitar of value than a depreciating 60k junker pickup truck.and by the way good job ZAC!
I’ve got a Black 2022 MIM Tele w/S/D pickups ,a Custom Build Don Rich SilverSparkle Dbl-White binding w/SD pickups ,Custom Build Baritone Tele.
They’re like my children.
Crum Customs is the builder.He’s just outside of Waco Texas
Tele’s.Strat’s,Baritones,PBass or Jazz,built to your specs.
All shielded and Plek’d.
All are Pro Models.
He’s a lead guitar player previously with Doug Stone,& is now a Fill-In Lead player for Gary P Nunn.
He built a Knock out gorgeous Blonde 1pc. SwampAsh that’s for sale.
Joe and his crew are Great to deal with! Thanks for sharing your Tele Collection 🎸
2025 I remember when Zac only had six Teles
The Tele is the Model A Ford of guitars... Designed to be hottrodded, modified and customized... And a parts industry built around doing just that.
I love your collection. It has lots of mojo. What is your ideal tone of the tele? Do you like big clean tone with full body, round, and smooth? Or do you like lower output, chimney and tight low end? I feel that some tele are great for jazz trio while snappy bright and articulate are great for country and blues. What is your take?
I was lucky enough to see the original Guitar Town tour in 1986-I think it was Cambridge MA.(or the Paradise in Boston). The band was on fire!
All beauties! I really like that kubicki dano Frankenstein. She has the most unique but still 100% tele tone!
I've learned more about Telecasters from you than any book could provide. What about the Fernandes Telecasters? Are they any good? The JV TL-62, if you can find one, is expensive.
Bill Crook used to get his guitar parts from USACG. I went into USACG before they went belly up. I took a Tele neck into there that I got in pawn shop Tele that had a Warmoth body and they told me it was made in 2005. I bought a Warmoth neck and I picked up a USACG Basswood Tele Master body which was on close out. My favorite pickups are DiMarzio Twang Kings.
Hey Zac, that's one fine collection, I've been following your channel for a while and there is just something about the 67 that has always appealed to me, I love the cream body against the white pick guard and that bridge pickup sounds perfect. Is that a 7 1/4 neck radius? Glad that you enjoy them so much.
7.25 radius
Excellent video Zac. It's so entertaining to me to see how guitar players shape their collection. We all play guitar, but the instrument choice can be so idiosyncratic. One of my favorites is my all Rosewood Tele with a humbucker in the neck position. What do you think of the all Rosewood Teles?
They tend to be heavy, but sound great
Luckily mine is chambered. Thanks for the reply and have a great Fourth Zac!
Thanks for the tour.
You bet!!!
I want that 1967 telecaster so bad. That’s basically my dream guitar
I play wildly different music to you, but for both of us the Telecaster really works. How did Leo get it so right? It’s such a versatile sound and can really fit into so many places.
Always a great informative channel. I'll fully admit that youre style and discussion of sound has helped me reorient my sound, on top of helping me decide to take up that country fingerpickin'! Best wishes as always.
I’ve got a Tele problem too. ‘98 Telesonic (w/ Dynasonics), a ‘20 Revelator Swamp Ash/Maple Whiteguard, & a Black Paisley CS TL Double Esquire w/ Mod 51 Wiring
My favorite is the 50s Tele. That neck looks amazing
Hey thanks for the tour through your Tele collection Zac!They look and sound excellent, all personalized to your spec! Some really fascinating touches. I might give that middle position 3rd Duncan Strat pickup with only one pole active a shot on one of my Tele’s! And when I get a B/G bender it will definitely be a Glaser! As always my sincerest thanks!❤🎼🎸👍🙏
The '67 is Stellar. Has a great snap to it.
Bought my first Tele used in the late 70’s, recall about $350. Let’s see about 45 years later, how many Tele’s can one man acquire, let’s just say a lot. Still working on possible variations. A bit of a nylon string resurgence this year but there still a smell of tubes in the air. It all got bad when our electric player left and I went from acoustic to fill the void. Tele’s do take less space than acoustics.
Thanks so much for sharing. This was a great episode, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Take care
Love your channel. Enjoy your opinions and insights! Keep it coming Mate
That was fun. I have a heavily modded Japanese 52 RI Bigsby white blonde Tele. Thinking about doing the pickguard personalization thing.
All those Tele's are real winners! Yes, Music City stuff is really good, I have several of thier products and may buy that new fret dressing tool whick looks amazing. I'm fortunate enough to have a set of Ron Ellis Telecaster pickups too which I love!
Zac, I just watched a video of JD Simo playing Michael Bloomfield's fabled Blue Telecaster. Something I thought was lost in the sands of time.
So interesting to see the body thickness difference. Other than weight do you hear a tone differences with the thinner body? Nice collection that all sound great
I think other factors affect tone more than body thickness
@@AskZac so glad you said that.
It absolutely is a sickness. I have 4 and they’re all early Fender Road Worn models. Love me a Tele!
Rw’s are great
You’ve got some killer Teles there!
That's a nice varied stable of Teles you have there Zac! Looking forward to seeing what your next one will be. ;) I think the most Teles I've ever had at one time was four or five. But my sickness these days (guitar wise) is acoustics. I guess I have ten of them at present. Most recent acquisition there is a Waterloo WL-S Stella model, it is truly stellar. I think I saw you have a Waterloo too? I love 'em, have three at the moment! :)
I only have one Tele now and it's a real oddball parts guitar that I built around 15 years ago: TL 'hog body with a 27" bari neck, 50s Rickenbacker horseshoe pup on the bridge and a 60s Teisco goldfoil on the neck; topped off with a Bigsby. Boy, that guit has a LOT of sounds in her; truly a Tele on steroids...
That horseshoe has a '3D' kind of tone that is just uncanny. I recently saw a vid where Ry says he originally had a horseshoe in mind for his very first build in the 70s, and just didn't have one on hand so used a Valco that Lindley supplied; but lately he's been seen playing a Strat with a horseshoe, so I guess he finally got it out of his system...
That Tele sounds amazing
@@AskZac thanks Zack, I really need to do a short UA-cam vid showing it off. I just haven't been up to the task for quite a while, but it needs to happen. Everyone that sees / here's it is blown away.
Man that #1 tele was spot on. Sounded marvelous Zac!!
Certainly those Teles lean hard on the cool! Love the tones. Feel must be great with the finish worn off.
I have two new telecasters…and my wife is not happy. 😂
Yeah but you are. And thats all that matters. Lol
Relax, they never are 😅
Love it! The second tele, the blond one, looks like it has a really thin neck. I have a similar one, Fender Japan neck with Haarguitars lightweight body. Love it.
Your “numero uno” is a sweet-sounding guitar, and it dates back to when they had big chunks of lumber lying around the shop. I bet you and Dan Strain had a celebration when you took off that old finish. The pick guard is simply cool…😎
The Bigsby is a gift in so many ways, a gesture of appreciation for being you, I’m pretty sure, and I’m sure he just wanted to see it live on in appreciative hands, getting some TLC along the way. It’s like Joe Bonamassa said: for now, these are in my possession. Who knows what happens after I’m gone.😎😬
Great bunch of Telecasters!
Both uncle Larry and Zac have extremely light touch- no pick attack and no out of tune pressure for chording and soloing- all professional needs for secession/live rhythm playing- so different than “a frontman” for a band
Would you say that front persons have more tension and squeeze the frets more?
I have two Teles, one '52 RI with a 4-way switch and Don Mare pickups, the other is a stock '52 RI with flats.
Beautiful guitars!!! Each one has a special vibe that separates it. Congrats on the collection (so far!) 😁
Thanks so much!
Loved this. Inspired me today.
Love this! I modded my Brent Mason tele with the Music City Bridge kit just like your first one, but I honestly do miss the tone control. Once I rig one up, it will be what I've wanted. Great video.
Very cool!
I know you use the reverb on your Deluxe, but you've also mentioned some of your favorite reverb pedals. Can you remind me what some of your favorites are?
I like the MXR reverb pedal as it has a good spring sound
Just a suggestion, I personally would love a Waylon Jennings episode. My girlfriend and I listen to the Wanted album 6 nights out of ten just brushing our teeth before bed. Could be fun to explore that 70's phase 90 coolness that I love so much.
For my money that little lick that kicks off the electric/rocking part of "Honky-tonk Heroes" is my favorite guitar lick of all time. There's something about it. Its elusively simple.
Peace.
SIX Tele's and NONE set up Keef style with a humbucker in the neck??? What on Earth were you thinking?!? 😅 You are fortunate to be working with Dan Strain - I have a '63 sunburst Danocaster double cut (S type) made in 2014 and I like it even better than my Custom Shop '52 Thin Skin Tele. And I like the Tele better now that I've installed a Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucker in the neck. I also installed Seymour's Jerry Donahue Tele bridge, which I prefer to the Custom Shop pickup (I think it's a Nocaster). Well made guitar but I didn't play it much until I changed the pickups.
I have 2, a Hot Rod 60th anniversary reissue of the 52❤ A nice MIM 72 reissue of a Thinline with the fake full range humbuckers. I actually like the humbuckers. If I had the money there's one at the store that I would love to get.
Great tele collection Zac. Speaking of accidentally hitting that microphonic neck pickup…I always have that issue when playing my Brent Mason telecaster. But I love the tone so I don’t want to change it out. I try to pick further in between the two pickups but it’s hard to break old habits. Lol
Man I know what you mean. After playing a Strat for 30 years, I've had to adjust to that neck pickup on my Brent Mason as well.. still hit it occasionally.
Great video again. I’m sure I’m not the first to ask, but any intention to put hands on the PRS Tele answer if you haven’t already? Really curious what you think of it!
no plans as of yet
Thanks Zac, really enjoyed this one!
My pleasure!
The guitar at 19:00 where did you get the V neck ? I want to put a tele together soon, I don’t think I wanna put a U neck on it. That guitar sounds amazing.
Shop around, many v neck around
Hi Zac, I've really become addicted to your two UA-cam channels. Thanks for sharing your six Teles with us. I wish that I could post a picture of my collection. I have approximately 16 or 17 including 3 Esquires. Half of them a legitimate Fenders. The other half are assembled from mostly Fender parts.I do also use Rutter and Glendale parts mostly their knobs. Your favorite Tele, you forgot to tell us what year it is. I rewound the video to see if I missed it. Next time I watch the video, I'm going to take notes so that I have a reference other then rewatching the video. Thanks again.
1957
All of those tele’s/esquire are amazing, and would be a dream to own. As for the tone across all pickups, I like the 57 esquire the most. I can see why it would be your favorite.
Hi Zac, nice guitars. What year is the number 1 ? Maybe I missed that.
Super cool guitars. All of them.
Question: Would it be blasphemy to put a three string tree on a vintage tele?
no
Telecaster fiend checking in! 15 and counting!
enjoy the nod to Cornell Dupree. Gotta be one of the top 3 most underrated guitar players in the last 100 years
Maybe one episode you can show us your book collection