24.75 telecaster twang

[CKSmith]

Hey all, I’ve been looking to get into telecasters, so I just ordered myself a variation on the Jazzcaster body they have here. I know the Tele’s sound is an essential one for the studio, but everything about the stock Tele I dislike. I hate the ergonomics of the body shape, the scale length, and the control layout. This Tele build is basically everything I can do to get a Tele sound out of something that doesn’t look or play like one.

My question is this: will I still get a twangy telecaster sound from a 24.75 inch scale neck as opposed to a 25.5? My other forum deep dives have had mixed opinions, so I thought I’d ask here. Where does the Tele get its sound, and does the neck play a role in it for you?

 

[stratamania]

A lot of a tele's sound comes from the bridge. And indeed the scale length also plays a part. Pickups also play a part, and some are more twangy than others.

 

[Rick]

Yes. Tele bridge with a tele bridge pick up will yield tele sounds. Shorter scale length will make it warmer than a regular tele as more harmonics are packed into the allotted space. For me, I find the short scale necks cramped, but the only way you'll know is if you go out and try. You can always sell the neck if you don't like it.

 

[triple jim]

You can use strings that are a little heavier to get the string tension back to where it would be with a 25.5" scale and I doubt if I could tell it's not a normal Tele. Of course maybe you got the shorter scale because you like a little less tension.

 

[CKSmith]

I’m very much a low effort player due to teaching and playing for a living exclusively. My daily driver is a Gibson SG standard with 9-46s, action as low as it’ll go, and it’s insane how much this guitar works for me. I have larger hands, but I play with a very light touch.

I do have a strat, but I notice that I need to work harder to play it, particularly shredding lower on the neck, and chord voicings spanning 5-6 frets. I also play a P-bass, so I can deal, but I don’t play it nearly as much as guitar.

When I tried various scale lengths in the guitar store this afternoon, I noticed a loss in ringing high harmonics as a switched between Gibsons and Teles, however, I don’t know how much of this has to do with single coil vs humbucker, bridge style, or scale length.

Hopefully someone who’s made the switch can weigh in.

 

[Hodgo]

Tele bridge pickup is a good 50% of the contribution to my ears. A little compression, maybe a tight delay and/or chorus, a Fender or Vox style amp and of course the requisite skill to chicken pick is the other half the battle IMHO.

 

[Rick]

I've done the switch and the only way for to know for yourself and whether it matters to you, is to do it. You need to own a regular Tele and gig with it. After the first session you'll know and whether it's for you. Whatever we describe for you is like dancing about architecture. Just get a Tele, play it, then swap the neck.

 

[Scab Pickens]

I know the Tele’s sound is an essential one for the studio, but everything about the stock Tele I dislike. I hate the ergonomics of the body shape, the scale length, and the control layout.

I don't know what you think is "the Tele's sound". Do you realize how many different sounds have been made with the Fender Telecaster as their source? What sound are you going for? As far as the traditional Telecaster setup goes ... yeah, it's not a Jackson Soloist. Are you looking for spanky country, smooth jazz, rock and roll ... ?

Led Zeppelin?
Danny Gatton?
Modern CRAP country?

 

[Scab Pickens]

 

[CKSmith]

I would describe my typical telecaster bridge sound as a bright, midrangy tone almost with a natural 800hz frequency boost along with a 1.5k-3k spike in the top end. Not to mention a clear harmonic overtone with the bottom few strings.

These elements together allow it to naturally occupy a frequency range that allows it to be audible and present in a typical band mix. While you can boost these frequencies in any engineering setting, it’s nice to be able to “plug and play” and have an instrument with this sort of tonality right out of the box, with minimal amp tweaking or mixing needed. Speed of setup is the name of the game.

I’m wondering if the neck scale has a significant factor in this tonality, or if it only affects the note fundamental.

In terms of the music I’d play, it would most likely be used in a rock context, since most students of mine are drawn to that, and rock/rockabilly is most music I play. Though having the ability to do a typical country twang would be clutch in case I got hired for that sort of thing.

 

[triple jim]

When I tried various scale lengths in the guitar store this afternoon, I noticed a loss in ringing high harmonics as a switched between Gibsons and Teles, however, I don’t know how much of this has to do with single coil vs humbucker, bridge style, or scale length.

Pickup type is very relevant. In general, humbuckers have much lower resonant frequencies than single coils, so much less of what you called ringing high harmonics.

 

[stratamania]

You know, a Callaham tele bridge with stainless-steel saddles will be a bit brighter than brass. Couple that with something like a set of Joe Barden tele pickups (probably the modern T set if you play more rock than twang, otherwise the original Gatton set, which has a brighter bridge pickup, is also a possibility). This is going to give you convincing tele-type tones and playability with a shorter scale neck.

The scale length will always make a difference, but if the longer Fender length is not playable, better to get the shorter scale.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I think its pretty widely accepted that 25.5" scale length will be a brighter guitar. It may not be important for many styles of music, but for country style tele tone I'm pretty confident that it matters. My own view is that a Telecaster needs to be 25.5". If you want to build a 24.75" inch scale Tele clone, you can probably do it, but it may need a different recipe. I'm thinking about some kind of brighter pickup in the bridge or 500k tone pot to open up the brightness. I'd also suggest to use brighter woods so you don't add too much mids to the tone. Something like swamp ash and a roasted maple neck is what I have in mind, but I'm sure there are many possibilities.

 

[Rick]

I'll say this last thing, a guitar teacher needs to have played, and lived with, a couple of different guitars. Just do it, you're thinking too much.