Mahogany Tele?

[Stringtheorist]

Does anyone have any experience of playing a Tele with a mahogany body? I love my Warmoth alder-bodied Tele but I wonder whether a mahogany one would offer more sustain without deadening its characteristic "spank".

 

[tfarny]

I have one. It sounds great. But it's different from a traditional tele in lots of ways, so it's hard to say exactly what contribution the mahogany of the body plays. I suspect not much at all. Anyhow, what the heck is "spank" anyhow? Sounds like a pron term. My guess is that it's a trebly tele bridge pickup sound through a Fender amp turned up, played with a percussive picking style. I think if you get those things right, you'll be 90% of the way there.

 

[Stringtheorist]

Cool. I'm looking for an alternative Tele sound that retains the Tele bite (which you described) but works well for drop-tuned heavy music. My current Tele already works pretty well for this but as I say, sounds thin and lacks sustain on the upper strings. It's loaded with a vintage 3-saddle bridge (compensated brass saddles) and a Bare Knuckles Country Boy pickup. I want to use a stacked or bladed humbucker on the new one.

 

[bagman67]

Cool. I'm looking for an alternative Tele sound that retains the Tele bite (which you described) but works well for drop-tuned heavy music. My current Tele already works pretty well for this but as I say, sounds thin and lacks sustain on the upper strings. It's loaded with a vintage 3-saddle bridge (compensated brass saddles) and a Bare Knuckles Country Boy pickup. I want to use a stacked or bladed humbucker on the new one.

Be very very cautious applying a stacked or blade humbucker to the problem, then - a lot of the "spank" to which you refer is probably associated with the tendency of single-coils to have more of that high-end stuff that often gets lost with 'buckers.  Consider the Area series pups from DiMarzio - they have gotten good reviews around here from those who have tried them.

 

[Stringtheorist]

Yeah, that's a good point. Maybe I should stick to a hot single, instead. I really like the CS69/Texas Special combo in my Strat. I'm a bit worried about the hum though with singles, and the tendency to feed back at high volume. Tried the Area Strat pickups in the past and didn't care for them. EMGs?  :-\

 

[bagman67]

The Duncan Quarter Pound tele bridge pup brings it LOUD.  And the tapped version lets you dial it back to standard-tele output levels. 

 

[tfarny]

A characteristic tele sound comes mainly from low output tele bridge pickups, which are specifically not goodfor huge gain low tuned stuff like you are talking about -and changing up body woods is not the way around it. You are better off having a tele sounding tele for tele sounds, and a heavy guitar for modern heavy sounds.