Regal vs Carved Tele for HH single cut

Miseria

Junior Member
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If one were to be attempting a (play authentic  :icon_biggrin:) build inspired by good 'ole Les Paul would there be any differences in tone between a Regal + Hombre combo vs a carved Tele + conversion neck (23 3/4). Assuming all wood choices were the same (mahogany)?

I'm guessing the difference is mostly cosmetic, again assuming wood choices were the same.

I'm also considering a glued in neck kit from another company in Canada. I LOVED my tele build from Warmoth - just not sure how a bolt on LP would change the tone vs the set neck style. Anyone have some knowledge to drop on me for this ?

Thanks!
 
I A/B'ed a bunch of PRS' when I bought mine. There's definitely a big difference between the CE with the bolt on maple neck and all the other models with the glued in mahogany neck. Both acoustically and plugged in. I'm sure both the construction and materials are both contributors, but I'm not sure in what proportion. The CE is snappier, more like a Strat/LP combo. That's the only real experience I have to offer on that topic. I went with the CE, btw.

The non-specific thing I have to offer is if I think I want something and then I compromise, I usually end up getting the thing I wanted later and selling the compromise.
 
spe111 said:
...The non-specific thing I have to offer is if I think I want something and then I compromise, I usually end up getting the thing I wanted later and selling the compromise.

Wise words.
 
Fat Pete said:
spe111 said:
...The non-specific thing I have to offer is if I think I want something and then I compromise, I usually end up getting the thing I wanted later and selling the compromise.

Wise words.
I agree with this, too.
 
To answer your question the answer is yes, it's cosmetic.  As to the glue part, the scale length is a bigger factor.  Probably something to the gluing and sound but I prefer bolt ons.
That said, get what you want, you'll be happier.
 
The two (dare i say sexy) body shapes would probably feel completely different up against your torso but in the spheres of soundification, I cannot conceptualize there being much difference all other parts of the equation being equizzle. It's probably a law... like water, or dinosaurs.
 
The carved-top Tele is very comfortable to play, particularly with the contoured neck joint.  Highly recommended.
 
The Tele body is slightly thinner, and if you phone or e-mail in your order (or wait for one to come up in the showcase) then you can get it made completely solid without a laminate top. A thinner body is neither a definitive pro or con, just personal preference. Some people will tell you that not having the laminated top makes for better sustain and clearer bass, though I myself find there are simply too many other variables to attribute such differences solely to the presence of a laminated top)

I've done all three builds you've suggested: an LP-like carved Tele from Warmoth with a conversion neck; a bolt-on LP from Warmoth (before they made the cutout sharper and renamed it to the Regal); and a setneck build from "another company in Canada". None of them have similar electronics, however, and the Tele has an all-rosewood neck instead of mahogany+rosewood like the other two, and I have them set up for different tunings and styles, but acoustically they ring out the same and there aren't any differences which I can definitively attribute to the body shape or construction...

... Except the neck pickup on the bolt-ons always has a slightly clearer chime to it. And that goes for every build I've made (a couple dozen at this point) and every guitar I've bought (several dozen more). All-else being equal, bolt-ons always give a bit more of a sparkle or twang to the neck pickup compared to setnecks or neck-through instruments. I've found that the difference can be compensated for with a change in pickup, pickup magnet(s), or simply lowering or raising the height of the pickup. For example, my most standard setneck LP has a Gibson BurstBucker #2 in the neck position, which is a generic PAF-copy; mid-wound with an A2 magnet. My LP-like Tele has a BurstBucker #3 in the neck, which is the same pickup just slightly overwound, and that resulted in the same tonal balance (but slightly more output) as the BB#2 did in the setneck LP.

My advice for anyone making any build is simple. Tone can be changed in a million different ways, and even if you've had a hundred guitars, you can still never be 100% sure how a guitar will sound until it's fully finished and plugged in. So don't worry about the tone. Buy the guitar (or in this case, parts) which feel and look best to you, since the feel and the look are the two aspects which either can't be changed or are very hard/expensive to change. Figure out the tone later.
 
I think you'll find the choice of pickups, and the neck wood (and profile) will be the biggest tone makers.
And... dare I say this.... but I once built an all "hard maple" body with maple neck/pau ferro fret board.  It had the 57 Classic and Classic + pickups in it.  It was the tonal copy of what I liked best about the Les Paul - real Dicky Betts tone, real Duane Allman tone, just solid, driving, and not wimpy at all.  As much as I like mahogany... I was totally surprised by that maple tele (which I flipped for a fortune to a guy who HAD to have that tone)
 
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