Red Tele Vs. Paisley Tele

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 1 Mar 2013 3:34 am

I'm referring to James Burton's two main Teles. It's just my own opinion that his red Tele was a better sounding guitar than his paisley counterpart. Back when Burton played with Ricky Nelson, he played the red Tele, right up until he started working with Elvis Presley in 1969 for the Las Vegas comeback shows. If one is to listen to the album 'From Vegas' Burton is playing the Red Tele, which absolutely sizzles! A little later on, Burton started playing the pink paisley Tele, right up until Elvis died. In my opinion, that paisley Tele just didn't quite have the punchy sound that the red one did. To my ears, it sounds to "tame". I prefer the red one. Any opinions on this?

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 1 Mar 2013 5:23 pm

I dunno...I'm kinda dubious about these things. Maybe he was using a different amp? Different speakers? Different EFX? Different cords? Different pickups? It's for certain that the recording techniques and mikes were different, and he may have even been playing the guitar differently? (Lloyd got a lotta different sounds out of that same old 'Bud he played for so many years!) To me, his early Nelson playing sounds far better than his last Nelson stuff, but I think most of that was technique and a "maturity thing". Young players in their '20s always sounded livelier and more energetic than players in their '40s. (To me, anyway.)

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 2 Mar 2013 1:15 am

A good example to compare the two. I don't know which year the other Tele was made, or if it's a red one. JB's guitar sounds mellower than Bruce's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la2H9OCOlrQ

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 2 Mar 2013 10:38 am

it could be the difference between james' finesse and bruce's ham-handedness.

mighty little bit-o-nothingness there for a couple of legends.

i'm a big burton fan, but you've got to admit he's gotten alot of mileage out of about 3 licks....ha ha

roy o. was always unappealing to me. so he'd probably do well on american idol now.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 2 Mar 2013 8:00 pm

I've read that JB's red Tele(a'55?) is his original guitar,and was standard Tele blonde until he had it refinned red.The paisley one did just fine,though.Bruuce might be The Boss most times,but not that night!

EDIT:I wouldn't be at all surprised if the red Tele was a '53

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 2 Mar 2013 9:07 pm

I thought I read that his red Tele is a '53, but I could be mistaken. His parents bought him that guitar for his birthday and he did have it refinned red. My favorite Teles are the ones that were made in the early 50's with flush pole piece pickups, but that's just my preference.

Michael Wolfe · Post by **Michael Wolfe** » 3 Mar 2013 2:11 am

I have a copy of Brad Paisley's album "Play". On it there is a cut named "Cluster Pluck" featuring James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner. I guess their guitars are all about the same vintage, all Teles unless I miss my guess, although I have seen Albert Lee with a Music Man.

Every one of them sounds different. IMO the music is in your hands, not in the guitar.

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 3 Mar 2013 10:30 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 6BJ2E8eKww

cluster pluck

my guess would be albert on the music man and john with a g&l....
don't know though.
i wish there was a live video.

Dave Hopping · Post by **Dave Hopping** » 3 Mar 2013 12:55 pm

Dang! Heard it before but that one always bears repeating.Thanks Chris!

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 3 Mar 2013 2:41 pm

Michael Wolfe wrote:I have a copy of Brad Paisley's album "Play". On it there is a cut named "Cluster Pluck" featuring James Burton, Vince Gill, Albert Lee, John Jorgenson, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner. I guess their guitars are all about the same vintage, all Teles unless I miss my guess, although I have seen Albert Lee with a Music Man.

Every one of them sounds different. IMO the music is in your hands, not in the guitar.

I wish Albert Lee would ditch that ridiculous Ernie Ball guitar and go back to his Tele!

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 3 Mar 2013 3:10 pm

albert really likes them. kind of strat like in tone and feel....he gets a beautiful lyrical tone out of them and can be a monster on the 'wanger' bar. if he's happy, i'm happy.

of course we all love teles, but whatever makes you comfortable enough to be a great picker is good!

i would say every guitar on cluster pluck is a unique custom developed over time by the player. vince's and maybe james' may be the only sort of original teles...and i wonder about those.

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 3 Mar 2013 8:35 pm

I also believe that tone is in the hands, but that can only go so far. No matter what your hands say, the factors that are involved in a good quality sound have a lot to do with good quality equipment and how it's constructed.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 3 Mar 2013 9:06 pm

chris ivey wrote:albert really likes them.[referring to his Music Man signature guitars] kind of strat like in tone and feel....he gets a beautiful lyrical tone out of them and can be a monster on the 'wanger' bar. if he's happy, i'm happy.

I'm glad if Albert's happy. And I tremendously admire his playing and musicianship always. But as far as I'm concerned, he lost something in the switch from Tele bridge pickup to Music Man neck & middle combination (which seems to be his choice 99% of the time since he went to the MM full-time).

There's an aggressive edge to the Tele sound that inspires different phrasing. I had saved to my computer contrasting YouTubes of Albert playing the same song with Emmylou (on Tele bridge p.u.) and, later, on Music Man (with the usual middle & neck setting), but a couple of computer crashes have lost me those files. But there was substantial difference in not only the tone, but the ideas played, that would have made my case. $:\$

Glen Derksen · Post by **Glen Derksen** » 4 Mar 2013 12:49 am

Brint Hannay wrote:
chris ivey wrote:albert really likes them.[referring to his Music Man signature guitars] kind of strat like in tone and feel....he gets a beautiful lyrical tone out of them and can be a monster on the 'wanger' bar. if he's happy, i'm happy.
I'm glad if Albert's happy. And I tremendously admire his playing and musicianship always. But as far as I'm concerned, he lost something in the switch from Tele bridge pickup to Music Man neck & middle combination (which seems to be his choice 99% of the time since he went to the MM full-time).

There's an aggressive edge to the Tele sound that inspires different phrasing. I had saved to my computer contrasting YouTubes of Albert playing the same song with Emmylou (on Tele bridge p.u.) and, later, on Music Man (with the usual middle & neck setting), but a couple of computer crashes have lost me those files. But there was substantial difference in not only the tone, but the ideas played, that would have made my case. $:\$

My feelings exactly. Maybe Albert Lee desperately needed the money and maybe that's why he endorsed that EB guitar, but it's been more than 20 years since Lee made the switch. It's hard to understand why Albert Lee hasn't gotten tired of that switch by now, (which is EXTREMELY old hat), and gotten back to the Tele.

Michael Wolfe · Post by **Michael Wolfe** » 4 Mar 2013 2:58 am

chris ivey wrote:albert really likes them. kind of strat like in tone and feel....he gets a beautiful lyrical tone out of them and can be a monster on the 'wanger' bar. if he's happy, i'm happy.

of course we all love teles, but whatever makes you comfortable enough to be a great picker is good!

i would say every guitar on cluster pluck is a unique custom developed over time by the player. vince's and maybe james' may be the only sort of original teles...and i wonder about those.

For the final definitive evidence listen to the sounds Albert Collins used to get out of his Tele, plus Roy Buchanan, Steve Cropper, Bruce Springsteen, and Keith Richards.

The only thing I know of that Albert did to his Tele was add the humbucker in the neck position, which is not used in his lead work. He used to get a "C" note going and sustain it for what seemed like forever, play notes that sounded like people talking, and make that guitar scream in a way no one else has.

Michael Wolfe · Post by **Michael Wolfe** » 4 Mar 2013 3:19 am

Glen Derksen wrote:I also believe that tone is in the hands, but that can only go so far. No matter what your hands say, the factors that are involved in a good quality sound have a lot to do with good quality equipment and how it's constructed.

Of course, there are things that influence a guitar's sound. I have small hands and have often dreamed of either building or having built a Strat or Tele style guitar with a 24-3/4 inch scale, but that wouldn't sound the same because the string tension would be different. I recently replaced the over-wound Seymour Duncan pickups in my Hamer Special with pickups from Stewart McDonald that are closer to a vintage wind and THAT made a difference.

But I still say that if everything else is equal, the technique makes more of a difference in sound than you'd think. When I worked in a music store I sold TONS of cheap acoustics demoing them to prospective buyers who wouldn't be able to make them sound like I did for another 30 years, if ever!