The Steel Guitar Forum

Which guitar with what set up (electric) do you think is the best all around guitar for country, new and old and Rockabilly too?

well, i'm using a fender '52 reissue telecaster through a late '70's vibrolux reverb with two 10" speakers. i'm not using any effects. it sounds great for hard core honky tonk, western swing, rockabilly, etc.
i used to play a '67 gretsch tennessean, and was also great for all of the above.
john

well there's really only three types of guitar players out there..

Tele' players
Those that want to be Tele players
and those never will be

this should get things going !

I'm in the 52RI club with a Hot Rod Deville 2x12 60 watt'er

ok, I can take it...let me have it..

t <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 28 November 2004 at 04:05 PM.]</p></FONT>

Tele by far although a 335 comes close.

A Gretsch hollow body electric.

Well, I like my Gibson ES-175 for classic country, since Grady, Hank, Billy, Harold, and some more guys, were playing hollow-bodied guitars in the late 50's, on all them classic tunes. I have a Telecaster, but I usually play it with delay and compression, so it sounds like a Telecaster, and not like a Jimmy Bryant record. My Strats, and the Les Paul, show up at some gigs, but not as often as they used to be...Guess that's what happens when you're a wannabe has-been.
But I really like my '55 Martin D-28. THAT'S a country guitar!

There's a discernible move among the big boys towards Telecasters with a third pickup, like a Strat.

David, you mean, some guys wanna sound DIFFERENT??? WHADDA they think they're doing, being CREATIVE????

I'm from the Telecaster through a late 70's Vibrolux school too. I also add a little BOSS Compression and Analog Delay.

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The Pickin' Paniolo

Telecaster, what else? I built mine with three pickups and a 5-way switch – bridge/bridge&middle/bridge&neck/middle&neck or neck pickup.
Classic Tele bite plus some nice Strat flavors.
Always with a little bit of Boss CS-2 compression.
Locking Schaller ebony button tuners, bakelite pickguard, vintage pickups - and the back is also bookmatched curly birdseye maple. Yum!

<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Per Berner on 29 November 2004 at 08:14 AM.]</p></FONT><FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Per Berner on 29 November 2004 at 11:21 PM.]</p></FONT>

Leave it to a Swede to come up with an outstanding guitar!!!
Erv

Ya Ho !
indeed Erv, them left handed Norsemen better stick to road buildin'....

My favorite guitar for all 'round playing is an '83 top loader Tele with 3 pickups. It has Gibson mini-humbuckers from an old Les Paul Deluxe in the neck and middle slots and a Seymore/Duncan quarter pounder single coil at the bridge position. I like the neck and bridge combination for rock-a-billy and this guitar does it great. I do some gigs with an Elvis impersonator and this guitar is great for the old Scotty Moore Sun record stuff. I don't like 5 way switches so I have 3 mini toggles to turn on/off each pickup. In my Nashville Deluxe Tele I replaced the 5 way switch with a normal 3 way and added a mini-toggle between the volume and tone knobs to turn on/off the middle pickup.......Have a good 'un..JH

Didn't see anyone mention a b bender. Why not a bender on your tele?

I agree. For me it would be a Tele with a bender. Gretch would be also there as a second guitar.

Tele.<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Jim Phelps on 29 November 2004 at 07:52 PM.]</p></FONT>

I vote Tele, I have 2, one a Nashville Tele, bone stock, the other a Stew Mac Ash body, Warmoth strat neck, Epiphone mini neck pu, Seymore Duncan bridge, and Carvin stacked middle Pu. That mini is a killer neck PU. I play thru a Deluxe or Reverfend Hellhound, but 99% is Nashville tele thru Deluxe, with a little Ts9 for distortion. JP

I did buy one of the Fender "Benders" when they came on the market mid 90's or so..It had the Parsons /Green I believe..man it was heavy !

I played it for about 2 years..and just when I was gettin' those B bends down..

I traded it for a Strat ... I should have kept it because I sold the Strat soon after as well. other than being heavy it was a fine playing axe, a bit on the bright side though.

But all in all it worked out fine because at the end of the day with all my Horse trading I ended up with my favorite Tele' of all time, being the 1989/52RI..

I also acquired a 50's classic with Noiseless PUPS which I added a B5 Bigsby to and a mid 80's MIJ Squire which is a real fine player too...where I added a HB'ker in the neck position.

And I also picked up a 1 piece Ash Body which will end the life of probably the 50's classic as it is now...

I guess this stuff never ends..

t<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 30 November 2004 at 03:02 AM.]</p></FONT>

Hey Billy, as far as B-Benders go I've got a couple of 'em. My main Tele I described before has a HipShot unit which raises the 2nd string to C# and a flip lever which lowers the 5th string A to G. Also the guitar has Keith/Scruggs tuners on strings 1 & 6 to lower them to D. Those along with the flip lever on string 5 gives me an open G chord all the way across. Also I have an old Ibanez Artist solid body which has a Bigsby Palm Pedal to raise the 2nd and 3rd strings a whole tone each. This guitar also has Keith/Scruggs tuners on all 6 strings to lower them a whole tone each except for the 3rd string which only goes a half tone. With this one I can get open G, open D, DADGAD, dropped D, double dropped D, and other nice stuff. I use this guitar a lot for slide so the strings are a little heavier and the action just a tad higher than my main guitar. Have a good 'un..JH

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Livin' in the Past and Future with a 12 string Mooney Universal tuning.

About a year and a half ago I decided to quit trying to be Joe Satriani and go back to playing country and swing. The first thing I did was sell my hot rod Jackson and buy an American Tele.

Don



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Country Music - (kun'tree myoo'zik) n. - Three chords and the
--------- truth.

I like teles very much, played one for years, but now I would not trade my '71 Les Paul Recording for anything. The low impedence p.u.s and many controls, including decad control which changes the value of the caps, gives me a lot of different sounds. I've used it since the mid seventies and have never seen another on a bandstand.

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Howard, 'Les Paul Recording, Zum S12U, Vegas 400, Boss ME-5, Boss DM-3
http://Charmedmusic.com

The Gibson guitar is a great country guitar. Brett, Emmons S-10, Morrell lapsteel

At the start of my career I used a Gibson 335, this was the early to mid 60's. Then I went to a Tele and finally a Tele w/3 pickups. All were great guitars.
Richard

come on fellas, I understand your drive to be open minded, but lets keep it real, with few exceptions its all about Teles and Fender amps.

the MIM 50s classic os a great country guitar for around 500, much more of a twangy guitar than the am standards which are twanged-down to appeal to a wider array of players. In my opinion its hard to get good twang without the ashtray bridge and 3 saddles, however it doesnt seem like brent mason has any trouble with his american standard bridge

After being a Strat man for almost 30 years I switched to a Tele half a year ago. Never looked back, and I use it for all my guitar work. It may be a 'simple' guitar but it's more versatile than it pretends to be...

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com