The Steel Guitar Forum

Anyone using a powerbridge on their Tele? I am considering adding one to my Tele Custom and would appreciate feedback or comments, Am I wasting my $$$$ ?

Bob,
I am in the market for a Tele and have been trying out the Fender Nashville Power Tele, with the Fishman bridge.
Two things happened so far while playing at the store...
The special jack for the acoustic/electric in the guitar screwed up, and the special cord that comes with the guitar (for acoustic/electric outputs) also screwed up.
With regard to the sound, I think you can get that same sound out of an electric with a Boss Acoustic pedal.
fwiw, i still like the idea of the E/A.

Thanks Pete, I would be installing the Powerbridge myself, so there wouldn't be any jack or cabling issues, but a stompbox would be much easier. Did you get it to work long enough to get an idea of the acoustic tone?

Yes, I did get to try the acoustic tone, but only through a Fender Deluxe. It sounded pretty close to an acoustic guitar with a built in piezo, and am guessing it would sound better through a PA (the idea is to run the acoustic output to a different channel than the electric output, for seperate EQ).
Maybe you can go to a store with a Power Tele and a/b with the Boss pedal.
I am going to go to a few other stores and try some of the other A/E guits to see if it is really worth buying a guitar with that feature.
The thing I didn't like about the Power Tele was the neck is only available in rosewood fingerboard.

Thanks again Pete, I might try that. I have a buddy with a music store that lets me take home stuff to try, I do amp repairs for him. That way I can put it thru the PA. Good luck with your search. The Tele Custom has a great sound, but you have to deal with the 7.25 inch radius fretboard. It takes a while to get the neck set up correctly, but it's worth it. Bob

I've got a PowerBridge on my Howard Roberts Fusion (tune-o-matic), but I think the transducer is the same as the Tele version.

It does use a stereo jack and stereo cable, but I've never had any trouble with it. I run to a Fishman Powerblend pedal which separates the pickup and fishman signals. The pickups go to the Vibrolux and the transducer runs to the board.

I like the sound, but I don't think anyone is going to mistake it for an acoustic guitar.

Charlie

Well... I bought the Power Tele yesterday. 'Got a pretty good deal and the cord/jack issue is to be resolved by the local outfit that does all the Fender warrenty work (an un-typical leap of faith on my part ).
I need to get it hooked up here at home. I plan to run the electric outputs through a Delexe Reverb amp and the acoustic side through the small PA I have setup downstairs.
Hopefully I'll still like it this afternoon!

It seems to me like L.R. Baggs transducers sound more realistic than the Fishman units. I have a Godin Solidac that is very convincing in the acoustic mode, it has an L.R. Baggs trem tailpiece. I like Baggs transducers on acoustic guitars better too.

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Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

I always wanted to try the LR Baggs hexaphonic system like Taylor puts on their Doyle Dykes model. B-Band is supposed to be pretty good too. Haven't had a chance to try either.

Charlie

Great responses guys, keep em coming, and congratulations to Pete, let me know if you like the new Tele. Has anyone tried the Graph Tech transducers? Stewmac doesn't even show the Fishman bridge in my catalog......BH

I tried the Baggs system on a Sheckter A/E, and it sounded very good in acoustic mode.
The two humbucker electric sound(s) were too muddy for my ear, though.
The Power Tele sounds pretty cool, and not much different that my Taylor with Fishman bridge pickup.
I think the D and G strings sound quieter than the rest. Hopefully this will be fixed. I read a review where one guy had to have the Fishman replaced 3 times on a Power Tele!!! Others gave it good reviews.
I might take it back monday and swap for a Thinline Tele I liked.... but I am hoping to give this thing a run for the money if it can work right.

Pete, I have an American Deluxe 90's Tele Thinline (beautiful looking guitar, natural/Ash with all the right tone) with a Graphtech Ghost saddle piezo installed by the Fender custom shop. It has certainly replaced the need to take two 6 string guitars to most gigs but the piezo pickup will always sound like what it is, definitely needs processing but so do acoustic guitars with piezo transducers. I'd recommend trying to get the combination right, it is worthwhile. I find the combined/blended signal very useful, which may not be as readily available through a pedal.
I have recently installeed a Quackbuster (from PickUpTheWorld) which has been a useful onboard mod to the piezo tone, check out their website, very reasonable price.

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Regards,
Brett Foster,
Brisbane Australia
(Shobud Maverick 3+1)

I took it back!
This particular Power Tele had too many electrical issues (special cord didn't work, neck pickup shorted out, G and D strings only 70% volume compared to the rest in Acoustic mode).
I exchanged it for a mahogany body, maple neck, '69 reissue Thinline Tele.
I liked the Acoustic idea though, and will likely try a Boss AC-2 with acoustic output to PA and electric output to Fender tube amps. Fun Stuff!