Grateful Dead Music Forum

Ok, so I had a roadworn tele with nonstock standard tele SC pickups in it.. I was never able to determine what they were and the guitar is now gone. In the middle position (3way) I swear I was able to get a pretty decent Jerry-esque type tone..Playing through all the requisite Jerry rig requirements (SMS, K120, MAC).. But I mostly played it through my DRRI and I still felt I had some Jerry magic there.

I have since acquired a new CIJ tele (alder body, rosewood neck).. and I have this crazy tele dream..

I want a neck humbucker, PAF style tone (something in the allman/Derek Trucks realm - SG ish).
I also want that Jerry-esque quack and flavor as well. I am fully prepared to route the $#@&% out of this guitar. Only caveat, Single coil in the bridge (no HB).

Before I'm laughed out the door..and probably rightfully so... anyone by chance ever seen or heard anything at all relatable? Any recommendations?

I think the SD Antiquity HB would be killer in the neck.. and I think possibly the right bridge SC, mixed, could produce something close or reasonable..

And I'll repeat the third-hand story I read about the guy that put a sound system into one of Jerry's latter houses. He said the only guitar he ever saw Jerry with while he was there was a beat up old tele.

I'd trust your 3rd party story more than that photo shopped pic.

I always meant to post this...reading this thread reminded me to....

I was up at Gary Brawer's shop in SF last year and was chatting with Dan Ransom (guitar builder co-located with Gary).

He shared story of Jerry coming into the shop to look at vintage guitars to buy. Apparently this was the late 80's, the band was making lots of money and Jerry's agent or accountant or someone had told him to invest in vintage guitars (or art or whatever).

Jerry spent a few hours hanging out, playing and bullshitting. This is at Real Guitars, great vintage gear shop where Gary and Dan have their own spaces/businesses.

Jerry was pretty much only playing the vintage Strats and at one point Jerry looked up and paused and said to Dan "you know, I'm a Strat guy at heart." (or something to that effect...Jerry was really only interested in checking out the Strats)

Not meaning to negate the Tele vibe in the thread...just thought this was an interesting obscure Jerry nugget to share.

Des

Why not just put a strat pickup in the middle?

I'm in the process of doing the same thing- Tele with humbuckers (Gibson bursts). Plays like a tele, sounds like an SG. But I'm gonna sweeten the pot. I'm putting in a third HB in the middle with a Waldo buffer and an OBEL. Can't wait 'til it's done. I'm a bit worried the buffer will brighten everything a bit too much, but that's what tone controls are for.

The hardest part is finding someone who will do the pick guard. I've sent some $$ to Terrapin guitars, but they will not get back to me.

Weir playing Jer's tele:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/490188740668715291/

A nicely setup, good quality Tele has amazing tonal possibilities. Including a middle position that sounds rich and fat and powerful. And very different than Strat in-between positions.

I'm not sure I'd call it JG type middle pickup tone. But I would say tone that would easily work great in a JG role. I've said before, one of JG type players that blew me away years ago was playing an American Standard Tele thru a Deluxe Reverb Reissue and he was nailing it thru the tonal spectrums.

There is a guy on here that put a video up of him playing a strat at an outside, backyard type party. It sounded really good! I can't remember who it was, but I was very impressed. I think he had a mustache?

I remember who it was. John S.

Roll ur own

I picked up this tele cheap on craigslist. It has an ash body, the most beautiful triple AAA birdseye maple neck with abalone inlays and seymour duncan quarter ponder pickups. At the time I bought it there was no bigsby, but there were screw holes on the body where one had previously been installed. It looked terrible, and I wanted a bigsby anyway so I reinstalled one.

I've been mulling some mods as well. I'm pretty happy with my strat as my main guitar and I don't really feel too compelled to jerrify this guitar. That being said, I would not be averse to a middle pick up for some tonal diversity. I definitely want to put a mini humbucker in the neck.

I'd wager that Jerry played a Tele on Ace. Especially the Playin'.

kurt eye wrote:I picked up this tele cheap on craigslist. It has an ash body, the most beautiful triple AAA birdseye maple neck with abalone inlays and seymour duncan quarter ponder pickups. At the time I bought it there was no bigsby, but there were screw holes on the body where one had previously been installed. It looked terrible, and I wanted a bigsby anyway so I reinstalled one.

I've been mulling some mods as well. I'm pretty happy with my strat as my main guitar and I don't really feel too compelled to jerrify this guitar. That being said, I would not be averse to a middle pick up for some tonal diversity. I definitely want to put a mini humbucker in the neck.

Love having a minihum in the neck position on a tele.

Cool stuff! I love Teles, here's mine:

Now that's a Jerrified tele! Nice!

What's the body wood? How much of a custom build was it?