Any love for the No-caster?

[Bazz Jass]

@Bazz Jass ... Last guy put his beverage on one of my instruments is, to this day, 20 years later, sucking his nourishment through a straw. Not joking.

Sure! A strat would never take a glass like that....

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Actually, it's not.
Besides the ultra fat neck, there's a proprietary wiring scheme:
the 3 switch positions are 'deep bass' (extreme treble rolloff),
blend of neck and bridge (controlled by the tone knob in the
middle switch position),
and 'no-load' bridge (tone knob disabled in the rearmost switch
position).

That's not the usual Tele setup of neck/both/bridge.

Like the '50-'67 Teles, then?

 

[rolandson]

Sure! A strat would never take a glass like that....

Really. Poor schmuck put a glass of whiskey on my super reverb. Next thing that hit him was being unable to eat.

Bad juju mess'n with a fellow's amp.

Course, the schmuck is me and the inability to eat is because that is where I set the glass down when the phone rang with a call from the physician treating me, advising me to get in to see him soon, then the why.

I forgot about it, the glass, and when I got home from hospital 10 days later, I was still rather ill. The whiskey had evaporated anyway...what a waste of good scotch.

 

[Bazz Jass]

Really. Poor schmuck put a glass of whiskey on my super reverb. Next thing that hit him was being unable to eat.

Bad juju mess'n with a fellow's amp.

Course, the schmuck is me and the inability to eat is because that is where I set the glass down when the phone rang with a call from the physician treating me, advising me to get in to see him soon, then the why.

I forgot about it, the glass, and when I got home from hospital 10 days later, I was still rather ill. The whiskey had evaporated anyway...what a waste of good scotch.

Ouch!

 

[rolandson]

Ouch!

Well said...!

 

[dogletnoir]

Like the '50-'67 Teles, then?

Sorry, i misspoke.
It's been a while since i've played a Nocaster, and i was conflating a few different things there.
This will explain the '50/'51 Broadcaster/Nocaster wiring scheme more fully:

The Two-Pickup Esquire Wiring

Also called the “Broadcaster blend circuit,” this wiring is the transition circuit between the single-pickup Esquire and the Telecaster with its well-known dual-pickup configuration.

www.premierguitar.com

Apologies again.

 

[dogletnoir]

Interestingly, mine (2008 NOS) was factory setup with standard tele wiring. An additional 3-way switch, with vintage spec wiring, is in a sealed bag in the case compartment.

Having tried the original vintage set-up on a friend's guitar, I'm happy to stick to modern wiring as installed.

The one i had was a very early Fender Custom Shop relic version,
and i remember it had a very funky wiring scheme.
The forward switch position was one i actually used a lot for jazzy stuff.
Very dark, but cool.
It also came from the factory missing the round switch tip for some reason...
all part of the relic vibe, i suppose.

i liked it a lot, but it was one of three guitars i traded to get my 1929 L-5,
which i also don't have any more.

 

[stratman323]

I love the sound but I probably couldn't even play a neck that fat. So I use an early 60s style Tele with Nocaster style pickups. Best of both worlds.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Sorry, i misspoke.
It's been awhile since i've played a Nocaster, and i was conflating a few different things there.
This will explain the '50/'51 Broadcaster/Nocaster wiring scheme more fully:

The Two-Pickup Esquire Wiring

Also called the “Broadcaster blend circuit,” this wiring is the transition circuit between the single-pickup Esquire and the Telecaster with its well-known dual-pickup configuration.

www.premierguitar.com

Apologies again.

No apology necessary. All groovy, here.
Even the neck thing. I have played one, a long time ago, and they're a big neck for a Fender, but it's all relative.

 

[Intune]

My favourite tone on my broadcaster is the bridge pickup with the neck half blended in. It’s got the dark circuit which I actually really like. Not much use for the 3rd position(neck with a 15k restore and 0.05uf cap) because it’s really bass like. I do still use it from time to time.

Still the middle position(neck straight through) is great but blending the bridge and neck will cover lots of different songs. A little reverb and overdrive, even more songs.

 

[Dik Ellis]

What's that clamped to the decal? Risky!

It's a clamp marketed by Fender and it's to give the guitar more sustain. I put them on the Tele and 2 of my Strats. $18 each. Not sure if it does anything, but it's padded so it's not messing up the headstock.

 

[Intune]

It's a clamp marketed by Fender and it's to give the guitar more sustain. I put them on the Tele and 2 of my Strats. $18 each. Not sure if it does anything, but it's padded so it's not messing up the headstock.

Anything that I’ve had that says “nitro safe” over time messed up the finish. If it’s not really doing anything for sustain then I’d probably remove it. I have headstock stains from a “safe” wall hanger and stains on the bodies from “safe” Hercules guitar racks.

Hard to see on the body but it’s there.

 

[Bazz Jass]

Anything that I’ve had that says “nitro safe” over time messed up the finish. If it’s not really doing anything for sustain then I’d probably remove it. I have headstock stains from a “safe” wall hanger and stains on the bodies from “safe” Hercules guitar racks.

Hard to see on the body but it’s there. View attachment 609532 View attachment 609533

All true! I was actually concerned about the decal. So easy to damage these sitting right on top of the finish the way they are. Learnt the hard way with a Clapton Strat many years ago - don't use cleaner on the decal!

 

[Boubou]

 

[EC Strat]

Man that is THE definition of a utilitarian guitar. Absolutely nothing fancy, just workman like and fabulous tone.

I played a CS tele at my music store - had a wide range humbucker in the neck and a CS nocaster ‘51 in the bridge Honest to God, that was the best bridge pickup I’ve ever heard. Tons of shimmer and warm

 

[Scott Baxendale]

I have been playing with the idea of buying a tele kit just for the body, flipping it on its front, and then treating the wood so I can use it as a cheese board.

A bit expensive just to throw the majority of the kit away, but I think it would make a nice gift.

The wood would be too soft for a cheese board. Most cutting boards have the end grain up for cutting hardness, a body has the end grain on the edge.

 

[Lewguitar]

I have been playing with the idea of buying a tele kit just for the body, flipping it on its front, and then treating the wood so I can use it as a cheese board.

A bit expensive just to throw the majority of the kit away, but I think it would make a nice gift.

Ash is pretty hard. You might be able to get just the ash body with no routing for controls, neck pocket, pickups or string ferrules. That would make a cool cutting board. Love to to have one!

I'd make one right now if I still owned a band saw.

 

[Lewguitar]

I love everything about old Teles except the way they're wired, and the neck pickup. My Tele has a Strat neck pickup and the switch gives me the conventional bridge only, bridge and neck combined, neck only. With a normal tone control that works in all three settings. I've read that Leo thought rolling all the treble off of the neck pickup would be useful in the days before the electric bass was in common use.

 

[Rounder44]

You're in good company. Danny Gatton had short, Vienna sausage fingers and played monster big necks.

I have same "Vienna sausage fingers" ( The ONLY thing I have in common with DG!) and LOVE the neck on my Broadcaster! Always like chunkier necks. Thin neck like I had on a '58 AVRI Tele were less comfortable.

I play a Collings D1A with the 1 3/4 vintage neck too! Love it!

Don't let chunky necks scare you away. Once you play one you may find it fits like a glove!

 

[Intune]

I love everything about old Teles except the way they're wired, and the neck pickup. My Tele has a Strat neck pickup and the switch gives me the conventional bridge only, bridge and neck combined, neck only. With a normal tone control that works in all three settings. I've read that Leo thought rolling all the treble off of the neck pickup would be useful in the days before the electric bass was in common use.

My tele has the vintage wiring with the dark setting in position one. Yeah it’s not really usable for me but the neck pickup itself sounds really good. Same with the bridge pickup. Then roll in some of the neck with the bridge and it’s so good.