Neil is great! Very reasonably priced. Hell, if you go up there with a little issue and just stay and chat with him, he'll look over your guitar, do some little things, and not even charge you.

Like any luthier, he is usually backed up a bit. It took about a week for me to get my ES-335 back. Not a big deal, at all, but just be ready to leave it there as long as it takes.

Is he at Fuller's?

So... I got caught browsing reverb and thinking about things, last night...

I've been enjoying my recent Tele mod, but the Vibramate plate is just putting the bigsby too high. That's causing my high E string to not get enough of a break angle.

I will end up taking it off of my #1, but still want to have a bigsby tele, so I started looking around Reverb for a possible good deal on a guitar I liked. I came across a couple of these Fender 60th Anniversary Telecasters from 2011. These seemed to hit the specs I was looking for at a very good price point. After some research, it looks like these have:

• Thin nitro transparent lacquer. Usually, you are over $2,000 for a guitar with thin nitro. I also love seeing the wood grain through the lacquer
• Ash body. Because my #1 is an ash body, I have in my head that I need ash body teles. Also, ash grain looks much better than alder, when it is visible.
• Maple fretboard. I love playing on maple boards, but haven't had one in a while.
• Modern C shape neck. All the teles I was finding with a nitro finish and maple neck were modeled after the '52 tele. These all had U shaped necks, which I just don't like.

After looking at a few and getting an idea on pricing, I wen to the lowest priced one and offered $1,100. I think that's a fantastic price for an American made tele with a thin nitro lacquer. Looks like he accepted my offer: https://reverb.com/item/58717271-fender-60th-anniversary-telecaster-blonde-2011

I'm going to post my LP Special and my PRS CE on Reverb, today. Both guitars just aren't doing it for me. The PRS is beautiful to look at, but even after pickup swaps, I just can't get into its tone. The LP Special's neck is just too thick. I will keep a lookout in the future for a different LP Special or other P90 loaded guitar. I still have the Seymour Duncan antiquity P90 soapbars I purchased to put in this one, which I'll just put on the shelf for now. I'm thinking I can get at least $1,300 on the Special and $1,800 on the PRS. However, i'm not in any rush to sell them for the money, so i'll ask for what I want and not accept any lower offers.

On this new tele, I'm going to go ahead and get started on ordering a new mastery bridge and tele bigbsy kit to eventually install the bigsby directly on this guy. I'll have to decide if I want to drill into this guitar myself, or take it to Neil to do it. I'm leaning towards taking it to Neil because this is a nice guitar and I don't have experience actually drilling into nitro lacquer. I know that can cause cracks and such, if not done properly.

For pickups, i'm going to try and find a set of Fender CS '63 handwound pickups. These are what is in my #1, but you can't buy them directly. They only come in custom shop guitars and have to be purchased from people who have removed them (though I don't know why anyone would... they are freaking amazing pickups). If I can't find a set of those, then I will order a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquities. I've never tried their tele pickups, but the antiquity series has never let me down.

maroon barchetta said:

---

Is he at Fuller's?

---

No. Off Washington.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/neil-sargent-guitar-repair-houston

DallasTeleAg said:

---

maroon barchetta said:

---

Is he at Fuller's?

---

No. Off Washington.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/neil-sargent-guitar-repair-houston

---

Thanks.

Nice! I dig those. I'm also on the hunt for a nice Tele Deluxe. Let me know if you happen to see anything. Trying to decide between that and a new (to me) LP.

I think im going to pull the trigger on a 2019 Gibson LP Classic.

Guy is asking 1600. I need to do a visual inspection and play it a little.

On les pauls, always check for the neck break repair, followed by the heel break.

DallasTeleAg said:

---

Neil is great! Very reasonably priced. Hell, if you go up there with a little issue and just stay and chat with him, he'll look over your guitar, do some little things, and not even charge you.

Like any luthier, he is usually backed up a bit. It took about a week for me to get my ES-335 back. Not a big deal, at all, but just be ready to leave it there as long as it takes.

---

He definitely likes to chat!

Anyone get the email from Fender about their "biggest sale ever" starting on Thursday?

No

Another list I didn't make.

Unless one of those guitars is a Custom Shop '63 tele with a flamed maple neck and double bound body in candy green for $3,200 or less.... i'm probably not interested.

DallasTeleAg said:

---

Unless one of those guitars is a Custom Shop '63 tele with a flamed maple neck and double bound body in candy green for $3,200 or less.... i'm probably not interested.

---

With a Bigsby?

Yeah...they're promoting "50% off select guitars" which I'm going to guess will be...Squiers.

maroon barchetta said:

---

DallasTeleAg said:

---

Unless one of those guitars is a Custom Shop '63 tele with a flamed maple neck and double bound body in candy green for $3,200 or less.... i'm probably not interested.

---

With a Bigsby?

---

Actually.... my recent tele and pickups should be in by Friday. I'm going to install the Bigsby on that one so i have a bigsby tele.

Very nice!

Excellent!

Enjoy!

Nice. Looks like a LP Classic. What year?

Just found this thread and reading the first few pages got me hooked. Wished I jumped in sooner. Started playing again during Covid and have real money to spend now compared to HS/College years so wanting to build my collection.

This could have been covered in earlier discussion, but I'm close to getting a Deluxe Reverb, but I've found tons of deals for Twin Reverbs. the Austin area is a good resale market. I know they are way louder, but are they still too loud for playing at home even if set on 1-2? I plan on getting a Nobels ODR-1 for the natural breakup tone so not as concerned about needing to get volume for it at home. I will use it to play some live gigs as there are several dance halls in our area I'm going to start playing with some friends at. Just really want to know if I need a smaller home amp if the twin is too much.

I have a Twin Reverb reissue, and that thing will blow your ears out if you ask it too. Granted, tubes sound best when turned up. However, you can turn it to around 3-4, below where it starts to break up on its own and it is manageable.

DallasTeleAg said:

---

Nice. Looks like a LP Classic. What year?

---

Yessir! Its a 2019.

Did a deep dive to make sure its what I wanted. I fell in love with the push/pull pot controls!

Cromagnum said:

---

I have a Twin Reverb reissue, and that thing will blow your ears out if you ask it too. Granted, tubes sound best when turned up. However, you can turn it to around 3-4, below where it starts to break up on its own and it is manageable.

---

Good to know. I'm still sitting on it right now before jumping on buying just so I can be sure.

Stormblitz II said:

---

Just found this thread and reading the first few pages got me hooked. Wished I jumped in sooner. Started playing again during Covid and have real money to spend now compared to HS/College years so wanting to build my collection.

This could have been covered in earlier discussion, but I'm close to getting a Deluxe Reverb, but I've found tons of deals for Twin Reverbs. the Austin area is a good resale market. I know they are way louder, but are they still too loud for playing at home even if set on 1-2? I plan on getting a Nobels ODR-1 for the natural breakup tone so not as concerned about needing to get volume for it at home. I will use it to play some live gigs as there are several dance halls in our area I'm going to start playing with some friends at. Just really want to know if I need a smaller home amp if the twin is too much.

---

Thats exactly how I felt. As a high school kid, walking into guitar center was like.....pipe dream.

Came back to playing music again as an adult and im like....hey I can buy that!

I was never an American amp style guy, preferring classic British tones, so not much experience with many of the classic Fender amps. My Tone King Imperial MkII is inspired by some of those classic ones, as well as a tweed style for channel 2.

Yes... both of those amps will shake the freaking foundations. But, they are meant to have high headroom and are the exact amps that pedal makers keep in mind when creating their pedals, so they are great pedal platforms.

I have always just been a fan of natural tube overdrive with maybe kicking on a treble booster for a little tightening and push in the pre-amp. I also tend to go with amps with a good master volume so I can get good tube overdrive at lower volumes.

With any amp, it obviously depends on what you are looking to play. If you are using the Twin or Deluxe as a pedal platform, then you should be able to sound just fine at those lower volumes (literally below 2 on the dial).

I will say, the Tone King Imperial is a fantastic amp for that vintage American tone. These also come stock with a built in Ironman II attenuator for true bedroom volumes. Granted, this is a boutique amp and comes with that price tag

But, the great thing about buying used, is you can get a good deal and sell it later if you realize it isn't what you are looking for.

DallasTeleAg said:

---

I was never an American amp style guy, preferring classic British tones, so not much experience with many of the classic Fender amps. My Tone King Imperial MkII is inspired by some of those classic ones, as well as a tweed style for channel 2.

Yes... both of those amps will shake the freaking foundations. But, they are meant to have high headroom and are the exact amps that pedal makers keep in mind when creating their pedals, so they are great pedal platforms.

I have always just been a fan of natural tube overdrive with maybe kicking on a treble booster for a little tightening and push in the pre-amp. I also tend to go with amps with a good master volume so I can get good tube overdrive at lower volumes.

With any amp, it obviously depends on what you are looking to play. If you are using the Twin or Deluxe as a pedal platform, then you should be able to sound just fine at those lower volumes (literally below 2 on the dial).

I will say, the Tone King Imperial is a fantastic amp for that vintage American tone. These also come stock with a built in Ironman II attenuator for true bedroom volumes. Granted, this is a boutique amp and comes with that price tag

But, the great thing about buying used, is you can get a good deal and sell it later if you realize it isn't what you are looking for.

---

Thanks for the feedback, and your last statement is in line with my thinking right now. I actually have similar taste like you in British tones and my dream amp is a Bluesbreaker, but I'm not ready to spend $3k+ on one yet. These fenders deluxe and twin reverbs are reselling for $700-$1000. I know the clean tones they push are a classic sound and Ill mostly pedal to get the dirty sounds I want. Ive liked what ive heard from the JHS Morning Glory.

My amp journey was posted not too far back. I am currently on the Tone King and Victory Sheriff. I have to say... these are fantastic amps and great for home use, but do come with a price tag.

The Tone King has the built in attenuator which can get so quiet, you could play it at 1am. Here' s a good play through of it from Andertons:



For the Sheriff, the first channel is very Plexi like and the second channel is very JCM 800. The master volume works great, and I keep it just between 2 and 3. However, it also has a .3w outbput to the speaker cab that allows you to crank everything and not get too loud. It's a great amp, but is a head and would require a cab. I play mine through a 2x12 marshall cab. At the end of this video, they demo the .3w output option:

Love those Anderton videos. Those guys do a great job showing products.

Just checked out the specs on the MKII. See how it is based on a fender blackface and tweed, so the tone range is similar to what I'm looking at right now. The built in attenuator is nice.

That Victory Sheriff sounds just flat out bad ass.

They are both badass, depending on what you are looking for. On the Imperial though, it doesn't have the headroom of the Twin or Deluxe reverbs, and it also has a little more midrange. I am personally a fan of both, so those are positives for me. The cool thing about the attenuator is you can keep it turned on for channel 2 but leave it off for channel 1.

On the Sheriff, I keep the "Plexi" channel at or just below edge of breakup. This gives me fantastic dynamics and sparkle in the tone, with those EL84 tubes. I keep channel 2 at about 1 oclock on the gain setting and kick into it to do that more overdrive marshall thing. It is not meant to do super high gain stuff, though it does get up there. I use it more for classic rock style overdrive. I've never been a high gain guy.

I do love both amps and don't see myself getting rid of either one anytime soon.

Cromagnum said:

---

I have a Twin Reverb reissue, and that thing will blow your ears out if you ask it too. Granted, tubes sound best when turned up. However, you can turn it to around 3-4, below where it starts to break up on its own and it is manageable.

---

Back when I played out, I had a 65 Twin Reissue for a while. I used to pull two of the power tubes, run it through a THD Hotplate attenuator, and it was still too loud. I got rid of it. Wasn't worth lugging that heavy ******* arond.

TequilaMockingbird said:

---

Cromagnum said:

---

I have a Twin Reverb reissue, and that thing will blow your ears out if you ask it too. Granted, tubes sound best when turned up. However, you can turn it to around 3-4, below where it starts to break up on its own and it is manageable.

---

Back when I played out, I had a 65 Twin Reissue for a while. I used to pull two of the power tubes, run it through a THD Hotplate attenuator, and it was still too loud. I got rid of it. Wasn't worth lugging that heavy ******* arond.

---

I'm thinking this is why they resale cheaper than DR's.

It's a beauty. For sure.

Bourbon, guitars…..what else do we have in common.