Tele Question for Russ

[Roger]

Hi Russ!

Some time ago I posted on the forum about Harrier guitars and you replied that they looked similar to the Alba range from Germany and that one of your mates had bought a leftie tele. Well I may have a chance of buying a Harrier leftie tele for peanuts and the one in question is strung through it's body. Worst case is that I end up with guitar body as a start for a "project", or best case is that I could make a decent guitar by a bit of spending on the obvious ie tuners, nut, pickups and bridge. I know that there is a Wilkinson bridge with compensating brass saddles out there, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about this and the other upgrades I've mentioned (or should I just buy a better tele?!). Must admit I'd quite like a cheapie guitar with a few home-made mods!

Best to you, Carol and Ash,

Roger

PS Comments also appreciated from Bob and the other gurus out there!

[Bob Wilson]

Hi Roger

This will be an older model as I think the newer ones are not through body.
They are a good buy if you don't mind doing a little work on them. I've had students who had them and they played fine but all had a few problems with staying in tune and intonation.
If you change the heads and work on the intonation they are a good cheap guitar that plays pretty well and you also get the chance to mod it how you like without laying out too much money (brass saddles will improve the sound a lot).
At the end of the day you get what you pay for but these are as good as any other cheap guitar and better than a lot. One of my students did have problems with the neck of their strat style but it was easily fixed.
If you're happy with the price give it a go, you can always ebay it if you are not happy with what you get.

Best to you and Em

Bob

Over to you Russ

[Roger]

Bob,

Many thanks - as always really appreciate your help and expertise

As I already have a Cort X2 electric (set -up could still be improved) and a Crafter D8 acoustic, which has been set-up quite nicely by a local guitar shop, my limited guitar playing skills don't justify another guitar, particularly as we're hoping to move house soon. However, I have always fancied a tele style guitar and seeing Gordon use one at the start of the Dodo journey made me want one even more! The Harrier offers a very cheap option and if I mess up the mods not too much will have been lost

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about replacement parts as there seem to be so many available these days. Anyway will keep you posted on progress.

Best to you, Jane and the family,

Roger(&Em)

[Bob Wilson]

Hi Roger

As it's a first project I wouldn't go for anything too top notch but there are a lot of good parts sites out there with decent parts at a good price. Check out:

http://www.axesrus.com/axecart.htm

http://www.axetec.co.uk/

The Wilkinson stuff should be ideal for what you want to do and it's pretty good quality too.
Tuners and bridge are probably a definite but leave the pickups until you know where the project is going (you may not need them if its for home use they were pretty good on the ones I've seen)

Keep us informed on how it goes.

Look forward to seeing it

Best to you and Em

Bob

[Russ Gannicott]

Hello Rog, sorry about the late response!!
The first thingI'd like to say is that there is one thing all these guitars have in common is that they ALL sound like Telecasters. There is something about the basic Tele layout which means that irrespective of price, they all end up souning pretty well how Leo intended. Where things start to go adrift is in the feel of the guitar. Needless to say, the neck is always the biggest problem and in the case of anything with an all maple one, the time when you wish you had bought something else!! Necks can be changed easily and cheaply, so dont dismiss this as an option. Hardware will generally do the job, and a replacement set of tuners can be bought for a tenner. .....don't get too carried away with this until you are happy with the way the guitar actually plays - tuning is a a mere detail when compared to the fact that the neck might feel like a tree trunk!!!
Pick up changes should be at the bottom of your list as I wouldn't mind betting that the ones on the guitar are hotter than fifty year old Fender ones!!
All said, this will be a fun project, and one which may evolve over the years...which it should, Give it ten years and you may well have a guitar that you wouldn't swap for anything and will be a great part of your musical journey!!!
All the best,
Russ

[Roger]

Bob/Russ,

My Harrier tele copy arrived on Friday. As the original plan to get a second hand one fell through, I bought this guitar new off eBay for £39.99, direct from Harrier. Delivery from Devon was by courier and the guitar was fairly well packaged with no damage, although I normally wouldn’t purchase a guitar by this method.

Overall, the appearance is quite good. The strings are strung through the body, which is apparently solid alder and well-finished in metallic green. In fact the body and associated hardware are OK, including the pick-ups. All in all very respectable, particularly for a guitar of this price.

Now for the neck, which is all maple. Although it is quite thick, I’ve found it comfortable to play. However, there is a problem when I try to bend strings. As the frets are reasonably smooth, I suspect this may have something to do with the cheap strings and the finish of the maple fretboard. The wood that the neck and fret board are made out of seems to be reasonable quality,but more attention could have been given to the finish (or lack of it!). Not sure about the tuning heads yet.

The guitar does sound like a Tele and I‘m sure it will sound better for a few mods. As we‘re moving house very soon, this will be limited to a new set of strings, but at least I’ll get the chance to assess things properly. Might seem a strange thing to say, but I’m already finding this cheap guitar quite endearing!

As always many thanks for your comments guys - much appreciated! Will keep you posted re progress as it happens. Any thoughts about how to improve the fretboard, which is unvarnished?

Best wishes,

Roger

PS Russ what a great buy the Crafter was!

[Roger]

Bob/Russ,

Well after moving etc I'm finally getting around to having a look at this guitar! The verdict is as follows:

1. Body (strung through) I think is pretty good for a £50 guitar. No problems here.

2. Pick-ups are OK too and I won't be changing these in the near future as I think it sounds as it should.

3. Intonation not bad now, but the bridge quality is not great so will be going for a new one - Wilkinson I think.

4. Tuners pretty bad. One had the string hole badly drilled off-centre, causing problems.

5. The neck could be better and I think needs replacing.

So there it is - new bridge, tuners and neck/nut needed. I think the Wilkinson bridge is a good bet, but would appreciate comments about new tuners and the neck in particular. As I only paid £50 for this guitar and it's one that I intend to keep, I don't mind spending a few quid to get it as I want it!

Best to you both,

Roger

[Bob Wilson]

Hi Roger
There are plenty of good tuners out there at very reasonable prices, however, better tuners will stop a lot of problems with tuning. As for the neck, if you are thinking of changing it anyway why not give the allen key a tweak before you do just to make sure the set-up is OK. It sounds like it may be a little loose so a few 1/8th turns might fix the problem.
Be well
Good luck
Bob