4 Guitars under $500: Fender Tele MIM by Paul McSherry

[Lovemylovething]

I've got a 2000 sunburst mim Tele, stone stock, and I love it! I have a friend who's got a2005, and it's great too. I would not hesitate to give the mims a high recommendation.

One thing to be aware of though, after '06, they switched from vintage wound anico V pickups to hot wound ceramics. If you like to only play with heavy distortion, the ceramics are good, but the alnicos have a noticeably sweeter tone when played clean, or with light over drive.

[RawrGuitar1022]

hey guys, i have a question. im in the market for a new quitar and i really want a tele. the two im looking at is this one (fender sandard telecaster MIM), and the Fender Blacktop Telecaster. both cost the same, but have sound differences. i just started jazz band in my school, so i want to play some jazzy stuff, and at home i like to play harder rock stuff by the foo fighters, joe satriani, etc. Ive heared tele's arent good for rockish stuff, and i;ve heared they are. Please help!

[monkymonk6]

I have a mid nineties MIM Tele that I upgraded the pickups with SCN noiseless. Sounds like a real monster, very versatile platform to work with, output wise, can hang with a Les Paul. But, it all boils down to what type of sound you are looking for in a guitar.

[98superglide1]

The MIM Tele is a great guitar. the new models are better than previous. also the new pickups have more output and better tone. For the money you can't beat them. If you need more output try the seymour duncan Hot Rails. can get heavy tones cranked up, but if you roll back the volume you can get tele tones as well. Also Dimarzio has great pickups. The virtual T also twang king. they also carry rail pickups the sound really good. I own gibson too, its like playing a 2X4..and are too expensive

[JoeTokio]

MIM is a great guitar and I won one. The problem is assembly quality. Quite often bridge is mounted off aligned, thread hole stripped or cracked (too close to cavity). Electric can be easily upgraded to one's choice. I do not know how much better MIA is.

[AerosmithVault]

you may find this hard to answer but right now im stuck betwwen this and a gibson melody maker , which would you prefer

[pmcsherry]

personally I'd grab the Gibson...as in time it will become rarer....P

[AerosmithVault]

really , why would it get rarer

[curtbob]

No contest-- get the Gibson.

[rhymeskill]

Ummm, totally different guitars. I happen to own both a Gibson SG and a MIM Tele and they are both great. Different sounds and different purposes.

[nicholasczapiewski]

@AerosmithVault that's hilarious, as I was reading your comment I thought it was my own lol. I had the same dilemma, but I think I've decided on the Tele. what did you end up getting?

[dragonnight812]

@AerosmithVault you can get more sounds from the tele

[Wells306]

The idea was originated in 1950, which the Broadcaster, which became the Nocaster in 1951ish, which became the Telecaster in 1952.

[xxxapolloxxx]

i love my MIM telecaster, got a hotrail in the bridge of mine and soon upgrading the neck to an american standard. Plays amazing, love it, wouldn't trade it for an american. You CAN find a few that are just as good as the american ones, just look around.

[kennosen1]

what kind of pickup are in that model? I just recently purchased a 1998 or 99 model. Wondering about the pickups.

[kennosen1]

Great review. Thanks

[Stra2casterAtHotmail]

is there a reason i cant get a harmonic on the 5th fret with my neck pickup?

[pmcsherry]

no idea....

assuming it's setup correctly

you should get natural harmonics 5th 7th 12th etc

and fake harmonics everywhere

try moving your finger slightly forward along the string...

may be that you need to set the harmonics again

all the best

Paul

[smitty54017]

I love my '06 MIM Tele. Only thing better about the MIA is the neck. I gave mine a good setup, swapped out the bridge for a vintage 3 saddle, and a white pearloid pick guard and I've got a real nice guitar for less than $500.