Shooting decent video of a single guitar recording is tough enough for the likes of me…recording four guitars and then cutting/aligning/level-matching the footage is pushing it. But I really wanted to compare the tele-style guitars I have at the moment, and the finished product came out well enough to share.
You’ll hear that the differences between these guitars are not subtle. Each has a sound that is quite distinctive.
So, which came out on top? Cast your vote below!
Jeremy James in Hong Kong 
I’ll vote for 1954 one…it’s bright and and tele all the way through.
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This is so cool! What an effort. I like the sound of the third guitar.
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Strangely enough, the CS Tele is too bright for my taste. It has a bite for sure and is rolling like a stone, but a bit too aggressive for my taste. I’d probably roll the knobs back immediately. This is something I do with my Stratocaster as well.
Neck:
Fender Roadworn MIM (all the way!)
Middle:
Shijie TlV (I do absolutely love how the middle sounds!)
Fender Roadworn MIM (absolutely!)
Crunchy playing:
I think it’s the Shijie TlV and the K-Line Truxton for me.
So, if I give every entry a point, it’s probably a battle between the Fender Roadworn MIM and your Shijie TIV with two points each.
So, the conclusion is. It’s worth it to have many guitars. I would pick all of your guitars for play, but I would probably play or use each individual one differently than the other… like it happens with my own guitars. Each one inspires me differently, makes me play differently.
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Now that’s interesting feedback Dennis, very interesting in fact. You should have put the comments in YouTube for people to see mate! Agree with you on the custom shop …though I have to say that tweaking the amp for each guitar can really change how they come across. That custom shop has very articulate pups that give it a very different sound in a side by side comparison.
I wonder what your feedback would be if you could play them all. Thinking you’d go for the shijie if you like the sound cause man, that neck is a beaut!
Too true about each guitar inspiring differently. It’s a problem as I’m starting to accumulate a few too many!!!
Thanks for the insightful commentary.
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Sorry for the late reply, I’ve been busy recently. I wondered where to put my comment but you’re right, there are more guitarists on YouTube, so it should make sense to have the discussion there. I will remember for the next time.
I know what you mean. This even counts for AmpSims like AmpliTube. I created folders for each of my guitars where I put the presets that I created for each individual guitar. They’re tweaked for each individual guitar. Like you use the knobs on the amp differently with different guitars.
Oh yeah, accumulating too many guitars is a real problem. 🙂 Compared to some people online, my number is probably still low… 5 electric guitars… 3 acoustic guitars. But…yeah… GAS is no joke. I’d still like to have a few in my collection no matter if it makes sense or not. It’s just… well, you know… loving instruments 🙂
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Youtube has been deleting my comments on your video so I’m just gonna post it here. I almost thought I didn’t actually make that comment and it was all just in my dream or some sort of false memory. Not sure what’s up with them.
Anyhow, now have been playing my TLV for a few days and am absolutely delighted with it. I do have some medium to high-end guitars (a Fender CS strat, Gibson 335, Charvel Govan, and a Tom Anderson Cobra) and Shijie doesn’t feel like it’s in any way inferior.
First, the tone is fantastic. I’m using a DSM Humboldt into my Apogee Duet interface and I love it a lot. The tone has more force and more meat than my strat but not too thick like my other humbucker guitars, just what I need. Also you are right about that Shijie is not as bright as Fender telecasters and I quite like about it. What I need is its unique meaty yet still single coil tone and I don’t need that bright squeakiness.
The neck is actually not too bad. Before purchasing TLV I had tried Fender Ultra and the Original series telecasters from a local dealer here in Shenzhen. The Original is a baseball bat but Ultra is too thin for me (a bit like Charvel) so Shije is kind of sitting in the middle. Also, the kind of old-school music (learning some classic jazz now and also using the Berklee Method book from the 60s) I intend to play on this guitar won’t require any speedy movements. I’d use my Charvel for that. I get used to the “shoulders” of the neck really quickly.
One thing that really stood out is the wood Shijie used for the neck. It’s a better material than the neck from Fender Ultra series. Shijie feels like Fender CS quality.
Also for some bizarre reason, the Fender teles I tried didn’t sound good on a Fender amp in the shop but the Shijie TLV sounds amazing through the interface into my computer (I don’t have an amp at home). I’m actually a bit confused by that. I think next time I’ll bring the Shijie to an actual Fender amp to see what’s going on.
My next step is to experiment with a customized metal/wood pickguard so I can put some artwork on it, as well as adding a new pot to get that new Fender Pro II feature: series + parallel pickup configurations.
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Hey Meng, I did see one of your recent comments but it vanished soon after – so I tried to respond to another comment. Perhaps you didn’t see that. In any case I was delighted to hear your positive experiences with the guitar.
Regarding those fender amps, I find quite a few of the new ones very bright. Sometimes uncomfortably so. No doubt they are tuning them, as well as the pick ups, to modern ears. I’m not much of a fan though. Prefer a slightly warmer, more ‘vintage’ tone.
If YouTube isn’t working well, maybe look me up on WeChat? I don’t use it much but you’re nearby so it would be good to connect there…username is jjmmuir I think!
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