Texas garage rock from the '60s
Texas garage rock? Yeah, this happened.
This is interesting where guitar history is concerned.
For a time, I was playing nothing but Jazzmaster guitars and learned about all things surf from the 1960s. I did some searching if there was any Texas-specific music going on during the '60s, and oh yeah, there was. But it wasn't surf. That's a California thing. Texas had a garage/punk flavor going on instead.
To be clear, this is '60s garage rock, which is very different from what most people think this style is supposed to sound like. Basically put, it's like surf rock but with a much more forward in-your-face vibe to it.
A few bands from this era are Coastliners, Y'Alls, Status Quo and Reddlemen to name a few. There were many.
This is a music style where while I'm not totally in love with it, but can still appreciate the simplicity. It is the simple nature of the songs that gives off the punk vibe more than anything else. Some bands sang while others just shouted loud into the mic.
One of the better ones to my ear is Is It a Lie by The Mysterions (very cool band name).
It's probably true you haven't heard these particular songs before, but most likely have heard the style. Where? Movies and television.
The more you listen to this stuff, the more you recognize the style. Few of these were ever hit songs, but the style definitely made its way into motion picture soundtracks.
And, interestingly enough, it's a Texas-specific sound. You'd never peg Texas as a garage rock state, but at one point in history it absolutely was.
Silvertone, that other '60s guitar
Okay, technically '50s and '60s, but you get the idea.
In my early years of guitar playing, I remember coming across Silvertone electric guitars every so often. And wow, were they crap. They could not hold tune, were impossible to intonate and were just generally difficult to play.
The new reissue guitars, thankfully, benefit from modern manufacturing processes. This makes them much, much better in every way. And I really do mean every way. Woods, electronics, tuning stability, playability, and so on. All better.
Said very honestly, there's no way you could ever get me to buy a vintage Silvertone electric guitar. But with these new ones, I could actually play one of these and enjoy doing it.
This is the most affordable way to get '60s guitar mojo
If the headstock said Fender or Gibson on this guitar, it would be selling for over $1,000. The Silvertone Model 1449 however is nowhere near that price. Much more affordable.
What you get is a solid mahogany body 24.75" scale (like a Gibson) guitar with 2 volume and 2 tone controls for the pickups.
"But I only see 2 knobs." Correct. Each knob is stacked where the center post is the volume and the ring is the tone control. One for each pickup.
You also get real-deal lipstick pickups in this guitar. If you're not familiar with those, they use bar magnets and are ridiculously responsive and twangy in a good way.
The best part about a lipstick pickup is that every string gets "full coverage" while vibrating, so to speak. Instead of each string hovering over a small pole piece magnet, they're all hovering over a bar. The end result is a huge, twangy sound on both pickups.
Lipstick pickups typically do sound best clean, but with overdrive they can totally do a '60s acid rock tone easily. Just bear in mind that they do feed back quite easily, so don't get too crazy with your overdrive.
If you dig the whole '60s guitar thing but the Fender and Gibson offerings are out of reach, get the Silvertone. The new one is absolutely better than the original, easy to set up and easy to play. And it won't sound like any other guitar you have (in a good way, of course).
Is a fat Telecaster right for you?
This is a type of Telecaster that seems like the ultimate Tele, and for some it might be.
Take a Fender American Performer Telecaster Hum. This is an attempt by Fender to make the ultimate "workhorse" Telecaster.
Before getting into that, I'll explain what a fat Telecaster actually is.
Fat does not refer to the body nor neck thickness but rather the pickups in the guitar. If there is a humbucker pickup at the neck position, that's what makes it "fat".
I own two Telecaster type guitars. One has the traditional overwound single-coil at the bridge and the mini single at the neck. The other is a fat Tele with an overwound single-coil at the bridge and a humbucker pickup at the neck.
Then there is the Fender American Performer Telecaster Hum. This is a fat Tele and the Hum in the name refers to the humbucker pickup at the neck. However, this guitar also has a fair amount of fancy dan electronics in it. The bridge pickup is a newer design by Fender that they call the Yosemite, and the neck humbucker is something they call the Double Tap. Also, there is a push-pull potentiometer to split the humbucker to a single-coil. Also also, there is what Fender calls a Greasebucket tone circuit that allows you to roll off treble without increasing bass frequencies.
The Hum is the do-it-all Tele. It has both the vintage and modern Tele tones all nicely packaged in one guitar, and does do without the sound "mudding out" anywhere...
...but not everybody can afford the Hum. In fact, most people can't.
This is where we get into more affordable options, examining common Telecaster complaints, and figuring out whether having a humbucker in the neck position is actually a good idea or not.
That darned mini-single pickup
The biggest complaint about traditional Telecaster pickups (regardless of who made the guitar) is that the mini-single neck side pickup isn't usable. (And yes, it's a mini-single, meaning not a lipstick pickup. That type of pickup is totally different.)
"Isn't usable" defined: Some complain that the mini-single is either too weak, too "muddy", or both.
I've personally never had a Tele mini-single sound that way. But then again, I don't regularly play a true-to-vintage-spec Telecaster either.
In my experience, yes, a vintage spec Telecaster mini-single does tend to be weak and not all that dynamic. But I wouldn't call it unusable even though others do.
The good and bad of having a humbucker in the neck position of a Telecaster
Whether you do like I did and outright buy a cheap Tele copy with a humbucker in the neck, or install an inexpensive humbucker in your existing Tele yourself (assuming the wood is already cut out under the pick guard to house a humbucker and you've bought a pick guard that can fit a humbucker pickup), this is what you can expect:
Clean rhythm sound: Good.
Overdriven rhythm sound: Not-so good for regular rock, but good if you use fuzz and/or like that '60s rock sound.
Clean solo tone: Good.
Overdriven solo tone: Very good.
Bridge + Humbucker clean sound: Your Tele will still sound like a Tele but you're now combining the bridge pickup with a humbucker that has greater output compared to the mini-single. You may or may not like this, but it works very well for jazz. More on that in a moment.
Bridge + Humbucker overdriven sound: Whether you can actually use this sound or not directly depends on the type of overdrive you're using. Lighter overdrive tends to sound better.
Best benefit of the humbucker at the neck: Jazz tones.
This is where the dynamic response of a neck side humbucker really works on a Tele. The greater output and midrange work very nicely to ring out "fuller" jazz style chords whether using bridge+humbucker or humbucker alone.
No, you will not get the sound of an ES-335 because we're talking about a solid body Telecaster here. But usable jazz tones are definitely way easier to get on a fat Tele compared to a traditional pickup set.
The humbucker just looks cooler
There are some Telecaster players that never use the neck pickup at all and bought a fat Tele anyway. Why? They think a humbucker at the neck position just looks better than the mini-single.
Does it?
Yes.
The bigger shiny rectangle of the humbucker is visually more interesting than the skinny mini-single and looks more impressive. It also looks more expensive even though it's not.
Any Telecaster looks better with that big shiny rectangle at the neck position.
And now the last question. Should you own two Teles?
Should you own two Teles?
As mentioned earlier, I own both types of Teles. One with the traditional pickup set and a fat Tele.
Before answering the question of whether to own both types of guitars, I did own this for a very brief period of time back in 2018:
The Fender HH Standard Telecaster in a special edition color called Sea Foam Pearl, which is not the same as the modern Fender Player Telecaster HH as that one has different pickups in it, is what made me stop playing HH Telecasters. I could not get this thing to sound good no matter what I tried. Maybe the modern Player Telecaster HH sounds better, but I've noodled around on a few Telecaster HH guitars since the one I had, and nope... I just can't make them work for me.
With the fat Tele I have now with the single + humbucker, yes, I like the sound of that. But I also like the sound of the single + mini-single too, hence the reason why I own both.
If you're a Tele guy, you might actually need both types of Teles in your life. I certainly appreciate having both of them.
However, were I to pick just one, it would be the fat Tele for sure. But that's just me. You'll have to decide for yourself if you need both if you're a fan a Telecaster type guitars.
Is your cheap guitar holding you back?
The answer to this question all depends on whether you have the right cheap guitar or not.
I have an SX Furrian Fat. It's called "Fat" because it has a humbucker pickup in the neck position instead of the traditional single-coil for both positions.
The Furrian is a Telecaster style guitar available from Rondo and sells new in the USA for under $200. That's cheap money for a new electric guitar in 2021. Last year, I bought not only the Furrian Fat seen above but also a regular Furrian as well. However, I had a very specific reason for getting these two guitars, which I'll cover in a moment.
On that whole "an expensive guitar will make you a better player" argument...
Most of the time, cheap guitars play just as good as the expensive ones do, with emphasis on the word most.
For example, take the Fender Player Telecaster. What makes that guitar more expensive is what you don't see. The pickups will have better dynamic response. Under the pick guard and control plate, you will find good wiring, proper shielding, proper solder connections, full size potentiometers and a traditional (and more expensive) pickup switch instead of one that uses a small PCB (printed circuit board). The fret ends are also usually finished better.
...but does any of that stuff make you a better player?
No.
You can obviously take a cheap Tele copy, rewire it, re-shield it, change pots, change pickups, change pickup switch and dress the fret ends with the proper tool.
As long as you're not fighting with the instrument...
As has been said by many thousands of guitar players over the years, good setup really, really matters.
The #1 thing that makes a cheap guitar play terribly is the fact it's not set up. Out of the box, the string action is sky high, neck relief is totally wrong, intonation is way off, and so on. In that state, of course the guitar will play terribly and you'll be fighting with it right from the start until a proper setup is done.
Time spent on setting the guitar up will make a world of difference. There's no excuse not to know how to set a guitar up as there are many YouTube videos explaining how to do it.
But is that all there is to it to become a better player? Just a good guitar setup?
No, there is more.
This is where I explain why I got the Furrian guitars to begin with. It all comes down to the neck. As I've mentioned before, that particular guitar has a thicker neck with a flatter 350mm (almost 14") fingerboard radius and jumbo frets. For a Telecaster style guitar, this is obviously nonstandard, but it agrees with my fret hand very well.
I did not come to know this until after I spent some time with thin-necked guitars first.
For those of you who have been following me a while, you remember when I had the black Squier Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster. Good guitar? Yes. Great, in fact. But it had a thin neck on it that I just couldn't get along with. No amount of good guitar setup would ever magically thicken up that neck, so it had to go.
The Furrians I have now literally sell for less than half the price of one of those Squier CV guitars, but the Furrian neck is one I don't fight with.
You are better off buying several cheap guitars to find out what agrees with you best
I can understand spending a bunch of money on a guitar when you are absolutely sure of exactly what works for you. But if you're not sure of what guitar suits you best, going cheap and staying there until you find something good is the better option.
For me, I found the right cheap guitar for what I like to play. It's comfortable, I don't fight with it, and it allows me to continue to learn new things and advance as a guitar player. But this was not an overnight thing, and I had to go through several other guitars before landing on something that really worked.
I am not saying you have to play the same guitar I do. Not at all. What I am saying is to learn how to do a good setup first. If that doesn't help improve things, try different cheap guitars, and especially go for things you haven't tried before. You have options. There is 25.5" scale (Strat/Tele), 24.75" scale (Les Paul/SG), solid body, semi-hollow body, and so on among other things.
When you find the one that works for you the best, then you can consider throwing some big cash at a more expensive guitar. And that may not even be necessary, because once you find something you really like, why replace it?
If I could travel back to the '90s, would I do it?
Yes.
But only for a month.
Search around the internet for anything '90s, and you're certain to find comments from people saying if they could travel back in time and live in that decade forever, they would do it.
Would I? Yes, but like I said, it would be only for a month. Thirty days in the 1990s is more than enough, and I'd be relieved to come back to the 2020s.
Things I did like
I like the cars of the '90s. A lot of them. Cars by Chevy, Ford, Dodge, Honda, Toyota in this decade were just plain cool.
The clothing styles of the '90s were great. Not necessarily for the look but rather because of comfort. A standard "grunge" look is jeans, flannel and boots. You really can't go wrong with this, even today. It's a style that's both comfortable and wears for a long time. Certainly better than the garbage of the '80s that wore out so quickly.
Video game consoles were made like tanks, and the games were great for the most part. Huge improvement over the '80s stuff. Whether you went Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, you got something truly good. The consoles were so overbuilt that most of them work perfectly fine even now, and that includes the controllers.
The movie theater experience in the '90s was pretty good. Not quite as good as the '80s, but still better than the 2000s (it's been downhill ever since the 2000s decade).
FM radio in the '90s was the best there ever was, no question about that. What was then known as shock jocks were actually daring and funny.
Things I did not like
Most of this is the stuff people have conveniently forgotten about, but I haven't.
Not a cheap decade
Cable television had a huge price spike, you still had to pay for long distance calls, cell phones and phone service was really expensive, clothes were expensive, and many other things went up in price.
And were the prices of cars, apartments and houses truly cheaper in the '90s? Not really. If you don't believe me, you can run any inflation calculator online and see for yourself. '90s prices for the most part were higher compared to now.
Anything labeled with an "e"
Internet was a new thing in the '90s, so anything internet was electronic, meaning to sound modern, slap an e in front of it, and job done. eThis, eThat, eTheOtherThing. Whatever. Even if the product had nothing to do with the internet, it didn't matter. That stupid e got slapped in front of it anyway.
Goatees and Mullets
I've never had a mullet hairstyle on my head nor ever had a goatee on my face. But I knew plenty of dudes that did. Some had both going on at the same time.
I remember seeing more goatees than mullets, and I know why. It's because a goatee is acceptable in both blue and white collar jobs while the mullet is not. But that doesn't mean it looks any less goofy.
Low rise jeansSeeing women's butt cracks poking out of the tops of jeans is not attractive. Never has been, never will be. Regardless of how hot the woman is, seeing butt crack is a no-sale.
A woman wearing low rise jeans is the female equivalent of a dude wearing jorts.
If I had to live in the '90s for a month...
...I'm certain that I'd be saying "Get me out of this '90s hell!" after being there just two weeks. Yes, I am saying I wouldn't even last the month.
What music could I listen to? I've already heard it. What movies could I see? I've already seen them. What places could I go to? I've already been to those places before.
I couldn't talk to my friends of that decade, because all they'd see is a middle aged "old" guy. I couldn't talk to my parents or relatives of the era either, because I'd be a total stranger to them at the age I am now. And I certainly couldn't stay at the house I grew up in.
All I could do is just visit places, which I would. But that would get old quick and I'd just want to leave.
And even if it were possible to go back to the '90s at the age I was then knowing what I know now, that wouldn't work either. Yes, I would avoid some mistakes since I would know in advance what's coming, but then make new bigger mistakes that I never would have expected. There would just be no way to win, assuming there's even a victory to be had.
I understand the phrase "you can never go home again" all too well. That time in my life, that '90s, has passed. And if somehow I was able to travel back in time and actually live there for a quick spell, I'm 100% certain my reaction to it would be that of apathy.
Living in that period of time would also be very inconvenient.
Going back to a '90s way of living would be awful
I don't want to go back to a world where there is no GPS, all cell phones were huge bricks with no text messaging, internet connectivity was at dial-up speeds, and the only way to get a decent photograph was on film.
I also do not miss answering machines, writing checks to pay bills, mailing out said checks (which cost extra because envelopes and stamps aren't free), CDs that skipped, floppy disks, no USB, anything labeled "EXTREME" (or XTREME, which is just as bad), and so on. I miss none of that.
Some may say that the '90s were simpler times. And they were. But it was simpler in an annoying way. There's simple good and simple bad. The '90s is simple bad.
I could say much better things about the 1980s, 2000s and 2010s, and maybe I will at some point. But as for the 1990s, I remember that time. I was there. I lived it. It wasn't that great. Other decades were better. Anybody who thinks otherwise is just fooling themselves.