Schecter PT Special - Purple Burst Pearl

We had several candidates to close out #SepTELEmber and after much deliberation we decided to go with… not a Tele at all! (But isn’t it though‽) It’s our hashtag party, and we’ll defy if we want to.

The Telecaster was the first successful production solid body electric guitar. It is a no-frills “everything you need and nothing you don’t” guitar that is easily and often imitated by many other manufactures and individual builders alike.

We have actually never touched a Schecter. Never really payed much attention to them until #PurpleGuitarPhursday. Yet they seem to have embraced purple as a standard color more than other manufacturers, so they do seem to come up lot.

David Schecter started Schecter Guitar Research in California the 1970s. He initially made replacement parts before building complete custom instruments. When production could not keep up with demand, the company was sold first to a group of investors in Texas, then a few years later to Hisatake Shibuya, the founder of ESP Guitars. We sometimes get those two companies mixed up, and although they function independently, it is interesting to learn that they are actually… step-siblings‽

The “PT” part of “PT Special” obviously stands for “Phoney Telecaster.” Not really. It is named for Pete Townsend, who played [phoney] telecaster-style guitars (complete with lawsuit-inducing Fender style headstocks) from Schecter’s early custom shop days. As far as we understand, he never had anything to do with the production models, but considering that he famously smashed guitars on stage, it is not entirely clear that his endorsement would necessarily be considered a positive.

The traditional Tele neck pickup is not especially popular, with many players preferring a humbucker, or a P90, or even removing it entirely as on the original Esquire. This model opts for the P90, for a fatter sound that is still a single coil to hum cancel when combined with the bridge pickup (either in parallel or series via a push-pull knob.) Speaking of knobs, it has a reversed control plate with the knobs in front and the switch behind, which allows easier access to the volume knob for swells such as one can do on a Strat. The pickup switch is a toggle rather than the typical blade. We do like the curvier, aerodynamic shape of the control plate itself.

It has an ashtray bridge with the three adjustable brass saddles. Honestly, not the most practical design, but dripping with “old school cool” vibes. We’ve always loved the aesthetic of the tele bridge.

Finish it off with body and neck binding and a transparent purple burst. We’re not entirely sure what the “pearl” refers to, but perhaps it has a bit of shimmer to it?

All in all, just your basic no-frills guitar… with frills‽

#Schecter

G&L ASAT Z3 Semi-Hollow Purpleburst

G&L Guitars was founded by George Fullerton & Leo Fender in the town of Fullerton, after Fender sold Fender(TM) (and also after Fender ended his interim relationship with Music Man). Right? Right.

The ASAT is an evolution of the Telecaster. While the name sounds like one of those Star Wars chicken walkers, it is actually named for an Anti-SATellite missile. A different sort of star war, if you will. While the Telecaster was intended to be played on television, the ASAT is designed to… end television‽ Or at least be the end the Telecaster, perhaps‽ Who knows? We digress.

Innovations on the initial ASAT model included “Magnetic Field Design” pickups and “Saddle-Lock” bridge. The MFD pickups feature a single bar bar magnet with adjustable pole pieces instead of individual magnets per string. (We wonder if Leo Fender got that idea from… almost every other non-Fender designed pickup ever?) The higher mass bridge is partially embedded into the body and has a set screw that pinches the saddles together to reduce side-to-side motion. We are not sure how much of an issue that really is, but it is a long way from the Jazzmaster bridge (designed by… *checks notes* Leo Fender) where the strings would allegedly not even stay in the saddle.

Some players did not appreciate these new developments, so in addition to the ASAT Special, G&L offered the ASAT Classic with more traditional Tele styling. Somewhat later, they introduced this particular model we have here today.

We recall that when the Z-coil pickups were first introduced (initially on the G&L Commanche “Strat-style” guitar), the story they were peddling at the time was that Leo Fender came home from work and told his wife that he had made his final contribution to the guitar world, and died shortly thereafter. The design for these pickups was then discovered some years later in his untouched office. We do not know if any of that is true, or just something that they made up in the age before internet fact checking. Regardless, they have MFD construction, but with two offset coils, not unlike a P-Bass pickup (which was designed by… *checks notes* Leo Fender).

This ASAT Z3 has three pickups like a Nashville Tele, but with a push-pull pot to get neck+bridge or all three pickups together, in addition to the normal five combinations. It has the Saddle-Lock bridge. It is semi-hollow like a Tele Thinline. It has a purple sunburst finish with white binding.

Yes, though not technically a Telecaster(TM), this is essentially the final boss of Telecasters.

#PurpleGuitarPhursday #SepTELEmber #G&L

Fender Player II Modified Telecaster SH Dusk

#SepTELEmber continues!

The Telecaster (originally called the Broadcaster, but Gretsch already had a trademark for “Broadkaster”) was created by Leo Fender in 1950. Along with the single pickup Esquire version, it was the first mass produced solid body electric guitar.

This is a modern tele with “upgrades” including a rosewood fretboard, splittable neck humbucker (with that unusual Fender three screw mounting system) noiseless bridge pickup, and a six saddle bridge. Alll in the perfect shade of “Is that black… no wait it’s PURPLE” color that we wished our hair could be in our younger days.

This is, simply put, the Telecaster we have always dreamed of.

#PurpleGuitarPhursday #Fender

We're kicking off #SepTELEmber with the Squier Classic Vibe 60s Custom Telecaster Oxblood!

Is “oxblood” purple? …Not really.

Is the blood of oxen a different color than that of other mammals? …We wouldn’t have thought so, but that is not our field.

Can you get a Telecaster in actual purple? …Sometimes.

Does it look SICK AF‽ …It do.

#PurpleGuitarPhursday #Squier #Fender #Guitar