Number One (Blue)

I have a few Teles, but this is what I reach for most. I think it's the Rosewood neck that does it for me. I generally like a chunky neck. This is thinner than the others, but feels and sounds fantastic.

Blue started life trying to be Brent Mason's guitar. If you haven't heard Brent Mason, you need to. Put it this way, if you met your favourite guitarist and asked them who their favourite guitarist is, they'd probably say Brent Mason.

Anyway, his guitar is special. A Seymour Duncan "Vintage Stack" bridge pickup, Seymour Duncan “Hot Stack” middle pickup and mini humbucker in the neck. Three pickups in a Tele, tonal options for days, and loads of Youtube videos to drool over. Three control knobs on the control plate too. Volume control, Volume control for the middle pickup, and tone control. Wiring diagram below if you're interested.

After a few weeks with this set up though, it just wasn't doing it for me.

Firstly, I'm not BM, and secondly, BM explains he has his guitar set up this way because he's a session musician who needs all these tones. It was too much guitar for me, so out came the middle pickup. I fell in love with the Mini Humbucker in the neck, so it stayed. I had a Peter Florance bridge pickup in an Esquire, which I moved over to Blue, wired it up (standard wiring with reverse control plate), and the rest is history. Duct tape covers the hole left by the middle pickup and a glued-on pick covers the hole where a knob used to be. Spertzel locking tuners. Glendale "Raw Deal" control plate, knobs and bridge. Glendale saddles. Number One.