Update

For the Tele, in ase you didnt know, they have "Highway One" Tele's. They're basically American-made Tele's with a different finish(that means less colors, but i tried out a highway one strat and the see-through finish is beautiful IMHO). Over here in the states they go around 600 bucks. here's some link's: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/511255/ and here: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/515122/

Low humidity can cause the wood to shrink slightly and expose fret edges on unbound fingerboards. But it should not be a lot, a little catching at the most. If it feels almost too annoying to play, the frets probably weren't seated properly and/or dressed all that well. On my guitars, I notice this happening moreso on my guitars with rosewood and ebony fingerboards, and very little or none on those with maple.

That said, I've seen/felt some pretty disappointing fretwork on supposedly high-end electrics in places like Manny's. When I brought it to the attention of the staff, I got the same explaination as you did. I did not buy it given the severity of the problem. If you want to make sure it's merely a humidity issue, ask the store to put the guitar in the humidity controlled acoustic guitar room for a few days and see if the situation improves.

If you want to make sure it's merely a humidity issue, ask the store to put the guitar in the humidity controlled acoustic guitar room for a few days and see if the situation improves.

Thanks Greg, I'll do that. I would like to purchase all the items through one store that way I can bargain with them on the price seeing that I'll be spending over a grand! If the guitars don't improve (yes two, they both had the same problem...both Ash w/maple necks), I'll ask if they could have another shipped to the store. Or look into another Tele. I just liked the look of the Ash.

Yeah, I wouldn't buy a guitar if you can feel the frets to that degree. My new American Telecaster has rolled edges on the fretboard and is smooth as silk. I would also look at the Highway 1 Series. These have all the quality of the American Series except the finish. They will scratch or stain easier than the American's so that is something to consider. Or at least look at several guitars of the model you are considering. Look the guitar over real careful, after all, you are gonna have it a long time.

If you are not stuck on getting a Fender, also look at the Schecter Tele models. These are excellent guitars with first-class craftsmanship. Check out the PT model (??) with coil taps. They are nice. Good price too.

As for the Behringer mixers, Behringer has a good reputation and is used by many soundpeople. I have owned mine for several years and have no complaints whatsoever. As for the built in effects, those are geared toward vocals or acoustic guitar. For vocals or acoustic guitar they are very good. For electric guitar I would probably buy something like a small Digitech or Behringer multi-effects pedal. These run around $70 and are excellent for the price. This would allow you far more tweaking. In fact on the Behringer mixer you cannot tweak an effect at all. They have different degrees of effect. For instance, you might get 5 called Chorus with Delay. So you have 5 choices there. But you would not be able to tweak them manually.

There are no distortions on the Behringer mixers that would work for
guitar.

I've never had trouble with noise at all. There could be lots of reasons for that like cheap cables, power source, microphones, pickups, etc.... There's lots of people out there using lots of different gear in various configurations. Some people do not know what they are doing. If you use decent gear you usually will not have problems like this.

Yeah, the ash Teles are nice. These are the ones that will truly give you the Tele twang if you are into that sound. But Teles are very versatile guitars and can be used for practically any kind of music. They probably don't have the deep tone MetalHeads would want, so that might be the only genre where they come short. Mine sure sounds heavy with distortion. I just turn the tone knob down. But they will never sound like a Les Paul. Not supposed to! :D

I really liked the feel of the Ash w/maple neck. The neck felt a little fatter than the other two electrics I have but, it seamed to fit my hand better. The only real problem I had with the guitars was the frets sticking out that little bit.

I played them through the Blues Jr. (I always wanted to test the Jr.) and was very impressed with both the sound of the guitar, and the sound of the amp. Both Tele's had a Seymour Duncan pup. I love maple necks and would like to buy one, this will be my first.

As for the mixers, do you guys think it would be better to get a mixer without effects and buy a separate multi-effects pedal? If so, any recommendations?

Wes, how do you like your Load Dump?

Tracker

If you wanted the effects for electric guitar then I would buy a seperate multi-effects designed just for guitar. The effects on mixers are primarily designed for vocals. But that is good. You will want some effects on your vocals like reverbs or delays. And many of the effects work well with acoustic guitar too. They knew many people would play an acoustic guitar straight into the mixer.

Mike, I like the Load Dump. But it is subtle. It is not some gigantic difference that most people would pick up immediately. But it is there if you know what to listen for. For instance, playing on the clean channel chords sound very warm and sparkly, the notes are rounder and not as harsh. If you really crank Volume up on your HRD it will natural overdrive. This is a tone I love. It is like the overdrive you heard on early The Who records. But you can get this sound at low volume.

When using the Drive channels the notes are much fatter sounding. You get fantastic sustain. When you play power chords they sound very energized.

But it is subtle. I think everyone would agree it is an improvement on the tone they were getting, but not everybody would think it is worth the cost.
But to me it is easily. I really love the sound of my amp when it is pushed a bit. That's when it really starts to sing. You almost cannot help but play well when your amp sounds like this.

You have to also remember that the speaker itself is part of the sound. So if you have the Load Dump on max attenuation, yeah, you can hear the amp is cranked and singing. But you are still missing the speaker's involvement. However, if you turn it up just a little, and I mean a level that you can play at home without your wife throwing something at you, it really starts to cook. It sounds good.

All I can say is that I like it and would buy it again.

A Fender American Telecaster should be about $850-$950, a Deluxe about $1050, and a '52 reissue about $1250. They are all great guitars with somewhat different sounds and amazing necks. I don't know what they gave you, but none of these others have poking frets, in my experience. I would try an American Series before spending $700 on a Korean Fender with bad frets.
I recommend Performance Music Center in Woburn MA to anyone buying a Fender. They have a somewhat limited stock though, so call before driving all that way.
They also carry G&L guitars (Leo's other company) which makes amazing Tele's in the $900+ catagory. The G&L Tribute ASAT are great $450ish Teles, if you can find one. You could check at Junior's Music in Clinton CT.

The Shecter PT is a wonderful guitar, real easy to play and lots of different sounds from the splittable pickups and only costs $450-550, but doen't sound much like a Tele, if that's what you're looking for. The PT has a pretty unique voice all it's own, I think, from very smooth to biting.

Thanks everyone and thanks for the review on the Weber load dump Wes.

I'm really stuck between a rock and a hard place here. First off I'm not buying any of the Tele's I tested out. I'll look around for a Tele with better quality and craftsmanship. I just heard today on the radio that Hyde Music is having a half-off sale on ALL guitars. I'll have to go there this weekend and see what they have to offer.

I've decided that I'm going to purchase the Behringer Eurorack UB1222FX-Pro. Thanks for the info on the effects Wes. I thought they were for my guitars. But, like you said, I would want them for my vocals and acoustic work anyway. So at least that's one thing I've settled on!!!

I'm 90% sold on the Weber Load Dump. The only reason I'm not a 100% is because I don't like to buy things WITHOUT trying them first. But, I really like what I've heard about them, so….. I'll have to call around and see if anyone has them in stock, if not, I'll just have to spend the $75 dollars and check it out for myself.

Well that's all I can think of for now. Now I have to go and do some research for the equalizers.

Thanks again!!!

Question on the Equalizer.

Do I want one of those rack mounted jobs or will a foot pedal do the job?

Thanks.