At first i thought I got a broken guitar. Had to do some researh on that neck pickup. I knew it was a little more muddied and jazzed toned, but wasn't aware that there would be such a volume drop.

Have you checked whether yours has the vintage/traditional early 50s Telecaster wiring?

https://www.proaudioland.com/news/vinta ... er-wiring/

If so, that may explain why the neck pickup sounds so dark.

My guess would be since mine is the 52 reissue it is the vintage and supposed to have. I saw a few youtube reviews mentioning it.

Yeah, I think it's a fairly simple wiring change if you want it to be wired the "normal" (i.e. mid 50s onwards) way.

As mine is a post-2012 52 reissue, the wiring is already updated.

Ah, gotcha. I believe mine is roughly 2007 or so.

I may look into re-wiring it down the road because I have generally loved the tone of the neck pickup with single coil pups.

Great looking guitar.

The neck pup would bother me, too. Neck pickups in Fenders are one of my favorite things about them.

Decided to go with a white pickguard to ward off any unintended Springsteen vibes.

You made the right choice, spenno.

Some advice guys. I've stored my guitar for many years with strings on however a mate recommended taking the strings off so the neck doesn't warp. So I did. Then another friend said that was a fallacy.

So any advice on this?

I always thought keeping strong on helped keep tension through the neck which helped it from warping

I say with them. It’s designed for the neck to have a certain amount of tension based on the strings being on it. I would think being without strings would make the neck eventually bow.

Keep them on. I don't even take them all off when I change strings; I do them one at a time.
Relieving all of the pressure can get things out of whack and then you'll have to set it up, again.

According to Fender, we are all three correct.

https://www.fender.com/articles/tech-ta ... ur-guitars

And self, I do the same thing when I change the strings.

i thought you were a gibson guy...

A buddy of mine was liquidating the gear collection of a friend's dad who passed away. Lots of nice stuff but all guitars, and since I'm playing bass these days, I couldn't justify most of it. This, however, I could justify. Upgraded with Fralin P90s.

I am. I just did a google search for “storing a guitar”.

Show us your basses, Mr. Wad.

As you wish!

My main bass right now, the Epiphone Thunderbird Pro V. It's active and it's an absolute thunder machine.




This one has a fun story. I worked at Guitar Center HQ from 2011-2013 as managing editor. One day this beauty shows up in the office, a demo model of the new "American Special" Series. It ended up in my office and never left. So when I was getting ready to move back to Oregon, I kept bugging our Fender rep about buying it. He kept forgetting about it, so I finally cornered him one day and said look man, I want that bass. He says, "OK, um, just write a check to Fender for $100. Cool?"

Anyway, mine is badged as an American Special, and I believe they sold a few under that moniker at first, but maybe not. Either way, it became known instead as the Fender USA Nitro Satin Series, and the American Specials went on to be something different.




This is my newest bass, a Gibson EB5. Tonally it's not as beefy as the Thunderbird, but I love the way it plays. It also has coil tapping capabilities, but I honestly haven't spent enough time with it yet to have it fully dialed.



Not pictured is my oldest bass, my Fender American Standard Jazz Bass I purchased brand new way back in 1994, when I became a big boy bass player.
It's currently in Las Vegas for when I'm down that way, but in lieu here's a picture of the original pickguard that John Entwistle signed for me in 1998 after a John Entwistle Band gig in Springfield, Oregon. Everyone had records and CDs for him to sign, and I walked right up, popped open my case, held it out and said, "Mr. Entwistle, would you please sign my bass?" He took it from me, and I remember thinking as I watched him look it over, just please play something on it, but I didn't want to ask. He nodded his approval at it, signed the pickguard, and handed it back. Then I thought I'd be cool and play a gig with it on there and realized the ink was smudging, so I removed it.



Rounding out the rig:

Woah, nice rig!