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tjon901 « Heavy metal Telecaster »
Published on 07/30/11 at 09:07Jim Root is the other guitar player in Slipknot. He also plays guitar in Stone Sour. He is a very good player with a very unique taste in guitars. Recently he has hooked up with Fender and now has a couple Signature models with them. They are a pretty wide departure from what Fender normally does. These Telecasters were built for metal. These Teles have mahogany bodies and maple necks. Depending on what finish you get you either get a maple fretboard or an ebony fretboard. I had the white model with the ebony fretboard. The contrasting body color and fretboard is a cool feature. These guitars have the classic 81 and 60 EMG set. The controls are super simple. It has a single volume knob and a 3 way switch.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays better than your typical Telecaster. It has a carved out neck joint so playing on the upper frets is more comfortable. The neck profile is based off of an old Charvel so it has more of a shredder profile. The fretboard has a 12 inch profile like that of a Les Paul. The ebony fretboard on this model feels really good under your fingers. The flat finish is nice and smooth but will wear quickly by design.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups in this guitar and the mahogany body this is probably the heaviest Telecaster Fender has ever made. The 81 and 60 is an old school EMG set that isnt used that much anymore. The set has good versatility in a metal guitar because awesome high gain sound in the bridge position with the 81 and the 60 provides a very good clean sound for an active pickup. The 60 is designed to be clean alternative to the 81 and the 85. This limits the pickups use in metal where you would normally use active pickups. This pickup is pretty much a neck only pickup. This guy does not have the output of the 81 or the 85 and does not sound that great with high gain distortion. This pickup is best for cleans. Clean tones are something that Is usually not too good in active pickups so EMG made one just for cleans. The 81 is a metal machine in the bridge. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. With the Strat style hardtail bridge you do not have the edges of the ashtray bridge getting in the way of your picking hand while you are trying to palm mute. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. With Slipknot playing a ton of downtuned songs you know this guitar is great for the lowest 6 string tunings.
OVERALL OPINION
The Jim Root Tele and Strat are some really heavy Fender guitars. Mahogany bodies and EMG's are a well known blueprint for metal tone. It also doesnt have his name all over it or a crazy giant logo on it. This is the right way to do a signature guitar. It is a guitar that many people can use and you dont look like a shill for playing it. It has a nice simple finish and doesnt stand out in terms of looks. In terms of metal tone it is above just about any other Telecaster Fender has made.
UTILIZATION
This guitar plays better than your typical Telecaster. It has a carved out neck joint so playing on the upper frets is more comfortable. The neck profile is based off of an old Charvel so it has more of a shredder profile. The fretboard has a 12 inch profile like that of a Les Paul. The ebony fretboard on this model feels really good under your fingers. The flat finish is nice and smooth but will wear quickly by design.
SOUNDS
With the EMG pickups in this guitar and the mahogany body this is probably the heaviest Telecaster Fender has ever made. The 81 and 60 is an old school EMG set that isnt used that much anymore. The set has good versatility in a metal guitar because awesome high gain sound in the bridge position with the 81 and the 60 provides a very good clean sound for an active pickup. The 60 is designed to be clean alternative to the 81 and the 85. This limits the pickups use in metal where you would normally use active pickups. This pickup is pretty much a neck only pickup. This guy does not have the output of the 81 or the 85 and does not sound that great with high gain distortion. This pickup is best for cleans. Clean tones are something that Is usually not too good in active pickups so EMG made one just for cleans. The 81 is a metal machine in the bridge. It has a searing high gain metal sound. When I play music with a lot of palm muting I can get an awesome tone. The 81 really shines when you are playing tight chugging riffs. With the Strat style hardtail bridge you do not have the edges of the ashtray bridge getting in the way of your picking hand while you are trying to palm mute. Tight chugging riffs and single note lines are what this pickup is best at. When you downtune all these traits just help to keep the sound nice and tight. It is very hard to get a muddy sound from this pickup. With Slipknot playing a ton of downtuned songs you know this guitar is great for the lowest 6 string tunings.
OVERALL OPINION
The Jim Root Tele and Strat are some really heavy Fender guitars. Mahogany bodies and EMG's are a well known blueprint for metal tone. It also doesnt have his name all over it or a crazy giant logo on it. This is the right way to do a signature guitar. It is a guitar that many people can use and you dont look like a shill for playing it. It has a nice simple finish and doesnt stand out in terms of looks. In terms of metal tone it is above just about any other Telecaster Fender has made.