Jerry reid Signature Pro
TraDiTioN
company to consult on the development of
this guitar. He has since passed away.
Meanwhile, Back at the ranch
But we are pickers and can just take a guitar for what it is, so let’s have a look-see.
The JR Pro has an ash body with a nice
looking quilted maple top. This particular
JR Pro seems slightly on the heavy side, but
not too bad… about 7–8 lbs. Our example
has a pretty-looking amber transparent
color. It also has a maple neck and fingerboard with a tilted-back peghead ( 8 degree
tilt). It has Grover locking tuners and
Tradition’s TK- 1 Fixed Bridge Vibrato, which
is quite unusual. The pickups are also made
by Tradition: in this guitar we have a Tele-style bridge pickup, a dual-rail, Strat-style
center pickup, and a full-on humbucker in
the neck spot. Both the middle and neck
pickups have push/pull coil taps, so you get
quite a pile of available tones here.
The pickups are damn good, and Tradition
and Mr. Reid seem to have given much
thought as to what would be a versatile
pickup set. The neck pickup in full-on humbucking is very fat and hot without being too
dark. With the coil tap the volume drops and
it does a convincing single-coil sound. The
bridge is a fairly hot Tele-style lead pup, and
it has good snap and twang. It is my personal
voodoo belief that for the “just right” Tele
tone you need brass saddles, but this does
okay. The most interesting pickup here is
actually the center one, a rails-style pickup
with very large rails. It’s a humbucker in Strat
size and is hot enough to work well with
the coil tap. So this setup will deliver a fat
Gibson-style neck tone, a Tele lead tone as
well as assorted Strat-like sounds.
you stick to it and it’s comfy. It will also go up
and stay in tune. It seems to have a center
detent, so you can bend notes on the fretboard
and there’s no pitch slip, just like a non-vibrato
guitar. The locking Grovers and graphite nut
help it stay in tune. The downward travel is not
quite like a Floyd, but it will go pretty close to
floppy and still come back in tune quite well.
For Chet Atkins-style wiggle, it would be very
hard to beat this. The TK- 1 is actually one of
the most useable whammy bars I have tried.
Very nicely done, Tradition!
The neck is a bit unusual for a Tele-style guitar
in that it’s more of the wide-thin, shredder
type of neck. I’m not a shredder and this neck
is not my cup of tea, but it is well done with
nicely finished jumbo frets
and small inlays that from
a distance look a bit like a
Texas longhorn. I’m sure
many will find this neck to
be great. Tradition has a
seasoned tech who goes
over every instrument that
arrives from the factory
before it ships out, and the
setup on this one is good
with a low action that’s
ready to roll. The neck is
lightly finished for that
bare wood feel which you
either like or you don’t,
but it is smooth and it
does play well. The tilted-
back head is also unusual
on a Tele-style guitar, but
many prefer it and it does
eliminate the need for a
string tree.
The Final Mojo
The Tradition JR Pro could be the go-to guitar
for many. With its combination of three pickups
and the coil taps, you have eleven available
(and easy-to-get) tones. The whammy bar actually stays in tune very well without the need of
a locking nut. Personally, I like this whammy
because of its solid mount and the fact that if
you pull the bar off nobody would even know
it’s a whammy bridge. So you get to maintain
the clean look that many Tele pickers love while
still having that whammy option. Playability, fit
and finish are all very good. The tweed hard
case is also very good and is included. This is
not a boutique guitar, just a mass-produced
guitar made for working musicians, much like
the original Teles were. I wish it were a bit lighter, and I would prefer a different neck shape,
but that’s about all I can find fault with here. If
you’re searching for a fancy-looking, versatile
Tele-style guitar at much less than a custom
shop price, this is worth a look.
Rating:
you want mid-priced, “
Swiss-army-knife” versatility with a
happening whammy.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you’re much more interested in
the standard issue.
Wham!
I’ve got to talk a little
about the whammy bar. At
first glance what you see
is a flat Tele-style bridge,
nothing unusual. But the
TK- 1 vibrato is mighty fine
indeed. With a bridge that
is solidly mounted, you
can actually dive bomb
with it—and yep, it stays in
tune. The arm has a rubber
piece on it, which helps
Tradition Guitars
MSRP $1455 (with HSC)
traditionguitars.com
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