Every guitarist should
own a Fender Telecaster
at some point in their
musical lives. Besides
being among the most
tonally distinctive
guitars around, they are
also really fun to play,
surprisingly versatile, and
possessed of a powerful,
understated cool that
can’t be touched by flashy
modern shred machines.
The Tele also just might
be the most historically
significant electric guitar
model of all time, with a
legacy that is unmatched
by any other instrument.
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TONE TALK //
Everyone Deserves a Telecaster: Five Low-Dough Teles
Before 1951, when
Clarence Leonidas Fender
and his Telecaster finally
met with mainstream
success, solid-body
electric guitars were little
more than curiosities,
neither commercially
successful nor taken
seriously by the musicians
of the day. Hollow-
body acoustics were the
dominant instruments of
professional level guitar
players at that time,
many of them being
fitted with aftermarket
electromagnetic pickups
to enhance volume and
clarity in a big band
context where horns were
common. Leo had been
designing and building
these pickups for local
players as part of his
radio repair business, and
in order to test them he
built a primitive bolt-neck
solid-body guitar. It was
very Tele-like in sound and
appearance, and Leo’s
regular customers quickly
became enamored of its
clear, bright, cutting tone,
frequently borrowing it
for gigs and recording
sessions. Obviously he
was onto something.
Fast forward to the
modern day, and the
Fender Telecaster in its
various incarnations is a
beloved and ubiquitous
instrument that can be
found in the hands of
guitarists from all over
the world, and from every
conceivable genre of
music. Despite its seeming
crudeness in comparison
to the more advanced
designs that have
followed in its footsteps,
the Fender Telecaster
has proven itself to be
remarkably versatile and
unquestionably timeless.
From wailing blues leads
and rock riffery, to deft
country picking, cave man
punk, sultry jazz tones,
and metallic chunking,
this elder of the electric
solid-body world can do
it all. If you want to truly
understand the electric
guitar and where it comes
from, you must have one
in your arsenal. To that
end, here are a few of our
favorite Tele-style guitars
that will bring that stang
to your thang without
blowing your rent money.
ToneReport.com
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