Telecaster

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shagfu

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I've never really had a chance to mess around with a telecaster.
Is it the design and materials of a telecaster, or is it the pickups that create that tele sound?

Would I be able to throw some tele pickups in a strat and be able to get an authentic tele sound?
 
The unusual bridge, etc. also has a lot to do with the twang.
 
telecasters are the best

its something you just have to feel, I've played a tele for 4 years and nothing compares, it's probably the lipstrick pickup and the bridge mainly.
 
It's a combination of a lot of things.

There have been a bunch of different bridges and a bunch of different bridge pickup variations in the run since the beginning, and they all sound a little different, and I'm only talking about the basic MIA Telecaster here, not the weird stuff like the Thinline, Custom and soforth.

Some differences are due to things that most people are unaware of, such as the change to brass bridge plates from steel, which apparently affects the magnetic field around the bridge pickup. Of course, the integral maple fingerboard is a major part of that "sound," too. There are a dozen variations in production that have had an effect, as does setup. A lot of Telecasters don't sound very Telecastery at all. I've played 100% stock MIAs that sounded like jazz hollowbodies.
 
The beauty of the Tele is it's simple design. I can't look at one without thinking of Leo Fender's genius of stripping away everything that wasn't needed and producing a great guitar with no frills. It's just so basic.

The first ones couldn't be properly intoned, but that is a big part of it's charm. Who would have thought that such beautiful music could come from a canoe paddle?
 
My parents used to drag me around to the dance halls in Orange and LA counties in California about the time the Telecaster came out......'52 or '53. The bigger bands didn't use them but the smaller ones did, and it changed everything. At first people made fun of them, my dad would say "look, they're playin' one of them stick guitars" and worse. But as time went on they took over, even the front person playing rhythm played one (there was this blonde woman, can't think of her name, but there's a great story about her and Telecasters), and when the Fender bass came in the horn guys and the fiddle guys were all out of work.

They made a great amp back then too called a Super. It had two 10's that faced out about 15 degrees with a chrome thing down the middle. That amp would still knock your dick in your watch pocket.
 
Philboyd,
For chrissakes! don't leave it there, tell us the storey about the blonde woman!
Clive
 
Ok Clive, get everyone to gather around the campfire, here goes;

I've read some books on Fender, lived not too far from the factory, rode my bike over there a few times as a kid but had never heard this story before, then I heard it twice; once from Doc Kauffman and once from Don Randall at widely different times and places. Doc lived up the street from a girl singer/guitarist I worked with through most of the '70's on Lemon St. in Fullerton (Leo Fender a few blocks over on Elm). After moving here to the desert I played a number of Christmas parties for the Don Randall family and their next door neighbor. They both told me the same story.

This has to do with how the Strat and it's contour shape came about.

From 'The Fender Book' by Tony Bacon & Paul Day here's the typical version:

"Don Rendall is typically unsentimental in his recollection of the birth. "You know, the Exquire and Telecaster are pretty ugly guitars when it comes right down to it. In the days of Gibsons and things with bound necks and purfling they were plain vanilla, but we thought they were beautiful because we were making money with them. And so we needed a fancier guitar, an upgrade guitar - the Stratocaster"

Leo was listening hard to player' comments about the 'plain vanilla' Tele and Esquire and during the early 1950's he and Freddie Tavares began to formulate the guitar that would become the Stratocaster. Some player complained that the sharp edge on the Telecaster uas uncomforable, so the team began to toy with body contours.

Among the dissenting voices were those of westen swing guitarist Bill Carson and entertainer Rex Galleon. Carson had moved to Californnia in 1951 and sought out Leo Fender because he'd tried a Broadcaster, loved it's feel, and wanted a guitar made. He was given a Telecaster and amp but, as he didn't have enough to buy them outright, agreed to pay $18 a month and act as musical guinea pig for new products. He did this for a number of years, mainly lugging prototype amps along to his club gigs, often turning around to see Leo (oblivious of musicians, audience, club management and disruption generally) busily changing the amp settings mid-song.

But as far as his Telecaster went, Carson gradually came to the conclusion that he wanted something more" .....and so on.

This is where the girl comes in. It was Mary Kaye of the Mary Kaye trio. I remember her as blonde but who knows.

http://www.marykayetrio.com/

Anyway, during one of the early meetings on an upgrade of the Telecaster with the Fender principals in Leo's office, the door swings open and in storms the well endowed Mary Kaye with her Tele. She opens the case and puts it on and shakes it around some and says, "look boys, HURTS MY TITS!, carve it out some here and here and it won't hurt."

And that, campers, is how the contour shape really came about.
 
Wow. Thanks for all the info and history everyone :)
God bless boobs and the part they play in shaping music history ;)

I'm definitely going to look into adding a tele to my little stable.

Does anyone make a tele shaped like a strat? The bodies are pretty fugly.
 
Yep shagfu, it's a story of biblical proportions.

And Mary said unto Leo, "Behold, this Tele hurts my tits", and Leo responded and begat the Stratocaster.


"Does anyone make a tele shaped like a strat? The bodies are pretty fugly."

If you mean a strat shaped guitar with two pickups and switching like a Tele, I'm pretty sure they are around, maybe not as a Fender though.

I liked the feel of my Tele, it was a natural finish '72 with a black pickguard. I regret selling it a few years back.
 
With the right wiring, you can get a good Tele tone out of your Strat. All you need to do is find a way to play out of the neck and bridge pups at the same time, but not the middle. It can be done and it's not that hard to do.

I had an old Strat copy many years ago that I threw away the 5 way switch and replaced it with 3 spst switches from Radio Shack. Each one turned on one pup, so I could play in any combination I wanted including all three.

If you use dpdt switches, you can also do some strange things with the phasing.

I used to get some pretty funky sounds out of that guitar, I wonder what ever happened to it.
 
Ah, the Tele! One of my favorite subjects. Philboyd and Bongolation have both added some great info. Hopefully, what I say will augment their views a little bit.

First, in regard to a Strat sounding like a Tele, you can get in the ballpark, but it still will be different. For one thing, the Tele uses strings through the body, where a Strat uses the tremolo block to attach the ball ends of the strings. The energy transfer is completely different.

The Tele bridge assists with that transfer as well. With the old stamped steel bridges, it also adds resonances. Those bridges also can contribute to feedback if they are not fastened down properly. The big brass saddles really do add to the tone as well, and I recommend them over the stock steel saddles, especially the low strings.

This next thing--I have no proof other than experimentation--but the different body shapes resonate differently. The Tele has its own sound. So does the Strat. Changing pickups in either will alter the tone, but you can't really make one into the other. By the way, my personal opinion is that the Teles with the ash bodies have the most authentic twang and tele tone. However, try before you buy. As we all know, every guitar is different!

As Bongolation mentioned, the maple neck is a factor in the tone. The maple necks seem brighter and seem to push the notes out a little more. Still, try some rosewood neck models. You might like that slightly warmer sound better.

Last, the pickups. The neck pickup is not really a lipstick pickup. Its like a small Strat six pole pickup with a metal cover, just for the record. These single coil neck pickups are very prone to feedback if you play with lots of distortion. The bridge pickup is the real tone producing beast of the Tele and it mixes well with the neck pickup, creating a present yet fatter tone with both pickups engaged. By itself, the bridge pickup is cutting and very bright. Many players roll off a bit of the tone control to compensate.

As for pickups themselves, I have been through a ton of them. I have tried probably ten different brands of pickups for the Tele. If you are a single coil purist, try the Fender Vintage Tele in the bridge. If you are like me and record around computer monitors a lot, you might want to look into hum cancelling pickups. I ended up with the Joe Barden's and I like them a lot. All the twang and high end and no hum. For the money, the Fender noiseless ain't bad.

The secret is to find a good sound sounding Tele to begin with. The physical guitar is as responsible for the sound as the electronics. If you find a good one and get into the vibe of the Tele, you'll find its a very versatile, yet unique instrument unlike any other electric guitar. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have loved mine over the years.
 
philboyd studge, you just described mine except it's a '71. It's my main axe. Perfect intonation, it STAYS in tune and it's the tone machine.
 
Damn, I miss that tele now. I'm a solo acoustic act for the most part but always carry an electric to take part of the load. I used to do a grounds act country thing at county fairs and for that, the telecaster ruled. Plus, when playing in the sun when it's over 100 that maple neck comes in handy and your hands don't burn.
 
I can get a sort of tele-ish sound using just the piezos in my Parker :) But I'm gonna look into a tele for a fuller sound without clipping too easily. I wish Parker would make a tele.
 
Here's a short mp3 of a tele-ish sound (I guess) using mainly the piezos in my Parker.



You'll have to excuse the recording: I was just doing some quick improvs to try out some different tones with my amp modeller. So there is alot of sloppy playing, clipping/distortion and it's generally noisy :)
 
I have owned Les Paul’s and Strats but when I reduced my armada of instruments a few years ago the only one I kept was my 72 Tele with a 1956 Esquire Bridge pickup replacement.

It seems to work on everything when I record, from acoustic sounding rhythms to bone crushing leads. The strats and Les Paul are more one dimensional in sound and I prefer them live but for recording and versatility I prefer the tele.

One thing I do not like however is the round shim adjustment Fender put in the neck base in the early 70s. I think these necks lose a little resonance vs. the solid types.

That's my tele in my avatar..
 
Philboyd,
Being of similar vintage to you I too remember Mary Kaye, god bless her tits, excuse me I have to go and drool over my Strat in the dark.
Clive
 
Although 'Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb' wasn't one of my favorites and I was more a fan of Rose Maddox, Mary Kaye gave visual meaning to the term 'rock and roll'.
 
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