typical "country music-twang?"

[onlyfingers]

Chronicle

1946 Fender Musical Instrument Company founded
1948 George Fullerton joins Fender, and he and Leo Fender collaborate on the Broadcaster, later renamed as the Telecaster.
1950 Broadcaster introduced.
1951 Telecaster introduced
1952 Gibson Les Paul introduced

Sources:
http://www.guitarriffin.com/fendhist.html
http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/adams/arch350/fall1999/students/pgorrie/history.html

 

[Dani Pace]

Sorry if my info was wrong. I was basing those statements on the ads in a few early 60s music magazines. From the ads it seems there was a bit of rivalry going on, at least at that time.

 

[Light]

Sorry if my info was wrong. I was basing those statements on the ads in a few early 60s music magazines. From the ads it seems there was a bit of rivalry going on, at least at that time.

Oh, there was and IS a BIG rivalry between Gibson and Fender. Just that the Tele was not in response to a manufactured guitar. Now, if you look at Merle Travis' Bigsby, THAT was a big influence on the Tele.


Oh, and for the guy who left the anonymous negative feedback, I may be a arrogant ass, but I don't know that I could be said to have been WRONG. Yeah, I had some dates mixed up. I didn't have my books in front of me, and my memory for dates sucks. But was I really wrong in saying that the Les Paul was more a reaction to the Tele than the other way around? I don't think so.



Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Blak Jak Balla]

They went out of business, but if you can find a Route 101 tele copy somewhere it's an awfully good guitar for a very good price.

The Solimar strat copy of theirs can make pretty good country tone also.

 

[Tele The Truth]

To answer the original post, here's what I'd do:

#1) Slap on a new set of Dean Markley Blue Steel strings. They should help brighten the guitar's sound.

#2) Get a compressor. I prefer the Boss one, but I'm sure that others would be fine too. Run the compressor on the clean channel of your amp.

#3) Practice technique! You have to have good country technique if you want that sound. It's all in your picking hand. I play with a pick and my middle and ring fingers. That allows me to play very softly when needed, or really dig in for when I want the strings to pop off the neck.

#4) If you really want to use that guitar for country, you can always check out putting some P-90s in it. They will definately brighten and articulate the sound more. However, for all the more country you might play, this might not be the best way for you to go.

Cheers and welcome to the pickin and a grinnin club!

 

[guitar junkie]

well i think its all the guitar settings at the amp and the playing style as well as the Tele have something to make the tone...

turn the bass up and the mid range up and maybe leave the treble at about the middle but then i have looked at amp settings for guitar players that i deal with at work (these are the guys you are covering i bet) and they seem to have a tone that sounds a lot like this combo

bass knob 7 mid knob 8 treble knob 6

or something like that EQ setting its never far from that and then of course they are using some sort of 2x12 amp... now then you want slapback and reverb and some compression and maybe a Boss Blues Driver... i have seen that pedal in more guitar rigs this last summer with the country guys than i have yet to see with any of the R&B bands or any of that stuff...

now as for guitars i have seen all sorts of things OTHER than Tele, anything seems to go these days... i have seen strats and even Les Pauls as well as a large number of oddball guitars made in smaller shops... some of these guitars have hum bucking pickups.....

last time i was looking around for such a thing though i saw that Snarling Dawgs had an effects pedal that can give you a chuck of sounds for $69 or something i think it was called a tonebone or something.... its been a while but it did make you sound like all sorts of things! with i strat i think you get almost 125 tones or something like that... i can't remember, check it out and see but it made your guitar sound like a Grestch or a Tele or an LP what ever..

 

[AlfredB]

everybody mentioning telecasters, and nobody GRETSCH ... hmmmm ....

Duanne Eddie, Chet Atkins (and much later Brian Setzer)... are pretty much the fathers of good guitar tone ... just b/c anybody and his dogs in country are playing a tele, doesnt make them the best out there...

 

[nkjanssen]

...just b/c anybody and his dogs in country are playing a tele, doesnt make them the best out there...

But he was asking about twang. Twang = Tele. Lots of country guys use Gretch guitars, or various other Gibsons (even Les Pauls), but you don't get that twang out of any of those.

 

[BigRay]

twang= fender b bender
twang-compression pedal, short delay pedal, and volume pedal

Twang= not the Darkest (@)# on guitar.