What is the use of a telecaster?

[yoohoo]

I have a Fender Strat and an Ovation Celebrity acoustic-electric. I am researching the telecasters (I am a lefty), but I don't exactly know what the difference between a tele and a strat is. Any help is appreciated!

 

[Jim Marquard]

Well, I have both a Tele and a Strat. First off, they sound very different. Teles have a bit more twang or bite. Clean sounding, they make great guitars for country and blues. Distort them and they are "icey" for lack of a better word. Bottom line, they are a work horse and jack of all trades. But what guitar isn't? Strats? Well you own one so you know what it can do. With the three pickups it, too, can do just about anything. So there, I hoped that helped. I use both very frequently for recoding. I have a Jay Turser copy of an ES335 (with humbuckeres) which I use, but not as frequently for recording. Why? I don't know, the Tele and Strat just "feel" better. The ES335 copy does more of Jazz style warmth, which I like, I just don't record in that genre. But the actuall Gibson ES335 served Chuck Berry and BB King well. So, each guitar is unique. And each guitar player brings out something unique from each guitar.

Oh, BTW, can you ever have too many guitars?

Peace, Jim

 

[ibanezrocks]

Instead of just researching them, try to get to a store and play a telecaster. I'm not by any means sticking up for the telecaster, i personally dont like them, but they are different than a strat. They have a lot of twang, and not a very tight sounding bass.

 

[Middleman]

If you play a tele and magic doesn't happen, then it's not for you.

 

[SteveK]

A good Tele can get you through almost any gig...blues, jazz, rock, not too great for metal though. I've got a keeper Tele that I installed a set of Joe Barden pickups in, and it is an amazing recording and playing guitar.

 

[donkeystyle]

A good Tele can get you through almost any gig...blues, jazz, rock, not too great for metal though. I've got a keeper Tele that I installed a set of Joe Barden pickups in, and it is an amazing recording and playing guitar.

they may not be great for metal, but i have seen some heavy rock and metal bands using them......not many......actually 2 that i can think of right off the top of my head. thrice and finch. i'm not saying that either is a great band or anything. i prefer to leave my opinion of their music out, but in my opinion they both have at least decent guitar tone for the type of music they play.

so, while not amazing for metal, they are useable and will still give you a passable sound.

 

[Tulago]

Jimmy Page used a Tele while recording Led Zeppelin I.

 

[gtar02]

Tele's dont have the "quack" that strats do. I personally like the sound of a tele- a real one-with vintage single coils, not a custom one with humbuckers. They work for nearly everything, except for chuncky palm muted power chord riffs

 

[Middleman]

Jimmy Page used a Tele while recording Led Zeppelin I.

And the lead on Whole Lotta Love.

 

[faderbug]

even one of the guitarists of slipknot plays teles.

 

[foo]

Ed Bickert used a Tele for really muted jazz a la Joe Pass.

But they're real strength is for the Albert Lee/Vince Gill country solo.

Versatile - Keef, the Boss, Albert Collins, Jimmy Page, the solo on Pretenders 'Middle of the Road' etc.
They're light and ringy, so girls like to play them.

Also great for blues, rock and assorted mayhem.

 

[Middleman]

They're light and ringy, so girls like to play them.

Well I weigh 215lbs and I ain't no girl....

 

[Light]

Jimmy Page used a Tele while recording Led Zeppelin I.

The primary recording guitar for every Led Zeppelin album was a Tele. He used the Les Paul onstage because he couldn't do 100 overdubs, but in the studio, it was almost always a single coil guitar, and usually a Tele.

Or so I have been told by people who were there.


Light

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

 

[notbradsohner]

I find teles great for recording, even tho I use a LP for live stuff. It just sounds bettin in mixes.

Oh ya, I am jimmy page.

 

[ntnguitarist3]

i have an american made tele with 2 fender atomic humbucking pick ups becuase i play music that calls for distortion and i love it, it has the tele classic look and feel but the mordern sound a i neeed and still sounds great on clean when i switch t the neck pick up or even with the bridge... i also own 2 strats but tele has a dif feel to it, and i love em both everyone should buy one when they get the chance the more guitars u own the better...

 

[Bianchi Joe]

I continue to be amazed not only by the Telecaster's versatility, but by how WELL it does all the things it does. The Tele can do the whole realm, from chicken-pickin' country, to blues (Muddy Waters and Albert Collins played one) to even some jazz stuff on the neck pickup (give a listen to Ted Greene sometime). But in my opnion, it's greatest use is for rock and roll. Keith Richards. Bruce Springsteen. Roy Buchanan. Albert Lee. James Burton. I have nothing against Stratocasters--they're sleek and classy guitars. But for me, three pickups is redundant, a five-way switch too complicated, a tremelo bar too cumbersome. The venerable Telecaster reminds me of my '72 Ford F100: simple and reliable, workmanlike and unassuming. Starts every time, hauls the load, doesn't complain or need much in the way of maintenance. I have yet to find anything that the Tele doesn't do as well as any other electric, and it does a few things better than any guitar I've owned in 32 years of playing.

 

[cobradenim]

The primary recording guitar for every Led Zeppelin album was a Tele. He used the Les Paul onstage because he couldn't do 100 overdubs, but in the studio, it was almost always a single coil guitar, and usually a Tele.

Actually, Led Zeppelin 1 is a Tele, but from there he mostly used a Les Paul up until Presence..except "Stairway" which was a Tele. So your statement about Jimmy using a Tele that much is false.

I like Telecasters better than strats. I think They play and sound better.

 

[ibanezrocks]

This is the nicest tele I've ever played. It has a really warm sound and is very comfortable to play. Has anyone else tried these?

 

[Light]

Actually, Led Zeppelin 1 is a Tele, but from there he mostly used a Les Paul up until Presence..except "Stairway" which was a Tele. So your statement about Jimmy using a Tele that much is false.

I like Telecasters better than strats. I think They play and sound better.

Not acording to any interview or history I have ever read. Now, I am no expert, but everything I have ever read about them says he used a tele in the studio far more than any other instrument.


Light

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

 

[lykwydchykyn]

I always liked the way a tele layered with a les paul sounds. You can get the beef from the lp and the shimmer from the tele. Of course that's if you like the layered wall of sound type of guitars. I find it makes a nicer counterpoint to the lp than a strat does, but that's just me. I think like a producer more than a guitar player anyway (since I can't play worth a crap).