Is a Fender Tele anything to get excited about ?

Love how Kotzen came around to one.

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My 2nd guitar was a fender contemporary tele from the mid 80s with dual humbuckers and a locking tremelo. Super versatile, but not really a traditional tele sound.

This year I got a used American pro tele and I will say it took me a bit to get on to it as a long time fat strat and les Paul player, but now I am loving it. It’s a maple neck butterscotch blonde, I even like the pickups. I did change the tone to a push pull so I can have the pickups in series, which I like to fatten things up but don’t use it as much as I thought.

The clarity, chime, and snap of the tele is something that I just don’t get with my other guitars.

I watched this recently and it was good. Mine sure does not sound as aggressive like dan’s red tele, it’s more on the sweeter side.
 
The only one worth mentioning in heavy music that plays one is in the band the whores. Other than that I can think of no one else.
 
I dislike the Tele look. This attitude delayed my intro to a Tele until earlier this year when I bought a SDOTD G&L ASAT Classic Tribute. Alnico pickups instead of MFD, so pretty darn close to being a normal Swamp Ash Tele.

I can take or leave the neck pickup. It's not BAD... just kind of meh. I now understand why people put humbuckers in the neck and keep the bridge as a single coil.

The big takeaway is this: I wish I'd have gone with a Tele as my first guitar. That or what ended up becoming the Squier/Fender '51 (which wasn't around when I started).

They're easy to use (no tremolo related tuning issues to worry about), and they're versatile enough to hang in any context where an electric guitar is necessary.

The amount of time I wasted as a kid trying to figure out why my guitar kept going out of tune before realizing that the bridge was lifting, then having to figure out how a vibrato really works so that I could balance the tension... all of that.

Then you read the laundry list of albums, solos, etc that were recorded with a Tele. Even if they weren't really using it live, the Tele was foundational to the Led Zeppelin (as already mentioned) and Superunknown/Down on the Upside sounds.

Played a gig last month using that G&L. In the context of playing with a group, the great thing is that the guitar really cut, and the versatility of tones between the two pickups, tone and volume, etc... kind of mindblowing for such a simple instrument.

Again, not a big fan of the look, but I might make a Warmoth Tele that would be more my style. A gut cut would be nice also...
 
japetus said:
Someday, you are gonna be sitting there and think "Man, I wonder what it's like playing a real mans guitar.". And you will take your fanned fret 7 string to Guitar Center, and trade it in for a Telecaster. And that, my friend, is when your life will truly begin.
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Start holding your breath now...
I'm fine that you all love it, but it is not for me..
 
dirtyfunkg said:
I dislike the Tele look. This attitude delayed my intro to a Tele until earlier this year when I bought a SDOTD G&L ASAT Classic Tribute. Alnico pickups instead of MFD, so pretty darn close to being a normal Swamp Ash Tele.

I can take or leave the neck pickup. It's not BAD... just kind of meh. I now understand why people put humbuckers in the neck and keep the bridge as a single coil.
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Dude, throw a DiMarzio Twang King in the neck and thank me later.

I did that to my G&L ASAT Tribute, added tons of spank and character.
 
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