Just my Humble opinion... YMMV..
To ME:
1) The body shape
2) Single coil in the bridge .. to get the twang
No pickup in the neck.. Esquire.
Single pickup in the neck.. Tele
beyond that.. ie. a humbucker in the neck.. um .. OK..
tray bridge, flat bridge. 6 saddles..3 saddles.. OK
rosewood, maple fretboard.. OK..
B-Bender.. OK
Still a Tele..
For some reason: Once I see a humbucker in both bridge
and neck.. starts to be " based on a Tele " but straying from what a classic Tele is ( to ME ...)
a 3rd pickup...5 way switch.. strays even further..
All variations can be great guitars ( man I'm feeling the need to be politically correct... ) and give <whomever> just the sound they want..
and that's what a Tele means to me....
