Why are telecasters right for you?

[RedBarchetta]

Everything about telecasters were just MEANT for me. Even the subtle parts. The sound, obviously, is just sonic pureness which suits any--and I mean any--style. The feel and playability is so perfect that you don't even notice anything when you're playing because everything works. My big complaint with all other guitars, with the exception of maybe LPs, is that the dials always get in the way of my right hand! I cannot understand why so many guitar makers put their freaking dials right next to your right hand space! Irritating! But not on my teles! The lightweight and flat body fits snugly on my body. And you know what else I love? The simplicity! We're talking bare bones and and nothing else; yet somehow it steps up to the plate and meets all needs. I'll just throw this last one in here: I almost feel like an elitist for using a tele because, afterall, we are in the minority folks! I mean, who doesn't have an LP? But few have a tele.

Share with us what makes teles right for you!

[TeleJ]

Built like a tank and twang

[bokeh]

Originally Posted by TeleJ

Built like a tank and twang

+1, but the best part is that it doesn't just stop there...

[Beachbum]

I like Teles because I'm stupid.

Strats have a great sound but there's just to many pickup options, switch positions, and knobs for my mini mind. I don't want to do a research project to switch from one tone to the other. Even my Gibson with it's four knobs is more than I can handle. The Tele is the perfect guitar for a lazy dum dum like me. 2 knobs, 2 pups, and a 1x3 switch.

I like Teles because they have KISS (keep it simple stupid).

[tele salivas]

It doesn't lie..it let's everybody know exactly what is being said...

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by Don Wiklund

I like Teles because I'm stupid.

Strats have a great sound but there's just to many pickup options, switch positions, and knobs for my mini mind. I don't want to do a research project to switch from one tone to the other. Even my Gibson with it's four knobs is more than I can handle.

I like Teles because they have KISS (keep it simple stupid).

I know! Yet somehow teles can be tweaked to sound like anything. So if they can sound like anything with only 3 pickup selectors and 1 tone dial, why would you want 5 pickup selectors and 2 tone dials? KISS is exactly right.

[bigbandtele]

1. the fit of the body is right for me. A tele is the only electric solidbody that feels comfy w/o a strap.

2. the sound is clean and clear.

3. a tele is solidly put together, light in weight and tough.

4. Ed Bickert played one.

[Birdmankustomz]

What you play comes out of the amp. EVERYTHING you play, good and bad.

[NYC Serenade]

Over the years I've had a Rosewood Tele, ala George Harrison, a regular Tele and a Tele Plus. I like the looks on people's faces when they hear THAT sound emanating from... of all things... a Telecaster!

I also like that it's sturdy and dependable. Jeff Beck once said in an interview that when he was in The Yardbirds the guitar {Esquire} fell off the back of the truck and bounded down the road. Beck of course was freaking out. When he got to the guitar and opened the case it was perfectly intact... and perfectly in tune!

When I read that I was like... ahh... a cool looking, cool sounding and tough son-of-a-gun!

I have a Strat... nice guitar, great tones... but everybody plays a Strat. I have a Les Paul that has to be treated like a princess because the slightest ding will just knock it all out of whack. But a Telecaster... you feel like you could go to war w/ one slung over your shoulder and the thing wouldn't just survive... it would thrive!

Oh... and they're beautiful!

[blujaz1]

I'm not a pro so for me a huge consideration is just how much fun I'm having while playing. Tele's are the most fun for me. I can leave it out of the case here in dry Arizona, therefore I play it more, and not worry about it too much. A little fret sprout is all when it drys out. It fits good, is versatile, and given the choice of only one guitar, it has to be a Tele.
'58 Custom Shop Light Relic/ Revelator '61 Robben Ford inspired on the way. I love 'em.

[BigDaddyLH]

Yup, Telecasters are the cockroach of the guitar family.

[Zillinois]

Teles scratch my hardtail itch

[LGOberean]

I definitely relate to what you said in the OP, RedBarchetta. When I first looked into buying an electric (after 40 years of playing acoustic), I was thinking Strat. After all, EC, SRV, Buddy Holly, Bonnie Raitt and countless others played Strats.

Then I borrowed a good friend's Korean-made Strat. The neck was okay, but the body was all wrong for me. And worse, as you said, the volume control knob is just right there, right up against the bridge pup. Every time I tried to anchor my pinky to dig in a little more, I inadvertently changed the volume setting. And the pickup selector switch on the Strat is angled toward and aimed too much into the path of my strumming, so I'd accidently change pickup selection while playing. (Again, )

Then I played my first Tele, at the prompting of my son and son-in-law. I very quickly realized I had found the electric guitar style for me. The control panel on a Tele sets the knobs and selector out of the way, and yet they are at the same time still easily accessible. I love maple necks and boards. They feel right to me. The sound is right for me; clean and clear, like bigbandtele said, and yet so versatile also. And it's solid, straightforward and simple, which suits me just fine.

The only thing I might disagree with in this thread is the minority thing. Maybe overall there are fewer Tele players than those playing Strats or LPs, but I think the percentage differences are probably not that great. And it just isn't true to say that "few have a Tele." The fact is, they're everywhere. Witness this forum as proof. Furthermore, watch TV/video programming for just a while and you'll see Teles everywhere. For example, Sunday night I was watching programming on Palladia, and saw Bruce Springsteen playing Teles, and The Pretenders at Cornbury Festival (recorded July, 2009), with both Chrissie Hynde and the lead guitarist playing Teles. Like I said, Teles are everywhere these days, and rightfully so.

[Nogbad]

Telecasters are simple....just like me.
I have to say though every guitarist I know has a Telecaster of some description. Few have Les Pauls

[wunderaj]

les pauls and strats may hum and hiss but teles never give they make you work for your tone and earn it so when you make a lick you know you did it the hard way and the RIGHT way. there are no extra dials or effects to hide behind

[chezdeluxe]

A wide eyed innocent.

[DigitalHater]

I had a Mexican Tele early on, never was too fond of that one. Then I saw BIll Kirchen for the first time, I started buying parts to build my own just like his (w/ a bigger neck). Both he and Danny Gatton are evidence of the versatility. I might mention, I don't play country, I mess around w/ Jazz & blues, and "don't know how to describe it, more moderny heavier" stuff. You can do anything on it, it's bridge pickup is just as at home chicken picking as it is pumped through a Big Muff, under-rated in the 'loud' world. I could list music genre's all night, we all know what it can do. It's just such a workhorse, if a rowdy concertgoer jumps onstage and wants to throw down, it doubles as a weapon. And I bet I could finish the set without retuning. It's not fussy, reliable, versatile, not too heavy (but still feels like something's around your shoulder), and just fits me. My first guitar was a Strat, and while it holds it's purpose (Jimi, SRV, Gilmour) it's just too finnicky to be my main guitar. Bend a string too much and it's time out, tune up time. I'm always turning the volume up or down inadvertently, and constantly switching to the bridge pickup when I get a little too "in to it". I want a Les Paul in my arsenal, but they are just too heavy to ever become my main guitar.

[Ethical]

I don't know... they just are!


<>

[fray]

After having es135s,335s, LPs, strats, knock offs, the tele just does it. I have one electric, Tele, custom shop classic, it can make me happy just watching it in the stand. Whew! :-)

[barkley]

This might sound strange but... after years of playing guitar and not actually LOVING any guitar in particular, I started playing a tele. Now I dont know how to say this so I'll just say it... It sounds like a guitar! The sound in my head when I think of 'guitar sound' is the sound that comes out of a tele. Simple as that, teles sound like guitars!

The only thing I would change would be an arm cutout where I rest my picking forearm. That hard corner hurts after a while!


*EDIT* I also love that the p/up switch pretty much turns a tele into a whole different beast. Maybe i should say either a beauty or a beast!

[A.B.Negative]

Originally Posted by barkley

The sound in my head when I think of 'guitar sound' is the sound that comes out of a tele.

Nailed it!

[flatout9]

Originally Posted by tele salivas

It doesn't lie..it let's everybody know exactly what is being said...

Agree with this. There is no hiding. Of course you can slap all the crap on it you want. But Why? That's like ruining a good steak with Ketchup.

I have a tele and a strat. The tele by far gets the most playing time and the strat is no slouch. Love me a tele.

[KevinV]

+1 for the KISS theory. And Tele's were endowed with a soul.

[dog fart]

Why is the Tele right for me? Because Leo got it right the first time.
I try to be an honest man. I like the truth like I like my Teles, plain and simple. I could go on, but that about covers it.
D F

[brookdalebill]

Teles are clear, articulate, versatile, powerful, simple, dependable, and cool.
I like em with big necks, benders, Bigsbys and neck humbuckers.

[sevycat]

First off, it's a guitar. Do I need another reason? I think not! Long live GASING...

[Ignatius]

They're simple to operate, easy to set up (compared to some other guitars), simple to work on, you can play anything on 'em, they're rugged, they sound good, and they look cool. I also like the fact that an idiot like me can buy a pile of parts, screw 'em together, and end up with a nice guitar. And I guess I also like the fact that they don't look like someone's grandma's antique dresser (no offense intended to the PRS fans...).

[StraightNeck]

I love the jangley,steeley sound that only a Tele can produce.

[notta]

you can do anything with them. I can go from playing at an irish session, to a blues gig, to playing with my own band(metal)

[castpolymer]

I require a guitar that can not only kill zombies, but will stay in tune doing it.

[cfender]

I've messed around with very high-end archtop Jazz guitars, Les Paul, Stratocaster, Epiphone Casino, & various Asian Pointy Humbucker Shredding tools.

The standard tele gives me more variety of tones than any of these and I can go from one tone to another easily with the two single coils and the 3 position switch.

None of them give me anything close to the bridge pickup tone of the tele. I also like the simple styling.

[hal]

The simplicity is the first thing. The versatility is the second. I can cover every style of music I play with a Tele.

I love my other guitars for what they do as well. But over the years, my 68 Tele has always been at the root of what I do.

[puremania]

You can make anything out of it to be exactly what you want form a guitar. A Tele gives you a nearly perfect guitar right out of the factory, and if it's not 100% perfect for you, some very simple changes can get it there.I love my Strat, the Teisco is fun and various hollowbodies have come and gone, but the Tele is still my #1

[mke52]

I have two but I confess: I cheat on them; sometimes I play my strat, les paul, 335 or when I feel really naughty the variax...
I know I'm a man with no moral and will burn in the flames of hell for eternity

[Sharkblues]

100's of variables of a simple design.
Simplicity - 2 pickups, 2 knobs, and a 3-way switch.
Flexibility - lots of pickup choices, lots of harness mod options.
Easy to take apart, easiest electric guitar to mod.

[bingy]

When the band can't keep a lid on it, I switch to the bridge pickup, dig in and slice through their sonic mess.

[jimboturbo]

The simplicity and the sound.

[birv2]

Originally Posted by brookdalebill

Teles are clear, articulate, versatile, powerful, simple, dependable, and cool.

I just joined the club and was a loyal stratman till about a month ago. Now my strats sit in the corner and wait for me to pick them up. And because of the reasons given above, I'm finding I need no pedals. Heck, I've even stopped using a pick. Just simple basic guitar, and it sounds great.

I would also +1 the comments about the pickup and knob placement on the strats. I was forever changing pickups and volume without knowing it.

[Textele]

They are "touch sensitive". They can be very acoustic like by nature all while being able to roar with a touch of the volume knob and a flick of the switch.

There comfortable like a............

WEAPON!

[Pepi]

KISS

They are so close to playing an acoustic guitar