Two Kinds of Tele People

[Jellecaster]

The following is an excerpt from a review of Glendale bridges and saddles that I read on the Premier Guitar site. The review was glowing, as you would expect, but I thought the first two paragraphs were just awesome and sum up what TDPRI is all about. Enjoy:


There are two kinds of Telecaster people. The first type walk into a shop, fall in love with a Tele, and walk out happily after making their purchase. They are content to just play the damned thing, not worrying about what Tele players before them did to get those mystical sounds, no concern about brass or steel saddles, and no fretting over the minutiae of pickup winding techniques.

The second group can recite chapter and verse on when and why Roy Nichols first decided to put a Gibson lapsteel pickup in the neck position of his Telecaster. They can hear the difference between a top loader and a traditional Tele bridge on a mono recording, played on AM radio with the windows rolled down while driving under power lines. They may or may not be better players than those in group one, but that really isn’t the point. Group one uses a Tele as a tool; for the second group, the Telecaster is a lifestyle.

[cRaZY Tom]

I think i'd be in the second group, i worry about about every part on my tele!

[all_identaties_taken]

The third group who spend months researching every little thing then making there own tele.

[Balladeer]

When I am looking for a guitar or planning a guitar project I fall into the second group. Once I have a working instrument I'm happier in group #1.

[Gilamnstr]

I guess I'm somewhere beyond #1, but nowhere near #2. Call me a 1 3/8.

[Daddydex]

Am I the only guy here who falls in group one?

Dan

[blue metalflake]

Most of us probably started off in Group 1, or maybe fell in love with the sound without seeing it, then gradually moved into Group 2.

I think its like a progression thing, and the more you immerse yourself, the greater the enjoyment.

[wilkat1]

I'm sort of a 1.25, I guess. I have been known to spend a lot of time browsing Rio Grande, Cee-More-Drunkin, Barden, StewMac, Bill Lawrence, GFS, Callaham, Glendale, etc. looking at ways of improving my fiddles, but for the most part I don't actually buy anything and I'm quite happy with my guitars.

Someday I'm gonna replace the ceramic pups in my son's standard Strat with AlNiCo pups of some sort (GFS, Keystones, Tex-Mex maybe), but I'm in no hurry. I tend not to make improvements until something goes bust.

[Durtdog]

I'm in group 2, rapidly moving back to group 1.

[Jellecaster]

I'm definitely group two. I don't really mod my store-bought Teles for the most part, but I love building my own. The main thing that got me was the last line about the Telecaster being a lifestyle. It certainly is to me.

I remember an instructional video where the player (might have been Gatton) mentioned that the Spanish have two words: guitarista and guitarerra (I probably butchered the spellings). One is a musician who plays guitar and the other is a guitar player. I was struck by this because I never thought about it before. At the time, I considered myself a guitar player. Obviously, I love music, but the guitar is my real passion. If you were to take away the guitar, I don't know if I would just take-up another instrument.

Now, I really consider myself a Tele player. I do on occasion play others, but nothing else feels right. If you were to take away all of my Teles, I might lose interest in playing. My passion now is playing, building, researching and talking about Teles. It really is a lifestyle and TDPRI is a major component and catalyst.

[wilkat1]

Years and years ago I read an interview where Jerry Donahue asserted that the Telecaster is a different instrument from the electric guitar.

The more I think about that, the more I think he was onto something.

[guitarzan13]

I am headed back to group one. I have very little free time and I need to spend it playing.... I have come to the "shut up and play" point I guess. I was nitpicking my beloved guitars to death!!

[Zappa]

I think I belong to group 1 too.

[Stefan]

I started out in group 1 and ended up in group 2.

[raf]

I am a group 1 person...I like to change out parts, but I am still looking for the right baja, lite ash, or deluxe that feels right in my hands...and that moment has to be coincident with when I have the $$$...

[jazztele]

this place can turn you in to a 2. not like it's a bad thing, really...

[Mark Davis]

In the old days everyone was a #1.

Guitar player magazine and The Internet created group #2.

[Chris Callahan]

I go back and forth - there is definitely a certain way my guitar hsa to be for me to be happy. but once it's there, I shut up and play.

Oh and my Glendale Cold Rolled Steel Bridge makes me happy just to look at.

Maybe I'm more of a 2

[0le FUZZY]

...I are in both won and tew and prolly belong tew tree and for tew.


0.F.

[stevieboy]

I think of myself as belonging to group #11,789,532--

All guys with the username "Stevieboy" on the TDPRI

[bowlfreshener]

I'm more of a #1, but I could see myself becoming more of a #2 once I start getting more Teles...

[doster]

I'm a #1 looking over the fence at #2, soon to jump over. But assume I'll eventually run back to #1.
It's fun anyway you think of it.

[ddewerd]

Originally Posted by Daddydex

Am I the only guy here who falls in group one?

Dan

Nope, you're not alone.

In the 35 years that I've owned my one and only Tele (a '63), I've made the following mods:

- bad, bad refin job when I was a stupid kid
- put Strap Locks on
- replaced the Top Hat after I lost the original
- replaced the bridge pickup (just this year) after the original crapped out on me (still have the original neck PUP)
- steel wooled the finish off the back of the neck

I still have the original light brown Tolex case (with flaming orange interior), with a little bit of glue and tape for the wear and tear.

I jes' plug her in an' let her rip, week after week, year after year

FWIW, pics in my Photo link at left...

Cheers,
Doug

[Pete Galati]

Originally Posted by Jellecaster

Group one uses a Tele as a tool; for the second group, the Telecaster is a lifestyle.

I don't fit very well into either one of those groups.

That article's last sentence is a bit off the mark. It's a lifestyle for both groups.

[MandyMarie]

Hahaha that cracked me up! And it's so true!

I'm sorta in group two...but I think like group one. Once it's plays the way I want it to, that's all that matters

[BritishBluesBoy]

Originally Posted by MandyMarie

Once it's plays the way I want it to, that's all that matters

That's me too... Tinker.... Tinker... Tinker... then just play the sucker!

BBB.

[maestrovert]

Originally Posted by 0le FUZZY

...I are in both won and tew and prolly belong tew tree and for tew.


0.F.

Now that ain't the way i see it 0le Fuzzy.....this may jes' be me an' m.h.o. here, but you're definitely in a league of your own, and the rest of us are waaaay outclassed !

[superlightweigh]

Most of my guitar playing life I shunned Telecasters as being a wussy guitar...there I SAID it. Please don't hate me. I just didn't know any better, and wasn't a good enough player to appreciate the fine subleties...
I finally saw the light while finalizing the purchase of my Deluxe Reverb RI when I grabbed one down off the wall to plug in, figuring, hey what the heck. Let's see how this amp makes this guitar sound. That MIM Tele became an instant impulse buy, in addition to the amp. Boy, was my wife surprised.

So, I guess most of my life I was a negative two, then a couple years ago I became a grateful, satisfied 1.

Now, I am turning into a 2.

I swore I would never change a thing, but now I've got to TINKER with the pickups. (Actually, I swapped the stock pickguard for a pearl white one first thing but that doesn't count)

[nokaster]

i was happy with my 60's classic olympic white tele.
(i was in group number 2 already back then i guess, since i replaced the pickups with nocasters and the saddles with brass ones from the start)

but now... you guys made me a solid group number 2 member...
but like others, when a guitar is finished... i just play it as much as i can!

a lifestyle it is fer sure!

[chickenpicker]

I don't think it's as clear cut as that. Nice article, but I'd say there's a more gradual distinction between the two extremities of the telecaster condition (i.e. it's analogue, not digital).

[gtech]

I'm a #2 trying to be a #1 from time to time...

[TheWasp]

one,cos it sounds just fine to me as it is...

[MartineckArt]

You could kinda take this thread in a second direction...
There are Two Kinds of Tele People: (and add your own ending) The options are endless.
One of my answer would be:

There are Two Kinds of Tele People, ones that like Relic and ones that don't.

[11 Gauge]

I was in group #1 with other guitars, until I got my first Tele.

I quickly and permanently ended up in group #2.

The internet and guitar mags didn't influence this, other than to hasten the process.

After a few months of playing Tele #1, I just had to take it apart and measure everything, and figure out where all that wonderful sound was coming from. It had to be in there, somewhere, right?

I mean - I'd fiddled with pickups in all of my guitars for years (they put 'em under glass right next to the strings in the store - how are we supposed to resist?), but none of them transformed an ordinary guitar into a grail. Hardware? If a saddle froze up or something, I'd replace it, but that was it.

I've come to realize that all of my Teles sound as good on the day I brought them home as they do now with their 10th set of saddles, or 15th set of pickups.

I've also come to realize that I am truly in BLISS with the essence of the Tele, which is it's simplicity. Well, that and the Tele neck. No other neck on any other guitar (including other Fenders) is as good as a Tele neck, IMO.

While I'm no longer at #1, I do visit there, occaisionally...

[TG]

I'm about 1.9.
I have to have the windows up and not go under power lines.

[Telarkaster]

I was a #1 until I found this site. It never occurred that you can improve on perfection. I wanted to keep my Telecaster stock until I found out about the TDP mod of flipping the control plate to do volume swells better (thanks everyone by the way!). Now you guys have me thinking about the 3 saddle mod to an AM Std...

[telechaser]

I'm probably in between. I sometimes walk in the shop and end up walking out with a Tele or order one or put a deposit on lay-by (lay-away for others). I then probably almost fall into group two after changing pickups and some hardware.

Not exactly into group two 'cause I don't care about winding techniques as such . . . yet. Now that I've started on partscasters, I'll eventually fall into group two, but I'm simply enjoying my Teles at the moment and able to control GAS . . . Doh! I probably shouldn't have said that! I'll probably end up with another Tele any time soon.

[vic108]

I learned guitar on a friend's Tele back in '68.
Pure bliss with the maple neck and the sheer blonde finish!

In 1970, he put a humbucker in the middle position
and used a toggle switch to turn it on or off.

So, I kinda grew up (?) knowing about mods on guitars.
I'm terrible doing them though and let others do it for me.

Having worked on pre-fab houses (no skills) and injection
molders (with 2 inch bolts that you'd CRANK on HARD) as a kid,
I'm sure to strip a bolt or manhandle something to ruin.

So, I'm a #1 until I find a #2 kinda guy to upgrade things for me.

[Jellecaster]

Originally Posted by superlightweigh

Most of my guitar playing life I shunned Telecasters as being a wussy guitar...

There seems to be quite a few people "out there" that think this way and I don't get it. Name another guitar that looks better after you've beaten the hell out of it. I don't care what anyone says, it IS harder to play than most others because it hides no flaws. It makes you play it - there is no fudging on a Tele.

Maybe people see it as wussy because it is hard to get the mega-distorted metal sound. (I didn't say you can't - its just harder) Ultimately it sounds best when you just plug it straight into a Deluxe Reverb and crank it! That's reason #473 that I'm a Tele fanatic...

[xStonr]

I used to be a 1. Before I got my Tele, I found this site and it made me a 2 before I even had a Tele.