For the life of me I don’t understand this Tele

I agree. But in black they’re so cool. And the Fender/Gibson worlds colliding design is, I think, really smart. I had a black one that I put thin black tape (drafting tape, I think it was) over the white piping and black sharpied the screws so that it was really black. That was a great guitar, and really lightweight especially for that time.
[ And now I have a red thinline with a big white mots pick guard. I like to think of it as having a cowboy aesthetic. Perhaps a little more “rhinestone “ than “cowboy” but so be it. I still love it. ]

 

I always thought the big guard looked cool especially in black-on-black, and I don't at all mind the Gibson-style control layout. I think that the big guard had something to do with ease of production without redoing a production line for back routing. Drilling holes for wire paths without doing a separate top could have been problematic too.

I do find it kind of humorous that Fender was trying to copy Gibson, and that Gibson at one point (maybe more) tried to build a Strat. Maybe 50 years later the hindsight allows us to see that it may have been wise to stay in one's lane, so to speak. However, we wouldn't have WRHB's had Fender not tried to cut into Gibson's niche.

 

Also keep in mind it's designed to fit around the ashtray, so that little peninsula above the bridge doesn't look out of place with it fitted.

I personally like it, in a 70's "So ugly it's charming" way. I was born at the end of the 70's, so that earth-tone-shag-carpet and avacado-appliances vibe reminds me of my grandparent's house.

 

Prefer a nice Chardonnay

 

So, how black was it? How much more black could it have been?

 

Does it bother you even more that it came in lefty??

 

It’s a classic design and I can see why people like them — one of my colleagues has a 1970s Custom and it’s a nice guitar to play, very comfortable neck. But for me I can’t gig with a four-knob guitar or a selector switch up-top, I need it kept simple... or I have to make it simple...

 

I can see why they did it - it is a cheap guitar to manufacture, and it just fits nicely into the 70s vibe. I doubt I would ever own one since it's so easy to get a partscaster done how you like it these days, and I possibly have a lifetime supply of teles already.

 

Leo was all about economy, simplicity, and ease of manufacture. Mounting everything in a pickguard is al lot easier and cheaper than going the Gibson route (no pun intended, lol).

 

Freddie Tavares and his French curves!

 

I don't mind the shape, but that one screw right in the middle bugs me.

 

Personally I dislike any pickguard that goes overkill with the amount of screw holes and screws. 16 on those Tele Customs? You can do with 11 at the most IMHO.

 

In case you haven't noticed, "stuff" in general was extremely ugly in the late '60s and '70s. Clothes, haircuts, most cars, houses, furniture, interior decor, popular color palettes, you name it. It was 95 percent hideous.

 

The 70s marked the move from qualitative to quantitative market research. Having lived through it, I see it as a time when things started becoming somewhat more useful and way less cool. I present that as my personal bias rather than an objective observation. Technically, I am a Gen-X'er rather than a Boomer but I am on the cusp. "OK, Cusper," is the proper phrase to use to dismiss my nostalgia.

 

It was the 70's.

 

I love the look of tele deluxes and tele customs from the 70's. My problem is that I don't really love the tone of the vintage wide range humbucker-this is after owing a 73 custom and 75 deluxe...but I am still on the hunt because I think they just ooze coolness

 

Agree completely.

 

My own, with monstrosity pickguard lol

 

Looks much better in this color combo, imo.

 

Here’s mine.