introduction to the Tele Guitar

[Babaluma]

Robbie Robertson and his playing with The Band, closely followed by Steve Cropper and his soul licks with Sam & Dave meant I had to get one!

 

[jays0n]

Here I go: ok?
My introduction to, the Telecaster Guitar,
it was the year 2000 I started a new Job,
Helping with production of the Fender Lace Sensor's,
Lace USA Guitars, Lace Pickups.
___ Fred Stuart knew Jeff Lace, so I got to meet Fred,
What a great person! - we became good friends too, Fred would,
always tell me "Your in the Industry Now, You need the Original Plank"
a Tele he said they all do... It's part of being on the inside, Problem was,
Money and $ min. wage in 2000 was the Pits~
a good used 52-reissue was $1200.00
So Jeff Lace donated the Sound Rooms $99.00 Sam Ash
SQUIRE AFFINITY made in China Tele 1998?
as its paint was chipping away. - It was the best Gift in my Life!
but at the Time I received it I had no clue it could be so good!
I played Teles in stores and at the Vintage and Namm Shows for the next
5-years and I never felt one that worked as well for me as my $99 Squire
Now I did mod it right away
* removed the chipping white paint
* added Kluson Tuners
* added Fender headstock logo '70s
* added Seymour Duncan Broadcaster and 5/2 Neck
* Crazy Glued the saddles from sliding (spreading outward)
* Black 5- Hole Pickguard
Not much really ( I took flack for using Duncan's -
but I just would mentioned I really needed Single Coil Vintage to experience "the Plank"
and we did not make those) it was part of my TRAINING~ at least as far as I was concerned-
The guitar has been with me 22 years over 100 Teles I have tested ( or more) in 22-years
None allow me to hit the notes and Flow thru a tune like this one - its as if this $99 Tele Gift was from beyond!
From 2002 thru 2009 I was trying to keep my Band Buck Cannon going - this Tele was always the main #1
Thanks to Fred and Jeff - I had a hell of a Introduction to the Telecaster Guitar - before that I had a Strat MIJ and a Gibson Norlin Gold Top Les Paul that I had since 1981 - no Tele. (apologies for my typed words- think of them as careless__ short hand__) you guys have always been good about not pestering over typo's or grammar -- after all this is Short Hand like fun talk forum - not the Writers Guild Forum or a Low Place to be. DON MARE soon to be age-65 in 6 weeks-- ( we gotta keep *movin' - don't stop)https://www.youtube.com/user/60svibe/playlists <----Buck Cannon Band - You can hear this same telecaster guitar on most all the Buck Cannon Clips YouTube's (And YES it still has those same Duncan's today!) Broadcaster & 5/2 Nashville neck

That is a great story, thanks for sharing it with us. So cool that you still have it and it play it. I’ll check out the videos/songs.

I was gifted a thinline Tele partscaster in the 80s and never really bonded with it. However, each time I tried to replace it, I somehow ended up with another Tele. At some point I just gave in and decided I liked a Tele.

 

[tele12]

I had a beatup Les Paul Custom for years.
The company I worked for at the time always closed from Christmas to after New Years.
I thought it's about time I got a Strat. Over a couple of days I went to a couple of local music shops, 2 Guitar Centers and 2 Sam Ash stores. There was nothing I played that impressed me enough to buy it.

But , I wanted a new guitar and wasn't giving up so easily.
So back to the first Sam Ash, played a bunch of Strats again, and not impressed with any.

Out of frustration I picked up a Telecaster off the wall..........within 10 seconds of picking that guitar up I knew I was buying it.

A Highway One Texas Telecaster.

 

[elihu]

As a middle schooler trying to break into bands in the late 70's my first electric guitar was a Peavey T-60. It was heavy and the neck was thin, but it sounded and played better that my friend's Hondo. It cost $300 and I had to make 6 payments before it was mine. In a year or two I saved up for a Les Paul which cost me exactly twice as much new. It too was heavy, but the neck was better. In a few more years I went to a guitar show and traded it even for a lighter 335 with "Dirty Fingers" pickups but it needed some fret work. A year went by, I saved some money and went to the local C&S Music in Fort Worth Texas to get the frets replaced. They butchered it-large chunks of the fretboard were missing but they didn't charge me and it did play better. Should have kept that one but my new band was heavily into 1980's image and wanted everybody to get a B.C. Rich so I ended up with a $1000 special order white Mockingbird which was a huge step backward. After a few years I was in college after quitting that band and a friend was showing me his new Tokai Strat. I was impressed so I went down to Guitar Center and bought a white one for $300 with case. Should have kept this one too but I played the heck out of it for 10 years before selling it to fund a Martin acoustic. Then, back in 2009 I decided to get another electric and ran across a Tele Highway One. I liked it but then the salesman put a Roadworn Tele in my hands. I loved it but didn't want to be considered a poser with a reliced guitar, so I took the Highway One home. That was another big mistake, and since then I've replaced the pickups and neck to get the Highway One closer to the Roadworn.

In summery I decided on a Telecaster because I've had most of the others. And there is a late 60's SG special in there somewhere with a rubber-band neck. It would not stay in tune. The Tele does.

 

[haggardfan1]

On the cover of the Hank Williams Jr album "Family Tradition", he's pictured with a blonde Telecaster. I'd probably seen them all my life watching Hee Haw and whatnot with my dad, but this was the point at which I first noticed a "real" electric guitar with clean lines and simple controls that appealed to me.

Shortly thereafter, as I've related here before, the "Rainbow Stew: Live at Anaheim Stadium" record was released by Merle- and there he was with a Telecaster, the old butterscotch one he played for years. I also idolized Roy Nichols, who's closely associated with the Telecaster, but ironically was using a black Les Paul not only at the Anaheim show, but the last time I ever saw him onstage with the Strangers.

I've only owned one electric in my life that wasn't a T style, and I was too young to know better.

 

[HaWE]

I got my first Telecaster in 1975.It is a copy from the brand "Kasuga".My parents allowed me to buy this guitar and it was a christmas present.I liked Stratocasters but could not get one, so I bought this Telecaster.I still use it at home.Over the years I played a Strat and also Les Pauls but finally in 2014 came back to Telecasters and now have 3 of them.It seems that after all the type of guitar I had already chosen back in 1975 is the right one for me.

 

[ClashCityTele]

Late 70's - punk rock.
Hugh Cornwell, Joe Strummer, Wilko Johnson, Daniel Ash. All black Tele's.
My friend Paul was going to Uni in London. He took his new guitar & asked if I wanted to buy his other one.
1976 Black Tele'. Ooh, yes please.
The rest is history.

 

[StoneH]

I bought my first good electric (SG) in 1974. I tried to make it work through a Bassman, a Traynor "Twin", and a Marshall, but it never sounded or played the way I wanted. I traded for a '68 Pink Paisley (which I refinished - avatar pic), and used it for two or three years. I came across a '69 Strat that I liked even better (and still have), but the Telecaster was my second best guitar for sure.

 

[BlueTele]

i first heard Green Onions by Booker T. and the MG's with Steve Cropper's "scratchy" guitar riff. I was a kid of 7 years old in 1962 when that was released. My older sister had her little transistor radio going, and there it was. I thought "how cool is that?!?!?!?" Even though others preceded and followed him, Steve Cropper's Tele through what I learned much later was a tweed Fender Harvard was "the tone" for me...until...The Yardbirds and Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. All it took was hearing the intro to "Heart Full of Soul", and I was hooked. Funny too...I read decades later that Jeff Beck was influenced by Steve Cropper's guitar on Green Onions as well. Jeff said he "just wanted to make noise" with a guitar. I started paying attention to all the people playing Teles. I used to ask myself why bands like the (early) Beatles, (early) Stones, Animals, etc. didn't play Tele's? But...I found the bands who did, and through the years, I discovered the other Tele players: Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield, Jimmy Page, Albert Collins, Sid Barrett, David Gilmour, Roy Buchanan, Robben Ford...to name a few of the best. My first good electric was a Fender Telecaster. I went through MANY other brands and models...dozens...and then I picked up a Tele again after not having one for years. I had "come home." It has been Tele's for the last 20 years...specifically Whitfill Telecasters: best on planet earth IMHO. My picture tile/ logo at upper left is one of my Whitfill's.

 

[gitold]

In 1970 my Mom said she sign for a electric guitar for me. Back then you could make monthly payments right to the store. I’d been playing my brothers Gibson acoustic, teaching myself and was coming along pretty well. So off to the music store we went.
I knew exactly what I wanted… a Telecaster! Mike Bloomfield had one on the back of the first Paul Butterfield album and I had seen the guy in the James Gang had one too. Went to the local store (Gus Zoppis on Eight mile in Detroit) and there it was for $229 if I remember correctly, a White Tele with a Rosewood board. The owner saw my eyes light up and pulled Mom aside and told her that for only a few dollars more a month I could get the top of the line Fender and pulled a Brand New Jazzmaster off the wall. In 1970 you couldn’t give a Jazzmaster away and knowing what I know now it was a 66 because it had binding and dot markers. So this beautiful guitar had been sitting in the store for 4 years. This was when everything sold for MAP so there wasn’t any discounting. I thought the Jazzmaster looked like a rocket so we took it home. My older brother played guitar and was in a band and he ridiculed me asking me why did I buy a Laurence Welk guitar. I looked at all my albums and none of my favorites seem to play a Jazzmaster. My friend came over and we put some Fender Light gauge strings on it and it buzzed like crazy. I proceeded to learn about setting action and truss rods in the next year. My amp was a Gemini 6 Ampeg so I truly had a Laurence Welk set up. Headroom for days, just what you wanted in 1970. Distortion was never a crutch for me because you couldn’t get that setup to distort. i did love that guitar though with all its idiosyncrasies . Didn’t finally get a Tele until 1980 but that another story. Bad pix or it didn’t happen.

 

[bgmacaw]

It was 1969.

The wee Peegoo was living with his family in Waipio Acres on the island of Oahu. He was sitting on the floor in front of the teevee and a brand new show was on. It was called Hee Haw, and Buck Owens was playing a song with his band.

His guitar player was smiling like a lunatic...he looked like he was having so much fun. And the guitar he was playing looked like it had something to do with the fun he was having.

Thank you, Mr. Don Rich. I play guitar today in large part because of you.

I still need a sparkly Tele and a sparkly suit.

 

[northernguitar]

I saw this clip and realized I needed better home protection.

 

[Alex W]

Initially I thought of the telecaster as mostly a country instrument. That attitude eventually faded, plus I started to develop more appreciation for country music. There were several rock guitarists that I liked who played a tele, so famous that they need no mentioning here. I played bass in a band and my ESP Precision bass clone has a butterscotch blonde finish with maple fingerboard, and I was sort of interested in getting a 52 AVRI telecaster in the mid-90s to complement it. I actually joined the original TDP forum in the mid 90s before I ever owned a Telecaster. Later that year I bought a MIJ 50's reissue telecaster, based on the positive reviews on the forum. I still have that guitar, although it has gone through some modifications over the years. It now has a white pickguard to give it a more late 50s look and it has a B bender (which I can't really do much with).

I had long thought the copper 52 reissues were cool, and had planned to get one but they stopped making them. Eventually I did buy one used off the internet and I have been thrilled with it.

 

[JeffBlue]

I had a friend who has passed who built exact built telecasters. Until he educated me and allowed to play his guitars, I thought telecasters were only good for the twang in country music. Telecasters are now my favorite guitars. I have strats and Les Pauls, but I always gravitate to the telecaster. It also didn't hurt seeing Mick Ronson switch from a Les Paul to a telecaster. You can play most any kind of music with a telecaster.

 

[Mur]

1970 someone gave me a brand new Thinline. It sat in the corner, never got touched, I thought it was an odd instrument and got rid of it. Then somewhere in the 90's I got a Tele again and been playing it off and on since.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

its lucky

 

[UserNotAvailable]

good toast!

 

[TunedupFlat]

I remember images and the sounds from Springsteen and Pete's sound on "Guitars, Cadillac's" and the old western swing records that I had from my grandparents.

I had multiple telecasters in the 90's and still have my 96 which i bought new but never really bonded with( its freaking heavy)but needed for a specific sound.

In 99 I saw a new double bound thinline and thought it looked really good but wished it had a vintage bridge.

Less than a year later I bought a new black double bound thinline and as I had an old 3 saddle bridge laying around, I just made the guitar that I wanted.

It is the first guitar I grab if I sit down, and at the top of the list when I head out for practice or a gig.

 

[Alex W]

Don, what's the story on the one second from the right, butterscotch blonde but with rosewood fingerboard?

 

[bowman]

I was a teenaged music fanatic who’d always loved the sound of the Teles I’d heard, but the only guitar I owned was a crappy acoustic. This was about 1970 or so. One day I was with a beautiful girl I had just started dating, and we strolled into a local music shop. I took a very nice pure white Tele copy with an ashtray bridge cover off the wall, walked up to the counter, paid for it and walked out. The girl was very impressed: “you walk into a place and buy a guitar just like that?” “Yeah.” She didn’t know - and I didn’t say - that I had already been in there 6 or 7 times agonizing over whether to buy it or not. I don’t remember what brand it was or what happened to it, but it was a pretty decent Tele. I’ve often wondered if it’s still out there somewhere - I hope some kid is playing it right now.