Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele, is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar made by Fender.
Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music.
Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1949, it was the first guitar of its kind to be produced on
a substantial scale. Its commercial production can be traced as far back as the March of 1950, when the single- and dual-pickup
Esquire models were first sold. The Telecaster has been in continuous production in one form or another since its first incarnation,
making it the world's oldest solid-body electric guitar.
The Fender Telecaster was developed by Leo Fender in Fullerton, California in 1949. Prior to its creation, the solid-body
electric guitar had been created independently by several craftsman and companies, in the period roughly between 1932–1949,
but none of these guitars had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fender's Telecaster was the design that finally put the
solid-body guitar on the map.
The Telecaster is known for its bright, rich cutting tone. One of the secrets to the Telecaster's sound centers on the bridge pickup,
which has more windings than the neck pickup and hence has a much higher output, sometimes having twice the inductance of the
neck pickup. At the same time, a capacitor is fitted between the slider of the volume control and the output, allowing treble sounds
to bleed through while the mid and lower ranges are damped. A slanting bridge pickup enhances the guitar's treble tone.
The solid body allows the guitar to deliver a clean amplified version of the strings' tone. This was an improvement on previous
electric guitar designs, whose hollow bodies made them prone to unwanted feedback. These design elements allowed musicians to
emulate steel guitar sounds, making it particularly useful in country music.
The Telecaster was important in the evolution of country, electric blues, funk, rock and roll and other forms of popular music,
because its solid construction allowed the guitar to be played loudly as a lead instrument, with long sustain if desired, and with
less of the whistling 'hard' feedback (known in sound reinforcement circles as 'microphonic feedback') that hollowbodied instruments
tend to produce at volume (a different kind from the controllable feedback later explored by Jimi Hendrix and countless other players).
Even though the Telecaster is more than half a century old, and more sophisticated designs have been coming out since the early 1950's
(including Fender's own Stratocaster), the Telecaster has remained in constant production. There have been numerous variations and
modifications, but a model with something close to the original features has always been available.
Over the years, many famous guitarists have made the Telecaster their signature instrument. In the early days, country session
musicians were drawn to this instrument designed for the "working musician." These included Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, James Burton,
who played with such stars as Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, and Merle Haggard. Later, Danny Gatton blended diverse musical styles
(including blues, rockabilly and bebop) with such great proficiency and clarity that he became known as the "telemaster."
Eric Clapton used a Telecaster during his stint with The Yardbirds, and also played a Custom Telecaster fitted with Brownie's neck
while with Blind Faith. Roy Buchanan and Albert Collins proved the Telecaster equally suited for playing the blues. Muddy Waters also
consistently used the Telecaster and Mike Bloomfield also used the guitar on his earlier works. Soul sessionist Steve Cropper used a
crisp, spare Tele sound with Booker T. and the M.G.'s, Sam and Dave, Otis Redding and countless other soul and blues acts.
Additionally, George Harrison used a custom-built rosewood Telecaster during the recording sessions for The Beatles' Let It Be album
(including the famous rooftop concert), on which the sound of the Telecaster was modified by being amplified through a revolving
Leslie cabinet speaker.
With the development of rock, the Tele inspired and sustained yet another genre. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has composed
many classic riffs on his battered Micawber Tele. Bruce Springsteen has given many
energetic performances with his Esquire. Another signature Telecaster player is Andy Summers of The Police. Jimmy Page used a
psychedelic-colored 1958 Telecaster, (painted by Page himself, and also known as the Dragon Telecaster) on the first Led Zeppelin
albums, and also for the lead solo in the 1971 song "Stairway to Heaven". The guitar had been given to Page by his friend Jeff Beck,
but by the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin's fourth album, on which "Stairway" appears, Page had begun using various
Gibson electric guitars heavily, so the use of the Telecaster was considered unusual.