Before my grandfather passed away I gave him a thin line tele and he fell in love with the simplicity and wonder why he didn't own one earlier in his life. I still have that guitar after he passed and is named after him
Your grandpa would have been even more surprised by a real hollow tele (?). I m always wondering a double F hole tele with minimal block for the bridge or no block with a floating bridge.
Besides sounding awesome, Tele’s are very useful allowing you to play all genres. Plus when you’re on a picnic you can flip them over and cut steak on its backside, and if you’re out in the middle of the lake and the boat stalls you can use the Tele to row back to shore, and if you’re ever at a gig and a fight breaks out you can use the Tele to defend yourself. After all that, when you sit down again to jam, the Tele is still in tune. 😬
Teles are probably the most versatile, robust, parsimonious guitars ever made. From jazz archtop kind of sound to RATM or led zep, or anything funk...I am a tele fan. That design is so perfect on so many levels.
@@charlesw.4576 hah that’s funny. I believe Jer means Spartan, Elegant or Economical. Frugality defines Leo Fender though. It really looks like an ugly prototype, a mishmash of minimalist parts and exposed screw heads all on a solid wood plank… but it works like magic. It was radically different from anything that had ever appeared by that time.
They're only versatile in tone. An es 335 or 339 is far more versatile tho. Teles are less versatile in function and tech skill tho. Why? Because no whammy!
I like both Stratocaster and telecaster as well as a Les Paul & a es 335. They all have different voices that’s the fun in it. But nothing sounds like a Stratocaster but a Stratocaster. Have fun and enjoy all of them.
If you try to combine single coils to try and sound like a humbucker, it sounds way too muddy and blurry. Only way for a strat to sound like a les paul is to use a HSS or HH configuration.
A Strat is great at being a Strat. I love Strats'. Strats' are the most comfortable guitar to wear if you are gigging all the time. It's beautifully designed to contour to your body and it also sounds amazing. Tele's on the other hand are a big chunk of wood with a pickup screwed on top.. As basic as the Tele is, all it takes is turning the volume and tone knobs little by little until you get the tone your brain is chasing. The tones you get from a Tele are infinite. Also Tele's are fantastic at holding tune. I have sat my guitar on it's stand, not touching it for a couple of months only to find it's still in tune.
I like the strat's body shape but I can't stand the controls. I had to use duct tape and a pick so the switch and FUCKING VOLUME KNOB wouldn't move (I only use pos 4, 3 and 1). Meanwhile the tele just keeps everything just far enough to not get bumped around, but also easy to switch on the fly. Same with les pauls imo. It's All preference though and I can really see how a strat would be better, especially if you don't bang on em the way I would.
@@potatoheadhaoy I absolutely agree. I never use the bridge pickup on my Strat. Sounds too thin for my ears and the 4th position is only useful if you're trying to sound like John Mayer. Especially since I own a Tele. I also love Strats' as well. The neck sound of a Strat was what my 14 year old brain was chasing when I first started learning guitar. I really loved Hendrix, SRV and my absolute idol was Clapton. Everyone of them played Strats. The sound of the neck pickup on a Strat is still my favorite tone to this day 30 years later. There is just something magical about it. That being said, I find every position on the Tele useful. It can sound a little Straty if you dig in on the neck but that same pickup can give you that beautiful Jeff Buckley bell chime. There is not a genre that the Tele doesn't do well. Playing a Tele is like driving a stick shift. You have total control of the instrument in your hands. That's what I love most about them. I have been fortunate enough to earn my living through theatre and the arts and any time I play in a pit or band, I always bring two guitars with me. They are both Tele's. My number 1 is a 58' and the backup is a custom shop which is set up more for chicken pickin' BUT I am 46 years old and if I know it's a standing gig, I'm playing the Strat. My lower back will be much more forgiving the next morning.
@@nomaddag4402 oh man, few things come close to the singing tones of a strat neck pup. Especially when you load the preamp with a good boost! At one point i actually put a strat pup on a teles neck (you have to remove the plastic cover though), really cool sound although not the same. Also I totally agree, I feel like the tele is smoother and the bridge pup has much more oomph. I've always been partial to that middle position on a tele. Sounds like emo heaven haha Edit: just want to say that your comment was an awesome read.
Tele's seem to be a full circle guitar. As they used to be a cheaper alternative to the strat and lp, many players started with one. Then you run the gamut of the lp's and strat's and others only to return home to the Tele. I love the pick-em-up and play utilitarian aspect. They are normally not a finicky or fragile guitar and just get the job done.
I love the footage of Keith Richards just smacking someone who runs across stage to attack Mick. Keith’s battle weapon was a black 70s Tele Custom or Deluxe… don’t mess with a Tele player!
Jimmy Page exclusively used the Tele for Led Zep I but actually switched to the Les Paul for Zep II. He used the Tele occasionally on recordings and live since.
Good video, but I personally don't understand "switching" guitars. I have a Tele, Strat and LP, and switch between playing them all, depending on what mood I'm in, or what "vibe" I want. Tele's and Strat's are both great guitars. In fact the Strat started as an upgrade to the Tele, but the "improvements" (contours, vibrato, more pickups) were so much of a departure over the Tele that Fender decided to make the new model.
Agreed, the title just sounds like click bait, because Jamie doesn't really argue in the video itself as to why Teles are flat-out better, only that they have singular benefits. Which is fine, but i feel a bit misled.
Many times people focus on the obvious and thats all true enough. For me, the Tele is a very personal guitar. I am fortunate to own many types of guitars, however nothing sits in my lap like a Telecaster, quietly unplugged, Its how I start and end most days....with a Tele in my lap. It's like a horse to a cowboy, or a tractor to a farmer.
I had 28 Telecasters by 1980 before I lost coint. I still have three. I have a Stratocaster but only use it for Dire Straits live playing and when my wrist is tired at the end of the night. A Telecaster makes you play better, no matter what you're style, they don't cover any mistakes in your playing. They also sound great in all three positions.
george harrison , jimmy page and joe strummer are big reasons why i got my tele. it was also just a feeling, i tried it and it felt like the guitar for me. went with my gut and wasnt wrong
Without watching the full video yet. There's just something about that middle position on the switch that other guitars can't replicate. That tone with the lipstick and bridge together is unmatched
To me the only downside to a Tele is the way Fender put the input on the guitar, have to keep tightening the nut as it loosens.I did see a couple of Telecasters with a flush mount input and that I loved , they should do it to all Telecasters!
My favorite Tele is my home brew parts Tele with a solid mahogany body, solid Pau Ferro neck, and three Fralin P90s with a 5-way switch. Gives me all the sounds I could possibly want for both jazz and blues!
Way back in the late 1990's, I saw Ed Bickert play in a small Jazz club. At the break he was leaning against a wall with a glass of water, so I walked over and asked him about why he plays a tele when most Jazz guitarists play big hollow or semi hollow electrics. He shrugged and said he never really thought about it, he just liked the small size of the tele and said he couldn't imagine lugging around a huge hollow body guitar. At the time, I didn't notice he had swapped out the front pickup on the tele for a Humbucker, but I did read that later, and now when I see pics or clips of him playing, I of course notice. So it must be that he was not entirely happy with the standard Fender front pickup if he installed a Humbucker. A more mellow tone maybe? I'm not knowledable about pickup characteristics.
Picked up my tele yesterday after a couple months of not playing it as well. A little dusty around the edges, but damn, that thing was still in tune, man. My other guitars have to be tuned every time I pick them up, even after only an hour or two after I last played it. Teles are just built like rocks. It really is just a big chunk of wood, and it is rock solid. Like you said, not the most comfortable guitar to play for a long time, but it will never fail you when it matters. I’m personally a humbucker guy, but teles definitely take it for single coils for sure. My first guitar was a strat, and while they are definitely great when you want that strat tone, I’ve never gigged with one. I always just end up playing SRV licks on a strat lol. A tele is just a great guitar for so many different things. Roy Buchanan also does a great job at showcasing all of the tones that a tele can do.
@Baldspot sounds like a good idea to me! I do think that on an objective level, taking away some of the wood on the body will probably have some sort of tonal change, but I also think that it is almost certainly not going to be any change that a human could hear at all. I'm talking like changes so minute that you'd only be able to observe it in an in-depth scientific study of the frequencies and resonance of the instrument lol. Maybe you should do a "before and after" kind of sound test just to see if there is any change that you can hear after you contour the body. Either way, a tele with a nice contour to cradle my belly sounds like a dream lol
Gotta say, my favourite guitar for jazz is my SG! The guitar’s thin body and low output pickups sound incredible for jazz if you ride the volume and tone knobs! It has the amazing thick humbucker sound, but has a bit more bite and high end than a 335 or fully hollow body guitar
SG is pretty weak for jazz I mean you could use almost anything and an SG is literally almost anything, it's literally a more shrill sounding less paul that looks like it's played by the comic book character Spawn in hell.
Your comment about the Strat is spot on ; a Strat sounds like a Strat, also a LP sounds like a LP. However a Tele can create a very wide variety of tones. The Tele is actually a very good option for Rock guitar 🎸
Thats true for every electric guitar. People typically just claim their favorite guitar is most versatile just because they play them the most or just enjoy the artists who use them the most.
I have two Teles (one I built from parts with P-90 pickups, and one Fender, - overwound p'up in the neck, and brass bridge saddles), a semi-hollow, and an archtop. Obviously, the archtop gets the most classic jazz sound. The other ones do better with more modern sounds, but they can all cover whatever I need. I'm in the middle of moving house right now, so all I've got with me is the Fender. I wouldn't hesitate to use it on any gig, regardless of the material. I find that the archtop takes effects less gracefully than the others, but it doesn't really need it.
I think you should own both. I do. I love them both. The thing about the strat is the unmistakable "bell like tones" you can get out of them. Think the intros of U2's An Cat Duhb or Kingdom Come's What love can be. Teles don't do that. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH EITHER
I owned a Japanese Tele in the late '80s and played it through a Twin Reverb. I couldn't get a tone out of it, largely because I was young and had my head up my ass. :) I went back to using my Strat for gigs and sold the Tele. A couple years ago I came into some money and decided to buy a new guitar. I spent 5 or 6 hours over two days playing everything under the sun: Gibson, Gretch, PRS, Strats, and all kinds of boutique guitars. I settled on a Tele with noiseless pickups. Why? Because of the breadth of available tones! I can play anything on it: blues, country, rock, jazz. It pairs well with all my Fender amps: Super, Deluxe, and Blues Junior. It's an amazing guitar!
My number one is a squier strat with a humbucker in the bridge and no middle pickup. Sunburst, tort guard. Super light and sounds pretty good for a chinese squier
And part of the reason a Strat can suck is there’s so much extra hardware, and Fender cuts their costs by cheapening the quality and substantiveness of the metal a lot of the time. With good vintage-style Callaham hardware you’re closer to what a 1960 Strat should be like…
yes you need both!!! strats are the immediate dire straits hendrix clapton mayer vibe..teles no spring much more "forward " to my ears FANTASTIC FOR JAZZ !!!
What a great video! Love telecasters; the beauty of the Stratocaster is the middle pick up and all the options you have. You don’t see too many people using the middle pick up on a Strat. Thank you for posting.
I love both Strats and Teles but a Tele would be my desert island guitar. Also, I think any mention of Telecaster greats has to include Danny Gatton. Though he crossed a number of genres he was a jazz player at heart.
82’ LP standard and the 79’ strat have been shelved since I got my tele. It’s like it was made just for my hands and my ear. Such a deep passionate love affair we’ve been having with no looking back.
My primary reason for choosing a tele over a strat is one I dont see many people commenting on: the way it hangs on a strap. Without the extended upper horn, it tends to hang a little differently... a little more shifted towards the neck side. This just feels more comfortable to me. Also, the tele's different pickups sound way different from each other, whereas the strat's pickups are a bit more similar. A standard tele setup has a warmer neck pickup, a super bright and peaky bridge pickup, and the scooped sound of both. They're very disparate and striking sounds whereas the strat's pickups all sound like they're all in a more similar neighborhood with each other. Obviously this is super objective and doesnt take into account pickup swaps. I like to blur the lines between them too. I have a Nashville tele with a strat middle pickup and had a luthier carve comfort cuts into the body. This brings the comfy ergonomics of the strat to the tele, and gives some strat like options to tone that you dont normally get with just the two pickups. The strat middle pickup interacts with the tele neck and bridge pickups a little differently than with strat neck and bridge pickups, which brings a slightly different flavor to those well known 2 and 4 position strat tones. I still love strats, but most of the time I'd rather have the Nashville tele over a strat. I always wanted to put a tele bridge, with a tele neck and bridge pickup into a strat but I just havent gotten around to it yet. Sonny Landreth used to have a strat setup like that and I thought it looked pretty damn cool.
Very true on how it hangs. When I got a Tele I became aware of the extra reach reqiured towards the nut. A strat almost felt like a short scale guitar after using my tele. Sold the strat.
So true..Leo went to a club where Jimmie Bryant was playing and gave him the 2nd and 3Rd tele... In the early years many bands in SoCal got complementary guitars..especially country players that he liked...
I started playing 1 year ago and got a Strat because it was my favorite guitar and I thought Tele's where old and for Country music. Oh how wrong I was, I got a Tele this summer and fell in love with the tone. I now play an Esquire almost exclusively. There is magic in just 1 pickup.
Great video! I'm also a Tele guy myself, for some of the same reasons. I like Strats too, but I find their sound to be too specific, while a telecaster seems to be more versatile.
A lot of guitarists shy away from Tele's because they think the bridge PUP is too bright, the opposite is true. I'd play a Tele over a Strat any day. ( I think this prejudges comes from the fact that Tele's were widely used for 'chicken picken' in country music )
Cool video, I love Telecasters, I use them in a few situations and they sound great. I always find myself going back to my Stratocasters though, a bit more comfortable with the belly and front cuts, but sound-wise cannot beat a Telecaster's unique qualities. My favorite Tele players are James Burton, Danny Gatton, Tab Benoit and Steve Cropper.
Telecasters are quite possibly the most versatile guitar there is. It can be made to sound like anything from a hollowbody to Country to all out hard Rock.
Pretty sure the solo on Stairway to Heaven from Zep IV was done on his Tele from the early days. Yes, I prefer the simplicity of a typical Tele- especially live. Had a super clean Warmouth Tele years ago. It was so light- just pearlescent white with black hardware and a thick ebony fretboard on a thin neck. I could get any sounds I wanted with the EMG pickups it had. The only guitar I ever regretted parting with.
I imagine Page always used one or another Fender in the studio… It certainly sounds like a Tele on the solo for “Since I’ve been loving you.” In some ways that song feels like a precursor to the latter portion of “ Stairway.” Same breathless magic, different time signature. In fact, Jimmy wanted his Les Paul to sound like a Tele, yet in a solid touring guitar with no hum and stunning looks. In the studio it was easy to use the real deal.
Oh, and we cannot help compare Led Zeppelin influenced acts like the band Rush… Alex Lifeson has always had his one particular Telecaster playing in one speaker on every Rush album. That’s his main writing guitar for so many hits!
I never really saw the point of a tele personally. I own a strat and a les paul and don't feel like there's a need for anything else. But that's just me. Clearly tele's are extremely popular and the preferred guitar for a lot of people.
Because that in between pickup in the middle is annoying as hell on a strat. You keep hitting it with the pick or you need to lower it so much it interferes with the sound. Tele all the way and i played strats for years. The only thing a strat beats a tele on is the comfort shaped body.
@@garysellars8914 I guess it depends on where you like to pick. I never pick right over the middle pickup. I'm either between the bridge and middle or the neck and middle. No problem at all for me.
@@neverenoughguitars8276 Yeah true. But i think what i said is why Blackmore and Malmsteen don't use that pickup and lower it flush with the scratchplate because it's annoying and gets in the way.
my favorite personal guitar is a les paul style for it's versatility and overall round and warm sound, but telecaster is definitely good second. definitely a classic sounding instrument.
If you tune to E Flat (for instance, if you're playing in a band with horns), moving up to .11 gauge string sets or higher will definitely help since you're tuning down and light strings don't work well for that.
My first electric was a strat and I'll always love that sound. getting into the hollowbody thing really changed my music and about ten years ago I bought a Nashville strat. To me, it's honestly the perfect guitar - great tele sounds, great strat sounds... and when I'd switch back to playing my strat I knew I was going to have to do something i didn't want to do: lower the pickups. LOL So many of us play strats with the pickups right on the strings trying to get that SRV sound (SRV was awesome). I think the pickups can come down and, all of a sudden, it acted a lot more like my Nashville tele. Still very much "strat" though more appropriate for all different types of music including jazz. That's to say I think a lot of people who already love their strat could invest in a push pull pot and not only get 7 way sounds but in conjunction with lowering the pickups make a strat great to over the top versatile. Thank you for your video.
@@fredriksvard2603 I understand. I started on strats so they typically aren't a big deal plus I prefer the 2 and 4 sounds - though I get it - I've had a couple HHH situations that sounded and played amazing though the middle pickup was too high. I think typically pickups just need to be lowered: all of them though especially the middle. Even on strats: I lowered my old strat copy with the three Texas Specials. Up until that point it was the "SRV" machine though I didn't reach for it for jazz much. Lowering it recently as a crossroads - I knew I'd miss the "pummeling" effect of the high single coils, though a few weeks later I picked up the strat and it was perfect. Still very much rich strat, though better sustain and more musical. It helped me - might be able to help people who want access to the additional sounds though need a solution for their picking situation.
I don't know what I like better: the simplicity of the tele appeals to me, but great strat players have made amazing music that I quite like. I have one of each, and it's apples and oranges. I think I prefer the tele bridge pickup to the strat's, and being able to roll off the tone on the bridge helps.
The only two things I don't like about Teles, are the classic bridge and classic neck radius. My preferred tele would have classic pickups, modern fully compensated bridge, and flatter radius (and a belly cut, just to feel spoiled). Wait... I have a guitar like that. Damn, that feels good! ;-)
I played strats for years started one a strat copy then switched to humbuckers for a heavier tone but always came back to strats and never considered a telecaster but one time I played a telecaster at guitar center just to see what the big deal was and I fell in love. I put it back but couldn’t stop thinking about it for years until I finally got one. Telecaster is now my favorite guitar.
Oddly enough I found myself in the same predicament as the author of this video. I have a magnificent Strat that I exhausted all the classic Strat sounds I could conjure up over a span of years. I still love that Strat as much as ever. However, I never gave a Tele too much of a shot. Until starting 3 years ago. I bought a nice Tele and began to explore. It’s a totally different creature. It can play every style and genre, it makes you work hard to get different tones and textures but damn is it worth it. I love it - it has inspired me to no end and it is as honest as you want a guitar to be. I agree it is well suited for jazz rock and blues. See: Robben Ford for a sample of how great a Tele covers blues and jazz. It is the shit - and I’m glad I’ve made the switch. As for now, I’m having a blast with the Tele.
Say what you want to tele are okay, but a strat has it beat. You have more options! It just stands to reason. Unless your looking for the tele sound. Each to his own!
Great video! I am a big fan of Fender guitars. Especially the Telecaster. Even though I have a variety of makes and models of guitars, if I could only own one guitar, it would be a Fender Telecaster. Due to its versatility and simple, rugged design.
Same, I prefer Tele’s over my Strats; I even had my Strats’ bridge flush with the body, with a Brass trem block installed, which gives them bit more brassy sound to resemble a Tele. But Tele’s all the way, the feel is way different
In my somewhat limited experience, the oft-neglected middle pickup on the Strat can get you some of that Tele versatility without sounding too obviously Strat-like. Love Teles, though, and yours are beautiful!
The tele neck pickup sounds different than the strat because it is uses 43 gauge wire, often measured as high as 7K. This makes it warmer neck pickup but perhaps less Bass than the strat. Because it has less harmonics it's perhaps more easily controlled without strange affects and odd sounds. This makes it great for long, mellow singing sustains with high gain or even as you say cleaner jazz. But the strat is more wild and can sound very fizzy sometimes and too bright other times. I would not say that one is better than the other in my opinion, they are really unique instruments with their own costs and benefits. And I did not even mention the strange sound when you get the neck in the bridge together.
I also prefer the Telecaster over the Stratocaster or Les Paul. I love it’s simple 1 vol 1 tone and 3 way switch. In my opinion it’s the most versatile of the 3. My main reason is the body shape is the most comfortable for me. It took me awhile to have a similar comfort with a Strat. I have never felt comfort on a LP. I only play Les Paul’s because of the fatter sound. In all honesty my 72 Telecaster can do it all…
Strats are more versatile than Teles. 3 pups + 5-way switch give you more sounds than 2 pups + 3-way switch. And Teles are constantly stabbing you with those borders it has. Teles are good but they have a crappy fanbase.
@@telecaster-freechannel9405 it’s great you love your Stratocaster’s so much… I’ll never debate one’s preferences. For me it’s the Telecaster’s. I happen to have only 2 but own 3 Strats. Go figure!!! True 3 pickups + a 5 position switch is a plus. For all the genres I play the Tele serves me better than any other style of guitar. Cheers 🎸
I definitely have a great appreciation for both. Mike Stern and prince play Tele style guitars. But Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan played strats. for Jazz I definitely prefer at 335 or a full a hollow body. that being said if you are a great musician it’s gonna come out regardless of whatever instrument you’re playing. I’m sure Wes Montgomery would’ve sounded like himself even if he was playing a tele or a strat. It just so happened that that big Gibson L5 was his preference
Other famous tele players include Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan. And then there are a bunch of Country players who use them, as well as Rockabilly. They really can be used for just about anything.
The Telecaster is my favorite guitar design but when I wear it on a guitar strap while standing, the guitar sits awkward and uncomfortable against my body. I found through testing various guitar strap lengths that only when the Tele sits high on my chest (like the Beatles' George Harrison and his Tele) does the Tele feel the closest to being (somewhat) comfortable but nowhere near as comfortable as a Strat.
@James Yes, I did see those belly-cut Teles that you mentioned at my local Guitar Center around the timeframe that you mentioned. At the time the belly-cut Teles looked wrong to me, though I expected them to be as comfortable as a Strat. I've since grown to like, and have become accustomed to, the feel of playing the traditional Tele body at George Harrison strap length. Thanks for your comment, much appreciated. 👍
Love a tele but i find them physically uncomfortable where the top back edge digs into your ribs. They usually don’t put comfort cuts in like on a strat.
I hear people saying that from time to time...it's one of the easiest mods you can do , 1 electric sander you could make it so comfortable you'll be able to take it to bed and get a good nights sleep. LOL I don't have a tele but if I did.... : )
Thank you for your video. For years I wanted a strat until I heard GE Smith playing his Telecaster. Playing rock to Jazz. The Tele sound I heard from GE Smith was so captivating I had to have one. I've been playing one for the past 6 years before this I was playing a guibson Barny Kessel and a Les Paul type called The Paul. I'm 71 today and I've been playing since I was 9 years old and having a blast with my Telecaster.😄
Funny thing is I don't why I never bought a fender as much as I like them just something off putting at the same time. I love my Epiphone Casino neck profile better.
Me too. Just got my first Fender Tele…. I can’t put it down, I’m going to be up all night finding the variety of tones I can get. The satin maple neck is the sweetest neck ever. I’m not giving up my SG or PRS, but the Tele is destined to get played just as much.
You're entitled to this opinion, but you're not entirely wrong as well. Good views man. I use a local made tele this past 3 years, because, it's all I have LOL.
watch Larry Carlton live from 1997 (great jazz tone), I also love Jeff Beck "Angel" and Mark Knopfler "Prairie Wedding"...Strats are cool, Jeff Beck "The Pump" and Larry Carlton "Honey Samba" are 2 favorites
Many of your favorite songs were recorded on a tele, regardless of the stage guitar. My go to is a Tele style, G&L ASAT Classic Fullerton Custom Bluesboy.
