I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

ElUnoAstuto

ElUnoAstuto

New member
I've never understood the allure of a Tele, or what makes it special. What makes a Tele? Is it really all about the twang? What can a Tele do that a Strat can't? I'm not trying to be funny, so please don't dog me, it's just one of the few guitars that's never really clicked in my head. I'd like to know what all the hoo haa is about! :smokin: :fingersx: :laugh2:
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

between those 3 settings and the tone knobs, there is a ton of versatility. i still think strats are more versatile, but i bet there so many are others that can get a tele to do things i cant.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

part of the appeal is the simplicity, part is the tone.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

Personally, I like teles more than strats. I think although the strats may appear more versatile, you still get a TON of versatility with a tele. I mean with the neck pickup, you get all those bluesy and lead tones, not to mention how you can switch it out for a humbucker and really open up your options, then you can flip to the bridge pickup and have all that country twang.

Not for everyone, but really a great design. I love mine!
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I think if Lew was here, he would say the challenge of squeezing tones out of a tele will make you a better player, and help you develop a more personal tone.

Scott Lentz told me that 1 out of 10 people who order strats are good players, and 9 out of 10 people who order teles are good players.

I don't know if that ratio holds true, but I know what he was saying :)
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

Try a 52 RI through a Vibrolux and you will understand.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

ElUnoAstuto said:
I've never understood the allure of a Tele, or what makes it special. What makes a Tele? Is it really all about the twang? What can a Tele do that a Strat can't?
Click to expand...


I believe this is when we all have to say.. Off the forum.. now. :laugh2:

This place has the most tele fans I've ever seen in my entire life. Most guitar players I know otherwise hate the tele.

Teles are great.. you can squeeze any rock or blues tone from them, all depending on your picking. They are like strats in versatility - only a different range of tones, and activated more by your playing style than a pickup switch. I just love the classic rock tones they make.. beautiful. Very jangly for chords and twangy for leads - exactly what I love tonewise.​

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDJe7FfbyM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpZTl5k1zp0

Or our very own Marinblues : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIXdhTORYXs
 
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Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I like the...erm...shape? I've got an HH tele ;).

Though, I'm gassin for a highway 1 tele. Just gotta remind myself...I got too many damned guitars...
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

Teles are very simple guitars, made from a very effective and well-conceived design. Like most very simple guitars, they respond to the way you play them in ways other more complicated and busy instruments don't.

In other words, you can get all kinds of sounds out of a Tele just by changing your picking attack, but you would need to manipulate knobs and switches to do the same things a more complicated guitar.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

i bougfht my first tele last year sometime... a used MIM Standard... it is stock except the bridge was changed to a Gotoh.... I love heavy slab feeling guitars, always have.... I got this tele and OMG.... way more low end then i had ever thought i'd get from a stock single coil fender... The tone control on my tele is really the only tone controll i use on any of my guitars.. those 2 pots make for a great selection of different tones..

I use my Tele for hard rock.... After buying one i now know why Page, Beck, Townshend, Richards used them..... Among other players..

I have GAS for more teles.... maybe a new updated MIM tele and a Warmoth tele, double bound...

I will buy more teles after this amazing experiece with the one i have
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I love my LTD Eclipse, but I'm bent on building instruments, and the Tele (with various options, the big goal at the moment is a chambered body) is the way to go.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I personally hate both of my Telecasters. Having said that, would you like to guess which guitars go to EVERY band gig that I get? If you said "the Teles", you were right. They're not as stupid as Strats (and I've got a bunch of them as well....Jeez, you'd think I'd learn), which work well too, for all of the WRONG reasons, but they're still brain damaged. The thing with Teles for me is that you plug them in, turn them up and you've got your tone. There's no fiddling with tone settings on the amp or scrolling through patches, they're just there... Leo Fender had the right idea (check out this month's Guitar Player Magazine). And I'm a Gibson fan...can you believe it?.....
 
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Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

The tone is the most important thing there is a couple of other things that make em hot too. The fact that a tele looks cool with a lot of crome and pickup
covers allso make it perfect for hotroding. I`v seen soo many ultra cool teles in here :D
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I hated them too when I was 19, not a crack on your young age, honest! They don't offer anything for a 19 year old in my opinion, at least they didn't for me when I was 19! Now-a-days I own two and love them but they're not one of my "main" guitars. But...I learned to RESPECT THE TELE!
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

They have that extra fatter bite, more lowend, harder to play as well....plus a good tele about does it all:D
And I so miss having one...I want one of those HW-1 Texas Tele's!!!
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

-What makes the tone so good with stockpickups?? I would think you'd want to switch out the stockpickups for SeymourD's...From what yer sayin, the stockfenderpickups sound great(singlecoils at that??)

I just dont understand....BUT, I do love the body shape & would like to own one, I just havn't played any.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

TimmyPage said:

I believe this is when we all have to say.. Off the forum.. now. :laugh2:

This place has the most tele fans I've ever seen in my entire life. Most guitar players I know otherwise hate the tele.

Teles are great.. you can squeeze any rock or blues tone from them, all depending on your picking. They are like strats in versatility - only a different range of tones, and activated more by your playing style than a pickup switch. I just love the classic rock tones they make.. beautiful. Very jangly for chords and twangy for leads - exactly what I love tonewise.​

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDJe7FfbyM8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpZTl5k1zp0

Or our very own Marinblues : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIXdhTORYXs
Click to expand...
Wait tillyou end up at TDPRI. heheh!

They single handedly forced to to play a Tele....Which I did.

I trusted my ears and am not looking back. :6:
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

I don't get em either. I've tried. I'm not 19. I think some guys sound great on them. It's all personal taste.
 
Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!

My Tele's got a Custom 5/59n and it will eat LP's all night. Nuff Said.
 
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