Re: I don't understand Tele's, Tele men, enlighten me!
When I was a kid I hated Teles and would only play Gibsons because the tone was fatter and I was able to sound more like Eric Clapton when he played with Cream.
Then I found a '54 Strat and later a '57 Strat and switched to Fenders because my playing had matured to the point that I could play clean and still sound full. But I still hated Teles because all of the newer one (60's models) sounded so bright and ice picky.
Then I saw Roy Buchanan in the very early 70's and when Roy played his '53 Tele through that cranked blackface Vibrolux Reverb on "10" he got a searing tone that rivaled the overdriven tone Eric Clapton got playing his Les Paul or SG through a cranked Marshall.
So I found a '51 Tele (paid well under $200 for it!) and discovered that Teles from the early 50's seemed to get a fatter tone than newer "60's" Teles. My '51 could push a cranked brown or blackface Fender into distortion that gave me the singing tone I was after and when I turned it down I got a clear rythym tone for chords.
I also found that Teles sustain better than Strats...even better than my '57 Strat which was a hardtail. And Tele's don't get so much of that Strat-itis tone where when you play above the 12th fret the notes get those wolf tones and extra out of tune harmonics that's caused by the magnetic polepieces pulling the string out of tune. Why? Because there's one less pickup on a Tele and the middle pickup on a Strat adds to the magnetic pull, which is cumulative.
I also found that Esquires sustain even better than Teles because Esquires only have a bridge pickup.
If I could only keep one one electric guitar and had to part with everything else, I'd keep my '54 Tele....I lost my '51 Tele thirty years ago when the neck developed a bad twist...so I sold it.
I do like medium frets though...makes string bending alot easier and I think it makes for a stronger tone. So both my '54 Tele and '63 Strat have been refretted with medium frets.
It takes a mature player to sound good on a Tele...but I've been playing since about 1963. So I qualify as a mature player. I can shape the tone with my hands and what comes out when I play my Tele is closer to what I put into it than with any other electric guitar I own.
My own personality and touch comes through when I play my Tele...more so than with any other electric guitar I've ever owned.
I can get clear jazz tones or searing blues tones and everything in-between. Only tones I can't get, and which I miss sometimes, is the sound of a middle Strat pickup combined with either the neck or bridge pickup.
But for that tone, I always have my '63 Strat.
Lew
:eek2: 
