"True" Tele Requirements

"True" Tele Requirements

  • Ash body

    Votes: 23 51.1%

  • Alder body

    Votes: 7 15.6%

  • Maple neck

    Votes: 32 71.1%

  • Maple fretboard

    Votes: 23 51.1%

  • Three barrel bridge

    Votes: 25 55.6%

  • Vintage-style bridge single coil

    Votes: 35 77.8%

  • Vintage-style neck single coil

    Votes: 20 44.4%

  • Narrow vintage frets

    Votes: 4 8.9%

  • 7.25" radius

    Votes: 6 13.3%

  • Nitro lacquer finish

    Votes: 12 26.7%
  • Total voters
    45
ratherdashing

ratherdashing

Kablamminator
Trying to answer this for myself, so let's see what you guys think.

To get that quintessential Tele tone known and loved through the ages, what elements are required?

Multiple choice poll incoming ...
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

Wood, wires, a few stamped steel plates, three sections of brass rod, one sheet of lacquered bakelite, Kluson safety machineheads.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

To be a full-on, pure Tele, to me it needs:

Tele pickups (neck and bridge)
Tele Scale length
Tele bridge (full length)
Tele body (i.e. no chambering, F holes, contours, etc.)
Maple neck (all maple or with rosewood board)
Alder or ash body

This is not to say that there is a thing wrong with anything outside of these parameters. I just wouldn't consider/call the guitar a full-on, pure Tele, i.e. I wouldn't feel right using that guitar to make generalizations about Teles in general. Sure, "back in the day," you can find bona-fide Teles that fall outside of these parameters (e.g. pine, rosewood, and mahogany bodies, or Tele Thinlines), but I wouldn't use them as an example of your standard Tele, for purposes of making generalizations about what Teles are like.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

For me, the essence of a Tele is the stamped steel three-saddle ashtray bridge with a single coil pickup mounted in it. That is what makes it different from other guitars.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

For me, a pine/ash/or alder body, 3-saddle ashtray bridge, a maple fingerboard/neck, 1 5/8" nut width, 21 frets, heel-adjust truss rod, and a 7.25" radius is preferred but not necessary.

That is just the epitome of "telecaster" to me, but I'm not strict at all on these. I like nearly all the spin-offs that are completely untraditional, but the listed specs are what makes a pure-form telecaster to me.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

I've seen too many tele variations from Fender for years on end to have a definitive telecaster feature except for a single cutaway, slab body and a two pickup combination from the Fender corporation.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

As well as the mentioned aspects, I'll add this oft forgotten one ;

Bridge pickup mounting screws tensioned by metal springs, NOT neoprene rubber.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

The correct answer is - humbuckers

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Re: "True" Tele Requirements

LReese said:
Nothing on that poll. What matters is someone who can play it....
Click to expand...

There was nothing standard about Steve Morse's Tele, yet he managed to get the 'right' sound on all those country tunes with the Dixie Dregs.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

I voted for maple neck, and vintage spec Tele single coils. I almost hit the three barrel bridge too, but not sure the 3 barrels are mandatory. I think the design and material/thickness of the bridge does have quite an influence.
@ crusty philtrum. The spring vs rubber suspension didn't cross my mind. Don't remember what's in my Tele. Will it make much difference or are you just pulling my leg ? :)
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

The people who actually voted for nitro lacquer finish are ****ing joking, right?
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

For me the thing that puts the Tele apart from other guitars is the bridge with single coil mounted on it. That should be the starting point. and yes the scale length. Putting a humbucker or singlecoil sized humbucker in the bridge takes away that tone.
 
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Re: "True" Tele Requirements

Jocelyn said:
Putting a humbucker or singlecoil sized humbucker in the bridge takes away that tone.
Click to expand...

That's my goal. I love the playability and feel of the Tele but I am not big on the Fender tone. Both of my Telecasters and my Strat have humbuckers.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

Johnny-DK said:
@ crusty philtrum. The spring vs rubber suspension didn't cross my mind. Don't remember what's in my Tele. Will it make much difference or are you just pulling my leg ? :)
Click to expand...

No, not kidding at all. The springs will let you get that 'edge of feedback' kind of sensitivity (listen to any Roy Buchanan for great examples of this kind of sound). The neoprene tubing kinda dampens that.

Also some new Tele bridge plates use a couple of extra screws to attach the plate to the body. Again, those extra screws can lose a bit of that classic, on-the-edge kinda Tele response.

You can actually use these things to fine tune a Tele and amp for your purposes ... if you're using higher-output pickups and/ or a lot of gain, you might find the Tele TOO much 'on the edge', in which case neoprene tubing and possibly the extra screws in the bridge plate would probably help. If you're using more traditional pickups and amps and want the wilder sound, use springs instead of rubber and don't use the bridge plates with the extra mounting screws.
 
Re: "True" Tele Requirements

The tele bridge pickup and a maple neck/fretboard really define 'telecaster' in my mind.
 
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