why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

[Benjy_26]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

benjy why you do you specifically mention thinlines?

I feel that my 69 Thinline RI (Hot Tele set) can do more things better than my solid body ash tele (SM-1n, JD Lead). There is more complexity to the mids and highs, while still keeping most of the punch of the solid.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

I don't know that Teles are inherantly more versatile than a Strat, but it does seem that the players themselves who play Teles are more versatile musicians. Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, Roy Buchanan, Seymour...all these guys can/could play rock, jazz, country, blues, pop, etc. and do it with a level of virtuosity and authenticity that most players lack.

I think players who play Teles tend to be players who know how to shape thier tone with thier hands to a greater degree than most players...and that quality allows them to cover alot of ground.

Lew

Good point, Lew.

I think teles are an instrument some players gravitate to when they really want to get to the very basics of what they can do. Sort of eliminate all unnecessary factors. What happens when you do this is you tend to find that your hands alone are far more expressive and dynamic than you thought they were. you can then translate that to any instrument, but there's nothing like a tele for really getting to the bottom of what your hands 'sound' like.

As for teles not being especially suitable for funk, that's just not the case. Some of the finest funk, soul and R&B was performed on teles by players like Leo Nocentelli, Steve Cropper and Cornell Dupree.

 

[MVI]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

I think once someone is at the point where they can span across that many genres and are really good at each of them, they can do it on just about any guitar!


This is what I was trying to get at earlier, I just didn't articulate it so well.
If you love your Tele, you don't have to go around explaining why, or what it might be able to do for someone else.

The Darwin, Nietzche, and God things came out of signatures. I'd much rather stick to Tele's if we could gentlemen.

 

[Farkus]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

Teles are great guitars, stock or not.

Funny story...one night I was tracking a new song with a bandmate. Just as a joke (cause we played hard rock, heheheh), I pulled out my uncle's '72 Tele and plugged it into his '68 bandmaster reverb with some el cheapo DOD distortion box in front of the amp. Sad thing is, when we were listening back to the tracks, that Tele tone blew away our shiny locking trem guitars, which just didn't have the same...punch...as the Tele. This Tele was stock too. Even through the higher gain amps, the Tele was just so responsive. That's when I started playing Fenders about 99% of the time.

Mark

 

[gripweed]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

You make a good point, and Lew does as well with pointing out the large differences between country, rock, jazz, etc. I'll definitely give over to the notion that a tele is more than just a "country guitar." I'd also be willing to bet that a Soloist can be a lot more than just a "metal guitar" in the right hands as well.

So... like some smart folks here have already said, it depends largely on who's playing the d*mn thing.

I would like to point out that John 5 isn't using a stock tele - if I'm not terribly mistaken he has a humbucker in there, and that pretty much means he doesn't count! You can stick splittable humbuckers, 5-way switching, and a varitone on just about anything and make it versatile. I think the general sentiment on teles (among tele players) is that they are versatile even in their simple, stock form.

Either way, it's a classic guitar that we as the guitar playing community owe just about everything to.

I agree with you on just about all of that. But :laugh2: --- John5 has a great collection of Teles other than his sig model! There was a great article in Vintage Guitar where he talked about his love of Teles.

 

[sosomething]

Re: why do people say telecasters are so versatile?

I agree with you on just about all of that. But :laugh2: --- John5 has a great collection of Teles other than his sig model! There was a great article in Vintage Guitar where he talked about his love of Teles.

Do you have a link to that article? VG is hard to find around here.