Fender Telecaster

Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster

2 x Single Coil

The Telecaster is an electric guitar that has been produced since 1950 by the U.S. company Fender. It is regarded as first produced in mass production solid-body electric guitar. Originally presented in two model lines under the name Esquire and Broadcaster, the latter had to be renamed soon made names for legal reasons Telecaster. The Telecaster has been played for their appearance of many well-known musicians and is now next to the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul a classic among electric guitars.

History

Leo Fender, originally a small radio shop in Fullerton, California possessed, began early on with the construction and repair of musical amplifiers. In the 1940s, Leo Fender started with Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, under the name "K & F Manufacturing Corporation " (K & F as an abbreviation of Kauffman and Fender ) the production of lap steel guitars. As Kauffman only played conventional guitar and Fender stringed instruments not controlled, the two presented in 1943 for testing a primitive electric guitar forth. This was a lap steel, which was equipped with a normal playable guitar neck in the core. The fretboard with the frets was ordered from a catalog and did not quite fit the scale length of the guitar, so the instrument always sounded slightly out of tune, according to eyewitnesses. This instrument should be used by Kauffman for testing new pickups originally, but was also awarded to musicians who gave their guitars at Fender for repair.

In the course of the 1940s came with musicians and producers of instruments on the idea to build guitars with solid body (English: Solid Body ). This should overcome both undesirable the hollow body of the acoustic guitar feedback, and produce a clear electric sound. As early as the 1930s had developed together with the company Rickenbacker electric guitar made of solid bakelite "Doc" Kauffman. This was equipped with an electromechanical vibrato and so heavy that they could be played only mounted on a stand. In 1931, George Beauchamp designed together with Rickenbacker, the first mass produced guitar with electromagnetic pickups, the lap steel model Rickenbacker Frying Pan. The musician Les Paul introduced in 1940 establishes a jokingly " The Log " ( " Chump " ) called electric guitar, sawed apart by an acoustic jazz guitar and a solid block of wood mounted as a new center section. The motorcycle mechanic Paul Bigsby designed in 1948 together with the musician Merle Travis partially solid electric guitar, the Bigsby / Travis guitar that was built by Bigsby on a small scale, and achieved modest success in the subsequent period particularly at Country musicians, California. Leo Fender, who was present as an engineer with many concerts in California, watching these developments closely and borrowed from Travis whose guitar for review from.

Inspired developed by the different ideas and approaches Fender at the end of the 1940s his own guitar. Already at the beginning of the considerations was made for Fender, the guitar had to be easy and cheap to produce. Consequently, traditional electronics and metal parts from the production of Lapsteels, the corpus of the first prototype consisted of a favorable plywood. The maple neck wood was in contrast to the traditional method of construction not glued to the body, but screwed. This design feature of Kauffman took over Fender bakelite guitar, in which the neck was also screwed. Advantage of this design is in addition to the simplified production easy replacement of the neck for repair purposes. Fender went so far that he renounced in the construction of the neck on an inserted steel rod. This Truss Rod prevents conventional necks bending by the string tension and is almost indispensable on guitars with steel strings. However, Fender was of the opinion that guitarists defective and warped necks of the Telecaster would simply replace with a new one. The provisionally white painted prototype was loaned to various musicians to determine their reaction to the new instrument. After initial feedback Fender was preparing for a series production.

The first series production had, in contrast to the prototype frame is made of solid ash wood ( a wood that was easy and cheap to procure in large quantities), an asymmetrical head plate on the machine heads were mounted in a row ( a detail that Fender of the Bigsby / Travis guitar took over. , the invention of this design principle for guitar headstocks is the Austrian luthier Johann Georg Stauffer attributed, who had used it in 1825 in Vienna for the first time. ) and only a bridge pickup from the Lapsteelproduktion. This model was - initially without truss rod - introduced in the summer of 1950 under the name Esquire. After some warped necks already at delivery, the dealer Fender urging them but to provide the instruments with a truss rod. Since the production of the necks was already running, the truss rod could not be used easily by the traditional method. In this construction, the steel rod runs under the fingerboard, which is glued separately on the neck. In the Telecaster the frets were used directly in the neck, which is why they had no separate fingerboard. Therefore devised a method fender, in which the truss rod is inserted through a milling on the back of the neck. The resulting column is later with a dark wood strips sealed ( skunkstripe ).

In the winter of 1950 in addition to the revised Esquire the broadcaster appeared. This had now standard set rod in the neck and had a second pickup at the neck. The name " Broadcaster " was playing on the popular at the time radio broadcasts (broadcast engl. Broadcasting) and should give the guitar a modern image. In fact, the company already had a Gretsch drums with the name " Broadkaster " in the program, which is why Fender already had to withdraw in February 1951 the name. In order not to stop production, Fender chose a pragmatic solution and sold the instrument initially without the model name. But at the decal logos marked " Broadcaster " were cut off with scissors, so that on the headstock " Fender" was to be read only. Collectors refer to this stage guitars today than Nocaster. In allusion to the then new technology of television, the guitar was renamed in the summer of 1951, after thorough research by Fender Telecaster Lawyers in. Under this designation it is being built to this day.

When Leo Fender began with the development of the Stratocaster in 1952, he believed that this new model will completely replace the Telecaster. However, since the Telecaster was particularly popular with country, blues and rock musicians, they still outperformed over the years, the sales of the Stratocaster. For this reason, the Telecaster was at the manufacturer's program and is produced almost unchanged to this day.

Construction

The Telecaster is an electric guitar with a scale length of 648 mm. Your body shape is the outline of conventional acoustic guitar with resonator modeled, but executed in massive solid body construction and therefore much flatter. The body consists of one or more massive parts of wood, with the Telecaster initially only ash was used, since many copies are also manufactured with a body made of alder wood. The neck is made of maple. At the transition from the body to the neck, there is at the bottom of a recess, the so-called cutaway, making a comfortable game is also made possible in the high altitudes.

Passed the first models neck and fingerboard made of one-piece maple ( one-piece Mapleneck ), a rosewood fingerboard has been glued at some later models. Originally, the fingerboard of the Telecaster had 21 frets, which was expanded on later models to 22. Leo Fender chose the woods not primarily by aural aspects, but rather was based already in the prototype phase to the simple industrial production. Ash for the great corpus was cheap and to procure in large quantities, maple for the neck was stable and had proved in the production of bowling pins and baseball bats, that it was with industrial machines easy to edit.

In the original and today's basic version of the Telecaster with two single- coil pickups (English: pickup ) is equipped. The bridge pickup almost unchanged manufactured since the 1940s comes direct from Fender's early Lapsteels and is fastened with three screws on the base plate of the web. The oblique mounting position, the bass units are to be slightly amplified in the sound. The smaller neck pickup is screwed directly into the body wood and has a metal cap to minimize magnetic interference and thus unwanted hum. Be managed on the pickups on a selector switch, a tone and a volume control.

Models

Fender has in its history brought out an almost incomprehensible number of models under the name " Telecaster ", some of which differ greatly from each other in design and equipment. Some are known for their short-lived part only collectors and experts. Ranges that are at least found a certain distribution:

Esquire - entry-level model with a pickup. Presented as the first guitar in 1950 (initially it was also available with two pickups ), the Esquire intermittently is still in the manufacturer's program.
Thin Line - The " Thin Line, " introduced around 1968, has a partially hollowed-out body with f hole and sound chambers. Depending on the model, the "Thin Line" is equipped with either the conventional single-coil pickups or specially developed for this model humbuckers. Especially the latter model was intended as a direct competitor to Gibson ES -335, which also has a partially hollow body.
Custom - Under the name " Custom" Various special models were offered, the potential to exceed the standard Telecaster in the equipment. Was the first in 1959 under the name "Custom Telecaster " model introduced apart from the alder body (as opposed to the standard model of ash) merely visually enhanced ( cream of the body, rosewood fingerboard, partially gilded metal parts, mostly sunburst finish mount), were from 1972 presented different models under the name " Telecaster Custom ", which differed in part considerably from the original model. Among the changes included the facilities with one or two humbuckers, a Gibson Les Paul corresponding electronics, the larger headstock of the Stratocaster, glued necks etc.
Telecoustic - The " Telecoustic " is an acoustic guitar, whose hollow body having the shape of the Telecaster. Although structurally a full acoustic guitar, the " Telecoustic " is very quiet due to the small body and is usually electrically amplified on stage by a piezo pickup.
Nashville Tele - The Telecasters from the " Nashville " series have three single-coil pickups and the electronics of the Stratocaster advanced sound options. The name alludes to the countless native to Nashville recording studios, which mainly produce recordings for country music. Even though the Telecaster is very popular with country guitarists in their original form, the musicians must, depending on client import other sounds in the recording studio. To be on the Telecaster not to forego the " Nashville Tele" was equipped with additional electronics.
B- Bender Tele - The B- Bender Telecaster features inside the body via a connected to the upper strap button mechanism that allowed by the depression of the guitar, the mood of the B string ( engl. b ) one while playing up to whole step to increase. Skilled guitarists can create as Lapsteel similar floating sounds. Pioneers of this technique were Gene Parsons and Clarence White of the group The Byrds, the 1968 Telecaster umrüsteten first time for and known as the Parsons / White B- Bender made .
Telecaster HH - This variant was produced between 2003 and 2007 by Fender USA. She was equipped with two Enforcer humbuckers. In addition, they had a so-called S-1 switch, with the coil - splitting was possible.
Telecaster Bass - The " Telecaster Bass" was an electric bass guitar, which represented constructively a remake of the early models of the Fender Precision Bass. Since we wanted to avoid at Fender to distribute two different instruments under the same name, the new edition of the old bass based on the similarities with the Telecaster was unceremoniously called " Telecaster Bass".

Models of other manufacturers

As the successor model Stratocaster, the Telecaster is also one of the most copied guitar models. The simple construction and simple forms make it easy to manufacturers to produce replicas of the Telecaster. Although Fender tried to prevent this with legal assistance, the Telecaster is still imitated.

While some manufacturers have specialized in manufacturing based on the Telecaster under various names affordable entry tools, others go the way of so-called " customizing". In most cases here is a refinement of the original construction in the foreground, to strip the high-volume image of the instrument. Consequently, in these instruments, great emphasis is placed on the details such as high quality wood selection, complex electronics, glued necks and an elegant appearance. Known manufacturers of these instruments are, inter alia, Sadowsky and Valley Arts. All replicas in common is that they have slight variations in design (eg, larger headstock, slightly modified body shape ). This is to avoid having to face allegations of plagiarism by Fender lawyers.

To counter the flood of copies and imitations, lets Fender since the 1980s by the own subsidiary Squier Telecaster copies of the produce. The produced in Asia products range from affordable beginner instruments to copies of certain instruments from the Fender history. Chance also appear in-house developments that are merely similar to certain Fendermodelle.

Leo Fender founded in 1980 together with George Fullerton G & L Musical Instruments also manufactures Telecaster -style electric guitars. Especially the model " ASAT " has a strongly leaning against the Telecaster shape and construction, but has been further developed in crucial details such as pickups and tailpiece by Fender. The name " ASAT " refers to - quite the tradition obliged to play on new technologies - on a satellite of the then new missile defense system SDI. Fans of Fender interpreted this but as ironic jab at Fender's original 1965 sold to the media group CBS company and read in the name of " ASAT " "after the Strat, after the message " (After the Stratocaster, after the Telecaster ).

The Telecaster in music

From the beginning of production in the 1950s to the Telecaster is very popular with country musicians. On the one hand, the Telecaster ever made electrical amplification possible one of the first full-fledged electric guitar in high volumes. On the other skillful musicians can also imitate Lapsteels or play quick, banjo -like melodies by the bright, thin sound of the guitar. Pioneers of this new technique were country guitarists like Jimmy Bryant or Bill Carson. The latter was jokingly by Leo Fender called "our guinea pigs", as it is often received prototypes of the Telecaster and Stratocaster and has contributed by his suggestions greatly to the development of the guitars. Examples of fast, style similar to the banjo playing style can be found in musicians such as Danny Gatton, Merle Haggard, Albert Lee and James Burton. Luther Perkins, Johnny Cash guitarist and co-founder of the Tennessee Three, coined the Rockabilly by its typical "boom - chicka - boom" Telecaster sound. Even in the dance - oriented single " Livin ' La Vida Loca " by Ricky Martin is listening to a Telecaster, which gives the song a " countryeskes " sound.

The Blues is the Telecaster of musicians like Muddy Waters or the " Master of the Telecaster " Albert Collins played, even though they along with the instruments of Gibson plays a minor role here. The blues rocker Roy Buchanan received because of his strongly influenced by the sound of the Telecaster style of play also, such as Collins, nicknamed " Master of the Telecaster ". In jazz, the Telecaster is used, among others, Mike Stern and Bill Frisell. The three guitarists in the band Hellecasters play mainly on G & L ASAT - and Telecaster. The guitarist Frank Diez, Karl Ratzer, Tom Principato and Dieter Übler devoted to the instrument under the title Telecats I did a complete CD production.

Since the thin, sharp tone of the Telecaster is well suited for heavy distortion, the Telecaster has been popular since the 1960s, even with rock musicians. Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Steve Cropper of Booker T. & the MG's, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo to Richie Sambora, Bruce Springsteen, John Frusciante, Sheryl Crow and Avril Lavigne put the Telecaster in this context.

Although Jimmy Page big fan of the warmer and punchier sounding Gibson Les Paul, he sat in recordings of Led Zeppelin often a Telecasters: The thin sound of the Telecaster could be easier in the studio to record and mix. For example, the guitar solo of the song " Stairway to Heaven " was recorded with a Telecaster. For similar reasons, used Syd Barrett and David Gilmour often Telecasters in recordings and concerts by Pink Floyd: The thin clay sat in the sound of the band despite heavy synthesizers and effects against the other instruments through. The trebly, almost shrill sound of the Telecaster is heard among others in the early play "Astronomy Domine ".

Also in Britpop, the Telecaster has a fixed location, such as plays Jonny Buckland, guitarist of Coldplay, for him to purpose-built " Thinline Telecasters ". Even Danny Jones of McFly has for some years exclusively vintage models of the Telecaster.

Chance appeared on the Telecaster in styles such as punk and heavy metal. El Hefe of NOFX plays Telecasters as well as John 5 Even Joe Strummer of The Clash used this instrument. Peter Koppes of the Australian band The Church used the height- rich, cutting sound of the Telecaster to achieve in conjunction with a Leslie and numerous effects, a "wall of sound ". A stocked with a seven- sentence Telecaster, but type of construction without high E string ( that is, from low B to high h), uses Pro-Pain guitarist Eric Klinger, to play the genre-typical "fat" hardcore sound.

James Root, guitarist for Slipknot and Stone Sour, developed in 2007 in collaboration with his Fender " Telecaster Jim Root Signature ". The guitar is visually leaning against the base model. The flattened toward the cutaway neck heel is not found on the standard model, but was taken over by the Deluxe series. The guitar is missing the typical Telecasterbrücke and the chrome colored border regulator plate also not familiar with the matte pickguard. Instead, find a 3 -way switch to select the pickups and a volume control. The guitar is equipped with two EMG pickups ( EMG 60 in the neck position, EMG 81 in the bridge position ) which makes them technically and tonally very different from the classic Telecaster. The atypical for Fender use of mahogany causes as a body wood, in combination with the pickups that the guitar gets a punchier, fatter sound.

The two guitarists, Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke, of Bloc Party Post-Punk-/Indie-Band rely on the sharp sound of the Telecaster, which underlines the style of their music. In virtually all the pieces is set here to a variety of effects that are superimposed. In conjunction with the Telecaster here gives a quite unique sound. Also the sound of other indie bands is strongly influenced by the sound of the Telecaster.

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