My Fender Telecaster Collection: Why I Keep Coming Back

My path to guitar actually started with a Les Paul style guitar, given my interest was on a Gibson Les Paul I couldn’t afford at the time. All the while, the Fender Telecaster was pulling at me almost from the beginning.

I bought my first Telecaster well before I ever owned a Strat, and over the years it grew from a single cheap import into a small collection of instruments I genuinely love. This is the story of how I got here and why the Telecaster keeps earning its spot no matter what else is on the wall.

It Started Before the Strat

Even though my initial draw to the guitar came from a Gibson, I was always fascinated by the Telecaster. I got to one before I ever bought a Stratocaster. My first was a black made in Mexico Telecaster from around 2004, and to be honest it was not very good. I tried to make it my own by modifying it, including dropping a narrow humbucking pickup (Hot Rails or something) into the bridge position, mostly because my main goal at the time was playing punk rock. It was not the guitar that made me a Telecaster believer, but it planted the seed.

A Few Facts About the Fender Telecaster

For a little context to go with the infographic, the Telecaster holds a real place in history as the first solid body electric guitar to be mass produced and widely adopted by working musicians. Leo Fender and George Fullerton developed it in Southern California, and it reached full production in late 1950. It did not arrive with the Telecaster name attached, though. The two pickup model was first called the Broadcaster, but Gretsch already sold a drum kit under the similar Broadkaster name and sent a cease and desist to Fender. For a brief window Fender shipped guitars with no model name on the headstock at all, instruments collectors now affectionately call Nocasters, before the Telecaster name was settled on in 1951 to ride the rising wave of television.

The design was radical in its simplicity and it has barely needed to change. A bolt on neck, a flat slab body, two single coil pickups, and a three position selector switch gave players a bright, cutting voice that recorded beautifully and cut through any band. That straightforward formula is exactly why the Telecaster has shown up on so many records across country, rock, blues, pop, soul, and just about everything else for more than seventy years.

Some bold players in heavy genres like punk and metal are well known for playing Teles. Guys like El Hefe from NOFX and John 5 – Though I believe both these guys put humbuckers in them, or in the case of John 5, a full size humbucker.

From One Telecaster to a Collection

I eventually sold that first one and moved through a bunch of other guitars, including some Strats. At some point I bought an American Telecaster, and that is really where the collecting started. I ended up with a couple of American Professional II Telecasters, which are honestly my favorites of the bunch. One of them is in that stunning Dark Knight color. Before that one I had picked up an American Professional II in Butterscotch Blonde with a maple fretboard, which is about as classic a Telecaster look as it gets.

From there I got curious about the American Ultra series, the first version with the binding running around the body, and I landed on a Mocha Burst that I really like. Eventually a Texas Tea joined the family too. Those Ultra guitars do not sound vintage, and that is fine by me, because they are incredibly versatile. Some players are not fans of the noiseless pickups, but even without that old school voice I think they are great. And since I already have the American Professional II models, which still feel modern but lean more traditional in their Telecaster tone, I feel very well covered across the range.

I do have to add the Telecaster Deluxe. One of my favorites when I need more weight for distortion is the Chris Shiflett Telecaster Deluxe. I love the jumbo frets on that, as well as the flatter fretboard 12-inch radius. I full modded that one though. And lastly, I’m busy building a high end partscaster Tele Deluxe using an MIA mahogany crimson red body and a full rosewood Warmoth Tele Deluxe large 70s headstock neck with stainless steel frets.

Why I Still Reach for a Strat Sometimes

Here is the thing. I think a lot of guitarists who play Telecasters are hardcore Telecaster people who almost always play that and nothing else. Then there is a guy like me who jumps between Teles, Strats, and others. I find that for certain sounds I can only get there with a Stratocaster, especially in those in between positions where you blend the neck and middle or the middle and bridge pickups. That sound is just plain funky, and nothing else quite nails it.

That said, when I want more simplicity and a punchy bridge position, I always gravitate back to a Telecaster. A big part of that is honest preference, because I am not a fan of the single coil bridge pickup on a Strat. The Telecaster bridge just hits the way I want it to.

Conclusion

To wrap this up, I think the main reasons I love the Telecaster so much are basically the same reasons everyone who loves this guitar loves it too. They are simple and well balanced, they stay in tune, and they do not bury you in complicated controls. You get a punchy bridge pickup paired with an awesome and very warm neck pickup, and the whole package turns out to be remarkably versatile across just about any kind of music. My first cheap import did not convince me, but everything since has. The Telecaster is not going anywhere in my collection.

Sources for the facts: Fender Telecaster (Wikipedia), Guitar World: The Telecaster at 75, True Vintage Guitar: Broadcaster 1950–1951.