The venerated Fender Telecaster just celebrated its 60th birthday last year. It’s never had quite the same level of cachet as the Stratocaster, which came out a few years later, or the Gibson Les Paul, images of which are ensconced in the minds of would-be guitar heroes everywhere, in part because of some of the iconic players of those instruments. Yet the Tele endures. Its overwhelming simplicity may be the key to its success. The Tele works for anything and everything. It doesn’t look flashy, lacking the sexy curves of the Les Paul and Strat, or the crazed futuristic designs of many modern metal masters. However, whether you are playing Nashville country pop, are an aspiring indie rocker, want to play metal, or jam for hours on end, the Tele can do it all. Tele players know that the instrument sometimes seems to fight you, but if you devote yourself to mastering it, the Tele will reward you. The Tele doesn’t let you hide; it’s a very revealing instrument, and perhaps that is what Tele devotees like best about. Those two simple pickups, that metallic bridge plate, seem to reveal the soul of the player more than any other electric guitar.

Perhaps the ultimate endorsement of the Tele is this: When iconic Les Paul player Jimmy Page needed to record a guitar solo for his epic “Stairway to Heaven” he put down the LP and reached for his trusty old Tele to get those screaming bent notes. Susan Tedeschi bought a Tele in a local music store in the early ‛90s that she still plays today, one that bears the signatures of many guitar masters.

I bought my first Tele at the age of 17 in Sam Ash Music in White Plains, N.Y. It wasn’t a Fender, just a POS copy with paint that made it look vaguely like Clapton’s famous “Blackie” Strat. Something about that guitar grabbed me, though, and I bought it. Over the years, I’ve upgraded the pickups to Fender NOS, had the neck sanded and shaped, and replaced the switches. I’ve also added two other Fender Teles to my arsenal, one a Fender 60th Anniversary with the diamond on the headstock, and one a Telebration 60th anniversary. I’ve occasionally been tempted by other electrics, like the Strat and the PRS Hollowbody II, but every time I try them in a store, something is missing, something that can only be found when I return to the simplicity of the Tele. The Tele just feels right.

Candace is a writer, photographer and musician from Colorado. Look for her article on Susan Tedeschi in Fretboard Journal number 25.

http://candacehorgan.net, follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CandaceHorgan

Her band: blackpostcardsmusic.com