If Hendrix had played a Telecaster

Three-ColourSunburst

Hi folks,

Been lurking for a while but this is my first post!

Despite being old, I'm pretty new to this guitar-playing thing, and there is a lot I see and read that leaves me scratching my head.

One is the way that what is seen as being a suitable guitar for a rock guitarist seems, to a large degree, to depend on what a few very influential players used back in the 60's and 70's - i.e. the Les Paul and the Stratocaster. I can see how the sound these players made with these instruments when fed into certain classic amps came define what rock music 'should' sound like, but given that the shape of a guitar is pretty much irrelevant to how it sounds, how come it is specifically the LP and Strat' that seem to have become the iconic 'rock guitars'? For example, relatively few rock guitarists are associated with the Telecaster, despite the fact that it a very versatile instrument and can give sounds that are somewhere between those of both a LP and a Strat..

I know Page used a Tele' for the early Zeppelin stuff, and some other players have favoured them, so the instrument is obviously 'fit for purpose', but the classic image of a rock guitarist generally seems to involve a LP or a Strat'. Is this because those instruments portray the right image? Is it because players feel that can somehow channel the spirit of Page, Kossoff, Hendrix et al. if they play the same instrument? Is is because players fear being mistaken for someone who might play 'country', or something else? If Hendrix or Kossoff had played a Telecaster, would a Tele' probably now carry the same aura as the Strat' and LP do today?

Ravenous

I believe Jimi had a Tele neck at one point. (May have broken a Strat neck and fitted a substitute.)

I think the Strat became more popular than the Tele simply because it had more pickups and vibrato, so was seen as the top of that maker's range. (Hank Marvin has told the story many times that he chose the Strat for that reason.)

StuartMac290

Purple Haze is a tele. There's a book about the search for the actual guitar used. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Three-ColourSunburst said:

I know Page used a Tele' for the early Zeppelin stuff, and some other players have favoured them, so the instrument is obviously 'fit for purpose', but the classic image of a rock guitarist generally seems to involve a LP or a Strat'. Is this because those instruments portray the right image? 

Well I can think of a few classic images of rock stars that don't conform to the strat/LP stereotype, Bruce Springsteen's zillion selling Born To Run and Born in the USA album covers for a kick off. 

fields5069

Isn't Hey Joe on a Tele as well?

guitars4you

Quo - Kinks - Who - the Rolling Stones - Rory Gallagher a regular user on bottle neck - J Beck with the Yardbirds - Blur - Wilko Johnson- just a few big Tele players for starters - let alone the USA country market  - James Burton - Albert Collins - Steve Cropper - Mick Campbell (Tom Petty) and shall we add George on the famous roof top gig with The Beatles

fields5069

Chuck Prophet.

rossi

Me

rico

Bridgehouse

Hendrix didn't play a tele because @professorben told him they were shite..

DanR

Bridgehouse said:

Hendrix didn't play a tele because @professorben told him they were shite..

There's nothing better than a nice Tele.

scrumhalf

StuartMac290 said:

Purple Haze is a tele. There's a book about the search for the actual guitar used. 

I read it recently. I wouldn't recommend it.

Three-ColourSunburst

Thanks for the replies. Yes, lots of guitar players in rock bands have played Teles, as have many of those more strongly associated with the Strat and LP, but I still see the like of Springsteen, Keith Richards and Rick Parfitt as being somehow different to the iconic 'guitar heroes' such as Page, Hendrix and Kossoff.

Good point about the importance of the Strat having a trem, but there still doesn't seem to be the same sort of cult surrounding the Tele as there is surrounding the Strat - and even more so the Les Paul. I can't help that this is more of an image and 'accident of history' thing than the ability of a Tele (or many other guitars) to make the 'right' sound.

Ravenous

Rock and roll being dependent on image? Surely not

chrisj1602

I'm not really sure there is a point to be made here. It's common knowledge that the Strat outsells the Tele. We all know how Les Pauls became popular when players like Clapton, Page etc started playing the 50s bursts. But Teles have been in production ever since they were released and have plenty of famous players.

axisus

scrumhalf said:

StuartMac290 said:

Purple Haze is a tele. There's a book about the search for the actual guitar used. 

I read it recently. I wouldn't recommend it.

Is it behind the sofa? Nope. Is it under the bed? Nope. Is it in the airing cupboard? Nope. Is it in the closet? Nope. Is it behind the tv? Nope. Ok, that's 22 Clarendon rd done, onto 23 Clarendon rd .....

HAL9000

Three-ColourSunburst said:

 ...Keith Richards ... somehow different to the iconic 'guitar heroes' such as Page, Hendrix and Kossoff.

No-one 'out iconics' Keef

professorben

Right as far as I understand you have to go back to the birth of Rock N Roll. 

England during the late 50's and early 60's had very little choice in guitars, a lot of knock offs of things but very few 'real' US guitars due to trade restrictions post war. 

One defining record was Buddy Holly and the Crickets, which featured a Strat on the cover, the Telecaster was being played by a lot of country pickers at the time and so got stuck with that label.

It wasn't until later into the 60's when Clapton and his peers discovered the power of the, at that point, deeply unfashionable Les Paul humbucker into a cranked Marshall, remember at this stage Gibson had discontinued the Les Paul as we know it and re launched it as the SG.

Thus the thick biting snarl of the Paul was lusted after, right up until the mid 70's when Clapton ( that bloke again) brought a job lot of late  50's Fender Strat parts whilst on tour in the US, then assembled them at home and gifted them to his mates (G Harrison was one)

Then as Eric reinvented himself as Derek and the rest is history. 

Jimi played a LOT of guitars, as pictures pre-fame show, he happened to use a Strat when he got big, maybe cos of the Trem, maybe cos of the better access compared to a flipped LP. 

But he was championing the cause of the Strat for a couple of years, influencing Blackmore who begat Malmsteen who begat a thousand copyists until their number was beyond reckoning and they dominated the earth and the 80's

Till a bloke in a top hat used a LP copy to record one of the biggest albums of the decade. 

Im sure a lot of players used a Tele but none that graced walls on iconic posters like Hendrix, Blackmore, Slash etc. 


Plus Telecasters smell faintly of wee. 


True. 

HAL9000

professorben said:

Plus Telecasters smell faintly of wee. 

...and sweat, cigarettes, and cheap whisky. All part of the charm.

guitars4you

professorben said:

Right as far as I understand you have to go back to the birth of Rock N Roll. 

England during the late 50's and early 60's had very little choice in guitars, a lot of knock offs of things but very few 'real' US guitars due to trade restrictions post war. 

One defining record was Buddy Holly and the Crickets, which featured a Strat on the cover, the Telecaster was being played by a lot of country pickers at the time and so got stuck with that label.

the story goes that Hank liked the guitar sound of James Burton and wanted a similar guitar/sound - not having seen any pics of him playing, he believed he was playing a Strat so that is why Hank choose a Strat

Three-ColourSunburst

I think the central point here is that, rationally, guitarists shouldn't care less about what they play, above and beyond having the sort of pickups, wiring and hardware that is most compatible with the sound they wish to create. Given that one's sound is determined by ones own skill; then the amp / pedals used; then the pickups feeding into that amp and the associated electronics; then to a more minor degree the picks used and the strings and other hardware fitted to the guitar, all else is pretty much an irrelevance, other than in relation to the 'image' one is trying to present.

Just look at some of the videos Darrell Braun has done - a LP versus a Tele Deluxe, 335 versus a LP, an Ibanez RG versus a Strat and so on - the differences in sound are tiny, and certainly much smaller than differences generated by the amp one uses, picking technique and so on, especially once an amp is being over driven.  Another good one is the video where Henning Pauly (eytschpi42) puts a Harley Benton up against a PRS and gets exactly the same tone. Here's another.



Beyond this, the cult of the '59 Les Paul, or the Clapton's black Strat and so on very much look like examples of the continued modern day belief in magic ( or 'mojo' as musiciams prefer to call it ). This is exactly the same belief in magic that manufacturers exploit when talk about 'tone woods', or the tonal benefits of using horse glue and old fashioned car paint whilst adding another 5 grand to the price! It is also the same sort of belief in mojo that affects many other domains as well, including the classical music world, where it has been shown that despite their reputation, even experts and top-line players cant tell the sound of a Strad' from that of a modern instrument!

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/million-dollar-strads-fall-modern-violins-blind-sound-check