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So a guy I know is trying to buy a tele and is convinced that Hendrix used a tele at some point. (umm really?) (seems out of sorts imo)

I get some materials when I look online, but no pictures or anything I find conclusive.

The guy I am talking to swears to it, but I can't find any hard evidence.
Yes, telecasters are ok but they never really tripped my trigger.

The necks feel odd to me and the tone of the telecaster is very much HIT or MISS. (If they sound reasonable at first, you're pretty well off but if you have to adjust it to get the tone you want, it's usually not that easy.)

I know there are some people in this forum that would know.

So I ask you, "what do you know about it"?

(I told him to buy a 50's RI strat and be done with it, if that's the sound you are going for.)

The Tele is my personal favorite axe right now. It is sort of awkward looking but it has this amazing voice that is unmistakable and most of the ones I have used play brilliantly. I wouldn't buy one because Jimi might have picked one up once. I would/did buy one because of it's exceptional voice and playability. Leo got it right with his firstborn and I think these guys agree:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Telecaster_players

My backup guitar is a Tele Esquire - the one pickup model. It also has a lovely maple neck and is about as easy to play as one could ever ask. Just don't play it quietly - it sucks at low volume unless you're mastering it.

It screams. It screams really well - and it also does country sounding things really well. But that's what it does. I love it - but my main guitar is remains the strat which does many more things really well.

I've owned a number of Teles and while I would hate to be without one - they seem to do a few things really well - then I'd be struggling to get a tone I wanted that isn't there.

If I say 'really well' one more time - I have to buy you all a drink.

Talbot

lol

The tele thing is kind of a mystery to me.

I've played a few more now. The neck is really just wider than I like.
I like 7.25" radius for necks, else it's taking up too much room.

Someone was just telling me that some metal players prefer teles as well.
That raises more questions than it answers to me.

I asked the guy that's interested in the tele, "what sound is it that makes him want a tele?" and he just shrugged.

To me that says he's delusional and really doesn't have any real idea why he wants that guitar.

IMO most musicians buy guitars to get a certain sound that is innate to the guitar that they are buying like a strat or les paul, no?

(I hope that's right cause that's what I told him. "Get something that is going to produce the sound you really gravitate to". Whichever/whatever that might be.)

I am thinking that teles give that special type of sound, but I couldn't identify what sound specifically that would be, so for me personally that would be a red flag.

I am guessing that they are mostly light rock and country-ish?
Other than that, I am clueless.

You find a Tele neck too wide? I don't know about new ones, but my 72 is very narrow. The Fender CD140SCE acoustic/electric I bought last year has the same neck contour/size, which I found great, except I cna;t do the little acoustic finger pull-offs on it like I can on a slightly-wider acoustic neck.

You're right in the fact this guy you mention doesn't know what he wants. I've never seen any pics of Jimi wiht a tele, not to say he might have played one in his pre-fame years.
Go for a guitar by 1) it gets the sound you want 2) 'feels' right when you strap it on 3) looks (in that order).

According to Wiki

In addition to Stratocasters, Hendrix was also photographed playing Fender Jazzmasters, Duosonics, two different Gibson Flying Vs, a Gibson Les Paul, three Gibson SGs, a Gretsch Corvette he used at the 1967 Curtis Knight sessions and miming with a right-strung Fender Jaguar on the Top of the Pops TV show, as well as several other brands.[214] Hendrix borrowed a Fender Telecaster from Noel Redding to record "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze",[215] used a white Gibson SG Custom for his performances on The Dick Cavett Show in the summer of 1969, and the Isle of Wight film shows him playing his second Gibson Flying V. While Jimi had previously owned a Flying V that he had painted with a psychedelic design, the Flying V used at the Isle of Wight was a unique custom left-handed guitar with gold plated hardware, a bound fingerboard and "split-diamond" fret markers that were not found on other 1960s-era Flying Vs.

Here are a few examples of the voice of the Tele. She can cover a lot of ground and stands out in a crowd.

Classic Rock-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhVtNtDRQ9M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BjeF_BvB1o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bv6KfnuepA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SFNW5F8K9Y

Country shred-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeJHnkUKg_M

Old School-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERJ3rre99i0

Heavy-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Iih9gSPlKs

Tele for 'light rock?"

Keith Richards and Roy Buchanan come to mind. Jimmy Page's solo on Stairway to Heaven.

Light rock? Probably not. I don't care for the Tele sound unless it is opened all the way up.

Talbot

Thanks for the links J7. Thank you to all in general for trying to lead me to the water, so to speak.

I have to admit that those urls pose more questions than they answer imo.

I still have to admit that I can't seem to see that unique niche that the tele is supposed to occupy.

I mean, I get the old school blues of it. (I think)
I get the stones part, that was fairly obvious.

The rest of it was fairly eye opening.

I still wouldn't trade my strat in for any tele, past, present or future.

A Tele is not the guitar for everyone but is far more interesting to play than I ever thought. I am sorry I waited 30 yrs to own one and it is now currently my #1 electric while the Corona Strat is #2. Everyone keeps saying "Wow that guitar sounds great" so I guess it suits my style of playing at this point. Who knew?

It's an odd situation.

I played one last night, I absolutely didn't like.
There was an old guy in the store, walking around.
After a bit, he came over and was talking to me.
So I mentioned that I was looking at teles and asked him if he had any advice. He said rather dryly, "either you get it or you don't" and walked away.

After thinking about it for a night, I am guessing that was pretty reasonable advice. Albeit he was curt, but that's ok. I was glad for the little bit of advice he gave me.

Scott

How loud did you play it? Teles have a sort of threshold that once you reach it - it becomes obvious why a lot of folks like them.

Doesn't have to be ear-splitting - Keef uses Fender Twins.

Talbot

I don't play anything very loud unless I own it and even then, I prefer a softer volume level unless I have a specific reason for doing so.

I am very big on the "louder does not equate to better" clause.

And I never blast people in a music store, it's just not my style at all.
Besides most things I can tell about a piece of musical equipment at low volume.

Gee sounds like there's a quality to the tele that I flat out missed.

I'm a Tele fan because it's perfect for the style of music I play. It has a very distinguishable sound so you either love it or you hate it, and I understand when people aren't a fan of it.

The only thing that's bothersome to me about a Telecaster is the treble range can be way too harsh, but if you pair it with the right amp this isn't an issue. They sound annoying as f**k on Marshall amps, for example, because that's a sharp sounding guitar with a sharp sounding amp. But if you get something with a rounder, darker tone to balance it out, like an Orange, then Telecasters can do things that other guitars simply can't.

Even among other single-coil guitars I think the Telecaster has unparalled clarity. You can put a LOT of distortion on it and every single note in every single chord will still come through. You don't have to turn the guitar up very loud for the notes to be distinguished in a full-band setting, they cut right through the mix. It also picks up soft versus loud playing really well if you treat it like a lady.

If you put a lot of detail in your guitar chords then I feel like a Telecaster is a must-have, even if it's not your main guitar. Plus the American Tele is one of the cheapest big-name professional grade guitars on the market.

Randall

Good points. I always suggest Tele as a back up guitar - it does what it does and does it well. In pinch you can carry the show with it - many do.

As a Fender loving man though, I can say that if you can only own one guitar it should be a strat or an LP.

Talbot