Telecaster or Stratocaster?

[Steel and wood]

I own both and love each equally. (Stratocaster is more versatile but my Telecaster is the one I mostly reach for).

[raysachs]

Strat. I like teles too, but when I’ve had both, I play the strat 99% of them time and I only reach for the tele on the rare occasion out of guilt or obligation - I own it, I GOTTA play it. But organically, I always reach for the strat. So a strat has mostly been my only electric. The only other sound I miss when I don’t have it is a solid body with P90s, so I keep an SG with P90s around and I probably reach for it one ot two times out of ten. But it’s an organic 10-20%, not a sense of guilt or obligation, like the tele always was. But I’m fundamentally a lifetime strat player.

-Ray

[Howard Emerson]

Life is too short to deny ones needs:



Regards,
Howard Emerson
https://www.howardemerson.com/albums/the-rhytalin-kid

[blews]

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

I have both, but I prefer the tele. I like the simplicity.

Yup.....couldn’t agree more...

[Texsunburst59]

For me the answer is both.

I have quite a few Fender Teles and Strats.

I also have quite a few PRS , Gibson LP's and 335's.

The answer is NEVER EVER one or the other.

There's no reason to limit yourself to one style or model of guitar.

The more varied style of guitars you have in your collection the better.

It's always nice to have a variety of tonal options at your disposal.

[Dru Edwards]

AE, great thread. I have a few Strats but no Teles (shame on me). I guess that means I prefer Strats. I hot rodded a couple of them for hard rock/metal.

[Bob Womack]

Both. They are different beasts. The Strat has the 2 and 4 positions and the wobbly tailpiece, all providing their own benefits. The Tele doesn't have the wobbly tailpiece so people who bend a lot won't have to struggle with it - it just feels like a more more rigid and stout system. IMHO, the Tele is a creature of nuance that begs you to back off both volume and tone controls but gives you wonderful tones in return.

Bob

[RP]

I don't play a lot of electric guitar but wanted to have an inexpensive Fender for those times that I wanted to rock. I opted to purchase a relatively inexpensive Strat and Tele whose sale wouldn't move the needle enough to make a difference. I too enjoy the Tele's simplicity and found that in the Robert Cray Strat which I believe is Fender's lone hardtail...

[FrankHudson]

For several decades my answer would have been quick and sure: Telecaster.

My answer now would be long and complicated, but if forced to make a theoretical one of the other choice, it'd still be a Tele. And the market now has multitudes of designs with various features that still get recognized as a Strat or a Tele, even though they don't duplicate the original models or their classic vintage specs that usually came a few years after introduction. I'll speak below as if a mid 50s Tele or mid 60s Strat design was the thing being discussed.

IMHO, the Telecaster is more versatile. The fixed bridge is a blessing for alt. tunings and certain kinds of left hand vibrato. The neck pickup has a distinct woody tone when played clean (I've often watched Bill Frisell play a whole set on just the neck pickup), the bridge pickup position has more sock and beef in my favorite examples than a classic Strat, and even those examples that seem overly bright respond to the most useful tone control in any classic design. The two pickup position is hum-cancelling and picks up a lot of string vibration range without the (yes, yes, this is a plus/minus!) the distinctive Strat two pickup position quack. Add more gain, and the the bright snarl of the bridge pickup helps it cut through a mix or band stage, and the two pickup position is somewhat humbucker-like. The Strat comfort curves are not a big thing to me, I'm convex enough they don't actually fit, and the Tele is not like playing a jumbo-sized archtop or something in regards to wanting for a forearm contour. I often play seated and the Tele is comfy for hours when I do that.

Now of course every one of those things is addressed and changed with many a setup trick, mod, or special models. I play a classic design Strat (albeit a reverse Strat with the bridge pickup going the other way) with pleasure. I have a trio of three pickup Teles, two with neck humbuckers. I have a dual humbucker Strat. I've decked and blocked trems and used a Tremsetter on Strats. I play a Bigsby Tele. Variety is fun. No reason to choose "or" over "and."

[AmericanEagle]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

AE, great thread. I have a few Strats but no Teles (shame on me)..

Thanks!
For me, I prefer a Tele.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by AmericanEagle

Thanks!
For me, I prefer a Tele.

One day I'll get a Tele ... but not today .

[blue]

There is a pretty good argument for the fact that a classically wired tele is more versatile. It has three distinct sounds, while despite 3 pickups and 5 positions, the strat offers variations on 2 sounds. I own both types so I'm not in one camp only. If you go into different wiring options, it can change the discussion.

When you want position 2 or 4 (one of the two "sound variations" a strat makes) on a strat, you need a strat. But if you want three distinct sounds, and are only going to have one guitar, perhaps a tele?

No right answer. I tend to play T-types the most. From Fender and G&L. I happen to prefer my G&L USA ASAT Bluesboy (with neck humbucker) the most, followed by an ASAT Classic, with my Esquire with a cockedwah mod, a much loved and strong third place.

[Shuksan]

Originally Posted by Neal Pert

Sounds like a Fender Deluxe Nashville if I'm reading you right. It's the only electric on my wish list right now.

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electr...147502301.html

I used to have a Deluxe Nashville Tele. I ended up selling it because it did less than my Strat (no trem bridge) and it was missing the classic neck + bridge pickup combination that's so important on a Tele (IMO). The Tele I still have is a Baja Tele which has a 4-way switch with S1 switching. So it has the three standard Tele pickup combos plus both pickups in series and both pickups out of phase (in series or in parallel). A great guitar that's distinctly different from my Strat.

[stephenT]

tele. you don't need a strat if you have one of these.

[Rwpierce]

Love them both. But If the house is burning down the blue strat is going with me.IMG_0246.jpg