This Strat vs Tele thing…

[RP]

I understand that some (or many) Strat players utilize their tremolo quite well, but I'd suggest that most Strat players do not. I wonder how many players purchase Telecasters because they simply don't want a whammy bar on their electric guitar. Ergo I'll throw my perennial complaint into the discussion. That is, Fender should build more hardtail Strats than just the Robert Cray Strat. I know the argument: Hardtail Strats don't sell as well as those with whammy bars, but how can one really know that since the RC is the only hardtail Strat in the lineup, and you'd be hard pressed to find one hanging in the average Fender shop. A Tele is not merely a Strat without a tremolo bar; they are two very different animals. There, I said it...

[GoPappy]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

. . .

Joe Walsh Funk 49, Tele through a champ, Solo on Hotel California Tele through a Tweed Deluxe

. . . .

Don't forget about Funk 48, which I always liked better than Funk 49 although not nearly as well known.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by RP

I understand that some (or many) Strat players utilize their tremolo quite well, but I'd suggest that most Strat players do not. Ergo I'll throw my perennial complaint into the discussion. That is, Fender should build more hardtail Strats than just the Robert Cray Cray Strat. I know the argument: Hardtail Strats don't sell as well as those with whammy bars, but how can one really know that since the RC is the only hardtail Strat in the lineup, and you'd be hard pressed to find one hanging in the average Fender shop. A Tele is not merely a Strat without a tremolo bar; they are two very different animals. There, I said it...

I know a LOT of strat players who never use the trem bar - I count myself among them. Early on, more than 40 years ago when I first became a strat die-hard, I played around with them but never found a way to use them musically and it didn't take long for me to just stop messing with them. But of the several strats I've owned (or borrowed long enough to know well) since my first one in 1979, only one as been a hardtail. The others I decked. Once I tried blocking one, but it was no different than just decking it, so I took the block out. PRS sells the Silver Sky decked, as John Mayer prefers them, and it's functionally not much different than a hardtail. I've had a Robert Cray hardtail as my only strat and overwhelming #1 electric for about five years and it's a fantastic guitar, but I recently got an American Original, got it home, added a couple strings, decked it, adjusted intonation, left the trem bar in the case, and now it's effectively a hardtail.

I just don't think Fender sees enough of a market for hardtails to make more than the Cray as a regular production model and then the occasional small run of special edition and custom shop hardtails. If they did, they'd make more of them... Even if they made five production hardtails instead of one, there would still be a truckload of trem models out there, one of which I might prefer to any of the hardtail options. I'm loving the American Original - I may sell the Cray at some point. Hardtails are great - I just don't think they make that much difference though.

-Ray

[ataylor]

I’ll add some perspective from a different era than those mentioned… I got into music and guitar as a teenager in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. You just didn’t see many Strats in the alternative and indie scenes, and even when you did, they were often HH pickups or something like that. I feel like more often than not I was seeing Teles, 335/Casino styles, Fender offsets, vintage catalog brands (especially after Jack White got big), and the occasional Les Paul or SG, with a Rickenbacker here or there.

I remember seeing The Strokes’ first music video and being like “whoa, that guy is playing a Strat?” and thinking it was kind of bucking the trend — because it was. I’m guessing Strats still outsold Teles at this time but culturally I would argue they were out of the spotlight for 10–20 years there, even if the sales records at Fender might say otherwise, because I’d argue the musicians defining guitar-driven music weren't driving sales in the same the way the previous generations’ guitar heroes did.

I just got a Stratocaster recently, and did so not because I have an affinity for its place in the music that’s foundational to me (though I admit it’s there in places), but rather because I felt it was a mid-century icon that I wanted to have represented in my small (relative to guitar forums anyway) and slow-growing set of guitars.

[RRuskin]

It's a matter of comfort for me. The Tele fits me better than any other electric guitar. If I wanted the Strat sound, I'd mod a Tele with the Strat electronics package. It might not sound exactly the same but it would be close enough for my purposes.

[Ian111]

Originally Posted by ataylor

I’ll add some perspective from a different era than those mentioned… I got into music and guitar as a teenager in the mid to late 90s and early 2000s. You just didn’t see many Strats in the alternative and indie scenes, and even when you did, they were often HH pickups or something like that. I feel like more often than not I was seeing Teles, 335/Casino styles, Fender offsets, vintage catalog brands (especially after Jack White got big), and the occasional Les Paul or SG, with a Rickenbacker here or there.

I remember seeing The Strokes’ first music video and being like “whoa, that guy is playing a Strat?” and thinking it was kind of bucking the trend — because it was. I’m guessing Strats still outsold Teles at this time but culturally I would argue they were out of the spotlight for 10–20 years there, even if the sales records at Fender might say otherwise, because I’d argue the musicians defining guitar-driven music weren't driving sales in the same the way the previous generations’ guitar heroes did.

I just got a Stratocaster recently, and did so not because I have an affinity for its place in the music that’s foundational to me (though I admit it’s there in places), but rather because I felt it was a mid-century icon that I wanted to have represented in my small (relative to guitar forums anyway) and slow-growing set of guitars.

Bands/guitarists want to forge their own identity. Same goes for a bedroom player. Its a conscious strategy. Guitars like the Strat and Les Paul comes with baggage. Other players and music come to mind. In the late 80’s and 90’s a lot of groups played Jazzmasters or Gibson Jr models because they were cheap and different from what most people were used to seeing. A lot of people dont and still don’t want to be just “another guy with a Strat”.

But what people forget is if you take the Hendrix/Clapton guitar and make unique music with it. That’s just as memorable.

Every guitar is an empty palette. It doesn’t have to be anything. A Tele doesn’t have to be a country guitar.

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by TiffanyGuitar

When I re-discovered teles about 10 years ago, I immediately understood the reason why everyone loves them, although I have not found the Fender made version of it that seems to fit me for some reason. I think one of the light weight roasted pine professional IIs might do it. My strat is one of the roasted pine ones.

I have a few Tele's, and just this week, I am finishing up a poplar partscaster style Esquire (bridge pickup only version for those who don't know). I love the tone of Poplar guitars, and the ridiculous light weight. The poplar bodied Jaguar that I built last year is probably the best Fender guitar that I've ever owned (and I own/owned many).

[Watt]

The strat is about as pretty and well-formed as an electric guitar can get. Pure genius as a design. And yet I have never bonded with one. The telecaster, on the other hand, is just a slab of wood with electronics added. But, if I were limited to just one electric, it would be a tele. The simplicity? The tone? Probably both.

[J Patrick]

…..I first discovered teles right around 1980….. I had one strat in the late sixties but traded it in for an SG at the local pawnshop when I realized I wasn’t gonna be the next Hendrix and thought maybe I could be the next Clapton….wrong again but I stayed a Gibson guy until I found a used tele in a pawnshop in 1980……probably a mid sixties model and I was smitten by it……they were cheap in those days….if it weren’t for country pickers and old blues players Fender would have probably discontinued them……

…...I sold it shortly thereafter cause I needed money and returned to 335’s…I got a 2nd strat in 84 and played it until I sold it in 1998 to buy a Martin OM…..I was electricless for about two years when I was a handed a tele to play at a buddies pre wedding jam session with the guys….smitten again and for over twenty years now I’ve been spanking a plank….

…..I have had a few good strats over that time and a particularly fine 89 MIJ STR 54 became my number one for a year or two….but now it’s just the one hardtail I put together myself and a small herd of premium home brew teles….yep that tele/strat thing indeed…..the only reason I still keep a strat around is because every now and then I just gotta play me some buck tooth funk……I gotta have a strat for that….

[rockabilly69]

Originally Posted by GoPappy

Don't forget about Funk 48, which I always liked better than Funk 49 although not nearly as well known.

[Sadie-f]

First off, my $1300 Fender has unimpressive build quality. My main beef is that its got a mechanical buzz around he that simply doesn't want to go away. Also, the nut was cut too high and the b/e string slots had reverse taper.

So original Fender isn't a favorite, whether tele or strat.

I don't use the tremolo bar of my strat much, and often block the bridge anyway (makes for much faster tuning on string changes).

I think the main tone differences between them come down to the metal surrounding the tele bridge pickup, and perhaps the original pickup choices, however in my world, electrics are built up custom, so that point is entirely moot.

I'm a humbucker girl, and I appreciate single coils too, however the difference in fundamental pickup choices are more telling to me than anything inherent in the body shapes. I always want an instrument that's got great clarity available, this is where my fender failed again which I've improved on using the Lollars on my Warmoth strat. I'm not decided yet in pickups for the soloist I'm slowly building, Lollar DB rail style is the front runner unless I hand wind something.

Next would be body wood choices, it's not as pronounced as the difference between top woods in an acoustic, however the difference between my rosewood/mahogany strat and the maple soloist is quite clear. I've also chosen to go with the simpler neck and bridge pickups for this axe, foregoing the middle in favor of simplicity.

I like the default contouring in a strat, however it's easy now to obtain the same contouring in a tele if you want it.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Sadie-f

I think the main tone differences between them come down to the metal surrounding the tele bridge pickup, and perhaps the original pickup choices, however in my world, electrics are built up custom, so that point is entirely moot.

Well, all details matter, but I think the biggest differences are between the bridge pickups (the tele bridge is waaaay hotter), neck pickups (strat neck is a really unique sound), but mostly the strat having a middle pickup. The 2 and 4 positions on a strat sound unlike anything else I've ever heard from an electric guitar and they're the primary reason I'm a strat guy. Some people don't like them at all and put 3 way switches back in their strats to avoid them. But a lot of us simply love them. I'm one of those guys who was playing strats before 5 way switches were around (or at least common) and I used to use Jimi Hendrix's trick of taking the spring out of the switch and I'd sometimes wedge a little piece of toothpick or something in there, so the switch would stay put in the 2 or 4. I love those sounds and have never been able to get them anywhere else, even on a Nashville tele with three pickups...

-Ray

[pieterh]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Why does it always have to be "this or that?" I need both.

Bob

What Bob said!

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

Or Funk #50...



Bob

[Rolph]

Originally Posted by Ian111

Compare that list to heavy weight guitar heroes like Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, Gilmour, Blackmore, SRV, Knopfler, Malmsteen, Frusciante who made the Strat their eventual weapon of choice. I can also take Andy Summers and Pete Townsend from that list over to Strats because thats what they play now. Not to mention all the Super Strats that dominated the 80’s. Then you’re left with a list that aren’t really known for their influence on guitar culture compared to the virtuousos on my list.

The only other guitar that can boast equally big guitar heroes is the Les Paul. Just because the Tele is popular now with gigging musicians and bedroom player now won’t change history. I agree the Tele was unfairly snubbed for a long time. But I’m not about to say Beck Clapton and Page were wrong to ditch their Tele’s and that’s all the guitar they needed.

The Tele has always been popular. Someone you quoted, (J. Page) played one in the Yardbirds and in Led Zeppelin. He played on on many popular British hits that rocked the '60's. And that doesn't include the hundreds of great Country players all over the world. For me, the Tele is the foundational sound of Rock and Roll. And you do need both.