Fender American Telecaster and Stratocaster Review - Best of Old and New

By R. S. Rasnick

Fender's American Stratocaster and Telecaster remain the best-selling musical instruments in the company's line, which is saying something, given the rich history this company has had over the past decades. Though Leo Fender is long gone, the newest American-made instruments that bear his name are a substantial testimonial to his guitar-building legacy. The present-day crop of instruments combines the best of the of the new and the old.

Never ones to rest on the past, Fender has actively interviewed a wide variety of players to see how Fender could build even better musical instruments. Leo Fender would indeed be proud, since he was perpetually concerned with the requirements of real working musicians as he built his products.

Fender sagely chose to retain the ingredients of their instruments that plainly didn't need changing. Let's use the Stratocaster as our first example. Still present are the Micro-Tilt neck, two point vibrato (honestly, a vast improvement over vintage designs), the four-bolt neck, 22 fret necks, 9.5" fretboard radius, and DeltaTone circuit. So, if these elements are still present, how is the time-honored Stratocaster new?

One of the best new features is a thinner paint undercoat, which actually results in clearer tone since the wood can breathe a bit more. The neck is better as well, with a satin finish on the back, giving it a much smoother feel. The neck front, by contrast, has a gloss finish, giving the instrument a really professional look.

They also wisely resolved to refine the bridge design, incorporating beloved elements from vintage-style tremolo bridges. It has a higher mass design, which results in much improved sustain.

The recent design also includes vintage-style bent steel saddles, which aid in capturing the classic vintage Strat tone. From Buddy Holly to Jimi Hendrix, it's all here.

While the stock Fender bridge doesn't supply the same level of tuning security that a locking system does, for all but the most outrageous whammying the Fender system is amazingly stable.

Likewise, the Telecaster experienced superb upgrades as well, including a redesigned bridge. The Tele includes a brass plate that, when coupled with the steel saddles, provides obvious Telecaster twang!

Both guitars include a world-class TSA lock-equipped SKB case that makes airport travel a picnic, and the case is very well-designed and could take quite a punch, we bet.

With street prices under $1,200, the Fender American Standard series is a fine choice for those searching for the merger of old and new.

If you are looking for the best prices on a new or used Fender American Telecaster or Fender American Stratocaster, then there's only one guitar shop you need to visit. Ray's Guitar Shop has the best prices on all new and used instruments on the Internet, including all Fender Musical Instruments.

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The Fender Telecaster Guitar Story

The Fender Telecaster Guitar Story
By Gareth Owen

Popularly known as Tele, this variety of electric guitar is known worldwide for its efficient design and ground breaking sound, which has made it a very popular choice among musicians. The sale of Fender Telecaster can be traced back to the era of 1950 when the single and dual pickup Esquire models were being commercially produced. This is what makes Fender Telecaster one of the world’s highest ranking solid body electric guitar.

The first form of Fender Telecaster was known as the Esquire and there were about fifty guitars that were produced originally. In about 1950, Esquire, which was a one-pickup model was replaced with a two-pickup model and was named Broadcaster. There was a legal threat from a company known as Gretsch, which was already producing guitars and drums and said that Broadcaster was violating its trademark Broadkaster, which was the trademark of its drums. Therefore, Fender changed the name from Broadcaster to Telecaster.

The design of Fender Telecaster was very simple and it was made in such a way that servicing the guitar or repairing the broken ones was made very easy. The guitars were produced on a large scale in an assembly line and were not made as an individual piece. The bodies of the guitars were band-sawed and the necks of the guitars were bolt-on because of making the repair and service really easy. There was a removable control plate, which could be removed easily and the electronics could be accessed with great ease. This feature gave it a hook and gained attention of a lot of musicians because in the standard make of guitars one had to take the strings off and then remove the pickguard to get to electronics.

The classic form of Fender Telecaster was a very simple framework, which had a neck and fingerboard including a single piece of maple, which was bolted to an ash or alder body with both sides flat, the front and back. The hardware included the two single coil pickups, which were controlled by a three-way selector switch with volume and tone controls. Earlier, the pickguard was made of bakelite, which was later made with plastic and was fixed on the body with five screws at first but later on with eight screws. The bridge had three saddles, which were adjustable with the strings doubled up on each. This became a thrilling addition in the world if guitars and soon different companies followed its lead.

The modern Telecaster is a lot different from the standard. They have 22 frets rather than 21 and at the headstock is present the truss rod adjustment rather than the body end. It has a six saddle bridge that allows the adjustment for length and height for individual string. It has a plain flat plate and the bridge cover has been discontinued for most models. The wiring of the modern Fender Telecaster is also different from the classic one, which is a 3-way toggle switch, which selects neck pickup in the first position, neck and bridge pickups together in the second position and in the third position is the bridge pickup. The volume control for all pickups is in the first knob and the second knob controls the tone for all pickups. The Fender Telecaster is made up of a solid body, which allows it to give a clean and crisp sound quality, which resulted in other leading companies to follow the trend.

With this magnificent equipment a lot of new genres have evolved such as country, electric blues, rock and roll and it is because of its solid construction that lets the guitar to be played as a lead instrument with a long sustain as an awesome effect. One of the musicians that have made Telecaster their signature include Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard, Danny Gatton, Roy Buchanan, Albert Collins who played the blues with the Telecaster, Muddy Waters as well as a long list of musicians who when played the guitar just touched the hearts of millions.

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