The Fender Telecaster has its origins in 1949 California where its maker was the first to design and construct a solid body guitar and it began a revolution in the guitar industry which continues to flourish to this day. The maker in question was Leo Fender and he changed the way people felt about music and guitars.
Within the confines of his electronic repair shop, Fender began studied the finer details of amplifiers and electromagnetic pickups and he decided to create a guitar that could conform to what the artists and musicians of his time were looking for. They had already begun to dabble in amplifying their acoustic sound and making their music audible to a larger audience but it was Fender who took the final step and changed rock n roll history forever.
During that time, many people had tried and failed to construct a solid body guitar that would have a different sound altogether and could be played with more versatility and ease but none could get as far as Leo Fender and what would eventually become the Fender Telecaster.
He created the first prototype of a solid body guitar which would resemble the later Fender Telecaster and this model was soon borrowed out to musicians in his area as it was the closest they could find to the type of instrument they needed to play their kind of music. This was his first step to creating one of the greatest instruments the world has ever known and the rest was fine tuning on the road to becoming an icon to musicians the world over.
The company began producing the guitars at a very quick rate, competing with their rivals Gibson, they used a variety of techniques that would allow them to mass produce their guitars and have them sold all over the country. Instead of glueing the necks onto the guitars, Fender would bolt them on to save time and increase the quantity of the product. This also gave people the advantage of simply removing the neck when the guitar needed repairs.
Another advantage of this is that the electronics could be repaired easily whereas in the past they could only be accessed through the soundholes or by removing the pick guard and the strings to gain access and this made repairs more difficult and increased the chances of damage to the guitar.
Over time the body of the guitar changed shape to suit the time and the tastes of their
Fender Telecaster Thinline
fans. They evolved as any successful company does and this is one of the reasons that they carved a name for themselves into the hearts and minds of young musicians everywhere.
These days, a Fender Telecaster is constructed with 22 frets and the truss rod adjustment is situated at the headstock end whereas before it used to be situated near the body. It has a 6 saddle bridge with which you can adjust the strings individually easily. The knobs on the guitar each affect a certain volume with the first one adjusting the master volume and the second affects all of the pickups.
Blues, country, electric funk and rock and roll have all, in some way or another, been influenced by this masterpiece. The guitars have affected the sounds of these genres because of the unique sound that they produce. With the Fender Telecaster, musicians could play louder to a wider audience and sustain a sound longer than they could have otherwise.
The unique that the Fender produces allows these musicians to play the kind of music that they do. it allows them the freedom to perform at their best and allows the sound that they want to produce to be formed simply by using this particular instrument.
Musicians of these genres owe their popularity to this guitar because the music just would not be the same without it. It moulded the type of music young people around the world would come to worship and turned ordinary guitar players into rock n roll gods.
Over the years these guitars have been the guitar of choice for many lead guitarists in a range of popular bands. Eric Clapton and George Harrison are only two of the big names that have been associated with the Fender Telecaster during some point in their careers. George Harrison even made use of a Fender Telecaster during the recording of one of the Beatles albums.
Led Zepelin used the Fender Telecaster for one of their lead solos on an album that contained Stairway To Heaven, cementing the role of the Fender Telecaster forever in the hearts of rock n roll fans and leading other young musicians who would later make a name for themselves in the music industry to buy the Fender Telecaster and continue making music that would influence generations to come.
Albert Lee was nicknamed Mr Telecaster due to his love of the instrument and Joe Stummer could not be separated from his Fender Telecaster until the day he died. All of these great names and their love for the Fender Telecaster just goes to show that the instrument has become part of the music we love so much and it would not have been the same without it. The Fender Telecaster is not only an instrument but it can be said to be a rock n roll icon in its own right.
This instrument has been around since the rise of the solid body guitar and it has staid fast and strong throughout the years and the fading fads that have come with them. Not only has this name been linked with some of the most famous people in history but it continues to be a brand that is both reputable and esteemed by both the young and the old.
A Fender is something that every young musician dreams of owning and this is what most guitar companies dream of achieving. The brand is more than a simple musical instrument supplier, it has an identity in itself and there is no saying who will be the next to go platinum while holding a Fender in their arms.