The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (),
is an
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
produced by
Fender. Together with its sister model the
Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...
, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...
had built a prototype solid-body electric guitar known as "The Log" in the 1940s, but could not market his invention. Gibson produced the Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...
guitar in 1952 after bringing on Paul to help design a commercial model to compete with Fender. Likewise, Paul Bigsby
Paul Adelburt Bigsby (1899–1968) was an American inventor, designer, and pioneer of the solid body electric guitar. Bigsby is best known for designing the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece (also mislabeled as a tremolo arm) and proprietor of Bigsb ...
and Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of Ameri ...
designed and built a solid-body electric in 1948, but this was a one-off guitar. solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Many prominent
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
musicians have been associated with the Telecaster for use in
studio recording
A studio recording, or a recording session is any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance.
Studio cast recordings
In the cas ...
and
live performances, most notably
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...
,
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
, and
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
.
Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1950 as a two-pickup version of its sister model, the single-pickup Esquire, the pair were the first guitars of their kind manufactured on a substantial scale. A trademark conflict with a rival manufacturer
Gretsch Broadkaster led to the guitar being renamed in 1951. Initially, the Broadcaster name was simply cut off of the labels placed on the guitars (leading to a limited run of nameless guitars known unofficially as Nocasters) and later in 1951, the final name of Telecaster was applied to the guitar to take advantage of the advent of
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
. The Telecaster quickly became a popular model, and has remained in continuous production since its first incarnation.
Like the three-pickup
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
that followed it in 1954, the Telecaster is a versatile guitar and has been used in many genres, including country, reggae, rock, pop, folk, soul, blues, jazz, punk, metal, alternative, indie rock, and R&B. The base model has always been available, and other than a change to the pickup selector switch configuration, a thinning of the neck, and a few variations on the bridge design, it has remained mostly unchanged from the 1950s. Several variant models have been produced over the years including those with different pickup configurations and electronics, semi-hollow body designs, and even a
twelve string model.
Overall design
The archetypical Fender Telecaster is a solid-body electric guitar with a flat asymmetric single-cutaway body; the body is usually made from
alder
Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
or
swamp ash. The
neck
The neck is the part of the body in many vertebrates that connects the head to the torso. It supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that transmit sensory and motor information between the brain and the rest of the body. Addition ...
is usually made from
maple
''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
and attached to the body with
screws
A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...
(though characteristically referred to as a "
bolt-on neck
A Bolt-on neck is a stringed musical instrument neck that attaches to the instrument body with either bolts or screws,
as opposed to glue and joinery as with set-in neck joints.
Methods
The "bolt-on" method is used frequently on solid bo ...
") and has a distinctive small
headstock
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...
with six
tuning peg
A variety of methods are used to tune different stringed instruments. Most change the pitch produced when the string is played by adjusting the tension of the strings.
A tuning peg in a pegbox is perhaps the most common system. A peg has ...
s mounted inline along a single side; the
fingerboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The stri ...
may be maple or another wood, e.g.
rosewood
Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...
, and has at least twenty-one
fret
A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...
s. The Telecaster's body is front-
routed for electronics; the bridge pickup is mounted in a metal plate attached to the guitar's bridge, other pickups are mounted in a plastic
pickguard, and the controls are mounted in a metal plate on the lower bout of the guitar. Most Telecasters have two
single-coil pickups, a pickup selector
switch
In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
, a single volume control and a single tone control. Fixed
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
s are almost universal, and the original design has three individually adjustable dual-string saddles whose
height
Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For an example of vertical extent, "This basketball player is 7 foot 1 inches in height." For an e ...
and tuning can be set independently.
(Many newer models have six saddles.) The output
jack is mounted on the edge of the lower bout of the guitar. Many different colors have been available. The Telecaster's scale length is .
There have been minor changes to the design over the years, and models with features that differ from the archetypical design. However, the essential character of the design has remained constant.
Origins
The Fender Telecaster was developed by
Leo Fender in
Fullerton, California
Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617.
Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...
, in 1950. In the period roughly between 1932 and 1949, several craftsmen and companies experimented with solid-body electric guitars, but none had made a significant impact on the market. Leo Fender's Telecaster was the design that made bolt-on neck, solid body guitars viable in the marketplace.
Fender had an electronics repair shop, named
Fender's Radio Service, where he first repaired, then designed,
amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...
s and electromagnetic pickups for musicians—chiefly players of electric
semi-acoustic guitars, electric Hawaiian
lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...
s, and
mandolin
A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
s. Players had been "wiring up" their instruments in search of greater volume and projection since the late 1920s, and electric semi-acoustics (such as the
Gibson ES-150
The Gibson ES-150 is a pioneering electric guitar produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation.Hunter, Dave, The Rough Guide to Guitar, Penguin Books, 2011. Introduced in 1936, it is generally recognized as the world's first commercially successful ...
) had long been widely available. Tone had never, until then, been the primary reason for a guitarist to go electric, but in 1943, when Fender and his partner,
Clayton Orr "Doc" Kauffman, built a crude wooden guitar as a pickup test rig, local country players started asking to borrow it for gigs. It sounded bright and sustaining.
Fender's operations expanded to include a line of
lap steel
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of play ...
guitars, and several of the features of those instruments would be borrowed for a new electric solid-bodied guitar. In 1949, he began prototyping the new instrument.
Though it was long understood that solid construction offered great advantages in electric instruments (and by the 1930s,
Audiovox had offered a solid-body makeshift electric guitar), no commercial solid-body had ever caught on. Leo felt that it could be successfully done. It was designed in the spirit of the solid-body Hawaiian guitars manufactured by
Rickenbacker
Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer based in Santa Ana, California. Rickenbacker is the first known maker of electric guitars, with a steel guitar in 1932, and produces a range of electric guitars and bass ...
—small, simple units made of
Bakelite
Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...
and aluminum with the parts bolted together—but with wooden construction. (Rickenbacker, then spelled "Rickenbacher", also offered a solid
Bakelite
Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...
-bodied electric Spanish guitar in 1935 that seemed to presage details of Fender's design.)
Most development guitars were discarded by Fender, but two prototypes survived destruction. An earlier 2-piece pine example was built in summer of 1949 with a headstock design borrowed from the company's lap steels, but otherwise possessing most of the features of what would become the Esquire (as the neck pickup had not been added at this stage). The second prototype from later that year featured an ash body and the final headstock design. The bridge pickup was based on a modified version of the company's Champion lap steel guitar's pickup.
The new model had not been made available for the 1949
NAMM Convention and Fender's sales manager, Don Randall, complained that other manufacturers had featured guitars with multiple pickups.
1950
The initial single-pickup production model appeared as the
Fender Esquire
The Fender Esquire is a solid-body electric guitar manufactured by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Los Angeles. It was the first solid-bodied guitar marketed by the company, and made its debut in 1950..
Early development
Proto ...
in 1950. Ash and maple were used to construct the body and neck respectively and the guitar came in one color—blond. It was priced at $139.95 ().
Fewer than fifty guitars were originally produced under that name, and most were replaced under warranty because of early manufacturing problems. In particular, the Esquire necks had no
truss rod and many were replaced due to bent necks. Later in 1950, this single-pickup model was discontinued, and a two-pickup model was renamed the Broadcaster. From this point onward all Fender necks incorporated truss rods. The Esquire was reintroduced in 1951 as a single pickup variant, at a lower price.
1951
As a result of legal action from the
Gretsch
Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...
company over the guitar's name, the ''Broadcaster'' (Gretsch already had the "Broadkaster" name registered for a line of drums), factory workers simply snipped the "Broadcaster" name from its existing stock of decals, so guitars with these decals are identified simply as "Fender", without any model name.
The term ''Nocaster'' was later coined by collectors to denote these transitional guitars that appeared without a model name on the headstock. Since they were manufactured in this form for 8–9 months in 1951, original Nocasters are highly prized by collectors. There are no official production numbers, but experts estimate that fewer than 500 Nocasters were produced. Fender has since registered ''Nocaster'' as a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...
to denote its modern replicas of this famous rarity.
Around September 1951, Fender renamed the guitar to ''Telecaster'' and started placing these decals on the headstock. Debuting with a transparent butterscotch finish, single ply 'Blackguard', maple neck with walnut back stripe, the ''Telecaster'' would go on to become the most successfully mass-produced electric guitar in history.
In 1951, Fender released the innovative and musically influential
Precision Bass as a similar looking stable-mate to the Telecaster. This body style was later released as the
Fender Telecaster Bass in 1968 after the Precision Bass had been changed in 1957 to make it more closely resemble the
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...
guitar. This double cut away style was the shape that influenced how the
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...
was created. At the time Leo Fender began marketing the newly designed
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
in 1954, he expected it to replace the Blackguard Telecaster, but the Telecaster's many virtues and unique musical personality have kept it in demand to the present day.
1952
By 1952 Leo Fender was clear of any patent or naming infringements, and the Fender company began producing the ''Telecaster'' guitar in larger numbers. These early models produced between 1950 and 1954 would become known as ''Blackguards''.
In late 1952, Fender made several changes to the circuitry of the guitar. First, a true tone control knob was installed, that could be used to alter the tone from bass-heavy (in the 0 position) to treble-heavy (in the 10 position). The first position stayed the same as before, with the neck pickup in "dark circuit" treble-cut mode. In this position, the tone knob was disabled. The middle position turned off the dark circuit, and turned on the tone control knob for the neck pickup. The third position selected the bridge pick-up alone, again with an active tone control knob. Although this provided the player with a proper tone control, the change also made it impossible to blend the signal from both pickups. In late 1967 Fender again modified the circuit. They removed the "dark circuit" from the first position, and installed what has become the standard twin pickup switching system: neck pickup alone with tone control in the first position, both pickups together with the tone control in the middle position and in the third position the bridge pickup alone with the tone control.
Construction
Leo Fender's simple and modular design was both geared to mass production and simplified servicing of broken guitars.
Rather than being constructed individually as in traditional
luthiery, instruments were produced quickly and inexpensively from components on an assembly line. The bodies were
bandsaw
A bandsaw (also written band saw) is a power saw with a long, sharp blade consisting of a continuous band of toothed metal stretched between two or more wheels to cut material. They are used principally in woodworking, metalworking, and lum ...
n and
routed from slabs, rather than hand-carved individually, as with other guitars made at the time, such as
Gibsons.
Fender did not use the traditional hide-glued
set-in neck
A set-in neck (often shortened to ''set neck'') is a traditional form of joining the neck of a stringed instrument with its body. This is typically done with a tightly fitted mortise-and-tenon or dovetail joint, secured with glue. Sonic qualit ...
, but rather a
bolt-on neck
A Bolt-on neck is a stringed musical instrument neck that attaches to the instrument body with either bolts or screws,
as opposed to glue and joinery as with set-in neck joints.
Methods
The "bolt-on" method is used frequently on solid bo ...
(which is actually attached using screws). This simple but crude production method also allowed the neck to be easily removed and serviced, or quickly replaced entirely. In addition, the classic Telecaster neck was fashioned from a single piece of
maple
''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
''without'' a separate fingerboard, its frets slid into a groove cut directly into the wood.
The very design of the headstock (inspired by Croatian instruments, according to Leo Fender) followed that simplicity principle: it is very narrow, since it was cut in a single piece of wood (without glued "wings"). Nonetheless, it is very effective, as the six strings are kept straight behind the nut, keeping the guitar in tune. While this has changed over time with new reincarnations of the guitar,
this was a highly unorthodox approach in its day as guitars traditionally featured
rosewood
Rosewood is any of a number of richly hued hardwoods, often brownish with darker veining, but found in other colours. It is hard, tough, strong, and dense. True rosewoods come from trees of the genus '' Dalbergia'', but other woods are often ca ...
or
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...
fingerboards glued onto
mahogany
Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...
necks. The electronics were easily accessed for repair or replacement through a removable control plate, a great advantage over the construction of the then-predominant hollow-body instruments, in which the electronics could be accessed only through the
sound holes.
In its classic form, the guitar is simply constructed, with the neck and fingerboard comprising a single piece of maple, screwed to an
ash or
alder
Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
body inexpensively jigged with flat surfaces on the front and back. The hardware includes two
single coil
A single-coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. Single-coil pickups are one of the two most po ...
pickups controlled by a three-way selector switch, and one each of volume and tone controls. The pickguard was first
Bakelite
Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...
, soon thereafter it was
celluloid
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common present-day ...
(later other plastics), screwed directly onto the body with five (later eight) screws. The
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
has three adjustable saddles, with strings doubled up on each. In its original design nearly all components are secured using only screws (body, neck, tuners, bridge, scratchplate, pickups to body, control plate, output socket), with glue used to secure the nut and solder used to connect the electronic components. With the introduction of the truss rod, and later a rosewood fingerboard, more gluing was required during construction. The guitar quickly gained a following, and soon other, more established guitar companies (such as Gibson, whose
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...
model was introduced in 1952, and later Gretsch, Rickenbacker, and others) began working on wooden solid-body production models of their own.

The Telecaster has always had a three-position selector switch to allow for different pickup configurations, as well as two knobs for controlling volume and tone. However, different eras had different functions for these controls. The original switch and knob configuration was used from 1950 to 1952. The first position (switch towards neck) activated the neck pickup with treble tone cut, which produced a muffled, bass-heavy tone (sometimes called the "dark circuit"). The middle position selected the neck pickup without the treble cut, giving it a fuller sound, and in the third position had both pickups together and activated the tone knob. On these models, the tone knob acted as a blending knob, with the "0" position using only the bridge pickup, blending to a 50/50 neck/bridge mix in the "10" position. The first knob functioned normally as a master volume control.
Pickguards were exclusively black until 1955. The same year, the serial number was moved from the bridge to the neck plate.
Typical modern Telecasters (such as the American Standard version) incorporate several details different from the classic form. They typically feature 22 frets (rather than 21) and truss rod adjustments are made at the
headstock
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...
end, or the body end depending on the model (typically at the head-stock in newer models). The body end requires removal of the neck.
The Telecaster sound
The Telecaster is popular because of its ability to produce both a bright, rich cutting tone (the typical Telecaster country twang) and a mellow, warm, bluesy jazz tone depending on the selected
pickup, respectively "bridge" pickup or "neck" pickup, and by adjusting the tone control. This makes the Telecaster a versatile instrument that can be used for different musical styles and sounds, allowing performers to change styles and sounds without changing instruments. The bridge pickup has more windings than the neck pickup, hence producing higher output, which compensates for a lower amplitude of vibration of the strings at the bridge position. At the same time, a
capacitor
In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term st ...
between the slider of the volume control and the output allows treble sounds to bleed through while damping mid and lower ranges. Slanting the bridge pickup also increased the guitar's treble response.
The
solid body allows the guitar to deliver a clear and sustaining amplified version of the strings' sound;
this was an improvement over previous electric guitar designs, whose resonant hollow bodies made them prone to unwanted acoustic feedback when volume was increased. These design elements intentionally allowed guitarists to emulate
steel guitar
A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...
sounds, as well as "cut through" and be heard in roadhouse
Honky-Tonk
A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, honky tonk, or tonk) is either a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons or the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano ...
and big
Western Swing
Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...
bands, initially making this guitar particularly useful in country music. Since this, Fender has developed even more in the way of pickups and tones for the Telecaster, with changes from Alnico III magnets to Alnico V magnets.
Variants
The Telecaster has long been a favorite guitar for "hot-rod" customizing. Several variants have appeared throughout the years with a wide assortment of pickup configurations, such as a
humbucker
A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...
in the neck position, three single-coil pickups, and even dual humbuckers with special wiring schemes. Fender offered factory hot-rodded Teles with such pickup configurations, the US Fat and
Nashville B-Bender Telecasters around 1998. The Deluxe Blackout Tele was also equipped with three single-coil pickups, a "Strat-o-Tele" selector switch and a smaller headstock than a standard Telecaster. Some also preferred vibratos on their Telecasters, installing a Bigsby on them. The most common variants of the standard two-pickup solid body Telecaster are the semi-hollow ''Thinline'', the ''Custom,'' which replaced the neck single coil-pickup with a humbucking pickup, and the twin-humbucker ''Deluxe''. The ''Custom'' and ''Deluxe'' were introduced during the CBS period and reissues of both designs are currently offered.
Telecaster Thinline
Designed by German luthier
Roger Rossmeisl, the Telecaster Thinline model first appeared in 1968. It is characterized by a body having a solid center core with hollow wings to reduce weight. The '68 version has two standard Telecaster
single-coil pickups, string-through-body bridge, and a choice of an ash or mahogany body. A later version was introduced in 1972 based on the Fender Telecaster Deluxe with two
Fender Wide Range
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a " single coil guitar company," and to gain a foothold in the humbucker gu ...
humbucking pickups. In 2011, Fender released the Modern Player Telecaster Thinline as a part of the Modern Player series. This guitar features two MP-90 pickups, similar to the Gibson
P-90
The P-90 (sometimes written P90) is a single coil electric guitar pickup produced by Gibson Guitar Corporation since 1946, as well as other vendors. Compared to other single coil designs, such as the Fender single coil, the bobbin for a P-90 ...
and a mahogany body. The Fender Custom Shop has produced a variation referred to as the "50s Telecaster Thinline" with an ash body, maple neck and a Twisted Tele neck pickup matched with a Nocaster bridge pickup.
Telecaster Custom

The first edition of the Telecaster Custom was introduced in 1959 as a more ornate alternative to the standard Telecaster, featuring a double-bound body and options of a burst finish and rosewood fretboard, but otherwise maintained the standard configuration.
While the guitar was known as the Telecaster Custom, the decal on the headstock read "Custom Telecaster." In 1972, the Custom was redesigned to include Fender's new
Wide Range humbucker in the neck position with a single-coil pickup still in the bridge, mimicking a modification popularized by
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
.
Telecaster Deluxe
This model includes two
Fender Wide Range
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a " single coil guitar company," and to gain a foothold in the humbucker gu ...
humbucking pickups and was originally produced from 1972 to 1981; it has since been reissued. The Telecaster Deluxe typically sports a larger, CBS-era
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
-style headstock, maple fretboard, and separate volume and tone controls for each pickup. Early versions featured a Strat-style tremolo, but this was replaced with a hardtail bridge.
J5 Telecaster
Marilyn Manson
Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...
and
Rob Zombie
Robert Bartleh Cummings (born January 12, 1965), known professionally as Rob Zombie, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live show ...
guitarist
John 5 has had several signature models produced by Fender. The J5 Triple Tele Deluxe is similar to the regular Telecaster Deluxe, in that it has 22 frets and a 3 way selector switch for the pickups,
but it featured three
Fender Wide Range
The Fender Wide Range Humbucker is a humbucker guitar pickup, designed by Seth Lover for Fender in the early 1970s. This pickup was intended to break Fender's image as a " single coil guitar company," and to gain a foothold in the humbucker gu ...
humbuckers and a chrome pickguard.
Cabronita
The Cabronita (and Custom Shop variant La Cabronita) is a model that is distinguished by the use of Fidelitron or the more expensive TV Jones Classic humbucking pickups, which look like the original
Gretsch
Gretsch is an American company that manufactures and markets musical instruments. The company was founded in 1883 in Brooklyn, New York by Friedrich Gretsch, a 27-year-old German immigrant, shortly after his arrival to the United States. Fri ...
humbuckers. The ''La Cabronita'' is an American-made, custom-built-to-order instrument. It typically has one TV Jones Classic pickup in the bridge position although being custom built, in can be ordered in any configuration. All Cabronitas can be distinguished by use of a smaller pickguard that covers the lower horn only, similar to the pickguard used in the original prototype for the Telecaster in 1949.
Tele Sub-Sonic
The sub-sonic Telecaster was first made in 2002 and is still produced. It is made in the US and was produced as a custom guitar. It has a 22 fret maple neck with an extended scale size (27"). It consists of a humbucker in the neck pickup and a slanted single coil in the bridge position. There is a three-way pickup selector switch and a volume and control knob as found on most telecasters.
Telecaster XII 12-String
This 12-string Telecaster was produced from 1995 until 1998. It has six tuners on each side of the headstock, with the Fender logo in between. Fretboards could be maple or rosewood; the necks are all maple. Pickguards are white or black and the bridge has 12 saddles.
B Bender Telecaster
This Telecaster was produced from 1996 to 2000. The
B-Bender
A B-Bender is a guitar accessory that enables a player to fluidly alter the pitch of a guitar's B-string. This works by mechanically bending the B-string through the use of a series of levers and/or pulleys attached to an external lever that is ...
device was used to change the B string's pitch to a C# at the press of a lever located on the guitar strap peg. The styles of music usually utilizing this device were country and country-rock.
Jim Root Telecaster

This Telecaster has been produced since 2007. The Jim Root Tele is a signature model designed by
Slipknot guitarist
Jim Root. It consists of a usually white or black body with all black hardware, ebony fingerboard, dual EMG humbuckers, single master volume control and a hardtail bridge. This guitar is popular amongst
Metal
A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...
and
Hardcore guitarists, alongside its
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
counterpart. The blackout effect of the hardware and
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...
fingerboard and black hardware, along with it being a
Fender Custom Shop
The Fender Custom Shop is a division of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, housed within its headquarters complex in Corona, California, Corona, Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California. The Fender Custom Shop produces spe ...
base spec, makes it a popular choice for artists looking for a pop of colour on their guitars too, such as
Pierce the Veil
Pierce the Veil is an American rock band formed in San Diego, California, in 2006. It was founded by brothers Vic Fuentes, Vic and Mike Fuentes (musician), Mike Fuentes after the disbanding of Before Today, which formed out of the San Diego Pu ...
's
Tony Perry
Tony Perry is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the Rock music, rock band Pierce the Veil. He is also a co-owner of Living The Dream Foundation alongside bandmates Vic Fuentes and Jaime Preciado.
Early life
Perry was ...
, often having Jim Roots finished in neon colours.
Models
In keeping with other models Fender distinguishes product lines manufactured in different locations.
* The moderately-priced ''Classic Vibe, Standard'', ''Player, Vintera, Vintera II, Classic Player'', ''Blacktop'', ''Modern Player'', ''Deluxe'' and ''Player Plus Telecaster'' models are manufactured in Mexico, Japan, China and Korea. Each of these instruments has a feature set that makes them more affordable.
* The ''American Professional, Professional II'', ''American Vintage'', ''American Original'', ''American Elite'', ''American Ultra'', ''Select'', ''Artist Series'', ''Custom Shop'', ''Acoustasonic'', ''American Special'' and ''American Performer'' model lines are manufactured in the United States.
The American Deluxe Telecaster (introduced in 1998; upgraded in 2004, 2008, and 2010) features a pair of Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups and the S-1 switching system. Models made prior to 2004 featured two Fender Vintage Noiseless Tele single-coils, Fender/Fishman Powerbridge piezo system and four-bolt neck fixing. Other refinements include a bound contoured alder or ash body and an abalone dot-inlaid maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard, 22 medium-jumbo frets, rolled fingerboard edges, and highly detailed nut and fret work. The HH model sported an ebony fingerboard, quilted or flamed maple top and a pair of Enforcer humbuckers with S-1 switching (discontinued as of 2008). As of March 23, 2010, Fender updated the American Deluxe Telecaster with a compound radius maple neck, N3 Noiseless Tele pickups and a reconfigured S-1 switching system for wider sonic possibilities. The new model now sports staggered, locking tuning machines, which provide a better break angle over the nut for increased sustain and improved tuning stability. The Thinline version has been introduced in 2013. Fender discontinued the American Deluxe series in 2016.
The American Elite Tele (Introduced in 2016; discontinued in 2019) features an updated set of Noiseless pickups and S-1 switch for series/parallel wiring. The American Elite Tele uses a double action truss rod adjustment wheel located under the last fret instead of the truss rod adjustment on the headstock. Other changes include a new neck heel contour design, 9"-14" compound fretboard radius, and compound neck shape (neck shape changes from C to D from top to bottom). American Elite models made from 2016 to 2018 were offered with maple or rosewood, while from 2018 to 2019, rosewood was replaced with streaked ebony.
The American Ultra Tele (Introduced in 2019) is an update from the previous American Elite model, with updated Noiseless pickups, a new neck heel & cutaway contour design, and new sets of colors available. Other changes include a 10"-14" fretboard radius, a return to the truss rod adjustment on the headstock, and the use of rosewood as fretboard option besides maple, with ebony only available on select limited edition models. In 2021, Fender released the Ultra Luxe Tele which share the same specs as the Ultra, but with stainless steel frets, ash body, and available either with a fixed bridge or Floyd Rose tremolo.
The American Series model used two single-coil pickups with DeltaTone system (featuring a high output bridge pickup and a reverse-wound neck pickup). Other features included a parchment pickguard, non-veneered alder or ash bodies and rolled fingerboard edges.
In 2003 Fender offered Telecasters with a humbucking/single coil pickup arrangement or two humbucking pickups featuring Enforcer humbucking pickups, and S-1 switching. These models were discontinued in 2007. As of 2008, all American Standard Telecasters came with a redesigned Tele bridge with vintage-style bent steel saddles, and a bridgeplate made of chromed brass instead of steel. In March 2012 the American Standard Telecaster was updated with Custom Shop pickups (Broadcaster in the bridge, Twisted in the neck); the body is now contoured for reduced weight and more comfort. In 2014 the American Standard Telecaster HH was introduced, sporting a pair of Twin Head Vintage humbucking pickups (open-coil with black bobbins in the bridge, metal-covered in the neck). Controls include a dual concentric volume pot for each pickup, a master tone and 3-way pickup switching.
The
American Nashville B-Bender guitar is modeled after the personally customized instruments of some of Nashville's top players, featuring a Fender/Parsons/Green
B-Bender system, two American Tele single-coils (neck, bridge), a Texas Special Strat single-coil (middle) and five-way "Strat-O-Tele" pickup switching. Ideal for country bends and steel guitar glisses, this Tele is available only with a maple fingerboard.
The American Series Ash Telecaster is based on the '52 vintage reissue. It features an ash body, one-piece maple neck/fingerboard with 22 frets and two Modern Vintage Tele single-coil pickups. Fender discontinued this guitar in 2006.
The Custom Classic Telecaster was the Custom Shop version of the American Series Tele, featuring a pair of Classic and Twisted single-coils in the bridge and neck positions, as well as a reverse control plate. Earlier versions made before 2003 featured an American Tele single-coil paired with two Texas Special Strat pickups and 5-way switching. Discontinued in 2009 and replaced by the Custom Deluxe Telecaster series models. The 2011 version of the Custom Shop "Custom Deluxe" Telecaster featured a lightweight Ash body with contoured heel, Birdseye maple neck, and a pickup set that included a Twisted Tele neck pickup and a Seymour Duncan Custom Shop BG-1400 stacked humbucker in the bridge position.
The Highway One Telecaster (introduced in 2000) featured a pair of distortion-friendly alnico III, single-coil pickups, super-sized 22 frets, Greasebucket circuit, satin nitrocellulose finish, and 1970s styling font(since 2006). A change over came in 2005/2006 with the line until 2011. Limited colors from previous years down to at least satin nitrocellulose Crimson Transparent, honey blonde, black, daphne blue and 3-color sunburst. The Fender Highway One series came in both maple and rosewood fretboards. The Highway One Texas Telecaster sported a one-piece maple neck/fretboard with a modern 12" radius and 21 medium jumbo frets, bone nut, single ply pickguard, round string guide, brass saddles, "spaghetti" style Fender font, solid ash body, vintage tuners, offered in two satin nitrocellulose colors, honey blonde and 2-color sunburst with a pair of Hot Vintage alnico V pickups.
In 2010, the American Special Telecaster was introduced. While retaining such features from the Highway One as jumbo frets, changing to a 9.5 radius neck, Greasebucket tone circuit and 1970s logo, the American Special also includes some upgrades such as a glossy urethane finish, compensated brass 3-saddle bridge and Highway One Texas Tele pickups (alnico III). In the Fall of 2013, Fender upgraded the pickups on the American Special line to Custom Shop Texas Special pickups. As of 2018 the American Special Telecaster is available in 3-color sunburst, lake placid blue, sherwood green metallic and vintage blonde.
In 2019, the American Performer Telecaster was introduced as the successor to the American Special. The American Performer retains most of the American Special's features, but with upgrades such as the Fender Yosemite pickups, Classic Gear tuners, and new colors. Also released is the American Performer Tele Hum, which features a Double Tap humbucker on the neck position, and a push-pull pot to split the humbucker to single coil.
Artist Series Telecasters have features favored by world-famous Fender endorsees
James Burton
James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...
,
John 5,
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...
,
Jim Root,
G. E. Smith,
Joe Strummer
John Graham Mellor (21 August 1952 – 22 December 2002), known professionally as Joe Strummer, was a British musician. He was the co-founder, lyricist, rhythm guitarist, and lead vocalist of punk rock band the Clash, formed in 1976. The Clash' ...
,
Jimmy Page
James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin.
Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...
,
Brent Mason,
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...
and
Jim Adkins
James Christopher Adkins (born November 10, 1975) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter of the rock band Jimmy Eat World.
Career
Jimmy Eat World (1993–present)
...
. Custom Artist models are made at the Fender Custom Shop, differing slightly quality and construction-wise; their prices are much higher than the standard production versions.
In September 2010, Fender introduced the Mexican-made Black Top Telecaster HH, featuring dual hot vintage alnico humbucking pickups, a one-piece maple neck with rosewood or maple fretboard and 22 medium-jumbo frets. Other features include a solid contoured alder body, a reversed control assembly and black skirted amp control knobs.
In 2011, Fender released the Modern Player series, which featured the Modern Player Telecaster Thinline and the Modern Player Telecaster Plus.
The Acoustasonic Telecaster is a combination of an
acoustic and electric guitar. First produced in 2010, this 22 fret guitar was then reintroduced in 2019 after some changes were made. They are made in Corona, California and come in 5 colors, (Black, Sonic Gray, Natural, Sunburst, and Surf Green).
The Acoustasonic is equipped with a Fender Acoustasonic Noiseless-TM pickup and uses Fender's Stringed Instrument Resonance System (SIRS) system to allow the guitar to still maintain a loud sound when it is unplugged, as an acoustic guitar would generally sound. The guitars are made out of a spruce top with an ebony fret board and a mahogany neck. The neck is bolt on and the fender logo is engraved on the head-stock next to the staggered-height tuners. There is a 5 way switch to select between sounds and a USB port for charging the electronics in the guitar.
Replicated Telecasters
A variety of Telecasters have been replicated over the years.
* The '50 Broadcaster, reissued in 2020.
* The '50s American Original Telecaster (2018)
* The American Vintage II '51 Telecaster
* The American Vintage II '63 Telecaster
* The Vintera II 50s Nocaster
* The Vintera II 60s Telecaster
* The Vintera II 70s Telecaster Deluxe
* The '52 Telecaster, which was made in 1982–1984 and then 1986 to 2018.
* The '52 Tele Special made from 1999 to 2001, which had gold fixtures.
* The 50s Telecaster, a custom shop guitar that was made from 1996 to 1998.
* The 60s Telecaster Custom was made from 1996 to 1998; in addition, a '60 Telecaster Custom replica was made from 2003 to 2004.
* The '62 Telecaster Custom is still currently made, with production starting in 1999.
* The '63 Telecaster is a custom shop guitar produced from 1999 to the present day.
* The '67 Telecaster made from 2004 to the present day and is a custom shop guitar.
Squier models
Squier model Telecasters are sold by
Squier
Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...
, a Fender-owned import brand. These can bear the Telecaster name, since Squier is owned by Fender. Squier guitars, especially the Telecasters, have gained popularity
and a good reputation among guitar players
Significance
The Telecaster was important in the evolution of
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
, electric
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
,
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
,
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
, and other forms of
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
. Its solid construction let guitarists play loudly as a lead instrument, with long sustain if desired. It produced less of the uncontrolled, whistling, 'hard'
feedback
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handle ...
('microphonic feedback') that hollowbodied instruments tend to produce at volume (different from the controllable feedback later explored by
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s an ...
and countless other players). Even though the Telecaster is almost three quarters of a century old, and more sophisticated designs have appeared since the early 1950s (including
Fender's own Stratocaster), the Telecaster remains in production. There have been numerous variations and modifications, but a model with something close to the original features has always been available.
Signature Telecaster players
Notes
References
Bibliography
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Further reading
* — design patent via Google Patents
* — bridge patent via Google Patents
* Bacon, Tony & Day, Paul (1998). ''The Fender Book: A Complete History of Fender Electric Guitars'' (2nd ed.). London: Balafon Books. .
*
* Burrows, Terry (general editor) (1998). ''The Complete Encyclopedia of the Guitar: The Definitive Guide to the World's Most Popular Instrument''. New York: Schirmer Books. .
* Denyer, Ralph (1992). ''The Guitar Handbook''. London: Dorling Kindersley Ltd. .
* Kelly, Martin, Foster, Terry & Kelly, Paul (2010) ''Fender: The Golden Age, 1946–1970'' London & New York: Cassell .
External links
*
{{Authority control
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Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
1950 musical instruments
Musical instruments invented in the 1950s
American inventions