Telecaster: The Story of the Piano That Changed Music History

The story behind the versatile guitar that conquered country, blues, rock and punk.

While Leo Fender and employees of his small Southern California amp and instrument manufacturing company built a revolutionary guitar - the Telecaster in early 1951, they didn't know this guitar would change the rules. the size and scope of the great musical revolution.

But when the guitar was just released, some mocked and laughed at the Telecaster at the US industry's largest trade show, mocking it as "a paddle" and a "snow shovel". However, this kind of mockery did not last long.

That's because players quickly realize that Fender has brought them something that's not only new and unusual, but something that's well-designed, easy to play, effective, rugged, affordable, and above all is great sound. Although the electric guitar has appeared in various forms since the 1920s, Leo Fender and his team worked hard throughout the late 1940s and early dawn of the next decade to design designed and perfected something that really didn't exist before — a mass-produced solid-body Spanish electric guitar.

While it's very innovative, there's nothing really stand out about the Telecaster yet. Some of its features are inherited from the Hawaiian acoustic guitars Fender has manufactured since 1945, such as the "ashtray" bridge cap, chrome knobs, Kluson tuners, and the horse-and-horse combination. bridge pickup. If the maple neck is broken or too worn, there's no need for complicated construction techniques — you just need to screw a new one. The guitar has a simple black pickguard (thread or Bakelite) held in place by five screws. Unlike many guitars available at the time, the Telecaster's strings were pulled straight through the nut, with all the tuners on one side of the head — ideas that Leo himself said he borrowed from 19th-century Istrian folk guitars and Viennese Staufer guitars.

The controls are another matter. Yes, the layout is simple — two buttons and a three-position switch, but their combined function is not as simple as one might initially think. The front knob always controls the master volume, but the rear knob is not always the master tone knob. In 1951, placing the selector switch in the rear (horse) position provided both types of pickups, with the rear knob acting as a mixer controller adjusting how much of the pickup sound needed to be mixed with the audio. horse collection. The selector switch in the middle position only gives the pickup a mellow "natural" sound (its chrome-plated housing absorbs extra capacitance) and the switch in the front position (should) have more capacitance produces the sound. the bass bar than the rear knob does not affect these settings.

This control arrangement was "simplified" in 1952 to the conventional Telecaster control arrangement. Following this change, placing the selector switch in the rear (horse) position will only provide horseback, with the rear knob acting as proper timbre control. The mid-position selector switch provides only the lever function, with the rear knob acting as tone control again. The selector switch in the front (rod) position only provides the boom receiver with the lower bass preset and the rear knob inactive (as before). In this control scheme, there is no switch setting in which both pickups are turned on at the same time, an arrangement that lasted until the late 1960s.

However, players quickly realize that picking a midpoint between two of these three positions can result in a mixed sound. In the hold position and need to deliver a sound that combines the two. Same as in the middle and the horse.

So there are quite a few versatile sounds out there. Unlike any guitar before it, the Telecaster has an incredibly bright, clear and crisp sound, with penetrating highs, mids and thick bass.

Even today, 60 years after its invention, a modern Telecaster is fundamentally different in appearance from its 1951 ancestor. Its simplicity and efficiency remain a design hallmark in throughout the 1950s, as well as throughout the following decades.

TELECASTER PLAYERS:

• Buck Owens

• Steve Cropper

• Eric Clapton

• Jimmy Page

• Luther Perkins

• Jimmy Wyble

• Charlie Aldrich

• Jimmy Bryant

• Roy Watkins

• Bill Carson

• Merle Haggard

• Waylon Jennings

• James Burton

• Muddy Waters

• BB King

• Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

• Roy Buchanan

• Pete Townshend

• Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd)

• Clarence White (the Byrds)

• Marty Stuart

• Albert Lee

• Keith Richards

• George Harrison

• Joe Strummer

• Ritchie Kotzen (Winery Dogs, Mr. Big, Poison)

• Danny Gatton

• Andy Summers (the Police)

• Steve Howe (Yes)

• Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders)

• Graham Coxon (Blur)

• Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead)

TELECASTER STORY:

THE 1950s

Outside of the factory, the swing guitarists who helped Leo perfect his new guitar were the first to fully understand how good the Telecaster really was. Early players such as Jimmy Wyble, Charlie Aldrich, Jimmy Bryant, Roy Watkins and Bill Carson used the instrument with missionary zeal, and the carefully built sales network of Fender Sales Manager Don Randall made sure the Telecaster's appeal spread slowly but surely from Southern California all the way to the East Coast.

It should be remembered that when the Telecaster was introduced in 1951, rock 'n' roll was still several years away; Leo Fender and his staff are building guitars and amplifiers primarily for swing guitarists, whose tours often bring them close to the company's headquarters in sunny Southern California. However, Fender's innovative new instruments fueled the growth of small, large bands, which by the mid-1950s had largely supplanted the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s, a phenomenon that has fueled the simultaneous explosion of American youth culture.

Fender and its new Telecaster guitar are ideally positioned to take advantage of all of this, because Fender doesn't belong in the old world of high end guitar making. Brave, young, creative and West Coast Fender; not old, quiet like the East Coast. Fender's instruments and amplifiers are fun, durable, and affordable rather than delicate and expensive. All young people who found themselves with a strong new cultural movement of their own in the post-war mid-1950s could easily own great-sounding, solid-built Fender guitars. .

Thus, by mid-decade, Telecaster had found its way into the hands of rock 'n' roll, R&B and country guitarists and included in their recordings. In Nashville in July 1956, Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio recorded an energetic rock version of the 1951 jump blues song "The Train Kept-A-Rollin"; lead guitarist Paul Burlison used his Telecaster to play one of the first recorded recordings of contemporary fuzz guitar sound. In July 1957, Dale Hawkins had his first Telecaster-powered US Top 40 hit with "Suzie Q", a song built on the artist's catchy guitar riff Young guitarist in his band, James Burton.

Later, when Burton joined teen idol Ricky Nelson's band (at the age of 18), thousands of American television viewers watched him play Telecaster in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in the late '50s and early '50s. 60, performing songs like “Just a Little Too Much,” “It's Late,” and “Believe What You Say.”

And in what is considered by many to be the best rock 'n' roll movie ever made, 1956's The Girl Can't Help It, the Telecaster (in the one-off version of Esquire) appears a pair. The guitar is first seen in the hands of Little Richard's guitarist (probably Ray Montrell or Ed Blanchard) in the hard rock "Ready Teddy" and "She's Got It"; Guitarist Russell Willaford played a later piece in Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps' Be Bop a Lula.

In the world of R&B, players like BB King and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown are already coming to Telecaster. And when the great Muddy Waters, the creator of Delta blues, first visited England in 1958, he shocked audiences who were expecting rustic acoustic sounds by performing hits. blues on his Telecaster. For many young players in the United Kingdom, Waters' October 1958 tour was the first time they saw the Telecaster in real life. The dramatic effects of this will become apparent in the following decade.

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In the world of country music, Luther Perkins accompanied Johnny Cash from 1954 on by playing bright, catchy verses on Telecaster and Esquire. Farther west, in Bakersfield, Calif., Buck Owens is discovering how to get the Telecaster to operate in a loud and simple country style, in stark contrast to the smooth, heavy country sounds of the time. trending in Nashville. The telecaster would become the basis of the "Bakersfield Sound" pioneered in the late 1950s and popularized in the 1960s by Owens and his band, the Buckaroos, Merle Haggard and the Strangers, among others.

The Telecaster also made big strides in the 1950s as a must-have studio version guitar. It didn't take long to become an essential element in the "army" of studio "veterans" across the country and A-list veterans Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco all there is telecaster.

Although largely unchanged during the 1950s, some minor adjustments to the Telecaster were made during the guitar's first decade. The color of the pickguard was changed from black to white in 1954; Its pickup selector switch tip was changed from the original round to a "headgear" type in 1955. Perhaps the biggest change of the decade came in 1958, when the Telecaster was once only available. Blouse is available for the first time with eye-catching customization, color finishes at an additional cost of 5 percent. The first major new version of this model did not appear until 1959, when the Custom Telecaster was introduced, with its rosewood keyboard.

All in all, the Telecaster was a brilliant success story in its decade of its birth. The 1950s saw the Telecaster rise from obscurity in the region to a nationwide staple (with worldwide acclaim) as rock 'n' roll proved to be nothing. It's just a fad, and youth culture has blossomed like never before in the United States. Telecaster has both style and quality; Form and function exist indefinitely as a valuable tool and a powerful symbol. It's about time it changed music in the United States of the 50s.

By the end of 1959, as the decade was coming to an end, quite a few of these British children were eager to take in all the energy a Telecaster they could get their hands on. These include 16-year-old Keith Richards and George Harrison, 15-year-old Jeff Beck and James Page, 14-year-old Eric Clapton and Peter Townshend, 13-year-old classmates Roger “Syd” Barrett and David Gilmour, 17-year-old Andy Summers, and many others. again. They all immersed themselves in the sound of Telecaster in the 1950s, and they all ended up getting their hands on Telecaster guitars.

THE 1960s

In its first decade, the Telecaster succeeded and proved itself. It debuted in early 1951 as an innovative new instrument from a small upstart Southern California producer serving the region's dance and swing band guitarists. However, Telecaster was completely separate from the intentions of its creators, which propelled the emergence just a few years later of rock 'n' roll and the explosion in American youth culture that followed. , and by the late 1950s it was an unexpected success as an indispensable staple for guitarists of many styles and genres across the country.

Oddly enough, perhaps, things got off to a slow start, because rock 'n' roll really disappeared in the United States by 1960. Elvis Presley was in the Army; Young Richard traded his piano for a podium; Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Alan Freed all disappeared after scandal and legal trouble; Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash in 1959 and Eddie Cochran was killed in a car crash in 1960. The void that followed was filled with schmaltzy ballads, reverberating teen idols and bands. Female music, although they have their own charm, are not particularly guitar-oriented. Except for a few bright spots in the Motown genre, things looked a bit bleak for electric guitars in mid-1960s American pop music.

As it turns out, true salvation comes from across the Atlantic and from seemingly improbable saviors. Turns out rock 'n' roll is still alive and well in the UK; rescued by skinny English kids, kids who can't get enough of authentic American blues and rock 'n' roll, and kids who eagerly devour every James Burton solo, every riff of Chuck Berry, every Eddy Cochran lyrics and every Scotty Moore chord. They mastered rock 'n' roll and made it their own on any third-class guitar they could get their hands on, never dreaming that in a very short time they would be the worlds. reintroduced this form — explosively — to the country in which the instrument was born.

At the end of 1959, these English children included 16-year-old Keith Richards and George Harrison, 15-year-old Jeff Beck and James Page, 14-year-old Eric Clapton and Peter Townshend, 13-year-old schoolmates Roger "Syd" Barrett and David Gilmour, Andy Summers, 17 years old and many more. They spent the 1960s-1962 continuing to absorb American rock 'n' roll music and further enhancing their largely self-taught musical education; Some have performed publicly with their first band.

Back in the United States, the Telecaster weathered the 1960s-1962 era when its brothers, the Stratocaster (1954) and the now established Jazzmaster (1958), maintained a slim position on the charts by leveraged the vocals of performers and acts like Dick Dale, the Beach Boys and the Ventures. However, the interesting Telecaster sound was made. Motown house guitarist Joe Messina often uses Telecaster, and in the west, Bakersfield, Calif., singer/guitarist Buck Owens has pioneered the loud, no-frills anti-Nashville country sound. mixed with the sound of his Telecaster.

Perhaps the first truly quintessential 1960s Telecaster album came out in October 1962 with the release of Green Onions by the instrumental R&B quartet Memphis Booker T. & the MGs Its title track was a success. resounding public; both the guitar and the album introduced to the world the impeccable expression of Missouri-born guitarist/producer/songwriter Steve Cropper. Throughout the rest of the decade, as a member of Booker T. & the MGs and as a house guitarist for Stax, Cropper's graceful Telecaster appeared on numerous hit hits, including “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” (Otis Redding, 1965), “In the Midnight Hour” (Wilson Pickett, 1965) and “Soul Man” (Sam and Dave, 1967).

Meanwhile, in California, Buck Owens' career took off. He first entered the Billboard country charts in 1959 with the 10th and 11th singles, "Second Fiddle" and "Under Your Spell Again", and 1960's "Above and Beyond" peaked at number three. . Owens opposed the smooth Nashville "country" sound that was so popular at the time by fighting for the loud, raw, and rustic sound fueled by the hum of the Telecaster — what would later come to be "Bakersfield Sound".

Owens and his band, the Buckaroos, recorded the Johnny Russell-written song "Act Natural" in Los Angeles in February 1963 at a performance marked by Buckaroos fiddle player Don Rich for the first time. appeared on the lead guitar (Owens's Telecaster). Featuring a viral telecaster riff, "Act Natural" was released in March of that year, entering the Billboard charts in April and catapulting Owens to stardom when it became his first number-one hit. in June. So firmly established, Bakersfield Sound played on Telecaster will compete with Nashville over the course of the decade as its other hit-makers climb up the charts.

The British "invasion" of 1964 needs a little introduction. After the phenomenal success of The Beatles, first at home in the United Kingdom and then around the world, mainstream rock music became as powerful (and sometimes frenetic) as guitar-driven as never had before. Fenders have come to England in ever greater numbers and are beginning to appear with great signs in the hands of those children - now young men - who have devoured the sound of the United States. Crazy 1950s period.

In July 1964, a London quintet called the Yardbirds appeared on the Granada Television show Go Tell it on the Mountain, playing "Louise" and "I Wish You Would." What's remarkable about the appearance is that while initially a lot of British bands played guitars from producers other than Fender, 19-year-old Yardbirds guitarist Eric Clapton played both songs on a red Telecaster. .

Elsewhere in London, in 1965, guitarist Pete Townshend of the Who faced a nasty problem. The Who became known not only for their sound but also for their violent acts on stage, which in late 1965 frequently culminated when Townshend smashed his guitar at the end of the song. ended "My Generation. However, smashing the exquisite Rickenbacker guitars for which Towshend is famous as a player has become extremely expensive, and to save money, he has started switching to using them." Telecaster for “My Generation” because they are cheaper and certainly easier to repair.

Also of note in 1965 was Clapton's departure from the Yardbirds in March of that year.

Clapton introduced his friend Jimmy Page as a replacement, but Page was reluctant to give up his lucrative career and suggested his friend Jeff Beck, who later joined the group. Beck's experimental and innovative guitar work exemplifies the Yardbirds' most successful period; His 18-month span featured hits such as "Heart Full of Soul", "I'm a Man", "Shapes of Things" and "Over Under Sideways Down", most of which he played. playing in a 1954 Esquire that was battered. Back in the United States in the mid-1960s, the Telecaster-bred Bakersfield sound continued to gain popularity. Nearly every Buck Owens album and single released between late 1963 and early 1968 reached number one on the Billboard country charts. A friend in California and early Bakersfield Sound fans also began to hit the charts with impressive success — in late 1966.

Perhaps no single 12-month period in the 1960s demonstrated the incredible versatility of the Telecaster more than the musical boom year of 1967. Muddy Waters, the "lion" of Delta blues, played. Telecaster on the Super Blues album with Bo Diddley and Littel Walter. At Abbey Road Studios in London on March 28, Paul McCartney used Esquire to record the guitar parts of "Good Morning Good Morning" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite" for The Beatles' important eighth album , Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . In the same building around the same time, Syd Barrett used Telecaster and Esquire samples to record Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

Two notable technical developments of the Telecaster were also marked in 1967. First, Fender (sold by Leo Fender in 1965 and now under the company brand name CBS) reconfigured the controls. of the guitar so that the three-way switch provides boom/both pickup/horse pickup operation. This means that, for the first time since 1952, the Telecaster once again has a switch setting that activates both pickups simultaneously. Second, songwriters Gene Parsons and Clarence White (the Byrd) invented the Parsons/White String Pull, later known as the B-Bender, and fitted it to White's 1956 Telecaster (Fender would release the Telecaster to be released). equipped his own B-Bender 33 years later).

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Equally important artistic and technical developments were ready for the Telecaster in 1968. Indeed, that was the year that saw the first truly significant design initiation for the Thinline Telecaster's lightweight guitar. Renowned German luthier Roger Rossmeisl, who came to Fender in early 1962 after a hugely influential career at Rickenbacker and successfully designed Fender's entry into the world of acoustic guitar essentially hollowing out the body. Telecaster, route the sections on both sides from the back and stick a thin piece of panel on the back. The Telecaster Thinline launched in 1968 and became a lasting success.

Also introduced in 1968 were the psychedelic "Paisley Red" and "Blue Flower" Telecaster models, so named for the color and pattern of the self-adhesive (!) their tops (each guitar has a clear pickguard). Although James Burton became intimately associated with the Paisley Red guitar, neither model lasted long.

Artistically, the Telecaster served as the main instrument of two epic debut albums recorded in 1968, both by UK artists. The first was Black Claw & Country Fever, by country/rockabilly/rock/R&B virtuoso guitarist Albert Lee, later known to many as “Mr. Telecaster.” The second is Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album, founded by Jimmy Page from the ashes of the Yardbirds. On Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page played a Telecaster (gifted by Jeff Beck) on tracks including “Dazed and Confused,” “Good Times Bad Times,” “Communication Breakdown,” “How Many More Times,” “You.” Shook Me”…

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However, no group was more representative of the 1960s than The Beatles, and as the decade draws to a close, so does the band's phenomenal career. Since recording "Ticket to Ride" in February 1965 with the drone Stratocaster, the Beatles have used the Fender more and more, and it was in the group's final movement that the Telecaster came into play. important.

George Harrison received an all rosewood Telecaster prototype built by Philip Kubicki of Fender. Harrison played the instrument on The Beatles' final album, Let It Be, and played it atop the London headquarters of The Beatles' company, Apple, during the famous rooftop concert on May 20. 1 in 1969, this would be the Beatles' last live performance (as seen in the 1970 documentary Let It Be). Fender put this guitar into production for a short time, but its unusual tone and considerable weight made it short-lived. Immediately after the rooftop concert, Harrison gave his rosewood Telecaster to Delaney Bramlett of Delaney & Bonnie (Delaney put it up for auction in 2003; it was bought by actor Ed Begley Jr. purchased with Harrison's estate).

And so the 1960s closed with Fender's original electric guitar being used more widely and diversely than ever before, with the company beginning to explore new innovations on the Telecaster that would continue to grow. in the next decade.

THE 1970s

The 1970s began for Telecaster with two of America's most famous masters making some major changes. First, James Burton had just joined Elvis Presley's band a year ago, playing the red Telecaster; now he is using Telecaster paisley. Second, Steve Cropper left Stax Records in the fall to form his own studio, TMI, where he will collaborate with and produce artists such as Jeff Beck, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Tower of Power, Rod Stewart and many more. others. The decade that followed would see even greater changes and even greater acclaim and success for both of these men.

As 1970 drew to a close, an article appeared in the December 9 issue of the Washington Post in which writer Tom Zito described a visit to a dark suburban pub in Bladensburg, Md., received called Crossroads Restaurant and Supper Club, where he met Danny Denver's family band and the Soundmasters. While the location itself is not at all impressive, Zito wrote that "What makes Crossroads so remarkable is the presence of one man, Roy Buchanan, who provided what could be the selection. best rock guitar in the world."

Zito's post was reprinted in Rolling Stone two months later in February 1971, and Arkansas-born eccentric and extraordinarily talented guitarist Roy Buchanan, 31, suddenly found himself famous after more than 15 years of hard work that relatively few people know about. Burton in Dale Hawkins' band in the late 1950s.

As of writing, it's hard to appreciate what Buchanan was able to do with a guitar. He simply takes the work to another level, creating incredible solos, haunting cello-like spikes, and otherworldly harmonies and feedback. from his main instrument, the 1953 Telecaster which he nicknamed "Nancy". Many people who see him believe they have just seen the greatest guitarist in the world.

The Rolling Stone reissue attracted interest from public broadcaster WNET, the flagship of the new PBS network at the time, which produced an hour-long documentary Introducing Roy Buchanan, which aired in May. Those 11 years and took his career to the next level. With his band, the charmingly named Snakestretchers, he released his independent debut solo album Buch and the Snakestretchers in late 1971 before signing to Polydor Records, where he recorded five solo albums before moving on Atlantic Records in 1976. to a standing ovation, however, Buchanan seemed to be running away from the limelight, seemingly uninterested in achieving major league stardom.

However, Roy Buchanan wasn't the only reason why 1971 was such a big year for Telecaster.

On the US West Coast, Fender continued its successful experimentation with the Telecaster beginning with the hollow Thinline in 1968, introducing a new version in which both single pickups were replaced by the company's first humbucking pickup. These are Fender Wide Range humbucking pickups developed by Seth Lover, who pioneered noise-canceling pickups at Gibson in the mid-1950s (PAF, most famous) and joined Fender in 1967. This pickup model proved to be quite popular, as well as a number of highlights guitarists who began tuning their Telecasters with humbucking pickups (especially in the neck position) in the late 1960s.

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In the United Kingdom, Keith Richards got his hands on a 1953 Telecaster in 1971, which quickly became his number one instrument many years later. He made a number of notable modifications, including the reverse installation of a humbucking PAF pickup in the horse, a six-saddle with the low-E saddle removed to suit his preference for the car. an open, G-tuned five-string guitar and a white Stratocaster-style switch tip in place of the original. Like Buchanan, Richards nicknamed it—“Micawber,” after a character in Dickens' David Copperfield.

In fact, Richards became a connoisseur of Telecaster in the 1970s, buying and nicknamed instruments of various classical genres, including the 1954 ("Malcolm") model and the five-year model. 1966 ("Sonny"). He uses the Telecaster regularly to this day.

Finally, any survey of the Telecaster in 1971 would be complete without noting that earlier that year, Jimmy Page used his version of '58 to record the solo part of the Led Zeppelin epic. quintessential "Stairway to Heaven" - one of his most famous guitar solos.

Back at Fender headquarters, Telecaster's experimentation continues to accelerate by institutionalizing the most popular mods players have made over the past few years — replacing the single-reel pickup with a thicker-sounding humbucking pickup. With Lover's Fender Wide Range's successful use of Lover's Fender Wide Range humbucking pickup on the Thinline model, Fender simply glued one in place on the solid-body Telecaster, adding a new pickguard design, pickup on/off switch and four control layout new knob, and here it is— Telecaster Custom, introduced in 1972.

At Fender, 1973 saw the last of three major design revisions of the Telecaster. The Telecaster Thinline and Telecaster Custom now add the Telecaster Deluxe, which features two humbucking pickups, a Stratocaster style head and a choice of stiff horse or tremolo.

The mid-1970s saw some of the most varied uses for which the Telecaster was ever made. From prog to punk, jazz mixed rockabilly to FM rock, and a sudden resurgence in blues to chart-topping pop, Fender's first guitar — largely unchanged — has become popular. than ever in the middle of the third decade.

The prototypical Telecaster moment came in 1975 when Long Branch, NJ native Bruce Springsteen achieved breakthrough success with his third album, Born to Run. The album made Springsteen a huge star and its famous black and white cover shows him leaning on the role of Clarence “The Big Man” Clemmons and wearing… Esquire – Telecaster/

1975 is also notable in the Telecaster story for the release of a relatively obscure debut album, American Music, by a Washington, D.C. trio called Danny and the Fat Boys. “Danny” in this case is Danny Gatton, a virtuoso guitarist widely regarded as one of the most technically gifted players to ever use a Telecaster.

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As the mid-1970s gave way to the latter part of the decade, Burton and Cropper remained as busy as ever. Burton performed extensively with Presley until the star's death in August 1977; he has also had time to record and perform with Emmylou Harris and John Denver. Cropper found himself in the spotlight again with unexpected success in 1978. As a member of the duo's backing band that year, Cropper appeared with them on Saturday Night Live and on the album. debut topped the Briefcase Full of Blues chart.

After the Sex Pistols opened on April 3, 1976, at the Nashville Rooms in London for his band, the 101'ers, pub rock artist John Mellor—better known by the stage name he had taken last year, Joe Strummer—swapped from pub to punk. Strummer has accepted an offer to be the lead singer in a new band featuring guitarists Mick Jones and Keith Levene, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Terry Chimes. Strummer carried his dilapidated 1966 Telecaster. The new band, Clash, made their live debut three months later, opening—as fatefully arranged—Sex Pistols at the Black Swan in Sheffield, England, on July 4, 1976.

Elsewhere in London at the time, another band united to reach even greater heights. Veteran UK guitarist Andy Summers (Dantalian's Chariot, Soft Machine, the Animals) returned to England in 1977 after a few years in the United States, during which time he studied music at California State University, Northridge. During his years in California, he bought a worn-out 1961 Custom Telecaster from one of his guitar students; heavily modified instrument with humbucking neck, phase switch, built-in preamplifier and boost, maple keyboard, etc.

Returning to London in '77, Summers recorded and performed a number of plays before accepting a mid-year invitation from musician Mike Howlett (former Gong) to participate in a new play called Strontium 90. That's when Summers met Howlett's other rookies, bassist/vocalist Gordon "Sting" Sumner and drummer Stewart Copeland, who formed their own trio earlier that year called Police. The Strontium 90 only lasted a few gigs and some sneaky demos, but the Sting-Copeland-Summers combination showed great results and Summers replaced the original Police guitarist, Henry Padovani in August and the rest is history.

North West London in March 1978, in Hereford, singer, songwriter and guitarist using Telecaster, Hereford, Ohio-born Chrissie Hynde assembled a four-member band with a lineup that quickly matched match with her, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott, bassist Pete Farndon and drummer Martin Chambers. Hynde named the band the Pretenders, and they recorded their first single, a cover of Kinks' "Stop Your Sobbing," later that year.

And so the Telecaster hit the final notes of the third decade, used more than ever by guitarists, "warriors" and newcomers of the US and UK. In the 1970s, as always, the guitar itself remained largely unchanged while the music varied wildly. As the 1980s began, Fender itself was poised for seismic change — and its first electric guitar was once again in the hands of seasoned professionals who now revered it with a new sense of history and a new generation of young people. Imaginative newbies who will chart new musical territory and define their own new decade with it.

THE 1980s AND AFTER...

Telecaster has entered its indispensable fourth decade on the cusp of a resurgent UK rock and pop wave. New-wave, tight punk-focused Davids of the late 1970s and early 1980s won charts and critical acclaim from the blues-based Goliaths of the early and mid-1980s. 70s using those very same instruments—the Telecaster leader among them. Thus, the giants that dominated the UK in the '70s like Led Zeppelin, Yes and Pink Floyd split into giants that dominated the UK in the '80s of a whole new and different kind, for example like Police, Clash and Pretenders.

Especially the Police. The famous blonde trio became the biggest band in the world during the first half of the 1980s, hit after hit and achieved unprecedented visibility thanks to the arrival of MTV, which blasted off a captivating sound. their glam and photogenic looks 24 hours a day. Regardless of looks and marketing, however, Police has a solid music to it, and their empire is founded on a solid songcraft foundation fueled by Andy Summers' incredible original Telecaster. .

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The clash also reached its artistic and commercial climax in the first half of the 1980s. Like Summers, frontman Joe Strummer also used a dilapidated 60s Telecaster, to which he was constantly taped with cannons. brand that befits their group's early 80s status as the "only band that matters". The London-style epic double album Calling was released in late 1979, but was really an album for the 1980s and included the band's first US Top 40 hit, "Train in Vain".

Strummer used the 1966 Telecaster through two other hit Clash albums of the period, Sandinista! (1980) and Combat Rock (1982) before the band began to disband. However, he remained a respected post-punk figure until 1986, when he was also honored (after Strummer's death in 2002) by Fender in the late 2000s with a reimagined tribute Telecaster model. Create his battle-hardened guitar down to the last detail.

However, in Fender's hometown, all is not well. After nearly two decades of general oblivion, quality control problems, and budget cuts under CBS, the Fender of the early 1980s was a far cry from its former greatness. It has now suffered a dismal reputation for production, as noted guitarist and author Tom Wheeler included it in his 2011 history of Fender Custom Shop, The Dream Factory, guitars. guitar "boat anchor" and sales began to decline along with the quality. A late 70s Telecaster might look like a 1950s or early 1960s ancestor, but that's about it, and around this time it started to spread that if you want a really good Fender instrument , you need an old one (this is when the commonly heard term “pre-CBS” originated).

To remedy this situation, CBS hired former Yamaha executive William “Bill” Schultz as Fender president and Dan Smith as electric guitar marketing director. Both men set out to improve Fender's fortunes; and one of the first things Smith did was restore the Telecaster's original body shape, which had been altered slightly and not so elegantly in the 1970s to accommodate the capabilities of computer-powered body cutters. control.

Schultz, realizing that his recommendation to modernize Fender's manufacturing facilities in the United States largely meant halting production while machinery was updated and staff retrained, he proposed to make Fender guitars in Japan for the large Japanese market. This will keep Fender's instruments in production and counter the cheap copies that are eating up Fender's Far East sales.

One of the earliest results was the Vintage Reissue series, a high-quality new line that came out in 1982 and featured a well-built and largely historically accurate Telecaster model. These Vintage Japanese musical instruments were soon introduced to the European market as the Squier.

With U.S. production continuing but not reaching full peak in late 1983, Japanese-made Fender guitars — including the 70s-style Squier Telecaster — became available in the United States as well. Ky. The US factory produced the short-lived Elite Telecaster from 1983-1984, intended as a high-end model with humbucking pickup and active circuitry.

However, 1984 was also the year CBS decided to sell Fender. Schultz and a group of investors bought Fender in a sale that closed in March 1985, ending the unpopular CBS's 20-year rule. Possessing very few resources—only the name, distribution system, and some leftover inventory and machinery (no U.S. factories)—Schultz set out to rebuild and revive Fender. While Fender Japan has now become the main Fender instrument manufacturer in the world, Schultz and his staff established headquarters for the newly renamed Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in Brea, Calif., and acquired a 14,000-square-foot factory in Corona, Calif., in October 1985. At this point, Telecaster's modern-day history begins.

In the mid-1980s beginning under Bill Schultz, Fender began by focusing on quality rather than quantity, starting with a small number of re-released classical guitars and basic modern instruments. redesigned as American Standard models. The American Standard Telecaster appeared in 1988, updated with 22 frets, a stronger-sounding pickup, and a six-saddle horse.

Meanwhile, the Fender Custom Shop had been established in 1987, and one of the first orders they received was for Telecaster Thinline for Cars left-handed guitarist Elliot Easton. From that year onwards, the Custom Shop will continuously elevate the Telecaster from a mere utilitarian "pack horse" into a work of art.

Since that late '80s revival, the Telecaster once again reigns supreme as a must-have instrument for guitarists of all genres and styles worldwide. Many variations have been offered since then, but fundamentally, the Telecaster is still as great an instrument as it was when the world first heard it in the early 1950s. It continues to embody the innovative spirit of Fender and dedication to sound and performance excellence. And it can still be beaten.

And in its modern era, new masters discovered the Telecaster while the stalwarts remained with it and others, sadly, went away.

The modern telecaster was used by many grunge guitarists in the early 1990s for several huge boom years when that genre dominated rock music. In the mid-1990s in the UK, innovative Britpop guitarists like Blur's phenomenally talented Graham Coxon and Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood put the Telecaster to considerable creative (and hit) use.

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In the 2000s, Telecaster was everywhere, from modern country (Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley) to modern metal (John 5 and Jim Root) to modern alt-indie (Frank Black, Franz). Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Jimmy Eat World and countless others.

As the Telecaster 50th anniversary approached, the Fender Custom Shop celebrated by introducing a limited edition of 50 Leo Fender Broadcaster models in 2000 featuring Leo Fender's signature on the top in lieu of the standard logo. . That year also saw the birth of the American Nashville B-Bender Telecaster, which used a mechanical device that increased the pitch of the B string to the full tone (up to C#), creating melodious, melodic bends. very similar to those created on an acoustic guitar pedal.

Since then, Fender has offered numerous modern Telecaster models designed to fit any guitarist's playing style, personality and budget. In addition to the many artist models and upcoming Telecaster American Vintage guitar lines, Fender has introduced a wide variety of Telecaster variations, from authentic traditions to exceptional modifications, from original to vintage and from high end to pocket money. Some of these models include the Classic Player (2006), Road Worn (2009) and American Special (2010), all of which have helped give Telecaster the lead in modern electric guitars. In 2017, Fender released the American Professional Telecaster (also available for lefties, and the Telecaster Deluxe Shawbucker features a classic design and innovative new features.

Much of the history of modern popular music owes much of its sound to the Telecaster and the spirit of innovation and design excellence embodied in the instrument's elegantly balanced form. Its form and sound are still instantly recognizable, and it remains a staple of countless musicians worldwide, who praise its form and function more or less today. more than they did in the 1950s and every decade since. The Telecaster is an original that remains, as simple and as ever, indispensable.