Stratocaster vs. Telecaster

Telecaster slab design with the straight head stock is about as durable I think you can make an electric guitar out of wood

My kid is approaching 2 so my Telecaster is the guitar I keep upstairs so I can fuck around in the living room; so much less likely to break than the ephiphone dot with the angled headstock and the 45 year old Yamaha acoustic which are high up on the wall in the basement.

And man I love rewiring guitars - both of mine have push-pull pots for phase shifting, a 4 way switch in the telecaster, a coil split pot in the Epiphone, etc. Split coils in the Epiphone humbuckers don't really sound like single coils, and the extra series position in the Tele doesn't really sound like a humbucker but both are fun options.

http://www.tdpri.com/attachments/curtele-jpg.302495/

^^^^^^
as long as we're playing the "this guy plays this" game

Hells yes.

As a player, I love them both, but probably play Strats more, perhaps because they're more comfortable and more elegant.

Versatility for its own sake is a red herring IMO. If there are ten settings and I only like the sound of two of them, I'd rather just have a guitar with two settings and lose the clutter. I like neck pickups (and, on Strat, the neck/middle) vs. bridge pickups. I don't mind switching to a different guitar if I want a different sound. Why would I want a coil-splitting Gibson that can sound _almost_ like a Strat, when I could have an actual Strat?

As a listener, I think less in terms of "this guy played this kind of guitar" - because there are so many people who have used both in so many different ways - and more about legacy/influence, the way that the people using that tool have shaped the way music in general sounds.

A clean pure Strat rhythm sound has been a wonderful influence on music - I am thinking mainly of Nile Rogers here. You can't have a beefy humbucky Les Paul in that musical space, nor a fuzzy high-gain metalloid tone. I'm also grateful to people like Richard Thompson who use that nice bitey single-coil sound to play things that are complex and precise and melodic. Using it for singing leads inna Gilmour style is acceptable (though not my favorite use).

I do wish it weren't so associated with Claptonian/Vaughnian blooz doodz, because that path leads to Eric Johnson and John Mayer and their associated bloozwankery.

From the Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan mindset, you see lots of country/jazz musicians that embrace the Tele. Many players can get a very big box jazz sound out of those guitars. While he plays all sorts of guitars, Bill Frisell plays a Tele quite a bit. Mike Stern played a Tele then a Yamaha based on a Tele.

I think the modular nature of the designs are really big. You got everyone from Clarence White taking a big hunk out and inventing a 'b bender' Tele to Eddie Van Halen carving up his like Frankenstein. "Oh hell...how did that wire again...screw it, i'm just going to plug it up to the single volume knob...I can't screw that up." All of Hendrix and Clapton's famous Strats were mongrels made from parts on multiple guitars.

Yeah, Springsteen's Tele, possibly the most iconic Tele, is a mongrel, too.

Man, Frisell has been all over the place - made his name with an SG - but he does tend to stick with one for a while. His Tele of the last several years is a beaut. Always impressed when blues guys like Albert Collins go Tele.

Indeed, Blind Faith-era Clapton played a hybrid Tele/Strat

Strats are incredibly hard to play well, ime, the action is so sensitive.

I remember seeing a quote from Jimmy Page somewhere, in which he'd been asked to compare the Les Paul to his former axe of choice, the Telecaster. He commented that the Tele "pushes back" at you a lot more, but "that has its own rewards". I have an SG and a Strat hanging beside me here, and I think I know what he was getting at. It feels like the combination of neck scale and pickups on Fender guitars necessitate that you up your game when you plug them in. Something like 'Little Wing' turns into a trainwreck real quick on the Strat if I'm out of practice. By comparison, the SG is much more forgiving, but of course it's not always going to give you the sound or feel that you need.
I would guess that the Tele will win the poll, if for no other reason than the sense that the Strat is still tainted by association with Clapton in the '80s - blooze, booze, rolled-up sleeves and Lace Sensors.

voting tele because of Prince and Alasdair MacLean from the Clientele whose setup I'd want to copy if I ever buy an electric guitar:

https://www.guitar.com/sites/guitar.com/files/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/clientele_alasdair_2008.jpg

why's the strat more comfortable?

P-Bass vs. Jazz Bass
Poll Closing Date: Friday, December 9, 2016 7:00 PM (in 1 month)

choose one, and defend your position. you may choose from the perspective of a musician, or a music fan, or whatever else. just choose!

*Dingwall
*An unhewn hunk of spalted maple

Playing a les paul feels so liquidy, it's like being a dolphin gliding around. Fenders are more like a Chinese pipa, each note is a fucking NOTE.

Weirdly the guitar I really want is an early 80s ibanez roadstar because that's what curt kirkwood used for Meat Puppets' Up On the Sun, my favorite gtr record. I actually saw one for cheap last time I was visiting my mom in St. Paul, I hope it's still there next time I go.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Telly_Savalas_Kojak_1973.JPG/220px-Telly_Savalas_Kojak_1973.JPG

niels, specifically the body carve in the back and the bevel on the lower bout.

Meat Puppets' Up On the Sun, my favorite gtr record

:)

Unexpectedly...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vPK8LVdf5I

Yeah, Page gravitated toward the Strat towards the end there, which iirc is why Zeppelin had to break up.

I have a couple of Teles, which I really love - there's a kind of chrome-platedness to not only the sound but the feel of the things that appeals to me. One of 'em is a Cabronita, which has a humbucker for a bridge pickup. It gets nice 'n growly. But I find playing above the 12th fret really tough with these guitars - the blocky body gets in the way. I bought an SG (epi, w/e, my Teles are Squiers too) and liked how I could get right up the fretboard without interference, but I'm not crazy on the tone altho the neck pickup can get real nice and roary.

I've never liked the quackiness of a Strat, tho I'm sure most of that is my crappy technique. "Tone emanateth from the fingers."

Looking for a guitar that had a Tele feel with upper-neck playability & stumbled on a Squier '51. Wasn't actually looking for Fenders but there it was in the pawnshop, cheap like borscht, so I went for it. Really digging it so far - it's a Tele neck with a slightly awkward Strat-style body. Splittable humbucker at the bridge plus a single-coil neck pickup. Needs testing in rehearsals & gigs before I make the call to say this is the one, but I like it a lot so far. Can be piercing or crunchy (haven't found the "gentle" setting yet). Slightly more forgiving to play than a Tele - a spongier neckfeel - but it's a little more uptight than a Strat. And it doesn't require huge hands to play above the 12th fret, so: mission accomplished. For now.

http://www.guitarsite.com/news/images/ugly07/s20superhero.jpg
http://www.tdpri.com/attachments/dragon_slayer-jpg.39497/

Those '51s look interesting. I don't think I'd paid them any attention until now. Any idea why they're called '51 though? What's that about?

Not sure, never heard an explanation of the 51 name. It must be said that they are very cheaply made guitars, single ply scratch plate, cheap hardware, characterless pickups etc. so don't expect a "sleeper". People have loved them as modding platforms but despite the great design they feel like a budget Indonesian made guitar.
Neck is very full in the hand, and that plus the satin finish was a winning combo for some people. I had one and it always felt cheap to me, I'd go back to my "real" 1983 Squier Japan Tele Custom and it was a whole other level of quality. But that's one of my all time favourites so the competition is tough.
Fender put out a MIJ version of the 51 in their Pawn Shop series a few years ago, I never tried one of those.
I always think a Tele is like a futon and a Strat is like a spring mattress. I have always preferred to sleep on a futon but there are times I sleep on a spring mattress and it feels just right.

i really wish i could get a G&L 80s version of either, those are great

man I'd probably sell you my ASAT, I love it but I never use it any more. I've never owned a strat so I can't really vote with anything but "the one I chose to buy is the one I like" but whenever I've tried 'em out in studios, they're not my choice. but then again I can't shred. you have to promise not to be mean when I use the proceeds of the sale to buy a pre-'96 PRS.

Gibson hate on this thread is of course ridiculous, LP > Strat for me

Start looking at $2k plus for a new instrument and Fender and Gibson hate are both kinda justified compared to the abundance of better-quality small shop Gibson and Fender-inspired instruments. Wouldn't buy a brand new one of either, although in my experience new Gibsons are more obviously carelessly put-together than new Fenders. New Fenders are not bad guitars, but there's a guy in your town making a better Telecaster.

I'd agree w/that if yr talking about recent-build Fenders & Gibsons for sure, really no reason to buy one of those. classic Gibsons I will stan for they sound f'in' awesome.

We are in agreement!

BUT -- 'cause you knew that was coming -- the air gets rare fast with the good old instruments in terms of price. I'm a bass dude and watch that world more; there aren't a whole lot of undiscovered good Gibson models out there these days, and the ones I like are prone to headstock breakage. I still covet a Epiphone Embassy a lot, but as the prices approach $5k for one with an unbroken headstock, I look at what's out there for $4k from some starving genius and wonder if the coveting is a little silly.

I've found a good strategy is buying Mexican made Fenders and then with the hundreds of dollars saved spend a little more on upgrading pickups and electronics. I have a Mexican Tele and a Mexican Strat with great Fralin pick-ups, and an Epi Les Paul with Lollar noise-cancelling P-90s. Each guitar probably cost around $400, max, then I independently spent a little extra on the upgrades. (I also have an SG, a '61 reissue, but I play that the least.)

My fave guitar was a '52 reissue American-made 1993 Tele (1993 being a great year, for some reason - maybe the custom shop guys were still involved more?) that got stolen. It had Fralin pickups, too, and sounded awesome, and was weirdly light as well (relatively speaking).

Hm, I've been pretty happy with the Cherry Dot ES-335 I picked up three years ago. Is there a less expensive version you guys prefer?

I don't know what you paid, and I don't have your instrument in front of me. But this thing is a monster with breathtaking workmanship: http://www.schwarz-custom.de/cardinal.html

Isn't the Gibson company really shitty politically too?

as of late yep. read lots of stuff about disgruntled employees and management basically running the company into the ground

This is way too good to just talk about on IMM: Gibson Guitars supremely embarrassing Tea Party pandering "Government Series"

I refuse to vote in this until the options are changed to S-500 vs ASAT

Also yes Gibson is a horrible company both on the political side, and to work for.

I've played an American Standard Tele and it was the best guitar I played in my life. It's just so transparent - every tiny nuance of your fingers comes right through, in a good way. You can make it sound like anything you want. Strats never felt right to me and they sounded generic in comparison.

I don't know what you paid, and I don't have your instrument in front of me. But this thing is a monster with breathtaking workmanship: http://www.schwarz-custom.de/cardinal.html

That's an unfortunate logo. Who wants SCHVATZ on their headstock?

Shvar

Starting price on that thing is $4454 US, which by my estimates is around double what I've spent in my entire life on musical gear in total - and this includes my recent extravagant splurge (for me) on a 1978 Princeton Reverb.

man those things look NICE.

x-post: I believe it, joygoat, and there's no shame in that -- I'm just saying compare the Schwarz with a new Gibson ES 335 around the same price (and they make a couple that are more expensive) and the Gibson comes off looking very, very bad.

JC: I've only touched the guitars, but I've played the basses. They are all that.

That's an unfortunate logo.

Schwanz?

Yeah, Gibson is shit politically and environmentally, and I would have probably shopped around more if I knew what I know now. (I think the whole classical guitar industry is a little problematic environmentally tbh, as an aside.) The Schwarz definitely costs more than what my Gibson did, if I'm reading the price right, but I'm definitely going to want to check one out if you're saying it puts the 335 to shame!

Check this out, S: http://www.leonardo-guitar-research.com/

Whoa, thanks. I just bought one less than a year ago, and it was 40 years old so at least no new trees were cut down for it, but I'll definitely remember that.

I'd also take a serious look at Heritage as a modern Gibson alternative.

http://heritageguitar.com

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder464/54312464.jpg

i play a tele. I've never liked strats. that's all.

i've heard nothing but good things about heritage but damn those headstocks are hideous

having said that, i've just acquired a prs s2 starla and totally fallen in love with it after previously regarding prses as the tools of ponytailed session men, rich assholes and carlos santana so my judgement may well be impaired