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Fender’s first solid-body electric guitar debuted in 1950 as the one-pickup Esquire. Fewer than 50 of the white-pickguard, black-finish ash guitars were made, and many of those were returned due to the lack of a truss rod in the instrument’s bolt-on maple neck (without a stabilizing rod, the neck tended to bend).

By the end of that same year, a two-pickup model of the same guitar design, with a butters...

In April of 1951, the guitar finally got a name that stuck—the Telecaster. Early finishes ranged from "Tele blond" in 1955 to two types of sunbursts in 1957 and 1958. Any color in the Dupont Duco line was available for most of the 1950s, and in 1968, the company made a hippie-themed guitar with pink paisleys and blue flowers.

Subsequent models within the Telecaster family included the 1968 Thinline, whose ash or mahogany body was hollow on the bass side of the guitar—the empty chamber was revealed by an f-hole. A top-of-the-line Telecaster Custom from 1972 featured humbucker pickups, which gave the instrument a warmer sound than the bright one that had typified the original.

One of the biggest compliments the instrument has been given is the wide range of musicians who have embraced it. Elvis Presley and Merle Haggard played Telecasters, as did Buck Owens and Waylon Jennings. Eric Clapton played a Telecaster during his days with the Yardbirds (though he famously switched to a Stratocaster during his Derek and the Dominoes years), and George Harrison played a Telecaster during the "Let It Be" sessions. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones has been playing a Telecaster Custom almost since it was introduced in 1972, while Bruce Springsteen posed with his Telecaster on the cover of "Born To Run." Last but certainly not least is Jimmy Page, who played a his 1958, hand-painted, "Dragon Telecaster" on one of Led Zeppelin’s most enduring classics, "Stairway to Heaven."

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Recent News: Telecaster Guitars

Source: Google News

My Dad Is My Mother, My Brother, My Sister, My Everything
AllAfrica.com, February 8th

Three of my friends had died following the accident, the telecaster said, the words streaming from her mouth with an eerie tone. Who was it who had passed on? Was it my best friend? Was it someone I had once shared lunch with? Or a book? Or quarrel?...Read more

Did You Hear the One About Thompson Square and How They Keep It Two-gether?
Huffington Post, February 7th

They spent most of 2011 opening for Jason Aldean, then capped the year with seven nominations (and three victories in the form of Fender Telecaster guitars) at the American Country Awards in December. (The Thompsons with Aldean, right, at the ACAs.)...Read more

Virgin Forest - Easy Way Out
mxdwn.com, February 6th

Some emotive Telecaster whelps are floated over top, as well, and it's just pitch-perfect, feeling like hours of emotion compressed into four minutes. Easy Way Out is by no means an easy album. It's not about transcendence, resolution, or even recovery...Read more

Guitarist Bill Frisell plays World Cafe
Philadelphia Inquirer, February 1st

The guitarist was outfitted with only his Telecaster and a modest array of pedals and was accompanied by viola virtuoso Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston (whose economy of style can recall the recently deceased Paul Motian, the octogenarian jazz...Read more

Bellevue man gets jail, probation for stealing guitar from casket
Green Bay Press Gazette, January 31st

Evan Siegle/Press-Gazette Steven Conard, convicted of stealing a Fender Telecaster guitar from Randall Jourdan's casket, apologizes to Jourdan's relatives in Brown County Circuit Judge Marc Hammer's courtroom at the Brown County Courthouse in Green Bay...Read more

Ballagh portrait strikes chord with Eleanor's heart
Irish Independent, January 20th

Singer Eleanor McEvoy poses with a Fender Telecaster guitar beside the portrait of her painted by Robert Ballagh, which now hangs in the National Concert Hall. JASON CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHY By Allison Bray INTERNATIONALLY accl-aimed singer Eleanor McEvoy...Read more

NAMM 2012: Brand New Jim Root and Avril Lavigne Squier Telecasters
Guitar International, January 20th

Squier is introducing three new artist signature models at NAMM 2012, the Avril Lavigne Telecaster®, the Jim Root Telecaster® and the Mikey Way Mustang® Bass. These three signature models promise star-like vibe and tone at the expected incredible...Read more

NAMM 2012: Squier releases JIM ROOT (SLIPKNOT/STONE SOUR) Telecaster Guitar
Kik Axe Music and Entertainment, January 19th

NAMM 2012 Press Release: Squier brings you a brand-nu signature model in the crushing form of the Squier Jim Root Telecaster. Designed in cooperation with the acclaimed Slipknot/Stone Sour guitarist, it boasts several foreboding features, most notably...Read more

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