Anybody who doubts the Telecaster is one of the best guitar ever made wants solely to listen to Albert Lee’s blackguard go to work on Emmylou Harris’ 1976 album, Luxurious Liner. Nonetheless unconvinced? Throw a Tele, Strat, and Les Paul down a flight of stairs. Guess which is able to keep in tune?

Launched in January of 1951, the Telecaster altered the material of common music. Perfection is within the ear of the beholder, however there are those that want to push the envelope. And each superpicker is aware of there’s all the time room for enchancment.

Listed here are seven examples of gamers who dared to push the world’s greatest solidbody past the bounds of creativeness.

Clarence White
Born June 7, 1944, Clarence White was an revolutionary guitarist who mixed his ardour for bluegrass, nation, and rock and roll. He’s greatest recognized for his work with The Byrds, The Kentucky Colonels, and periods for The Monkees, Ricky Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, The Everly Brothers, and Jackson Browne. That’s simply the quick listing.

A revered guitarist, White was a teenaged flatpicking monster within the Kentucky Colonels. A hybrid picker who broke from bluegrass custom (utilizing solely open first-position chords) to discover the fretboard. With the Nashville West band in ’67, he started in search of a solution to play pedal-steel licks on his ’54 Tele. Working with the mechanically inclined multi-instrumentalist Gene Parsons, he quickly after devised what would develop into the Parsons/White Pull-String. Parsons constructed the primary model in ’68.

With The Byrds starting in ’68, he used a Fender Vibrolux within the studio whereas preferring greater amps onstage, together with a Twin Showman, a hot-rodded Twin Reverb, a Tremendous Reverb, and a Leslie cupboard miked in stereo.

On July 15, 1973, as he was loading his gear into his automotive after a gig in California, White’s automotive was struck head-on by one other pushed by a drunk driver. He died on the scene.

An innovator, a virtuoso, and a major affect on guitarists to this present day, White not solely helped change the position of the acoustic guitar in bluegrass, he redefined the sound of the electrical guitar in nation music. Inducted to the Worldwide Bluegrass Music Affiliation Corridor of Fame in 2016, he was inducted a second time in ’19 as a member of the Kentucky Colonels.

Terry Kath
Born January 31, 1946, Terry Kath was some of the proficient and intense gamers of his technology. A member of the unique lineup of The Chicago Transit Authority (later, Chicago), his use of amps and results was revolutionary within the late ’60s, and his hot-rodded Tele is among the most recognizable devices within the historical past of rock and roll.

Kath began on a Kay and later bought a Stratocaster, then added a Gibson SG and a ’69 Les Paul Skilled to his arsenal. In 1974, he started utilizing his well-known ’66 Tele, which was closely modified and wearing Pignose amp decals and a Chicago Blackhawks brand. Its neck pickup was changed with a Gibson humbucker, whereas the Tele bridge pickup remained inventory.

The bridge was changed with a six-saddle hybrid from a Strat vibrato. Its physique was routed, its management plate flipped, tuners have been changed, and two further string bushes have been added. Kath’s most prized instrument, after 1974 it was basically the one guitar he performed, normally by a Twin Showman.

Kath was a power of nature onstage and massively essential to the band’s success because of his knack for stylish composing and his visceral vocal supply. As a participant, he was a beast on the wah pedal and a mad scientist establishing amps. Take a look at his guitar work on “25 or 6 to 4,” “Free Type Guitar,” “Make Me Smile,” “Introduction,” and “Track of the Evergreens.”

On January 23, 1978, Kath died of an unintentional gunshot to the top eight days earlier than his thirty second birthday. In 2015, his daughter, Michelle Kath Sinclair, wrote and produced the documentary The Terry Kath Expertise, for which she tracked down the long-lasting Telecaster after it had been misplaced for many years.

Kath was a forward-thinking guitarist, inventor, composer, and a key determine in selling and growing Pignose amps. In 2016, he was inducted to the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame.

Cornell Dupree
Born on December 19, 1942, Cornell Dupree started his skilled profession in Fort Value. Falling beneath the spell of Johnny “Guitar” Watson, he grew to become a effective blues participant and got here in shut proximity to artists like T-Bone Walker, Lowell Fulson, Lightning Hopkins, and Albert Collins. Being from Texas, Dupree was uncovered to nation music, as nicely.

The final word soul-guitar bundle, he blended the sounds of southern R&B, blues, jazz, and nation. His sultry strains will be heard in quite a lot of musical settings, together with “Rock Regular” by Aretha Franklin, “Kodachrome” by Paul Simon, “Crimson China Blues” by Miles Davis, and Brook Benton’s 1969 hit “Wet Evening in Georgia.”

Jazz aficionados are acquainted with his work, performing with Buddy Wealthy, Carmen McRae, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He performed on so many periods that he was given the nickname “Mr. 2,500,” for having performed on greater than 2,500 albums. He shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix in King Curtis’ Kingpins and opened for The Beatles. That’s Dupree’s guitar on the Wilson Pickett traditional “Within the Midnight Hour.” Grasp of tasteful R&B chordal gildings popularized by Curtis Mayfield and Jimi Hendrix, his guitar elements have been well-known for his or her area and really feel, all the time in assist of the vocalist. Dupree’s 1989 tutorial video, Mastering R&B Guitar, produced by Arlen Roth, is a must-own for R&B guitar aficionados.

Earlier than collaborating with Yamaha on a signature guitar, Dupree performed a blond ’67 Tele with the pickguard eliminated and its screw holes coated with rhinestones. He added a DeArmond pickup, flipped its management plate, and added a toggle to manage the DeArmond.

The Yamaha Cornell Dupree Pacifica 1512 had an ash physique, maple neck, Alnico V humbucker within the neck, GS6 single-coil within the center place, and a blade pickup on the bridge.

Dupree by no means grew to become a family title, however the sounds he made on the guitar have been ubiquitous within the heyday of radio and vinyl. His affect was additionally closely felt in soul, funk, and nation music. Within the African-American guitar custom, he stands shoulder to shoulder with Hendrix, Bobby Womack, Eric Gales, and Mayfield. Take a look at the band Stuff, the place he performed alongside Gales and Steve Gadd. Dupree handed away Might 8, 2011, of emphysema.

Robbie Robertson
Born July 5, 1943, Robbie Robertson grew up close to Toronto and studied beneath the tutelage of rock and curler Ronnie Hawkins.

Most well-known for being a member of The Band, Robertson’s ’65 Telecaster performed a pivotal position within the careers of Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Ringo Starr. Heard on 1965’s “Like A Rolling Stone,” the guitar (serial quantity L97811) was inventory with a maple neck and maple-cap fretboard. The physique was alder and the guitar weighed simply over seven kilos; Robertson felt it was excellent for touring. Dylan performed it on studio periods for Blonde on Blonde and on the 1965-’66 world tour, together with the oft-cited efficiency at Manchester Free Commerce Corridor, the place he was accused of being a “Judas” for going electrical. You hear it within the intro to “Leopard-Pores and skin Capsule-Field Hat.”

From Dylan to Robertson, the guitar appeared on Music From Huge Pink and was Robertson’s weapon of alternative for seven years afterward; he used it for The Band’s debut live shows in April of ’69, with Dylan on the Isle of Wight, and whereas recording The Band’s Stage Fright album. Robertson stripped the unique black end in 1970 and added a Bigsby in 2000. He additionally added a white pickguard and a chrome-covered Gibson PAF within the neck place.

Different songs it was featured on embrace “Up On Cripple Creek,” “Tears of Rage,” and “Chest Fever.” Throughout The Band’s Woodstock efficiency, it reduce by a dense combine on “Slippin’ and Slidin’” and “Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever.”

“I used to be all the time in search of a greater guitar, however I couldn’t beat the Tele,” Robertson stated on “Speak From the Rock Room” in 2019. “Every incarnation… appeared to present it a brand new life, together with a special inventive surge.” 

In 2018, the guitar was bought by Julien’s Auctions for $640,000 with one request; “Whoever finally ends up with this guitar, it’s important to deal with her with love.”

Robertson handed away August 9, 2023. In Might of ’24, the guitar bought once more at public sale, this time for $650,000.

Brent Mason
One of many 10 greatest session guitarists of all time, Grammy winner Brent Mason was found by Chet Atkins and has been voted “Guitarist of the 12 months” 12 instances by the Academy of Nation Music. An inductee to the Musicians Corridor of Fame, he’s additionally a solo artist and songwriter.

Mason’s signature Telecaster was born out of old school American ingenuity. Whereas breaking into the enterprise, he couldn’t afford a fleet of Strats, Teles, 335s, and Gretsches to accompany him on periods; he wanted one guitar that would do all of it. Inspiration struck in 1982, when he stumbled on a ’67 Tele with a perforated swamp ash physique that had been partially painted with automotive primer. It sounded higher than the rest he performed on the time.

Influenced by the ingenuity of Steve Morse and Peter Inexperienced, Mason experimented with varied pickups to create an all-purpose guitar. Famend Nashville tech/builder Joe Glaser added a string bender, center pickup, three-way pickup selector, and a Quantity pot to manage the center pickup’s output impartial of the three-way. These mods enabled Mason to get out-of-phase Strat sounds and uncover sonic candy spots when partaking the neck and bridge pickups.

His Fender signature mannequin is a reproduction of that guitar, fitted with three Seymour Duncan pickups together with a mini-humbucker within the neck place. It makes use of a Scorching Stack within the center place and a Classic Stack Tele on the bridge. The impartial Quantity management for the Scorching Stack provides quite a lot of tonal colours. Fender provides two variations, one a heavy relic. Each are geared up with Joe Glaser B-benders.

Mason has left an indelible stamp on nation music and the guitar. And whereas his popularity looms giant because the most-recorded guitarist in historical past, he’s a down-to-earth man you’d wish to commerce licks with whereas ingesting beers. Take a look at the title monitor from his solo album Scorching Wired, and be humbled.

Andy Summers
Earlier than he joined The Police, Andy Summers spent years toiling in Zoot Cash’s Huge Roll Band, Delicate Machine, Eric Burdon & The Animals, and Neil Sedaka’s band.

Within the early ’70s, he moved to Southern California, the place he studied classical guitar and composition at Cal State Northridge. He graduated in ’72, and as he was on the point of transfer again to the U.Okay., one in every of his guitar college students supplied to promote him a beat-up sunburst Telecaster Customized with an alder ’63 physique, ’61 neck, and a Gibson PAF within the neck place, and extremely modified switching (together with energetic increase managed by a 3rd knob).

Summers paid $200 for the guitar and instantly changed the inventory tuners with Schallers. Different mods embrace a brass nut, brass bridge plate with particular person brass saddles, and (later) a Tele pickup within the bridge place. In Summers’ 2006 memoir, One Prepare Later, he wrote, “It’s a fire-breather. After I begin to play it, one thing stirs inside me… I can’t cease enjoying it.”

A jazz guitarist at coronary heart, he grew to become well-known for his imaginative use of inverted chord voicings and Lenny Breau harp harmonics that added sophistication and an atmospheric high quality to Sting’s lyrics and melodies. Extrapolating rhythms from reggae, world, jazz, and pop, Summers combined results to create sheets of time-based sounds. His results consisted of the Electro-Harmonix Electrical Mistress, a Mu-Tron III Envelope Filter, a Maestro Echoplex EP-2 Tape Delay, an MXR Section 90, and the Roland GR-300 Synthesizer. Later, he used a pedalboard made by Pete Cornish. For amps, he switched between a Roland Bolt, a JC-120, Twin Reverbs, and Marshalls relying on his wants.

Summers’ Telecaster has been heard on a few of the Police’s largest songs, together with “Roxanne,” “Strolling On the Moon,” “Message In a Bottle” and “Each Breath You Take.” In 2007, the Fender Customized Store created a reproduction referred to as the Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster.

Steve Morse
Steve Morse’s physique of labor is astounding on many ranges. His enjoying with The Dixie Dregs, solo albums, and contributions to Deep Purple proceed to captivate and encourage. A Grammy winner with a championship left-hand vibrato, he’s the lacking hyperlink between Sure, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Allman Brothers, and Flatt and Scruggs.

On the drop of a hat, Morse can shift from hen pickin’ to Baroque classical and jazz-rock to onerous rock, Celtic tunes, or Led Zeppelin. Mere mortals discover his music demanding to carry out, however all the time edifying, and his now-retired elements Telecaster is the stuff of legend.

The origins of Morse’s date to 1969/’70, when he was given a black Tele with a maple neck as fee for a recording session. It got here with a humbucker within the neck from a Gibson 335. Based on Morse, the guitar was a catastrophe – it fed again, wouldn’t keep in tune, the neck was slippery, and the three-way toggle made no sense.

Morse turned a detrimental right into a optimistic by pondering of the guitar as a clean canvas, and he went to work changing the neck with one from a Strat. He then stripped its paint, clipped the capacitor, and bought one in every of Fender’s early Vast Vary humbuckers, which he put in with a hammer and chisel within the bridge place. After all of the chopping, Morse changed the bridge with a Tune-O-Matic, and later added a 12-string trapeze tailpiece.

A lipstick pickup was put in between the 2 humbuckers, and whereas it sounded skinny, it added one thing. He later put in an on/off swap to manage pickup combos. The Fender bridge humbucker was eliminated as a result of it was vulnerable to feeding again, so Morse changed it with a customized humbucker from Larry DiMarzio. It might later be bought because the Steve Morse pickup.

Morse continued to experiment and had a customized pickguard made that allowed him so as to add a Strat pickup. He added a toggle to manage it and put in a miniature three-way between the Quantity and Tone controls. To scale back noise, he added a grounding wire on the tailpiece, which ran beneath the pickguard to the metallic plate that stabilized the Quantity and Tone controls.

He later added jumbo frets and routed the excessive E string by a string tree. In time, different minor mods have been performed as a result of put on and tear, however Morse used the guitar up till his 1989 album, Excessive Pressure Wires, when Music Man duplicated the guitar with the intent of making a Steve Morse signature mannequin.

Music Man ultimately acquired it proper, and Morse’s Frankenstein Tele was put to pasture. Later, the Ernie Ball Music Man Steve Morse signature mannequin proved extra dependable and supplied an additional fret.

Although Morse has been seen performing along with his signature mannequin for many years, he nonetheless has a delicate spot for the guitar he put his coronary heart and soul into.

These late to the celebration ought to try The Dixie Dregs’ Dwell At The Montreux Jazz Competition. Put on a seatbelt.

Within the November ’08 concern, we profiled Warner Hodges, guitarist within the pioneering ’80s cowpunk band Jason & The Scorchers, who at the moment continues to be recording and touring in teams and as a solo act. A famous Tele slinger, we requested why Leo’s first-born was his first alternative.

1) You may play issues behind the nut. You gotta love that!

2) It doesn’t matter what gauge of strings you utilize, you can not mess up the neck.

3) You may drop it, kick it, decide it up, and it’ll keep in tune. One evening in Norway, I threw one 19 rows deep into the viewers, and a lady gave it again. The B string was sharp – that was it! That very same guitar, in a case – not a flight case – was run over by a baggage tractor and 6 carts full of bags. I went to the Scandinavian Air Service baggage declare to open the case; I instructed the woman, “I need you to see the harm on the identical time I do.” I used to be so pissed off! However I opened the case and there wasn’t a rattling factor mistaken with the guitar. The case was destroyed, however the guitar was effective. That’s a Telecaster.

4) James Burton. I’ve acquired a buddy who met Elvis. He requested, “Hey, Elvis… The place’s James?”

5) You may play any musical type with a Telecaster. It’s the Bayer aspirin of guitars. Loopy, how Leo acquired it proper the very first time! – Ward Meeker

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2025 concern. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.