After another brief fling with a Tele...I came back home. That's what it feels like playing my 2007 MIM Standard...

I have owned a good number of good guitars in my life: Martin acoustics, a Guild acoustic, an LP Standard, 52 Reissue Tele and various Strats. At one point I liquidated...wanted to start all over again...I went to the Tele to do some Country...learned a lot.

Some conclusions: I think overall the MIM Standard line "pulls off" the Strat better than the Tele. Am I a Tele purist at heart? Maybe. But I think an honest look at the Teles played by even the Masters of the Telecaster and even recent stars reveals that for the most part and for the long haul, Tele players opt for and require signifcant changes. Outside the Roy Buchanan line which inlcudes Campilongo, this is certainly true.

Leo Fender himself did NOT believe that he got it right the first time when it came to the Tele. Yet fans of the Tele continue to repeat that line over and over...

Teles are great. Don't get me wrong. But I think Hendrix was right about the 2 sounds you can get out of it: good and bad. In a way, that's the greatness of that guitar and yes, the guitarists who are able to play one well. I think there's an objective basis for saying a Tele is "harder to play." The "Teles" of even the great ones like James Burton...are undeniably heading toward a Stratier sound...and some people get upset with Albert Lee for actually playing a Strat. I say, "Why pretend?"

The Strat in recent years gets accused of being somewhat of a cliche by some. There is some truth to that. But I think it's in the playing and yes, the effects overemployed in the 80's especially. The SRV thing? It can be great and is great. But I can understand that such a pursuit can also be harshly judged. But is chicken picken and all that eternally new? Are the Indie and even punk uses of the Tele (the suddenly cooler guitar now for some?) completely fresh at this time? Nothing is new under the sun...

In short, play the guitar YOU love. Both guitars are great.

But I will say this: I think Leo Fender got it right the first time when he designed the Strat. I'll admit that even after bashing Strats myself.

My next guitar purchase will be another Strat.

I'm sorry but I've never read anywhere that hendrix said that about the tele. Can you point me to where I can read him saying that.

Its a awfully mistaken, misguided and downright wrong opinion of the telecaster. For a start off theres 3 positions on the switch. If he did say it then it pretty much undermines everything I've chosen to believe about hendrix since i was a kid. I'll be burning his portion of my cd collection. I've no time for people that spout such nonsense.

I've consistently found teles more versatile than strats since i was a kid. I cant believe that another player who isnt scared of using the volume and tone knobs on the guitar would say such a thing.

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I have several strats and had to add a tele to round out the sound!
Like them both!!

You know, what he said or didn't say about Telecasters doesn't impact his body of work one bit.

I mean, hell, it's not like he's Wagner or something...

Feel free to Google that statement. As I said, that's part of the Tele's greatness and the greatness of true Tele players. Hendrix himself used a Tele on a few recordings...the "good" applies to all those versatile sounds played well; the "bad" amounts to the Tele's "unforgiving" reputation...and what can be called "attempts."

Prolog

I simply refuse to listen to anything by anybody as ignorant as to make a statement like that. I have far too much self respect to give them or their meanderings any room in my life.

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I could not pick one if I had too! Both are indeed different. I actually prefer the tele for some reason.

So obviously you dont have any direct reference of him saying it?

This produces nothing within 2 pages. Google is fairly useless after that.
http://tinyurl.com/yl537zb

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I found it quoted here (second to last, near the bottom): http://gorehound1313.wordpress.com/quotes-of-successful-guitarists/

It was hard to find, and a source was not mentioned, so a trip to the library to see it actually printed in a book, is probably the best way to search.

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Ibanez Artwood 200vv
Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster

Ok thats him gone. Bloody idiot.

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yeah, i would disagree with hendrix on that.

proven time and time again,
from keith richards, brad paiseley, bruce springstein, (im more than sure zztop), and many other players have used it from country, blues, rock and roll.

i dont have a tele, because i have purchased strats and lespauls.
but the tele is in my eye for future purchase.

Yeah Gibbons gets better sounds (and plenty of em) out of a hollowed out one pickup tele than hendrix ever did out of anything.

Was watching a dvd of one of their texas gigs. His luthier/builder (john Bolin) is a utter genius and even hollows the necks of Gibbons's guitars out to keep em light.


http://www.bolinguitars.com/

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In my humble opinion, my MIA Deluxe Stratocaster is the most versatile thing ever. I can get country twang, smooth blues, and wicking metal sounds out of it like nothing else.

While I don't own a Tele (but plan on it, don't any of you worry), I really enjoy and have fun with it's sound when I play one, and one of my favorite guitarists, G.E. Smith, uses his almost exclusively. I can't vouch for Hendrix; maybe he was high. :p

It is obvious that the Stratocaster can get more tones than the Telecaster because of the additional pickup and the greater number of pickup combinations, but if Hendrix had lived long enough to hear Jimmy Page record Stairway to Heaven's solo on a Telecaster, he might have given it another try.

And let's not forget:

Albert Collins
G.E. Smith
George Harrison
Muddy Waters
Etc.

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Ibanez Artwood 200vv
Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster

NikiNinja my friend...r u serious about this Hendrix thing?

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Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252