Talk about an original; the Fender Telecaster designed by Leo Fender himself is widely considered the first practical solid body electric guitar. There were a few incarnations here and there by other companies, but none had made much of an impact like the Telecaster.

With it’s incredibly simple looking design the Tele soon became the guitarist’s choice for many a guitarist particularly in rock-and-roll and country outfits. Originally it only had 1 single coil pickup, but quickly added a second to bolster the tone for both Bass and Treble, another great innovation, as most semi-hollowbody guitars of the time had single pickups as well.

It was designed simply for a great reason – it was easy to reproduce and repair and it was one of the first guitars to be more or less “mass produced” like an assembly line. There are both good and bad aspects to this, as luthier’s such as Gibson, Epiphone and Gretsch still were manufacturing their guitars the more slow, painstaking, individual method. But it gave players of the day a choice of a cheaper, good quality (although maybe not up to the other guitar standards of the day) versatile guitar that was readily available.

The 2 pickups were controlled by a standard 3 way selector switch and a single tone and volume knob. The original Tele’s had only 21 frets as opposed to the 22 on modern units and the original 3-saddle version has been replaced by a modernized 6-saddle position for better length and height adjustment of each individual string.

Other manufacturers, particularly Gibson scrambled to come up with their version of a true solid body guitar – the first result was the Les Paul, but at that point Fender Had the jump on them and at least in the Country Music World, the Tele has always been king there.

The Tele’s impact is easy to see as some of the greatest players ever have donned it as their main ax – Names such as: Muddy Waters, Albert Lee, Keith Richards, Steven Cropper, Andy Summers, Eric Clapton in his Early Yardbird Days, Jimmy Page when he wasn’t using his Les Paul or Danelectro, Albert Collins among many, many more.

Fender Musical Instruments has gone through a few ownership changes over the years and Leo Fender actually began producing his own models based on the original Tele design under the G&L name and they look from the exterior at least to be almost an exact replica (there are probably some minor differences though).

All in all it’s been a great ride for the Telecaster and it’s offshoots and some of the greatest rock, blues, country and pop music has come off of a Tele’s fretboard – it is a True American Classic!