A Conversation for Telecaster

Collaborative Writing Workshop: A918551 - Telecaster

Post 1

Custom74

Entry: Telecaster - A918551
Author: Custom74 - U214018

What do you think?


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 2

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

smiley - footprints


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 3

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

Good, for a start.
How detailed would you like to get?


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 4

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

You got me started thinking.

here's some notes I made while thinking:

Leo Fender and George Fullerton (remind me to check this last name)were technicians who repaired radios and amps and manufactured amps and lap steel guitars.

Experience with the instruments and electronics of the time led to a series of thought processes in Leo's engineer's mind that produced improved amps tailored to specific needs and,in some cases,particular players.
Leo had a habit of thrusting his experiments and prototypes into the hands of working musicians and listened carefully to what they told him.
Early guitars suffered from intonation, tuning and neck problems.
Early electric guitars suffered from poorly designed amps, household and stage mains circuits that were designed for lights and appliances, and control circuitry that was poorly shielded.
They were difficult to repair, requiring almost as much or more skill from the repairman as they did from the factory workers.

Leo saw that a slab body with a bolt-on neck and dropped-in circuitry would not only allow a guitar to be assembled efficiently and almost reproducibly, but also repaired quickly, while providing aready market for parts. It would also make it possible for a customer to mail the neck or the body to the factory for repairs or warranty work without the possibility of damage that one faced with a hollow body instrument.
Not happy with just providing a platform for strings and a pickup, with an intonatable bridge, Leo went further and took the slab guitar beyond the simulation of a box guitar by the addition of adjustable circuitry. Creative use of capacitors and thoughtful attention to the volume and tone pots and the heights of the pole pieces on the pickups, as well as the insulation and shielding of the wires and pots led to a space-age instrument whose potential was greater than it's 'boat paddle' appearance would suggest.

Oddly enough, as opposed to the general experience in the industry at the time, Leo made amps first and guitars second. Thus, he had an understanding of the needs of the amp circuitry and the requirements of the amplified musician. Unlike most guitars of the time, which often looked prettier than they sounded, Leo's early instruments were TOOLS to be used by craftsmen and amateurs alike.



A918551 - Telecaster

Post 5

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

smiley - footprints


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 6

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

Doc Kauffman, not George Fullerton.


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 7

Danny B

Hi tonsil (good Python quote, btw! smiley - cool)

The Author has definitely left the building (last post: January 2003), so there's an argument for you making a copy of this and doing the necessary updates yourself before putting it into PR smiley - ok

If you don't fancy it, I might have a look myself (although I'm more of a Strat or a Gibson man really smiley - smiley)


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 8

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

Thanks. I was doing some thinking about an entry about Leo Fender and Les Paul and their very different approaches to the same problems.

Also a little reality check about the relative success of the now famous guitars in the actual days of their production.

A little design philosophy will also probably creep in as there are very few things that were made in the late forties that are still used on a daily basis except guitars and firearms.

Of course, I could be completely ignorant of the popularity of late forties fishing rods and golf clubs, but there are some things that men are not meant to know... particularly if they couldn't give a monkeys....

Anyway. Yeah. I think an entry needs to happen.
Any more thoughts, feel free.

The Python quote just floate out of a passing view of "The Meaning Of Life" a couple of weeks ago and I wrote it down on my sketch paper.
I was moving stuff around on my drawing table and happened to see it again earlier today and it resonated.


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 9

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

A2440540

Here ya go.
Wanna take a peek and get listed as a researcher?


A918551 - Telecaster

Post 10

Custom74

Nope, not left the building but somehow missed your emails. I have been deluged by spam for a while (am now using a very good filtering service) so very possible that your emails were caught up with that. ery sorry, and glad to be back on track. Pleased as punch to have influenced the guide in some way, not my ambition must be to have an entry of my own. Enjoyed the imformative and educational piece on the telecaster although felt the style could have been tightened up a little. However, reading my own entry back, I didn't send great copy in the first place. I do remember that it was a late night stream of conciousness thing. However, great to be included and very proud to be part of the illustrious company, the League of Gentlemen so to speak. Frame by Frame, death by drowning. I am yours etc.



A918551 - Telecaster

Post 11

Tonsil Revenge (PG)

Hi, Bubby!
Sorry about that.
I have been a Telecaster freak for years and am currently building a home "custom" version of one.
With a head full of details and a pile of books floating around,
believe it or not, my initial version of the current entry was also "stream of consciousness".

As for "tightening"... well... all the sub had to do was ask.
There are several missing links in the entry, with a mention of their gap, but apparently that got missed.

Anyway, I saved a few of your lines in the process and you will have an entry on your space and in the annals of the guide from now on.


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