Historically, the Fender Telecaster featured a solid ash body with single coil bridge and neck pickups along with a maple neck and fingerboard. The Fender Stratocaster was Fender’s ‘upscale’ model, with a contoured body, three single coil pickups, a tremolo tailpiece and a maple neck and fingerboard. As you might expect, having three pickups offers more tones (particularly when you factor in the two ‘out-of-phase’ positions available on models with a five-way switch).
Some Fender Stratocasters may have a rosewood fingerboard that will warm up the sound slightly. The same would be true for Fender Telecasters. Both are legendary for their clean, bright tone (sometimes referred to as ’spank’). Newer releases of either instrument have added various options such as maple tops, additional pickups (or different pickup types: humbuckers or active Lace Sensors with midrange boost for instance).
Fender Stratocaster
To a true guitar-a-holic, Fender Telecasters and Fender Stratocasters are quite different instruments, normally used to achieve different sounds for different types of music. On a recording, most ‘normal’ people would not hear a noticeable difference between a recording of a Fender Stratocaster or Fender Telecaster using the bridge pickup. The main tonal differences would be most noticeable when a Fender Stratocaster is played using the ‘out-of-phase’ pickup combinations, which produce a clear, glossy tone, perfect with a chorus effect. Most players actually choose a specific Fender model based on looks and feel as much as for their respective tones. Unquestionably, both are classics that have stood the test of time!
Fender Telecaster
If you own a Fender Telecaster or a Fender Stratocaster, you want to play it. If you are looking for good online guitar lessons, visit The Guitar Classroom and get your guitar lessons from the best guitar teachers.