When was the fender telecaster invented

The year is The Second World War had ended just four years previously but already a shining new technological age was beckoning. Jets streaked across the California skies - and down on terra firma, in Fullerton, California, Leo Fender was building the first prototypes of a guitar that would propel six-string design into the wide blue yonder. These early testbed instruments were blocky, even crude looking. He was laughed at when he came out with a solidbody instrument.

The body materials, pickups and control layout were experimental. But they had one pioneering feature that set them apart from every other guitar then available: a solid body. Leo planned to call it the Esquire, but - as we shall see - the guitar would gain a pickup and change names twice before it assumed the historic moniker that became famous for the next seven decades: Telecaster.

Even in , Fender had a few successes under his belt that suggested a solidbody electric might be the way forward. He would use everybody, from Rex Gallion to Bill Carson and other local players, to go out and experiment with these guitars. This had a slab-like horizontal body supported by legs, like a table.

But despite its dissimilarity to a conventional guitar, it - and the range of multi-neck electric Fender lap steels that followed - offered compelling evidence that stringed solidbody electric instruments not only worked but sounded great and were well-liked by the musicians who used them.

And he experimented with different types of wood, primarily pine. He also experimented with chambered bodies and solid bodies to try and find the right combination.

The early prototypes of what Leo initially dubbed the Esquire had a single pickup and these experimental builds tell a story of a guitar that evolved quickly from a rather crude initial design. Then years later the first ever Thinline Telecaster was distributed to shops.

This incarnation featured a semi-hollow body, which in turn made it lighter, and had a warmer, deeper sound. The Telecaster Custom now featured a humbucker at the neck position and had four control knobs, two volume and two tone. It quickly won the heart of Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards as he had put one together a year earlier.

The Deluxe Telecaster bridged the gap between Fender and Gibson because it offered players a two humbucker setup, with four control knobs and a Stratocaster neck. During the late 70s Fender was losing ground in Asia, most notably Japan, because the Japanese copies were more affordable and could still pack a punch. As a result Fender began reaching out to guitar luthiers in Japan. In Fender Japan Ltd. The Telecaster has come a long way while still retaining its core intact.

During The Who's Sixties auto-destructive phase, their management continually begged Pete Townshend to smash easily repairable Fenders rather than the fragile Rickenbackers he favoured. To have any chance of breaking a Fender should you ever get the opportunity, this applies to the entire range you must smash the wide base into the ground to separate it from the neck.

Chances are it'll still keep howling. This is a guitar whose strength was demonstrated by salesmen balancing it across two chairs then standing on it. In a touching display of faith in US mass production, the left-handed Jimi Hendrix supposedly chose to play a right-handed Fender guitar on the assumption that the more were made, the stronger the likelihood of finding a decent example.

Perhaps the greatest tribute one can pay to the Telecaster the name, incidentally, was coined by Don Randall, the distributor of Fender's equipment is that the world would sound different without it. The electric guitar was about to be perfected around , that much is obvious, but it was Fender who saw the possibilities of standardising it.

Then there was the Precision bass guitar, which followed in October , the first practical amplified and fretted instrument of its kind. Though it took longer to catch on, what would modern music be without the contributions and influence of Motown legend James Jamerson, Paul McCartney or Robbie Shakespeare? But the low frequencies are another story entirely. The only Telecasters to gain a bad reputation were late Fifties models that lacked through-body stringing.

Yes, the "Toploader", as it was known, was soon derided and discarded. How prescient is that? Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?

Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Enjoy unlimited access to 70 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a day free trial Sign up. More about Fender. Already subscribed? Log in. Forgotten your password?