Telecaster V.S. Stratocaster Compare Contrast When planning to buy an electric guitar one will almost certainly consider the widely popular Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars made by Fender. Both of these guitars are unique in their own way and should be taken into careful consideration. Three aspects you may take into consideration when making a choice are tone, construction, and aesthetics. Although both guitars are different in these ways and are useful for different styles of playing, neither guitar is superior to the other. The first of these guitars made by Fender was the Telecaster. It was the first mass-produced electric guitar of its time featuring a solid ash wood body, and a bolt-on single piece of maple neck. Its …show more content…
The Stratocaster had many changes from the Telecaster but was a similar concept. Being made of a solid slab of wood and a single piece bolt-on neck. However the shape of the body was changed greatly with adding two cutouts on the top and bottom of the body to allow for the higher frets to be easily reached for bending high notes. One of the major differences in the Stratocaster is its tremolo bridge. Which allows players to raise and lower the bridge using a lever changing the pitch of the strings. This drastically changed the way people played guitar allowing vibrato to be added to chords and allowing people to reach notes that were unable to be reached before. The Stratocasters hardware is another thing that greatly sets it apart from the Telecaster. It still has similar single-coil pickups but includes third pickup in the middle position allowing for a wider range of tone. The Stratocaster includes a 5-way pickup selector switch to change between pickups, a volume knob, and two tone knobs controlling the tone of the middle and neck pickups. The tone of the Stratocaster is very iconic and can be easily distinguished from the tone of other electric guitars. The neck position gives the guitar a very warm, mellow tone with full low-ends and smooth high-ends. In the middle position you get a clear tone similar to an acoustic guitar. The bridge position gives the guitar a sharp, cutting tone with lots of treble. This guitars unique tone and sleek, modern design make it popular among alternative rock, modern blues, and jazz guitarists to this day. Prominent players of the Stratocaster include some of history’s greatest guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Holly, and countless more. Over the past 60 years it has remained one of the best selling guitars