The Fender Telecaster. The workhorse of many a band. Or guitarist. Muddy Waters. Bruce Springsteen. David Gilmour. Jonny Greenwood. Prince (erk). Even Jim Root of Slipknot now uses a hot-rodded version. Mine is the 50’s Classic, made at the Ensenada factory in 2003 (don’t get me started on Mexican fenders). The price was a steal, at this place in Castleford. It was funny to think that as I was wandering around Birmingham, hoping to find the Tele of my dreams, I found nothing that I took a liking to. Everything was too overpriced or even if it was cheap, it was the Tele Standard which I didn’t really fancy getting due to the six saddles at the bridge. After coming home following a fruitless search, I found this two-toned sunburst on the net. Going for cheap. No marks, nothing. First-hand. I had to get off work early as it was a bit of a drive to get to the place. As usual, I could only manage a couple of meaningless riffs and pseudo-blues licks, with the Tele plugged to a Marshall AVT100. Only for five minutes as I was the only person in the vast warehouse-like shop, apart from the owner and his german shepherd. *very shy, one*

This guitar is twangy, as it should be. She has a beautifully finished maple fingerboard to boot. Her tones are subtly versatile, though, enough so you can make her sing like anything you want her to be. Coupled with the volume knob, the overdriven tones can be altered from muddy to the sublime. When I got home, I hooked her up to the GT-3, stepped on the “Mesa Dual Rect” patch, it was metal mayhem! She doesn’t look the part, but hey, she rocks. Her body is solid ash and as its says on the box, her hardware is vintage 1950’s style, with the three-saddled bridge and Kluson machine heads. I could put an ashtray bridge cover if I wanted to as well.


UPDATE [2013]: Nine years have passed, and I finally decided that she should be named. Say hello to はるな. She is now ten years old. Check out what she can do: