If you had to choose a Tele or a Strat..

Chewie5150

Chewie5150

Fractal Fanatic
If you had to choose one or the other. And i know the true answer is 'both' of course! but....if you could just have one. All single coil configuration. Would you keep the Strat or the Tele? I'm considering downsizing a bit and I'm pretty torn on this idea. My tele is the superb instrument quality wise. Nicer neck but my Strat covers similar sonic territory and it has a trem vs fixed bridge on the Tele. Thing is when i'm going for clean/chimey/vintage vibe I go for these guitars. I like having the trem for that Gilmore vibrato style. but that bridge pup on the Tele is friggin gold. Can't get that from the Strat
 
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Run Away Nuclear Bomb GIF by Identity
 
If I had to choose one or the other I'd have to go with the Tele. The bridge pickup has bigger balls and you can get a neck pickup that sounds like a Strat and add a middle pickup and a 5_way. Best of both worlds!

Case in point. 5 way goes: neck, neck/middle, bridge, bridge/middle, middle. So basically the first 3 positions work like a normal Tele, last 2 positions are your Strat tones. AND I have ghost acoustic saddles and an active Fishman preamp for acoustic sounds. Stainless steel frets and locking tuners, truly a desert island guitar.
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brianv4 said:
If I had to choose one or the other I'd have to go with the Tele. The bridge pickup has bigger balls and you can get a neck pickup that sounds like a Strat and add a middle pickup and a 5_way. Best of both worlds!
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that's a good point. I can get the Tele to sound a lot like my Strat but not the other way round cuz of that fat Tele bridge pickup which handles mid to even high gain quite well
 
My only guitar for 25 years was a Fender Strat. A few years ago I added a Tele. So hard to choose between the two, but if I had to I think I would choose the Tele. Something about the tone feels more alive and present to me. I chose only one for my avatar...
 
Chewie5150 said:
that's a good point. I can get the Tele to sound a lot like my Strat but not the other way round cuz of that fat Tele bridge pickup which handles mid to even high gain quite well
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For a long time in the latter half of the '00s an the beginning of the '10s, mt Strat had a Tele bridge pickup at the proper position and angle, courtesy of a custom cut pickguard and a little gentle massage of the body rout. Great combination! Leo should have built the original that way....
 
Here's an interesting hybrid I made for a customer to his specs.
Combo of Strat & Tele hand wound Callahan pickups, Tune-o-matic bridge w/ KTS Ti saddles,
string thru Alder body, single volume w/ a 5 way switch, scalloped from the 12th fret up.
Merle meets Yngwie. :)
 

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I cheated…. Robin Ranger, but I think Fender makes one too (HST, maybe?). Mine looks like the above. Tele bridge, Strat middle, PAF neck. It’s not everybody’s everything, but it covers a lot of bases.

Given strictly your choices, I’d reluctantly say Strat. But I wouldn’t cry if left only with a Tele.
 
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