The Fender Telecaster: The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar That Changed the World

by Dave Hunter, Wilko Johnson (Foreword), Redd Volkaert (Afterword)

An in-depth history and celebration of over six decades of the Tele, now available in paperback. The Fender Telecaster is a working-class hero and the ultimate blue-collar guitar. It wasn't meant to be elegant, pretty, or sophisticated. Designed to be a utilitarian musical instrument, it has lived up to that destiny. In the hands of players from Muddy Waters to James Burton, Bruce Springsteen to Joe Strummer, the Telecaster has made the music of working people - country, blues, punk, rock 'n' roll, and even jazz. Now available in paperback, this is the complete tale of the electric guitar that came to work and continues to work hard more than a half century after its birth, still resonating with the purity of the first slab of swamp ash that was carved into that now-iconic single-cutaway design. Packed with more than 400 photos of players, guitars, and memorabilia, as well as profiles of the greatest Telecaster players ever, here, finally, is the first suitable tribute to the electric guitar that changed the world.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? If you love Telecasters, this book is for you. A decent read, beautiful photos, lots of information. It helped me discover a few great tele artists that I didn't know about before, and that's priceless.

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a guitarist but this was interesting

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pornography for Telecaster-lovers: lush and luscious photography, frenetic text in bad need of proof-reading, and a cart-load of unappeased desire on every page.

It's not the encyclopedia you were hoping for. It's a tease.

Try Six Decades of the Fender Telecaster: The Story of the World's First Solidbody Electric Guitar or (more comprehensively) 60 Years of Fender: Six Decades of the Greatest Electric Guitars for more full information and better text.

[Lori Levise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Goodreads for this free copy!
I was super excited when I received this book! I have played guitar for over 40 years for personal entertainment. I also spent some time working with bands. One of my favorite guitars I have owned was a beautiful Telecaster Thinline, i loved the feel and sound of that guitar! So when I received this book and saw it was a large coffee table book, it felt like Christmas! Great pictures and layout. Guests almost always leaf thru the pages even if they aren't guitar people. But as someone else stated the captions aren't correct sometimes and the text has some confusing spots. But still, a fantasticbook for the guitar lover.

[John Porcellino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent photo book detailing the history of this groundbreaking guitar. Lots of juicy photos/closeups, and the history is painstaking. I enjoyed the separate sections on famous Tele players and learned a lot. Two caveats: it weirdly ends (prematurely) in the mid-70's-- and it sure could have used a proofreader!

Nonetheless, this was an inspiring and well-informed book with gorgeous photography.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, it's a coffee table book. Not much technical stuff, but good light reading if you're a Telecaster player and/or fan.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some history (that cuts off too soon, unfortunately) and some commentary by artists famous for playing Telecasters, but mostly photo after photo of those beautiful Teles.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool stories about artists and their telecasters