Andy Summers - 1961 Telecaster

Andy Summers was working as a classical guitar teacher in the early 1970's when one of his students offered to sell him a highly modified 1961 Fender Telecaster.  Andy purchased the beat up customized Tele for $200, and it became his main guitar throughout the history of The Police.

His unique and influential sound was based on the modified electronics including a phase switch, humbucker in the neck position, an on-board preamp and built-in overdrive.

1961 Fender Telecaster - Sunburst

James Burton - Pink Paisley Telecaster

Best known for playing with Elvis Presley, James Burton got his iconic pink paisley Tele from Fender in 1969 and used it extensively through Presley's death in 1977.

Says Burton:

"That was the guitar I played with Elvis from '69 up until he passed away in '77, and I also played it with Emmylou Harris and I played it on many many records. My mum and dad bought me my first Telecaster, which was a '52 that I played on "Suzie Q" and on tons of records."

1969 Fender Telecaster - Pink Paisley

Danny Gatton - 1953 Telecaster

Prior to 1990 and before his death in 1994, Gatton played a 1953 Telecaster that he had modified heavily for better playability.

In 1990, Danny's main guitar became a Danny Gatton Telecaster prototype based on the '53 built by Mike Stevens at Fender's Custom Shop. The guitar, serial number DG00001, featured early-model Joe Barden pickups, a stainless steel bridge plate, heavily knurled stainless steel knobs, and a 1 meg tone pot with a .05 capacitor to create wah effects.

Other modifications included James Burton's autograph scratched into the front and raccoon prints on the back. Gatton also played the first production model of his signature Telecaster, which he had modified by adding a center pickup between the stock ones.

1953 Fender Telecaster - Natural

Jimmy Page - "Dragon" Telecaster

The "Dragon" was a blonde 1959 Telecaster given to Page by Jeff Beck, which Page painted with a psychedelic dragon design and played with the Yardbirds.

It was used to record the first Led Zeppelin album and used on the early tours during 1968-1969. It was later used to record the "Stairway To Heaven" solo.

Apparently, after "Stairway to Heaven", it was put away for a while, and then loaned to a roadie who refinished it in brown for some reason.

1959 Fender Telecaster - Blonde with Custom Design

Buck Owens - Gold Sparkle Telecaster

Among the first converts to Leo Fender's solid body guitars were the country musicians of southern California, who preferred the cutting sound of a Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster over the deeper sound of a hollow body electric guitar.

By the early 1960s, Buck Owens and his guitarist Don Rich had developed a signature sound with their Telecasters that would emerge as a new style of country music, called the Bakersfield Sound.

In gratitude, Fender presented Owens and Rich with two special Telecasters, adorned with a gold sparkle finish on the body and the peghead front that was made from crushed mirrors. The body was bound in a checkered pattern on the front and back.

Note: The guitar pictured is a third twin kept by George Fullerton and sold by Gruhn in Nashville.

1964 Custom Fender Telecaster - Gold Sparkle

Jonny Greenwood - Telecaster Plus

This particular model was produced from ’89 to 94’. It features a Blue Lace Sensor pick-up in the neck position and a Dual Red Lace Sensor pick-up (acting like an humbucker) in the bridge position with a relative toggle switch which has been removed and replaced with a cut-off switch.

There are also unknown rewirings made by Jonny and Plank, Radiohead’s main guitar technician.

Originally Jonny had two models of the Tele Plus, purchased after they signed with Parlophone in December 1991, up to the theft in Denver (October 1995) when Jonny’s main Tele Plus was stolen. His back-up Tele Plus became his main guitar, while a back-up is now provided by a standard Telecaster turned to a Plus.

Early 1990's Fender Telecaster Plus - Sunburst

Joe Strummer - Telecaster

Joe's original stock 1966 Fender Telecaster had a three color Sunburst finish on an alder body, white pick guard, and rosewood fingerboard on a maple neck. Other standard features included pearl dot inlays, "two line" Kluson tuning machines, a single "butterfly" string tree, and a bridge fitted with three individual brass saddles.
 

By the end of 1976, Strummer’s guitar body, including the pick guard, had an extra coating of grey primer and black automobile paint. The word "NOISE" was stenciled in white paint above the pick guard, with a thick white block line under the "E," while three small stripes (the colors of the rasta flag) were added to the base of the horn on the pick guard.


Strummer also added the silver, red and blue "IGNORE ALIEN ORDERS" sticker above and behind the bridge and a white Stratocaster-style pickup selector switch tip

1966 Fender Telecaster - Black Over Sunburst

Muddy Waters - Red Telecaster

His mainstay from the late 1950s until his death in 1983. Distinguished by the amplifier control knobs with which he replaced his guitar’s original volume and tone controls, and the extra screws that he added to the thin plastic pickguard to prevent it from buckling, Muddy Waters’ Telecaster is one of the most distinctive guitars in the blues world.

Thought of more as a country or early rock and roll instrument, the basic, slab-bodied Tele isn’t associated with the blues as much today as instruments such as the Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul, but in the hands of Muddy Waters this simple, two-pickup, bolt-neck guitar with ash body finished in candy apple red with an added maple neck with rosewood fingerboard epitomized the raw, wiry, and emotive voice of this Muddy's music.

Late 1950s Fender Telecaster - Candy Apple Red

Keith Richards - "Micawber"

Micawber is named after a Charles Dickens character, no one is exactly sure why. Keith’s had this guitar since Exile On Main St. This guitar is kept in Open G tuning (G,D,G,B,D) low to high with no capo, and of course has the famous 5 strings with the 6th string removed (as do all his open G tuned guitars).

Micawber is modified with a humbucker in the neck position and an original Tele pickup in the bridge position. It is warm and thick sounding and can be heard on such live tracks as Before They Make Me Run, Brown Sugar, Mixed Emotions, and Honky Tonk Women.

1953 Fender Telecaster - Blonde