What am I missing - strats and teles

imalrightjack

Going by looks alone, I don’t think my ‘Strat’ is boring

axisus

For me, electric guitars fit into two camps.

1) Teles and Strats
2) the rest.

I just love those two guitars. 

Grumpyrocker

imalrightjack said:

Going by looks alone, I don’t think my ‘Strat’ is boring

That's almost a Strat I like. If it didn't have a pickguard. Or a Trem. Or single coil pickups.

But I love the neck and the top. 

guitars4you

Some likes blondes - some like brunettes - some like both and I dare say some like neither 

crunchman

imalrightjack said:

Going by looks alone, I don’t think my ‘Strat’ is boring

Comparing that to a proper Strat is like comparing a fake tan bottle blonde WAG to a real woman.

skullfunkerry

I'm sort of the same... I think Strats & Teles are beautiful looking guitars, but for various reasons in their "standard" Fender configuration they're not for me. I prefer modern superstrats and singlecut type guitars, and visually I prefer colours over wood in most cases.

Equally though, I think it would be a very boring world if we all liked the same thing - and I know that my pointy superstrats (with - gasp - decals on!) would only appeal to a minority of guitar players

Alexlotl

Everyone's different when it comes to aesthetics.I can't stand the look of carved top guitars personally - I my preferences lean towards slabs of wood, ideally single cut, flat painted with an awesome colour.

Flametop Les Paul Standard? Meh, like a table off Antiques Roadshow.

Les Paul Special in TV Yellow? Now we're talking!

AlbertC

Violins, cellos, trumpets, trombones, saxophones, ........

I don't get the attraction, what am I missing? They're all so plain and boring.
All that natural wood or brass and always the same shape

roberty

imalrightjack said:

Going by looks alone, I don’t think my ‘Strat’ is boring

Harley Benton have really upped their game

usedtobe

I came round to them eventually. Maybe it’s just a case of getting on with your life, until it happens.. Or it doesn’t.. either way, it’s all good, I reckon..

Caffeine_Vampire

If you're about to be mugged by a gang of ogres and you're armed with a butterscotch blackguard Tele then you're walking away humming Eye of the Tiger. If you're carrying a PRS I wouldn't rate your chances

gordiji

Tele's are indeed ugly. I used to think why do status quo use them, strats are far nicer. But they sound ace which is their purpose. As one realizes how ace they do sound they start becoming more beautiful.

No comment needed for strats other than the history of electric guitar music.(and great comfort to play)

While we're here the Gretsch Billy bo takes ugly to a new level, possibly the ugliest guitar ever.

Caffeine_Vampire

Ugly? My Teles could have played Catwoman in the 60's Batman show.

HilditchGuitars

Hattigol said:

I often think whilst watching Hendrix play a Strat, this is 'plain and boring'.

......said nobody. Ever.

Wrong context.
Is slash boring? 
Hetfield?
Angus young?
Dimebag? 
Vai?
Etc...

mudslide73

They're both magnificent. The Tele in particular is the perfect mid point where it'll do everything I need - LP and Strat stuff is coverable. All pedals and amps were developed to work with them too.

Blueingreen

A lot of the response to the aesthetics of guitars is a learned response based on a knowledge of the history and iconography of the instrument.

Try talking to someone who has a sophisticated eye for art and design but little or no knowledge of guitars and rock iconography.  Ask them which of a sample of guitars they think look best and why.  You'll find their taste hardly overlaps with conventional wisdom among guitarists at all.  The tend to find Teles, Strats and SGs plain and uninteresting. They have no idea that a red SG has a different meaning from a blue one, or that a pretty PRS is unsanctified by tradition, or that a middle pickup on a Telecaster Is "just wrong".

One of the ironies of the looks-obsessed guitarist who wants his instrument to be absolutely period correct is that he's up on stage thinking he has a particularly lovely instrument and for about 95.5% of his audience the things he thinks makes it special are totally invisible, and they are looking at the plainest of plain Janes.

So whose taste is to be preferred, the geek who's up to scratch on every period detail or the aesthetically sensitive individual whose response is unmediated by all the bullshit?

Guitarists obviously like to think it's the former, but I suspect it's not.

thegummy

Blueingreen said:

A lot of the response to the aesthetics of guitars is a learned response based on a knowledge of the history and iconography of the instrument.

Try talking to someone who has a sophisticated eye for art and design but little or no knowledge of guitars and rock iconography.  Ask them which of a sample of guitars they think look best and why.  You'll find their taste hardly overlaps with conventional wisdom among guitarists at all.  The tend to find Teles, Strats and SGs plain and uninteresting. They have no idea that a red SG has a different meaning from a blue one, or that a pretty PRS is unsanctified by tradition, or that a middle pickup on a Telecaster Is "just wrong".

One of the ironies of the looks-obsessed guitarist who wants his instrument to be absolutely period correct is that he's up on stage thinking he has a particularly lovely instrument and for about 95.5% of his audience the things he thinks makes it special are totally invisible, and they are looking at the plainest of plain Janes.

So whose taste is to be preferred, the geek who's up to scratch on every period detail or the aesthetically sensitive individual whose response is unmediated by all the bullshit?

Guitarists obviously like to think it's the former, but I suspect it's not.

Superb post!

I realised just how much our aesthetic preferences are based on prior knowledge when I started loving the look of specific studio gear like Neve preamps; they're all just knobs and switches, there's nothing objectively aesthetically pleasing about them, it's because I know how good they are that translates in to liking the look.

ICBM

Blueingreen said:

Try talking to someone who has a sophisticated eye for art and design but little or no knowledge of guitars and rock iconography.  Ask them which of a sample of guitars they think look best and why.  You'll find their taste hardly overlaps with conventional wisdom among guitarists at all.

Interestingly, the only times I've ever been complimented on my guitar at a gig - and remarkably, nearly every time when I've used one - by women, who I hope it isn't too sexist to describe as probably less likely to be musicians, and perhaps more likely to have an eye for something that just looks nice - has been whenever I've been playing a...








Rickenbacker.

(Seriously.)

crunchman

ICBM said:

Blueingreen said:

Try talking to someone who has a sophisticated eye for art and design but little or no knowledge of guitars and rock iconography.  Ask them which of a sample of guitars they think look best and why.  You'll find their taste hardly overlaps with conventional wisdom among guitarists at all.

Interestingly, the only times I've ever been complimented on my guitar at a gig - and remarkably, nearly every time when I've used one - by women, who I hope it isn't too sexist to describe as probably less likely to be musicians, and perhaps more likely to have an eye for something that just looks nice - has been whenever I've been playing a...








Rickenbacker.

(Seriously.)

When I had one of these:

I had two different women come up to me and tell me it was their favourite colour.  (It's a mid 80's Ibanez Roadstar II).

JayGee

Blueingreen said:

So whose taste is to be preferred, the geek who's up to scratch on every period detail or the aesthetically sensitive individual whose response is unmediated by all the bullshit?

Guitarists obviously like to think it's the former, but I suspect it's not.

Well, the first question is “Where are you going to find one of those then?”, because we all walk round looking at the world through filters and see objects in a particular context. We may have picked them up perving over old Bells mail order catalogues, in the course of doing a fine arts degree, or just watching the TV, flicking through the Sunday colour supplements, and browsing LP sleeves in HMV but they’re there.

And as its my money I’m spending I’m quite happy to put my own subjective response ahead of anybody else’s, cultural baggage and all because I’m quite sure I look just as much like a sad middle aged wannabe whether I’ve got a sparkly blue Gretsch, a blonde Tele, a gold ES295-a-like, or a Black Explorer strapped to me... :-)

[1] To pick four distinct possibilities from the row of cases across the back of my office.