Talk:Telecaster

message: The notable players list is starting to get pretty long, and I've noticed that many of the players listed have not used the Telecaster as their primary axe during their careers, but rather have used it merely sometimes, or with certain songs or albums.  For example, Jimmy Page is listed, though he is more characteristically known for his use of the Gibson Les Paul.  John Frusciante is listed, even though he has usually been seen with a Stratocaster.  Should we include B. B. King in the list, since he once used a Telecaster? I don't think so, since everyone knows he's a Gibson man (ES-355).
If the list starts to get much longer, I suggest breaking the entire list off into its own separate page (perhaps entitled "Famous artists who have played the Telecaster"), with notes for each artist about which famous songs or albums that they used the Telecaster on.  We could retain in the Telecaster article a more exclusive list of artists who have used the Tele as their core instrument.  As a guide for who should be included on this list, I suggest we limit it to those who have had a signature Telecaster designed for them by Fender, artists who are most commonly pictured playing a Telecaster guitar, or artists who usually used the Telecaster on stage and in the studio during the peaks of their careers.  There might be some exceptions to these general standards, but I believe that they would do a good job of distinguishing those who use the Telecaster as their "signature" instrument from those who happened to have used a Telecaster at certain times.  If every artist who used the Telecaster at some time were put in the list, it would be longer than the rest of the article. Rohirok 17:44, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, Jimmy Page might be a good one to retain in the article list. If a good portion of his more prominent studio work was done with a Tele (and according to one friend of mine, it was), then this might justify his continued inclusion.  Brian May was added to the list today. Here's an example of one artist that would probably be placed in the separate, more general list, since he's mostly known for using his homemade Red Special guitar. Anyway, we'll see how the list shapes up. Rohirok 03:19, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: I went ahead and changed the notable players section into signature Telecaster players, specifying that those included are musicians who used it as their main guitar throughout their careers. There is also a wiki link to the new Telecaster players page, which is just the old list of notable players. I thought the list should be retained in some form, for the sake of retaining information. Hopefully, those who want to add their favorite guitarist will now do so on the Telecaster players list, reserving space in the article for those who are really known as Tele players. Rohirok 03:54, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: re: notable players

message: I noticed today Auto movil's reversion of my edit of the first paragraph, made due to the contentions that my edit was less simple and introduced an inaccuracy.  I will admit that my clarification of the term "Spanish" guitar made the intro paragraph more complex.  I do think that such clarification needs to be made in some way, as most readers will not understand what this means.  Perhaps not in the intro paragraph, but somewhere.
As for the inaccuracy that I supposedly introduced, I am unaware of any such inaccuracy, and Auto movil did not point out what it was.  That would be an important thing to explain if reverting.
I will again edit the first paragraph, as it contains the gratuitous and inaccurate statement that the Telecaster is "for all practical purposes, the 'first electric guitar.'"  As counter-examples, I offer three: The electrified acoustic played by Charlie Christian, the solid-body electric Spanish Travis-Bigsby guitar, and the electrified Rickenbacker "Frying Pan" lap guitar.  All of these are electric guitars, and all of them predate the Telecaster.  Contrary to the final clause of the intro paragraph, the Telecaster is not the first electric guitar, for "practical" or any other purposes.  I will delete that clause. Rohirok 07:24, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I also deleted "wooden" from the intro paragraph, as that is redundant.  The Telecaster is the first mass-produced solid-body electric Spanish guitar made of any</I> material. Rohirok 07:30, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I see that the "for all practical purposes" clause has been put back into the intro, and my objections to this phrase remain.  It is indistinct and wishy-washy, not at all encyclopedia-like.  It seems to be claiming one thing (the Telecaster is the first...), but then totally negates that with the "for all practical purposes" qualification.  I understand there is some controversy concerning the one-pickup Esquire vs. the two-pickup Broadcaster/Nocaster/Telecaster, and whether you can really claim that the Tele is the first mass-produced wooden solidbody electro-Spanish guitar if the one-pickup model preceded it.  That controversy needs to be sorted out for the intro paragraph to be clear and accurate.  I am of the opinion that the Esquire is simply one version of the Telecaster, and that it is thus accurate to claim that the Tele is the first mass-produced wooden solidbody electro-Spanish guitar without any further qualification or equivocation.  I say this because the Esquire is even more similar to the classic Tele than later models that bear the "Telecaster" model name (such as those with two humbuckers, a Bigsby, or neck-through-body construction).  It is also significant that the Esquire was originally intended to be a two-pickup guitar--that is, it was supposed to be precisely the guitar we now call the Telecaster, and can (in my opinion) be seen as simply a Telecaster that lacks the neck pickup.  If the Strat had begun as a two-pickup guitar, and a model came out later that preserved all the original details, except with an additional pickup, would we not be correct in saying that the line began with the two-pickup version? Rohirok 12:45, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  re: intro