how many steel players play tele guitar?

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 28 Sep 2006 4:58 am

how many steel players out there
play six string as well as steel?
which would you rather play? why?
as a guitar player
i started playing about
1964 and on steel 1983
thank you for your comments on the topic
[This message was edited by Mike Archer on 28 September 2006 at 06:00 AM.]

Tim Harr · Post by **Tim Harr** » 28 Sep 2006 5:06 am

I do. I have used a B Bender on my Telecaster since 1987. I also favor the large bout arch tops for jazz and standards.
Started Guitar is in 1976 and Pedal Steel in 1990.

Pix at http://www.myspace.com/timharr

God bless James Burton, Albert Lee, Roy Nichols, Don Rich, Jerry Reed, Brent Mason, Danny Gatton, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill and all of the other Telecaster 'slingers'.[This message was edited by Tim Harr on 28 September 2006 at 06:07 AM.]

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 28 Sep 2006 5:08 am

I started out playin 6 string guitar and electric waaaaaaaaay back in the early seventies and bought a 52' reissue Tele in 82'. What a great soundin guitar. I still enjoy playin it but my first love these days is still steel guitar, both pedal and non pedal. If I had to choose one or the other I'd have to go with steel guitar.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 28 Sep 2006 5:12 am

I've got 6 of the beggars of all colours and different neck types and pick-ups. For my money, a Tele with a front split coil humbucker is the most versatile guitar out there. Want a trem on it? The Stetsbar is a good option. Leo got it right the first time, and it still stands up today with the Strat as the bench mark for solid electric guitars.

Steel players who can also play guitar are an asset to any band. Most of the top UK steel players also play guitar pretty well.[This message was edited by Ken Byng on 28 September 2006 at 06:16 AM.]

Tim Bridges · Post by **Tim Bridges** » 28 Sep 2006 5:37 am

I play an Ash American Tele, natural finish that I will never part with. My wife assured me my steel, my tele and a pack of cigs will go with me. She was smiling when she said it!

Single coils only! That is how a Tele is supposed to sound; and steels as well.

Chris LeDrew · Post by **Chris LeDrew** » 28 Sep 2006 5:42 am

I've been playing Telecaster for a long time as well, but pedal steel takes up most of my time now. I only play Tele when the job demands it. Mine has a Lindy Fralin pickup in the bridge which really brings the guitar to life. I was considering rewiring it as an Esquire because I never use the neck pickup.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 28 Sep 2006 5:51 am

I have a Fender "Nashville" Tele. I picked lead back in the 60's with a Gretsch PX6120 Chet Atkins, but my lead picking fell to the "wayside" when I went to Pedal Steel in 1969.

D Schubert · Post by **D Schubert** » 28 Sep 2006 5:52 am

Currently have two franken-casters built up from parts, a red one with b-bender, a surf green one without, both with maple necks from recent Fender 50's classic models, S-D broadcaster pickups in the bridge, three compensated brass saddles. They sound best through a Fender Deluxe Reverb, with a 20' cord and no effects.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 28 Sep 2006 6:20 am

I've been playing guitar far longer than anything else, and Teles are my favorite. I agree - to my tastes, Leo got it right the first time, and you just can't improve on perfection. I prefer lightweight 50s-60s vintage or vintage reisssue Teles, traditionally-wound single coils with the copper-plated metal plate underneath the lead pickup, strings-through-the-body, three-saddle ferrous bridge plate models.

I had a B-bender Tele, but I dropped that after I started playing pedal steel. In the right hands, they sound great, but I generally prefer to do those kind of things on steel now.

Grant Johnson · Post by **Grant Johnson** » 28 Sep 2006 6:24 am

Though I love Pedal Steel and dobro, all my paying gigs are on the six string guitar. I play a Fender Tele 1962 RI Custom with a parsons white B Bender and Keith-Scruggs Banjo Tuners on the High and Low E strings. These tuners quickly drop those strings down to D when needed....
I put a Lindy Fralin 5% overwound pick up in the bridge, to warm up the highs just a bit....

Eddie Thomas · Post by **Eddie Thomas** » 28 Sep 2006 6:40 am

Don Rich introduced me to a Tele, April 16, 1969, and I've had a collection ever since. Six at present including a 62'model. Several custom models with different pickup configurations. I was doing the Nashville 3 pickup setup on a Tele, a long time before Fender got the idea.

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 28 Sep 2006 7:16 am

wow so many posts!
you guys are great!
i been thinking on putting a G and b bender on my tele....i do a lot of bends
without them but i like the G raise
a lot who makes um??
mine is mim nashville tele black with maple neck and its got great tone
and i use a dyna-comp comp thru a roland
cube 60 which by the way rocks

Mike Archer · Post by **Mike Archer** » 28 Sep 2006 7:20 am

yes my gig right now is lead i do some steel gigs but they are sessions for the most part i did 20 years on the road as steel player and 2 of those gigs were
artist gigs to old and sick now to take the road thow so my work is here at tri-
citys tn area

cool pics tim harr!! and what you said about the players dito[This message was edited by Mike Archer on 28 September 2006 at 08:22 AM.]

Marc Mercer · Post by **Marc Mercer** » 28 Sep 2006 7:29 am

I had never heard the term "Tele Player" until I stumbled onto this forum. I've played standard guitar since 1970 but am still relatively new to pedal steel. I've got two bone stock Telecasters in my menagerie, and one of them sits available on a stand pretty much all the time. Had a Telecaster Deluxe back in the late 70s, traded it 'cause the humbuckers wouldn't grow on me. A Tele is my idea of THE electric guitar. Straight into a JC-120? Man, that's pretty...

LARRY COLE · Post by **LARRY COLE** » 28 Sep 2006 7:48 am

Me too. I have been playing six strng since 1963 and steel since 1979. I have to stay in practice to feel compitent on steel but the six string has always been with me through good times and bad. It can comfort me when I am troubled. It feels like an extinsion of my hands. I play it different according to what life deals me. I played a Les Paul for years but now my main ax is a Carvin three s/c pickup(the first three s/c that they ever made) Tele with a five way and mini toggle switch. You can get any p/u combination with it. And just to set around I play a Yahaha L10-A all solid Rosewood back and sides acoustic.

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Playing For JESUS,LC. WILLIAMS U12,SHO-BUD PRO1,CARVIN TL60,GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM,YAMAHA L-10A ACOUSTIC,ROLAND JW-50 KEYBOARD,G&L AND BC RICH BASS'S

Dave Zielinski · Post by **Dave Zielinski** » 28 Sep 2006 7:53 am

Love them both. I've got a great old pieced together telecaster, with 58 bridge pickup, and a charlie christian in the neck. extremely light body with a thin white-blonde finish nearly gone, big round neck and real loose pots, but tight tuners. I love it, with my amp its a perfectly mated set. its my go to guitar. its ugly, just like me.

I love to play tele, but love steel too. Although I'm alot better at standard git fiddle.

Kyle Everson · Post by **Kyle Everson** » 28 Sep 2006 7:54 am

I play a strat with tex-mex pickups which is the twangiest (sp?) strat I've ever played. Hope to get a tele soon though. Not until I started playing steel did I see a lot of the similarities between the E9 and standard guitar tunings. Each instrument helped me understand the other so much better.

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Kyle Everson
Sho-Bud Pro-II
Fender Twin Reverb
Goodrich 120

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 28 Sep 2006 8:02 am

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Warning: I have a Telecaster and I'm not afraid to use it.
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My web site

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 28 Sep 2006 8:03 am

i played on a 55 tele long before i got a psg
a lil' later on i got a BR6 that got me steelin'
nowadays, i play on a Zum D10, a JD Tele (MIJ) & a Strat Ultra

Guitbox & Steel are like Beans & Cornbread

here's a pic from awhile back :

[This message was edited by CrowBear Schmitt on 29 September 2006 at 08:18 AM.]

Willis Vanderberg · Post by **Willis Vanderberg** » 28 Sep 2006 8:06 am

I have played six string since the forties.
Currently I have a Guild MK IV Starfire, A Sheridan ll Epiphone and a Tele with a
" B " bender on it. I have owned a bunch of great guitars and sorry I ever let them go.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 28 Sep 2006 8:19 am

Next Monday will be the 49th anniversary of my first tentative steps on six-string guitar (October 2nd, 1957) - I started on steel in the mid-seventies.

In the beginning I aspired to large arch-top Gibsons and, by 1961, I'd graduated to a 1958 Gibson Super 400! Sometime in 1965, though, I met Gerry Hogan who invited me on stage with him to play his lovely old Tele while he played steel-guitar.

That was my first Telecaster encounter, and it was love at first sight (or should that be 'feel'?) I had my own shortly afterwards, and I must have had a dozen different ones through my hands since then.

Now my '#1' is my G&L Asat Classic with a Glaser B-bender - it's high on the list of what I'd save in a fire...

RR

Joe A. Camacho · Post by **Joe A. Camacho** » 28 Sep 2006 8:20 am

Four Teles, although since I picked up a Fender Nocaster the other 3 have been collecting dust. I usually get booked for both Tele and Steel, I play them both through either my '66 Twin Reverb or my Sho-Bud Christmas tree amp, both loaded with JBl K-130s.

Rick Schmidt · Post by **Rick Schmidt** » 28 Sep 2006 8:24 am

Yes Mike...your Tele does look used!

Post by **Joey Ace** » 28 Sep 2006 8:59 am

I play Tele, my favorite electric, when the gig requires it. I often double on Tele and Steel.

My prefrence is to stay on Steel. I've been playing guitar all my life and no longer feel challenged by it. Steel is another story.

I have a custom made B-Bender Tele, and a 1998 '52RI

Dean Cavill · Post by **Dean Cavill** » 28 Sep 2006 9:01 am

SteelersWhoPlayTELEs = SteelersWhoPlayTELEs + 1

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Steelin' for the Dark Side
Carter-U12, a Bar, and some Picks