The Steel Guitar Forum

One of the things I like most about the folks around here is how so many steel players play Telecasters. Two questions come to mind: is the Bridge p/up used most of the time, and what percentage of steel guitarists choose the Tele as their main instrument (after steel).

The 6 string I play most often is a Hohner knockoff tele. Tuned to Db and mostly used for jazzy chord melody stuff. All three positions are useful to me. Neck, Neck + Bridge wide open, or bridge with the tone rolled off a bit all sound great. I have a G&L tele style bridge pickup I've been meaning to put in and try out.

Back in the 70s 80s 90s I did Dbl duty playing telecaster half steel still do some times we did aot of Ricky scaggs stuff. Yes back pick up thru a session 400 and music man 1-12 amp for telecaster fun times
P.w

I play both and Telecaster is my favorite 6 string, I have several. I use all pickup combinations for various songs. But then I was a guitarist before having a steel. Also like jazz and swing music so I have other guitars to suit that style.

I was a Tele picker ahead of the Steel and like many here played double duty for decades. Which Tele PUP position ? hard to say, it depends on which Tele I'm playing and which song . My most recent Tele has the 4 way switch so I am between the bridge PUP position and the 4 way position often. Previous to this current Tele, I played my favorite 52RI, I used all 3 pup positions , it just depended on the song and where we were IN the song.

I attended the Dallas steel show several years ago and steel player/builder Chuck Back played tele in the backup band. He is an awesome player, smooth, and always artistically right. Just a pleasure to listen to.

Bridge pick up for most of it...then some Strat tone's for some ballads, neck for some swing.

I have to answer both questions as 50/50

I talked with a great guitar player in Nashville, Kevin Key, who was playing a tele with Gary Gibson's band (great band). I asked him about his Tele and he said he usually played a Strat but used the Tele to try to make the guitar "Bark". I thought it wa a good description of the Tele sound I love.

I doubled steel/Tele a bunch over the years, and I currently have CS Nocaster that sounds great. The PU choice depends on the song, as others have said.

One of the best tips I ever got (saw it online somewhere, but I can't remember who said it) was that on the bridge PU, the tone control can be really effective at taming that 'edge' just a bit. Most of the time you want it, it's a Tele right? But on some songs, I found just cracking the tone control back a tiny bit made the bridge PU 'fit' better. YMMV...

In 1985 I bought a 62ri mij (reissue, made in Japan) Tele for about $250. Hard to believe it's now 36 years old. It's the best guitar I've ever owned. The neck pickup went microphonic a few years ago. So I swapped the pickups for a pair of Lollars. I mainly use the bridge pickup for country and rock. Occasionally, I'll use the neck pickup for western swing or blues.

I used to double on Tele also. Here's my 68' with B string bender.

I did did double duty for years. I owned a 53 that got stolen from out band trailer, matter of fact, they stole the whole trailer. That was I in 69 so I had to go out and buy a 69 Tele which I still play today. I also own a 52 reissue and play it out mostly and the 69 is under my bed.

I'd call myself a Telecaster guy first, who dabbles with pedal and non-pedal steel. Some folks would classify that as an advanced non-swimmer.

All the posts are interesting and appreciated. Of those I've been thru ('50's Squire, '52 reissue from early '90's, swamp ash '75, ASAT, and James Burton), the G&L was my favorite. There was an early '60's rosewood board, tobacco shaded swamp ash Esquire I regrettably passed up I thought (a good investment now) was too much coin some 15 years ago...that guitar proved that some only needed one p/u.

I did double duty much of my life.. however, I was not a bona fide "tele man".. I played teles here and there, and liked them, but was MUCH more into other models and brands.. I was a better "strat guy" than tele guy, and played strats and derivatives a lot more than teles.. I also liked and played Gibson SG's , LP Juniors, Firebirds, ES 335/ Trini Lopez, Various PRS models, as well as Rickenbackers, Guilds,and so many others I can't even recall.. I was much more into the P90 sound, or the bite of a good vintage mini humbucker, than I was into the tele twang.. Too many guys doing that shtick already.. Although my steel style was a mix of say kleinow/cage/young/brumley/mooney, my guitar style was not really a traditional tele thing.. I played more of a mix of clapton/garcia/ thommason/ McGuinn, and my main tele influence was C White which is where much of the tele bending stuff I did use came from.... Many years ago I played in a band with a great guitarist that later on became famous for designing and building high end bass guitar amp systems.. He once said.. "poor Bob, he's all f*%#@*%d up... he plays his guitar like a pedal steel, and his pedal steel like a guitar" he was correct, and that was when I stopped trying to be a tele "bender,twanger" guy, and just played in my natural way.. more of a bluesy/rootsy/60's style based on the players of my era that learned from the blues guys... It always served me well, as I crossed over into genres that other steel guys did not fit into comfortably.. It kept me working a lot, for many decades...bob