What Makes a Tele a Tele, A Strat a Strat and a LP an LP?

[Jcurl02]

Hey guys, this started out as a rhetorical question on a seperate thread but it got me thinking.....

What makes a Tele a Tele or a Strat a Strat or a LP an LP?

When you look at it, isn't a Tele and an LP just a single cut away? 

Isn't a Strat and a Soloist just a double cut away?  SG?

Is it the body shape?  Headstock shape? Is it the pickup setup?  Then what does a Tele Custom fall into?  Is it a comination of two or three attributes?

How about a Les Paul with a three single coils and a five way? (Never see one, have you?)

Most of us who've made our own creations take (what we desire or deam) to be the best of each design and creat our own.  So, what what makes it what it is?

(I think for simplisticity's sake, we mostly fall in to the body to pick the style)

Here is a test....  Here is my vintage 80's Gretsch BST 1000.  (If you were to make a similar one yourself).  How would you classify it?  Tele, LP?    For years I said it was a less expensive version of a Les Paul.  Now-a-days I'm leaning towards a modified Tele. 

By the way, the Gretsch is SWEET!.  DiMarzio pups, zero fret, US Made.  I still have all the case candy and sales tickets as I'm the origianl owner!  My first electric!

 

[SixString]

I only ever had & played strats/LPs, so I can easily distinguish between the two (but I'll let the guru's here put it into words).  But having never even picked up a Tele before, I'm also curious as to what makes a Tele distinct from the rest.

I'm interested in the responses for this one...

 

[line6man]

It's like pornography. I don't know exactly how to define it, but I know it when I see it.

 

[Jusatele]

let's see

to me

tele, part of it is the basic guitar, I am extremely comfortable with a tele, I seem to have played them more than any other style, so a lot of the body style is it. But saying that, I think the big part is that the sound of the traditional tele. A tele with the simple sxs setup is a lot more versatile than most know and if you are used to it it is a great setup.

strat, My second favorite of the 3 mentioned, they are a very well delvoped body design that is extremely easy to play. 3 pickup routing and the amount of sounds you can get is amazing. So once again I have to go with body and sound.

LP, to me this is the one I love the looks of, but hate playing, they are not comfortable to me at all, and if you think about it the LP has a sound unique to itself. i think the original mahogany/maple body gives off such a fat warm tone it has a place in guitar history as a design that defined a sound.

well there it is, they are Body shape and playability and tone, each is unique.

 

[Jusatele]

I only ever had & played strats/LPs, so I can easily distinguish between the two (but I'll let the guru's here put it into words).  But having never even picked up a Tele before, I'm also curious as to what makes a Tele distinct from the rest.

I'm interested in the responses for this one...

funny, with a Jimi avatar, and as many songs as he recorded on a Tele, that you have never picked one up

 

[Jcurl02]

Ok....  so far no one has classified the one pictured.  It's a dual humbucker, single cutaway, thin body solid mahogany (I think).  Weight of a Tele but been claimed to sound like a LP.

So if you built that, where would you place it on the galary pages, Tele or LP?

 

[SixString]

I only ever had & played strats/LPs, so I can easily distinguish between the two (but I'll let the guru's here put it into words).  But having never even picked up a Tele before, I'm also curious as to what makes a Tele distinct from the rest.

I'm interested in the responses for this one...

funny, with a Jimi avatar, and as many songs as he recorded on a Tele, that you have never picked one up

yeah, I just played what I had. first a Stat, then an LP. never really had money for multiple guitars. but that's all changing now...thanks warmoth!

 

[Mor Paul]

Of the big three (Teles, Strats, and LP's), the LP has dual humbuckers. That, to me, makes your guitar an LP moreso than a tele. Add in the mahogany, and it's even closer.

 

[Steve_Karl]

To me, the most noticeable thing that makes a strat a strat is the comfort of holding the body,
ohhh ... the same with the other 2, but change it to discomfort.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I am going with the pickups first.  While strats and teles both traditionally have single coils, they are of different design, and sound.  The P-90, and later the PAF Humbucker, is yet another style, and different sound, that the LP started (not so much, but for this discussion. . .)  Beyond that, the bridge design on the Tele is rather unique and attributes to its sound, the strat has a floating bridge (yeah yeah yeah), and the LP is a Tun-o-matic/stopbar version of the fixed bridge.  Again, three different designs that have an effect on the sound.  As far as looking at something an saying it is this or that, or styled after this or that?  I dunno.  Too much opinion getting in the way.  For the guitar shown, I'd call it a Gretch.
Patrick

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

Hey guys, this started out as a rhetorical question on a seperate thread but it got me thinking.....

What makes a Tele a Tele or a Strat a Strat or a LP an LP?

When you look at it, isn't a Tele and an LP just a single cut away? 

Isn't a Strat and a Soloist just a double cut away?  SG?

Is it the body shape?  Headstock shape? Is it the pickup setup?  Then what does a Tele Custom fall into?  Is it a comination of two or three attributes?

How about a Les Paul with a three single coils and a five way? (Never see one, have you?)

Most of us who've made our own creations take (what we desire or deam) to be the best of each design and creat our own.  So, what what makes it what it is?

(I think for simplisticity's sake, we mostly fall in to the body to pick the style)

Here is a test....  Here is my vintage 80's Gretsch BST 1000.  (If you were to make a similar one yourself).  How would you classify it?  Tele, LP?    For years I said it was a less expensive version of a Les Paul.  Now-a-days I'm leaning towards a modified Tele. 

By the way, the Gretsch is SWEET!.  DiMarzio pups, zero fret, US Made.  I still have all the case candy and sales tickets as I'm the origianl owner!  My first electric!

Have you ever heard about the Legend of Orpheo?

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

Ok....  so far no one has classified the one pictured.  It's a dual humbucker, single cutaway, thin body solid mahogany (I think).  Weight of a Tele but been claimed to sound like a LP.

So if you built that, where would you place it on the galary pages, Tele or LP?

You place it in the gallery for the body you ordered....
I had a warmoth strat with dual humbuckers and a floyd rose.
I wouldn't call it a LP Double Cutaway because it had humbuckers, nor a Soloist because it had a floyd rose.
It's a strat, and will always be a strat. Period.

 

[hannaugh]

To me, you can't put humbuckers in a Tele and say it's the same as a Les Paul.  They aren't the same thing.  There's a carved top, totally different wiring, different bridges, 3x3 tilted headstock vs a flat 6 in line headstock, trap inlays in some cases... they're just not the same guitar. Then there's the obvious factor of the body and headstock shapes looking totally different.

In general this is what I think of when someone says they have a Tele, LP, and Strat: 

LP - humbuckers or p90s, TOM/Stop, warmer woods, trap inlays, 2 tones & 2 volumes, carved top (I realize there are flat top LPs too, but I immediately think of the traditional carved top when I think of an LP)

Tele - classic Tele single coil pickups, tele bridge, tele electronics with the switch plate

Strat - single coils mounted in a pickguard, comfort contours, 3 knobs and a switch

To me, for some reason a Strat just doesn't seem like a real Strat unless it's got a pickguard.  An LP doesn't seem like an LP with single coils and a non TOM bridge.  A Tele has a little more leeway in my mind, but it's not the same as an LP if you just put humbuckers on it. 

I don't think it's bad to change things up, but it makes some sort of hybrid if you change the classic model too much.  If you want that classic vibe and want the sound that makes that guitar distinctive, the model is there, and that's what you gotta do. 

 

[big bob]

How about a Les Paul with a three single coils and a five way? (Never see one, have you?)

There are more differences, one of the big ones is scale length. 25.5 as opposed to 24.75  My heritage has the strat 25.5 scale however with a mahogany body and maple cap is sounds closer to a les paul than a strat.

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

I don't actually see what the author wants with this thread.... ???

 

[hannaugh]

Compare:

 

[The Norwegian Guy]

I see

 

[Jusatele]

guess the reason I love my PRS so much is it feels like a strat, but sounds like a LP
now I do not need to have a LP, it is not that I hate LPs, I just like the feel of a strat more.

 

[hannaugh]

I love how LPs sound and look, but yeah, they aren't that comfy if you're sitting.  Mine digs into my ribs sometimes. 

 

[Jusatele]

I have owned several LPs
I was just playing one for 2 hours last week
and when I put it down I picked up Barn Door and was in heaven
I love the sound, and I love some of the vibe you get, but I am always ready to switch when I play one.
then there are the guys who are just the opposite, so there will never be a correct answer to that one.