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Embraced for its simplicity and adaptability, the Fender® Telecaster® guitar is a musical icon around the world and across musical genres, its distinctive design as beloved today as it was when Leo Fender introduced the guitar to the world in 1951.
In Fender Telecaster 75 Years, guitar historian Dave Hunter traces Telecaster® guitars across seven-plus decades, beginning with Leo Fender’s breakthrough design in his modest Fullerton, California, workshop. From there, Hunter explores:
- The new Telecaster design in the context of the contemporary guitar market and the needs of musicians of the day.
- The Telecaster’s solidbody two-pickup configuration, bolt-on neck, and carefully considered body shape, as well as the players who played a part in the guitar’s early evolution.
- Design improvements undertaken throughout the Telecaster’s first decades, such as the introduction of a rosewood fingerboard and Custom Color options.
- CBS’s 1965 acquisition of Fender and its effects on company culture and the Telecaster, as well as the 1985 acquisition of Fender spearheaded by a group of employees.
- Fender’s forward-thinking combination of vintage specs and materials with modern features in Telecaster guitars that offer classic styling and current conveniences.
Along the way, Hunter contextualizes the evolving Telecaster within the contemporary guitar industry and shows the relationships that admired players throughout the decades have enjoyed with this guitar, including Muddy Waters, Keith Richards, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen, and Joe Strummer—to name a few!
Illustrated throughout with rare images from the Fender archives, Fender Telecaster 75 Years treats readers to rare behind-the-scenes views of the shop floor throughout the years, studio imagery of the guitars, rare period advertising and brochures, and performance photography of Fender players.
Often imitated but never duplicated, the Fender Telecaster remains a triumph of imagination and design more than seven decades on. This is the official and definitive illustrated story of this guitar—and a must-have for every guitar enthusiast.
