The Telecaster Guitar Book: A Complete History of Fender Telecaster Guitars

As a guitar player, repairer, maker and all-round enthusiast, I have a large collection of books on guitars. This one strikes a good balance between nerdy detail and more general information.The book, like the others in this series, follows a format of 'double spread of photos - double spread of text', which works well. While each page of photos has its own accompanying information, the main text isn't always syncronised with the pictures, which is sometimes a bit odd.The books in this series generally start with a walk through the history of the instrument, which in the case of the Telecaster is about as long as the history of the electric guitar itself. There are even references to the earliest inspirations for the Telecaster. Naturally, we have lots of pictures of Blonde Esquires and Broadcasters, the obligatory 'Nocaster' headstock and then a selection of Telecasters. While it's lovely to see these vintage guitars, it's fair to say that one Blonde Tele looks pretty much like another...As the book progresses through history, we enter the CBS era, and the appearance of custom colours, thinlines and paisley finishes.The journey through history is accompanied by short biographies of, and anecdotes from notable Tele players. There's a pretty big pool to fish in, and covers Andy Summers, Danny Gatton, Francis Rossi, John 5 to name just a few. This contrasts with some of the other books in the series where there are not actually that many famous players using some of the guitars. The SG being the prime example - Angus Young, Tony Iommi, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Clapton, me...At the end of the book there is a reference section containing details about of all the Telecaster models to date. Colours, general headstock and body shape, pickups etc., all grouped by date and model designation.It's useful if you are trying to work out the rough year of a guitar, but isn't really a detailed reference, and certainly shouldn't be used to determine the value or authenticity of a guitar. Its a good companion to the more detailed book by A. R. Duchossoir, which was my main reference when I drew up the templates I use when I build a T-type guitar.This is a nice book for any guitar enthusiast, especially one who is a Telecaster fan. I'm not - I only have one Fender in my collection of guitars, and it's the closest guitar Fender make to a Les Paul - a Jim Adkins JA-90. Nevertheless, the Telecaster is a very popular guitar - I have made more Teles than any other guitar - and I've found this book very useful.

I have to admit being disappointed with this book.I do not consider myself a book reviewer so my comments are based on expectation. As a Telecaster owner I wanted some history and enlightenment to compliment my own experiences, but sadly I didn't find enough of it for a book labelled 'a complete history'.Initially, Terry Bacon's earlier work 'Six Decades of the Fender Telecaster' was my choice but I dropped the idea when seeing this edition, which in reality is an updated version.Through other books of his I note he doesn't adopt a 'chapter' style, but rather a continuous layout which is 'sectioned', for want of a better expression, with extra space between paragraphs.The content did make for an interesting and informative read, but I also expected more mention of technical factors. Although there are numerous photographs throughout the book (alternating as two page spreads in every four) there are times when certain features of the instrument get mentioned in the text but are not supported with an illustration to clarify the point raised. What disappointed me most was discovering that Fender's 2010 Telecaster innovation - the Acoustasonic - gets a minimal mention and no illustration what-so-ever.So, I still feel that A R Duchossoir's book of 1991 'The Fender Telecaster' is a good companion for Telecaster aficionados as it incorporates more useful illustrations and drawings than Terry Bacon's offering.

List of models at the back could be a bit more detailed

I am satisfied with the book but why was I charged £19:99 when the price printed on the cover is £16:99?

Everything you want to know about Leo's firstborn!Pages of statistics for the interested tele owner - beautifully collated, great pictures!

If you want a concise history on the Fender Telecaster then you won't go far wrong with this book written by Tony Bacon.Like any books Tony has written this one is filled with info on the model and full of photos as well.Recommended to any Tele fan :-)

This book was a gift and greatly received.

The book and envelope were both ruined due to getting wet.