A few months later, a second pickup was added in the neck position - this model was soon renamed the Broadcaster. It was first introduced in 1950 as the Esquire and was fitted with a single pickup in the bridge position. It was the first commercially successful solid-body guitar, and remains a best-seller 70+ years on. The Fender Telecaster had an interesting start in life, and actually had a couple of different names before they settled on what it’s known as today. He also wanted to create a guitar made up of parts that could be replaced, if something were to break, negating the need to replace the whole instrument, hence the bolt-on neck. Most of the guitars prior to the Tele were hollow bodies and were prone to feedback - using a solid piece of wood to mount the pickups in helped solve this problem. Interestingly, Leo Fender wasn’t a guitar player - he was an engineer, and as such he was driven to fix problems commonly associated with other electric guitars. MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. It’s expensive for a Mexican Telecaster, but we'd still say it's worth the money. It's got some real personality to it, and that vintage vibe that makes you feel like you’re playing a living, breathing instrument. The ‘60s “C” shape maple neck and 7.25” radius fingerboard add a tasteful and really enjoyable vintage feel to this Tele. It's not only the tone that is beautiful - the relic'ed Chocolate sunburst finish provides a stunning and subtle twist on the iconic ‘burst that Fender is so well known for. They are punchy, bitey and iconically 'Tele' - with just enough personality of their own to remind you that you're playing a signature instrument. The electronics - most specifically the pickups - are a pair of custom-designed Jason Isbell Telecaster pickups made in conjunction with the pickup wizard Tim Shaw. It's only right, then, that he has his own signature Telecaster packed to the brim with special electronics and topped off with a stunning finish. Jason Isbell is a Grammy-winning king of Americana. There’s also the Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster if you want something slightly more refined. These guitars are made in Mexico, a step up from the far-East manufactured Squier models, but the quality of these instruments is absolutely phenomenal. We’ve talked about it a lot, but there’s no denying that for pure value for money, the Fender Player Telecaster is a tough act to follow. So strap in and let's find the best Telecaster for you. That’s not including all of the myriad variations available like Custom Shop, Vintera, and American Vintage models. There’s a Tele for every budget too, from beginner-friendly Squier models to professional-level, USA-made Telecasters.

As time has marched on there have been many iterations of Telecaster, adding humbuckers, tremolos, updated bridges, and lots of other hardware tweaks, but the humble Tele has always remained one of the world’s most popular instruments. Despite having been invented over 70 years ago, so good was its design that it still retains many of the same features today.

First displayed to the world in 1950, the Telecaster (then named the Esquire) was Leo Fender’s first solid-body electric guitar.

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