Quote:
Originally Posted by Donovan
I'm probably the only one who will say this, but I don't think I could tell the difference in a blind test. Maybe it's because I've never played a tele other than a very low end model, but I really can't name one song that I could say "yep, it's a tele and not a strat." What's the sonic clue?
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To me the difference is often clear, even on youtube/computer speaker clips, certainly for clean and crunchy guitars, although on heavily distorted guitars the difference is usually lost.
Ear training is difficult, and language is not really up to describing the subtleties of sound. To me the difference is both subtle and small, and at the same time enormous. Like the difference whether a person is male or female - the difference is really slight anatomically and neurally, but its also all the difference in the world.
Listen to lots of clips play teles and strats. I didn't really go looking for the difference, it hit me across the face when I got a strat. At the end of the day, if you cant distinguish them, it doesn't really matter, most of the audience can't either.
The sonic things I hear in a Tele is mainly to do with the envelope and dynamics of the instrument. It seems to respond much more to digging in, both in volume and tone. Generally there seems to be a lot more energy at the start of the note after the attack - almost a staccato quality although the note continues to sustain afterwards.
Tonally, the sound of a Tele seems to be thicker or fatter to me, and a strat seems 'lighter'. I don't think this is a pickup issue, but who knows. Obviously the Strat quack positions are very distinctive, but even in the bridge or neck positions there seems to be a characteristically identifiable quality.
If you want to learn to hear this, then I hope the above clues will help. I don't know what use it is to be able to hear this difference though.
