Electric Guitars - Guide to Fender guitars - beginner, entry level to Pro.

Fender Guitars - The Legend Whether your buying your first Electric or looking for your "Holy Grail" sound, you might well find the answer here. Fender - A truly legendary Guitar from a legendary company. A huge part of Music history and still a fore-runner in the guitar stakes. Ancient and PROVEN design, well worth considering in your Holy Grail Sound Quest. Not just a guitar, a cultural icon!

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Fender Stratocaster and Telecaster Guide

The factory first started around 1946 with the main man Leo Fender behind it. He'd been in radio repair and rental, and went on to opening his own shop back in 1938. This inquisitive fellow soon forged ahead in the world of tubes and his first products were guitar amplifiers.

Fender Stratocaster - Entry Level

An entry level Fender Strat is a good choice for beginners and maybe 1st upgrade. Although not using the best materials available for this price, it's still an extremely versatile instrument which sounds cool.

Fender Standard HSS Stratocaster Electric Guitar Electron Blue Maple Fretboard

Fender Standard HSS Stratocaster Electric Guitar Electron Blue Maple Fretboard

The Standard Strat HSS electric guitar features everything players love about the Stratocaster-alder body, maple C-shaped neck, vintage synchronized trem, single-coil pickups-plus the added versatility of a humbucker in the bridge position. This HSS configuration, in combination with the 5-position switch, provides a huge array of tonal possibilities. Standard Strats now feature a thicker bridge block for increased sustain and a more stable point of contact with the strings.

Guitar Starter Packs

A good idea when your starting off is to check out a complete pack. This saves you a lot of time piecing together a good set-up. One of the better makers of these type of packs is a company called Squier.

Squier is actually a subsidiary company of Fender, and I played one for a few years and it was great. (Gary Moore actually played it once but that's another story!). A good quality deal all round, that will set you off on the right footing. Here's the Squier Pak deal and more info ...

Squier Strat Electric Guitar Pak Metallic Blue

Squier Strat Electric Guitar Pak Metallic Blue

Convenience and value is the name of the game with the Squier Strat Electric Guitar Pak all-inclusive package. Get into the rock region with this awesome starter package. Includes a Squier Affinity Series Strat with rosewood fingerboard, padded gig bag, Fender Frontman 15G amp (15 watts of great Fender tone, 2 channels including normal and drive, a headphone jack, and an auxiliary input for CD, tape, or drum machine), The Fender Guitar Method book, chromatic tuner, strap, cable, a set of strings, and picks.

Whatever you go for, make sure to check the accessories of any pack your interested in - they should at least include the following:

Reasonable Guitar
Good practice amp with switchable distortion >>>Yippee!
Electronic tuner
Strap
Cable

Mid Priced Fender Strat's

Ok those last two Fender Electric Guitars are aimed at the entry level or beginners/starter market, and a great job they do too. But if your looking for a Strat that's a bit more upmarket and affordable try something like... Fender Stratocaster Built for speed and a nice mix of old and new technology.

Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster Electric Guitar 3-Tone Sunburst Maple Fretboard

Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster Electric Guitar 3-Tone Sunburst Maple Fretboard

The Fender Deluxe Player's Stratocaster Electric Guitar gives you classic Strat sound and feel in a beautiful package. Upgraded with American-made Vintage Noiseless pickups, medium-jumbo frets, and a 12" neck radius. As a result, it sounds fantastic and plays easy. It also is equipped with a push-button pickup switch (in addition to the usual toggle) that gives you 7 different pickup combinations. Gold hardware.

Famous Strat Sounds

Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy. Played by the wonderful Eric Bell, a real piece of Strat riffstory ;-).
Sultans of swing - Dire straits. Marc Knopfler was the man behind this famous "Out of Phase" sound. 2 excellent solos and playing throughout.
Jimi Hendrix - the best of Hendrix lies in his first 3 albums. Check out the track Third Stone From the Sun for some of his freaky Strat work.
Stevie Ray Vaughn - A huge strat fan, try Rude Mood from his first album Texas Flood.
Gary Moore - although he's often known as a Les Paul man, try the unbelievable Strat playing on his album Corridors of Power. An absolute powerhouse of Strat work.

Stratocaster - Top of the Range

If you want one of the best Strats you'll get, check out this awesome model.

Fender American Vintage Hot Rod '62 Stratocaster Electric Guitar Olympic White

Telecaster - Entry Level

This is an entry level Tele made by Squier

3-Way pickup selector
The Telecaster is a great little workhorse.
Ideal for Country style playing.
Won't break the bank ;-).
Solid design first produced in 1951.
Copyright caused Fender to release a batch of these guitars with no name on them at all, they are nicknamed "Nocasters" and are prized collectors items.

Squier Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar Black Metallic Rosewood Fretboard

Squier Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar Black Metallic Rosewood Fretboard

Upgraded throughout, the Squier Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar features a fast-action neck profile modeled on a late '60s Tele. A hot single-coil pickup in the bridge position provides all the bite you want for stinging leads. In the neck position, a chrome-covered single-coil provides clear, sweet Tele tone. Agathis body and maple neck with a rosewood fretboard adorn this Squier Standard Telecaster.

Top of the Range Telecasters

As used by mind blowing Country pickers Albert Lee, Danny Gatton, The Hellecasters, Jerry Donahue, James Burton.

Fender American Deluxe Telecaster Electric Guitar Aged Cherry Sunburst Rosewood Fretboard

Fender American Deluxe Telecaster Electric Guitar Aged Cherry Sunburst Rosewood Fretboard

The Telecaster is an undeniable force in all styles of guitar-based American music and the Fender American Deluxe Telecaster Electric Guitar is the top of the Tele chain! It offers stunningly accurate noiseless vintage sounds through 2 SCN (Samarium Cobalt Noiseless) pickups, as well as new variations through the versatile S-1 switching system. Its highly detailed fret and nut work make it incredibly easy to play. Other features include a bound-top alder body with a comfortably contoured back, abalone dot inlays, and aged plastic parts. Includes Fender hardshell case.Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickupsIt's no secret that pickup designers have been striving to develop the ultimate noise-free single-coil replacement pickup. In pursuit of as little 60-cycle hum and extraneous noise as possible and the classic bell-like tones and fidelity of the original Fender designs, Fender has poured their energy into discovering a new world-class pickup for the ages. With open minds and a willingness to seemingly question everything, Fender partnered with legendary pickup designer Bill Lawrence. The pickup that was birthed from this extraordinary partnership is the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickup. It has no hum, no microphonics, close to zero magnetic interruption of the string path, and the widest sonic parameters possible from Fender classic single coils to tones not yet imagined. Truly a revolutionary design in guitar pickups.

Electric Guitar Strings

Here's the strings I use and recommend but if I'm stuck I'll use anything. Ernie Ball strings are a standard among guitar players from beginner to pro - always a good quality sign. Personally I tend to get about 3 gigs out of the treble strings and 6 gigs out of the bass ones before they start breaking - the acid from my hands eats 'em up unfortunately. But I know a few players who gig them for a lot longer than that and never seem to break them. If I'm not gigging they can last for months as long as I keep them clean and the bridge saddles are on good condition.

Some players change (and stretch) them before every gig, some leave them on forever.

Beginner's Gigging Tip Don't forget, keep spares at the gig.
Gigging Tips If you find that your suddenly breaking strings a lot more than usual down at the bridge end of things during gigs, it might be worn bridge-saddles causing the problem. Get a guitar tech or knowledgeable friend to check them out.

Ernie Ball Strings width=100 height=101 Ernie Ball 3223 Nickel Super Slinky Electric Guitar Strings 3-Pack

Gauges 9-11-16-24w-32-42. Nickels are the most popular of the Ernie Ball Slinky guitar strings. They're made from nickel-plated steel wire wrapped around tin-plated hex-shaped steel core wire. They produce a well-balanced all-around good sound. Ernie Ball strings are precision manufactured to the highest standards and most exacting specs to assure consistency, optimum performance, and long life. Ernie Ball is the pioneer of rock and roll guitar strings. Setting the standard for the industry has enabled Slinky electric guitar strings to become the world's top selling brand. Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, and Slash are among the long list of Slinky players.

I also sometimes use and recommend D'Addario Electric Strings for a different sound, they're very twangy when new and ideal for the Country playing Telecaster.

D'Addario EXL110 XL Nickel Regular Light Electric Guitar Strings 10-Pack

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