I'm going to ramble a little, but you should learn some things from my ramblings.

The Fender Guitar is a classic now. It was brand new in the early 50s. Fender Blasted on the scene like a Rocket with it's Broadcaster Guitar. Then came the Telecaster, and after the Telecaster, the prized Stratacaster. Leo Fender really had something in his solid body guitars.

Until the Fender came on the scene, the necks on Guitars were not that much designed for lead Guitar Players. They were all right for Rhythm Guitar, but still not that great even for rhythm Guitar, especially if you were just starting out as a student.

Prior to Fender, it was hard to make bar chords on a Guitar. Even the most expensive Gibson, the L5 and the Super 400, were not that easy to play chords on. Fast finger work was not something you really wanted to do on the Guitars before Fender appeared. I know, for I had Guitars before I had a Fender.

My Guitar teacher played a Fender Telecaster. He saw that as a student I was having trouble making some of the bar chords. He handed me his Fender Telecaster, which he had installed a Gibson Pickup on, and said, "Try it on this." WOW, I could hardly believe it. It was so easy to make the bar chords on the Telecaster. I bought one the next week, that was in 1955.

If I still had the 55 Telecaster it would be worth some big bucks. But you know Guitar Players, they always have to be buying new Guitars, it's the nature of Young Guitar Players. When you get older, that bad habit leaves you and you are willing to stay with a Guitar you consider a great Guitar.

I have had the Guitar I use the most since 1975 now, that is 24 years, and it sounds great. I now have a Ovation Folk Lure Acoustic Guitar, that has a classical neck though the Guitar is a steel String model. The neck joins the body at the 12th fret, just like a Classical Guitar, and the neck is wide, just as wide as a Classical Guitar Neck. I wish this Guitar had a longer scale neck, and the neck was sit up for heavier gauge strings and cannot be perfectly adjusted for lighter Gauge Strings. However, the neck does not go out of tune when you go up the neck. There is a little Popping of the first string when you get up to the 10 fret. I often use this popping sound for an effect. If I don't want the first string to pop at the 10th fret, I just play a sweet sound softer note. I can work around the problem. This Guitar sounds so good, and it plays fine. I love the Guitar more than any other Steel String Guitar I have ever owned. I would never part with this Guitar.

I have a Regal Dobro, a Square Neck Resonator Guitar that I play as a slide Guitar, Lap Style. I don't have the expertise on this Guitar that I have on fingered fretted Guitar, but I do all right. I get plenty of Request to play this Guitar. I play Blues and Country on this Dobro type of Guitar.

I also have a Gibson C-0 Classical Guitar. The Guitar sounds terrible as a Classical Guitar. I knew it sounded that way when I bought it. I got it for sentimental reasons. I once had a Gibson C-0 Classic that sounded and play great, and I used this Guitar for many years, and developed greatly as a Guitar Player using this Nylon String Guitar. Someone stole the Great Gibson C-0 Classic when I was going to California. I just wanted a Guitar that looked like the great Gibson Classic that I had for so many years. This Classical Guitar, the old C-0 Gibson, is the Guitar that I loved the most. So you can understand why I am sentimental about owning a Guitar that at least looks like my favorite Guitar.

Guitar Players can become incredibly attached to the guitars they love. I think all Guitar players will agree with that statement. We attach a certain value to the music we play on the Guitar, and the Guitar has that value attached to it. The music and the Guitar becomes part of our total being.

I have had three Fender Guitars: the 1955 Telecaster; a 1963 Jaguar; and a twelve string Fender, which I used as a 6 string Electric Guitar, and it worked great. I never liked the Fender Jaguar, for it has a short scale neck, and I need a long scale Guitar neck. I just am not comfortable on a short scale Guitar neck. I did love the 12 string Fender, which I used as a 6 string Electric Guitar. It sounded great, and played great. I actually liked the 12 string Guitar, played as a six string Electric Guitar, much better than I liked the Fender Telecaster.

The twelve string has a wider neck, to accommodate all twelve strings, and I believe the scale on the neck was long, it felt very good to me. The Fender Twelve String Guitar was much heavier than a Tele, Strat ,or a Jaguar. The sound of the twelve string was more to my liking than any other fender I have ever played.

I got the Fender Twelve String Guitar for a song, from a friend of mine I had played in a band with. John Phillips was his name. John had bought the twelve string, played it for a bit, and never played it any more. I think I picked it up for $175, with a good hard shell case.

John was playing a Fender Tele with a front pickup like a Gibson pickup, and a regular rear pickup that came on the original Tele. So he could get sweet and clean music, with the front pickup, and the dirty Telecaster sound from the rear pickup, well not that dirty, but you know what I mean.

John Phillips was never happy with a Gibson, and he played the best. The reason he was not happy was, he did a lot of fancy finger work, and chord work, and the Gibson was just not as suited for that as is the Telecaster, or it wasn't at the time. Gibson later on made it's neck easier to play, but they still are not as easy and fast as a Fender Guitar Neck. Fender excels in easy to play Guitar necks that are fast as can be. Gibson wouldn't like to hear me say that, but I think it's true.

John Phillips was playing with Nick Nickson, a popular Country Music Singer, in St. Louis. Nick had been signed with Mercury Records and had about 5 songs on the top 40, over a period of time, with none making the top 10. Nick never took the band on the road to promote his chart songs. Too bad, his songs may have made it to the top 10, maybe #1, if he had went on the road to promote his Recordings. To most around the Country, he was an unknown, at least outside of St. Louis.

Nick Nickson was quite a singer and Guitar Player. Nick had an expensive Epiphone Guitar, with a lot of switches on it. I don't know the model Nick's Guitar was, but it sounded and looked great. It was a real show biz Guitar. However, John Phillips played the lead for Nick, and Nick Concentrated on his singing, which was what made him Popular in the first place.

Now I had recorded in Nashville, and had a good single out that was on the Juke Box where Nick was Playing Six nights a week. So Nick would ask me to sit in and sing my song on the Juke Fox. I had recorded a Merle Haggard Song, "Today I Started Loving You Again," backed by a Delmore Brothers song, "The Nashville Blues." When I sang, Nick Played Lead Guitar Instead of John Phillips.

Let me tell you that Nick Nickson could play some mean Electric Blues Guitar. He made that Epiphone Wail, hitting some licks that made you think he was playing a Telecaster. He could pop those strings and make it sound Bluesy. And naturally he did a lot of string bending on "The Nashville Blues." I did this song as a Jump Blues. When I sang "Today I Started Loving You Again," it was a slower and more soulful song. I recorded the song as a slow and sweet Country Song. But the song was perfect as a Blues. In fact there was a famous Blues singer who recorded the song, for it was such a perfect piece of music to be sang as a slow Blues.

Let me tell you, Nick Really love to pop and bend those Strings on the Merle Haggard song I had Recorded. Nick was a little out of practice, his Guitar chops were a little Ragged, but they were full of soul, full of the Blues. He was great on Guitar when he was backing me up. My Stage Version of this song was entirely different to my Recorded Version. I liked both versions very much, for I love a soulful Country song, and I love a soulful Blues.

The Guitar Player in the Studios of Nashville had played a Nylon String Guitar on "Today I Started Loving You Again." The Studio man had a Nylon string Guitar with a Mexican Tuning, and he had a fishing line for the 1st string. The Studio Guitar Player was great. He had been playing in Nashville, and touring with the Stars for more than 20 years when I recorded there. I had seen the Lead Guitar, and Band Leader of the session, playing with Martha Carson on the Opry, when I was a kid. On the Opry, the Studio Player had a Gibson Guitar, probably an L5, it had been impressive looking, and he could play the heck out of the finger Style that was used on the Martha Carson Recording of "Satisfied," an old Southern Gospel Song that is a great piece of Music. Martha Carson was going high at the time I saw her and the Lead Man on the Opry. Her Recording of "Satisfied," was being played on every Country Music Radio Station in America at the time.

Well getting back to the Studio man, when he played the Recording Session I had in Nashville, he had played a very soulful and sweet Country Guitar Solo as his break. And his backup behind my singing was the greatest. The Recording I made of Merle Haggard's "Today I Started Loving You Again," came out fantastic.

Nick Nickson had listened to my recording on the Juke Box and was anxious for me to sit in and sang the song while he played his Epiphone Guitar as the Backup and Lead. And Nick was great, though on the rough side since he played little Guitar, just pretty much a token rhythm, while he fronted his show and sang on stage. You have to play regularly, and a lot, to stay smooth, that is just a fact for Guitar Players.

Clois Phillips, John Phillips Brother, was the Bass Man in the Nick Nickson Band. Clois did not play a Fender Bass, which was unusual for the time. I think his Bass might have been one of the rare Ampeg Electric Basses that existed. Clois Phillips is an incredible Bass Player, one of the best to ever be in a Country Music Band anywhere, in Nashville or St. Louis, or wherever. The man is a great musician. Clois had trouble getting to work on time though. He was a constant pain to Nick Nickson, holding up the start of the first set. I heard that Nick Fired Clois after putting up with his being late for years.

Nick hired a younger Bass Player that had a Fender. The guy played incredibly Loud, but he was very good and brought new life to the Nick Nickson Band. The band had grown Stale with the same members for too many years.

If you want a band that is stale, just keep the same group together for more than two years, it will get stale. Barbara Mandrell told every band member she hired that they would be with her for two years, as she refused to have a band that had gone stale, and a band does get stale after playing together for more than two years.

So the new Bass man rejuvenated the Nick Nickson Band, and the Fender Bass, and the Player's different licks on Bass, gave the band a entirely new and better sound. The Ampeg Bass that Clois Phillips used sounded more like a mellow standup Bass. Clois was from the old school, he thought an Electric Bass should sound like a Stand Up Bass, so he played the Ampeg Electric Bass, which pretty well imitated the Standup Bass.

Back to my first Fender Guitar, the Telecaster. Though the neck was very easy to play, and helped me learn, it was not a true neck. The original neck on my Telecaster was slightly warped in a way that could not be straightened. This made the Fender not fret true. I had the neck replaced in the very early 60s, and the replacement neck was perfectly true. It was great to have a Guitar that didn't go out of tune when you were up in the middle of the neck.

I had a white maple neck on my Fender Tele, and it fingered good, and fast, and the chords were easy to make, even for a beginner, which is what I was when I got the Guitar, having played only for about three months. However, about 1959 I was at a jam session where a Country Guitar Player had a Fender Tele with the rosewood neck. I played his Guitar and it was a dream neck, one of the best Guitar Necks I have ever experienced. Somehow everything had come out just perfect on the neck that was on his Telecaster. Funny how that happens sometimes.

I never like the sound of my Fender Telecaster, never. I liked the sound of the Gibson Hollow Body Guitars. I can see now why my Guitar teacher who let me play his Telecaster had taken off the Front Fender Pickup and had installed a Gibson Pickup. My teacher was a Jazz Musician, and Jazz Guitar Players back then seem to have preferred the sound the Gibson Pickups put out. Except for one Jazz Guitar Player, every Jazz Guitarists I saw, Played a Gibson.

I saw one Jazz Guitarists by the Name of Lloyd Hunnecut, in an after hours jam session. Lloyd Hunnecut played a Gibson ES-5. That was an L5 with three pickups, and a little different volume and tone control arrangement. This great Guitar Player had installed a Les Paul Bridge on his ES-5 Gibson. He told me the Les Paul Bridge gave him a different sound, one that he liked better than when the original Bridge was on his ES-5. Lloyd Hunnecut was one of the best Guitar Players I have heard, at least for pop and Jazz. He could play Be Bop Jazz with the best of them.

I did see one Black Be Bop Jazz Musician who played a Stratacaster. Boy could that guy wail. He played at a local Jazz Club in St. Louis, and I went to see him as long as he was at that club. And his Jazz sounded great on the Strat.

I traded my Telecaster in for a Gibson ES-350 TD. Until I bought that Guitar, I never knew I didn't like short scale Guitar Necks. When I tried the Guitar out, I never noticed the short scale. I had long decided it was the Guitar I wanted, so I got it. I was never happy with the Gibson ES-350 TD.

The Electric Guitar that I like best, of all Electric Guitars I have ever played, was a Tal Farlow model, when the Guitar was first released. I almost bought the Tal Farlow Guitar, I wish I had bought it.

I played a Gretch Super Chet that had a wonderful Neck and it was a beautiful Guitar. I wish I could have bought the Gretch Super Chet.

I guess when you come right down to it, of all the Electric Guitars I have owned, and they have been many, I liked the Fender 12 string Guitar best. It was a great sounding and playing Guitar. It did get heavy as the night bore on. I was playing a trio job, my own trio, Guitar, Bass and Drums, when I played the Fender 12 string Guitar. At the end of the night, I was wore out from supporting the weight of the Fender 12 string Guitar.

I played a Fender Telecaster, a new one, in a music store the other day. Boy their neck still has it. And the toggle switch on the Fender Tele I played had 5 positions. The sound of the new Fender Tele, which cost only $599, was superb. The playing was great. I played the Fender Tele through a Fender amp that had one 12 inch speaker and costs $499. Man that was one of the sweetest sounds I have ever heard. The neck was a dream, so easy to play.

Many Electric guitars have come and gone since Fender was first introduced in the early 1950s. However, the Fender Guitar is still one of the best Electric Guitars on the market, for my money anyway.

Leo Fender sold his Fender Company a long time ago, and became Extremely Rich. He started other Guitar companies, but I don't think Leo Fender ever came up with anything as good as the Guitars he made while he still owned the Fender Guitar Company. There has always been something magic about the Fender Guitar, and there still is something magic about the wonderful Guitar that Bears Leo Fender's Name.

By Robert "Lee" Johnson, "The Guitar Man"
Dobro222@aol.com

Listen to my latest songs

• "Mountain Dew"
• "Sunday Blues"
• "Resonator Blues"
• "Hillbilly Jive"

Get a copy of my CD at: http://ecom.mp3.com/cgi-bin/order.cgi?cd_id=29064&srclk=ll

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See also:

Fender v Gibson
http://www.guitarsite.com/makers.htm#Fender

Fender Discussion Page
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Guitars/rec/1512/

Restoring a '57 Fender Deluxe Amp
http://www.guitarsite.com/ampFender.htm

Fender Amp Field Guide
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Resources/rec/1254/