[yuyaya]

The Fender Telecaster guitar has not surprisingly built up a large number of famous admirers over the years including Keith Richards, Jimmy Page, Andy Summers and Bruce Springsteen.

Below are 10 interesting facts about this legendary electric guitar:

1. The Telecaster was developed in 1948 in California by Leo Fender. This was a period that many guitar manufacturers were experimenting and producing exciting designs. As a result the Fender Telecaster needed to be quick off the mark.

2. The guitar appeared on the scene as the Broadcaster model in 1949 and is still manufactured today in one form or another. There have without doubt been many impersonators but the original is the one that counts.

3. In 1950 the very first single pickup model rolled off production and was named the Esquire.

4. When it comes to the wood used in the construction process, the neck and the fingerboard were constructed from just one piece of Maple. This was subsequently bolted to a body made from Alder or Ash, which was a less expensive process than Gibson's far more involved 'set neck' style.

5. A semi-acoustic version of the guitar appeared in approximately 1968 and was known as the Thinline. The 1969 version of this guitar incorporated a Mahogany body and by the time 1972 arrived the body was Swamp Ash.

6. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame used a 1958 Telecaster that was a gift from Jeff Beck on the now infamous guitar solo on the amazing track Stairway to Heaven, from Led Zeppelin's fourth album. Many people still to this day think that this guitar solo was played on either a Gibson SG double neck or a Les Paul but it wasn't.

7. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones now famously utilised his Custom guitar in an unconventional way during a live concert. Richards took off his guitar from around his neck and used it to beat off an over-keen and potentially dangerous fan who ran onstage.

8. The Telecaster bridge pickup sits on top of a steel plate to improve the magnetic field which additionally helps to give this pickup its particularly distinctive tone.

9. Fender decided to modify the electronics in 1952 to incorporate a tone control into the circuit for the guitar pickups.

10. In 1950 somewhere between the Broadcaster model and the Telecaster, any guitars manufactured in this interim period were without a name and consequently are often known as Nocasters.

If you have never tested one of these excellent guitars, head down to your nearest guitar outlet a give one a test drive. You'll love it.

*removed*