http://www.fender.com/features/history/?timeline=tele

The rich history of Fender guitars begins with the Telecaster. An indispensible workhorse instrument, it has endured remarkably unchanged for more than 60 years as a marvel of elegantly simple form and solidly utilitarian function.

1940s

1949

Leo Fender's ideas for a solid-body electric Spanish guitar gradually take shape. The instrument will be loud without being prone to feedback, with the piercing tone characteristic of Fender steel guitars and a detachable neck for easy construction, adjustment and repair. It will be easy to tune precisely, easy to hold, easy to play and affordable to working musicians. He builds a prototype over the summer, followed by an improved second prototype in the fall.

1950s

1950

Promotion begins in spring for Fender's new solid-body electric Spanish guitar, a single-pickup instrument that Fender sales chief Don Randall names the Esquire. In fall, truss rods are added to the necks, and a two-pickup version goes into production; Randall names this model the Broadcaster.

1951

Single-pickup Esquire guitars with reinforced necks go into full production in January. In February, Randall renames the dual-pickup Broadcaster model the Telecaster.

1952

The controls of the Telecaster (two knobs and a three-way switch) are reconfigured in such a way that there is no setting in which both pickups are on simultaneously; an arrangement that last until 1967.

1954

1955

The Telecaster's pickup selector switch tip is changed from the original round type to the "top hat" type.

1956

1957

1958

The previously blonde-finish-only Telecaster becomes available in custom color finishes for an additional 5 percent cost. Fender changes its two-color sunburst finish to a three-color sunburst. James Burton joins Ricky Nelson's band. Muddy Waters tours England in October, shocking audiences who were expecting folksy acoustic sounds by blasting out loud, stinging blues on his Telecaster.

1959

The first significant variation of the Telecaster, the Custom Telecaster, is introduced, with a bound body and rosewood fingerboard. Bakersfield Sound pioneer Buck Owens charts his first singles with "Second Fiddle" and "Under Your Spell Again."

1960s

1962

1963

1964

In the U.K., the Yardbirds play "Louise" and "I Wish You Would" on Granada Television's Go Tell it on the Mountain in July, with relatively new guitarist Eric Clapton, 19, tearing up both songs on a red Telecaster.

1965

In order to save money, Who guitarist Peter Townshend takes to playing and then smashing sturdier, less-expensive Telecaster guitars (as opposed to more delicate and more expensive Rickenbacker guitars) for the group's destructive set-closing number, "My Generation." He continues this practice into 1966. Jeff Beck replaces Eric Clapton in the Yardbirds; his main guitar is a 1954 Esquire.

1966

1967

Gene Parsons and Clarence White (the Byrds, Nashville West) invent the Pasons/White String Pull, later known as the B-Bender, and equip White´s ´56 Telecaster with it (Fender released its own B-Bender-equipped Telecaster 33 years later). The Telecaster´s controls are reconfigured so that the three-way switch delivers neck pickup/both pickups/bridge pickup operation.

1968

Fender acoustic guitars chief Roger Rossmeisl develops a new hollow-body version of the Telecaster called the Telecaster Thinline, which features an f hole and an elongated pearloid pickguard. The "Paisley Red" and "Blue Flower" Telecaster models are introduced.

1968

1969

George Harrison plays a custom rosewood Telecaster atop the London headquarters of the Beatles' company, Apple, during the famous Jan. 20, 1969, rooftop concert that would be the group's final live performance. James Burton joins Elvis Presley's band.

1970s

1971

The single-coil pickups on the Telecaster Thinline are replaced with humbucking pickups.

1971

Keith Richards acquires what will become one of his favorite guitars, a butterscotch 1953 Telecaster he nicknames "Micawber" after a character in Dickens´ David Copperfield.

1972

1973

The Telecaster Deluxe is introduced, with two humbucking pickups, a Stratocaster-style headstock and a choice of hard-tail or tremolo bridge.

1974

1975

1976

In London, Joe Strummer leaves his old band, the 101'ers, and accepts an invitation to join a new band, the Clash, which makes its live debut in July in Sheffield, England, opening for the Sex Pistols. His main guitar for the duration of the band's legendary career is a battered 1966 Telecaster.

1977

1978

The Pretenders form in Hereford, England; leader Chrissie Hynde remains a devoted Telecaster player throughout the band's career.

1980s

1982

Newly created Fender Japan plans the first Vintage series reissue instruments, including a 1952 Telecaster model.

1983

The short-lived Elite Telecaster is introduced.

1984

Fender Japan introduces more Vintage series reissue models, including a 1962 Custom Telecaster, and 1972 Telecaster Custom and Telecaster Thinline models.

1985

The American Standard Telecaster is introduced by the new post-CBS Fender.

1988

The Fender Custom Shop produces the 40th Anniversary Telecaster model.

1990s

1990

The first artist signature Telecaster models are introduced, bearing the names of Albert Collins, Danny Gatton and James Burton.

1992

The Jerry Donahue Telecaster is introduced.

1993

The Clarence White Telecaster is introduced.

1995

The Waylon Jennings Telecaster is introduced. The Fender Custom Shop produces its first beat-up or "relic-ed" replica guitars; these soon include a ´50s-era Nocaster model.

1997

Merle Haggard and Will Ray Telecaster models are introduced.

1999