“I’ve literally thrown that guitar across the stage, and my tech picks it up, and it’s still in tune!” – John Osborne talks the joys of his near-indestructible vintage Telecaster – and recreating the unique guitar for Fender’s first b-bender loaded signature
John Osborne loves Telecasters. Given that he’s a firebrand guitar player in a major country act, that’s hardly surprising – Osborne’s melodic, expressive lead playing is a huge part of the sound of Brothers Osborne, and it’s lent an extra edge by the Telecaster twang. It’s no surprise, then, that he’s the latest artist to be tapped by Fender for a new signature model – one that recreates his very own well-used and well-traveled Telecaster.
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Image: Fender
Partscaster’d together
The story of the new John Osborne Telecaster starts with John’s first main guitar that he used on stage and in the studio. A vintage 1968 example, John obtained it from a local Nashville music shop when he was in his early 20s – with the help of a few trade-ins of the rest of his gear, and $700 borrowed from his mum. “I didn’t have guitars,” John explains. “I just had this one 1968 Telecaster. So I played it on everything – every gig and every session.”
Part two of the story would come with John’s first introduction to b-benders. “When my brother and I went to record our second record, called Port Saint Joe, a friend of mine who has since passed, Keith Gattis, a total b-bender master, lent me one of his guitars to play on that record. And I fell in love with the b-bender. I had played b-benders a few times, just here and there, but never live or on a record. And I could not put it down. I was obsessed!”
From there, John knew what needed to happen to his main guitar. “I went looking for maybe a cheap b-bender Telecaster I could put together myself – and I found a body preloaded with a b-bender, and that was it. No pickups or anything. So what I did was take the neck of my ‘68 and put it on that body – thus proving that 80-90% of a guitar is really in that neck, how it feels, how it plays – because it was really not too dissimilar to how it felt before. I found some pickups and so on, assembled it all myself – that was the real genesis of that guitar!”
For some, the idea of changing just one of the bridge saddles on a 1968 Telecaster would be close to sacreligious – let alone replacing the entire body. But for John, it’s just abiding by Leo Fender’s original ethos. “He was a very utilitarian, pragmatic person – this was before people learned how to take frets out of necks easily. He had the idea that once the frets wear out on the guitar, you just take the neck off and you put a new neck on it – like changing a set of tires. And because of that, because of the simplistic design, it’s allowed people to modify these guitars themselves into their own personal canvas to create on.”
And for those who are worried that the original ‘68 body is hiding in the back of a wardrobe somewhere, it’s luckily still fulfilling its purpose under a different guise. “I still have that original ‘68 body, and I actually converted it into a baritone guitar with a long conversion neck!” John says.
Image: Fender
The spirit of a Tele
The spec-sheet of John’s new guitar stays essentially as close as possible to his self-assembled guitar, itself aiming to keep the voice of a traditional Tele, not replace it. “At the end of the day, I still wanted it to be a Telecaster, not another guitar shaped like a Telecaster,” John says. “I wanted the three brass-barrel saddles, compensated, obviously but even that’s not perfect – and that’s ok. Those imperfections are what make music special. I’ve had six-saddle Teles over the years, but I start to miss that honk and spank that comes from having those brass barrels – even with six brass saddles, you lose some of that character.”
This approach carried over to the electronics, too. “I still wanted a Telecaster bridge pickup, because that is the sound. And I did want to keep the neck pickup, but make it a little punchier. I didn’t just want to put a Strat pickup in there! But I wanted something to compete with a louder bridge pickup, so there wasn’t a drop when I switched position. You know, everyone’s favourite pickup on a Strat is the neck – we all want to pretend we’re Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan, even when we’re playing a Telecaster. So I really wanted something that could speak in that way, but still retain some of the tradition of the Tele.”
Image: Fender
A new toy
There is, of course, one big concession to bucking tradition – that b-bender. If you’re unfamiliar, it offers a hands-free way to bend just the b-string, as a lever translates a downwards pull on the strap to a tightening of the b-string behind the saddle. This lets you easily bend the b-string within chords in order to mimic the sound of a pedal-steel guitar – and it can be totally transformational to all aspects of your playing, lead and rhythm alike.
Regardless, anyone who gets their hands on a John Osborne Telecaster will likely spend a good while doing absolutely nothing but chewy pedal steel chord-bends on it – and, if John’s experience is anything to go by, have a hard time not using it on everything. “When I first got the b-bender, I wanted to put on every song. I was having so much fun – it was like learning a new instrument again,” he says. “When anyone gets a new toy, they just want to use it the whole time. I’ve got three-year-old twins in the house, and they’re no different!”
“When guitar players get that new pedal, it’s like, ‘this is going on every song!’ – until eventually you learn where it needs to go. But that’s all part of the fun – discovering, experimenting and then finding out how to incorporate that sound into the larger palette of colours that you have,” he explains. “Now, I don’t even really think about it anymore. It’s just part of my voice as a musician.”
For John one of the coolest things about his signature is taking all of the quirks of his guitar – b-bender and all – and putting them out there into the hands of a much wider range of players. “I’m really looking forward to seeing how other people use it, all the things that they will do that I couldn’t even think of,” he says, and notes that like the Telecaster itself, the b-bender is definitely not just chained to country. “The pedal steel – which is what we’re all trying to emulate with it, really – has been used on a lot of rock and pop records now, so the sound is not tied to this one genre of country. You’re able to cross over with these things. I mean, hell, Jimmy Page had some great b-bender stuff back in the day! It’s just another tool in the toolbox to create the music that you want to create.”
Image: Fender
A well-worn look
And like any good tool, John’s own guitar has seen its fair share of wear-and-tear. “I grew up plumbing with my dad,” he notes, “and the tools in that toolbox are just beat to hell, because they’ve been used. Guitars are the same – you know it’s a good guitar if it’s been used!”
The signature guitar wears a road-worn finish – while it’s not a total one-to-one recreation, the spirit of the original is carried over, particularly given that the second-hand b-bender body he found had actually already been relic’d when he put the ‘68 neck on it. “But as time went on, with the thousands of hours I played that guitar, it created a lot of different wear, especially in the forearm – I really wanted to make sure that was there,” John adds.
It’s also clear that John’s just a fan of a rough-and-ready look in general. “I’ve never really been a fan of glossy guitars – I’m not a glossy human, and I don’t really want my guitars to look glossy because it makes me look even less glossy!” he jokes. “The instrument should be a bit of an extension of who you are, and it just made more sense from that perspective. Also subconsciously – it shouldn’t be about how it looks, but at the end of the day, it kind of is, because when you look at an instrument, it does put you in a mindset, and how you play is a reflection of that mindset.”
And in some ways a road worn finish is particularly applicable to any given Telecaster. “I’ve literally thrown that guitar across the stage, and my tech picks it up, and it’s still in tune,” John adds. “That’s the thing about these Teles in particular – they are made to be beat up.”
Find out more about the Fender John Osborne Telecaster at fender.com
The post “I’ve literally thrown that guitar across the stage, and my tech picks it up, and it’s still in tune!” – John Osborne talks the joys of his near-indestructible vintage Telecaster – and recreating the unique guitar for Fender’s first b-bender loaded signature appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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