SSS-SS pickup config, body shape, tone
#4491....
careful comparing Les Pauls to Strats.
humbuckers are very different than single coils.
play the two brands and decide which tone you like.
in te 800 dollar range a Highway One strat would be a very good buy...but Im a single coil freak.
The Telecaster has a string-through body bridge and generally two single-coil pickups (a lipstock-style at the neck and a fat single-coil at the bridge).
The Stratocaster usually has three pickups (the most commong is three single coils, although another favorite is a single-single-humbucker) and the Strat generally comes with a tremolo bridge instead of a fixed bridge.
Because the Tele only has two pickups, it has a three-way switch and a volume and tone knob. The Strat has a 5-way switch and a volume and two tone knobs.
Most people believe the Tele to be a more basic guitar and the Strat to have more tonal varieties. The use of pedals and effects makes this irrelevant.
They have different body shapes, etc... but the above are the major differences.
-=- Steve
"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"
Don't forget the used guitar market,you can get More bang for your buck.
Most people believe the Tele to be a more basic guitar and the Strat to have more tonal varieties. The use of pedals and effects makes this irrelevant.
You really need to try them both - I have one of each, and the tone and feel are worlds apart, even though they're both Fender guitars with bolt-on necks and single-coil pickups.
It's hard to explain, but Strats are more forgiving to play, and easier to get tonal variety from. And the pickup combinations (2 and 4 on the 5-way switch) produce that "quack" the Strat is famous for, and which you'll never get any other way, IMHO. And that broad, singing overdrive sound (late Clapton, David Gilmour) you just can't quite get with a Tele.
But the Tele, while being rather unforgiving to play (exaggerates any mistakes) has sounds the Strat can approach but not equal - a liquid, articulate neck pickup sound, perfect for minor blues, and a slashing, savage bite on the bridge pickup when overdriven - think early Mike Bloomfield, on the first electric Dylan albums, or the first Butterfield Blues Band album. Or Clapton with the Yardbirds. The nearest thing to forked lightning on a guitar! Played clean, the Tele will twang like nothing else.
As describe above, Strats have more complex, harmonically rich tones than Teles -- but very different from a humbucker (LP) richness, which is warmer, duller and less clear. The Strat he pup placement adds to this by scooping the midrange, especially in the combined pup settings. A Tele is a cleaner, simpler sounding guitar, that works well for creating a really snappy clean tone, or very focused overdrive with the appropriate amplifier. That focused tone is the reason many guitarists work heavily with Teles in the studio. Some very famous leads have been done on Teles by guys that normally are dual humbucker players -- Plant's Stairway solo is a prime example.
I agree with PVTele, I think a beginner might have an easier time with a Strat, as a Tele is such a critical instrument. But if you find yourself in love with a Tele, by all means go for it.
OMT: It's become somewhat common to think of the two Fenders in this way:
Strat = Quack
Tele = Spank
-=tension & release=-
