List of Telecaster Players - K-P

K-P

• Bill Kirchen (born 1947), longtime Telecaster devotee who played in Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen during the 1970s and continues to drive his well-abused Tele to the limits of the rockabilly sound. Known for his barnstorming live licks and stylisitic diversity, Kirchen's first Telecaster came to him in a 1967 even trade with a stranger he met on bus, Kirchen exchanging his own Gibson SG in the deal
• Albert Lee (born 1943), whose instrumental work has influenced many other guitarists, has played a Telecaster since 1963. As a long-time Tele player, he wrote a foreword to A. R. Duchossoir's book detailing the history of the guitar.
• Alex Lifeson (born 1953), the guitarist of Rush, frequently uses the Telecaster in live performances and in studio recordings.
• Brent Mason (born 1959), a prolific Nashville session musician. Gibson produces a Brent Mason Signature guitar, which is modeled after Mason's heavily customized 1968 Telecaster. It features 2 "stacked" pick-ups (bridge and middle) and one mini humbucker (neck position), and an additional volume control to "bleed in" the middle pick-up.
• Johnny Marr (born 1963), famously used a Telecaster on The Smith's hit "This Charming Man."
• Roy Nichols (1932–2001) was a guitarist in Merle Haggard's group The Strangers, and famously used the "chicken pickin'" technique for which the Telecaster is so well suited. Fittingly, an image of a Telecaster is engraved on his tombstone.
• Mike Oldfield (born 1953), aged 16, got a 66 blonde Telecaster which used to belong to Marc Bolan. He performed all the guitar parts of his breakthrough album Tubular Bells with this guitar, and most parts of his next albums.
• Buck Owens (1929–2006), along with Don Rich and their custom sparkle-finish Telecasters, helped create the distinctive Bakersfield sound of country music in the early 1960s. Owens' personal Telecaster was gold with a red, white, and blue pickguard, reminicesant of his famous American Flag style Acoustic guitar.
• Jimmy Page (born 1944), though more known for his use of the Gibson Les Paul, used a Telecaster in his earlier work with The Yardbirds and on Led Zeppelin's first album, as well as on Stairway to Heaven, one of Led Zeppelin's most famous tracks.
• Rick Parfitt (born 1948) of Status Quo, "one of Britain's longest-lived bands," is a faithful Tele player.
• Brad Paisley (born 1972) plays guitars from an extensive collection of Telecasters and Tele-inspired models, including his "warhorse," a '68 Red Paisley model (the same model that James Burton made famous) named "Old Pink." One notable feature on some of his guitars is a G-bender device. Paisley has custom Tele-inspired models made by Crook Custom Guitars.
• Luther Perkins (1928–1968), a member of Johnny Cash's backing band The Tennessee Two/Three used his Esquire to create the "boom-chicka" rhythms that came to characterize much of Cash's music.