Telecaster

Silencer wrap tames Tele bridge-pickup squeak on vintage-voiced pickups.

ProSteels double down on Tele twang — extra zing for country-rock chicken-pickin.

Pure Nickel tames Tele twang for vintage country and blues — rolls off the modern NPS edge.

Tele players who want Slinky-like feel with more consistent manufacturing have a new favorite.

D'Addario EXL115 11-49 on the Fender Telecaster is the closest off-the-shelf proxy for Andy Summers' documented heavy-Tele spec — Summers ran D'Addario custom gauges (.012/.015/.018/.028/.038/.049) on his heavily-modded 1963 Tele Custom across The Police's entire catalog: 'Roxanne', 'Every Breath You Take', 'Walking on the Moon', 'Message in a Bottle'. Summers used D'Addario across all his instruments — electric (custom), acoustic Phosphor Bronze, and EJ45 Pro-Arté nylon.

Conventional wisdom: every Tele thread defaults to 10-46 Slinky for that bridge-pickup country snap or 9-46 hybrid for blues-bend articulation. Editorial logic: EXL115 11-49 in StringTune's catalog is the closest 11-49 family-of-strings to Summers' .012-.049 custom — slightly lighter top + bottom but preserves the heavy-gauge approach Summers needed for his arpeggio-heavy jazz-meets-new-wave Tele voicings (the 'Message in a Bottle' add9-arpeggio that defined post-punk guitar).

Best for Tele players doing arpeggio-driven new wave + jazz-rock fusion in the Summers vein; skip if you want classic country 10-46 snap or modern shred light gauge.

Unconventional: Chromes flatwounds on a Telecaster. The Tele's entire identity is its bright bridge pickup — the chicken-pickin spank Brad Paisley uses, the clean cut Keith Richards rides through 'Honky Tonk Women', the treble that makes country players reach for a Tele in the first place. Nearly everyone strings a Tele with roundwounds (Slinky 9-42 or XL 10-46) to preserve that twang.

Ted Greene, the late LA guitar-teacher genius, ran D'Addario Chromes flatwounds on his Tele instead, and modern country-jazz players like Bill Kirchen and Jim Campilongo have borrowed the trick. What you get is a hybrid nothing else produces: the Tele's percussive cut and forward midrange survive the flats, but the harsh top-end spike and finger squeak disappear — a smooth, vocal, slightly dark Tele that can play Wes Montgomery changes and still bark like a Tele on the low strings. What you sacrifice: the signature twang, easy bending, and every country-rock cliche.

Best for jazz-country crossover and chord-melody Tele work; skip it if you came to the Tele for its spank.

D'Addario XL Nickel Wound 10-46 on the Fender Telecaster is the closest off-the-shelf proxy for Brent Mason's documented Nashville-session hybrid — Mason runs a custom 9.5-set (D'Addario EXL120+: .0095/.011/.016/.024/.034/.044) on his '67 modded Tele on records by Dolly Parton, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Alan Jackson, and George Strait. As Guitar Player magazine documented in February 2000: "He strings everything with D'Addario 0.0095-0.044, which would be the EXL120+ set." Mason's Premier Guitar Rig Rundown (2021) confirms the spec hasn't changed in 25+ years. Conventional wisdom: every Tele thread defaults to 10-46 standard nickel rounds.

Editorial logic: XL 10-46 in StringTune's catalog is the closest D'Addario set in the same family to Mason's 9.5-44 hybrid — slightly heavier than Mason's spec but preserves his D'Addario brand commitment. The 10-46 gauge supports Mason's bender system (the heavy modification that pulls the B string up a whole step) without snapping under the daily Nashville 3-session-per-day session schedule. Best for Tele players doing country/Nashville session work in the Mason vein; skip if you want pure 9.

5-44 lightness for vocal-bend country leads.