8 Best Non-Fender Telecaster Guitars (Incl. Cheap Copies) 

Despite being a signature model guitar, the Larry Carlton T7 Signature Telecaster is a worthy consideration regardless of whether you’re a fan of Larry or not because it has such a neutral and understated look. This guitar is appropriate for anyone, not just Carlton fans.

While the design stays true to the Telecaster formula, using the same single-coil and lipstick pickup configuration combined with the flat control plate, the headstock has been adjusted slightly and looks far sleeker than the regular Fender headstock.

I really like the darker roasted hard maple neck, not only is it going to be supremely stable as the roasting process removes all of the moisture and oils from the wood, the darker caramel color gives it a luxurious and rich appearance. 

Making things even better are the abalone dot inlays which blend into the fingerboard making them understated from a distance, but still functional when you’re up close.

Both the bridge and neck pickups are Sire’s own LC Super-T Single-coils, which have no problems nailing the signature Telecaster twang. But I found they still grit up nicely without introducing those nasty overtones like some of the very old Tele-pickups would. 

These are more functional for the modern musician, without giving up the core spirit of the Telecaster sound.

The T7 is available in a number of colors (the Tobacco Burst is my favorite) and is a little bit cheaper than the Fender Player series making it a good value mid-tier consideration.

You might be surprised to see a Schecter make this list as they are most often associated with making guitars geared for heavy metal music.

But don’t write them off just yet, the PT Special impressed me with how authentically it nailed the feel of a Telecaster, while still introducing a few unique quirks that give it its own personality too.

The PT stands for Peter Townshend who was the lead guitarist for legendary British rock band The Who.

The core philosophy of this guitar was to design a more muscular Telecaster that tonally produces much more hair, grit, and overtones thanks to the bright (and very light, be warned) swamp ash body which is paired with Schecter's own Diamond V-90 and VT-1 pickups.

The P-90 style neck pickup in particular impressed me with how thick and rich it sounds, it certainly contrasts the thin and twangy lipstick-style pickup you might find on a real Fender Tele.

The neck also feels more appropriate for the modern player thanks to its C profile and flatter 12” radius. It plays much more smoothly than a traditional 9.5” radius neck. So if you enjoy playing fast this is going to feel much nicer in the hands.

It comes in a number of colors/finishes, particularly the 3-tone Sunburst with maple fretboard looks exceptionally exquisite.

After selling Fender, Leo Fender himself went on to form G&L Guitars in the late ’70s with George Fullerton. This gives G&L guitars a unique authority when it comes to making (and breaking) the Telecaster formula.

While the G&L Tribute ASAT certainly does hit all the main beats you’d expect from a T-style guitar, it’s got a few of its own unique quirks that seem to surprise everyone who tries it.

Primarily the body wood which is a single piece of sassafras (don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of it either) which is a premium tonewood that aims to provide an even balance across the frequency spectrum. 

Essentially removing a bit of the honky twang and leaning more into the bass and lower mids than what you’d expect from a traditional Tele.

This body wood is then combined with a hard maple neck which is both supremely stable and darkens the sound a little bit which further helps to warm up the tone of the instrument.

The pickups are G&L’s own Jumbo MFD Single-coils which sounded wonderfully rich and are very quiet and easy to keep under control, a welcome reprieve for anyone who’s dealt with buzzy and noisy true single-coil Tele pickups before.

Although these are technically single coils, they are soap bar pickups, so if you like to play around with aftermarket pickups you will be limited to soap bar spacing only.

I also found the rounded over bridge rim really comfortable on my hands, so if like me you’ve always had a problem with the comfort of the regular Tele ‘ashtray’ bridge plates, you’ll no doubt find these far nicer on the hands!

The Telecaster has always had an association with vintage looks and tone, but over time there’s been a steady accumulation of guitars that aimed to modernize the design and essentially turn them into T-shaped super Strats.

Nothing encapsulates that concept better than the Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal.

It’s got everything you’d expect from an ultra-modern guitar: dual humbucking pickups, a floating bridge style with adjustable saddles, a 3-way blade switch, and angled controls to fit the curvature of your arm swing.

This makes it an ideal choice for anyone who likes the visual style of a Telecaster but needs a cutting-edge modern instrument that can handle rock and metal tones.

The guitar takes on an all-black aesthetic with an open-pore matte black finish on its bright-sounding swamp ash body, the black pickguard and all-black hardware make this thing look like a sleek rock machine.

It has a 12”-16” compound radius neck meaning you’ll get much lower action than on a traditional Telecaster which helps accommodate faster playing for shredding and solos.

But the real star of the show here are the Fishman Fluence Open Core Classic pickups which have 2 distinct voices you can activate by hitting the mini toggle switch situated between the tone and volume controls.

Between these two modes and the 3-way pickup selector, you’ve got access to 6 unique sounds making this possibly the most tonally versatile Tele I’ve ever played.

If you’re not much of a traditionalist and just want the single-cut shape, this is definitely one to check out!

The ESP LTD TE-200 is a guitar that’s a little confused in its design philosophy. It seems to want to be a modernized Telecaster but has gone so far that it’s ended up adopting more of a full-on metal super Strat vibe that just happens to be single-cut.

Despite its unusual design ethos, there’s no denying its functionality and incredible price to performance. It certainly deserves a spot on this list!

On the more traditional side of things, you have a mahogany T-shaped body with a regular pickguard and traditional horizontal Telecaster control plate.

From there everything else sits firmly in the modern era with LTD’s fixed bridge, which is basically a hipshot bridge in all but name.

There are two of LTD’s own designed passive humbuckers which didn’t sound too great to me, but thanks to the pickup mounting rings you can easily replace them with aftermarket ones to improve the tone.

One design aspect I found myself unexpectedly falling in love with was the inlays. There's something about the mini-dots that are tucked away at the top of the fretboard which makes the guitar look sleek and modern. I'm a huge fan of them and wish more guitars utilized this!

Overall this would be a guitar a modern metal player might enjoy, but traditionalists may be bothered by some of the design choices.

The Godin Radium is going to be a great choice for anyone who’s looking to see the Telecaster formula shaken up and wants something that stands out.

Despite its overall leaning towards the Tele design, you’ll see a lot of Les Paul influence here with its paddle-style headstock and bar-bridge design.

The Godin Radium has a solid basswood body that has been left unfinished, although it’s also available in a painted Matte green finish if you’re not keen on the natural wood look.

The body shape is technically from a Godin Stadium model which is their take on the Tele. It’s been adjusted quite a bit from the regular T-shape body to have a more pronounced top ridge where your arm rests which felt super comfortable to play, but also the actual single cut is contoured which gives it its own unique look.

Pickup wise it has two of Godin’s own custom Zebra humbuckers in the bridge and neck position, both of which sounded modern and punchy. The middle pickup has a Cajun Nickel Single-coil with a metal cover that matches the silver bridge and control plate.

While there’s only a 3-way toggle switch you do have a push/pull switch on the tone knob which coil splits the humbuckers to allow you to achieve a huge range of tones. 

If you like the idea of playing both a Les Paul and a Telecaster at the same time, this is going to be perfect for you.

Did you know that Monoprice made instruments? I didn’t until I got my hands on this thing, and it’s not half bad!

Now the first thing to establish is that this is designed as an absolute beginner's guitar and the price very much reflects this. With this price and target audience in mind, I was very impressed despite the obvious issues you might expect to deal with on a cheap guitar.

The Monoprice Indio Series is trying to essentially nail the Telecaster for as cheap as possible, with no extra frills and gimmicks. 

All the traditional colors you’d want from a Tele are there. There’s also a good selection of maple or rosewood fretboard options depending on your preference.

It hits all the main beats of a Tele, angled single coil in the bridge with a lipstick-style pickup in the neck, flat control panel with volume, tone, and a 3-way toggle switch. It even comes with a gig bag.

Obviously, the tone isn’t great, and it struggled to stay in tune when left alone meaning it needed to be tuned every time I picked it up. But you could also just see this as an opportunity for a beginner to put in a lot of practice tuning the guitar which isn’t a bad thing!

This is probably the single most affordable path to getting a Telecaster clone available and can work great as someone's first guitar or as a project instrument where you can make some aftermarket upgrades.

Another guitar that’s really designed to be an absolute beginner's instrument.

Once again the LyxPro 39” does a good job of hitting all the main beats of a Telecaster. But it has its own unique headstock design and I like the fact they have left it unfinished so it still fits in with that more vintage aesthetic you’d associate with the Telecaster.

The pickups seem to be LyxPro’s own design or some brandless imports. They don’t sound great. If your only concern is with a nice, glassy clean tone then they are adequate, but if you wish to use any kind of distortion there’s lots of residual noise and nasty overtones. 

I highly recommend exchanging these with aftermarket pickups.

The body is made of Paulownia which both looks good and resonates nicely, the weight is ideal and it doesn’t come off feeling cheap at all.

Obviously, these are cheaply produced guitars, and as such the body is usually a mishmash of various cuts which have been glued together. When more premium brands do this they’ll often spend a lot of time matching the different cuts of wood, but on the one I tried there had clearly been no effort put into matching the body woodcuts, the grain was quite literally running in two directions.

While this doesn’t affect its functionality, if aesthetics are important to you this should be considered a high-risk purchase as you have no way of knowing what kind of wood grain you’re getting. 

If possible, try to ask for pictures before making a purchase. But oftentimes these are shipped from storage warehouses so you won’t get the option to choose the exact one you want.