Fender guitars used to bear the brunt of my guitar manufacturing
criticisms. For a design which has essentially gone without much
significant revision, I concede that Leo Fender got part of the formula
right. I use the term "part" because the design isn't perfect. There
are obvious flaws with the solid-body electric design: early '50s models
can only make truss rod adjustments by removing the neck first, the
V-shaped neck is awkward to grip initially, the tiny frets meant you
have to be precise and fret lightly, and true single coil pickups have
worse grounding than the cheapest radio you can buy.
When faced with
these problems, guitarists can choose to react in one of two ways.
Firstly, they can avoid the problem altogether. It is certainly a more
natural solution to find guitars which address and correct the flaws. Parker and
Steinberger guitars, for example, have far superior playability,
durability, balance, and features. Adrian Belew of King Crimson made the
switch from Fender (most notably known for his iconic pink strat) to
Parker because they "have none of the inherent problems and make [him] play
better".
On the other hand, guitarists can accept the flaws and work
around them. I have personally gone through this route and can attest:
it's a lot of hard work. To play fast and fluidly on a strat requires
one to be precise and accurate with a light touch in both hands. Your
left hand has to accommodate the neck profile and small frets by bending
in a certain way. Your picking hand has to play around the pickup
spacing and slanted bridge pickup, being careful not to knock into the
volume knob.
To cut a long story short, I think by accepting and accommodating these flaws, I've ended up becoming a better guitar player. I was a very heavy player with a heavy hand who came from a metal background, so when the time came to retire from that particular scene, I needed guitars that were suited for far more mellow music. Acquiring my strat and tele has lightened up my touch tremendously, and that has made me far more dynamically-sensitive.
Perhaps most pertinent to a GAS-prone guitarist is that you'll have to acquire more gear to get a single coil to
really sing. They aren't as beefy as their humbucker counterparts, and they tend to have this shrill treble bite to them which isn't too appealing in a modern musical context. My personal solution was to stack my overdrive pedals with some EQ to roll off that high end, both on the guitar and on the amp side. I think this has had the side effect of making everyone's single coil tone unique, in that people use different configurations of pedals and amps to achieve an entire spectrum of tone, from full and fat to thin and shrill.
My simple exhortation to those dismissive of Fender guitars is to try them out. Take a vintage guitar out for a spin. You just might be very pleasantly surprised.
For further viewing:
Dave Hunter and Carl Verheyen demonstrate telecasters
Carl Verheyen demonstrates his stratocaster
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