Seventy years after the introduction of the Fender Telecaster, the first solid-body electric guitar remains the first choice of rock 'n' roll, blues, and country guitarists everywhere.
The Tele's iconic shape and bright, cutting sound -- "with a prominent high end, thick midrange and bass perfectly suited to western swing," according to its manufacturer -- is closely associated with legendary players, among them Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the M.G.s, James Burton, Keith Richards, Roy Buchanan, Pete Townshend, and Danny Gatton.
Another is G.E. Smith, the former bandleader on "Saturday Night Live," who has recorded and toured with musicians including Bob Dylan, Roger Waters, and Hall & Oates. On Monday at 7 and 9 p.m., Mr. Smith, who lives in Amagansett, will host Masters of the Telecaster with Jim Weider, who played with the Band for 15 years. The shows, in the backyard theater at Guild Hall, are the latest of Mr. Smith's Portraits series, produced by Taylor Barton.
For Mr. Weider, a native of Woodstock, N.Y., his predecessors in rock 'n' roll and the blues influenced his choice of instrument. "Ricky Nelson with James Burton," he said, recalling mid-1960s television music programs like "Hullabaloo." "The Tele was the guitar back then. That was the more favored guitar, and I just gravitated toward that sound. I heard Steve Cropper and Booker T., and just loved the sound of it. Of course, Jeff Beck on the Yardbirds' 'Having a Rave Up.' "
He got his first Telecaster at Manny's Music, the legendary and long-defunct musical instrument shop on Manhattan's West 48th Street, around 1967. "I think I paid $125 for it, and just stayed with it."
Robbie Robertson, guitarist in the Band, also stuck with the Telecaster, Mr. Weider said, when many rock 'n' roll guitarists were migrating to the Gibson Les Paul and Fender's Stratocaster, the latter featuring a wider range of sounds and a sleeker body. "People said, 'Why don't you got a Strat? It has other sounds, it's not so darn bright.' I call it good treble."
The guitar work of Buchanan, a revered musician who died in 1988, solidified Mr. Weider's love for the Telecaster. "When I heard Roy Buchanan play blues on it, I went in search," he said. "When I went to California in 1970 or '71 -- everybody did -- I went in search of one like Roy's, and I found one. It took a couple of Telecasters, but when I got to California, I found my '52. I said, 'I'm gonna play this guitar for rest of my life,' and that's what I did. And I'm still going."
For Mr. Smith, getting his first Telecaster, on the occasion of his 11th birthday, was less of a choice. With an offer to join a band -- and earn money -- with much older players, "me and Mom went looking for an electric guitar." Options were few in "the hick town in Pennsylvania" in which he grew up, he said. "There was a nice Gibson, and a used Fender Telecaster. The Gibson was $200, and the Tele was $100, so there was no doubt which one we were going to get." He still has the book that recorded his mother's monthly payments.
The Telecaster was "the first commercially produced, solid-body electric guitar that caught on with people," Mr. Smith said. "For me, it's always been the quintessential rock 'n' roll guitar. I've been playing it for so long that they just feel natural on my body."
The Band reunited in 1983, seven years after its breakup was chronicled in Martin Scorsese's documentary "The Last Waltz." Mr. Robertson did not participate. Mr. Weider, who during the Band's hiatus had played with its drummer, the late Levon Helm, joined in 1985. He would remain with the Band until its dissolution in 2000. "I was very honored to be in that position, thanks to Levon," he said.
His first performance with the group, following a single tune-up "at a country bar called the Getaway," was in front of 30,000 fans. The reunited Band also played to more than 350,000 people at Mr. Waters's "The Wall -- Live in Berlin" concert in 1990, at the 1992 tribute to Mr. Dylan at Madison Square Garden, and with the Grateful Dead at what would prove the group's final performance, in 1995. "A lot of hard road, and a lot of good laughs," he remembered.
Mr. Weider and Mr. Smith have previously performed Masters of the Telecaster concerts, including at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. On Monday, they will explore some of the Band's catalog, including "the great guitar parts Robbie put in all his tunes, like trademarks," Mr. Weider said.
"Jim's a great guitar player," Mr. Smith said. The guitarists will be joined by Lincoln Schleifer on bass and Tony Leone on drums. "The band is real good," Mr. Smith said. "It's got a bit of, dare I say it, polish, at this point."
Tickets are $100. In the event of rain, the concerts will be held indoors with a capacity of 100.
