I used to be really into strats, well growin up kasi in the 80s, lahat ng nakita mo sa MTV naka-strat. Yes aminin ko gsto ko makuha yun tone ni Bryan Adams sa Summer of '69. hehe. I used to really like the percussive sound and flexibility of the strat. Havent really completely lost my love for it, but, the Tele has taken over.
I got into it because of other players na na-idolize ko nun mas matanda na ko---Jeff Buckley, Springsteen, Keif Richards, Johnny Greenwood, Tom Petty, et al. The tele was Leo Fender's first electric guitar design and a lot of people say he got it right the first time. I agree! .. It is a very simple guitar design, but it can achieve a lot of tones. From jazzy licks, to biting blues, to scorching distortion, to sweet crystal clears, to country twang. IMHO, you can debate me on this, but I like the way that you need to dig in to really dig in and work on the strings to make the tele sound great. Mron sense of fulfilment when you can tame this beast of a guitar.
I think it is somewhere in between a les paul and a strat. It can get some of that percussive response of a strat, but also the beefy thickness (with the right dirt pedal) of a les paul/SG.