Mismatched pickups.  There's a chrome cover on one pickup and one without it.  Not something you see everyday, at least not as the standard accepted configuration for an instrument.

Weird switching.  Usually it's a 3-way blade, but sometimes you'll even see 3-way toggle like the John 5 signature model.  Of course, there's also the 4-way switch if you want series wiring as well.  And then you also have 5-ways on guitars with three pickups.

The switch is closer to the neck than the volume knob.  Strats don't do this.  In fact, when modern designs began to emerge in the '80s, you didn't see any departure from this tradition even though everything else went out the window (e.g., crazy new tremolos, no more pickup-specific tone controls, rear-routing, crazy finishes, etc.).

Ashtray cover.  Not that anyone ever uses this, but what the hell was it for to begin with?  It's like the missing cover to match the neck pickup, only it's not much of a match.  Crazy!

Weird bridge pickup.  I mean, it has its own baseplate.  What's up with that?  Unlike the vast majority of other pickups out there, you can't drop a Telecaster bridge pickup into just any guitar without additional routing.

Bridge plate.  Sounds like something for old people.  Who ever heard of putting a chunk of metal down around so much of the rear of a guitar?  The pickguard only covers half the guitar, then this takes over.  What the hell?

Metal control cavity cover.  What is this, Fort Knox?  Why do we need this too?

Sharp body radius but no binding.  Why?  It could have been rounded like a Strat, but if you're going to just barely sand the edge, couldn't you put some binding around it?

String-through body.  There's no trem, so why the extra holes?  The bridge will hold them just fine as is!

What the hell is a B-bender?  This is the only guitar that has such a crazy, specialized device.  Maybe it's the connection between Telecasters and country music that inspired this attempt at a partial pedal steel, but you don't see any modification anywhere near this extensive on any other model of guitar.

Pick a pickup configuration!  There's no consensus on what a Telecaster should look like.  I mean, sure, Stratocaster have humbuckers sometimes, but it's basically either SSS, SSH, or HSH.  That's it.  By contrast, Telecasters come in more configurations than any other guitar.  Here are some of the relatively common versions with example models:

XXS (e.g., Esquire)
SXS (e.g., Broadcaster/No-caster)
SXH (e.g., John 5 signature)
SSS (e.g., Jerry D. signature)
HXS (e.g., Hot Rod '52)
HXH (e.g., Custom '72)

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