The Telecaster Speech
Every time I teach My Ukulele is a Guitar, I've given a version of this speech.
Okay so. .
I don't know about you, but I don't have an infinite budget to buy the "perfect" instrument for everything I play.
I don't have any Renaissance recorders. Heck, I've never heard anyone play a Renaissance recorder. Everyone I know plays a Baroque recorder.
I know a few Lute players, but I don't know any that have a Baroque lute they use for Baroque music and another Renaissance lute they use for Renaissance music and a Vihuela they use exclusively for Spanish music. They're fortunate to have one lute, so play pretty much everything on it.
If you see someone playing Renn music on a Baroque lute, understand they're compromising, choosing the versatility of the Baroque instrument over the strict authenticity of the Renaissance instrument. Every dance pit filled with Baroque recorders is a compromise, choosing the flexibility and stability of the Baroque instrument over the strict authenticity of the Renaissance instrument, and very few of us bat an eye over this.
The Big Picture: Play Period Music with the instrument you have.
While I have a notion that some day I might want to attempt a Cittern, I'm primarily a singer and story teller, and don't have the space currently for a bunch of specialized luthiary gear, so for now that remains a notion. Organ is perfectly Period, but would require lottery winnings, both to build the instrument as well as the building where it lived. When I started playing in the SCA, I had a ukulele. So I started learning the Pennsic Pile on the instrument I had, a ukulele. Later when I was able to get a six-string guitar, I played them on the six string. Eventually I learned that a Renaissance guitar is quite similar to the Modern Baritone Ukulele so began my obsession with learning to play Renaissance guitar music on the Baritone Ukulele, hoping that one day perhaps I'll have the means to acquire the "right" instrument for my particular obsession.
What about that Telecaster?
Well as a performing artist, pulling off Period music in a way that isn't obtrusively modern would indeed be quite a challenge, and I think something in the ES-335 family, dare to dream a Bluebyrd might be more effective . . .
Look, if instrument you have Now is a Telecaster, I want you playing Period music on a Telecaster now. I hope in the next while you might get your hands on a nylon string guitar, which you can pick up for the price of a boutique guitar pedal, but don't wait to learn the music.