Super cool Fender Telecaster in a great looking, naturally aged Sunburst finish with a nice dark Rosewood fingerboard. A great players guitar with all the originality you would want with a few well chosen upgrades and tweaks to aid with its playability. Sunburst is a far less common finish on a Telecaster; in 1972 Blonde was still the Tele's standard finish making this quite a rare example.
The Alder body has no diagonal route between the neck pickup, a trait often seen from 1969 onwards and the neck pocket is notched as is expected until 1973. The original finish has plenty of cool player wear with forearm rub and edge knocks aplenty. A peek under the pickguard reveals just how far the red has retreated leaving a wonderfully faded three tone Sunburst that looks every bit mid-sixties in its appearance. The neck has a nice dark Indian Rosewood fingerboard with Pearl dot inlays. The bold Telecaster decal has two patent numbers and is beneath the lacquer along with a single string tree, and the neck is stamped March 72B at the butt in the pre-CBS format with the employee stamp of Xavier Armenta. The guitar has benefitted from a previous re-fret, the frets are sliightly bigger than the Factory gauge and the guitar plays beautifully.
The original pickups have a mixture of yellow, black and white poly coated wires with no evidence of coils being rewound. Measurements are 6.7K in the neck and 5.92K in the bridge. One pot dates too 36th week of 1966 and is likely original to the guitar, the volume pot is a modern replacement and the switch and capacitor are correct. Tuners are the correct Schaller made Fender ‘F’ logo versions and the pickguard is original to the guitar. The Bridge and saddles are cool, period Brass replacements with six saddles giving a definite setup improvement over the traditional 3 saddle Tele setup. The aged patina of the brass looks incredible against the Sunburst finish. The knurled knobs are replaced as is the switch tip.
The guitar weighs in at 7.8 lbs. Acoustically the guitar has a loud zing when strummed and when plugged in the guitar has a nice rounded punch to the bridge pickup with none of the ice pick treble that some ‘70s Telecasters can have. The neck pickup is warm with good clarity. The neck has a fairly large, rounded profile for this era, it isn’t quite the large profile early fifties Teles are known for but is a pleasant surprise for players that prefer a larger neck. The neck measures 22.63mm at the 1st fret and 24.04 at the 12th with the standard Fender ‘B’ nut width of 1 5/8”or 41.36mm in metric.
This is a great Tele that sits right in the sweet spot with a killer looking original finish, great sounding pickups but enough wear and changes to keep the price keen. Why go Custom Shop when you can have the real deal with way more history, vibe and character?! Comes complete with a Hiscox hard case
The Alder body has no diagonal route between the neck pickup, a trait often seen from 1969 onwards and the neck pocket is notched as is expected until 1973. The original finish has plenty of cool player wear with forearm rub and edge knocks aplenty. A peek under the pickguard reveals just how far the red has retreated leaving a wonderfully faded three tone Sunburst that looks every bit mid-sixties in its appearance. The neck has a nice dark Indian Rosewood fingerboard with Pearl dot inlays. The bold Telecaster decal has two patent numbers and is beneath the lacquer along with a single string tree, and the neck is stamped March 72B at the butt in the pre-CBS format with the employee stamp of Xavier Armenta. The guitar has benefitted from a previous re-fret, the frets are sliightly bigger than the Factory gauge and the guitar plays beautifully.
The original pickups have a mixture of yellow, black and white poly coated wires with no evidence of coils being rewound. Measurements are 6.7K in the neck and 5.92K in the bridge. One pot dates too 36th week of 1966 and is likely original to the guitar, the volume pot is a modern replacement and the switch and capacitor are correct. Tuners are the correct Schaller made Fender ‘F’ logo versions and the pickguard is original to the guitar. The Bridge and saddles are cool, period Brass replacements with six saddles giving a definite setup improvement over the traditional 3 saddle Tele setup. The aged patina of the brass looks incredible against the Sunburst finish. The knurled knobs are replaced as is the switch tip.
The guitar weighs in at 7.8 lbs. Acoustically the guitar has a loud zing when strummed and when plugged in the guitar has a nice rounded punch to the bridge pickup with none of the ice pick treble that some ‘70s Telecasters can have. The neck pickup is warm with good clarity. The neck has a fairly large, rounded profile for this era, it isn’t quite the large profile early fifties Teles are known for but is a pleasant surprise for players that prefer a larger neck. The neck measures 22.63mm at the 1st fret and 24.04 at the 12th with the standard Fender ‘B’ nut width of 1 5/8”or 41.36mm in metric.
This is a great Tele that sits right in the sweet spot with a killer looking original finish, great sounding pickups but enough wear and changes to keep the price keen. Why go Custom Shop when you can have the real deal with way more history, vibe and character?! Comes complete with a Hiscox hard case