Fender '60s Reissue Custom Telecaster Bigsby

I got this used in a trade. It's all stock except the pickups which were swapped out for a pair of Fender Vintage Noiseless before I got it. It has that crazy Jaguar bridge arrangement which is a good/bad kind of deal. It's a period piece, so don't look for jumbo frets or anything like that.

I play mostly blues with slight forays into rock and country so this guitar is right up my alley. Dive bombers won't like the bigsby. The bigsby and the bridge are beasts that can be tamed though. I haven't been able to a/b this with another tele but it sounds like one to me. The noiseless pups are just that. Noiseless. I find this guitar a little on the heavy side. This one is 9.5 or 10 lbs.

This guitar is flawless. Best fretwork and intonation ever.

It's a tank.

I am not aware of the warranty.

My other guitar is a much lighter Strat. I think the Bigsby weighs this one down, but I like it so I'll quit whining. If I lost it I would get another, or another Tele w/o bigsby. When restringing, try jamming a wad of paper under the tailpiece to keep the string from slipping off the peg. The buzzing saddles can be cured by wrapping the set screws with a few turns of teflon tape, the kind used for plumbing.

I was fortunate to find this Japanese made 62 re-issue ( it is one that was made for the Japanese market - not US ) I think it pulled 40 bids on ebay - these are popular because of the Japanese workmanship being so superior - they go for more than US custom shop models which makes sense.

- double bound, sky blue, green guard, factory bigsby ( no holes ) - with the Texas special PUS, alder, medium beefy C neck, 7.25" radius, rosewood board, with high action ( vintage style teles are always best this way ), 9.6 lbs ( nice - considering bigsby wgt ) - usual 3-wqay switch, Gotoh non locking - made in 2003.

action - springy - almost perfect intonation - you can floor the bigsby with no tuning loss. ( bends nut sauce helps with this )

tele >>> carl martin compressor >>> keeley mod blues driver >>> 4 10" tweed bassman. I've played 40 yrs - now in pop/R+B - goofy dance stuff ( that's why we get gigs )

NO NOISE - this amazes me - it's the good shielding coming out of Japan no doubt..

The texas specials are a big part of why the tone is special ( Kudos for at least one American made part ) - warm - midrangy - all the twang - bridge - great blues/sleepwalky tone. bridge - rock stuff - with the BD - // mid setting - use this most of the time - jangly- ringing sound

( ALERT - LITTLE KNOWN SECRET: A TELE WITH A BIGSBY IS THE BEST TELE TONE THERE IS - IT RINGS - DON'T TRY ONE IF YOUR TELE DOES NOT HAVE A BIGSBY BECAUSE YOU WILL EITHER SELL YOURS OR PUT ONE ON - MAYBE BEST IF YOU NEVER HEAR ONE)

I truly like everything about the tone.

wonderful - high action great staggered bridge PU - set up right by the time I got it ?factory

overall - nice workmanship because the workers there care about what they produce.

20 or so gigs

not important

I do love this one - not puppy love either - I have owned 5 other teles - including a 64 and a 67 with bigsby.

I struggle with the strat vs tele syndrome - I either play this tele or a nice strat I have owmed a while

favorite feature - HOW THE BIGSBY MAKES THE TONE MAGICAL
SECOND FAVORITE - THE TEXAS SPECIALS

ok, I'll take off one point - I wish it weighed 8.5 lbs ( no lighter than this - teles lighter than this are not in the tone zone - if you know teles you know what I mean.

It's fortunate that the Japanese fender people are making guitars
American workmanship is all about benefits, pregnancy leave, health ins, wheelchair access, "workers rights', political correctness, yuccch - no quality

If you've read the reviews thus far, you know the deal.

Absolutely fantastic. My backup is a G&L ASAT, and i can honestly say that this guitar sounds quite a lot better. The clarity you get from the bridge pickup is unsurpassed, and the resonance is brilliant. The range of the bigsby is a bit small, but more than enough to satisfy my needs. a fantastic tele, and easily the best i've ever played.

The action was mid to low, and with a quick setup that can be adjusted to your preference. I had a few scratches and dents to deal with, but other than that it's beautiful. And plays like a dream.

A fanstastic guitar. straight up.

MIJ reissue of a telecaster custom with a bigsby

21 frets

binding on both sides

standard telecaster control and pickup layout ( think that they put texas specials in these guitars, because if you look at japanese websites that sell fender stuff or on ebay, these guitars say that they come with texas specials)

sunburst finish

real bigsby tremolo with fender emblem

alder body

vintage tuners

rosewood fingerboard and maple neck

It sounds great, like a darker tele, the neck pickup almost sounds like a hollowbody guitar, while the bridge sounds like a classic tele only darker.

the only issue here is the bridge, it is the same bridge used on fender jaguars and jazzmasters and it is awful, even fender deemed it a design flaw, the saddles constantly buzz and rob you of tone and sustain and the allen wrench screws constanty fall out. All you have to do is replace this bridge with a fender mustang bridge which is basically the same brigde with different saddles, after I did this, all of the problems were solved.

It was setup fine, but I do all of my own setups anyway, because I like a higher action.

If you are having problems re-stringing this guitar,bend the ball end over the axle and then wedge the string in place with a foam wedge or a piece of paper folded so that it is thick enough not to slip. I hated to restring this guitar until I found this out, if you are still having trouble, go to the bigsby website for pictures of how to do this.

this guitar is heavy as hell, the chrome has came off one screw because of constant picking but this guitar is extremely solid.

I love this guitar, it looks great, sounds great and could survive a bomb blast. I love all of the japanese reissues because they are so well built with CNC precision. I also have a japanese mustang and it is also well built.

Fender 62 custom re-issue made in Japan, limited edition though not sure to what number. Body is made from alder with a candy apple red finish, the neck is a 60's slim style made from maple with rosewood fretboard, 21 frets with a 184mm radius (slight curve).Pickups are 2 vintage style tele single coils, the bridge is an adjustabe 6 saddle tele bridge with bigsby f vibrato tailpeice. Machine heads are the original style fenders where the stringis fed into the top hole. Scratchplate is a 3 ply white and black, all hardware is chrome. unique features are the bigsby and a white binding top and back. There is no case or accessories. im giving this a 9 because of not coming with a case and not having some sort of certificate as this is a limited edition.

I play mostly blues/blues based rocka and metal, run through a Zakk Wylde overdrive pedal and a classic Jim Dunlop WahWAh. I usually play a Les Paul so this is my first Tele (and probably last) and i find no problem with the sound clean or dirty. In fact the sound is awesome as good as, if not better than any tele ive heard even a deluxe US model. The neck pickup is bright and very clear and has the classic tele twang, the bridge pickup is slightly quieter but will satisfy the most picky of players im sure. Played through my pedal it loses none of its original tone, and the overdrive will beef up the sound to play most rock style music. If you do prefer humbucker as well these can be easily replaced. In all im sure the sound will stand up to guitar with single coils and wipe the floor with most of them, but thats just my opinion

I bought mine from Peter Cooks guitar world in London and the setup was perfect, as low an action you could get without fret buzz. The finish it self is what i love most about the guitar its perfect (hats off to the japs) mine is candy apple red with a sort of metallicy finish. One ive never seen before it has a sort of glitteryness to it, just check one out and you wont be dissapointed. The binding coupled with the bigsby makes it stand out from any other tele and is a lot better than most more up market guitars. The hardwre was clean and in excellent working order.

I see no reason why this guitar isnt up to gigging it seems as reliabe as any, personally id worry about the finish, some guitars look great when marked and gigged but this one is amazing I wouldnt want to mark it.

When ordering over the phoen they were very helpful and i forsee no problems.

Ive had this now for 3 months and love it to bits, the neck too a bit of getting used to as it is different from my Les Paul but every bit as good. The bigsby ads a real 60s type of rock and roll feel, if your into dive bombing and Steve Vai style trem playing this isnt for you, but if you want a rock and roll gargle this is the one, the bigsby will go down a semi tone and safely pull up a tone, I wouldnt give it more than that. This tricky guitar to restring i recommend removing and replacing a string at a time with plenty of patience till ou get the nack. I use d addarios 10s and had to really play them in for about 6 hours whilst constantly re tuning them, though this was annoying once the settled in play fine and stay in tune as well as any guitar with a trem i've used, maybe other strings will work better Im not sure. My only other fault is the saddles, they are fiddly and i wouldnt mess with these myself and the do cause a slight rattle when played unplugged, but crank up the volume and you'd never know as it makes no difference to the quality. All in all this guitar is a diamond excellent quality and sound, I was after a guitar with single coils and decided on a tele once i saw this one I knew there was nothing else i wanted, im sure theres a tone for everyone in this guitar and if not with todays techwizidry im sure you could change it to suit but I really dont think you need to, if you want something that stands out for the right reasons give it a try.

This is a new "Limited Edition" guitar of the original vibrato-equipped model that Fender manufactured from 1967-73 (or thereabouts). These reissues are all manufactured in Japan. Mine is the three-tone sunburst color, and has an alder body, relatively slim 60s-style maple neck with 21-frets, all finished in polyurethane varnish (not nitrocellulose) that has a definite vintage tint to it. The pickups are vintage single-coil, with 3-position "high-hat" selector switch. It has an adjustable 6-saddle tele bridge with Bigbsy "F" vibrato tail-piece. Machine heads are chrome vintage non-locking Kluson-type tuners. Pickguard is 3-ply white (with a bit of that mint-green color to it). This guitar does not come with a free case or other accessories.

I use this guitar for playing rhythm and blues, and folk rock. I prefer some overdrive in my playing, and this guitar sounds good with a bit of growl in lots of different settings in both my Vox Ac30 and Randall 200-watt solid-state amps. I have found it plays good with my tremolo, overdrive, and compression pedals. It has a rich, full sound in overdrive, but you can also get that clean twangy country sound as well, although I don't play in this style. The vibrato functions extremely well, and does NOT take the strings out of tune, no matter how hard you try! The only problem I have is that the strings do buzz --- but it is not a result of uneven frets though. Rather, the sound originates from the way the strings pull on the adjustment screws on the bridge. I don't believe this is a flaw of the manufacturing, but rather a consequence of the bridge design. With the amp turned up a few notches, you don't hear this much if at all.

This guitar was beautifully made by the Japanese for Fender. The fit and finish is really flawless. The chrome on the vibrato unit is a special treat -- absolutely gorgeous! They did an awesome job creating a guitar that is dead-on with the classic from the late 60s.
The factory set-up was a little high, but everything else is where I like it.

It's a bit too early to judge. I've been playing this guitar for several weeks now, and have had no problems, nor do I expect to have any. I guess any wear that develops over time will just give it even more of that vintage look!

Have not had any reason to contact them.

I have been playing for 20-plus years. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul, Fender Telecaster, Rickenbacker 330, and several accoustic guitars. I chose this guitar because I had heard the quality was top-notch, and while pricey, it should last a lifetime.