Fender '62 Reissue Telecaster

(std 62 reissue tele,3 saddle bridge, japan early 80's. 21 frets)
ie. minimal, simple but very effective

great flexable sound.classic,fresh and twangy when clean,punchy and suprisingly "big" when driven.i use a fender twin amp and play rhyth/lead in a band, the tele delivers in every aspect of our music from light,percussive rhythm and blues sections (clean/vintage channel of fender twin) to all out pulsating,fuzzy, velvet underground esq jams (driven channel of fender twin + fuzzface pedal)

i baught this guitar in 2000 second hand.it is scrappy and shows its age.but the important bits ie. machineheads,electronics,neck,hardware and action are spot on.

ive played it live without a problem.the finish of this guitar is tatty even for a 20 yr old guitar.but aesthetics dont realy matter when the actual guitar works this well.i do use an epiphone arch top as well but not as a back up.ie if i break a string on one i pick up the other.so far so good.

dunno

im eighteen and have been playing about 8 years.its a great guitar,its got that vintage quality even though it isn't realy (its 20 yrs old but it feels about 40) as the bloke who sold it to me said "it plays it's self"

1996 Jap 62 Fotoflame Telecaster...update from 4-19-2001...I sold this guitar and bought an american standard strat...BIG MISTAKE it took me a year to get this baby back...I made a comment about American made Fenders being better quality...I was wrong...this has been by far my favorite fender out of several Ive owned and Ill never get rid of it again.

As I stated I have the upgraded EMG pickups and they make this guitar rock, but still able to twang out some country when needed.

The big thing about this guitar is the neck...Much better than the American Strat Neck I own. Fotoflame is nice looking but as long as it plays good I dont care if it was set on fire.

I got this guitar back in a trade and I havent found anything wrong with it ...as I stated before I played this guitar alot and I am using it to record on a digital multyrack workstation, and the sound is much better than the American Strat.

whats this??

My USA Strat is flawless,and a very nice guitar, but I would toss it for the 62 tele MIJ...IT is well made and sounds awesome ....... perfect low action neck......

I think this one is japanese made year '84 model, so it's almost adult these days. It has got a traditional sunburst, laminated basswood double wound body and maple neck with rosewood fretboard with thin frets. Machine heads are original "open" type. To me they seem to be working perfectly well, it stays tuned long periods of time and after rough use.
Bridge pickup is a DiMarzio dual sound humbucker with a humbucker/single coil selector. Controls are original, after a self-made electrical modification. Neck pu is original, and I really like the way it sounds.

I've played this tele for 12 years, and it suits for all types of music. After one gig one heavy metal enthusiast came to me explaining: "it's severe mockery to play my kinda music with tele. But it sounds outstanding anyway!" I agree with him! It sounds great with any type of amplifier and music style. It's a bit noisy, especially with neck pu, but tne noise is controllable. The sound is very rich and versatile, and the neck is very playable for me.

Hardware quality is not suberb, but the overall workmanship is damn near perfect. That why I also drive toyotas...
The pu`s, what can I say? It's my own perverted combination, but it sounds great.
The action is guite high. I use .10 strings. I once tried thicker srings (.12, .12 and .13 )for g, b and upper e. Combined with tele's natural big sustain, it was a good choice for that blues session.

This baby has flawlessly endured harsh finnish climate for nineteen years. She has never shown any sings of infidelity.

I bought this guitar from my brother-in-law. He gave me a pretty good "customer support" with few cases of beer... so I'm happy!

I've been playing for 20 years. It`s a hobby to me, with active and passive seasons. My Tele is my reliable friend, which my son, I hope, will inherit after my playing is done. If it were stolen, It would be devastating for me.

Have 5 MIJ (2 x C.A.R. and 3 x S.B.) versions and 1 new US 62 Re-Issue (Ice Blue Metallic).
MIJs come wired in post '67 MY-style, and US comes wired as per 1962.
MIJs have flatter (9.5"?) radius.
PUPS: will comment on US 62 pups, MIJ pups, S.D.Vintage Broadcaster bridge, S.D. Alnico II Pro, S.D. Jerry Donahue, S.D. Nashville Studio bridge,Joe Bardens, Lindy Fralin Blues Special neck.

Sound can be dramatically improved by changing MIJ pups and electronics. Replacing 3-saddle bridge with 6-saddle bridge will improve intonation. I have one tele with the Vintique-brand brass compensated (angled) saddles ($65) for a 3-saddle bridge. Don't buy the Stewart MacDonald angled saddles ($10), they are un-refined and problematic.

These guitars have the rosewood fretboard that gives a darker sound.
I use a bone nut and GHS Nickel Rockers in an 0.011 size.

The MIJ (or CIJ) guitars are great. They are a top used-guitar bargain. Get them on e-bay for 300~600 anytime. Should appreciate in value, albeit slowly.
The US-made version feels a little heavier and and a little bit more quality-built, but not much. US has many cool colors available.

I play in a blues band.
There seem to be two main schools of thought on Tele sound. No.1 is the country-twang tele guys, they want the trebly sound of the bridge pup or the two pups together, and they like maple fretboards.
The other school is the dark sound guys, ...blues, not too much treble, neck pup lovers, Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Jim Campilongo, Steve Cropper. These kind of guys like to turn the tone knob 25% away from full bright to "take the edge off".
The 62 re-issues, with the r/w fretboard are perfect for this type of person.
PUPS:
Stock MIJ are too thin sounding,
Stock US-made one are tolerable,
SD Vintage Broadcaster bridge is too bright, too hot, too rocknroll, SD Alnico II pros are real good, sound old, bottom can get too soft,
SD Jerry Donahue is an overwound Alnico II and is almost indistinguishable from the II

SD Nashville Studio uses 3 Alnico V magnets and 3 Alnico IIs, real real good, tight bottom, not too much treble, my favorite bridge pup.

Fralin Blues special neck, real real good, I think scatter-winding of the coils helps get a looser, nasty grind.
Barden: real loud and clean, requires readjusting amp vs. others to get grind, very very good.
S.D. Lil' 59 humbucker, fits single coil spot, good, provides a different, versatile, noiseless, humbucker sound, good for leads.

Updating any MIJ r/w neck tele with aftermarket pickups, 6-saddle bridge, and a bone nut results in an outstanding, stable, workhorse guitar.

I also recommend springing for the angled brass saddles from Vintique (needs a three saddle bridge or buy their bridge plate) to help darken the sound and get more sustain. Although the stuff is pricey, and I have an order into Vintique right now that I've been waiting for 9 months for. On the other hand Vintique Tele hardware(danny gatton's guit tech is proprietor) is arguably the best available.



AMP: I've used a twin, a super, a Mesa Boogie, but I have found the "love of my life" amp...Matchless Lightning 1x12.
Have two now. Unsurpassed for dark dirty neck pup tones (or any other for that matter). Can't get a bad sound. Only 15 Watts (loud watts) so it has to be miked to be used at some gigs. just use a touch of slapback delay and reverb, with a pedal.

Thin pups and plastic nut need upgrades.

Finish, weight, bindings, all great!

Rock solid slab o'wood. Stays in tune.
MIJ version is my main workhorse guitar.

No experience.

Been playing 25+ years
Started with strats but wound up loving teles.
Can't go wrong with the MIJ/CIJ 62 Re-Issue Teles (or Esquires, same for foto-flame or other r/w fretboard MIJ tele variants.
Just bought a Gibson ES137 with P90 pups that also gets great old-style dark sounds, like the teles reviewed here.

80's? candy apple red w/binding. Kinda of heavy, Alder body? Not like Japanese basswood double bound teles that I've had before but has made in Japan on back of the neck. Came with retro fit EMG's on it. bought it at a yard sale for $200.00 and thought I would put Texas Specials in it, sounded so good I left the emg's. Rosewood board lots warmer sounding than the regular maple board teles

I play blues...This is the only tele I have at the time, but have had many..I'm mostly a srat guy (7). Amps.. Fender superreverbs,proreverb,64' bassman piggyback,61' concert and 95 bassman reissue. For effects I use a Boss chorus pedal and Marshall Guv'nor or Bluesbreaker pedals..(The big black English made ones...The best!) This guitar on the neck pickup gets a nice round blues tone. The bridge pickup needs to have the tone conrol rolled back a little for me or it sounds too brittle. I've owned these Japanese 62 reissue teles before, I never did hang on to them because I was the sole guitar player in a power pop band and they never seemed quite full enough sounding. Now that I'm playing with another guitar player, the extra coloring fits in perfect.

Japanese reissue guitars from the 80's were always body and neck radius-wise very close to original spec. They were great playing guitars made with crap materials. If you purchase one of these, You have the basics structurally for a great guitar, but It's going to take an upgrade in pickups/hardware to get it going.

If the price is right, and you want to spend a couple hundred bucks on pickup/hardware upgrade, this could be the coolest guitar you ever owned.I'm a sucker for 60's bound teles but would never pay the bucks for an original...Or maybe even a USA reissue for that matter. This is my backup

no support from fender. I've got some local guys who do my work.

I've been playing 35 years and like most guys who still play after that long I play blues. The basswood bodies on the Japanese telecasters are light but still have great sustain because of the string through body. I've seen them advertised used for $650.00. Too much. with a pickup upgrade cost you are hitting used American reissue prices. Look cheap, do the upgrades, you won't be sorry. Nice guitar potentially.....

1986 '62 Reissue, deluxe. Japanese.

Double binding, flame top. Beautiful guitar.

Standard factory pickups, will be upgrading soon.

Typical MIJ hardware- have brass saddles on order, switch knob comes off frequently.

Kluston tuners still working well.

Even unplugged this guitar sounds wonderful. Body (basswood? who knows...) resonates, very low noise, but still going to shield it.

Going for that Stax/ Steve Cropper sound, and this is getting close. Some upgraded pups, and its Green Onions time, friends.

Seems to be very well made, other than the quality of the hardware, which is mostly all replaceable anyway. One ding in the binding, but the guitar is almost 20 years old, so thats to be expected.

Flame top isn't exactly bookmatched, and someone replaced the white p'guard with a tortise shell one, looks nice.

Other than the pickup switch knob, this is a tank.

Playing over 20 years, currently have a strat, Martin D16, Fender Jazz bass, Liberty reso. Play thru a vox bass amp, or a Oahu tube amp from the '50's.

If I lost this guitar I'd be blue. Its the first guitar I've owned that made me want to play longer, harder, and better. Can't say enough about this guitar- it inspires!

1986 Fender Japan 62' RI Telecaster Custom, Alder body @ piece Candy Apple Red finish (Nice) White Binding has matured to cream (Sweet).
Maple neck with the 62' slab board rosewood top. RI frets, updated bridge to the newer 6 saddle tele style (Thank God!!!) Updated sealed tuners. 62' "C" shape neck. Sting thru body with the flush correct 62' Ferrels. 3 way barrel switch, chrome knureld knobs and hardware.

A Tele is a strainght forward come and play me beat me into the ground and i'll still sound sweet solid guitar. (at least they used to be). What more can anybody say?

Im a blues man, this guitar is Blues, rock, Country, Jazz, I mean if you can play it, a tele can sing it. There is the factory Pup in the neck, Good muddy sound which I like, but the P/O put a Seymour Hot rail in the bridge, it's okay but I want the original sound so Im putting in a "Broadcaster Vintage pup.
But the sustain on this beauty is incredible.

I bought it used and the P/O had the action to high for me so once I lowered it, away I went. The finish is dinged here and there and scrtched on the back from a belt buckle but nothing through to the wood. Needs refretting soon it waas a pro players guitar and had been on the road recently so it's well played. The cord plug needs replacing sometimes it dies but no biggy. Also needs nut re work a little to hold bigger stings. Overall it looks like a club hopper and that's it's appeal to me, I hate the pretty boy NOS looking guitars, I mean come on man it's a guitar not a Picaso.

It's 16 years old and gets better with age. when im gone my son will get it and I bet it will still be in great shape. nicks and dings are parr for the course so there.!!! I would never gig without a backup but this girl will stand the test, Im sure of it. It's a Tele, been around since the 50's and they still make em today, that has to stand for something.!!!

Never delt

Been playing again for a year but play when i was 20.
I will chage a few things here and there get it set up nice and clean but I like it's looks. I would by a Tele again in a second but to find this one would be a task for sure. Japan RI fenders from the 80's were well built and are coveted today so I got really lucky.

2002 Fender Japan '62 reissue Tele, model TL62-65US. Looks just like the guitars played by Steve Cropper and Mike Bloomfield - Vintage White finish (looks more blonde, actually), rosewood board, 3-saddle bridge, spaghetti logo decal, Kluson-style tuners, etc. Comes factory equipped with US-made "Vintage" pickups. The body is made of alder and the neck is maple. The frets are fairly large, like the Teles of yore. Comes with a flimsy gigbag, a cheap cable, an allen wrench, and an owner's manual in Japanese. In the local Guitar Center, there is a genuine 1963 Tele with the same finish and rosewood neck, displayed under glass with a $6500 price tag. I spent some time examining it and mentally comparing it to my guitar, and I would say that cosmetically at least, the reissue is a very good replication.

I have long admired Steve Cropper's work with Booker T & the MGs and all of those classic Stax sides from the '60s, and love the dark'n'dirty tone he had. (My understanding is he played an early '60s Tele like this reissue through a tweed Fender Harvard amp on those records.) When played through a tweed Fender Pro Junior (which is similar to the Harvard), I can dial in the Steve Cropper tone. The rosewood neck gives it more of a darker tone than the country twangers get with the maple version, and the US Vintage PUs are nice and hot, giving punchy overdrive at even moderate volume. I had my 15 watt Pro Junior volume set at 2 just now, and I got a nice touch of dirt. I can't wait to hear this guitar played LOUD through the PJ! The bridge PU is considerably louder than the neck PU. In the middle position (both PUs) you get a nice woody twang that's great for rockabilly or surf. The deep-toned, rich neck PU is great for blues, and is surprisingly good for jazz (especially with the tone knob rolled off). I tried a variety of string types and settled on flatwound .011s. I'm somewhat of a vintage tone purist (I play mostly music from the '50s & '60s) and the heavy flats are the way to go for the sound and feel I want. No pain no gain!

My wife is from Japan and I've been over there many times, so I can say with some authority that Japanese people don't do anything half-assed. It is important for them to do jobs properly - it's a matter of personal pride and honor. Plus, Japanese musicians revere classic American instruments like vintage Fenders. All of which adds up to a superbly crafted instrument. The finish is flawless, and I love the heavy yellowed laquer on the headstock and neck. (The fingerboard is unfinished.) My only previous experience with Teles is a 1990 American Standard model that I never got comfortable with and eventually sold. The neck on that guitar was too wide and flat for me. The TL62-65US has a wonderfully contoured neck. A bit narrow by the nut and not too wide by the body, with a comfy C shape. The big frets took some getting used to - with .010s my hand pressure on the frets caused the guitar to go sharp. Installing .011s solved that problem. The action is a bit higher than I'm used to, again probably due to the big frets, but I don't mind it at all.

The guitar is built solid as a rock - or, at least, as solid as a real '62 Tele!

I have no experience dealing with Fender Japan. However, let me tell you about where I bought it. Fender Japan guitars are no longer imported into the US - they can only be bought in Japan. There is a company in Tokyo, Ishibashi Music (http://www.ishibashi-music.com/fenderjp/) that sells them online. Their int'l sales agent, Koichi Tanimoto, understands English , and is very helpful with questions. I placed the order on a Friday, that night they put the guitar on a plane, and it arrived Monday morning here in San Francisco! Now, here's the best part - my total cost INCLUDING shipping was $543!!!!!! (Compare that to the MIM '60s Tele selling for $629 at Musician's Friend.)

This is the perfect Tele for me - need I say more??

Made in Japan in the mid 1990's. Basswood body, white binding on the body, vintage tuners, old style saddle pieces. Great sunburst color! Very nice guitar!

Great sound. Pickups are extremely versatile. I run it through a fender Bandmaster Reverb with a two 12 inch celestion cabinet. Great for a variety of styles. This is the favorite guitar I have owned. It sounds better than a 1998 American Strat I had. Pickups can be bright or bluesy. There is always some tone, even with the knob all the way down.

This guitar looked great. I dropped it once when my case broke, but it only chipped a little paint. Very solid piece for the price! Action is a little high, but it IS a telecaster. Besides, I like it that way.

Great guitar! Only problem I have had is a loose imput jack. I always gig with a backup, but that's just because everyone with any common sense should. This is a solid guitar.

If this guitar were stolen, I would be depressed. I have played countless shows with it and it fits my sound perfectly. I have always loved Japanese made guitars. If I found another like mine, I would buy it.

This guitar was produced in Japan in 98. It has a birdseye maple fotoflame vinere over the basic body. This looks pretty cool and alot of my friends ooohed and aaahed over it. The stock pickups were replaced with EMGs, which are very hot pickups and I really like the rock sound I get. Everything else is pretty much stock jap crap.

I bought this guitar used and the pickups were replaced with EMGs which I love. I can get some wonderfull rich distortion when playing rock and I can still switch around and play vintage country stuff when needed. I use a peavey stereo chorus 400 and played every week on wednesdays and practiced on mondays for 8 months and never had any problems with this guitar

Action was just a bit high but Im sure that it was not a factory setting. Fit and Finish was very good.

I play all the time and I still use this guitar . I recently bought a Gibson SG and honestly I like the neck on the Gibson better than the Tele. The volume is starting to wig out on me and Ill need to replace it soon, and I am starting to get some hum with it so I will need to operate soon. i think thats the price you pay when you by Jap guitars instead of paying more for quality American made instuments.

Ive played it about 18 months and for what I paid for it I love it. It doesnt compete with the U.S. made guitars but very nice for the price. if I lost it I would get the American made, but I have no complaints for the price I paid . I couldnt afford the US guitars at the time I bought this one