Fender '62 Reissue Telecaster

Made in Japan in 1998. Solid 3-piece alter body (unlike the older Japanese '62 reissues which uses basswood), nice looking 3tone sunburst with double binding. Texas Special pickups (again, unlike the pre-1998 '62 reissues.) Maple one piece neck with rosewood fretboard, 280R (I think that's equivalent to a 7.25 radius), with 21 pretty thin frets. 3-piece threaded bridge saddles and string thru body. I guess they're pretty standard tele features, but nothing extra.

THe Texas Special pickups sound very cool. It's a pretty raw, powerful sound, and of course, twangy. the middle position is especially sharp, and almost sounds like an acoustic on clean setting, and kind of like recent EVH's tone with distortion. I added a little toggle switch between the vol and tone knobs which switches from the standard 3 position selector (which wires the 2nd position in parrallel) to having the two pickups wired in series. I recommend this mod which can be done with a push-pull pot, for it makes a humbucker-esque big, fat lead tone, which is also useable in jazz with the tone turned down. Despite its simplicity, this tele can make a lot of different sounds by tweaking the vol and tone, and all the different pickup positions give distinct sounds. There's a .001 capacitor on the volume control which makes the tone brighter as you turn the volume down, and fatter as you turn it full-up, and is fun to play with. I can get most standard rock/blues tones with this guitar and a Boss ME-8 Multi-effect pedal. It's not quite big sounding enough for really heavy stuff, but with a lot of gain I don't think tone matters too much...
The only problem I've noticed is that it hums quite loudly. There's no shielding in the control cavity nor on any of the wires, and it gets pretty annoying. I'll get it shielded properly soon...

The output jack was loose when I bought it, but that was fixed by tightening the nut on it. The action was high, probably because a low action causes buzzing when bending high notes due to the round fretboard, but I made it low anyways. I can live with a little buzzing. the tuners are not very smooth. Otherwise everything was solid.

Perfect so far. The good thing about a tele is that it looks good all beaten up with rusting metal and dints in the wood!

dunno

I've been playing for a little more than 2 years, and have had this guitar for about 8 months. I wanted a tele for it's tone and looks, and chose this one because the binding and the 3t sunburst looked cool. Also, the neck is thin and round which felt really comfortable (unlike what everybody else seems to think...) Plus it was affordable, unlike the US tele's etc, and to me all tele's sound similar enough to be disregarded (not worth the extra price!) although playability definitely counts. I love the tone, its versatility and looks. I just wish it wouldn't hum so loud and i wish for one more fret. I would buy this guitar again if it broke, but maybe an american version of hte same if i can afford it. This guitar turned me into a tele lover!

Vintage sunburst, rosewood fretboard, white binding yellowing with age, truss rod adjustment in body under pickguard not at head, white pickguard three color white-black-white at border, chrome hardware with knurled knobs, looks like two piece body, one piece neck, made in Japan on back of neck near body

I bought it new in '87, the bridge pickup blew up after a couple weeks and was replaced with something the store had available (I was young, didn't know to ask what it was!) Over the years, the hum had gotten worse and worse until I decided to attack it. I bought vintage Braodcater Seymour Duncan lead and Tele Rhythm, and rewired it to match the schematics that were included with the pickups. I agree with everyone regarding the original wiring, it really rots, and after I took out the capacitor and put the grounds where they were supposed to be with the new 'old' pickups, I adjusted the heights, and the all of a sudden the guitar kicked ass. The change was incredible. I think with good pickups these things are great.

The factory setup was terrible, the pickups weren't adjusted to anything close to a good height. The volume was all messed up (unbalanced) between pickups as delivered. The action was OK, intonation marginal. From a mechanical standpoint, the guitar was great, and the fit and finish excellent, but I don't think anyone tested it for sound on the assembly line. In retrospect, this guitar cost big money when I bought it, so the quality should have been better.

The hardware has done fine, I've replaced the plastic switch once, the original electronics are just terrible. I did add straplocks to it though. One really strange thing I've noticed with this guitar is that with new strings it seem to break them in faster, or stretch them less or something. This is something I could never figure out, because when I've had to replace a broken string it will almost immediately stabilize and stay in tune.

Never tried.

I really love this guitar with the new pickups, the sound is incredible, and it's aged really well. It's a little funny, but it's starting to look like a legit vintage Tele, especially the binding. It's turned a real nice ivory color, and from what I recall it was white to start with. Honestly, with Fenders I've some real variations from one to another reagrding sound quality, but this one is a keeper.

Jap '62 re-issue. Bound body, 3 tone burst. Vintage saddles. If you've seen one, you've seen them all.

I am a country lead guitar player and the sound was great. I took three hours in a music store comparing tele's. I played everything they had, American, Mexican, Jap, all of 'em. I kept coming back to this guitar because it had a better tone.

I hate, hate, hate, hate the neck on this guitar. So I replaced it with a '52 re-issue maple neck. Much better now. The tone is not quite as warm, but it's much more playable for me.
The pickups sound great, but the balance of electronics are crap. Have not had time to change them yet, but will soon.

The guitar has held up quite well so far. No complaints.

I have not required customer support as of yet.

Made in late 1999 in the U.S.A. Three pieces of bookmatched solid alder. Rosewood board, 7.25 radius. Old-style machine heads. '62 style pickups, according to their spec sheets. Standard tele setup, except with white binding. Classic Tele bridge, this one with the threaded steel saddles, period-correct. Beautiful sunburst, also available in red and black. Supposed to come with brown tolex case, but mine is tweed, I suppose cause it's from the first production run. I'd prefer the tolex case, but I couldn't wait. Came with a bag of stuff, including strap, ashtray bridge cover, cable, and 250 meg capacitor. It's what a 62 Tele Custom is supposed to have in terms of features.

This rocks for me. I have become a Tele guy, big-time, in the last two years. Gave up my American Standard for this, and I like the Am Std's, although I know many Tele freaks don't agree with me. This one, though, just does it. I've been waiting months since they announced them and, when my local store called me today to say they had come in, I ran down. I've been haunting them every day for weeks, waiting. And yet, I was fully prepared to spend my money on another obsession if this didn't pan out: a slightly dinged copper 52 reissue. My main axe is a butterscotch 52 Reissue. I play skank in a reggae band and the 52 is it for me, so I was kind of into getting a backup, having already decided to trade in the Am Std. The 62 is not quite as bell-like, probably due to steel saddles over brass, but it's gorgeous-sounding in its own right. Pure Tele. Clean, crisp, wide range if you use the tone know. Old circuit, meaning you get a choice of the two pickups separately or the neck one with a pre-set "deep rhythym" tone, mainly ersatz bass sounds. It comes with a wiring diagram for changing it to a modern Tele circuit, but I'm leaving it as-is for now.
Sounds amazing unamplified, too, which is cool cause that's how I play a lot late at night.
It sounds magnificent.

Perfect finish. Beautiful sunburst. Deep and rich. Wood beautifully matched. Neck pocket tight.
I love the rosewood board with a 7.25 radius. The truss rod needed a tweak, the nut needed minor filing on three slots, etc., but some of that was cause I like my action high: 5/64's to 7/64's.
All taken care of, though, at the shop

It's a Tele, strongest guitar known to mankind. The more it wears, the better it looks, although I'm not the kind to throw it around. I replace the strap buttons with straplocks.
I usually gig with a backup cause I play skank guitar and sometimes get carried away and break a string.

Never really dealt with Fender customer support. It's a limited lifetime warranty, though, and it's a very well-built instrument.

I love this guitar. I'm in debt due to many gear acquisitions this year and really shouldn't have bought this, but I've been planning on it for so long that I just went ahead and did it. I don't regret it one bit. Eventually, it'll be paid for.
I love it. It sounds so good. It feels so good. It looks good, too. God bless Leo Fender.

This is a Japanese tele with a rosewood board and a maple neck. The body is alder(NOT basswood). The tuners seem to be alittle better than other Japanese Fenders I have encountered. The neck date is 1988. I purchased this guitar as new from a mom/pop music store in the Philadelphia area in 1997. Needless to say, the setup needed to be tweaked. The pickups are basically garbage (but not as bad as todays Mexican pieces of s@#$)

After I tore this thing apart and replaced the pots, switch, pickups and saddles, this is the coolest Tele I have heard. The rosewood board makes a completely different tone than a maple board. The alder body also adds to the tone (I have heard of other Jap Tele reissues having alder instead of basswood- can any one else confirm this?) You must be willing to gut this guitar and replace a bunch of stuff to get it to "give up the tone". It's not too bad stock, but is 100% improved upon modification. Tone-wise, it kind of reminds me of Roy Buchanan in his later years. I have to knock down the score for such sorry parts, but if you see one with an alder body used, get it by all means (I don't think fender makes these anymore).

This is a 3 tone sunburst model. I believe that there is a nitro finish on this (it is not a plastic or poly finish-what else could it be?) There is also a 3 piece body on it, and one piece of the 3 is figured (this is certainly on odd guitar!) The setup absolutely sucked after 9 years on the rack- everything had to be adjusted. Once it was set up properly, it played very nicely. I don't know how to grade this so I will go with N/A for set up and an 8 for the finish

First, you must be a MORON to gig with no backup. This is a very solid guitar. It is nicer than a lot of American Teles that I have played. Like most Fender guitars, it will probably last forever if you don't abuse it.

Fender customer support sucks. Period.

This is my third Tele. I also have seven strats and a few other assorted guitars lying around. I have been playing for 15 years. I have used this guitar for many jobs over the last year and a half. From what I understand it something of an odd ball. I would recommend anyone who wants a tele to purchase one like this if they can find one.

1997 MIJ; Rosewood fretboard on maple (fotofinish?) neck w/ single string hook style tree; small "vintage" frets; bound sunburst body; vintage 3-barrel bridge; "vintage style" tuners; passive single coil pickups; basswood body. Discontinued model, as Fender is moving all of its Japan manufacturing to Mexico. Formerly the only left-handed Tele available with a rosewood fretboard (now there are none, I guess).

Sounded like a Tele. Vintage frets make for plenty of snap for country riffing, but the rosewood fretboard gives it some warmth. Doesn't have that maple bite.
Sounded good new, but stock MIJ pickups were sorta lackluster, so I swapped in a Seymour Duncan STL-1b (Vintage Broadcaster Lead) in the bridge position and a Duncan STR-1 (Vintage Rhythm) in the neck position. NOW it sounds awesome: like a big fat warm Tele, but still has that Tele edge and bit to it.

Intonation was off, but that's a three barrel bridge for you. Pickups were adjusted OK, but they didn't sound too great; finish is excellent 3 color sunburst. You can see that it's a 3 piece body on the back, but it's still a nice job. Single binding is well done and attractive. Pickguard had some jagged edges that had to be sanded off, which is a real disappointment. Body cavity was full of sawdust and had NO shielding whatsoever. Fender's "vintage style" tuners suck, but they look good. Nut is cut well, unlike some reissue Fenders (I played a 60s strat the other day that the nut was barely cut on the B string and the string would pop out if you even looked at it hard). Frets are nice and smoothe with no burrs or sharp edges.

Seems solid, though basswood is a soft wood, so it'll probably ding up. The binding may help that some. The combination of the three-barrel bridge and the sucky 'vintage style' tuners doesn't stay in tune too well. I plan to put a six-barrel bridge and better (though still vintage looking) tuners on it soon. That along with the new pickups will make this a Tele dreamboat.

Fender support: it depends on who's answering the phones that day, in my experience. But, you can find certified Fender repair guys everywhere.

I've been playing for about ten years. I also own a mid-70s Ibanez J-212 copy, a newish Epiphone Casino, an early 70s Fender Telecaster Bass (lefty!), and play all my electrics through a new Vox AC15 TB.
I bought it because I've been looking for a good Telecaster, but I prefer rosewood fretboards. I new I'd want to make some mods to it (new pickups, new bridge, new tuners), but when I get all that done, it's going to be an outstanding guitar. With the new pickups and through my Vox, it really nails that Mike Campbell lead tone. Middle position really jangles through the Vox, too.
I actually used to have one (an '84 in candy apple red that was beat up before I got it), so I did buy another one.
I'll give it a 6 out of the box and an 8 or 9 with the mods, so a 7 overall.

It appears to be a late 80s model. '62 reissue Fender Telecaster (japanese), body binding, basswood body, LEFT-HANDED, rosewood fretboard, vintage reissue pickups. Fender Japan hardware.

This guitar has been a great surprise. For all of it's faults--cheap hardware, defective wiring (I've had to rewire it), it has come to be one of my favorite quitars. It's a versitle little guitar for rock and country. I prefer it over my Les Paul on songs such as La Grange. It's such a basic guitar, yet it has bite, and it's got a great clean sound. It's light body makes it feel like a toy, though. It's got the stereotypical country sound of Pete Anderson and everybody else in country. Unplugged, for some reason there's a buzz, not a fret buzz, but a definite buzz. Cd be the cheap hardware?

The intonation wasn't set up very well. I've had to tweek it a lot. The action was well set up. Pickups weren't adjusted worth a flitter. Bride and top well done. Flaws: the guitar wasn't wired very well. I've had basically to rewire it.

I've not used this guitar as much as I do my strat, which is my main guitar. But once I've tweaked it a bit, it seems to be in tip top shape. Because I haven't yet put on new string saddles, I wouldn't use it without a backup at a gig. Is it solid enough? It's made of basswood, and it won't take the beating that poplar will. I put on dunlop strap locks.

I live far away from the dealer, so I never had the opportunity to receive customer support from Sam's, nor have I tried to contact Fender

Been playing too long. Wish I'd asked them to check into the wiring more thoroughly. I'd buy it again (though if it were stolen, I'd probably go for an Am. Std. Tele) I love it's country twang, and its bite in rock music. I hate it's cheap hardware. I wish it had six pole pieces for the saddle instead of three, and I wish it had graphtech saddles. It's not as quality as American Fender products, but it's still a price-friendly alternative. It has the classic tele sound. When it grows up, it'll be a great guitar. I've still got to do some work on it.