Fender '72 Telecaster Custom

It is a 2005 or so Japanese tele custom. It used to have two awful pickups on it that have gone the way all junk on my guitars. 21 fret board on an all maple neck, not sure what the wood in the body is. Used to have standard Fender tuners which are actually pretty good but it seems pretty good isn't good enough for me. Standard Japanese finish I guess. Looks like a tele ,sort of, the body shape is the same, the back pickup is the same, the old ashcan and stupid saddles, the front pickup used to be the biggest most terrible sounding humbucker I've ever seen. Three way switch, twin volumes, and twin tones finish off the hardware on this little beauty. Give it a 10 for the way it is now, about a 6 before because I just never played it, it sounded so terrible and I have 7 other guitars that I play regularly.

Not to belabor a point, I'll only describe it now that has Seymour Duncan's on it, front and rear. I got a pickguard from an SG,chopped her down on my 12" sliding compound miter, took about two minutes, and hot glued the piece under the existing pickguard and mounted the '59 to it. Had to chisel out about 3/16" underneath the SG cutout. The whole job took about 2 hours start to finish, no problem, and now its a guitar that sounds just marvelous, wonderful, you know, four stars. Nothing else sounds like that tele twang and I've got it in spades, its a classic tele pickup or something like that. Switch to the front and its just Dicky Betts, Dwayne Allman, Slash, all those guys, sounds sweet in the dirt channel and even sweeter clean and turned down for rhythmn. Then there's the middle. There is just so much tonal variation in between those two extremes, you can dial in how much aggression you want in your sweet sound, its just all there, and for just mean downlow and nasty blues, give the bridge a little extra, turn up the gain and just growl. Wow

I own a lot of Japanese guitars. In my opinion, nobody builds better and they don't cost a fortune. They are better built than Korean, Chinese, Canadian, or American guitars, excepting maybe some ridiculously expensive handmade ones. Everything is just wonderful but the neck is the thing, its terrific. I changed the tuners to Gotoh 510 Delta, 21 to 1 little beauties.

Its as solid as a solid hunk wood of wood. I think you'd have to work at it to break it. I changed the strap locks to snap ons, I have no problems with it all.

Don't know, never contacted them for any reason.

Been playing for 17 years. Have an Orville Les Paul Custom with Pearly Gates, Gibson Les Paul Studio with Lawrence single coils, MIJ Gretsch White Falcon with T.V. Jones, MIJ strat with Fender Lawrence noiseless, an Agile Cool Cat Prestige with Pearly Gates, a MIJ Epiphone Riviera with Gibson '57 classics, and L'Arrivee D03 RVE, that I play quite regularly and with the changes I made, this is right up with any of them, except for the Orville which is a 10. I have a Fender "The Twin", an ancient Fender bassman, and a Traynor YCV 20. I have a Crybaby wah. I really like this guitar. Nothing but nothing sounds like a tele and I love the front humbucker and individual volume and tone pots as well.

My 72 Telecaster Custom Re-Issue is black with black pickguard and maple fretboard with a polyurethane finish. MIM in 2005. Nice fat neck, fits like a glove. 1 volume and tone knob for each pickup and a 3-way selector. I had the bridge single coil replaced with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail Humbucker. I'm glad they kept the vintage tuner posts. The guy gave me a Fender USA hard case with it.

This guitar is great for pretty much anything. I mostly play punk rock/pop punk/alternative, and with my Hot Rail at the bridge it just sounds really sweet and fat. When I get bluesy I just stick the selector on the two pickups and it gives me that famous tele twang. I play this tele through a Hughes&Kettner Triamp MKII and man-o-man it just sounds AMAZING.

I bought this secondhand (but never used). The guy was pretty much the guitar wiz and had his own setup on for light strings. I would probably get a bigger gauge but in the meantime this will still do great. The action is nice and low and it just feels comfortable and you feel like you can do whatever you want with this thing. I haven't seen any significant flaws on this guitar yet.

This guitar is a pretty solid tank. I'm really careful with my stuff so I don't really know if it will survive a drop or a hit, but by the looks of it, it could be knocked onto a wall intentionally and everything would still be tight. The strap buttons are solid but I wouldn't count on them if you like grooving and moving while you rock on stage. I'd probably get locks. I wouldn't worry about a backup, but you can never be too careful.

I don't have a warranty, and I never dealt with the company.

I've been playing for about 4 years now and I've tried most of the guitars out there and none of them felt as good as this one. If you like your guitars nice and shiny your going to have to scrub this one often because the body gets easily marked with hand marks, sweat and stuff because of the shiny black. When I was at the store I tried pretty much all the high end guitars (ES-335, Strats, Thinlines, SGs etc.) and this one was the best looking and better sounding one of them all.

72 reissue with sunburst ash body and maple neck. Humbucker at the neck and single coil at the bridge. Nice fat neck just the way i like it. came with a "deluxe" gig bag. Giving it an eight for features cause it's a pretty simple and straight forward guitar. I changed the humbuckers pots from 250k to 500k and it made a world of difference. Don't know why this isn't done at the factory. I also put a tap on the humbucker so i can switch it to a single coil. I'm actually really impressed with the quality of the guitar considering that it's mexican. The neck has a little flame on the back. The finish on the body is a little dense. The pickup switch crapped out in three months. I took it out and was able to fix it without replacing it, but that shouldn't have happened.

Originally this guitar was only a decent sounding instrument but with just these two mods it has become a really valuable and versatile item. I still want to replace the bridge pickup as it sounds on the weak side. The neck pickup was muddy until the 500k pots, now its warm but crisp. This is how I run it- Guitar, Dunlop Wah, Ibanez Mostortion, 80's Tube Screamer TS-9, late 80's Ibanez Mostortion, Vintage MXR Phase 90, Ernie Ball Volume pedal, Fender Twin Reverb Reissue. It rocks all of these pedals and the tone never gets lost. My musical style varies from blues/R&B to Sonic Youth/indie. I really have been hunting for a back up guitar and I can't think of one that could play the way this tele does. Even for double the money! Just be technically proficient if you get this. It'll make all the difference.I'm going to give it a seven for sound only because as a stock guitar it's pretty plain. Remember the mods though.

Guitar came with good low action. There were no flaws. The neck pickup was a little low.

This guitar is a hunka, hunka, hunka wood. Been dropped by baggage claim workers and chipped the finish. Just added character but didn't mess with the setup or sound. I gig with this in manhattan and brooklyn five times a month and never needed a backup. still want one though.

Never dealt with them. I fix my own gear. It's easier and I can be sure the job's done well.

Been playing 13 years/gigging 7 years. This guitar is worth every penny to me. I would replace it in a heartbeat. I also have a Strat with an alder body and dimarzio pu's and i don't play it anymore!

You gotta know the features by now. I won't bore you. I will rate based on the easy upgrades I've made: brass saddles, 500k pots for the 'bucker, the bridge pickup is now a unit from the '52 Vintage Hot Rod off ebay from reliablefender, and a switchcraft jack. This is now suitable for any style! No 5 way coil tapping b.s., but it's a '72.

Before, the hummer was nothing but mud, and bridge was thin and ice-picky. Now, harmonics leap out and definition is the name of the game. Rhythm or lead. Power chord crunch or hair parting slide. Doesn't matter.

Maple neck is finished awesome. 3 tone 'burst flawless. The devil is under the hood. I guess they bet most people were gonna leave well enough alone. The wiring is even chintzier than my '72 Datsun. You can look at the switch and count how many strands of wire are comin from the 'bucker. I had to chase 3 broken connections during the pickup change. Just beware. Also the jack cup barely held the cable it was such junk. Thank you Switchcraft. I know the switch is on its last legs when I have the patience to deal with said wiring, I'll upgrade.

The electrics are the Achilles heel. It looks and feels great. I've got it tight as a drum - the resonance and vibration are unbelievable. But I'm pretty confident. It's a Tele.

Fender at least pretends to try. More than you can say for Gibson.

This guitar looks, sounds and feels great. There isn't much it can't do. I suppose if it was stolen, I'd look for one of those California Teles so I could at least check out the coil splitting thing. But I think they're starting to get a bit outrageous last I looked. Besides, this wins on style. If it's good enough for old Keef, it's good enough for me, right?

my fender telecaster 72 custom is black with a maple neck..made in mexico 1999.forget what some dopes are saying about made in mexico guitars becaues this guitar ROCKS looks great, finsh beutiful one piece maple neck nice smooth frets feels good in your hands..

ok the wide range humbucker in the neck and the single coil lets you get just about any sound you want from this baby..i play through a fender princeton reverb and a fender bassman both 70s tube amps
it sounds good through solid state amps i just like tube amps better
you can get grunge punk alternative sound out of this guitar for days
plain old rock and roll ala rolling stones..theres some much versatilty with the humbucker single coil ...you can play just about anything on this tele no kidding i love the sound of this guitar i use a bigg muff with it through my tube amps wwwwwwwwwoooooooooooow

perfect set up i bought mine second hand the guy may have set it up recently..tight neck pocket really really nice neck on this guitar.

yes i will play this guitar out is a @ucking rock guitar..this guitar is solid and may out live me

ive been plaing for 20 plus years in the 1990s i had a punk grunge band we played out all the time..i play solo and with a 3 piece rock band these days ...i have a gibson sg jr with p90..and a few tube amps,,gibison j45 acoustic and a couple martins...i have owned alot of guitars over the years gibsons fender strats epiphones washburn
ive ran the gamit i wish i had this guitar 10 years ago its perfect for my style of playing and music!

i am soon getting one of these. i love the looks with 1 humbucker, 1 single coil in a tele. i am a huge keith richards fan and rich robinson of the black crowes. this thing nails all sounds of blues rock. it has a wide range neck pick up, standard (twangy) bridge. it includes a nice deluxe gig bag.

like i said before , im a black crowes, rolling stones blues rock guy. fits my style perfectly.i use a peavey valve king 112 and its almost as good as a fender deluxe reverb or marshall tub stack!(wich is what rch robinson and keith richards use). it isnt noisy at all, unless u have a high gain amp and sit right in front of it. it has a variety of sounds. i can pull a muddy waters grove to black crowes. or bb king to The stones. perfect 'shake your money maker ' era tone. love the tone of the neck pickup itself. its perfect.

the black with the maple is killer! it is set up great out of the box. the pickups were great,no flaws,nothing wrong with this. it has a nice grainy & flamy neck.

it will do fine with live playing.the hard ware will evevtually have that cool gun metal look if you play it all the time. but it will take 20 yrs or more

great for blues / rock lovers. not sure for metal. own les pauls, and strats. if this got stolen, i would track it down. i love it sooooo much. if i couldnt find it, id get another.i love the raw sound of it. just as good as any other fender guitar. better than my gibsons and fenders. i chose this because its raw punchy black crowes/ rolling stones tone and great looks. also because keef and rich robinson use them.

this is a 2000 year model 72 Tele Custom reissue that I got used a while back. It is black with a (flamy!) maple neck that has a great chunky profile (feels just like my 68 Tele with a C neck) It was MIM. Has the 3 way toggle/2 vol, 2tone setup just like a Les Paul. very nice and more versatile than my 68. I figure these guitars may be poplar or basswood, but this one is pretty heavy,may be alder. Not as heavy as a real 70's Tele Custom though. Has the standard Tele lead pickup and the Fender wide range humbucker for the rhythm slot. 3 bolt micro tilt neck, F stamped schaller tuners, just like a real old one has. I'll rate this one pretty high here, as the big flamey neck and les paul style controls along with the single/hum layout make this a VERY versatile and pleasing axe. Also....it looks like Keef's...

Well, I actually had a Sunburst 74 Tele Custom for about 2 weeks back in the late 80's...and it was horrible!! Thick, glopped on finish, loose neck joint, 11 pounds of dead weight, and the neck...oh, my it was skinny and badly fretted. Just a worthless guitar all the way around, ironically it's now worth about 3 grand. This MIM one has absolutely NONE of the problems the original had. It seems very high quality, and all I've changed are personal preference things. I use this in my home studio, but also use it live through an old ProCo Rat, Echoplex, Cry Baby, Hush 2 gate, and custom splitter box into 2 modded blackface Bandmaster heads that drive 2 Ampeg 412 cabs loaded with old EV SRO 150 12" speakers. It is not any more noisy than any other guitar I have with single coils. The guitar was bought used from a pawn shop and has had a six way bridge and a Seymour Duncan Broadcaster bridge pickup installed before I got it. Also the pots and switch have been changed out to Centralab 500K on the single coil and 1 meg on the humbucker. Tone caps are old orange drops that have the correct values for a 72 model. These mods are a HUGE improvement over the stock setup. I'm from Nashville, and the techs down here know how to maximize a Tele's performance while getting the best in classic tone. The bridge pickup is spanky clean, and bright; However, tweaking the tone down a bit thickens things nicely, getting into LP Jr territory. The humbucker was really muddy when I got it, but after pot and cap swap, it is bright and toothy with very similar tone to a LP Custom on the rhythm pickup. I always wanted one of these to get that Keef look and tone and with both p/ups on, it nails that Stones sound. I really am very pleased with this guitar.

Dunno about the factory setup, but when I got it it was setup for light strings. I put on a set of Ernie Ball power slinkys, tweaked the rod a tad tighter and adjusted the bridge- plays perfect for me now. I like a medium action. The pickups were adjusted fine, but I really did not even play it until it was back from my tech and had the pots swapped. The neck pocket is very tight, unlike the sloppy joint on the original, and the micro-tilt works fine. Tuning is spot-on. I had the frets filed and polished also. I like the finish on the neck-it is glossy, but not overly thick like the original ones were. All said this guitar was pretty good and even came in a nice early 90's Fender American hardcase-way better than a bag in my opinion!

It withstood many gigs prior to my getting it and can handle thousands more. Hardware seems tough enough, finish is thick and durable, though the guitar is starting to show some dings and playwear, especially on the pickguard below the pickups and around the controls. Strap buttons replaced with schaller strap locks. I use this on gigs and trust it, but I have 2 Strats onstage also. The amp-style knobs show quite a bit of wear, I adjust them a lot as I play.

Used-never contacted them.

I've been playing most my life and professionally for most of that time. I also own a MIM 72 reissue Strat with EMGs and a stock 60's Jap reissue Strat and a 2004 Gibson LP Junior that I use onstage with the above described rig. At home I have a 65 Jazzmaster with a 63 neck, a 68 Tele, an 82 reissue 1957 Strat, a 89 Ric 330, a 62 Gretsch Jet Firebird, a 77 LP delux, a 74 Guild s100 SG style, a Tokai Love Rock Goldtop w/ p90s, and a 68 Yamaha acoustic. I use a Digitech GNX4 also. I have a 1999 MIM 60's Jazz Bass also.
I got a super deal on this at a local pawnshop. I love the fat flamed neck and the hum/single pickups. I also like the LP style controls, as I am more comfortable using the LP style setup while singing (don't haveto look down to make adjustments!)Don't hate a thing about it,it's just a fine Tele. This one is light years better than the original one I owned years ago. One thing I like: My band recently started gigging and recording after a 2 year hiatus. At every gig I've gotten compliments on this guitar's sound and looks... Cool!

Finish- Black on Black with chrome features.
Body Style- Telecaster single cutaway, no contours.
Bridge Style- Three saddle vintage steel string through.
Tuners- Schaller F logo tuners
Neck/Scale- U profile gloss one piece maple neck with 7 1/2 inch radius and 25 1/2 inch scale with three bolt micro tilt feature.
Accessories- None not even an intonation tool or neck adjustment key.
Year of manufacture- Not really sure probably an 04 or 05 it had been on the hanger for a while. Made in mexico.
21 frets
Soild alder body
3-way toggle with twin volume and tone controls
H/S pickup configuration
Fender made pickups (plastic bobbin single coil with no base plate)
Passive electronics.

Ok pros and cons. Decent electronics. Problems though, be sure to have a tech run a star ground and sheild your control cavities and pickup cavities these pickups are noise buckets from the factory. Factory even put in a ground loop, must have new kids working there. Once you quiet it down youll find the pickups are nice and well suited to each other, even if the single coil has plastic bobbins and lacks the traditional brass base plate. The bridge position is bright and gritty with lots of harmonic overtones and nice tendency towards the upper midrange while still retaining this chimey cutting highs. The middle position is warm but bright, not as midsy and you will benefit from upping the mids on your amp's eq. The neck position is warm, but a tad mushy, not as bright as you would expect a vintage spec humbucker. Very bass oriented, but weak harmonics in the bass registers. You can buy a fender american pickup to drop in if you need those bass harmonics. It could be better but for a midrange guitar, you'd be hard pressed to find anything better. Give this one a try if youre looking for a bit of honk, or maybe a touch of ol Hank. It's great for those really compressed indie tube tones as well as old fashioned honkytonk and country. I would even venture to say it has some real rock potential too.

Well we all know fender, and we all know their factory setups are a joke. If youre handy or have a good tech friend you can get by with the factory saddles, but most definately would benefit from a set of compensated angle drilled saddles. Thats the only investment aside from shielding tape im probably going to make in this guitar. It's a real looker with sparse but not too sparse accoutriments. Simple black gloss finish with black four ply pickguard and chrome touches here and there. The neck will need adjustment, and if you haven't dealt with a microtilt neck, don't be like me and muddle through it for hours, get help. The finish on the neck was wonderful but needed a fresh polish and wax and the frets needed it too. the nut had the grooves set a tad high, but that was easily resolved. Smooth fret ends, and fairly even frets make for a nice glide along the neck. Very tight neck pocket, which is essential on a tele, be sure to check yours, if you can get a slip of paper in there, think twice, these things can be airtight if you get the right one, and believe me, if its tight, itll ring like a christmas bell, and do it for days.

This thing is light, super light, which scares me, but makes me happy at the same time. Light wood is typically soft and marrs easily, but the thick poly finish on this thing seems to show little play wear from my use, so I guess it will probably hold up pretty well. The pickguard might as well be made of paper, it scratches and scraps of you run your bare thumb across it. The neck pocket is tight and solid, the tuners hold tune well, and the bridge is solid as a rock. The light weight/sustain issue. Heres the deal this thing sustains amazingly, I have a dearmond m-75t which weighs as much as a bag full of history books, and an agathis tele baritone that weighs about the same. They both sustain forever, but because of the dense wood have slightly attenuated highs, and teles have that quality naturally because of the tone circuit and the heavy bridge plate. This guitar is light though and sustains nearly as long as those tanks, if i could compare this to anything its like have a jumbo acoustic or a huge rosewood dreadnaught on your shoulder. Not very heavy for a solidbody. Good solid gigging guitar with lots of potential.

No clue as to fender's customer support, but if I had to guess theres a reason they put all of their schematics on the website, they dont want to spend their time on the phone with mooky mooks like us.

I am an expenrienced tech and rhythm player that loves vintage edgy tones and progressive modern tones at the same time. This guitar is great, I am a very happy buyer but wish that fender would take the time to treat their buyers right and provide them with a properly set up instrument with accurate intonation. Once again, these things are noisy from the factory, get a buddy with a soldering iron to help quiet it down, and be on the lookout for a set of angle drilled compensated saddles, they will be essential in making it a pro gigging guitar.

I own a 2004 '72 Custom. As stated below, all the parts are American but it was assembled in Mexico. This came in black with a maple neck. Has the single coil in the bridge and the oversized humbucker in the neck. The tuners are like the ones they stock on their basses, I can't think of the name right now but they stay in tune really well, I haven't had that many problems. This model always comes with a Fender gig bag, which isn't a bad bag but then again not a hardshell case. I'm giving this a 9 because of the range of tone it has.

I play a wide variety of music, can't really say but everything from fuzz-layered shoegaze to 60's psychdelia... The neck pickup is great, very muddy, if I tune down a half step and kick back the tone, I can get into a dark Black Sabbath mood, or in standard I can still do everything I need. The bridge single coil is my favorite, very shimmery, clean sounding. I can dial into a Ticket To Ride Beatles' tone, or push some gain on my amp and get the Pink Floyd going on.. Not to a T, but I am just trying to stress how versatile this guitar is. It's the most versatile guitar I have ever owned. The only thing I need now is a Nashville Tele and I think I'll have myself set...

The action is fine, the maple neck is really nice and fits my hand really well. My hands aren't big, but they aren't small. Very easy to play and get a feel for. I haven't noticed any fret buzz and I change the strings on a regular basis. I also admit that I haven't had it set up since I purchased it (I plan to soon) and it plays just fine... but every guitar needs a set up. The finish on it is really nice. I like to take care of it with a Fender cleaning spray (I work for a company that deals music equipment, I win cleaning spray all the time - I recommend it, it works better than the ol' spit n shine). The guitar is a Telecaster - it's not light, but I don't find this one on the heavy-side. I own two other Telecasters and it's the lightest (the other two being a MIM Std Tele in black and a MIA Std Tele also in black). I am a Telecaster guy and I love this guitar... I love this guitar to death but I want to give it an accurate review. This guitar plays nice, but it's not the best guitar in the world. Give me 10 years of breaking it in, and I think it'll be there.

It's a Fender. It can survive just about anything, but like all guitars and cars, it falls apart now and again. The bridge could use a little adjustment. It stays in tune fairly well. The first problem is, the input jack is coming loose - this seems to be recurring on this model. The finish seems good, but I'm not worried about dings or chips or scratches.. Who cares really. The strap buttons are solid but I will be switching to oversized ones to further prevent those strap-slips.. The parts of the guitar are really well, American as stated, but it's obvious this guitar could have been put through better assembly. Nothing I can't fix though, at little to no cost.

If you are going to buy this, I recommend you go through Musician's Friend and get their coverage plan. They'll take care of you.

I have been playing guitar for 7 years, I am 21 now. I also own a 1985 MIJ Std Stratocaster, a 1992 MIA Std Telecaster, a 1998 MIM Std Telecaster, a 2001 Epiphone Les Paul Custom, and a Seagull S6 acoustic. I play through a Vox AC15, a Vox Pathfinder R mini stack (the 15w head with the 4x8" cab - awesome little guy for bedroom/living room practice). I use an EHX Holy Grail reverb pedal, a Hendrix fuzz/wah, the Ibanez analog delay pedal, and an MXR 7 band eq. This is the best guitar I own. I plan on keeping it my entire life...

'72 Mex Tele Custom made around 2005/2006. One piece maple neck (21 frets), bullet style truss rod w/ micro tilt. W/R Humbucker at neck and standard single coil at bridge. Vintage 3 saddle bridge, strung thru body, 2 vol 2 tone, Schaller tuners i think & Gig bag.

With a very flexible tonal range and the right amp EQ settings, i reckon this guitar should cover just about anything you would play, except probably Morbid Angel/Suffocation type humbucker preffered stuff. I'm using a Fender Twin Reverb and a Pro-Co RAT some days, and a Vox AC50 Top Boost & 4X12 (WITH GREENBACKS!! :-)) & Boss ME5 digital fx on other days. The sound between both amps is remarkably well balanced bearing in mind i've only lived with the guitar for two weeks! It fairs well compared to my Jap Strat, and stands alongside my friend's Hamer Tele (Beautiful!!) admirably. It makes what sounds i tell it to make. End of story.

Apart from being set up by Jeff Healey, the pickups are pretty well balanced considering it's a H/SC guitar. The major bitch i have with the guitar is the shocking finish afforded to the frets. Between fret 17-21 is deplorable and fret 5 is also suspect. Bearing in mind i have a free setup for a month, i could do well to take advantage of this and have this slight problem rectified. The tuning pegs gearing could have been a little more smooth but hey......

This guitar BETTER adapt to the live environment pretty quickly or else end up a McDonalds carton sooner rather than later. Not sure about the hardware lasting (i forsee new pickups en route) and the frets are going to get a fright soon. The finish is irrelevant and i couldn't care if the paint fell off tomorrow. Strap buttons solid for now. Further usage will tell if it's dependable or not. I wouldn't play any gig without a backup guitar...you never know!!

Haven't roared at them .......yet!!!

I have only had my Custom for two weeks but it is intended to be my 'main' runabout. I also play a '84 Jap Strat and lots of different guitars for lots of different reasons. If i had something i wished i could have asked before i played it, it would have been "How come all the salesmen in your shop don't care?" Pound signs aplenty for the lucky person in question. Hard cash too....no rubber cheques here!! All i got was a lousy gig bag, no strap, strings, or a lead (always welcome). If it were lost or stolen i think the chances of me getting one that sounded as good as this one are fairly slim. The guitar was compared to #800 American Teles and took the piss out of them soundwise. Thankfully never bought one of them!!! I wish it had a sister. My dog is called Charlie.