Fender '72 Telecaster Custom

This is '85-'86 mod. re-issue made in Japan. Black with bridge singlecoil and neck widerange bucker.
Maple, thin neck with small '70s like frets (21)

I use this for open G tuning and the bridge pickup sounds like a std. Tele which is very nice. The widerange bucker alone is way too muddy for my liking, but with the switch in middle position and the volume on the bucker a little lower it adds som thickness to the middle twang.
All in all i like the sound of it apart from when playing the bucker alone.
Played through a Marshall JTM60.

Bought the guitar second hand and did the adjustments myself to get it the way I want it, and is a really nice player.

It's a Fender and could be run over by a buss and still play.

Been playing for 20+ years and about 15 of those semi-pro.
Beside this I have two Les Pauls, a Strat and an am. std. Tele.
Bought for open-G tuning so that my other Tele can stay standard tuned. It works very well.
Love the cool looks of it and the playability.
Only thing I don't like is the muddy "widerange" bucker. Would have loved getting my hands on an original Wide Range, but I guess that's not gonna happen.
As most Japanese Fenders, this features good craftsmanship. A really nice instrument all in all.

2007 Mexican,

everything stock (pickups, maple neck, bridge, etc...)
Black finish

2 volume and 2 tone dials really good for getting a wide variety of styles but the pickup selector can seize up a bit.

I play jazz, pop, rock and metal and this telecaster is easily capable of sounding great at all of them. I use a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp but I do have an MXR distortion pedal to really drive the sound through when playing heavier styles.

If only the bridge pickup is in use, the telecaster jangle can really ring through but this can be limiting on styles so I usually have both pickups selected with the humbucker turned down slightly lower but loud enough to add depth to sound.

I really like the maple neck and the chipped paint on the body is my fault, not Fender's.

The only real flaw, in my opinion, is the bridge. Depending on how the action is set up, the screws at the saddles can catch your arm when playing but nothing apart from that.

My guitar is two years old now and has been dropped a couple more times than it should have done. Despite the fact that one incident led to the G string tuning peg being bent, it still works and the guitar as a whole retains tuning well.

I had the guitar fitted with straplocks as it fell off a couple of times before but I have a feeling that was mainly down to the strap I had at the time.

I have not had to contact Fender.

I've been playing about five years now and the versatility this telecaster offers means I don't feel the need for many other guitars at the moment.

Great guitar and the only reason I have another at a gig is for different tunings.

you??ve probably have read this several times. Mine is a Black one. Still in doubt if it??s alder or poplar. Maple neck just refretted with medium Jumbos. Everything else stock.

I indeed find the HB a little muddy but it seems that replacing the 250K pot for a 500K one would help getting the HB Brighter.

Any way, the middle position is awesome for Blues and the separated controls give lots of flexibility. Even the bridge pup sounds piercing but with plenty of twang after raising it a little.

Killer axe. I??ve got a american stardard stratocaster that is very jellous now

after putting 10??s and a pro set up, it??s lovely. Love the slick maple neck

so far so good

not used

I bought used frm a old good friend. He is selling several guitars and couldn??t let this one pass.

Mine is a 2007 Made in Mexico ??72 Custom Telecaster I bought off Ebay, brand new. The features on this guitar are listed in the Fender web, anyway here comes a brief description: solid top alder body, finished in black (not nitro lacquer), maple fretboard and neck in polyurethan finish, stock pickups are a Fender Wide Range humbucker in the neck and a standard tele pickup in the bridge, vintage"F" Schaller tuning heads, vintage 3-saddle bridge, 3 positions switch.

I play almost every kind of music but I am mainly a rock-blues and also jazz player. The sound in this guitar, as it comes from stock, is rather fair: the humbucker is clear but muddy at the same time, I mean, every note you play is going to have a clear output but it??s not the brightest humbucker in the market. The stock bridge pickup is simply rubbish, hasn??t got decent output and if compared to the humbucker there is a lack of balance, being the bridge pup weak, and producing a rather thin sound.
Plenty of noise in all three positions, that shouldn??t be expected at least in the neck or intermediate position, but this is a box of noise, indeed (it also depends on the amp you??re playing with).

Very well built guitar, the neck is sturdy and it won??t move an inch from the body (do not let the 3 bolt neckplate speak the opposite). The guys at the online shop where I bought it made a quick setup before shipping, so I guess the stock condition of the guitar without having any minor adjustments is, again, fair, correct, but not a wonder. Tuning pegs keep intonation very well, Schaller does good the job in high or medium end guitars. I am not a huge fan of the pickup selector, as it seems to be not so sturdily built. Tone and volume controls are very good fitted and do they job so well.

The guitar seems to be a rock. I don??t want to ever have to test it??s reliability as I am very aware of my gear, but it seems very solid. The strap buttons does not include the protection white piece it usually comes there. I would use it on a gig with no backup, sure.

I own 13 guitars at the moment, and this one is certainly a good medium range option. When compared to my Custom Shop ??60 Relic Strat or to my Gibson Les Paul Custom, it shows up that the price you pay is (more or less) the instrument you get, but this tellie is capable of offering a more than average performance. I like its stunning appearance, the style (it reminds me of U2??s first years or spanish rock band Heroes del Silencio??s style in their first and second cd era).
Perfect first-choice instrument, killer looking and "faithful" music partner.

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.