Fender '72 Telecaster Custom

I beleive this to be a '98 Mexican 72 tele custom.
I purchased it second hand for a bargain price maybe 4 years ago.
It's a 3 piece alder body, 21? frets on a rosewood neck, great sunburst finish, les paul style controls with a Fender wide range humbucker in the neck and a 'vintage' single coil in the bridge.
Vintage style 3 piece bridge saddles with string through body loading.
7.25" neck radius with Micro Tilt adjustment on neck plate.
Vintage style tuners and a very nice, comfortable and fat neck profile.
It's a bit heavier than other tele's i've played.

Well it sounds very Tele like, but maybe a bit beefier than your standard american model.
Im using it, in my band, with a Fender blues deville and a couple of older overdrives and a delay.
It is a touch noisy but that could easily be fixed with some copper tape shielding on the inside.
It's a great sounding guitar and my only gripe would be that the neck humbucker is overly muddy at times, BUT this is due to the fact that the original models of this guitar came equipped with 1Meg vol pots for the humbucker, not 250k. The 250k should never be paired up with a humbucker as it bleeds of the high frequencies, hence the mud you will sometimes hear.
So change the neck humbucker pot and you'll be just fine.
Gripes aside this a great guitar and i can get some very nice violin like sustain from the guitar when played with a couple of overdrives on at once.
Plus, it looks SOOOO cool!

Was all groovy.
It was fretting out up past the 12th fret when i first got it but i figured out that this was due to the microtilt being adjusted so the neck was rising at the body end.
I zeroed it back down and the problem dissapeared.
Everything else was sweet.

Solid as a rock.

Never dealt with them.

Would purchase another one if it was stolen.
I'd also like to try one of their RI 72 Tele Deluxe's.
Have been playing for 14 years or so in bands and stuff.
I love the way the guitar looks and sounds and also how versatile it is.
It has plenty o' character.
This along with my les paul makes for a wide variety of tonal colours to be had.
I'd like to see it with a bigsby.
I tried an original 72 TC custom and it had the skinniest, most awful neck on it.
One of the best things about this guitar is the neck shape.
It's just so damn comfy.

This was a 2003 black tele custom. MIM
same features as the others (neck HB, 4 controls,...) It came with a very nice fender gig bag. Normally hard shell would be preferred but I'm riding my bike so much these days that I prefer the gig bag

essentially, this has the perfect amount of features. Versatility

I have always been a u2/rem/wilco sort of guy who likes noise and effects. I sold my ric 330 to get this and I'm glad I did. As much as I loved the tone of the ric, it wasn't as versatile. I use a lot of delay and tremolo and use a vox pathfinder at home. The sound is amazing for what I do. It's kind of the best of all worlds. It has the brightnessand clarity of a tele or ric as well as the meatiness of the LP. There were only two problems with the sound.

#1 the stock single coil was really weak and didn't have much character. I swapped it out for a muy grande and now it sounds incredible. In the middle position, the clarity of both pickups is unreal. You can actually hear them independently.

#it's really badly grounded. There is way more noise out of theis guitar than even my LP Jr. (which has a p-90)

*However, I bought this guitar as a project guitar as well as for it's versatility, so I have no problems with this. It means that I get to learn more about guitars.

The set up was quite good and the finish was excellent. Like I said, it's pretty badly grounded but I'm going to attempt to fix that this weekend.

This guitar is a rock. I would have no problem gigging without a backup.

Mind you, the nut broke about a month after getting it. Now I have a better bone one so I'm happy

I haven't had to deal with them however i love that their website has all the wiring diagrams to this guitar

I've been playing for about 8 years and have owned lp's, but for the past 4 years I have played a ric. After 4 years, I realized that I wasn't getting any better. The tone was incredible but it just didn't have everything that I wanted. I changed to the tele because I wanted something with a neck that I could improve on. I also wanted a guitar that I wouldn't be afraid to work on or drop. I'm positive I have found it.

'72 Telecaster Custom - Reissue MIM in 2004. Alder Body, maple "U" shaped neck and maple fret board (21 Fret). "Bullet" truss rod and 3 bolt neckplate with "micro tilt" adjustment. Fender Wide Range Humbucker in in the neck position, and a Fender Tele Single Coil in the bridge position. Separate volume and tone controls for each pickup. Vintage style 3 saddle ashtray string through Telecaster Bridge. Fender/Schaller Vintage "F" tuners.

If you are a fan of the Telecaster sound - this is an awesome guitar. The single coil really does reproduce that classic tele twang while the wide range humbucker gives it a nice fattened sound from the neck. Hey, if you want to sound like Keith Richards this is the guitar. I'm playing through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe most of the time and a lil' Vox AD30VT amp the rest of the time and it sounds great. The single coil pickup does have the classic hum, but you can always get a noiseless single if if bothers you. For a tele it sounds great, and I'm rating it on the tele sound. If I wanted a guitar taht sounded like a strat I would've bought one.

Well, I looked at a couple. The action, fit, and finish on the one I bought were great. It just needed a a very slight adjustment on the sixth string. I really tried hard to find a flaw on this one and couldn't, and that's one of the reasons I bought it. The other ones had some issues. One had a serious rattle and buzz under the bridge. So, did some of the MIA tele's I looked at. You just have to look 'em over carefully.

It's built for combat operations! It's made to be played not put under glass. I'm confident it will hold up well, but only because I played for a couple of hours before I bought it and I went over it with a fine tooth comb.

I've not used their customer service, but the website is pretty cool.

I've been playing for a lotta years. I'd been wanting a tele for awhile and then got a lead on an awesome price. Most folks sell it for about $650 something or better. Try not to pay more than $425 for one new because you can chew them down on the price if you work hard at it. Having said that - it's worth the higher price. Sounds and plays as good as, if not better than any of the other teles out there.

2002 re-issue custom tele
three color sunburst
rosewood fretboard
vintage size frets
gibson style volume and tone controls

this guitar makes all the good sounds
i use this tone monster with bandmaster, jcm900 or a funky tube amp available here in oz called a "vase".(thirty or so years old)
these pickups hum deliciously when your hand doesnt ground the strings.
this guitar is an organic sounding beast.
I have never heard anything like it anywhere. I have been playing in bands for a long time.
these people that complain about the sunburst ones can send their guitars to me, Ill gladly give them a loving home.
I cant vouch for the poplar ones.(i am led to believe the black mex reissues are poplar.)
I like everything about this guitar, especially the fat tone and the fat neck.

the guy i got this guitar from was a tone freak, and had the guitar set up beautifully.lowest action ive ever seen on a tele/strat.
haha, the two bits of alder are delightfully mismatched.
these people that whine about cosmetic flaws maybe shouldnt be playing...
also, the lead jack comes loose fairly frequently, as well as the selector switch.
I love how these things come loose, it gives me an excuse to touch the guitar even more and tighten them.

the guitar will withstand a bomb blast...possibly not even needing a tune up.
This guitar does not go out of tune.I play it long and hard.
I put strap locks on it, using my own long screw modification.
Backup? you gotta be joking. i've got strats, other teles...and they stay in the closet on gig night.

what a waste of time.
look folks, if something needs to be done to your guitars, whatever the brand or make, just do it yourself.
I know it sounds crazy, but you could learn something in the process.
these guitar do not come out of the box well set up. But to set them up doesnt take too much brain power. if you are reading this, you have internet access....use this access to find out anything you need to know about set up or even repairs.

if someone so much as looked at this guitar the wrong way, i would torture them.
I would like to say to all you good folks that choose to whine about their axes...shutup and dont blame the poor guitar...its all in your fingertips.Unless maybe you play a bc rich...

What features? Its a Tele! I like the separate volume and tone controls, which are unlike most fenders. The neck humbucker is a great alternative and sounds fat. The cool pickguard makes it a stand out. The machine heads stay in tune really well. I really prefer the thin Strat neck, and this one is a bit fat. Not baseball bat fat, but hefty. Its a rounded fat, unlike the vintage V fat. I really like the glossy smooth finish on the neck.

I'm in a geezer rock band and this guitar is the best sounding yet. I can play surf music, right on up to Tom Petty or Neil Young. The neck humbucker is bright and full. The neck single coil may be a bit weak, and I've seen others comment on this. I mostly play with both pickups on. Through my '72 Twin Reverb, this guitar sounds great. I have been using a Marshall V-twin and a Tube Screamer to enhance my other guitars. The '72 Tele Custom goes straight in, and sounds fantastic.

I can't find a fault. The neck is smooth smooth smooth. I like the glossy neck and that's one reason I didn't go for a lesser model. The grain on the body seems wide, but I don't have an original to compare it to. The body is finished nicely, though. The hardware all works smoothly and quietly. However, I do get a bit of buzz, mostly at louder volumes, unless I ground the strings with my hand. Its no problem while playing, and I think I can fix that.

It seems built like a brick S-house. Everything seems solid and I expect it to last like most Telecasters. I'm planning on gigging with it, but I always bring a backup in case of a broken string.

I've never dealt with Fender. If it breaks, I'll take it back to Guitar Center.

This is the American made model that comes with a tweed case. I sat at Guitar Center for two hours and played every darn Tele in the place. Thats after going to another Guitar Center and an American Music. This one sounded the fullest and brightest. I hated the price, but that's what credit cards are for! (and you get what you pay for) I like the humbucker for the extra punch. I've been playing for 30 years and I like this guitar better than my Strat, Les Paul or Rickenbacker 330. I'm not saying I wont play the others, but the Tele has it all for right now.

Everyone else seems to have covered this guitars features fairly comprehensively so I won?t bother. Particular things that I really love are the beautiful original style headstock, the solid tuners and the pickup selector switch. I also love the fact it has both a humbucker and single coil pickup. Lovely smooth neck which is very easy to play. Oh and it looks stunning. (free fender gig bag aswell)

The sound of this guitar is the real revelation. It seems to be able to do anything/everything. I can get an authentic Les Paul sound from the neck especially with the gain turned up. The sustain just rings on and on and on. Played clean on the neck it is a very warm, round tone, some may say too bassy but I like it. Then at the flick of a switch I can get classic fender tele tone through the bridge pickup. Maybe not quite as sharp and twangy as other Fenders but it aint far off. I spend most of my time playing with both pickups activated as this is just the perfect balance for my sound. I play mostly alternative, Indie rock and so far this guitar is doing a great job. However, I do have one problem with the sound and that is that it is extremely noisy and humming through both pickups and also feeds back when played loud with gain. I need to get this sorted out as It will be a real pain to gig with otherwise. One other thing I?m a little bit worried about the guitars potential to cut through when playing in band situations and at high volumes but I?m yet to find out how it handles this. Apart from that I can genuinely say that I haven?t played a guitar that I liked as much as this and I?ve been playing 6 years now!

Seems to have come set up damn near perfect which I think is a rare thing these days. My other guitar is a Fender Jazzmaster and it was set up SO badly from the factory it took me about 6 months until I got it how I wanted it. This is different, I can just play it and it feels and plays great straight off.

It is a Tele afterall! It?s solid. I have no worries about this at all. I don?t tend to abuse my guitars anyway and yes I would gig it for sure, and without backup if necessary even though I do like having a backup for safety.

N/A

Only had it for a shortwhile but in short...

Looks superb (has something interesting..unlike alot of Teles)
Sounds brilliant especially for the price. (great variety in tones)
Well Built (will last a long long time)

The only other guitar I would contemplate buying other than this would be the tele 72 deluxe which has 2 humbuckers. however that loses variety.

Few years ago, I saw Thom yorke(radiohead) play a guitar, looking much like a custom 72, only it had two humbuckers. Ever since I dreamed of owning one. I first thought that they were very hard to get in holland. Til a few months ago, when I saw it second dandedly in a shop in my town. It was a japanese made 1996 reissue, and I could get a trade with my mexican nashville power tele, with closed wallets;) what a deal!

I love the tone of the neck humbucker! it's warm rich, and full of karakter. It does have a little less twang compared to the single coil in de neck of my old tele. de humbucker, hda not much colume. I got myself a bargain and got an seymour duncan stl-1b, an exact repluiva of the first broadcaster pickup, designed by leo fender. Great sound, with a lot of bite and high. he tone controls are gibson setup, wish comes in handy when you like to adjust your distortion to zero, and to switch the pickups. The neck is absolutely awesome. bend your strings and feel no resisance at all.

great features!

sounds great!

I use it trough a morley wah, an snarling dogs tweed simulator, an electro harmonix big muff and a couple of home build pedals, trough an late '60 london city tube head and cabinet, refinished in white tolex;), how Prince is that! sound is rich and full, and nothing you'll ever find in another guitar

great

builld like a f*king tank

never dealt with them

10!

Mexican made in 2002. I won?t go into details here because there is tonnes of stuff below. I bought this guitar because it looked fantastic, I needed something versatile and it sounded good in the shop. I decided to buy one in 3 tone burst because in my opinion it had more character than the all black version. It?s a cracking looking guitar with excellent features.

I have a couple of amps. An old Marshall Plexi stack and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe.

First thing I noticed was that the bridge pick-up was slightly weak, lacked punch and 'the' twang. I replaced this with a high-end Fralin immediately and the tone was a million times better. I was happy again.

The Bridge Humbucker worked great and sounded delicious/ fat.

The Volume and tone controls are all fairly responsive.

You can get a lot of great sounds out of this intrument.

Giving this a 6 rating because of the weak pick-up. After replacing this I'd give it an 8 1/2, but cost me cash for the pick-up.

Hmm. I think the Mexicans who made this puppy has one to many Tequilas! This is where I had a lot of issues.

The factory set up was shocking with the strings about a million miles from the fret board. I really hate that. I think all guitarists do.

Even more disturbing was the fact that the frets were not even and the finish on the neck sharp and shoddy in places. So I needed to pay for these to be fixed, plus a neck re-dress.

The action was also crap because the saddle which is comes with was not fully adjustable. So that had to go and I replaced it with a better one which enabled set up to be much neater and lower.

Finish - From factory = Poor. Body was fine but that was about it.
Action - Bad from factory. Yuk!
Finish - Lack of attention to detail on the frets.

Bit dissapointed, but I did buy it new and kind of expected this. Dont think any manufacturers make the perfect guitar from new though I've heard the high-end PRS's are very good from scratch.

The materials used are good and its sturdy enough to last a long time. No issues here, it seems like it will last a long time.

Not dealt with them

I've been playing a while and have used lots of different guitars. I chose this guitar knowing that it would need some work. What attracted me to it in the first place were its look and its versatility.

After spending somewhere in the region of #200 its now totally amazing and I love it. The fretboard is low and well balanced and its pure silky to gig with. I'd like to give it 10 across the board, but feel that from the factory it could have been a lot better. After my mods and some extra work it?s a definite 10, very useful and stunning to play.

If I lost it or had it stolen would I replace it? I think I would, but I'd have to spend the money on it again. I'm happy to do this because I'm a big fan of this guitar and don?t have #3K+ to spend on a guitar that doesn?t need a lot of work from factory.

made in 1999, mexico. glossy dark neck, poly sunburst finish on the body. fender humbucker in the neck, standard tele bridge. 3-barrel chrome bridge, 2 volume knobs, 2 tone knobs, big 3 ply pickguard. very true to the original, definitely plenty of knobs and all that for me!

this is the great part of this guitar. no other guitar sounds quite like it. the mix of the twangy bridge and the fat humbucker is just amazing.

in the bridge position it sounds like any other tele, very solid and bright.

the neck only position is thick and strong, not too muddy at all.

in the middle (oh yeah!) it has this awesome hollow raunch. on a clean amp, it has the dark wide tone of a humbucker with the articulate ring of a telecaster laying under it. i didnt think they would mix together well, but its a magical combination.

this guitar can handle almost anything, variety is its strong point

set up well, finished well. everything is good. for some reason the E polepiece on the humbucker isnt lined up right with the string. i looked it over and its not a bridge problem... it seems it was made that way.

another slight problem with the humbucker is the adjustable polepiece on the e string caught the string sometimes. i play fairly percussively and i had the polepiece adjusted high for better treble, and it got caught under the head of the screw. easy fix, i just cranked the screw down. not that big of a difference in sound.

this thing is solid. its a tele, and a fender, built for use and abuse. the finish is thick and looks great. nothing about the guitar feels weak!

fender ain't too bad. seeing as teles and strats are just about the easiest guitars to work on/find parts for, i see no problems in the future.

ive been playing for about 6 years now. this is my main guitar. i saw thom yorke playing one a long time ago and i was perplexed by the giant pickguard. i found more info and i fell in love with it. i had my heart set on the rosewood/sunburst model, but i could never afford one and they didnt seem to come up on the used market. finally i found one, and i can say its definitely my end-all guitar. sure i'll buy others but i feel at home on this guitar. it has a vintage look and feel with great playability and tone. i have a particular fondness for the mexican-made vintage reissue models. they feel superior to the standard mexican made fenders, but are still priced fairly low. the 50s,60s, and 70s strats are some of my favorites as well. i do occasionally miss the woody spanky bell tone of a regular telecaster's single coil. if it were stolen i would cry and try to write it off on my insurance or something. then i'd go out and buy another one. ive owned pretty much every kind of guitar, and this one is my favorite. i finally feel "at home" playing a guitar!

Same features as everyone has noted. It's not overly fancy, but compared to a normal tele, it's got loads of extras. The individual volume and tone controls open a lot of variety.

It's got everything it needs and nothing it doesn't.

Mine was MIM, black with a maple finger board, made in 2002 - purchased in 2004. It had been sitting around the shop for a while and was being sold off dirt cheap because it had a small little scratch on it...

This is why I bought the guitar. I've tried out quite a few and had mixed feelings about them, but when I tried this guitar out I was in heaven. It can cover everything I play (and I play a lot of different styles.) Playing jazz on the neck always seems warm, and never muddy like my Les Paul. Blues sound great, classic rock - perfect tone. Modern rock, experimental (ala radio-head) funk, fusion, latin, country, praise & worship and anything else that is ever thrown at me as a proffesional musician just sounds great to my ears on this guitar. The bridge single coil is really great, though I imagine a traditional tele pickup (with a base-plate) would sound even more amazing.

You do have to work the tone controls a bit to get the sounds you want, but it's in there. I've stopped playing my other electrics.

The black finish on mine seems to have been unevenly applied, and is a little blotchy.... it seems to scratch really easily (as opposed to the remarks about it's indestructable poly finish - from other reviewers). Maybe I got lucky and that's why mine sounds so good.

Beyond that, the guitar is exteremly solid, and was just about ready to go from the moment I first picked her up.

I must say, I really like the vintage style tuning pegs and how they eliminate sting ends at the head stock...

As I said, it scratches easily, but beyond that, you could run this thing over with a tank and it'd be fine.

I've been playing for 11 years now (I'm only 20 - so that's a VERY long time for me), been attending music school for 3 years. I've had the opportunity to play hundreds of guitars, talk to other guitar players about tone, and have very good ears. I also own a Gibson Les Paul standard, a Fender American Series Strat, and a Danelectro DC-59. Every sound I've ever wanted from a guitar can be achieved with this tele. I don't even miss the strat in-between sounds that I used to use all of the time. I own a fender hot rod deluxe, but have played this guitar through a marshall valvestate, various peavey amps, roland modeling amps, and even a behringer v-amp hooked up to a keyboard amp as well. It sounds best through the deluxe, but was nothing to sneeze at through the others. Can't say enough positives about this guitar.