Fender '72 Telecaster Custom

Its a made in mexico all black (pickguard and body) with a humbucker in the neck and single coil on the bridge. Its got a beautiful very light colored maple which contrast beautifly with the black. I bought a hardshell with it for about 100. Overall its a great LOOKING guitar.

I saw a tele with a humbucker and figured "Great! now i can have the tele twang, with some punch!" ...Wrong. The twang that i love was lacking. Its to bassy and for a tele twang lover. No good

When i got the guiatr the tuning pegs are NOT smooth at all making it hard to tune. And the volume and tone knobs are labeled wrong (one says volume when its acctually tone and vice versa) The pickup selector sticks too. (not that i ever turn the humbucker on) but it was like that when i bought it

Its a well built guitar. The strap pegs are a little small causing the strap to pop off with a lot of movement , but thats my only concern. It can gig, and i think it will last.

Never needed it

I have been playing for about 2 years, im 14 years old. This is my first electric guitar, but i own an Ovation Balladeer acoustic. If it were stolen i would be pissed, and save up for a Jaguar. I love the look of it, the pickguard and the beautiful light maple fretboard. I HATE the humbucker. I am selling this guitar very soon to save up for a fender Jaguar. If you are a tele person, i would strongly recomend a HIghway 1 Tele. I think they are the best ones under about 1000

O4 72 Reissue Tele in black (Mexican). Single coil in bridge and humbucker in neck position. The control knobs resemble a Les Paul layout. Has maple fingerboard, with ashtray style bridge.

I play it thru a Matchless Phoenix 35 head and either a Fender DT 12 cab or a Matchless 4/10 cab. I play mostly classic rock, some modern rock, jazz, funk, blues. Some Tom Petty type stuff also. The humbucker in the neck has a thick, rich tone, suitable to the styles I play. The single coil is ok, but could be better. I will probably replace it with a Seymour Duncan hot rail, or some other type of tele replacement PU. Havent decided which one yet.

I bought the tele at my local music store, so I didnt step foot outside the door until I made sure it was set up the way I wanted it. No problems, plays great. The finish was in great shape. It was new when I bought it, so It should have been in great shape. No flaws, dings, etc.

I would use this tele for live playing without hesitation. Im sure it could handle anything. If Keith Richards used it on tour all thise years, then it must be relaible. I will probably put some Schaller strap locks on it soon, just to be safe. I never play live without a backup, no matter how good a guitar or amp is. But, the tele is built rock solid.

No, have not dealt with Fender directly.

I have been playing for 25 years now. I turn 37 this year. I own 2 Tyler Classic strats (SUPERB), and 1 Wolgang, and this 72 Tele. I have all my bases covered. If it was ever lost or stolen, I would buy another one, because its the one tele that feels the best in my hands, and also, I just like the way it looks.

Mexican made, ordered thru local store after seeing in 'frontline' mag. Had it for 3 years. Black finish with Les Paul controls and pickup switch. Single coil bridge, wide range humbucker neck.Maple neck. Ashtray bridge. Fender vintage style tuners. Came w/ gig bag. I rate @ 10 for the simple fact I wanted the features supplied on this guitar.

I play classic rock/blues and it fits most stuff. Definitely not as chunky as a Les Paul. Playing 78 50 watt 2x12 Marshall combo, fulltone fulldrive 2, dunlop wah, and sometimes ross phaser. It sounds really good until you get on stage with a tube amp in line with a neon beer light. VERY noisy on bridge pickup. I intend to change the bridge pickup as it is low VERY low output. It sounds good but there seems to be a massive difference in volume between the two. Having said that it does get a nice joe walsh funk49 nasty sound. The wide range humbucker really surprised me in that it is very beefy and chunky. Only it sometimes gets a little saturated. If you are looking for that fat neck pickup with clarity like on a strat, this is not it. All in all for covers in my style it is a workhorse and pretty flexible. I rate it 7 for weak bridge pickup and horrible hum. As a side note, it doesn't seem to feedback uncontrollably. It will feedback if you want some controlled feedback, though.

It was setup ok. I noticed recently that the high e has a slight buzz, but from what I understand the ashtray style bridge is difficult to get exactly right. Fit and finish are ok for a $600.00 guitar. (vs. $1000.00) One thing on mine that is not right is the skunk stripe. On one side I can feel the seam where it meets the maple. Not cool.

Like I said this guitar is a workhorse. It is very durable. Yes to all questions. And I would definitely use without a backup. (as soon as I change out the weak ass, humming bridge pickup)

Haven't dealt with them. Pretty sure I won't have to.

Been playing 15+ years. I own 2 strats and 2 les pauls, 2 marshalls, various effects, and 2 fenders. If it were stolen I would replace it. I really like the les paul control layout, especially the selector switch as I am used to playing les pauls. It's a lot lighter than a les paul. Thinking of buying the 72 thinline reissue. Have played a couple and they play and sound really good. Again, the bridge pickup has to go, but other than that it's great! I see where a lot of guys are slamming it, but for $600.00 you can't go wrong. Face it guys, it's a mid-priced guitar. Great value!

This '72 Tele Custom Reissue was built in Japan in 1996. It has the small gold "50 Years" sticker on the back of the headstock. It has two volume nobs and two tone nobs- like a Les Paul. It has a three way selection switch near the low E string side. The neck pickup is a warm, bassy fender humbucker. The bridge pickup is a single coil, and as far as I know, it's fender made. The neck is perhaps the most user friendly and attractive part of the whole guitar- all maple. This tele has an ashtray style bridge, C shaped neck, gotoh tuners. Very easy to fret, stum and bend strings, however it does go out of tune with a lot of heavy-handed strumming.

I origionally played 90's alternative, then hardcore punk, and when I finally realized how amazing this guitar was compared to other pieces of industrial waste (low end Epiphone, Peavy, Squire)I started getting really trancy and experimental/ post punk/ indie rock/ alternative. At the moment i am running my tele through two VOX Pathfinder 15Rs. I also use the outdated Boss Hyper Metal, Boss DD-3 and VOX wah-wah pedal. On neck position, the humbucker is amazingly buzzy and smooth when distorted or overdriven. Typical Fender Tele light static when over driven or distorted on both pickups alone. Bridge pickup is not the most powerful, but definitely gives a vast aray of tone. It barks, whines, screams, can sound trashy, or clean and bright when not distorted. Over all, the pickups have a wide variety of tone (with the aide of the two volume and two tone controls)but not as much power.

I am the second owner of this tele, but when i got it the first ownwer only had it for about a year. The guitar souded, looked and played beautifully scince the first day i picked it up 7 years ago. I was especially blown away at first by the quality of the easy actin on the fret board. I'll go and play other electrics that I have for a while and then come back to my tele and it's as if I am playing it for the first time all over again. Simply amazing action. The frets, neck, nut, and bridge, all amazingly smooth- still!!! I have recently replaced the four origional Fender Amp style nobs with chrome tele nobs. The selector does "PSSCH" a tiny bit, but only recently. There is a huge gauge on the front near the bridge after a friend of mine in high school dropped a practice amp on it six years ago, but even that is very unnoticable.

As I said, a huge piece of crap Crate practice amp fell on it. The body is still virtually perfect, and nothing happened to the play or sound quality. The bridge is starting to rust a bit on the top because of years of sweaty playing, but that is all cosmetic.The strap button on the bottom is a little loose becase the hole is kind of stripped. It just needs a screw with a slightly larger guage. Yeah, I cand depend on it. I would, can and have used it with no back-up, but I would love to buy another so in case somthing did happen to it (and that is a big "IF")the same sound would be spared.

No support needed. This baby kicks.

I have been playing close to eleven years now. I started when I was ten years old, taught myself and did nothing else as a latch key kid. The tele was my second electric and i didn't relize at the time how amazing she was. If it got stolen or lost I would first cry for a day, then go out and buy one of those new Mexican ones- they definitely give the Japanese one a run for it's money. I'll never let it go until I meet my Father in Heaven.

-Mike A, Natick, MA

Mexican '03 model, really bad black finish, with a maple neck and fingerboard...blah...blah...blah....

Sounds like a guitar with cheap pickups and electronics should...bad!

Finish was awful...lines and joints very visible, neck/fretboard had dips and humps on both sides, fretwork was the worst I have seen on any Mexican fender, tons of fill, crooked installation, finish covered most frets...very disappointing...this was the best of 14 I auditioned....

who cares...

Fender has been very gracios in the past so i assume nothing much has changed...

I will never buy a mexican fender guitar...i heard things had changed...i heard wrong i guess...

2002, Mexico.
Nice sunburst finish.
Neck pup: "wide-range" humbucker
Bridge pup: Tele-singlecoil (vintage style)
Individual vol./tone controls.
Gibson-style pup selector.
The custom has a bit more features than an ordinary tele. Still very simple!!!

Ernie Ball vol.- Boss DS1 - RAT2 - Shredmaster - Boss OD2r - DOD icebox chorus - Schaller tremolo - Boss DD3 delay - EHX Holy Grail Reverb - Marshall 6101 combo.
I play indie-rock - The custom-tele is a cool guitar for this kind of music. You can get all kinds of different sounds from this guitar! I prefer to have both pups on to add a little punch to the singlecoil. I just turn down the vol. on the neck pup to about 8. Very nice blend!
The single coil is not the best I've heard. It can't really produce the trebly twang I like. The neck pup is VERY full sounding - Really good for jazz/blues lead. To deep when used alone (for my taste anyway.) You get a little more sound than you pay for but nothing spectacular...

I took it to a pro to get it set up. Like most Fenders, it wasn't an "out of the box miracle"
After the set-up its like a dream!

I've already played tons of gigs with it. It's like a freaking tank. Never even broken a string on stage!
I would use it without a backup - I choose not to.

Never dealt with them...

The custom is a good value guitar - US quality (I'd say)
Change the bridgepup and this guitar is a 10!!!
I hate when people use tons of space to tell about their OTHER gear! Why do others have to know about that???
OVERALL: GREAT GUITAR - GOOD VALUE!!!

I bought my sunburst Mexican tele new in 2001, and it came with the standard features everyone has noted already for this model and my rating is for that. Mine is rosewood neck.

It didn't come with anything when I got it as it was a special deal, having gotten a sort of nasty nick in the finish on the bottom edge and so it was reduced.

I bought it and liked it but recently have changed the bridge pickup for the stock tele to a Dimarzio Fast Track T because the stock sound was pretty thin and much quieter than the humbucker. I also changed the bridge from the stock 3 silver barrels ashtray to individual saddle chrome flatter profile bridge. That replacement didn't do much for me so I changed it back. I'd heard that the thinner metal of the original ash-tray bridge allows the sound to resonate through the body more. At the same time, I got brass saddles and changed those. First I had to trim down the height screws because they stick up too far and tend to shred the picking hand. Since I did this all at the same time I don't know what precisely to attribute the improvement in sound to, but with all those changes it does sound better.

I play roots rock and this is the perfect guitar for that. when I got it I played through a Hot Rod Deluxe, but since then I've gotten rid of the HR (it was nearing the end of its days) and I now play thru a Peavey Classic 30 and a Delta Blues. I have a bunch of various effects, like a modified SD-1 overdrive and a Maxon OD-1, as well as various delays and choruses. It's got a ruch sound, but with the pickup change it's 100% better. I'll rate it for stock, but with the pickup/bridge change you can almost double that.

It was adjusted okay. The finish had a ding in it, but it was discounted appropriately. It had a noisy pickup selector and it didn't appear to be grounded so I took it back to Guitar Center where I got it and their tech fixed it under warranty. It worked fine then. When I changed the pickup out recently myself I might have damaged the pickup selector, because it seems to be much stiffer than it was, so I might change that too.

This guitar is a rock. Other than the marginal pickup selector, everything seems like it will last. I changed the strap buttons to straplocks. I'd gig without a backup as long as I have and extra set of strings.

Fender's website is cool. the Fender Discussion Page is pretty great. The customer service I got at Guitar Center Boston was good for the warranty period.

I've been playing 35 years, starting out most of that on acoustic. I own a bunch of other guitars, incl. a G&L legacy, a Gibson Les paul Junior frankensteined, a Epi Sheraton II with pickups upgraded. It straddles the line between these other quite nice guitars. I'd probably buy something else for variety's sake. It records really well and the neck feels just right. It's sort of chunky like a folk guitar. It was a really good price, but shortly after I got it I wished it had a better bridge pickup. I finally got out my soldering iron and took care of that myself.
I also wish I'd kept my 69 blond standard Tele that I had back in '74, looking at the prices those things go for. Maybe someday this guitar will be worth as much, but it sounds pretty good, and it looks really cool.

Made in Mexican Telecaster '72 Custom (reissue). (Just as Good as USA in my opinion); solid body; neck humbucker, bridge single coil 'bullet-style' truss rod Maple Neck; Vol & Tone for each pickup; Gibson style pickup selector.

The Custom '72 MIM reissue is in my Opinion Fender's best guitar for Quality & Features to Price ratio.

I play Classic Rock, Country and Pop. This guitar handles these genres with flair, stryle and demand. Trie to '72 form there is a bit of noise through the p/u's which like most goes way when grounded by touching any metallic portion of the guitar. This is not a bad thing, it's called Character and makes this custom shine.

Normally, I have to change something on a new guitar. To my surpise, this guitar set-up out of the box from the factory was dead on perfect. I mean perfect. I still can't belive they got it right and it lasted to the purchase! KUDOS to Fender Mexico !

Now for performance! Wow, holding this goutar and working the fretboard is like dancing with an old friend while holding hands...

I will **never** part wwith a guitar this good!

Well, I own many Fender guitars includine my original purchases from the 60's and 70's. This one is a high quality axe, no doubt it will stand the test of time.

Never needed them for problems, but I did call once with a quastion, and they were fast and friendly with the answer.

This while not the most expensive of my guitars is darn near if the centerpiece of my collection! Calssic looks and performance out of the box for a more than fair price to what you receive.

2003, mexican. sunburst/maple fret. humbucker p/u

Awsome tone through the right amp. i couldnt get much tone out of my deluxe reverb, but through a bassman this thing kicked ass. Really punchy out of 10 inch speakers but through some 12's it can get too fat. also dont run pedals through this guitar, the humbucker wont like that too much. keep it simple and you'll be the happiest.

Action is great, had everything set up by a professional. fender does a horrible job in setting up their instruments.

i would gig w/out a backup for sure, fenders usually last a long time, if used properly.

never had to deal with them.

this guitar is great for pretty much everykind of music i like, everythin from clapton, hendrix, allman bros... overall a great value for being less money than a new american fender which i looked into, but fender just doenst make their guitars like they used to..

What the..... Man this was made in Mexico. Your standard telecaster with a killer neck humbucker and gibson style controls and toggle switch. Old rough ass ashtray bridge and saddles - be a man. Through body strings. Made 2000ish. Big fat neck. This guitar rules.

It sounds as good as your hands, mind, TASTE, and amps will allow. Only true assholes bitch about a guitar.
I play loud.
Fender Bassman, Laney Pro Tube Lead, Marshall, weirdo amps.
Fuzz, Delay, Wah, Octavia.

I bought this guitar new, and the strings were set a little high. This is great for playing slide, and for making your fingers tougher. This guitar is solid.

I can depend on this guitar. Telecasters are nothing if not durable.

Nope.

I have been playing for more than ten years. I have more guitars than I can count. I don't want to think about losing it.
I love the way it looks, sounds, feels, sounds, sounds, yes.
I chose this guitar because Keith Richards plays one and don't you say one word about Keith.
I wish it had breastesess.
I once caught it molesting a Silvertone.
Skynyrd rules.