Fender '72 Telecaster Custom

Obviously usual stuff on this model : split neck humbucker, and gibson style electronics. the individual tone/volume controls for the pickups is something i particularly like, and the fact that similar controls on other fenders annoys me somewhat.
The chunky D shaped neck is also another winner as usually fender necks are far too thin for my liking.
I also got mine with a rosewood neck, which u don't tend to see so many of.

I play through a Marshall Dsl 401 - a 40 watt valve amp witha twelve inch celestion "gold back" speaker, and the guitar responds very well through this.
the bridge pickup is usual tele bite, but the neck pickup is really something special. it's a lot more ballsy (quite obviously) than the bridge, but not muddy at all, just more gutsy and fuller. It is good at either lead or rhythm work. i was especialy surprised that it was so good at lead work. not as punchy as the bridge, but it has a thick, creamier sound - nearer a gibson sound , but still quite different.
the only qualms i have is that the neck pickup is a fair bit louder than the bridge, so it has to be taken down in height a fair bit, but is basically manageable. Also the controls are rather unsensitive
as 1-4 on the volume controls seem to do much, and between 6-10 seems to be where the real difference is made - whereas on my SG classic, the controls are much more graduated, and make a greater difference to the sound quality as well as sheer volume.

As expected, things are usually never set up brilliantly in the shop. pickup heights needed changing. But i use guage 11 strings, so i guess i bring it upon myself as therefore the setup needs extensive change.

the finish is superb, no problem there.

this guitar has been put together very well. no flaws that i can see with the naked eye. it has been put together much better than a lot of gibsons, usa fenders, peavy's, and ibanezes (including a 2 grand plus JEM which i thought was an absolute rip off, that is over priced by about #1500).
the electricsare also tidily done, perhaps evan better than my gibson, which is good sa gibsons go.

i've been playing for about 5 years now. it's quite a different beast from my SG, in terms of physicallity and sound. and this suits my style well (i wouldn't have bought it if it hadn't) which is basically blues, "rock", and a bit of jazz. there wsa basically one other model that i was looking at when i bought this and this was a 70s strat in the same Classic series. i tried two, and they were both pretty horrable, unconvincing pickup sounds, and flimsy workmanship in comparison - quite peculiar to think that the tele custom comes from the same factory. Though i find that with strats, that they range from very good to woefully poor. a freind has two strats from the 80s, both which are very good, and one of which is the only maple fretboarded fender that i have liked. I also tried out a maple fretboarded Mex. standard, mainly just for the maple neck, but i didn't like it at all, hence my decision to buy my 72 with a rosewood board.
in my opinion this is a superb guitar for the money, and i think that it is virtually impossable to find another guitar with better value for money on the currant market. though i think in terms of pure quality it is easily up there with the standard gibsons that are a good grand more in price.

This is a mexican reissue of the '72 tele custom (yadda yadda, u already know this from reading other reviews.Oh well) its got 21 frets, fat maple neck, not sure what body. It has a 3 way toggle switch and 2 volume and 2 tone controls (1 for each pickup) The pickups are as follows: a fender wide range humbucker in the neck, and a tele bridge pickup (ive changed my bridge pickup)
Thru body stringing, this gives it gr8 sustain (more on that later)
I just bought the guitar on its own-did not need any other equipment

i Play industrial/alternative music (think Nine Inch Nails/Deftones/ Radiohead/Muse etc and this guitar suits my playing style perfectly. I run the guitar through a boss volume pedal, digitech whammy, EHX graphic fuzz and small clone, and a frostwave sonic alienator, into an ashdown 60w combo. Ive put an semour duncan hotrail in the bridge as i have no use for the tele bridge pickup.
This guitar is perfect.It has great sustain,and the les paul-esque setup allows me to do tom morrello style pickup switching!I have found that whatever settings you use, this guitar will not sound bad. Tele's are generally underrrated as guitars used for modern rock, they are usually seen as country or classic rock instruments. The humbucker and the hotrail means that i have a very rich sound. The neck pickup has loads of middle and bass, wheras the hotrail screams of treble, so i can get a wide range of sounds. I have no quibbles with this guitar.

The guitar was made brilliantly. It may be a mexican but it feels as good as an american!

this is an extremely reliable guitar. Although i would use my maverick sor the songs for a 7 string, i could use only my tele. It was my second guitar, and i lgig with it until i die.

never had to deal with fender, and probably will never need to with this guitar.

ive been playing for 4 years and i had a yamaha pacifica before. Nothing compares to this telecaster. Before i got it i thought about getting an epiphone sg and i will probably get a gibson sg when i can afford one.
If mi tele got stolen i would definetley buy a new one!
It is, as someone said somewhere, "rock and role":P

2003 MIM '72 custom tele finished in black with a maple neck and board. 21 vintage frets (i guess cos i cant be arsed to go check)2 tone 2 volume controls les paul style pup switch. single coil in the neck tray and a fender wide range humbucker at the neck. standard tele shape, slightly different pickguard design.bog standard fender 'f' tuners. chunky maple neck, fits my hand beautifully.came with a deluxe bag, which was better than i thought it would be, nd i got some bits thrown in from the dealer. not laden with features, but a bit more interesting than a standard tele.

playing a range of music from classic rock, to indie rock, to heavy rock, to blues, this guitarsuits everything i play. i dont think you could play metallica and iron maiden on it, but then if thats what you played i dont think you should consider a tele full stop. im using a fender deluxe 112 plus amp, which sounds nice with my tele. i get no feedback off it, unless i try. the bridge pup is very tinny, but did you expect anything else from a tele. people who moan about the tinniness obviously don't know a thing about teles. the wide range fender humbucker is very fat sounding. with the tone right down, a muddy sound happens, whether you like it or not is up to you but i love it. very bluesy. you can go from country twangyness to a blusey sound with a flick of a switch. the middle pup selection is amazing and prodcues so many tones that i never heard before. any complaints about the sound can be easily fixed by the very competent tone controls. the board is absolutely amazing. this is the first maple board i have played, and i dont intend on buying any more rosewood ones. im getting a strat at the ned of the year, whcih will have a maple neck as well.

i had to adjust the top saddle a tiny bit, but other tha that it was perfect. the guitar has been finished superbly, but i didn't expect anything less. the tuning pegs i hope to be getting repleaced. 1 or 2 seem a bit loose, but i want to keep the original design 'f' pegs, purely becasue i want to keep the guitar original. the protective film is an absolute bastard to get off. all of the switches and their housing has to come off, and there is still some on the plate. the black 'fender telecaster custom' logo on the headstock looks great, much better than the flimsy gold ones. the finish on the neck is pure silk.

this guitar will last forever. i will be keeping this one as long as i live, and i expect to die before it does. i have been giging it 2 or 3 times a week for the past month, and it looks new still. the only thing i think may not last are the tuning pegs, as i have said. the finish seems very durable, hopefully it will wear off, because i like the look of used guitars. i would gig without a backup, but i take one anyway, as much for the other guitarist as me (he has a crummy epiphone sg)

havent dealt with anyone yet. but ive been told the shop i got it from are great about repairs or replacements

been playing about 2 years now, and this was my first real big outlay of cash - and i am well impressed. i used to own a 62 custom tele, however the owner took it back off me. both guitars were amazing, but i like the 72 better. if it were stolen, i would use insurance money and a bit more saved up to get possibly a thinline.but its not something i have even considered. i cant get over how gloriuos the neck is to play. so fast and smooth and confortable, and it even looks great. buy one. 1 thing i dont recomend is the sunburst finish - i think it looks shite.

New 2002 MIM '72 Telecaster Reissue in black with a maple fretboard. 2 tone controls, 2 volumes controls, a Gibson-style 3-way pickup selector. One standard Tele bridge pickup and one Fender Wide-Range humbucker in the bridge with the same Tele silhouette. Model name is etched in black on the headstock which just oozes cool. Came with Fender f-tuners, which I'll probably switch out for Sperzels, just because Sperzels rock so hard. It's familiar, but also pretty different so it's cool.

I bought this guitar to get something different from what I have now (ESP EC-300 with Duncan Distortion and '59 humbuckers, and a stock Gibson SG Standard). It's by no means a gain machine, but it's got a bright, articulate tone that's well suited to classic rock. The neck humbucker is amazing! The sound is so creamy and satisfying that you'll just want to eat it up. Sounds great playing with a slide or alternate tunings (i.e. open tunings, etc.). It makes my amp's clean channel (Line 6 Spider 212) sound better than it really is. :) It can't necessarily do it all, but it does what it's intended to do.

The guitar was already set-up decently, but I put a set of 10's on it just out of personal preference. The C-shaped neck made chords and single-lines easy, but expect to be shredding on this puppy. The big neck fit comfortably in the contour of my hand (I have big hands) and was a blast to play. The frets were dressed well and created NO BUZZING ANYWHERE.

Like most Fenders, this one could very well be indestructable. The neck joint is super-sturdy and adjustable via Micro-Tilt. I would gladly take this out on a gig with me...if I played music out that could complement it (I'm in a screamo band a la Glassjaw, and a powerpop band a la Jimmy Eat World, so I use something a little crunchier).

Never dealt with Fender.

I've been playing for about 7 years and I've already mentioned my gear and my gig. This guitar is probably the best Fender I've ever played. Contrary to what other people on this website have said before me, Fender guitars regardless of the country they're manufactured are top-notch. This one is all the proof I need. Anyone who says otherwise obviously hasn't played the guitar enough. Before buying mine, I tried out the same model in a number of different stores (Guitar Centers in MD, two shops in TN, and one in MA). All of them played, sounded, and looked fantastic.

Mexican made re-issue. super-tiny-thin-fretout-frets that are impossible to bend a full step on. lame humbucker in the neck, super trebly single-coil in the bridge position. two volume, two tone controls. 3-way selector switch. this pick-up configuration is extremely unbalanced. Alder? body covered in about an inch of soft tone-killing black polyurethane. neck covered in plasticy feeling vinyl something or other. neck is a sick pale color. guitar is extremely heavy. worst tuners (Fender 'f') I've personaly ever used.

what is style? completely dead sounding through an ampeg superjet combo. tons of effects actually make it sound better than it does naturaly. this guitar sounds like a low-end toy and costs a grand Canadian.

action sucks and is basically non-adjustable despite the 'bullet' truss-rod ,'micro-tilt', and all that fender jazz. if set below an inch (the action), it basically frets out or buzzes. the neck is extremely fat (fender advertizes this as a good thing) and has uncomfortably sharp fretboard edges (spend another grand and you can remedy this by buying the telecaster with the American sticker). Both 'E' strings fret out or run off the fret board with bending. frets are "vintage" crap and tireing to play on, not to mention impossible to bend on. scale length plays a crucial role in making this guitar hell to play. very fucking hard to reach an "f" chord. one needs jimi hendrix hands to do so. biggest I've ever been ripped off. Leo Fender's long been gone.

wouldn't play it live (or in private) if I could afford buying another guitar after having purchased this monstrosity. the hardware, like the sound, is completely inorganic and should last accordingly. the finish will outlast this world we live in (too bad). strap buttons, like the tuners and the rest were retardedly shitty and were thrown in the garbage after purchasing. i could depend on this guitar(to make me want to stop playing). I wouldn't gig with it. i might put it on a stand on the stage or hang it up in a Hard Rock Cafe' or something. it's nice looking, other than the clear-finished, almost ghostly-white looking sick neck. If you're one of those retards who beats up thier teles for asthetic purposes, you might be in for an ass-kicking from this big, heavy, retarded, dull monster. fender is no longer "Fender"

unless you willingly hand over $4,000.00 or more to thier custom shop, you are probably getting a chinese toy, or the equivelant, and they most likely will not speak with you. who in the hell has enough money to find out? a struggling artist? a doctor? a lawer? truly beautiful instruments are wasted on the musically talentless. I make really good money and my local guitar dealer won't let me near the fender custom shop display. fuck it. worthless.

been playing long enough to recognize when something smells bad (15+ years). I bought this guitar on a whim because i hade money to burn and I burnt it. if it were stolen, i'd use the insurance money to pay "Fender" NOT to make one of these guitars. wish it had a good sound (at least), secondly, i wish it had a good finish to let that sound come through, thirdly, i wish it didn't hurt to play. i am worse, as a guitar player, for having played this and I'm saddened that a number of trees were cut down only to be coated in plastic in a mexican factory operating under a company name that was one time well respected and builds instruments under this good name in Mexico because they can pay Poor mexicans less than they are willing to pay white people, meaning greater proffit. the bottom line...... shit

made in Corona, Calif,USA...1972, 24 fret strat solid maple neck, one of a kind proto-type,mohogany body with natural gloss finish with dual contour(like a strat body) dual fender humbucking pick-ups, dual tone and volume controls, one blade 5 position selecter switch,black\white\black full coverage pick guard,string thru body tun-o-matic bridge,grover non-locking tuners,tan fender case with orange velvet lining.

it was all rock all the tiime.maybe a little blues and some beatle love songs.MGS solid state amp with six band graphic eq. one 15" celestron speaker with 50 lb. magnet. no white noise from pickups.
bridge pick twang beyond standard tele-- neck pick smoooooth and mello.widest variety of any fender I've ever played or heard.

intonation spot on. action so low no finger pressure required all the way 1st to 24th frets, and no buzz anywhere on neck. bridge in- finately adjustable. only flaw(witch can hardley be considered a flaw.) strat neck in a tele body at the interface neck is narrower than the cutout mount area in the body resulting in 1/8 inch gap at
bottom cutaway side.

guitar was bullet proof lasted years of gtarage band abuse. no need for any other 6 stringed instrument the best of the best. no bull!

none needed, owner\operator service friendly. whats a warranty anyway?

you can't find one anywhere so why bother.
If anyone knows Mike Langlin or where I can find him let me know
he has this one of a kind beauty that I was foolish enough to give to Lively Arts music in the old Northridge Fashion Center(pre'94 earthquake) in 1975.

1998 Fender Japan reissue of the 72 custom, bought April 2003.
3 colour sunburst and all maple neck, black scratch plate with the grotoh machine heads and three screw micro tilt neck pocket/backplate.
Can't help but notice the obviouse les paul look about the pup switch and the 2 vol 2 tone knobs, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in... err.. originality... you'll see.
Other than the fact that it's a custom '72, there have been no
mods since it's left the factory other than the jack input's been broken, and the outer skirting of the bridge has had some authentic rust applied.

This is the thing, on just the bridge pup, sounds like any other tele, on the neck or neck/bridge mix it's got a very odd sound indeed. You can tell it's a tele, well a fender anyway, but you can push the bridge really high (Vol and tone) and keep the neck on half and a third (Vol and tone respectively) and make this amazing contrast of abriasive and smooth, which I have only ever heard before from two seperate guitars playing simultaniously.
From this You can probably tell that it makes a very wide range of sounds (hence WRHP) and they are very accessible, hours of fun with the same tune. I think the sustain is alright, nothing special, but no worse than any MIA standard tele you buy today. Can do punk, jazz, lead, rythem. Can chug away in drop D or wail on harmonics (very interesting pinches on the neck pickup, sounds like flat wound strings) But... the bridge is single coil and hums (no two ways about it) and when playing rythem with both pups on, the neck pickup, which adds all the meat, can be a bit too variable in volume when only turned half way up, but dominates the sound if fully cranked. The most pitiful of criticisms, and it could be easily rectified by me being a better rythem player, but it's true.

I've never played a factory fresh one, but this neck was setup very well (thank god I didn't have to touch that micro tilt mechanism, scary) but the bridge needed quite alot of attention, it wasn't grounded for a start... and come to think of it, it still isn't, damn, I knew I forgot something after I put the new strings on (I think the old ones were fenders finest cheese wire, give me d'darios any day, but that's a different review page) and the three saddle's were all over the place, and tipped inwards and all kinds of wierd crap going on. But now I'm setting it up and I've just about got rid of all the fret buzz (I kept looking around expecting to see a swarm of bee's)and the intonation more or less sorted it's self, I had a quick crack of doing it before I could be bothered to get my tape measure, and it was more or less in tune all the way up to the 22nd fret (I'm not going to try to get it too close till it's completely buzz free). Finish was beautiful (and I really mean that) until the guy before my took a few small chips out of it, and one huge one. Thankfully they're all on the black outskirts of the sunburst so at the moment they're covered up with nail varnish, till I can do some thing a little better. but you can tell the real quality by the back, still imaculate, and the fact that it plays superbly, I mean, you don't so much play it, as wield it.
The headstock's seen better days, and I guess from a reviewers point of view that's the important thing, this is a very nice guitar now, but it was probably very very very nice. Over all look feel and craftmanship is one of impressive proportions. The Japanese '72's are generally considered significantly better made than the mexicans or the Americans. Which is a shame because the MIA's and MIM's have the better pup's apparently. But basicly it's changed my opinion of fenders in general and especially Japanese Fenders as I can barely find fault with the it other than the way it's been looked after and the fact the bridge isn't grounded.

It's five years old and if it weren't for a couple of rock and roll scars on the body and a intensly close examination of the frets, this baby would be as good as new. Even the neck pickups chrome cover is imaculate once cleaned in a little white spirit, and the back of the body is scratch free. Increadible. But then, whilst it has been a whole five years since it rolled out of the factory, it's only been five years, only time can truely tell ho long it will last, but my prediction is the that in since I set it up and tuned it three days ago, I've moved it all over the country, taken it every where with me, chucked in the back of cars with only a gig bag to save it, and I haven't touched the machine heads, so I think it will last.

err... my mate says if it stops working then it's my fault, but I guess that has nothing to do with Fender.

the only relevent questions here can be answered thusly,

I wish I'd known it'd take a day of work to get it working and looking good, I wouldn't consider my collection whole without it in the future, the only thing this guitar lacks is an unlimited amount of guitarist fuel (Jack Daniels if you didn't already know). I like the fact that I would have never even thaught of buying a fender guitar, and will probably never buy another one except maybe a couple more '72's.

same as below

the humbucker in this baby is thick. i can get good rich tone out of it. it sounds really good with thick gain or fuzz. the single coil has the tele twang and is bright. im using a dunlop wah, boss blues driver, and boss tremelo through a classic 30. i cant get too much tone with it out of the blues driver but oh well.

i like the way it feels. i had to have mine set up for bigger strings. i like the action a little high. everything was good though

i have gigged many times with it and beat the crap out of it and it still sounds and plays like the day i bought it. i did have to put straplocks on it though. i play a strat too for half the set so i dont have to worry about backups

never delt with them

i love the guitar. i would love to have an actual 72 but dont have the funds. i would be pretty pissed off if something bad happened to it.

2003 model. Black alder body. Maple neck. Made by Mexican children and big, loud robots. Very expensive. No case. Neck that could intimidate the American war machine.

I play guitar so I suppose it suits my 'style' .Sound cannot be described as 'rich, full or thin' to be honest. This guitar is capable of producing 'guitar' sounds. Sorry, I know sarcasm only hinders the situation. Some of my dislikes are : 1) non-factual reviews. 2) angst biased reviews, and 3) people who can't play reviewing instruments.

Very poorly set up at the 'ol factory. I'm not sure Fender cares. Finish is real 'shiny', if that's a good thing. If one wanted to emmulate the sound of this finish, one could duct-tape a winter jacket around thier guitar and play it under water. I can't imagine a thicker, more sound-deadening finish. I once (late 90's) picked up and played a "'60s strat" at the local 'SUPER, DUPER MUSIC EMPORIUM CORPORATE CONGLOMERATE and LOVED the neck and fretwork, LOVED, and find this to be it's polar opposite. Since purchasing, I've set it up properly but can not comment on the action as I find it hard to reach my hands around the retardedly thick, white neck.

This guitar will withstand a nuclear blast but would probably deaden the sound as well. Not sure if that's of any use. I would depend on it to lick balls.

snicker. snicker. Leo don't work here anymore. Hasn't for quite some time. Aren't they owned by that Asian keyboard company who's probably owned by some fat-cat American?

I've been playing too long to play this piece of shit, but it sure looks 'pretty' and has 'gobs' of 'that vintage vibe' , as well as 'gobs' of that shitty, sound-deadening finish. I'm not sure as to why Fender would not reissue a nitro-cell laquer finish, but can justify 'reissuing' three bolt necks....... WAIT A MINUTE!, They want to save the extra penny it costs to include a wood screw, or maybe it's purely blind-asthetics. I must apologize for many spelling errors I've made in this submission but I'm not sure 'Fender' is worthy of me checking grammar or spelling. I AM sure that this current company is NOT worthy of Leo Fender's good name, however, he did sell what was once a beautiful thing to Satan.

This is the Mexican made reissue.
The features are on par for a $600 guitar. The finish is fine, as is the overall appearance.

The tuners are pretty poor. The frets won't last for long, and the nut seems a bit flimsy. The bridge is actually pretty nice and true to the era, but long term they're bound to slip.

The one knock I continually heard on this tele was the baseball bat neck. Yeah, the neck is deep and fills up my hand, but it isn't as bad as the Jeff Beck Stat. I can still get around and thumb the E and A with only a little loss of flexibility.

I also play a 69 strat relic, a 68 ric 360, and an es-175; that's where this critique is coming from.

This tele sounds thin and shallow. There's isn;t much warmth or resonance to the tone. The twang is there due to the set up, bridge, and decent bridge pickup, but there isn't a depth to the tone. Needless to say, the sustain is lacking.

In spite of that, the pick ups put out a strong sound. There's good balance between the humbucker and the single coil, and there is a pretty good range of sounds available. I play through a early 80's concert reverb, so this tele matches nicely.

The guitar seems well built and solidly set up. I left the pick ups as found, and the original intonation was fine. I like to do my own set up, so I didn't much play the factory set up.

This piece is solid. I grabbed to be my one and only going out guitar. The sound range is wide enough to play live, and I have no fears with it when I'm playing. Reliable and durable are this tele's hallmark.

It's Fender. It's a major corporation. I've had good and bad in the past.

For the price, it's fine. I'll beat on this guitar, and play it out to preserve my favorites. I know the tuners will have to be replaced, and I'm not sure this guitar is worth a re-fret (maybe if I grow attached). I would buy another at this price, and certainly snag one for less someday...hopefully not soon.