Fender '72 Telecaster

Let me just say.. WOW! This thing looks like its from outer space! The tuners are the only thing I'm unhappy with. They are locking, and so I can't figure out how to unlock them to tune the thing!

My style is mostly rock, but throw in a bit of salsa in there. I am using it with a marshall amp someone left in a club last month. Rich/Full sound. Bright sound.
I really don't like the little peg at the bottom, with this i could do without.

Holy crap! Talk about reliability! I was so inclined to open this baby up. I removed the pickguard. Just for a test, I cut one of the wires inside. Then I put the thing back together. Now its BRIGHTER and sounds more CHIMEY!! I strongly suggest this mod to anyone out there who is looking for a cheap way to get that Cobain sound.

I made a cigar burn in the face of the guitar, so I took it back to Jim where I bought it from. He said no problem. I gave him $200.00 and he sanded the thing smooth. It looks much better than original now.

WOw, talk about nailing the classic sound of the 90's. I can play just about anything and get this thing to SPEAK.

American made in '72. The neck says 3 SEP 72B. It is all original except for the neck pickup. The previous owner put a humbucker in the neck position. It has a solid maple neck with the stripe on the nack. It is a Telecaster and is exactly what a standard electric guitar should be.

I have played everything over the years and on this guitar I've played Rock, Blues, Country, Jazz, Reggae and Funk. Primarily it has been used for Stones inspired Blues-Rock and Country-Rock and has delivered a great sound through Marshall and Fender amps. It does however sound terrible through my old '80s Shred and Metal inspired Rackmount system.(But who would use a Tele for metal)

I would prefer a flatter radius for this neck but it is still a comfortable neck and is perfectly suited to the music I've used it for.

This guitar has withstood the road for many years and on most nights has been the only guitar I've played. It is a workhorse. I have played this guitar so much I have worn out the frets and everythin is still solid.

Never dealt with Fender

I've been playing for over 25 years. I own numerous other guitars including Teles, Strats, Ibanez, Epiphone, Yamaha, Dobro, Acoustic and Bass guitars. Marshall, Fender and Yamaha amps. A pile of effects which I don't use. This guitar sounds great plugged directly into the amp and is versatile enough to do everything I ask. I would hate to lose this guitar and I'm now breaking in another Tele so that I can leave this at home.
The only thing I wish I had asked before buying this guitar was if the seller had more than one to sell :)
I got lucky with this guitar. It has gone up in value and has been close to perfect as a working guitar.

Mine is an original 70 american Tele, sunbuurst with maple neck. Vintage and beauuuuuutiful. It doesn't need anything else.

I play rock and roll trough a 70' vox lead 125 all tube amp. The guitar and amp combination seem to be perfect. I've recorded with an Ac30 and the sound was very impresive as well. The bridge pick up is an absolute pleasure to hear. It's bright and laud, but bringing the tone control down a little bit takes you to a totally different place with a nice and warmer sound wich i find very usefull. I think teles are very versatile guitars if you know how to use them. The neck pick up sounds warm and mellow, great for rithm.

This was bought secendhand, so i don't know how it came out the box. I had to change the frets and set it up properly. I haven't play a guitar as comfortable and soft as this thing, but that is my personal taste and opinion of course.

what can i say, still rockin' after 32 years.

no idea.

I fell very lucky to own this piece of rock history. If you have the chance to get one of this at a reasonable price ( i doubt it) GET IT, even if it's not in good shape, after a profesional setup you won't want to play anything else.

Rating: 9.5
This is a brand spankin' new tele 72 reissue: American made, Mexican built. 21 frets, solid poplar wood body, 2 vol 2 tone, 1 humbucker 1 single coil (bridge pos.). nice laminated maple neck (says "U" shaped neck but feels like standard strat "C" to me). came with fender deluxe gig bag, fender guitar manual, some allan wrenches (3), and product specs charts. wont get into much more here since other did good job discribing features.

I play mostly Classic Rock, Rock, little blues and country also. i'd say this fits every catagory to me... although i'd lean toward classic rock if any. My setup is this tele going into Rockman Distortion Generator into a boss equilizer or zoom 505 to my little crappy peavey amp. sounds great, would sound better with a nice Marshall:)! (Rockman and the humbucker produce prefect BOSTON sounds). the humbucker alone is good, both pickups to me is the best sounding setting, and single coil bridge alone is kinda thin sounding and slightly twangy also, but not as bad as the standard start bridge single coil. The humbucker is rich sounding and overdrives good, but still maintains that classic tele tone (slightly twangy) which i like.

action was perfect stright from the factory, fairly low which i like. the only problem was the open b string when plucked made a buzz which was quickly and accuratly fixed by the guitar repairist where i ordered it from. pickups perfect, raised on treble side just like there supposed to be. everything else was perfect!

I know this guitar use to be made from basswood but they recently canged it to poplar on the black finish and aldar on the 3 tone sunburst, which are the only colors it comes in :( . With poplar and aldar woods im sure these guitars would hold up fine on stage. my poplar strat has been banged many times yet no cuts or scratches.! The only thing i dislike about this guitar is the thin little fret wire they use which could wear quickly with the amount of bending i do, but it would take a few years im sure. cant complain though... there just sticking to the original specs it was based on. i would use without a backup, its highly dependable.

lifetime warrenty, although when something goes wrong i take it to were i bought it and is quickly fixed free of charge. Fender doesn't seem to try very hard considering they hide there e-mail address on the web page so they have less e-mail or something. (hiden in "talk to us" in very small letters in bottom of page).

i've been playing for bout 2 1/2 years now. i own a classical, acou/elec takamine, standard strat and this which is my favorite to play, with second strangly being my $100 classical guitar. I have played many diff guitars, mainly my friends, like a Gibson Les Paul Custom $3,500 guitar which i think is overrated, other teles, and wannabe strats. i think the neck is faster and smoother than a les pauls and the humbucker on this is as hot with better tone than a les pauls... but thats debatable. i chose this guitar because i wanted a humbucker but still a vintage single coil and wanted to keep with the fender necks that i always liked. if it was stolen i would be pissed, then track it down with no mercy :).

First, if you read the article below this, hey, everyone get's lemons, Gibson is FAMOUS for them. I bought this in late '98, made in Japan. 21 frets, semi-hollow ash body with a natural finish. 1 volume, 1 tone, two humbuckers (so called "wide-range" 'buckers), maple neck, 7.25" radius with small "vintage" (a.k.a. you're gonna have a hell of a time bending these) frets. Hard tail strat bridge, which I prefer. Old vintage kluson tele tuners. The neck's pretty thin like most tele's, with a gloss finish, so if you sweat a lot like I do, things can get difficult. But, this is what I was looking for, a Fender with humbuckers and great looks. Point off for inlay work.

I play blues, rock, metal, some funk, country (hey, it pays the bills in my band, there isn't much of an audience for Aerosmith or Metallica around here). It suits a lot of what I need. The bridge pickup was a bit of a disappointment, I wasn't expecting it to be as trebly as it was. But, I do suppose it has that Gretsch "airy" sound to it. The neck pickup, however, is GREAT. Round, controllable in the low end (rare for a 'bucker), and singing. It sounds great with my tube screamer. The guitar does have a good variety, if you're smart, you can get a lot of sounds out of it. It has a mix between a really rich sound and a bright sound, it's neither too bassy and thuddy, nor is it too trebly and piercing. This tele's a strange beast indeed, I've reserved it for home playing, it's value will increase. This was made before the guitar's production was moved to Mexico. Back to sound, overall, just different, which is what I was looking for.

Set up well, strings not too high (but those frets, I swear), neck plate was snug, pickups at the right height, no bad spots around the bridge. I just don't like the kinda sloppy inlay work. But, the finish of the body makes up for it, if looks could kill...however though, it is weak. I hit it on the case and it scratched very easily. The scratch was repaired, but beware, this isn't a strat you can throw around anywhere (DUH, it's semi-HOLLOW).

I've played it live a couple times, and it held up very well. The finish is pretty thick, so it's not going anywhere. The hardware doesn't seem like it'll oxidize any time soon. The strap buttons haven't moved at all. The neck hasn't even needed to be adjusted. I'd use this without a backup, and did a couple times, but I keep it at home cause it'll probably be worth something. But I just have a fear of drunks getting near a hollowbody and falling into it.

Never dealt directly with Fender, the bassist in the band I work in (the best bassist I've ever seen, and the best guitarist too, my teacher), helps me with repairs, and he's an authorized Fender repairman. If it's broken, he can fix it. I didn't look at the warranty, didn't need to. As far as I can go with my connection, the customer support is great.

I've been playing for around 7 years. I own 2 other strats, a samick, a peavy wolfgang special, tacoma DM-18 acoustic, blah blah blah (you don't really care what I own do you?), and this is one of the better guitars I've gotten. I love the overall uniqueness of its sound, and having such a lightweight guitar is great. Note to all, this isn't just a little novelty tool by Fender to cash in on Jonny Lang, this was around long before him and is a serious guitar.