Fender Telecaster

Mine is an all-original 1974 Telecaster. The typical bonde finish, maple neck and white pickguard with the 70's Fender logo. The body is a heavy ash and it has a few dings, here and there. Otherwise the standard neck(cheesy) and bridge pickup configuration. The glossy maple neck is still pretty glossy! It came with the original Black Tolex case which is the best case I own!

Let's be real, here. The neck pickup on a Tele is just not meant to preform very dynamically, at least in its' stock form. Everything is about the bridge and bridge/neck(middle) pickup setting. That bright trebly bite is all there. Variety of sounds? It's a Tele! I owned a '52 Reissue Tele and it couldn't hold a candle to this one as far as that brilliant bright sound goes. I play through Fender amps and it is certainly NOT silent when used with a tube amp. My Boss Noise Supressor takes care of this problem.

I bought this guitar used in 1979 and it was in excellent shape at the time. The few dings I mentioned are not in significantly visible location and they really don't do anything to detract from the guitar's appearance. The way the ash has become more see-through to the blonde finish makes it even more attractive. My only concern is that the cap of the pickup switch can get a little loose sometimes. It also has the absolute lowest action of any guitar I have ever played! I use Extra Light(.008) Slinkys on it and it doesn't buzz.

This guitar is sturdy as a guitar can get, I think. It's been through two classic rock bands with me covering a span of about thirty years and it has never failed me. I don't use it as much now out of respect for its' increased value and the fear of having it stolen at a gig.

Mever contacted Fender about this guitar. Never needed to.

I have been playing for over thirty five years and I have owned many guitars in that time. I owned a 1971 Telecaster very much like this one but it was stolen. I bought this, used, in 1979 because the band I was in at the time was very much into country rock and this filled the bill nicely. I have owned many guitars since I bought this one but this one is the most cherished piece of gear(and the oldest!) that I own. The other Teles I have owned, besides this one, had one flaw or another and just didn't match up. It has gone up in value considerably since the $200.00 I paid for it back in '79! I know that the seventies era CBS Fenders are not up to the standards of the fifties and sixties vintage instruments but this guitar is great for me! I play two Fender American Deluxe Strats with a classic rock band in live situations but I love to pull this one out for practice or some old "jangly" country rock!

2003 MIJ 62 reissue - double bound with factory bigsby - this is not the one you buy for $600 made for the American market - It's a different animal - made for the Japanese market with Texas special PUs and great workmanship ( like the pre-union American days ) 7.25 radius - 60s neck ( just thick enough ) NICE quality rosewood board- vintage frets ( I guess - but not real skinny like some ) - typical Klusons - Alder . 40 bids on this thing on eeks-bay ( unique blue color and Japanese workmanship pulls them in )

I love fender into fender tweed ( specifically - bassman ) slight compression - Keeley mod blues driver and 20 yr old analog delay box


2 things set this apart sound wise from all other teles I know about ( I've owned 5 ):

1. Texas special PUs - just hotter enough than the usual - break-up great with the BD but still great clean twang
2. bigsby - this adds a ringing chime that you can never get with a non-bigsby tele. If your tele does not have a bigsby - don't play one - because you will sell your 3000 dollar non-bigsby custom shop one ( like I did ) and buy one of these $1000 bigsbyer - or else you will find yourself sticking a non-factory bigsby on your old tele
( better to leave well enough alone - if you never hear a bigsby tele you won't know any better )

workmanship is superior ( not subtle ) - USA custom shop not even close. slightly high action ( I like that ) great bigsby vibrato
( strat style wang bars can never do this ) I bought it used - nice set-up - great feel. I use my own obsessive compulsive string gauges : 10, 12, 16, 26, 36, 46 ( the lighter b and g makes for a sweet compressive slap - better then 13, 17 )

My tech made these changes:

1. reversed the control plate order - I like to do volume and tone swells - also quick PU changes easier now - especially with a bigsby this change is nice
2. changed tuners to locking Klusons - total tuning and intonation stability ( teflon in nut and on bridge nice trick )

it's heavy compared to my strats - but well worth it. no problems after about 2 yrs and 30 gigs.

Like I said - I sold my 1996 John Page custom shop tele within one week of picking this one up - I dumped it for $1,200 - lucky to get that much - lots of suckers out there for custom shop teles ( I was a major sucker a few yrs ago )

I've played 35 years - past 10 in pop-rock cover band - doing all the goofy stuff people like to dance to.

If I musty think of something to change - maybe if it was slightly lighter - but I would not want ash - teles are meant to be Alder - no brainer. Anyway I prefer this 10.2 lb tele to my 7 lb vintage strats - it's worth the weight.

MIJapan 2006 52 vintage reissue with texas pickups. vintage amber, transparent finish with ash body - looks one piece but has well blended 2nd piece on bottom bout. 3 pole bridge, vintage switching. Texas special pickups: On Fender Japan website as TL52-88. C shape neck standard on Japanese teles. Features? it's a tele.

Classic tele. Specials give it more zang and output than standards. This guitar has more depth and twang than stock MIM tele, and I think it beats dimarzio and Fender vintage pickup upgrades. It doesn't have as much gain or as dark a sound as Frailins but better suits country, twang and chime. I picked this up in Yokohama - and the range, fit and quality of the midrange Japanese Fenders easily matches American Standard. Though the US Vintage 52 might look a bit more refined (neck wood), this is much better value for money, and does the job every bit as well. It does classic rock, rockabilly, country and folk equally well: chime and twang and growl when you need them by fiddling with the gain on tube amp. I've been playing it through a princeton and bandmaster, without any effects except a compressor.

Not sure whether this was made in Fuji or Tokai factory, bit the finish was as good as any American teles, flawless joins. Ash body is beautiful, perfect finish. Excellent set up - and the top is virtually a single piece of Ash. It's light but substantial.

A bull. Hate the perpectually unscrewable tele jac but whatever.

Haven't had to use it.

I was a skeptic on Japanese guitars until I went to Japan and hung out. The quality of finish and wood selection is so good as to be deceiving - far better than MIM and at the least equal to US teles. Some of the other guitars to come out of these factories (Tokais, History brands) are unique in look and playability and far superior to what you'd find in your average Guitar Center. (for example: History has an incredble spruce top tele and a 'gold top' tele at about 1700 US that are incredible to play and just a cut above the US vintage in refinement and playability. What I found is that the stock pickups were thin in the lowerpriced models (around $500-$600 US) (both teles, thinlines, jazzmasters, jags), but if you step up to the "premium vintage" lines (around 700 US)with texas specials, you run into guitars that simply play, feel and look better than basic US teles, and far superior in sound to MIM teles. Worth a trip to Japan for tele and strat nuts - and probably worth a trip to the factory, which is in Tokyo. This is simply a beautiful playing and sounding guitar - a keeper at any price.

well, its a 2006 MIM tele. thick white finish (and i mean thick, i smacked it into a steel workbench and not even a dent!) standard dual single coil pups, 3 way selecter switch, tone and volume knobs, everything you NEED in a guitar, unlike some that have too many knobs with too little effect on the overall sound. it gets a ten not for features, but for its sheer simplicity

i love the sound on this thing. i play a variety of styles, from classic rock to classical and let me tell you this thing is your general purpose, all around versital guitar. with a flick of the switch you can go from really bright, high treble bridge pickup, to a middle position for nice even tones, or to the neck pickup for nice thick sounds. i give it a nine becuase sometimes you have to roll back the tone knob a LOT to keep the bridge pickup from shattering crystal wine glasses, but its not bad if you use your knobs

it was very well set up when i got it, but then again i bought it from guitar center, so idk if someone set it up there. the first one i grabbed, i tried to switch pickups and the little tophat thing on the switch fell off, but i got a different one and it was perfect. i fell in love instantly.

like i said, its been hit with the steel workbench, and abused in other various ways. i sweat a lot when i perform, and the finish really holds up to the sweat. everything on it seems solid, except a problem ive had with every tele is that the screw for the 6th string saddle keeps falling out and getting lost. no biggie though becuase it doesnt effect its playing ability, just a little annoying. i replaced the strap buttons on it too with dunlop straploks but thats just my personal preference.

well ive never had any problems with it, so ive had no reason to contact fender. however, when i was adjusting the guitar for intonation and action (just as a tune up) i got onto the fender website, and it gave me very detailed instructions on how to do so. i have yet to see anything like that on a gibson/epiphone website...

i love my tele, and if someone offered me lots of cash for it.. id proboly say no. would you sell your children? thats how i feel about my guitar. and if it were stolen id proboly go all crazy and hunt the person down. ive played other peoples teles, and let me tell you theres nothing like your own. they are very unique guitars and in my opinion the best you can get for something so versital, not like a one trick pony bc rich or something.

Glossy poly finish, two-tone burst w/White 3-ply pickguard, chrome hardware. Has sealed tuners which are quite precise and solid. This is one of the 2006 models of the made in Mexico series. The 2006 were upgraded with newly voiced pickups and the jumbo frets. I bought it at a Guitar Center Labor Day blowout sale. It was just over $350 at this sale and came with a little Crate amp which I use when I am repairing guitars.

21 frets which have become a little pokey on the sides, but I would attribute that to the dry New Mexico climate more than the guitar. However, that does show that the wood of this guitar is still changing. The body is a very nice one-piece alder. It has very slight figuring in the back and looks like a nice piece of wood. Dense and slightly heavy. Maple fretboard and one piece-neck. It's a very attractive guitar and looks very classic. Strings go through body, adding to the resonance.

I play a pretty big variety of music from surf twang, to more modern rock and feedbacky wall-of-noise stuff. The Tele is perfect for all those styles. It's more versatile than older Teles. I used to have a late 60's Tele which was more of a one-trick pony.

This guitar is VERY loud plugged in. I was shocked at how loud it is. It's easily as loud as my Gibson Les Paul. Of course, it has the 60 cycle hum in just about all positions, but that's a given with these pickups.

What I like is that it gets the classic Tele sound, but can actually dish out some pretty thick tones. It won't put my LP out of business, but the tone can thicken more than you might anticipate.

I'm using it with a Vox AC30, a Blackface Fender Twin, and a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. My pedalboard has the usual (Tube Screamer, Tremolo, Line 6 DL4 delay, noise supression, EQ, etc). It's a pretty classic professional setup.

I can't say there's anything I dislike about the sound. It's not as bright in the bridge pickup as I remember Tele's to be. It's a little darker than an old Tele. It's bright, mind you...just not that super icy bright that a Tele can usually dish out.

Beautifully set-up at the factory. Perfect action, perfect arch to the strings, and a great truss rod adjustment. In the store, I played it for an hour, really happy with the setup. I usually tweak the heck out of guitars before I'm happy. Not in this case. I just threw some .010's on it when I got home and it was perfect.

Here's the thing that pleased me: I've had it for several months now and with the weather change, the truss rod needed a routine adjustment. I was amazed at how responsive the truss rod is! I mean REALLY responsive. The neck really changed with the adjustment and it wasn't a struggle to get it to turn. It rivals my Les Paul's responsiveness. This was a very pleasant surprise to me. Now it feels wonderful. The action is as low as I have ever seen in my more expensive guitars and it plays clean up and down the neck. I have to give Fender some serious kudos on this. This is my 5th Fender guitar and by far, the most advanced (the others were all American-made, by the way).

As I mentioned before, the one flaw that bothers me is that the frets are getting a little prickly at the sides of the fretboard. But again, I think that's because New Mexico is so dry and it's making the fretboard shrink. It's very common with all my guitars. It's an easy fix, that's for sure.

Overall, I am very pleased.

Hey, the hardware on this is fantastic. It's all quite heavy-duty. The tuners on this will last forever. The bridge is very solid and I can't imagine the sweatiest hands eating through the finish on this thing. I have a vintage style bridge on my Stratocaster and that looks a lot more susceptible to wear and tear. This looks a lot more solid.

Of course, there is the modern poly coating to the finish, which could repel bullets. I imagine that robs from the tone of the guitar, but makes it more durable. A nitrocellulose coating would allow this guitar to breath, but then you have to baby it. My Les Paul gets a ding if you look at it the wrong way.

I would gig without a backup, sure. I have many times. I know other pros who say I'm crazy, but I haven't broken a string playing live ever. That's just my style.

Yes, the strap buttons are solid. As far as I can tell. Of course, I've ripped strap buttons out of more expensive guitars to me. That isn't a factor when I buy a guitar.

I cannot rate this. I've never dealt with Fender. Many years ago, I did have an American Strat that had a warped neck. It was terrible. But after replacing the frets and everything else, I am sure I voided any warranty it did have, so I didn't bother calling them.

I've been playing 24 years now. I own a stack of guitars, a million effects, and all-tube amps.

There was nothing to ask before buying this guitar. It's a standard Telecaster. You buy it and play it.

If it were stolen or lost, I would most certainly use the insurance money to buy the exact-same guitar. I just had that conversation with someone this morning and I would find the exact model and buy it again.

I love the classic looks, classic sound, classic feel. I also love how it has some hidden tricks up it's sleeve and gets some very non-Tele sounds as well as the classic Tele twang. There is absolutely nothing I hate about this guitar.

Yes, I compared it with some of the more expensive Tele's the store had. The only ones that matched it in my opinion were the american Deluxe models, but those were $1,000 more than this one. The other models (Highway One, 72 Deluxe, etc) weren't as well set-up and were more quirky in their attempt to recreate the vintage vibe. This was much more versatile. I chose this because of it's comfort level. I was willing to pay for the more expensive models just short of the Deluxe, but I opted for this one.

The one last thing I would like to share is that Harmony Central has gone from being the ultimate site of reviews to being really unreliable because of the idiots who post on here. I never knew musicians were as stupid and foul-mouthed as everyone else thinks we are. I absolutely hate to read a review from some kid with a vocabulary of four words talking about how much the guitar sucks and how he wanted to smash it, then you read he's been playing guitar for 6 months. I am also dismayed at how these guitarists cannot write a review without spewing profanities like a sewer. In my opinion, if someone cannot write a precise review without vomiting cuss words, I have no interest in what they have to say about a guitar. I will only listen to professionals, and those who love the art of guitar enough to write a comprehensive and detailed review. Anyone else is just a stupid kid who should keep to his day job of flipping burgers.

1953 ORIGINAL ESQUIRE TELE..(single neck pickup tele..even has route for neck pickupunder pickguard) my dad bought new. I was hesitent to leave the review as I don't wan to 'highbrow" in any way..just so happened whne I was a year old Dad bought it and I just had it refreted. It's NOT mint.. been through 2 fires and the Nitro finish is kinda screwy around the nech joint. The back of the neck is completely worn smooth from my Dad. If some wonder why people pay so much you would just have to hold it and play a nice open G. There is no other teles ever made that SOUND SO HUGE..something about the virgin alder wood that Leo probably guessed at and bought a bunch of it. This is the loudest cleanest sound I have ever heard..it just screams and sustains. Even the original Kluson tuners stay in tune at a gig all night..The reissues are nice..I played the 60th anniversary HIGH $ one and it isn't even close...it's the wood and age I guess.LINDY FRALIN personally rewound the pickup for $60 with freight..he is the KING of tele pickups and rewinding. Features?..naahh..just the best sound I have ever heard.. from 87' PRS I bought new to other Fender teles and Gibson..Hamer..Parker Fly..etc That monster tone & sound IS the feature.

Right after the very nervous refret which turned out great, I took it to a gig. I had the PRS set up for the rectoverb and just thought the second set I'd plug in and wham!!! ..the guys in the band looked around as I hit the old open G with jaws agape...so I wen into Honky Tonk by the stones and it was heaven...I haven't put it down for the last few gigs. Rich..bright..belltone..and the overdrive is straight up stoned and beyond. If you ever have the $ as I don't these with cosmetic wear can be had for 18 to 30,000...worth every penny and will go up in price. I have had much better players play it and a big grin is always guatanteed..."wow man..unreal".. is very common.

The mostimportant setup on a tele is the nut...so important..Joey Burrel from Brandon is the genius that did mine and the sixth string is just has a slight groove...not a "channel"..BONE only...find someone who knows how to "shallow set" a nut a get him to put one on your tele..bone only..you will be amazed...low action only is the result..but man the tone is worth it. I didn't mess with anything else...It's just so hard to believe how this 53 year old guitar puts the newer ones to shame..it's weird..I mean How did Leo know what kind of wood? what kind of neck joint?..pickups?..the iconic bridge?..the string trees?..what size frets..etc..etc...Maple will never sound like this..as I have quite a few guitars..

haa! well I guess this question answers itself...one refret and one rewound pickup in 53 years!!

I have no clue but I have been told the Fender Custom shop would nornally be the ones to do a refret..no way I was letting this guitar get more than 90 miles from me...I wouldn't take any amount of money for it..well maybe..

Been playing since I started on this guitar at 12..I'm 55 now..Yea I wish I could have asked my Dad to buy 20 more..he paid $128 plus case.
Oh it will not be stolen...yea I would find 30,000 or more if I lost it to get another..no doubt. Well other teles don't compare..that's why Danny Gatton and Bruce Springsting played 53's. In fact one of Bruce's first albums has him and a 53 Esquire..blond.
I'd judt like to say if you ever have the $ and opportunity..buy it!
God Bless Leo Fender..he started it all man!!!

Left handed standard Mexican Telecaster, cream in colour with white scratchplate. Per serial number made in 2003. Maple neck and fretboard and 21 frets with black dot markers in the usual place. No gimmicks, whistles or bells but perfect for R & R!!!

The stock pick ups aren???t too great, the bridge pick up is too spiky and brash, it sounds cheap. The neck pick up is more refined but still not much better than average. I???ve got a ???Jim Reed??? telecaster that has Kent Armstrong pick-ups in that sound much better. The tone/volume pots suffer from ???all or nothing??? as well ??? they are either full on or off.
Having said that the guitar does sound nice unplugged so replacing the pick ups with Seymour Duncans and getting decent pots will probably improve it ten-fold.

Got this second hand but it was in pretty good nick apart from a nasty bang on the body at the top. No fret buzz or string choking. Paint job is nice and evenly applied.

A1 perfecto!

Never needed to contact Fender.

Nice and basic Fender Tele. Easy to play and well made ??? it???s only let down by electrics but they are easy to replace. Budget an extra 100 GBPs if you???re buying to make it giggable.

Single Coil direct replacement pickups wound by Lindy Fralin. These pickups are not noiseless and have a little bit of hum but that shoud be taken care of with the proper shielding of the guitar. These pickups are wound to be flat in response and are cryogenically treated to remove harsh overtones. ( what this does is basically "ages" the metal in the pickups and makes them more dense as a naturally 50 year old pick up would be but in a brand new product, for example)the tone is incredible, high output, very clear and even. They come stock with a plate on teh bridge pickup to increase sustain and it definately does. They use a hybrid magnet set up each matched to the string base don harmonics and tonal tendancies.

I installed these into a 2003 69' Thinline reissue guitar ( mexican) I think its funny, all you have to do is say mexican adn people go running...the fit and finish on this guitar is amazing... its perfect I cant find anything wrong with it... imean its not your standard mexi series either ya know. I though the stock pickups were harsh and plastic sounding. This fixed it right up. The other mods I have done to the guitar: 250K pots, Switchcraft jack adn switch, I also installed a .047mfd orange drop capacitor( all from callaham guitars). The other mod I have is the Callaham bridge... amazing piece seriously....the stock is so flimsey and just so cheaply made- this should be the first thing any tele player does to their guitar.

The output level is a tad hotter than stock, but Callaham waxes it one extra time for noise reduction. These pickups are also not overwound. The tone is very balanced..although maybe a tad bassy at times...who has ever complained about that from a tele? the tone is very clear. I was in the studio sunday and I was blown away by it.I play mostly Alternative/rock kind of stuff ( Our Lady Peace, Flickerstick, fuel ect..) it works really well along side my Gretsch New Jet.

I woul definately buy it again. I would recommend any of callaham guitars products to anyone and everyone. I am not a boutique type person and I have never changed pickups before I am very glad I did.

Fender Mexican Telecaster. Year? Umm.. probably 2001-ish. standard telecaster single coils at bridge and neck. sunburst color. i changed the bridge pickup, pickguard, and added a copper static shield under the pickguard.

The guitar sounded awesome. I was surprised that it rocked so much stock out of the box. I added a Seymour Duncan "Vintage for Broadcaster" bridge pickup, and that thing makes it oh so sweeter. i've played thru a number of amps with it. Fender Hot Rod Deville 410, Traynor YCV40, Vox Pathfinder 15r, and finally, my most recent aquisition, a Fender Blues Jr. Sounds awesome thru everything. I play light gain/natural breakup indie rock type sounds mixed with a little blues and rock. If you've ever hear Built to Spill, that's the array of sounds I like to use, and the Tele is ideal for all of them.

Stock, I had a static problem... when your fingertips would touch the pickguard while strumming, picking, you'd hear a snap, crackle, pop thru the amp. i added a copper shield underneath the pickguard. it took a while for whatever that static was to wear off, but now that it's gone, it stayed gone. big improvement.

the sunburst finish on these mexican teles is real nice. looks much better if you ditch the white pickguard unless you like that sorta thing. a black or tortoiseshell pickguard looks way cooler with the sunbury in my opinion. the action on this guitar is incredible. for a 350 dollar guitar, i can hardly believe how sweet this thing plays. forget the american version, just keep trying out mexican ones till you find one that plays sweet, then throw in another 50 bucks for a killer pickup and you have one hell of an axe.

this thing is solid as hell. pretty heavy, i like that. there's no normal guitar rock antics this thing can't take. i bend strings like crazy, and manually tremolo the neck sometimes too, this guitar is tough as nails.. built to be rocked.

never had to deal with fender for anything. all their products have served me rather well over the years. definitely my favorite guitars and amps.

I've been playing for about 17 years. I also play an Epiphone SG, neckthru body style. not one of the real cheapies, kinda middle of the road, with a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat bridge pickup and Les Paul neck pickup. My main amp right now is a Fender Blues Junior thru a 2x12 open back cab loaded with one Vintage 30 and one G12H Anniversary speaker. I also use a Vox Pathfinder 15r. these little amps are awesome, best 140 dollars i ever spent.

telecasters are my favorite type of guitars, and i just couldn't see dropping close to a grand on an american model. and i'm glad i didn't , my mexi tele rocks.

2002 Mexican-made standard Tele, two pickups, two pots, one switch, maple neck, six-tailpiece bridge, white pickguard with black finish, absolutely rock-standard off-the shelf model. Haven't messed with it in any way except that I took off the factory strap buttons and replaced them with buttons for a strap lock, because it occasionally slips out of the strap. Nicknamed it "Marcos", after the celebrated spokesman of the Zapatista movement - I like to think some of those guys know people who've worked for nothing in the Fender plant.

I play for fun, pretty much anything except what passes these days for metal - punk, country, blues, grunge, 70s rock, swing, bebop, free improv, weird experimental ambient nonsense, all of it equally badly but with enthusiasm. The beauty of this Tele is that it has a very plain sonic personality - it's not noticeably fluid and trebly like a Strat, nor does it insist on being cranked up to 11 like my Epiphone LP 100. The neck pickup is a little mushy but that's its only idiosyncrasy, and I think that goes with having a Tele in the first place. The switching is quiet and it goes smoothly from polite country runs to screaming punk terror with no dead moments. At first I was unused to how far apart the strings are, and discovered to my horror that I was a far worse player than I thought I was, but I took this to mean that I should up my game. A Tele really puts manners on you as a player and makes you sound like yourself. I respect that.

I don't like the way the little metal cups that hold the string-ends on the back of the guitar have a way of falling out onto the ground while you change strings, but I suppose I could glue them in. Also the B string tuner has a way of sliding gently out of tune more often than seems normal. I always stretch new strings and I often play extremely hard, and it's tricky to keep this thing in perfect tuning for more than half an hour at a time. But maybe it's the way I play.

I think I could probably use this thing to repel intruders from my house without doing it any serious damage. Teles are a living reminder of the fact that an electric is a lot closer to a machine tool than it is to an acoustic. The finish is exceptionally tough, although the pickguard has lost its original gleam thanks to me playing Minutemen tunes with a metal pick.

I've been playing for 20 years and this is so far my favourite guitar, although it's easily the toughest to play that I've ever known - I also have a battered old Squier Strat, a temperamental Epiphone LP 100 and a lovely old Yamaha dreadnought. (One of these days I must rationalise.) It has a big, strong, simple personality that forces you to really play it - you can't just zip up and down the neck, got to dig in and hit the damn strings with both hands. Amazing that Mr. Fender got it so right on his first go. I'd never sell it, and the only person I'd give it to would be a child of my own - if s/he can learn to play on this, everything afterwards would be a doddle. It's solid, sturdy, sounds great, looks cool, and it has no airs or graces. A thing of beauty.