Guess who?

[Little Ricky]

Let's play guess who.
I am an arctic white Tele, with a black/blue/grey pearloid pickguard. I was born in Mexico and have three single coil pick-ups and a five-way selector. I have an ashtray bridge with three silver (non-threaded) 60s-style saddles and string-thru non-contoured body. I have a one-piece glossy poly finished maple neck with vinatge frets and a 7.25 or 9.5 inch radius neck. My headstock has a filled-in flush truss rod hole and my name (logo) is 70's style - Fender TELECASTER. I have vintage style tuners.

Who am I?

I just picked this up two days ago and it is a very nice Tele, but I don't know what model it is. It seems a mix of the 50's, 60's and 70's RIs, but I'm pretty sure it's not an aftermarket Frankenstein. There is a major chip on the back of the body revealing about 7 layers of paint: sealer, blue, grey, blue, black, etc. then finally white. From what shows through the chip, it looks like alder, or some other non-ash wood, but it's heavy enough to be ash.

Thanks!

[The Actionman]

Nashville's have: 3 pu's, vitage bridge and 60's saddles, vintage tuners and made in Mexico...White w/ was available. Likely alder under that poly.
The only big thing thowing me off is the logo. I thought I remembered them all having a more vintagey spagetti logo but maybe the 1st rounds had that regular "70's-ish" Mexican/standard one?
Oh, and the truss-rod adjustment is in the heel not the headstock???
Could be a Frankentele...sombody may have swapped the neck?

Can we get a photo to be sure what you're describing?

[maestrovert]

yup, sounds jes' like a modded Mim Nashville to me too....

[boris bubbanov]

I've got a couple of questions for the mystery guitar:

Swimming pool rout or H S rout?

Is the middle pickup a Strat pup, and are the pickups Fender or are they identified as some other brand?

Is the serial number on the front or back of the headstock, and is the neck finish real glossy or just semi-gloss? Where is the string tree, and what kind?


Sounds like a Partscaster.

How does she play?

[Little Ricky]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

I've got a couple of questions for the mystery guitar:

Swimming pool rout or H S rout?

Is the middle pickup a Strat pup, and are the pickups Fender or are they identified as some other brand?

Is the serial number on the front or back of the headstock, and is the neck finish real glossy or just semi-gloss? Where is the string tree, and what kind?


Sounds like a Partscaster.

How does she play?

I compared the body to my Nashville and they both have non-flush ferrules, but I need to look under the pickguard later to see if they're different. This one has dome knobs instead of stock Nashville barrels. It also has three saddles instead of stock Nashville six. I'll check the electronics later.

I think the neck might be from a 69 Thinline RI. It is very glossy, pretty sure it's 7.25 with vintage frets, and has the serial # on the back. It has a metal "wavy" string tree, and the filled-in trussrod hole. And it has F-stamped tuners withe squared-off tuners "knobs".

Middle pick-up is a silver lipstick tele neck style.

Plays nice, but I think it has 9's on it, I'll prob switch to 10s.

[Little Ricky]

Originally Posted by Little Ricky

I compared the body to my Nashville and they both have non-flush ferrules, but I need to look under the pickguard later to see if they're different. This one has dome knobs instead of stock Nashville barrels. It also has three saddles instead of stock Nashville six. I'll check the electronics later.

I think the neck might be from a 69 Thinline RI. It is very glossy, pretty sure it's 7.25 with vintage frets, and has the serial # on the back. It has a metal "wavy" string tree, and the filled-in trussrod hole. And it has F-stamped tuners withe squared-off tuners "knobs".

Middle pick-up is a silver lipstick tele neck style.

Plays nice, but I think it has 9's on it, I'll prob switch to 10s.

Swimming pool routing on this one and my Nashville, so I think it's just a Nashville with a RI 69 Thinline neck (although I remember my 69RI neck having rolled edges, and this one doesn't have them) and some pick-up mods. This one has some cloth wires under the control plate and one wire is "grounded" to the body with a metal loop, while the Nashville is not.
It's interesting to see (on the chipped area) how they used other colored paints to build up the finish and/or practice and/or use up paint, then put on the final white coat.
Thanks for the replies.