MIJ Rosewood Tele - oil finish

[guitar slinger]

Thought I would share with you guys one of my recent purchases. As many of you know I had my collection stolen a few weeks back and have been buying some new friends. I bought this one from a seller in Japan. I guess it is very rare as it is an oil-finish rosewood tele. I've never seen one before and I have owned two poly-finish ones before and currently own a poly-finsh mij rosewood neck that I have on a walnut body. The tone is much warmer on this oil finish one. It could be these were made as non-export guitars or some custom order possibly. It feels incredible and the neck has rolled edges, it screams old vintage guitar. I have recently bought some old mij threaded saddles which I will put on it the bridge is drilled to use either six saddle or three. I ended up having a little over 1700 in it after negotiating with the seller which I think is a dcent deal as these are getting rather expensive and this one with the oil finish is probably rare. I will attach a few pics.

[kylef]

love it mate, but i always have had a thing for the rosewood teles!!

well done mate, and its good to see you picking up a collection again!

[jwells393]

Oh man ............. that's a beauty. How many pieces make up the body? I'm thinking that is probably one of the first ones made by Fender Japan.

[Tele Fan]

Sweet!

[guitar slinger]

Jwells : Im not positive I dont have it here in front of me now. But seems liek the back is two pieces and the front possibly two or maybe even one not sure. I really appreciate you giving me info when I wrote to you originally and encouraging me to buy it. It's a keeper. Often I buy guitars before playing them and as you know sometimes they look much better than the feel or play so really happy with this one.

[Southern ILL]

Classic....Enjoy!!

[kinkstah]

Oh! That wood grain! And this is a really good looking finish

[BritishBluesBoy]

Wow. Man, that's a stunner...

[ramblinmike]

I like how it says "oil" (oiru) in the neck pocket.

That's a beautiful one! Congrats!

[telechucker]

Nice piece to start a collection with. Hope you find the Rat who robbed you, or at least your guitars. Regards.

[Flat357]

Rosewood doesn't appeal to me , but I have to say that actually looks rather nice .
Good stuff !

[AjayTele]

Ah! So that's where that one went...

Looks like a beauty. I was wondering about that finish myself...

$1700 is not a bad price nowadays for a MIJ Rosewood, and especially so if it's a bit unusual (as the oil finish is) and in great condition. Good buy!

[jwells393]

Still interested in knowing how many pieces in the body. Also, since it appears that it may be an early one, is it chambered? How's the weight?

[woobag]

Me want, me want!! (badly)

what a beaut, thanks for sharing.

[JimiBryant]

wow, that's a stunner that is!

thieves suck.. I hope you'll get a break and they catch 'em.

[boris bubbanov]

Frankly I don't have a clue why Fender applied a heavy finish to a rosewood Tele. Unless someone found the natural oils in the rosewood itself to be unpleasant (it is a little fishy) to the smell, the wood has all the attributes needed for a long term natural finish. Perhaps in some real guitar-unfriendly climates, a little preservation of the wood was in order.

These are great pictures, but ya'll should get your hands on a natural solid rosewood neck and get acquainted with the way this wood feels uncoated. Very nice.

I hope yours sounds as good as it looks, guitar slinger. My newly minted solid rosewood Tele neck isn't played in; I'm not really happy with the way this one sounds, yet.

[sneakyjapan]

yeah must be an old one because it sold for 98,ooo yen...69-98 stamped in the pocket. I see the 69-150 model on line...retailed for 150,ooo yen late 90s so yours must be from the 80s. Every custom order I`ve seen is stamped that way in the neck pocket but I won`t say they all are because haven`t seen all of them yet. Could be they were experimanting with finishes trying to find the best one. The surface on mine has dulled to a flat looking finish...same as my old FJ walnut.
Love yours, looks great...I`m very happy with mine, hope you like yourn.

[terminal3]

this one looks like mine, which I'd described as 'satin' finish (but definitely not the more common glossy) - hadn't heard the term 'oil' finish before but I see what's meant.

interestingly though mine doesn't have any markings in the neck pocket...

[guitar slinger]

The top and back both appear to be two-piece. It is not chambered and would weigh comparable ( medium to heavy weight, I don't have a scale ) to the other two I owned. I haven't gigged out with it yet but appears to have a fairly warm tone in the house at low volumes. It has custom shop pups in it now, the original pups are in the case. I may change the pups out for Bardens but that will depend on how she sounds on the gig. I have a one piece-walnut tele body I just put one of these all rosewood necks on (mij 1986 poly finish), the oil finish not only feels better but I think produces a warmer tone. But overall really happy with both guitars but wish the all rosewood was as light as the walnut one. On antoher note...I got to replace my fav strat well at least with a look-a-like I bought a 1982 walnut strat to replace the one I had stolen. Found it on e-Bay and bought it for $1160.00 shipped which I thought was a bargain ! Its been fun buying new guitars but... sure would like to have the old ones back.

[rednwhiteblues]

thats beautiful man, i'm glad to hear you are starting to get another family going, but i (like everyone else here i'm sure) am sure pullin for you to get your collection back. nothin's showed up here on northern california but i've got the list of your old collection on alert whenever i'm browsing craigs list and such. let us know how this thing gigs! that grain is matched so well i could believe it was a one piece!