Bought me-self a 1972 tele!Questions for FUZZY!

[Nick Fanis]

Last night I went to the house of a good friend cause he told me that "he had something that I REALLY want to check out!".

Went to his house and right in the middle of the living room was THIS



my tele-loving heart stoped in its tracks as I took her in my arms.

LIGHT as a feather and with a nice medium-chunky round neck.
Strummed her acoustically and she came ALIVE.
Than I did THE big mistake.
I plugged her in my friend's Fender DR and I was floored by the spanky & twangy sound.
Very different from my other teles not so full and deep but very twangy & full of harmonics.

Unfortunatelly for me she was not only "vintage" & cool looking she also has the "touch" & most importantly the SOUND.

I had to have her!Even the "traditional" neck gap on the upper side of the neck pocket did not stop me!

Some trading (my beloved 1985 MIJ Thinline) & some considerable cash later & she is MINE !!

Now for some questions to our very own tele-bible FUZZY!

The color of the guitar is described as OLYMPIC WHITE.
Is this a custom color for this period?The guitar is definitely an ALDER one.

The ser.nr. of the pots dates them as 1966 ones.
Is this regular or are they replacements?

The "lip" on the upper side of the body is not so "high"
as other 70's teles I used to have (two 78 ones and one 74) is this regular?

Generally does everything check out as to the originality of the guitar or are there some replacement parts on it ?

here is a detailed photo album for your viewing pleasure

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/772212

[tonfarbe]

Nice score, my friend!
I don't ask for details - we'll have lots of time to talk about our Tele-addiction when you come to visit us next week,
but for gods sake, CHANGE YOUR PHOTOBOX ALBUM'S PRIVILEGES TO PUBLIC ACCESS

[Nick Fanis]

it is funny I have it in the shared mode but actually it doen't get shared!

I will rectify it immediately!

THERE SHE IS!!

[Freewheeler]

http://www.propellihattu.fi/tele1969/

Those late 60's / early 70's Teles are great, ain't they!!

The link shows my '69 refinned Tele and there are a lot similarities with your '72. My pots are also dated 1966. What's your serial number? Mine is 201882, which dates it back to '67 or early '68. No neck stamp on mine, but the neck specs are '69. And are you sure it's alder? Mine is definitely ash.

Your new Tele is so cool!

http://www.propellihattu.fi/tele1969/

[Nick Fanis]

wow almost a twin!what a fantastic guitar (and without a neck gap like mine!)
my serial nr is 335675 and the neck is stamped Feb 72 .
It is definitely alder.

[Freewheeler]

There's a gap in the neck pocket and the build quality is in general almost afwul! They (CBS Fender) really didn't pay too much attention to details 35 years ago... The fret dots aren't in straight line and the body contours are uneven (might be bad work from the refinisher too). Still it's the best SOUNDING Tele of my herd! Your pickguard doesn't seem to be an original one, mine neither. I put an Allparts parchment guard on on mine since I took those pics and it fits (with some filing) and looks great!

http://www.propellihattu.fi/parchment1.jpg

[Dacious]

Should be alder - all solid colour Teles from '58 were supposed to be. Oly White - Custom colour. Details look pretty right - switch is good, pots look a bit shiny so some codes might be in order.

Single string tree, concave rosewood cap. Looks good. A lot of the twang and harmonics are the 1 meg pots, coupled with the lower impedance of CBS pickups, should be mid-6ish kohm. May have been rewired, hard to say.

[Nick Fanis]

it is the original pickguard (it is broken at the lower edge & heat-glued)
I recieved the guitar with a non origial replacement but put the original back on

[Hafner]

Originally Posted by Freewheeler

http://www.propellihattu.fi/tele1969/

Those late 60's / early 70's Teles are great, ain't they!!

The link shows my '69 refinned Tele and there are a lot similarities with your '72. My pots are also dated 1966. What's your serial number? Mine is 201882, which dates it back to '67 or early '68. No neck stamp on mine, but the neck specs are '69. And are you sure it's alder? Mine is definitely ash.

Your new Tele is so cool!

http://www.propellihattu.fi/tele1969/

Duchossoir says on page 54, the extra routing open channel exists till summer 69, so the body must be autumn 69 or later. But indeed: superb guitars.

[Freewheeler]

Olympic white was a standard colour in the 60's and 70's.
I remember that most of the Teles and Strats I saw and played were cream coloured in mid 70's!

[Freewheeler]

Originally Posted by Hafner

Duchossoir says on page 54, the extra routing open channel exists till summer 69, so the body must be autumn 69 or later. But indeed: superb guitars.

The Paisley Teles didn't have that extra routing in 1968.

Give or take a year in late 60's Fender dating :-)

[Dacious]

Here's what Duchoissor says about Custom Colours:

Aside from the black tentatively offered on the 1950 Esquire, Blond(e) remained the sole standard finish between 1950 and 1974.

In 1961 Fender released it's first 'Custom Colour' chart featuring 14 finishes displayed in small compressed chips. The colours were......, Olympic White,........

These 14 colours ..... are available at 5% extra charge

Many people mistake Olympic White for Blackguard-style 'Blonde' as it yellows as per Nicks example. Post 1954, Blonde went to being called Blond and became even whiter, but still see-through. At the same time the pickguard went white.

If it is a solid coating, it is Olympic White on alder. If it is see-through (grain visible) it is Blonde, which is always ash.

The beigey-Tele in my avatar is a '78 I owned which was Blond - seethrough white (under the pickguard) which yellowed with prominent ash grain.

[Freewheeler]

...was originally blonde as it's ash. And then mistakely refinned in "aged yellowed" Oly white?

How come my '77 Strat had a non-see-thru cream coloured finish and we found a great looking grainy ash body underneath when it was refinished?

[Mike Rice]

Here's my '72 that I actually bought from Fuzzy! I took this pic after I put the new cream guard on it.

Originally Posted by Nick Fanis

LIGHT as a feather and with a nice medium-chunky round neck.
Strummed her acoustically and she came ALIVE.
Than I did THE big mistake.
I plugged her in my friend's Fender DR and I was floored by the spanky & twangy sound.
Very different from my other teles not so full and deep but very twangy & full of harmonics.

Everything you mention here is spot on with mine; the neck, twang and harmonics, the spank, everything except the weight. Mine's no lightweight!!

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine!

[Scotland]

What a beauty, well done with that deal !
Bet it's awsome through that Mk III !!

[lewis]

You did real good. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[Robert H.]

Looks pretty right to me. I have a Blond '72 with a maple neck. It has aged and is certainly darker than yours appears---which suggests yours is OW.
The trebly twang is large attributable to the 1 meg pots on the guitar. my screeched too much, so those have been replaced with 250 ohm pots. sounds like you like it just as it is. With the 250's, mine sounds like a classic Tele from late 50's and early 60's.
I agree that the pickguard looks to be a replacement---don't recall the sharp white color back then.
Love that RW neck you have.
Congrats.

[BB]

Originally Posted by Nick Fanis

Last night I went to the house of a good friend cause he told me that "he had something that I REALLY want to check out!".

Went to his house and right in the middle of the living room was THIS



my tele-loving heart stoped in its tracks as I took her in my arms.

LIGHT as a feather and with a nice medium-chunky round neck.
Strummed her acoustically and she came ALIVE.
Than I did THE big mistake.
I plugged her in my friend's Fender DR and I was floored by the spanky & twangy sound.
Very different from my other teles not so full and deep but very twangy & full of harmonics.

Unfortunatelly for me she was not only "vintage" & cool looking she also has the "touch" & most importantly the SOUND.

I had to have her!Even the "traditional" neck gap on the upper side of the neck pocket did not stop me!

Some trading (my beloved 1985 MIJ Thinline) & some considerable cash later & she is MINE !!

Now for some questions to our very own tele-bible FUZZY!

The color of the guitar is described as OLYMPIC WHITE.
Is this a custom color for this period?The guitar is definitely an ALDER one.

The ser.nr. of the pots dates them as 1966 ones.
Is this regular or are they replacements?

The "lip" on the upper side of the body is not so "high"
as other 70's teles I used to have (two 78 ones and one 74) is this regular?

Generally does everything check out as to the originality of the guitar or are there some replacement parts on it ?

here is a detailed photo album for your viewing pleasure

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/772212

Nice score Nick! The pots should be correct. My 71 has 1meg pots that date to 66 also. Per reading info, Fender employees just grabbed what parts they could and the 1megs were said to be left overs from amps, so they had to use the up!

My guitar is ash, but has the same sort of finish. Not sure of the color. If I take the P/G off, it's a creamy white, but the body has mellowed to a bannana pudding color. As you stated, mine is also very resonant unplugged. I played a 78, a 52RI, an 80's tele and a newer Ameican Standard lst night. All of them paled in the unplugged dept to the 71.

As you're finding, the pickups on these are very good. The neck pup on mine is as good a sounding pickup on a tele as I've heard. The bridge is pure skronk and strang. I'm sure the 1meg pots have much to do with the tone. I had replaced the whole control plate for one wired with 250K's and it certainly mellowed it down a bit. I put the original back on though and I'm very happy with the tone.

Can't comment on the lip thing as I'm just not sure. The neck on these babies though are killer. Comfy low action and a great profile. It would be interesting to if their is any difference in feel between the rosewood neck and maple neck.

Congrats on a great score. It's always sad to give up a guitar, ( your 85 thinline ) but certainly nice when you get something like that in return!

[0le FUZZY]

This page is now a dream come true fer me.

As with the BLACKGUARD book by Nacho and the TELE Bible most kwess-chuns have been ant-sired in a big way.

Erry body here seems tew noe a bunch and that waz my dream whence I got on the inner-mess.

It iss a thrill fer me tew read these posts by all the members of this forum and smile .

YES! yer body "Notch" (knott tew be cornfused with Nacho) iss kerrect.

It may knott be as deep as iss won:

It should match The seventy won showed here.

Jes a note fer all yew that haff emailed me over the past 9 years ---- I will be switching tew Pulsar inna morgan. It is a local broadband server Wireless high-speed connection.

I are gonna be able tew keep up with sum of yew now HEE! HEE!

My email will change after all these years (noe more 300 tew 400 junk wons) and my various pages here onna inner-mess will haff tew be tweaked tew reflect these changes sew they may be in limbo fer a few daze.

Nick! That issa beautiful TELECASTER. Take care of it and enjoy the sound I grew up with durin my early, busy stage daze.

Yew guys are great !!!!




Please visit my page

[Nick Fanis]

thanx Fuzzy!

& btw YOU are great!
All these years we have learned a LOT from you!

Lets hope that your new super dupper connection will let even more knowledge come through! :D

[slack]

Originally Posted by Dacious

Should be alder - all solid colour Teles from '58 were supposed to be. Oly White - Custom colour. Details look pretty right - switch is good, pots look a bit shiny so some codes might be in order.

Originally Posted by Freewheeler

How come my '77 Strat had a non-see-thru cream coloured finish and we found a great looking grainy ash body underneath when it was refinished?

Ash is common under solid colors in the 60s and 70s.

[div]

Cool tele, congratulations.

Very different from my other teles not so full and deep but very twangy & full of harmonics.

Nicely put, that exactly describes my 70's tele seen here versus my 52 RI seen in various compromising positions here.