70’s telecasters, the beter and the wrong years

[Love Tele]

If you look at 70's Telecasters. What are the best years generally speaking? Is that 1970-1975 the best and 1976-1979 the worse Telecasters.

 

[John C]

You can't specifiy - there are good ones and bad ones from every year. Generally when people talk about Fender's "good years and bad years" in the 1970s it's more for Strats - they had the most changes and the highest production numbers over the decade; Teles seemed to be more consistent over the decade.

That being said there were some changes to the "standard" Tele though during the decade - particularly the change to the body shape circa 1974-ish.

 

[dannyh]

You can't specifiy - there are good ones and bad ones from every year. Generally when people talk about Fender's "good years and bad years" in the 1970s it's more for Strats - they had the most changes and the highest production numbers over the decade; Teles seemed to be more consistent over the decade.

That being said there were some changes to the "standard" Tele though during the decade - particularly the change to the body shape circa 1974-ish.

I think this is spot on. There may have been more “lemons” priduced during the 70s, but you can still find some great 70s Fenders out there.

 

[Sparky2]

Funny this should come up.
I have done a careful, time-consuming study over the past few years, on this very topic.

I evaluated all the available reviews of Telecasters, archival, in print, and later online.
I'm talking of all time.

From 1951 until 2022, I compared the original MSRP asking-price of new ones to the year end sale prices to evaluate where there was devaluation or inflation due to either a perceived quality issue or a desirable feature of popular attraction.

I analyzed the validated sale prices of all Telecasters ever sold, used, on Craigslist, Reverb, and even the New York Times Classified Ads, contrasted the years of manufacture, and I crunched the numbers.

I studied the Telecasters owned by all the top Telecaster players known to own and play them. Steve Cropper, GE Smith, Don Rich, Albert Lee, Andy Summers, Jimmy Page, the Reverend Billy F. Gibbons, Jeff Buckley, Danny Gatton, Merle Haggard, Roy Buchanan, Jim Root, Buck Owens, Waylon Jennings, and Keith Richards. All of them. I dug to find out the vintage of all their favorite Teles.

The Excel spreadsheet that I devised ended up being 17 columns wide, and 763 rows deep.
The mathematical formulas and computations were more complex than those required to slingshot the Apollo 13 crew around the moon and bring them home safely.

It has been timed-consuming, exhausting work.
But I have just now, finally finished my work.

In the end, I have come to the undeniable conclusion that Fender Telecasters made on February 29th, 1982 were the very best ones ever made.

You can thank me later.
My brain cells are snapping and popping like bacon, and my keyboard fingers are swollen like so many sausages.
I'm tired.
I need a hot toddy and a long nap right now.

See you later.

Okay, technically, none of that is true.
I made it all up.
I'm waiting for some paint to dry, and thought I would craft something that would make me look like a big shot.

I'm gonna shut up now.

 

[adjason]

Not much help here but some late 70's ones can be heavy. As has been said there are good ones from every year

 

[INFANT]

I own a ‘75 standard Tele. I bought it new back then. It was my #1 for over 30 years and now it basically sits in its case because at 8.5 lbs, it’s heavy compared to my ‘72 Thinline RI and PRS SE hollow body. They weigh in around 6 lbs and after a 4 hr gig, I can feel it. However, that old Tele still sounds fantastic through my SFDR….i just gotta be sitting down to play it

 

[msalama]

In my limited experience, 70s Tele Customs tend to be better than the regulars regardless of when they were made, but some are REAL weighty towards the end of the decade still. At worst, we're talking about 12lbs plus!

 

[Minivan Megafun]

70's guitars were great when they were cheap and made great players after putting in the work to improve them. That was their entire appeal - they were CHEAP and readily available on the used market (and the reason a lot of 90's bands were playing them). Now that collector values are creeping in, there's not really much at all appealing about them anymore and revisionist history is starting to take hold.

Interview: Fender Visionary Dan Smith on How to Turn Around a Faltering Guitar Brand | Bacon's Archive

Smith was part of the team that took Fender back from the brink in the 1980s.

reverb.com

Dan Smith talks about how bad it was at Fender when he came on board in 81. Basically he went through the warehouse and pulled every guitar and inspected them. Only 15% of them actually met the pass metrics.

So yeah, maybe 1 in 8 or 1 in 10 were good guitars. I've seen some 70's Fenders with neck pockets so sloppy they could have been cut by a child. Or neck joint gaps so wide you could park a car in them. They forgot how to cut a Tele body shape by about 1975.

If you're looking for a good player, literally any MIM guitar of any year is going to be superior quality.

 

[msalama]

70's Fenders with neck pockets so sloppy

And yet, the pockets on my '74 Deluxe and two Customs, a '75 and a '76, are cut just as exactingly as on any pre-CBS axes I've ever seen. They're well made guitars all around with everything machined and cut to tight tolerances, so no complaints whatsoever here.

But yeah, CBS produced lots of dogs regardless, and I'm not saying otherwise. I just know how to choose my guitars, that's all

PS. Thanks for the link, that was a very interesting read.

 

[Dan German]

In the end, I have come to the undeniable conclusion that Fender Telecasters made on February 29th, 1982 were the very best ones ever made.



Okay, technically, none of that is true.
I made it all up.
I'm waiting for some paint to dry, and thought I would craft something that would make me look like a big shot.

I'm gonna shut up now.

I see what you did there…

 

[Dan R]

Good Telecasters from the 70's can be had but specific time periods may not be helpful. I have a 1975 model that I bought 21 years ago. It's a fine guitar and has served me very well. I've owned '83 top loader (bought new), '98 MIM, '82 52 RI. This one is "better" than any of those. I'd say the neck and pickups make the difference if I had to give the reasons. It weighs in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. Medium weight and very comfortable. I ran across some 9 and 10 pounders in my search all those years ago.

I'm not sure I'd pay big bucks for a 70's Tele today, but there are some nice ones out there. Yes, mine has a neck shim and the poly on the edge of the fretboard has chipped off a bit. That does not affect the sound or playability for me. Not perfect but I enjoy the guitar, and I think that's what counts.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Once CBS comes in, the supply chains of medium to light body wood start to become an issue. Relatively speaking, the later into the 70s one goes, the higher the probability that the guitar will be heavy. I'd just then offer the question: Do you think that workers at Fender would be as proud of an overly heavy Telecaster as they might have once been, to lighter ones? (and yes I remember some people deliberately seeking out heavy guitars back then - I just don't think the workers were impressed when they were asked to assemble guitars with bodies made out of Plutonium.)