Is this 73 Tele Authentic

Yeah, one of the "3" doesn't look like the others - although the pics aren't that great.

If it is '73 neck it should have the earlier 'F' type tuners, too. Hard to see from the pic.

 

The only thing I might question are the slotted screws holding the pickup to the bridge plate...

Here is the bridge on my '73/'74 with philips screws...



It just makes me wonder if that pickup is original.

 

Here are the issues as I see them
[In 1973 sunburst was a custom color and so the body would be alder this looks like ash
so is most likely a refinish.
pickguard should havs a small notch for access to truss rod so is not original.
[Neck markings are ok for the time (may have been touched in to make more readable)
Pickups, pots and switch all replaced as stated in the description.

 

Duhhhhh....I obviously should have read the description!

 

It does not look like a refin from the available pictures. I think the body and neck look original. It looks like a legit '73 with changed electronics.

 

It's probably a nice guitar... mostly due to the old wood and Duncan pickups. A Thousand Pounds seems a little pricey. For that you could buy a new one and replace the pickups and have money left over. The phrase "Pre-CBS" wasn't invented without due cause.

 

Looks like a disaster waiting to happening for £1,000+ buy something made before 1972 or a Custom Shop model.

I wouldn't give anything as mess around with as that guitar a second look.

 

Sellers sounds reasonable.

 

Looks correct to me.

 

I'm not questioning any of the pros, and I'm certainly not one, but is it just the pictures or does that 'burst not actually have black around the outer edges? It looks like a very dark red with maybe some black mixed in.

The finish looks old based on the dents and dings, and I know that the sunburst Fenders back then are still supposed to be nitro so maybe the finishes varied and aged differently, but my '73 is completely black on the outer edges.

 

I thought Fender only used nitro up to 1968, switching over to polyester then, and changing over to polyurethane in late 1981?

At least this is what Duchossoir says.

 

That was what I thought, too, but when I bought my Telecaster Custom (in the picture above) and made comments about how much it had faded I was informed by others on this forum that nitro was still used on sunburst finishes only until the middle '70s. What I have been led to believe is that all the finish options were polyester from circa '68 except for the sunburst.

I wasn't making any poly/nitro statement or argument because I didn't know (or care) that my '73 was nitro. I was just trying to point out that the guitar in the auction didn't look like it went fully to black around the edges like mine from the same year does, and didn't know if that could be from fading or if it was an old refin.

The quality of the finish in that auction looks like it could be factory and maybe it's just the pictures that make the edges look deep purple instead of black. The wood seems to have a lot more figure than mine. I don't have the knowledge to argue whether the finish is original or a respray...I was just posting a picture of another '73 for comparison.

 

There probably are a lot more guitars from the '70s with quality issues, but that doesn't mean they are all bad and that there aren't some stellar ones out there. The '73 I pictured is the best Tele I have ever played (for me), along with a GE Smith that I had purchased a couple of years ago. I would recommend playing a '70s Fender or Gibson first if possible, but I think that this is the best course for any guitar regardless of when it was made.

You also have to believe that not every guitar made pre-CBS was perfect and that they just scrapped any guitar with inconsistencies. Just look at the string thru ferrule placement on some of the '50s guitars and tell me that this would be acceptable today at a comparable dollar value, even if it played and sounded great.

The cost is based on how the market conceives their collectability and value being as they are no longer made. Is a Broadcaster worth $50,000 or a '58 Les Paul burst worth $200,000 based on their quality alone compared to any other era of the same model?

 

I have a 73 custom and I love it, the electronics in this have been change for sure but, the neck, body and hardware look on date, 1000 seems about right to me. just my 2 cents..