Joined the Vintage Club! - 66 Tele

Love that natural wear on the neck. Makes the relic stuff look really over the top and ridiculous by comparison.

Beautiful old guitar. Enjoy!

 

cool looking guitar!

 

Here's my old workhorse. Early 70s. Love this guitar! It's just like an old friend.

 

I had one of these in high school...my first band. It had a slightly lighter blue "Duco" color. It was purchased new at Durloff's Music in downtown Louisville, (which probably got its windows broken last night if it's still there). It was on sale and I think the price was well under $300 with hard case.

These Duco Teles were painted with automotive body paint. It was a surf guitar influence. I wanted a Gibson 335, but they were too expensive at the time....about $375 if I remember correctly.

That was my first real guitar. Before that, Silvertones.

 

I would plan for a refret, level and polish. Maybe find a guy with a PLEK machine. I like The Music Gallery in Highland Park, IL. They've done a couple of mine.

Most good luthiers who do this by hand have massive wait-lists. The PLEK machine really makes the job quicker and does a better job than 90% of the luthiers around these days.

Congrats on a very interesting guitar. I think that pickup makes it better...and allowed you to buy it right. Bravo!

 

Congratulations and salutations.
I'm a neck mini HB fan, personally, and I assume that one is a good match for the bridge, or you might not like it so much.
Great looking neck; refin don't matter if it didn't kill the tone.
Play her to pieces.

 

Very nice...I would only wonder about it’s value if it was for sale. The value of modified Fender guitars are so erratic, but you likely know that.

 

Very cool guitar! Love the color!

 

You could try taking a look in the neck pocket, pickup cavities, or control cavities and see if you can see the wood underneath. If it is ash, than it was almost certainly blonde, if it is alder, it was either sunburst or a custom color.

 

Duco was DuPont's brand name for nitrocellulose lacquer, they invented it all the way back in the late 20's. Funnily enough, not all Fender custom colors were Duco! Olympic White, and all the metallics except Sherwood Green, were in fact DuPont Lucite acrylic lacquer, which was introduced in the mid 50's. The metallics were always clear coated, but as for solid colors, it depended on factors such as how on schedule Fender was on orders, how much lacquer they had in stock, etc etc. This is why some custom color guitars look like they've gotten darker or more yellow with time, and others either have not or have even faded to a lighter shade with age, it's because some of them have a clear coat, and some don't, and that clear coat yellows. You can spray nitro over acrylic but not vise versa, I have no idea what the chemistry is behind that, but this is what I've learned from old timer automotive refinishers over the course of my research on vintage guitar finishes. DuPont discontinued Duco sometime in the late 60's or early 70's, Lucite in the early 2000's. Was your blue telecaster a metallic or solid color?