NGD: FCS ‘70s Custom CuNiFe Journeyman Telecaster w/Bigsby

[Double Stop]

I’ve been itching for a Tele with a Bigsby. I’ve been hankering for a Tele with a CuNiFe Wide Range Humbucker. I’ve been yearning for a black Tele. I’ve been jonesin’ for a Tele with a rosewood fingerboard (because all of my other Teles have maple!).

Q: So, what’s a fella to do?
A: Go all in and bring home an FCS ‘70s Journeyman Custom of course!


I really dig how guitars by virtue of looks alone inspires us to play in a particular style. Telecasters in general can do it all but with my other Teles, I generally lean towards Country/Blues/R&B/Funk. This one however, screams “ROCK!” It’s a fighter, not a lover. It has an badass attitude. If Brando as Johnny in “The Wild One” morphed into a guitar, he would look like this. This thing is dangerous. A rebel.

• Journeyman Relic Black Finish
• 2-Piece Select Ash Body
• Tinted 2A Flame Quartersawn Maple Neck with Round-Lam Rosewood Fingerboard
• ‘60s Style Oval "C" Back-Shape
• Neck Depth: 1st 850”- 12th 920”
• 9.5" Radius
• Jescar 47095 Frets (0.047” H, 0.095” W)
• Wide-Range CuNiFe Humbucker (Neck) and Hand-Wound "OBG" Original Blackguard Tele (Bridge) Pickups
• Dual 250k/500k Volume & Tone Controls
• 3-Way Toggle Switch
• 3-Ply Black Pickguard
• B-5 Bigsby® Tailpiece and Bridge
• Schaller "F" Tuning Machines
• Bone Nut
• Wing String Tree with Nylon Spacer

 

[Fretting out]

Woe! Like a weird transition model that never existed

Neat!

I personally prefer a rosewood board tele

 

[adjason]

that thing means business

 

[BobbyMac]

That's a very cool guitar. And I am glad to see that the relic work is very minimal, mostly to the aged hardware. I see very few chips or gouges in the finish. Looks more like a closet classic to me, and that's a good thing!

Sweet!

 

[SparkleFart]

Now that is wicked cool—congratulations!!

 

[Double Stop]

That's a very cool guitar. And I am glad to see that the relic work is very minimal, mostly to the aged hardware. I see very few chips or gouges in the finish. Looks more like a closet classic to me, and that's a good thing!

Sweet!

Thank you! I’ve been wanting to get a Tele with a Bigsby for quite some time now and on a ‘70s Custom in particular. This is my 7th Custom Shop to date and all of my others are either “Closet Classics” or “Journeyman” finishes. Another icing on the cake for me on this guitar are the 47095 fret wire which are the same height as “Medium Jumbo” but a bit narrower width. These happen to be my favorite size frets but they tend to be the least popular on custom shops.

 

[Groberts]

That is insanely great looking!!!! Congrats on a prize specimen!!

 

[Double Stop]

Woe! Like a weird transition model that never existed

Neat!

I personally prefer a rosewood board tele

Yeah, I could've gone either way on this. I think a maple neck would've looked really good on this as well, but the few others I've seen of this model with a maple neck always had 6105 Narrow Tall frets on them, which are basically a deal breaker for me. I personally can't jive with that particular size fret.

This is my first Bigsby equipped Tele and it feels a bit more "slinky" to play than my others with the traditional 3 barrel ashtray bridge. I'm guessing that must be attributed to the different string tension from the Bigsby. I'm really digging it!

 

[johmica]

That, my friend, is a work of art.

 

[Killing Floor]

Holy cow that's amazing! Play the paint off it.

 

[MelvonBerum]

I’ve been itching for a Tele with a Bigsby. I’ve been hankering for a Tele with a CuNiFe Wide Range Humbucker. I’ve been yearning for a black Tele. I’ve been jonesin’ for a Tele with a rosewood fingerboard (because all of my other Teles have maple!).

Q: So, what’s a fella to do?
A: Go all in and bring home an FCS ‘70s Journeyman Custom of course!


I really dig how guitars by virtue of looks alone inspires us to play in a particular style. Telecasters in general can do it all but with my other Teles, I generally lean towards Country/Blues/R&B/Funk. This one however, screams “ROCK!” It’s a fighter, not a lover. It has an badass attitude. If Brando as Johnny in “The Wild One” morphed into a guitar, he would look like this. This thing is dangerous. A rebel.

• Journeyman Relic Black Finish
• 2-Piece Select Ash Body
• Tinted 2A Flame Quartersawn Maple Neck with Round-Lam Rosewood Fingerboard
• ‘60s Style Oval "C" Back-Shape
• Neck Depth: 1st 850”- 12th 920”
• 9.5" Radius
• Jescar 47095 Frets (0.047” H, 0.095” W)
• Wide-Range CuNiFe Humbucker (Neck) and Hand-Wound "OBG" Original Blackguard Tele (Bridge) Pickups
• Dual 250k/500k Volume & Tone Controls
• 3-Way Toggle Switch
• 3-Ply Black Pickguard
• B-5 Bigsby® Tailpiece and Bridge
• Schaller "F" Tuning Machines
• Bone Nut
• Wing String Tree with Nylon Spacer

View attachment 990100 View attachment 990101 View attachment 990102 View attachment 990103 View attachment 990104 View attachment 990108 View attachment 990109 View attachment 990110 View attachment 990111 View attachment 990112

That is a piece of art. Love the finish and machinery. Enjoy!!!

 

[losrogers]

Love it.
Also, nice photography.

 

[gwjensen]

Wow! That's one serious looking ax! Congrats!

 

[Boreas]

Beauty!! Love F-logo Bigsbys.

How are the tuners? I find actual vintage tuners from that period tend to be sorta stiff.

 

[Fendereedo]

That is a thing of sheer beauty OP. Congratulations.

 

[Dostradamas]

 

[Old Plank]

Great looking end to end, Congrats!

 

[Double Stop]

Love it.
Also, nice photography.

Thank you! It was pretty tricky trying to capture some good photos of this without having some other bright-colored object reflecting onto the black finish. I took a few which had SpongeBob Squarepants' reflection on it coming off the TV in the living room!

 

[Double Stop]

That is a thing of sheer beauty OP. Congratulations.

Thank you, Sir! Yeah, it's almost as much fun looking at it as it is playing it!

 

[Double Stop]

Beauty!! Love F-logo Bigsbys.

How are the tuners? I find actual vintage tuners from that period tend to be sorta stiff.

I believe these "F" Logo tuners are 14:1 ratio and the Fender Vintage standards which I have on all my other ones are 15:1 (?), so not a huge difference. I've read mixed reviews about these "F" Logo ones in the past, but they seem perfectly fine to me. They get where you need to go fairly quickly and hold tune well. I suppose if one were to compare them to modern tuners with higher ratios then they might be considered "stiff". They do the job though!

I'm still stretching out the strings and getting acclimated to it. Exploring the feel of the Bigsby and testing the overall tuning stability when using it. Seeing what I can get away with without it going completely out of whack.

The Tech did a marvelous set up before it shipped though. Really impressive. Pretty much as I like it action wise. I just had to raise the high E a hair and was off and running. No annoying "Pings" from the nut (I hate that. It's the first thing I check for with any new guitar). One funny detail: I noticed that the neck backplate was on upside down and thought, "That's weird, never saw that before!" So I contacted the shop and it turns out that when he did a slight truss rod adjustment, he accidentally screwed it back on upside down. I figured that's probably what happened anyway

I've been checking out some Tele/Bigsby related YouTube videos for set up tips and this one here by Jay Leonard J is really good. If you care to share any Bigsby wisdom, please feel free!