U.S. 52 vintage telecaster

[palmerfralick]

I looked up the serial number on Fender's website and it says my 1997 is a U.S 52 Vintage Telecaster. I guess this is technically version 2 as the brief Fullerton years would be version 1. They went to version 3 with the American Vintage 52 Reissue in late 1998. What I would like to know is what are the magnet specs for the pickups? They have push back wire and both are right at 7.5. I have had quite a few different Tele pickups over the years but these are to me the best sounding that I have tried. Alnico 3? 2?

 

[John C]

Sorry I can't help you about the pickups, but yes the name "U.S. 52 Vintage Telecaster" would be correct; that name was used from circa 1987 through the end of 1997. Prior to that the name was just "52 Vintage Telecaster" (sometimes also written as "Vintage 52 Telecaster). I think that your version would still be considered to be the first generation - it was a continuation of the model originally produced in Fullerton from 1982-1984; there was assembly of parts produced in 1984 in early 1985, but no part production from say the end of 1984 until circa October 1985, after the move to Corona.

For what it's worth Fender did apply the name "American Vintage" to your generation model in the first half of 1998; the revised 2nd generation (or 3rd if you do want to count the Fullerton builds as a different generation from the 1985-early 1998 Corona builds) came out circa July 1998.

 

[wineocaster]

I looked up the serial number on Fender's website and it says my 1997 is a U.S 52 Vintage Telecaster. I guess this is technically version 2 as the brief Fullerton years would be version 1. They went to version 3 with the American Vintage 52 Reissue in late 1998. What I would like to know is what are the magnet specs for the pickups? They have push back wire and both are right at 7.5. I have had quite a few different Tele pickups over the years but these are to me the best sounding that I have tried. Alnico 3? 2?

I’m pretty sure Fender has been using the Original Vintage Tele pickups in the 52 reissues, AO or AV series all along. At least going back to the late 90s. They are Alnico 3.

 

[Mr Ridesglide]

Mine is 1996 - pickups are phenomenal. Great guitar really.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Yeah, they're Alnico 3s. An Alnico 2 pickup would be really mellow; you tend to know pretty fast if something has an A2 and not an A3 pickup of this sort.