Vintage Tele

[swoon]

Hi,

Just something I wanted to share

My neighbour rang at my door yesterday and he says he heard our band play a few times. (We are currently recording in my home studio.)

He told me he used to play earlier and still does sometimes... So, he asks me if I wanted to check out his guitars and play a little something. Fine with me I said...

So, he comes over and he has a guitar case with him.
He says he probably doesn't play that well anymore and opens up his guitar case.

He seemed to have brought a pale-yellow Telecaster.
I instantly notice that there is a tremolo on it.

I was quite surprised I must say. So I take a closer look...

Seems that the Tele was manufactured with the tremolo originaly. No holes in the body to put strings through... I check the serial number on it and it appeared to be a '68 Tele.

Man, I thought the guitar looked sweet, but then I tried it...

It played very smooth, had a very nice tone. Must have been one of the best things I ever played.

He said he bought it in the early seventies, and actually never plays it anymore. Now, of course, he asks me what an estimate value would be for it... Just to know what he's holding

The guitar is in a very nice condition (appart from some scratches and bruises )

Any one here that can help me on that?

So, 68' Tele, Bigsby like tremolo, Pale-Yellow...

*edit: ooh ooh... I found a picture:
http://www.mae-music.com/143--1968-cream-tele.jpg

Thx,

Swoon

 

[trebles]

ask him to contact me hq72@hotmail.com if he requires any assistance with his guitar

 

[swoon]

Will do, Thanks trebles.

However, he lives in Belgium.

 

[philboyd studge]

I'm pretty sure you could order one with a Bigsby then.

Does the owner want to sell?

If that's a photo of it it's worth a lot. Pre CBS of course is worth much more, still, I'd pay $2000 and he'd likely get more on ebay.

 

[foo]

Okay, let's start at the beginning:

The photo isn't really clear enough to do this, but:

The logo appears to be the 'CBS Logo' which is black with gold trim and introduced in late 67 - it has Telecasterwritten big and two patent numbers under 'Fender'

The dot inlays appear to be pearl and are consistent with the 12th fret spacing for post 1965

The tuners shoudl have the Fender 'F' on them - could still be Kluson's but unlikely

The neck plate will have 4 bolts, the Fender F and a serial number from 216,000 or so to about 222,000

The colour appears to be Blond, but may be Firemist Gold (does it look metallic?) or could be very faded Olympic White, but it's very unlikely as it's too even.
It's worth noting that many guitars shipped out of the US were refinished at their destination - chekc under the pickgurad for different colour traces. Also you may see pencil marks such as CAR for Candy Apple Red, SB for Sonic Blue, etc.

The Bigsby was available as a factory option from 1967 - it should have the Fender 'F' on it, too.

If you can take the neck off (it's easy, make sure you loosen the strings) you can see a neck date, e.g. 3 Mar 68 C
3 means Telecaster (duh!) Mar 68 means MArch 68 and the C refers to the neck width (A being very narrow to D being very wide) IT's most likely to be a B or a C

and while you're there, there may be a date pencilled on the bottom of the bridge pickup.

Price - If it's all original and undamaged - it's a guess as I haven't been doing any trading for years, but I'd guess about $3,000 if it's Blond and $7,000+ if it's Firemist - Firemist is a VERY rare colour.

Hope this helps - if you still have doubts, post them here adn I'll ask you for more info.

In the meanwhile -cool!

foo

 

[swoon]

Wow.. thanks. Nice reply

I'll check it out when I see him again. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thx,

Swoon

 

[Middleman]

Those look like jumbo frets. Not sure they were available back then. Could be refretted which might take the value down a bit. I don't know for sure.

Foo, what's your thought on those?

 

[Middleman]

Also looks like those string bridges are seperate, not the combined versions usually found on older models. Probably not the original bridge either.

 

[foo]

Hey Middleman, your eyesight is better than mine!

The individual saddles didn't come along until the 70's, so . . .

I can't tell with the frets in the picture - they should be standard Fender frets which are generally thinner than Gibson's.

If it is refretted, it doesn't impact the value that much as the guitar is not Mint or close to it - it's a very high quality player - as long as the refret was done well.

Replaced saddles are a bigger deal - but originals can be found. Same if the whole bridge assembly has been replaced - if that's the case, I would take a careful look at the Bigsby - that may have come as part of the replacement package.

The real story here is it's a great old guitar - not from the 'Golden Era' but pretty damn close - so enjoy it's mojo!

If I had it in my hands I could tell you fer sure, so please send a Round Trip first class ticket to me in San Diego and I'll be happy to attend Home Rec Euro Fest and identify this guitar !



foo

 

[Middleman]

Actually, my eyesite is terrible but I brought the picture into Photoshop and blew it up so I could see better.

 

[swoon]

Guys, mind that this is not the original guitar. It's a pic I found on the web.

His bridge is a bit different. It has a little brace over the strings.
(Like you see on Rick's)

I didn't notice this at first.

I might let my neighbour make a pic. Then I'll post it here.

 

[foo]

So - the old 'bait 'n'switch' move huh?



Get us vintage junkies all hot and bothered and then tell us it's not the guitar.

No problem - get a picture and post it and we'll try and do our best.

foo