My '62 Custom Telecaster Reissue

[Phil O'Keefe]

[Phil O'Keefe]

I have the same guitar that I purchased back in the day.

 

 

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Very nice! That looks like an original MIJ from the mid or late 1980s. The wood looks relatively low-grain - it's probably basswood. How does it sound?

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Phil' date=' the only thing missing on that Tele is my hands .[/quote']

 

 

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Thanks mang!

[Mikeo]

 

Very nice! That looks like an original MIJ from the mid or late 1980s. The wood looks relatively low-grain - it's probably basswood. How does it sound?

 

I think I bought it in 1985.

 

 

Sounds classic tele.

 

[harrycox1]

Beautiful. The double body binding is extra fancy. Now I'm jonesing for a Tele with a rosewood board.

 

As requested. I think a black tele with white pickguard and rosewood board would look good in this picture. The tele is much newer than the strat so it hasn't yellowed as much. Since it is a Mexican with a poly finish I don't think it ever will. [img2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.harrycox.net\/pp\/fenders.jpg"}[/img2]

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

As requested. I think a black tele with white pickguard and rosewood board would look good in this picture. The tele is much newer than the strat so it hasn't yellowed as much. Since it is a Mexican with a poly finish I don't think it ever will. [img2=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","src":"http:\/\/www.harrycox.net\/pp\/fenders.jpg"}[/img2]

 

Give it time - you might be surprised by how much some poly finishes yellow and age.

 

Very nice collection - thanks for the pic. And FWIW, I agree - a black Tele with a rosewood board and white pickguard would look right at home there.

 

[t_e_l_e]

 

 

I had an original Tele Thinline back in the day, and I really like the sound of WRHB's, but I don't care for the "reproductions" that Fender has used in various reissues over the years - visually they look similar, but internally they're significantly different. In your shoes, I'd look for a good replacement that actually captures the sound of the original CuNiFe-based pups, or would look for a vintage original pup to put into it. IMO, it will make all the difference in the world in how it sounds...

 

Thanks for the comments about my Tele, t_e_l_e!

 

i guess my problem is, that i have more guitars than i can play, and the tele is the least one played.

the humbucker at the neck sounds too fat and bass heavy, so in band setting it does not fit into the mix well, and the single coil at bridge has to less bite for my taste. the body feels too thin and too light and the shape looks geeat but....

 

i guess i'm a strat guy who also loves es335 and les pauls, but not tele's and sg's....

 

for me a sg to a les paul feels the same as a tele to a strat

[Phil O'Keefe]

 

i guess my problem is, that i have more guitars than i can play, and the tele is the least one played.

the humbucker at the neck sounds too fat and bass heavy,

 

That's a very common complaint about the "reissue" (sic) pickups. The original Seth Lover designed WRHB's sound completely different - with a much clearer and brighter, more "Fenderesque" sound.

 

so in band setting it does not fit into the mix well, and the single coil at bridge has to less bite for my taste. the body feels too thin and too light and the shape looks geeat but....

 

That was one of the things I originally decided was an issue with the '85 MIJ CAR '62 RI - it was very light - especially compared to the '70s era Teles I had been using prior to getting it. All those (fairly heavy) ash and alder-bodied '70s Teles that I used to have sounded pretty good to me.

 

I've played other light bodied guitars since then that sounded fantastic, so I've got mixed thoughts on the subject of weight vs tone.

 

It sounds like you might want a different bridge pickup too... or maybe it's just the wood. Like I said, I've played other light guitars, and I've played other basswood guitars that sounded fine (including some that were pretty lightweight), where that original MIJ basswood body just didn't - since I replaced everything else, the only thing I can think of that made that guitar sound bad was just a particularly bad piece of wood. If that's the case with your guitar too, then IMO nothing is going to make a huge improvement... but then again, a lot of times, the problem IS the electronics and not the wood, and in those cases, a good pickup swap can make a world of difference. It just depends on the guitar, and on what pickups it has in it. IMO, even though a pickup swap doesn't always work, it's worth trying that before giving up on a guitar / body.

 

Speaking of weight, the MIM CAR red Tele body I was using previously is five pounds four ounces, while the bound CIJ body is five pounds one ounce. I lost three ounces, which is nice... I haven't weighed it yet, but I'd guesstimate the '62 RI Custom Tele in the OP has an overall weight (assuming the typical figures of just under one pound for neck weight and about a pound and a half for electronics and hardware) somewhere around seven and a half pounds, give or take an ounce.

 

i guess i'm a strat guy who also loves es335 and les pauls, but not tele's and sg's....

 

Oh, I'm equal opportunity - I love all of the above!

 

for me a sg to a les paul feels the same as a tele to a strat

 

That's an interesting way to look at it.

 

Do you view Teles as being typically thinner and lighter than Strats? Or is it a tonal thing for you? To me, a Les Paul (which is obviously a thicker-bodied guitar) usually has a bit more tonal complexity, with a bit more brightness than a SG does; the typical SG seems much more midrange-focused. Not that either is better or worse - they're just different, and both are useful IMO. There's some sonic differences between a Strat and a Tele too of course. The physical differences are also very real - while they're the same thickness, the Strat with its contours vs the hard side edges of a Tele definitely gives them a different feel when you strap them on.... but all of the ones I've seen generally run in the same weight ranges, while most (unchambered) Les Pauls tend to weigh more than the typical SG.

[t_e_l_e]

^about my tele, its a nice guitar and i do not want to change anything of it per se, but of my 8 electrics it is the one which gets least play time and so to speak is my personal least favorite guitar i own.

 

and sg vs lp and tele vs strat:

maybe its just to me personal, and while historical not the same (cause lp predates sg while tele predates strat), to me the sg or tele seem to be the more simpler modell, slimmer body, less contours, less bling, "a student modell"

if i do a real unqualified comment, a sg feels just like a board with two pickups while a les paul is a les paul, a man's gutar...

 

don't get me wrong sg's and tele's are very great guitars and they are their own segment of tone, feel and have their players, its great that they exist, i would not want to miss them

 

but personally i prefer les paul over sg and strat over tele, and this maybe for some strange imaginary reasons running around only in my head

[Phil O'Keefe]

I certainly agree that a Tele and an SG are "simpler" designs than a Strat and a Les Paul...

[Malcolm Ramone]

Nice! I'd be partial to a CAR version, with Fender amp knobs, ala Muddy!

[Jazzer2020]

Very nice-looking guitar Phil!

I'm almost gassing for one now.

 

Just a few of questions.

What was the thinking behind the tele design (ash-tray for back pickup and tail piece)?

Why would Fender stoop so low as to have this guitar made in Japan?

 

I mean Japan's a nice country and all. But shouldn't these guitars be made in America?

Where's the pride?

 

[Phil O'Keefe]

Very nice-looking guitar Phil!

 

Thanks!

 

Just a few of questions.

What was the thinking behind the tele design (ash-tray for back pickup and tail piece)?

 

The original ashtray was designed to cover the pickup and reduce EMI / RFI. Fender had been building amps and Hawaiian "steel" guitars for a few years prior to the development of the electro-Spanish Telecaster, and the Tele bridge design was a development of what they had previously used. The problem is, the ashtray (and to a lesser extent, the sides of the bridge tray that the ashtray cover attaches to) gets in the way of the player's hand and prevents them from doing things like damping the strings with the heel of the picking hand, so most players take the ashtray off and leave it off, and some replace the standard bridge tray with one that has no "sides." You can't use an ashtray with a replacement bridge like that, but again, most people don't use them anyway, and it's one less thing to get in the player's way.

 

Why would Fender stoop so low as to have this guitar made in Japan?

 

Well, there's quite a bit of history behind that, but the short version is that when CBS sold Fender to a group of investors / Fender management in 1984, the Fullerton factory wasn't part of the deal - so the new owners had to source their guitars from somewhere while they built a new US-based factory a few miles away in Corona. Since Fender Japan had been making very good Fender-Authorized Squier versions of the Strat and Tele (along with the P-Bass and J-Bass) in Japan since the early 1980's (done as a way to counter the many unauthorized low-cost Asian-built copies that were being sold by other companies at the time), they were the natural choice for Fender to source instruments from until US production could continue.

 

Even today, many of those 80's era MIJ guitars are very well regarded by players, and even collectors.

 

Fender Japan has a great reputation for getting the details right in terms of their reproductions. They're also well known for the build quality of the instruments they make. In fact, the only things that they tend to be criticized about fairly regularly is the quality of the pickups and electronic parts - some models (but by no means all) are generally thought to have poor sounding pickups compared to American guitars. They also mainly use poly finishes in Japan, whereas many American built guitars (especially the vintage models) had nitrocellulose lacquer finishes.

 

I mean Japan's a nice country and all. But shouldn't these guitars be made in America?

Where's the pride?

 

While there are some Japanese built Fenders that have been made available in the USA through conventional retail channels in recent years, most MIJ guitars are sold outside of the USA, and are intended for the domestic Japanese market. Most of the lower-priced models that Fender / Squier sell in the USA today are either made in Mexico, China or Indonesia.

 

Custom Telecasters are still made in America too. Fender has offered a few different runs of '62 Custom Telecaster reissues, from standard and special run USA models to custom shop recreations. The current American Original Series (which replaced the Vintage Reissue series) '60s Telecaster is essentially a modern-day reissue of an early '60s double bound Custom Telecaster.

 

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electr...0.html#start=1

 

[Jazzer2020]

 

While there are some Japanese built Fenders that have been made available in the USA through conventional retail channels in recent years, most MIJ guitars are sold outside of the USA, and are intended for the domestic Japanese market. Most of the lower-priced models that Fender / Squier sell in the USA today are either made in Mexico, China or Indonesia.

 

 

Thanks for all the info Phil!

Well one fine-looking Japanese tele seems to have made its way into your hands.

 

BTW, I have a 80's MIJ Squier Strat. No complaints about quality there.