Here's a great one: 1972 Fender Telecaster Bigsby model. This guitar has the rare Rosewood fingerboard-and it is a large-grain Brazilian Rosewood to be specific. The guitar was made at the original Fender factory in Fullerton California, U.S.A. and has excellent provenance throughout, including 4 different Fender factory employees' inspection stamps. The guitar is 100% original down to every last screw. It is set up and needs nothing-it is ready to play. Let's go...
The body is the standard Telecaster 'slab-style' and it is an Ash wood with high grain contrast. The Blonde finish is translucent and it has toned to a beautiful vanilla hue. The wood grain is still visible through the Blonde. The finish is in good shape with typical wear. There is some slight arm wear in the finish and there is a spot on the side-near the neck slot where a strap has worn away some finish. It has the Mojo for sure and a real nice vintage vibe all over. The strap pins were both moved maybe an 1/8th of an inch at some point. It is not very noticeable as the strap buttons overlap the area-see photos.
The neck joint is solid and a good fitment. The neck plate has a name and social security number engraved in it. I think the name is "Bonnie". The neck itself is smooth and straight as an arrow. The truss rod functions smoothly. The neck somewhat of cross between a 50's U and a 60's C profile. It measures .907" deep at the 1st fret and .999 deep at the 12th fret. The nut is the standard "B" measuring 1.61" wide. The neck stamp indicates a March 1972 production. The F keys work smoothly and look great. The headstock and logo display excellent, with some really nice transverse line checking and a slightly orange tone in the lacquer that really screams "vintage". The Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard is very rare on these models and this one is highly figured and has a nice contrasting color in spots. It is clean and has a nice, soft feel. The frets have an excellent height and have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished appearing near new condition-see photos. The action is set low for an easy playing experience. The bridge is fully adjustable and the neck angle is excellent so you can raise the action if you prefer a higher-string height. Currently the string height is .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays great up and down the fingerboard with no dead spots.
The tone is classic Tele twang & spank. The pickups have an excellent balanced signal. The neck pickup measures 6.37 ohms and the bridge pickup measures 6.02 ohms. Tons of treble even with the rosewood fingerboard-actually maybe even more than a most telecaster with a maple fingerboard from this era-I'm guessing it's just a fuller range of tone. Whatever it is, it's classic Fender Telecaster and sounds great.
The wiring harness is all very clean and in excellent condition. The potentiometers date to 1965 and 1966-which is common for bigsby model tele's. I have another one currently that is also a 1972 but has a maple fingerboard, and it also has 65 & 66 potentiometers. The solder joints are all original. The controls all function as they should. The Bigsby vibrato functions smoothly.
The guitar weighs 9.44 lbs. The original Fender hardshell case is included of course.
