The Fender Telecaster Custom model was first introduced in late 1959. It had always been a fancy version of the Telecaster featuring a 3-color Sunburst finish, Rosewood fingerboard and double-bound body. In late 1972, the Telecaster Custom model became the first Telecaster offered from the Fender factory with a humbucker pickup in the neck position along with the normal single-coil bridge pickup. That was not apparently not enough humbucker for the previous owner of this very early 1973 unit. This guitar has a very early and very cool set of Dimarzio PAF's in both positions, because sometimes; ya just gotta humbucker out, bro. This vintage Telecaster Custom was produced in 1972 and completed in very early 1973 at the original Fender factory in Fullerton, California U.S.A. The finish is original and it is an early 2-tone Walnut stain that features a nice warm translucent front and backside which is nicely set off by the much darker and more opaque sides. The other than the Pickup additions, the guitar presents mostly original looking with a cool vintage vibe. It has been professionally set up and it is ready to go-it needs nothing.
The body is the familiar Telecaster silhouette with the "slab" sides and single cutaway. It is an Alder wood with nice subtle grain. There is light handling evidence here and there nothing out of the ordinary-see photos. The finish has a nice soft vintage gloss to it. The original template hole witness plugs are easily visible on the backside-exactly where they should be on a Telecaster Custom (diagonal like Stratocasters). Underneath the pickguard, The original routes verify the originality of the finish. The body has been routed in front of the bridge and near the switch cavity for the pickup and the added mini-switch. The neck slot provides us a perfect factory paint stick shadow along with no less than three Fender factory employee ink stamps: "Gabe" "Murillo" and "Mike E." The neck slot is a good fitment with perfect neck angle.
The neck itself is straight as an arrow and super-smooth. It is the standard width (1 5/8") and measures 1.60" wide at the nut. The neck has a real nice Vintage medium-C shape with the standard 7.25" radius. The backside near the heel has the Fender employee ink inspection stamp "J. Torres"-a very well-known and common stamp. The end too the neck is stamped 07 (Telecaster Custom) 01 (maple fingerboard) 16 (week of year-late March) 2 (1972 year) 3 (day of work week-Wednesday)... The F-keys are either NOS replacements or the originals have been perfectly preserved-I removed them just to be sure that there was zero evidence of other tuners' impressions or mounting holes and there are none...these are, in fact, the only type of tuners ever installed on this neck for sure. They fit perfectly and have a nice clean look. The tuners turn very smoothly and the guitar stays in tune perfectly. The headstock and logo both display excellent-see photos. The double string tree stands guard over the original Black CBS style logo. The bullet truss rod functions and this guitar does have a nicely functioning original adjustable tilt neck for easy adjustments to the neck angle. The fingerboard is clean and bright. The frets have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished and appear very nice-see photos. The action is set low for a ridiculously easy playing experience. The string height measures .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays with the softest touch and feels like butter up and down the fingerboard. There are no dead spots whatsoever. Noticeably, the guitar feels nice and resonant even when strumming not pugged in to an amp-that's probably due to the strings though body design.
The pickups sound very warm with a superior dynamic response. They are the early version (square tabs) Dimarzio PAF units with cream bobbins. The tone is very similar to the original Gibson 1950's PAF: a lower output that has more defined range with warm lows, smooth mids and singing highs without any 'ice pick' or harsh characteristics. They have a very vocal tone that is highly sought after. They both have na excellent signal and balance perfectly. The bridge measures 7.18 ohms and the neck position measures 7.33 ohms. The original 3-way toggle switch selects between neck pickup, both pickups and bridge pickup. The red mini-switch is a coil-split option for the neck position. The controls are volume and tone for each pickup. The harness is in good condition and the controls function smoothly and quietly. The original potentiometers are all 1-meg units; 2-CTS and 2-stackpole with date codes of 5th, 9th & 10th week of 1973. the original blue tone capacitors are intact. The original pickgurad is in very good condition, it is nice and flat. The bridge has been shortened to make room for the humbucker pickup, the original aluminum saddles are all in excellent condition.
The guitar has a real tie feel to it and it sits just right in your lap. Feels really nice on a strap also, it is pretty lightweight-it only weighs 7.33 lbs. This guitar is a real killer player. It has a nice variety of tones whether strumming chords or playing solos. Comes complete with a late 1970's Fender molded hardcase.
