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Post subject: MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 2:34 pm
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Hey folks,

I'm a bit new to the Fender world, and looking to make my entrance. I found the following guitar at my local pawn shop.

Fender MIJ Telecaster (Contemporary)
Built: 1984-1987
E-Series
Gloss black, rosewood neck


The guitar is beat to hell, most of the metal is tarnished, it's missing one of the little thumbscrews at the base of the bridge (not sure what it's for yet). Some scratches and the finish doesn't look the best. Some paint chips on the black headstock as well as the body by where the cable goes in. I must apologize that this pic isn't the best, I snapped one picture and got a dirty look from the owner so I moved on. :)

Image

The thing is listed at $350 on the pawn shop wall, and I already have the owner talked down to $250. I might get it, but I keep getting conflicting information. I see some guy trying to sell his in like new condition for $1200-1500 but it's been months and he hasn't sold them (it's on ebay, look it up), so I don't value it like that. I was thinking new, maybe $800. But beat to hell, is it worth $250? I may keep it, might try to buy and sell it to get a little more cash for a new/used MIM tele.

Just not sure on this one. Any advice would be great.

Thanks!

~Mo


Last edited by mobaar on Fri May 06, 2011 6:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2011 6:56 pm
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Me, I'd give it a good tryout there in the pawnshop, maker sure the electronics are all functional and if seemed decently playable, I'd buy it for $250, clean the heck out of it, set it up and go for it. Doesn't seem like a bad price, even for a pawn shop.

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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 11:08 am
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My MIJ Stratocaster I once owned (stolen) had that exact bridge, all those toggles look like owner-adds, even if it marginally played I'd grab it for 250.00, spend another 40.00 for a setup, and go from there. You might even double your money on re-sell...those '80's guitars of ANY make are back in vogue again. I say grab it with gusto!


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 3:00 pm
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Hi there,

Thanks for both of your feedback. I may try to talk him down to $200, then fire on them. The more I think about it, the less I want to have this to own, wherein it becomes a profit sort of thing.

Actually, the 3 toggles are not owner-added, they were part of the 3-pickup HSS tele that came out in that period. It's pretty nice, if you ask me, to be able to do that sort of selection.

Thanks for your input. If anyone has more to say, please do so!

~Mo


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 3:55 am
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CRGuitarMan wrote:
Me, I'd give it a good tryout there in the pawnshop, maker sure the electronics are all functional and if seemed decently playable, I'd buy it for $250, clean the heck out of it, set it up and go for it. Doesn't seem like a bad price, even for a pawn shop.



oh man my head hurts thinking about how fast i would jump on this deal here.
do as the the reply above stated. take your time and do a good job. nice little investment opportunity for you here im thinking. this thing could be worth a lil bit of something after your done, if anything a good player at least. if hes dropped that much for you hes probably not gonna drop any more, he just wants it gone. go for it and be happy i didnt find it first lol.

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:03 am
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Go for it! Did you notice that one of the fine tunning knobs is missing! Does the trem bar go come with it?

This bridge is called a System 1 bridge and is the best locking trem fender has ever made!

Great price on this guitar! Pounce before someone else does, provided it has the original locking device at the headstock, the trem bar and bridge soccet for it!

No matter if it says Fender or Squier on the headstock, pounce on it!

If you do go for it, I can help you order the missing fine tunner for it, as I've had to order parts for this type of bridge before!

Make sure the bridge is complete, as it is very hard to find parts for it, and parts are very expensive! Bar is about $50 to replace! (one on ebay right now!)(Chrome)

I've also seen the bridge alone for sale on ebay for about $200. :shock:

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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 5:05 am
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My avatar picture is of my System 1 Strat!

They're awesome guitars!

If you need more info, let me know! :)

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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 6:06 am
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this type of guitar could be very rewarding indeed to restore and play.

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:39 pm
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Hey all,

Just an update. I went to the pawn shop today, was feeling good, and bought the guitar. I got to play it, but it looks like it's going to need some resolder work. However, when I DID get it to play...man, those pickups sound so good.

So here's the deal. I got a hell of a deal on it, you all know I did. I can make this into a project, but if someone else is DYING to get a project of a Contemporary MIJ Tele, send me a PM within like 24 hours or so and we can talk. I already own a Tele so I am not married to this new acquisition, so now's the time to talk me out of keeping this and turning it into a project if you're really looking to get your hands on it! No reasonable offer will be ignored...I promise!

I'd consider cash or even trades for suitable trade-over or trade-up guitars -- MIMs, MIJs, maybe MIAs, but I think a Strat would be in order since that's the only style I don't own...however, I'll consider anything!

Thanks all for your input. I'm happy to have this new acquisition, and as always, HNGD! :)

~Mo


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 6:49 pm
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why would you buy it if your not set on doing something with it?
did you find out something about it that you didnt know before you bought it?
what did you end up giving for it?

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 8:25 pm
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Oh, no, I think you misunderstand. In this thread, there seemed to be a lot more people much more interested in this series of guitars than I was. Rather than do the refurb project and then sell it for maybe 600ish, I wanted to give an opportunity to you helpful folks to get this guitar for less if you really want it. Honest! Other than the spotty electronics job it is just as I expected.

~Mo


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:55 pm
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i would just restore it and play it.

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"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 11:58 am
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mobaar,

Where are you located.

I am very, very new to Fender (but not to guitars). The way I learn about new guitars is to buy some used. Play them, adjust them, fix them, sell them to buy others to learn more. I bought my first strat a couple weeks ago and my second this past Sunday. I'm an electrical engineer with 25 years experience so when I see a guitar that doesn't have any output, I jump on it because that's an easy fix for me. I have seen some hilarious wiring jobs. I do currently have a mim strat that I've designated as my "trade" guitar, looking for a tele. But I only do local deals, so thought I'd ask. I'm 26 miles, 385 yards west of Copley Square, Boston.

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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 10:43 pm
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Bummer! I live in central Illinois, so definitely not local. Oh well.

I've already cracked the thing open and can agree with your "hilarious wiring jobs" anecdote. This thing, in addition to having cold solder joints, also has 3 different toggle switches. Now I assume the one corresponding to the humbucker is supposed to be DPDT on-off-on and the others are DPDT on-on, but they all look slightly different. It's interesting in here.

Now, I have never wired up a guitar with toggles so I'm intrigued in attempting to put DPDT on-off-on switches in all 3 positions and use it for phasing the guitar too, but I'd need some help. The typical wiring resources I use are of no help either. Anyone know of a wiring schematic for this setup?

Restoration is moving along smoothly, I'll use this thread to keep everyone apprised of my status.

~Mo


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Post subject: Re: Reasonable deal? MIJ mid-1980s Contemporary Tele
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 6:10 pm
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So...a bit of an update.

I took a half sick day today (*cough cough*) and finally had some time to gut the guitar. As mentioned previously, there were issues with the wiring, the signal was intermittent when I had played it in the pawn shop (which was good for me when negotiating price!) and I ended up desoldering EVERYTHING. Here's what I found out:

- The whole freaking guitar was wired in SERIES. It was a clever wiring job and I'm sure it has a lot of tonal variety, but honestly, the choices were single coil, HOT humbucker, and WAY TOO HOT FOR ANYTHING 3-pickup series. Didn't make any sense, but who am I to judge?
- Whoever owned this before me decided to install a DPDT on-off-on switch to the humbucker and wire it for normal-off-phase reverse operation. Only, it wasn't like that at all. In off position the humbucker still played. Sigh.
- The other 2 DPDT on-off switches were different brands, and one of them didn't exactly fit the right way.
- The wire leading from the volume knob to the series-run signal was a cold-solder joint and was loose, wiggling in the guitar. I found the source of the intermittent sound (or so I thought, read on...)!
- I finally re-wired the whole thing for parallel operation, with all of the switches either having pickup-on or pickup-off (or in the case of the humbucker switch, on-off-off). I did this by soldering a common hot wire into the center lug of one side of each switch, and the hot of each pickup in the top side of each switch. When switch is up, it closes circuit to the common hot wire, if it's off, there's no connection. Permanently wired the ground of each pickup, and wired the - wire of the humbucker to ground too. Who needs phase reversal when you have the versatility of an HSS anyway?
- After everything was wired up, I reassembled the whole guitar. Wait a second, why isn't the middle pickup working? Checked the obvious, looking at the wiring job I did. I concluded that the issue must be some break in the wire within the insulation, so cut down the wire a bit more and re-soldered. NOPE! Didn't work. Want to know what it was?

...the thin copper wire wound around the pickup itself didn't complete the circuit. One side of it was connected properly, the other must have been severed somehow. I (carefully!) soldered it back to the wiring joint and everything is running smoothly.


I must say, this guitar sounds awesome. It has a lot of a strat sound to it, it's like all the good looks of a tele with the versatile sound of a strat. The HSS configuration is nice too, but that humbucker is NOT hot by any stretch of the imagination. But it sounds like a dream!

My next step is to work on the looks of it. I did a basic disassembly and cleaning of all of the hardware (note: I found out the fine-tuning nut that is missing is missing because the threading is stripped. It will work without a nut but I know a couple machine shop folks that might be able to tap me out a bigger thread. That's actually what apparently happened to another one of the nuts, as it is a different thread and all the other nuts are too small for it. We'll see...this thing is so rock-solid when tuned up I don't think it's necessary!

I plan to go out and get some automotive scratch-removing wax and working on some of the minor scratches. It won't make it look perfect, as there are plenty of substantial dents and finish chips that go all the way to the wood (which is far, there's a THICK finish on this thing!)

Now, what I am going to do with it. I'll admit, it sounds great and everything, but I honestly think I am in need of money more than I am in need of a (third) guitar. I won't be in any rush to sell it, but I'm hoping that there are folks out there who appreciate it who may be interested in owning it. It honestly sounds great, but I feel like I'm more of a blonde- or natural-finished type guitarist, this thing screams rock and belongs with someone who can look the part.

Pictures to follow. Rest assured, this thing will probably gig with me a couple times but unfortunately she's on borrowed time. I couldn't turn down an investment opportunity like this, and I've really liked the time I've put into it. I've put a LOT of time into it over the last week, to be honest. She deserves it!

~Mo


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