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Post subject: What Actual Year/Style?
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:36 am
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I have checked the data on Fender.com concerning the serial number of my Tele.
S852559. It appears to be between '77-'78. I would like to know which one if possible...

I was told when I bought it new at, (now defunct) Quigley's in K.C. Mo. that it was a 1952 re-issue.
It has an ash body, black pickguard, maple neck. Is it a re-issue of the '52?

If anyone in the Fender Tele community has insight for me on these topics/questions it would be much appreciated.
Thank You Much,

mytele78


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Post subject: Re: What Actual Year/Style?
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 7:16 am
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First off, it's not a reissue of the '52 Tele; the first reissues didn't come out until 1982 and they carried a different serial number system - a number without any letters stamped into the bridge plate below the pickup. I also suspect that your Tele has a 3-ply black pickguard - when you look at the beveled edge of the pickguard you can see 3 layers of plastic in black/white/black unless the pickguard has been replaced. The original early 50s Teles and the '52 Reissue would have a single-ply black pickguard.

All Teles (actually pretty much all Fender models) in the late 70s had ash bodies.

Now to the year - it is correct that Fender serial number decals were used for several years back then. Really the only way to find out when this was built is to take it apart and check for dates stamped onto the neck heel, onto the body in the neck pocket, and to check the codes on the pickups and the controls. Pretty much use the latest of those dates to approximate when your guitar was built.

Fender doesn't have the full records of the older guitars that they do for guitars built since 1993 where their Consumer Relations can look up the guitar by serial number and pretty much tell you when it was shipped out to a dealer. Fender was sold several times over the years (to CBS in January 1965, then to current owner FMIC in February 1985); FMIC's full data only goes back to when they changed computer systems in 1993.


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Post subject: Re: What Actual Year/Style?
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:13 am
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Thank you, John C.
I attempted sending you a message but may have done it incorrectly.

Seems the salesman didn't quite tell me the truth! Oh, well...
Do you believe my tele has specs of the 50's model?
You are right! 3-ply pickgaurd just as you say: black/white/black

Am I correct that should I search for the year by removing the neck that it could jeopardize the guitar's sound, etc.?

I don't care for the (is it plastic?) chromed tuning pegs and control knobs...any good
vintage replacement parts you can suggest?

I appreciate your reply


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Post subject: Re: What Actual Year/Style?
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:29 am
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mytele78 wrote:
Thank you, John C.
I attempted sending you a message but may have done it incorrectly.

Seems the salesman didn't quite tell me the truth! Oh, well...
Do you believe my tele has specs of the 50's model?
You are right! 3-ply pickgaurd just as you say: black/white/black

Am I correct that should I search for the year by removing the neck that it could jeopardize the guitar's sound, etc.?

I don't care for the (is it plastic?) chromed tuning pegs and control knobs...any good
vintage replacement parts you can suggest?

I appreciate your reply


Specs wise your Tele has the specs of a '78/'79 Tele - back then Fender only made one "regular" Telecaster (of course they did also make the Tele Custom with the neck humbucker, the Tele Deluxe with 2 humbuckers, and the Tele Thinline semi-hollow with 2 humbuckers). Compared to the Stratocaster the "regular" Tele underwent fewer changes during the CBS-era - for example, the "regular" Tele retained the 4-bolt neck attachement while the Strat went to the 3-bolt attachment with a bullet truss rod adjuster (Fender used that hardware on the Tele Custom, Tele Deluxe, and Tele Thinline but not the "regular" Tele). I guess the best way to describe it would be to say that a '78 Tele is going to be somewhat closer to a '52 Tele than a '78 Strat is going to be to say a '57 Strat. Here are some of the differences that I can think of off the top of my head.

Fender tended to change the pickups slightly over the years - number of windings, polepieces, etc. Sorry, I know more about how Strat pickups changed over the years than how Tele pickups changed over the years. The other hardware change was that the 50s Teles use brass saddles on the bridge; sometime around the 1960-1962 time frame Fender changed to steel saddles on the bridge - that will impact the tone, but that was a change made in the Leo era, not a CBS change (many CBS changes were cost cutting changes across all the instruments and amps). Of course also the finish is different; Fender used a pretty thin nitrocelulose lacquer finish from the beginning until say 1968 or so; after that they used a thicker polyurathane finish - and the late 70s finishes are about the thickest they ever used (based on my Lead II and all the Teles, Strats and other Fenders that my dealer had in stock at that time).

Also a 70s Tele is going to have "modern" wiring where the 3-way switch gives you bridge pickup/both pickups/neck pickup. A '52 Reissue Tele has "vintage" wiring where the 3-way switch gives you the bridge pickup/the neck pickup with the tone control/the neck pickup with a treble roll-off capacitor (which will sound kind of like Still's solo on "Wooden Ships" for lack of a better description). When I had my AV '52 Tele a few years ago I made the change to modern wiring anyway because I didn't care for that treble roll-off position.

Removing the neck shouldn't jeopardize the sound of the guitar; they really were designed to be taken apart. Probably the easiest thing to do might be to remove the control plate and look for the date codes on the pots instead of looking for the stamps. Of course in the current market it shouldn't make any difference whether the Tele is a '78 or a '79 - I can't recall there being any spec differences between the two years that impacts the value.

The knobs on the tuners are metal; it just isn't the highest quality metal that has ever been used for tuner knobs - I have the same tuners on my '79 Lead II but I'm going to keep it stock. Also, no other tuner really fits the same holes as those "F" tuners - but I think that vintage tuners might cover F-tuner holes. The knobs should be similar to any other Tele of any year; I suppose CBS could have been using a cheaper grade of metal in the 70s than Leo used in the 50s, but who knows. That is an easy change.


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Post subject: Re: What Actual Year/Style?
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:35 am
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Thanks a bunch John...You are very "knowing" :)
Have a great one...


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