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Post subject: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 4:05 pm
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Hi I Have a question... I believe first year of production for 52 reissues to be 1982. Can anyone confirm in all the years these guitars have been in production, has the body ever been made to any other spec other than inch and three quarter in thickness?

Any information would be much appreciated.


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Post subject: Re: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 6:10 pm
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Location: Kansas
Not sure about the body thickness, but I can tell you that USA '52 Reissues were built during the CBS era from sometime in 1982 - they were announced in early 1982, probably at the NAMM show, but it took them most of the year before they actually hit the streets. CBS/Fender built them until they shut down and sold the company in February 1985 - again, not sure how many left the factory in January 1985.

FMIC bought the company name, designs, "intellectual property", etc. (but no factory) in February 1985. FMIC was only going to be an import company, but had a change of heart and began building their own factory that finally opened in the fall of 1985. FMIC started up production on a very small scale in the fall of 1985 - not sure about the Teles but some folks on the Strat side have some from say October 1985, which are the earliest dates I've ever seen. I would have to assume that the '52 Tele would have started about the same time as the '57 and '62 Strats.

Hope that helps.


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Post subject: Re: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 12:41 pm
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John C has it correct from what I can see.
The only part that sounds off to me is:

Quote:
Originally posted by John C
FMIC was only going to be an import company, but had a change of heart and began building their own factory that finally opened in the fall of 1985.


But hey John, maybe you saw an interview or something that I haven't.
My feeling when we came back, was that we were going to get back to U.S. Production ASAP. Quite a few of the machines from the Fullerton facility were also bought and were put in the new facility. So yeh, we moved out of the huge(at the time) factory- Corporate and Distribution split a building in Brea, CA, and the factory started up in a Business park in Corona, CA. But I'm fairly certain that the intent was always to get back to U.S. production and not due to any "change of heart." It was just a question of $$ and ability to do so.

cheers!!
rob

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Post subject: Re: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:13 pm
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Hi Rob, Still trying to find out if in all the time butterscotch USA 52 Ri's (not custom shop) have been in production has there been any variation to the body thickness of 1 inch & 3/4 ??
I've have asked this question of Mike Eldred to which he replied, a limited run of pine body esquires were made about a year ago.
It would be helpful if someone could clarify this as I'm trying to identify a 52 USA body year made 2003.
I already have two identical twin 52 RI's to make reference to, but i'd just like to be sure. Neck pickups, bridge hardware pots all USA check out ok, and build quality of the body is good. But body's are clearly different dimensions if you could help it would be great thank you.


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Post subject: Re: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:38 pm
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Rob Schwarz-Fender wrote:
John C has it correct from what I can see.
The only part that sounds off to me is:

Quote:
Originally posted by John C
FMIC was only going to be an import company, but had a change of heart and began building their own factory that finally opened in the fall of 1985.


But hey John, maybe you saw an interview or something that I haven't.
My feeling when we came back, was that we were going to get back to U.S. Production ASAP. Quite a few of the machines from the Fullerton facility were also bought and were put in the new facility. So yeh, we moved out of the huge(at the time) factory- Corporate and Distribution split a building in Brea, CA, and the factory started up in a Business park in Corona, CA. But I'm fairly certain that the intent was always to get back to U.S. production and not due to any "change of heart." It was just a question of $$ and ability to do so.

cheers!!
rob


Rob,

Memory is a funny thing - I'm 95% sure that blurb is in a book I used to have by Tony Bacon (who normally is pretty good at research) and I've been carrying that forward for years. However, I should have done my own research as I have a Guitar Player mag from April 1985 and in a short piece on the sale of Fender to FMIC. In that piece Mr. Schultz does say that they will eventually get back to building the top of the line guitars from the ground up as soon as they could get their new factory up and running - with the intention of only producing the top-of-the-line instruments in the USA (which the author interpreted as being the Elites and the reissues).

Therefore I stand corrected and whenever answering this I will give the correct response that there was only a lack of USA production while the new factory was being set up and everyone was getting back up to speed in production.

I am also starting to regret culling down my old Guitar Player collection to just a few that I decided to keep; they are a great research source.


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Post subject: Re: Fender 52 USA RI Telecaster
Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2011 7:59 pm
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Hi!
Gracebass,
The info you're looking for to that extent, is not usually included in any information releases -including internally unless it is a noticeable change or there is reason to make note of it. That doesn't mean it wasn't, just that I'm not aware of a change there. That just means i have to dig a little bit and see if i can find out for ya (with luck).

When Mike Lewis was Marketing for Fender Guitars (don't offhand recall the date and I'm at home ..) I AM aware that there were some changes made to the Vintage line, and this also speaks to the Noticeable or "significant" changes I mentioned above.
The easy way to explain the changes is to say that under Dan Smith's management the Reissues were faithful reproductions of the guitars made for the years they represented--52-57-62. For instance -dowels were visable on the 57 Strat bodies in the 80's though we werent using the tooling that required holes in the body (dont think so anyway)....but a faithful recreation noentheless.
Mike Lewis's approach was to go off the original blueprints and build them per the designs. So things like contours were tightened up--- and dowels visable through the finish disappeared.
At any rate...I'll try to get to checking it out as soon as i can.
******
John C!!
I'm with ya on the memory thing! Your last post actually sparked mine a bit more LOL.....When we started back up, even before we officially got out of the Fullerton plant, the company was by then pretty pared down employee wise, so the opportunity to interface and get to know people was much easier. Bill Schultz was pretty gregarious with us and caught at the right moment was not shy about talking about feelings, plans and intentions for Fender even to a lowly guitar inspector/tuner/tester like me. I remember him rallying us with nuggets like "Don't you worry!! We're gonna be back up and running building guitars in no time! (not a direct quote---my take on his spirit)
So...thanks for bringing a smile to my face. Bill continues to be an inspiration to me, and I'm better for having known him.
Have a good weekend!
rob

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